Word count: 78469 | Since last entry: 1602 | This month: 3948 Nearly finished chapter 7 on Friday, and printed out and copied what I had, then wrote the last few hundred words and the summary of the previous chapter Saturday morning. Got everything printed out and copied with over an hour to spare. Luxury. Also got my critique of chapter F. In general, they liked it, though one person threatened to pummel me with oranges if I let Jason have a crisis of conscience in his next chapter. I knew this was going to be a tricky bit… I’m finding the process of writing to be rather oppressive right now. This might have something to do with the fact that I have raised the pressure on both main characters to Marianas Trench levels — it really sucks to be them right now. Unfortunately, being them is something I have to do in order to write about them. (At Clarion, Geoff Ryman said that writing is more like acting than directing.) This hasn’t been a problem with short stories, but for a novel I find myself going to that dark place for months at a crack. And it’s going to continue until September or October at this rate… But. Chapter 7 is done. On to chapter G! And I’m not going to let myself leave so much until the last minute this time. I’m not officially doing the Shadow Clarion Challenge, but I’m going to continue to try to write every day during the next 6 weeks.