Okay, I decided to give in and read my novel.  My daughter left with my mom for her sleepover.  I went for a run, ate my takeout Thai food and decided that I was in a decent enough mindset to give the book a try.  Here’s a blow by blow update:

8:22 – One hour in and I’m on page 40.  It doesn’t suck. It’s actually far from sucking.  There are a couple of plot features I’d completely forgotten about that I think I can tie to later in the story.  I got teary eyed once.  I laughed once.  Good signs!  The kittens like my book too.  They like chewing on the spiral binding.  I’m going to eat a Halloween Oreo, or two, and get back to it.

9:28 – It’s still good, and I’m on page 75.  Two scenes I thought I would cut actually flow well.  Not ideal since I need to cut quite a bit, but there is still plenty of book to go.  One of my favorite scenes feels way too short.  It was drawn out and dramatic in my head, but was over in an instant when I read it.  Another teary scene, another laughing scene and a surprise dinosaur-with-short arms joke.  I’m feeling pretty good!

11:11 – Page 102, and I’m getting sleepy.  Over halfway through and only 90 pages left.  I’ve had a couple of, “that person would never say that” moments, and “this sentence make no sense” thoughts, but overall I’m still happy with it.  The plot moves quickly, which I like.  Unfortunately I went past another major section I thought I would be able to delete and it works.  I’m hoping at the end I’ll be able to see the sections that may flow but don’t add anything.   So far, I’m glad I’m reading it and thinking I need to make time for a second draft.