Dr Drib: I just copied and pasted the letter into Word to do a word count: 500 words. I/Claire wrote this letter some time ago while working on the book - it's in the Scrivener folder.
But yes, I'm procrastinating in the days running up to November 1st, the official nano start date. I've already read (on my Kindle, in txt format) what I have of the first draft: too much repetition, scenes in the wrong order for the plot flow ... lots of stuff to get my teeth into during editing which is the part I most enjoy.
gmw: Thank you so much for all your help and interesting advice. I'll probably post at the end of nano and tell you how it went; maybe at times along the way too.