I have again been a bit of a slacker in keeping the countries of the world informed on the novel writing front. However, last night I stopped writing at 38,951 words, leaving me just shy of 39,000 words exactly, by 49 words to be precise. My father challenged me to write a sentence of exactly 49 words, thus putting me exactly at the 39,000 mark. Here's the sentence, and yes it's 49 words so you don't need to waste your time counting:

"Patrick walked through the lobby, shiny black shoes on polished stone floor, to the elevator at the other end, where another snazzy coated white gloved man stood looking rather like he had just walked out of an Edward Gorey book and was missing only a monocle in his eye."

The only part I lament is that I sadly had to cut out the word stoutly, which was in there somewhere... I don't even know where anymore, but I like the word stoutly. Too bad.