I'm so close that it's maddening

I've got this novel, see? And it's supposed to be at least 50,000 words long.

I have over 48 k words written out in Open Office, but as soon as I switch the text over the Microsoft Word, my word count drops by over 1k.

Ack!!!!!!!

So, I still have the whole ending to write, where I get to figure out the bad guy's fate, and the good guy'ses [sic] rest of their lives (short? long? who knows. not me) and I guess I'll just have to keep writing until the end comes.

But, I'd also like to know the definite moment where I hit 50k words for real so I can breathe a bit more easily. Entering my text into the NaNoWriMo website brings up a word count that matches MS Word, so they think I'm 1k behind as well.

Poo.

And yet, there are much greater things in life I could be worried about right now.

I admit that it has been nice to get immersed in a story so totally different than my own, and yet so incredibly like it in some ways. It puts some perspective into my life, and vice versa, as I watch words pop up onto a page almost by themselves. My labor is to listen closely and refine where I can.

I have until Monday evening to finish this up, and I will get the word count. But I just don't know if the end will have real closure before then.

After all, I really want to see this bad guy squirm, but it doesn't always work out that way, does it?