Day Fifty-six - 106,528 words and counting

I'm writing a novel. All my progress can be found on my private blog. The commentary for each day's work can be found below.

What a coincidence! I'm writing a scene about breakfast at breakfast. The biggest difference so far is that I haven't had to curtsy to anybody.

I just saw The Queen the other day, the 2006 movie in which Helen Mirren played Elizabeth II. If my view of protocol is influenced over the next several days of writing, well, it's no wonder. It was also that good of a movie.

I know that there's no point in editing now, but damn, I'm itching to go back and tidy stuff up. I look back at chapters that I've finished, and it feels more like I've left the behind, abandoned them. "Don't worry!" I want to say. "I'll come back and develop your setting better! I know you need a couple of really good, trenchant metaphors, and you'll get them, I promise!" I don't think they believe me at this point. Some of my early chapters have abandoned all hope entirely.

Composition is getting easier, though. I kind of think that I'm approaching my writing in the right way--set small but achievable goals on a daily basis, goals that fit into my schedule, and meet those goals every day without fail. At some point, I may increase my daily word count by a hundred words or so. I'm getting myself in the habit of being able to advance the story continuously, and that's a good habit to be in.

Unfortunately, once the composition stage is done, I'm going to have to come up with a way of shifting that energy over into editing, which is a different creature entirely. I guess I'll have to cross that bridge when I come to it.

Now, onto today's section of writing. We left Bryony in the middle of a curtsy, and I'm sure her knees are killing her by this point. Let's see if we can put her out of her misery.

--

Oh, we're getting into the deep, deep mythology now. Remember, you can't believe everything that Merona says, because she doesn't know all the answers either. She can only tell Bryony what she believes to be true, and that's assuming she's being completely honest. This scene introduces a concept that becomes integral to Bryony's understanding of magic.

We'll learn a bit more as the scene picks up tomorrow. Not a lot, but a bit, and then the action shifts in a different direction. You'll just have to see what I mean tomorrow, as chapter 6 continues.

Today's Total: 1,960/ 1,689 words (116.0%)
Nov. Progress to Date: 47,301 / 42,225 words (112.0%, 3.0 days ahead)
Nov. Total Progress: 47,301 / 50,670 (93.4%)
Book 2 Est. Completion 22,659 / 84,450 words (26.8%, 37 days to go)
Est. Completion: 106,528 / 250,000 words (42.6%, 85 days to go)