Today’s word count: 2,561
Total word count: 11,407
Daily average: 2,281
Projected total: 68,442
Okay, this chapter’s going faster than I thought, and I know how to tie it back to the main thread. I’d say that’s a good day’s work. Wouldn’t you agree?
Not sure what I’ll do tomorrow. I have some potential family business planned, but I’ll try for a writing push over the weekend to build up a buffer in case work interferes.
Today’s word count: 2,069
Total word count: 8.846
Daily average: 2,211
Projected total: 66,345
Into Chapter 2. I didn’t know what to do, so I basically wrote about 7 pages of rambling and character introductions. (Well, reintroductions, really. That’s how it is when you’re in the 21st entry of a series.) Still not sure where this thread’s going, so I hope I can figure it out tomorrow.
Today’s word count: 2,059
Total word count: 6,777
Daily average: 2,259
Projected total: 67,770
Life begins anew, or something like that. One chapter down, 8 more to go, and I have a feeling the next one won’t be so easy. That’s mostly because I have yet to decide what I want to do with it. But we’ll figure it out as we go along. I mean, I have been doing that for a decade now.
Today’s word count: 2,341
Total word count: 4,718
Daily average: 2,359
Projected total: 70,770
I’m most of the way through Chapter 1 already. And that’s with a minor bout of sickness that left me fatigued all day. I think the “put your best character first” plan is working. We’ll see in a couple of days, because Chapter 2 is going to be one of my least favorites.
Also, for the record, I hate writing character deaths. Even unnamed ones who die off-screen.
Today’s word count: 2,377
Projected total: 71,310
And we’re off on the quest for ten. Chapter 1 of Light to the Depths, and the usual meandering introduction. Basically think of it as the same kind of ramble as my posts here, but it just so happens to have characters and a plot. Well, the beginnings of one. I’m starting with an Alex chapter for this Otherworld story. Why? Because I need wish-fulfillment. It’s all I’ve got left.
Hard to believe that another November is upon us. Seems like just yesterday we were fighting to regain our freedom from the tyrannical lockdowns and mask mandates, and now here we are…fighting to regain our freedom from the tyrannical lockdowns and vaccine mandates. The more things change, right?
The whole point of writing, at least for me, is supposed to be an escape. I don’t know about you, but I desperately need an escape right about now. With the fight for freedom, my continued failure at living up to the standard I set for myself, and now the rigors of an actual job, I want nothing more than to jump into any of my created worlds, because every single one of them is better than this one. Even the one from The Linear Cycle, with its magical zombies, would be more enjoyable.
You know the drill by now, surely. One month, 50,000 words. I can start at midnight on the 1st, and I have to hit the 50K mark before November ends. This will be my 11th attempt at the goal, and I’m hoping to reach it for the 10th straight year. As always, here’s what has come before:
Heirs of Divinity was my first serious attempt at writing a novel, and it shows. In my interminable editing cycle, I’ve reread the whole thing a few times, and I’m struck by how rough it feels. That was definitely before I found my stride and my voice. I had always hoped I could go back and revise the text, because there really is a great story in there, but…I know I won’t live long enough for that.
Out of the Past didn’t even receive its name until almost 4 years after I wrote it. It was the original Otherworld story, and the only one of the first drafts that I kept. In other words, it started an obsession that is now 8 years old. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Before I Wake was a lot shorter, and it became my first published (okay, self-published) novel. I wrote it in the wake of my cousin’s death, which was my first true experience with catharsis. I truly love the story I created; it will forever hold a place in my heart.
The City and the Hill was the first of the “new” Otherworld novels, after I revamped the setting, the characters, and the very premise. Some parts of the old Otherworld #2 remain buried in there, not that anyone else would know where to look. And this is where the series began to click for me. Everything suddenly made sense.
Nocturne. What can I say about this one that I haven’t already? A few hours before I wrote this post last Monday, my brother showed me a picture he received from his online not-quite-girlfriend: her paperback copy of Nocturne. That was a rare ray of sunshine in this dark world. I still contend that this one was my best work as a whole, too. It hit all the right notes.
The Soulstone Sorcerer is, as I have said before, the book that nearly killed me. About 150,000 words, and I very nearly finished the whole thing in November. 2017 was just like that, though. At the time, I didn’t realize just what it was like to be depressed. All I knew was that I was writing, nothing else mattered, and I was perfectly fine with that.
Seasons Change represented a change for me, too. That was the first time I tried Nanowrimo while being in something approximating a relationship, as well as the first time I recorded my progress where other people were actually reading. It was fun. I made a couple of friends, neither of whom I even talk to anymore, but that’s okay. What came out of that November built a lot of the Otherworld story since, so it was worth it.
Winds of Change is almost like a rerun of the year before. This time, I wasn’t just in a long-distance relationship. No, I was in love. That shows very often in the text, because I couldn’t help myself. When I have positive feelings, they creep into my writing whether I want them there or not. I only wish they would come around more often.
On the Stellar Sea, the start of the second half for Orphans of the Stars, and the first time in years that I’d called an audible. I simply could not bring myself to write my original idea, Otherworld #20 (which became Laws of Man, which I finished a couple of weeks ago) in the conditions I had suffered under throughout 2020. The story was too real to be an escape. As this was the first time I’d be attempting Nanowrimo in the depths of true depression—nothing like what I thought back in 2017—I needed something that would take my mind off it all. So I turned to a bunch of kids.
That brings us to this year, 2021. For the fifth time in all, I’ll be doing an Otherworld story: #21, which I’ve titled Light to the Depths. For the first time since 2017, I’ll be writing without a muse, because part of my mental illness is that I have to throw away what little good there is in my life. For the first time ever, I’ll have to juggle a full-time job and the hobby that long filled my days.
In the past decade, I’ve sometimes wondered how many times I could pull this off. Would this be the year that the streak ends? Would enough bad finally outweigh the good and stop me from reaching the finish line? Every year, though, I kept on going, and it’s brought me to this point, where I can, if all goes well, say in a month’s time that I have accomplished one of writing’s great feats 10 times in a row.
Unless something drastic happens for the better in the meantime, 10 might be the limit. I doubt I’ll have the heart for it next year. After that…well, I honestly don’t expect to be around for Nanowrimo 2023. So, if I have to go out, let me go out on top.
Today’s word count: 2,722
Total word count: 52,495
And we’re done. Whew. Considering there were about 5-6 days where I wrote nothing at all, and another 2-3 where I didn’t do much better, this is actually an accomplishment. I’ve finished 6 chapters (counting the prologue) of On the Stellar Sea, and it’s shaping up to be a decent novel. A worthy addition to the Orphans of the Stars series, in my opinion.
I might take a break from working on it now, though. As has been the case all year, my depression has interfered with my writing all month. I’ve suffered. I’ve made the ones I love suffer in turn. Nanowrimo this year was catharsis, plain and simple. It was a chance for me to get lost in a world of my own making, the one place where I still have a modicum of control. That may have saved my life. I’d say it saved my sanity, but I’m not sure I have any of that left.
It hasn’t been without hardship. The continued lockdowns have worn me down. The election madness leaves me genuinely scared for the future, and far less certain about my own place in it. I’ve spent eight months documenting my thoughts on such matters, sometimes speaking in great detail of the toll 2020 has exacted. Each new obstacle, each new attack on the life I was trying to build, leaves me one step closer to giving up for good.
I’m almost to that point. In 2017, I wrote like a maniac. Over 1.2 million words in total, quadruple my output this year. I told myself I was doing it because I didn’t want to deal with the real world. Now, I simply don’t feel I can deal with it. Yet I sometimes feel I can’t write, either. I’ve had more periods of genuine writer’s block since March than at any point in the past decade. I would say that it hurts, but…everything hurts these days. One more pain doesn’t change much.
I’ve failed at getting a job. I’ve failed at starting my own life. I’ve failed to respect the woman I love. I’m sure I’ll fail at nearly everything else I try in the future, because that’s just how my luck runs. For this one moment, however, I can say I succeeded at something. If November has one silver lining, it’s that I can always fall back on that.
Today’s word count: 2,263
Total word count: 49,773
Daily average: 1,716
Projected total: 51,489
We are on the precipice, folks. My goal for tomorrow is to finish off Chapter 5. Call it about 2,200 words again. That won’t quite be the halfway point of the book, but it’ll be close. With everything that’s happened over the course of November, I’m calling it a well-earned victory.
Assuming I get it done, that is. Let’s not count those chickens until they start hatching. After all, you never know. I could dump 400,000 totally legit words at 4 AM tomorrow.
Today’s word count: 1,864
Total word count: 47,510
Daily average: 1,696
Projected total: 50,903
So close now. I’m about halfway done with Chapter 5, and I have a real shot at finishing it in the next two days. (Assuming something else doesn’t happen to screw it up. Watch this space.)
On another note, why do so many of my books end up delving into adolescent relationships? I get that it’s because I like writing child characters, but On the Stellar Sea now has 5 of the things, because I goofed and ended up pairing Alicia and Aron completely by accident. Add in at least three from the Hidden Hills series (blatant plug: Lair of the Wizards paperback out next month!) and even Dusk & Dawn from The Linear Cycle, and I clearly spend too much time on this topic. Maybe it’s because I’m hopeless at handling anything more mature?
Today’s word count: 1,927
Total word count: 45,646
Daily average: 1,690
Projected total: 50,717
The goal is 50,000 words, but I think I can stretch that. Finishing Chapter 5 would put me at around 52,000. I believe I can reach that in the next three days. It’ll take some hard work, and probably a lot of luck.
Wait, luck? I’m so screwed.