I’m at 16,795 words on La Cause. So catching up and making the 50K target might be a bit of a job, but I’m not despairing yet. I’m still really pleased with how things are going.

In the grand tradition of Being Me, I started the novel too far into the story.  I do love to in medias res things up, but this happened in early drafts of SanClare Black, too, where I started so far into the story, I would have ended up having to do  a lot of klunky flash-backing to get certain scenes to make any sense at all and then they make no sense because you’re flashing-back every few sentences to explain things.  Awkward.  So what do I do while working on La Cause? The same damn thing. So yesterday and today’s wordage was all about going back and putting a new beginning on the story. 

It all starts with a game of hide ‘n’ seek in the woods–a sort of mutant version that bears much more of a resemblance to the game “ghost in the graveyard” my brothers and friends and I used to play when we were little which was sort of hide ‘n’ seek meets tag but played at night. There were other rules, too…

Childhood used to be so much fun. I feel sorry for modern kids who don’t seem to get (or even want) to roam the neighborhood, playing all kinds of crazy, made-up games and only coming home when their dad’s shout or whistle called them in for supper.

I am behind.  Simple math says I should be at 18350 words, but I’m only at 12750.  No biggie.  I’m very happy with my progress on La Cause, and I can should be able to catch up for the NaNo goal if all goes well.  I’m just pleased that it’s moving along so well when it was being such a fussbudget in earlier draftings. 

This is instead the, “Yes, I’m doing NaNoWriMo!” and ”Yes, I will post a Con Report soon!” post.

I’m averaging about 1000 words a day so far for my Nano book; not on target for the Recommended Daily Average, but as I was a bit busy during those first few days, I’m doing pretty well.

WFC was so much fun, but to do a proper report takes energy, and I’m still very tired-out.  All energy regained was used up with errand-running and catching-up-from-weekend today.  So maybe tomorrow. 

First readers still approve!  I’m into chapter four now after some minor, improving edits suggested by said first readers and just wrestled through another of those transition scenes that always bog me down.  When I was first writing, I had the habit of just ending scenes abruptly and moving to the next important moment or scene, skipping over the Very Irksome Transitions.  Of course, this made things very choppy, so I cannot recommend it.  These days, I prefer to deal with the VITs as I go rather than doing a full “smooth crappy transitions” revision run-through later.

 But yay.

Also, Nano looks like a go, so I need to review my notes for La Cause and make sure I’m read to Do This Thing!  I tried in 2005 and didn’t have a good enough grasp of my idea so gave up.  I used 2006’s Nano month to work on major revisions to SanClare Black (didn’t quite make my personal target but came very close; didn’t count for “real” Nano in any case), but this year, I’m going to try to do it correctly and stick to it.  Just ’cause I think it might be a fun and liberating way to get a really bloody awful first draft of La Cause done.  I’m already telling myself to just write whatever including “this part sucks; fix later” and then DO the VITs and move on, always aiming for the final 50k target.

That’s my idea, at least.  We shall see.

I just finished chapter three of SanClare Scarlet (2.0), and I still really like the new direction, but it’s off to the first readers again for a gut-check.  As I said when I started this draft, I give up on word counters, but I’m just shy of 12K which, considering SanClare Black clocks in at about 125K, puts me at about 10%.  So.  That’s good.

Nanowrimo starts in a couple of weeks, and I think I’ll put making major progress on the book my Nano project.  Either that, or I’ll do La Cause as my Nano project–and idea I like rather better since it needs the jump-start more.  Hrm… Well, we’ll see how I feel closer to time.

Of course, it doesn’t help that I’ll be out of town the first few days of November at World Fantasy about which I am EXTREMELY excited.  But I’ve never been before, so–any advice anyone?  Stuff I should know? Stuff I should do? Stuff I should pack?