It's a nice milestone, particularly since I haven't gotten to anything particularly exciting yet, just exposition. I have at least three "chapters" to fill in inside what I've already done, too, and once those are done we still won't have heard a word out of the mouth of the main character. That's kind of neat, but I guess it could also be a problem. I don't think anyone will miss how important a character she is, but it would be bad if I were wrong.
Soon I'll have to write an extremely important "chapter" -- a transcript of a meeting between the main character and a representative of the Marines -- where everything has to be exactly right: It all has to make sense when you read it, and then make sense on a different level later in the book. I don't know if I'm explaining that right. Anyway, I'm sure it will be written and rewritten over and over.
I also haven't written the first "chapter," which has to be poignant, expositive, and contain a little misdirection. And because it's among what publishers will see, it has to kick ass. Maybe I'm just putting off the hard parts.
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