Well, it’s day four and NaNo is well underway. I think I’ve found a pretty good stride, and I think I’m doing a pretty good job of throwing caution to the wind.

Last year I spent as much time self editing while writing as I did actually writing. This year, I’m trying to maintain forward momentum, no matter what. Correcting typos and misspellings as I go is almost second nature to me…not much I can do about that. Hitting delete and fixing mistakes I know I’ve made is pretty much automatic. I’ve done it at least three times since I started typing this post.

As far as second guessing the content of writing, descriptions that don’t really work, awkward dialogue, exposition that sticks out like a Phillies fan at a Padres home game (true story), I’m ignoring them. I’m letting them fly, no matter how egregious such transgressions may be.

Last year, I made a habit of posting my daily writing online (not on this blog, on another, abandoned blog). I think doing that caused me to move at a snail’s pace, and I was constantly behind and exhausted at the end of the day, trying to hit that 1667 mark. This year, I’m actually quite a ways ahead. Unfortunately, it means I’m nowhere near comfortable showing it off, so have no fear, I will not subject the world to my scribblings…well, unless I get on fire one day and pop out something that impresses me.

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A Little Bit About My Story

Like everything I’ve written this past year and a half, I’m focusing on building up the world of Blackwood Empire, in particular the character of Pixie Sinclaire. Last year I told the story of her breaking into a prison to save the world’s greatest scientific mind from falling into the hands of some very bad people. This year, Pixie finds herself in a prison of another kind, where the people holding her hostage are the only thing standing between her and a band of assassins known as the Scarlet Circle.

Last year’s story was driven primarily by physical action. Pixie and her companions were constantly on the move, avoiding gun fire and sending some back whenever possible. This year, I’m trying to focus more on the conflict provided by the situation and disparate personalities involved. There are a lot of pieces at play, and no one, not even the leader of the assassins, has a complete view of what’s going on.

It should be fun trying to keep everything up in the air. I was a bit worried that things would become too chaotic early on, but re-rereading the set up, I’ve only had to change one thing to keep it all straight. Hopefully I can keep it going. The main problem I feel I have right now is that all the dialogue, what little there is, is simply expressing plot and is completely devoid of any character. That will be a definite area of focus when revision time comes.

Current Count: 8275/Target Count: 6668.  Status: Ahead of schedule. Huzzah!