Category: Writing

The sun isn’t all the way down, so this doesn’t count as an evening post just yet.

Almost done with Chapter 5. The fantasy aspects are starting to come out, eventually to be followed (or replaced) by the sci-fi parts. That makes writing easier and harder at the same time, because now I have to worry about all the worldbuilding and plot and characterization and all the rest. It’s so much easier when it’s just ordinary people in an ordinary situation, but where’s the fun in that?

Scheduling is getting weird, so this is the only post for today. I don’t know how tomorrow will go, so I’m not even going to give you a prediction. Sorry ’bout that.

This session’s word count: 2,008
Total word count: 32,784

I may have misjudged some things. Now I’m sure I’m done with the first half of Chapter 5, but it’s going to be longer than I had initially thought. Oh, well.

Let’s get this out of the way first:

This session’s word count: 952
Total word count: 30,776

Since I probably won’t write anything else today, I’ll consider this the midpoint of the month. 15 days of writing, and what do we have? Well, as you can see, over 30,000 words. That’s a little more than 60%, or over 5,000 more than the “minimum” pace. If I can keep this up, and there’s no guarantee I can, I’ll be done with the 50K goal early on the 25th.

But I want more. I think the whole story I’m writing is going to run past 50,000, but I also think I can finish it before month’s end. Right now, I’m shooting for somewhere in the vicinity of 53,000, which may require a little bit of writing on Thanksgiving or the weekend after. That’s not a problem, as I don’t have to travel very far for the holidays. (About 25 miles total, and that includes coming home. There are characters in the story that have had to walk more than that.)

So, I’m tentatively optimistic. A lot can happen in 10 days, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. But I think I can do this.

Another morning, another bit of progress. Almost halfway done with Chapter 5, and I’ve got all day to add to it. Those family matters from yesterday are in full force, though, so I’m planning for every possibility.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t say a few words about the Paris attacks. Well, whatever “remiss” really is, I don’t mind being it for a day. If I started talking about the attacks, I’d never stop. So you can assume I said some kind words about the victims, some harsh words for the perpetrators, and finished it all with a call for solidarity in this time of need. With that, I’ll return to the world of my own making, set in a time before terrorists existed.

This session’s word count: 887
Total word count: 29,824

This part took a lot longer than I thought. You can blame some…family matters for that.

So we’re in Chapter 5. That’s cool. Maybe I’ll even finish it tomorrow. (Yeah, right!) Anyway, that’s all for today. Tomorrow marks the middle of the month, a time for reflection and the last real chance for projecting to the end. We’ll see what things look like then.

This session’s word count: 979
Total word count: 28,937

So I survived Friday the 13th, just like I’ve managed to do for 32 years. Yay for me?

Chapter 5 has begun, and the second half of the story is coming together. I’m also fully on the “day shift” now, so expect more morning/afternoon pairings for the next week or so, then afternoon/evening. (Hopefully, I’ll be done before it gets to evening/late night or worse.) Expect more writing today. It’s early yet.

This session’s word count: 1,139
Total word count: 27,958

Happy Friday the 13th, everyone!

Now I’ve reached halfway on the “other” scale: Chapter 4 is done! I don’t know if I’ll start Chapter 5 today. I might wait till tomorrow, and give myself a well-earned break. We’ll see. Either way, it’ll be the other half of the not-supposed-to-happen party split, so that should be fun.

This session’s word count: 1,612
Total word count: 26,819

Depending on how you look at it, I may or may not be halfway done.

Allow me to explain. The goal is 50,000 words. Half of that, obviously, is 25,000, and I’m past that. (You’ll see the exact count in a moment.) But this story is 8 chapters, and I’m not quite done with Chapter 4. So…not halfway. It’s all in how you look at it.

Either way, that’s all for tonight, and I’m now on pace to finish on November 24, i.e., the Tuesday after next. Even with an off day between now and then, I can get this done before Thanksgiving, whether we count by words or stories.

This session’s word count: 979
Total word count: 25,207

The storms seem to have gotten lost, which is good news for writing.

Chapter 4 is flowing nicely from my fingertips, despite that seizure-inducing KDE window glitch coming back. (Now I’ve turned off vsync completely. We’ll see if that fixes it.) I’m also fully on a daytime schedule: I didn’t get out of bed until about 5 AM.

After breakfast, I hope to get more done. With any luck, I can hit the halfway point later today.

This session’s word count: 1,363
Total word count: 24,228

An interesting mystery has arisen in the middle of Chapter 4, which is now almost halfway done. It involves art, interpretation, religion, and misidentification. Fun, fun, fun! Not really. There’s not all that much depth to it.

This is probably all for today, but I’m increasing my lead over the average. That’s good, especially since those storms are moving on in. I don’t know how much writing work I’ll get done over the next two days, but I’ll do my best.

This session’s word count: 849
Total word count: 22,865

Moving along, nothing to be seen here.

I wrote a silly little meet-and-greet scene, introducing more characters (but still no character conflict). We’re still building a bridge, though. We can worry about crossing it when it’s done.

Should be more writing today, but you never know. We’ve got rain moving in tonight, maybe bringing a thunderstorm, so tomorrow should be interesting. For now, it’s clear sailing.

This session’s word count: 1,354
Total word count: 22,016