Or maybe that's 1.80 - I never was much of a math type. 

Okay so on to the update business. I am seriously, seriously pleased with the progress. I am officially through Chapter 8 EVEN after getting lost on a bit of a detour. The detour turned out to be a functional one, I have a feeling a lot of it will get wrapped by Chapter 10: Wherein our heroes discover they are not alone on a their new home planet.  I'm writing an average of about 2 hours a day but I'm resisting posting word counts because to be fair not all of the words used are very good and many will probably not see the light of day.

I'm not sure how much writing will be going on over the weekend - camping and all - but I'm VERY excited about the July 10-20 which I'll have my very own writer's retreat  while I housesit for a friend. 10 days, no cable, no internet and a cuddly lap kitty. I expect to be a writing machine. I am not, however, counting my eggs before they're laid. I'm still expecting another two chapters before I sequester myself in writer-land.

Thank you to all of you who are helping me to meet my goals and raise some money for Clarion West - I regret that there's no way to thank you personally, but unless you've actually mentioned that you are sponsoring this gig I have no way of knowing who you are. I do know that Clarion West now has 75 donors which is great progress toward our goal do 200 Write-a-Thon donors.

After a little prompting (cause who can say no to Eileen), I've decided to post a few bits as we go. I am actually kind of sweaty in the palm area at the thought of posting live, naked (and loosely edited) story bits here but it's almost 2 am and the sooner I get this posted, the soon I get get some much needed sleep before I the drive to Lopez in the (later) morning. Without further ado, here’s a sample of some of the words your donation sponsored this week:

Alice’var walked the line, inoculating them against the latest pathogen as she went. For all of the professor’s research and preparation the planet managed to sneak a few hits in immediately, the worst of which killed one of the ‘dars after 24 hours of misery Vinnie'tar wouldn't have wished on his worst enemy.

            The medic looked spent. Her normally olive complexion was pale and her eyes were ringed dark from lack of sleep. Vinnie knew she had been doing double duty since the crashed. His own medic was combat trained with only basic general medicine training and the professor’s training was in theory, not practice.  Linea'tar helped with trauma injuries sustained in establishing the settlement; cuts, broken bones, even a ruptured appendix, and the Professor did much of the strategy and research. For the general acclimating process Alice handled both horses and humans.

            “Roll up your sleeve,” she said by way of greeting when it was his turn.

            “Which one,” he said. “I’ve already gotten punched in both arms twice.”

            She met his eyes without smiling. He considered that an improvement. After he cancelled the search for the cargo beacon she wouldn’t even look at him.

            “Left,” she said. She didn’t wait for him to comply, picking a patch of skin exposed by his torn shirt and pushing the inoculation gun against his sunburned flesh.

            The gust of sterilizer was his only warning. He yelped at the pinch of the needle and winced as she drew away, rubbing the sore spot where a pinprick of blood rose.  She started walking away.

            “Did you use the horse needle that time?” he shouted.

            Alice looked over her shoulder at him impassively as she collared Hersch. Hersche extended his arm without a fuss. With his fair skin and red hair, the sun had taken a severe toll on his exposed skin. He was lobster red and beginning to blister in places.

            “For you,” she said. “Nothing less.”

            “Brilliant,” Vinne muttered. Raising his voice he said, “is this one gonna make me sick too?”

            “Probably,” she said. “Would you prefer dead?”

            “I’m wondering if it would be easier than getting socked in the arm every five minutes,” he said.

            “Alright,” she said, smiling humorlessly. “Next time I won’t bother you. Just let me sleep when you start bleeding out of your ears and can’t keep shit in your guts, ok?”

            “Deal,” he growled under his breath, turning back to the work of raising the shelter walls.

            “Asshole,” Alice muttered. She let Hersch go and continued walking to the gardens.