P.S.

I totally forgot. I have another excuse why my word count is so poor. A really valid one this time.

I did the edits on Book 1 last weekend.

My editor was right - there weren't many at all (thank God).

I added more description, deleted some confusing bits, clarified a few things and reinforced a strand of the book that had become a bit too weedy during my edits. It was wasn't a scary process at all but it was a bit odd to immerse myself back into a book I haven't so much as flicked through since October last year. The only downside was that I liked it a lot more than I thought I would.

Why's that a downside you ask?

Because it made me doubt Book 2 a teeny tiny bit. As I was reading Book 1 I started thinking, "Oh dear, I'm not sure Book 2 is going to be as moving as this book" and "The main character has much greater goals/obstacles in Book 1 than the characters have in Book 2" and "It all seems to slot together so easily in Book 1" but you know what? Book 1 is polished within an inch of its life and I'm only writing the first draft of Book 2. It isn't supposed to be as good as Book 1 at this stage.

Yeah - I'll just keep telling myself that...