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I’m over half-way done. After more than two weeks, I’ve found myself getting into a nice rhythm, the feeling of a habit slithering into my bones to find a place of rest.

There have been a few nights I have dreaded writing 1,667 words, not sure if I could even come up with 300. But I almost always do.

The trick? It’s obvious. And it’s not new.

Just write.

That’s it. Don’t care what it might sound like or look like or what plot holes it might lead you to. Just write.

Who cares if it’s bad? It can be ripped out later. And you can always write something else tomorrow, maybe using some of the ideas you discovered the previous day while meandering. Those ideas might be drab in one circumstance, but shine like the sun if given different scenery.

Here’s another excerpt, without context:

Continue reading NaNoWriMo 32,006 Word Update

I’ve been doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) this year, attempting to write down a horrible, no-good first draft of an idea that’s been bouncing around in my head for years. 50,000 words in 30 days. Right now I’m at 15,059 words after 8 days, which puts me about one day ahead of the pace.

And yes, it is horrible. But I’m forcing myself to write. And in forcing myself to write, I discover things about my characters I hadn’t known, and I uncover some gems that I didn’t know existed. These gems will take some polishing in the future. For now, however, they let me know I’m at least on some sort of track, and maybe I accidentally wander onto the right one every once and a while.

Below is a rough excerpt from what I’m working on, the end of the first chapter of a book entitled Inheritance of the 6th Day.

Continue reading NaNoWriMo 15,059 Word Update