Working on the novel

Well, I really got into it last night and managed over 1000 words on the book. Tonight wasn't quite as good – only about 500 words, plus some notes and ideas for additional dialogue in a scene I wrote the other evening. I really feel I ought to be hitting 1000 words every night but it's easier said than done. If I can manage more than 1000 tomorrow, then it will make up for my shortfall today.
The novel is coming along though. I kind of have an ending worked out in my head now and am working towards it, which makes things a little easier. Up until recently I was just writing and seeing where the characters and the story took me. Now I have some ideas about where they should be heading. Of course, they could have different ideas, or something else might suggest itself along the way. That's okay too – if it surprises me, then hopefully readers won't see it coming either.
I'm really looking forward to finishing the first draft, so I can begin editing. During the course of the writing, I've had to refer back to stuff I've already written and find that I'm already editing it in my head as I read it back. The edit is where the real writing is going to get done. I hope that as I will have the story down in black and white, the editing will go a bit faster than the first draft, perhaps a couple of thousand words an evening and big chunks at the weekends. That's what I'll aim for at any rate. More would be better, of course but I'll have to wait and see.
And then there's the research I still have to do. Remind me to mention that in my next post.
It's late and I'm going to bed. Good night.