She gets a bump on the Mil-O-Meter to 992,758. That leaves 7,242 words to go, and that leaves this reporter with good news and bad news to impart.

The Good News: She has completed the first draft of Smooched and is well into the edit.

The Bad News: Her word count now comes to a screeching halt and may even decrease as she finishes up. That does not bode well for Scooter’s August 13th birthday. Plus, she’s actually going to take a vacation, beginning the 17th. Trust me, though, we will be tagging along, as she has yet to find a way to stifle us, short of decapitation. Laura says that’s awfully messy, and Kris believes she’d miss us if we weren’t clamoring in there.

Anyway, she’s pushing to have the book done and released before vacation. We’ll shush while that happens and then start driving her insane with new ideas.