Word count: 7916 | Since last entry: 3670

15 days in a row of 500 words a day. I believe I’ve heard it takes 30 days to “set” a new habit. One thing I hope to do differently in the future, though, is to stop leaving the writing until the very end of the day (I got in the habit when I had a day job, of course, but there’s really no reason to do it now). The Internet gets kind of quiet and lonely in the late evening here on the West Coast, especially on a weekday. Europe and most of North America is asleep and there’s not much west of here but ocean.

At least I’ve finally figured out where this story (currently titled “Teaching the Pig to Sing”) is going. At nearly 8000 words already, with one or two major scenes yet to go, it’s way too long, but once it’s done I’m pretty sure I can easily cut a couple thousand words. I’ve been reluctant to trim as I go, since I’m trying to make wordcount. I’m also going to slice and splice and rearrange to get the information on the page before it’s needed (rather than “oh by the way, did I mention that…”) and properly build tension. The great thing about writing, as opposed to life, is that you can go back and change the past to make the present what you want it to be.

It’s been an interesting experience, learning about the world and the characters while writing the story. I think I prefer my usual technique of completely outlining before beginning the draft, though.

Heading to Seattle tomorrow for belated holiday get-together with Kate’s family; we also hope to see the Lucy exhibit.

(Even though it’s just a short drive, I’m still a little twitchy about travel after the problems we had coming back from Germany.

We’ll be okay.)