NaNoWriMo: Day 14

The past few days have been annoying. I got food poisoning or some sort of evil stomach and flu-ish bug that made getting out of bed next to impossible. Still recovering from that, too. But today I managed to get it around 1,600 words. Not too bad. I’m telling you, word wars are awesome for motivation. Natasha McNeely has been a great influence with word wars. We’re going to do them daily for the rest of the week — that should be great.

Anyway, I’ll be more consistent about posting from now on. Promise.

Total words written today: 1,679

Total word count: 12,772

Something felt off. There were other presences in the room. Edwin, Samuel, Claudia of all people, and one other. Someone without a distinct smell. Marcus shot up, and his broken nose screamed at him. But there he was. Sanders. The sixth clone — Six. The liminal sat next to Claudia with a relaxed, almost sadistic smile that somehow seemed so polite yet corrupted. No one seemed particularly comfortable, but they weren’t worried, either, and that troubled him.

NaNoWriMo: Day 10 + Word War Triumph!

Today has been slow. My sleeping schedule is slowly being righted and — gasp! — I’m becoming one of the living again instead of one of the nocturnal creatures of the dark. Happy day. Also, I’ve fallen in love with Ludovico Einaudi, if that wasn’t obvious enough in my last post, which is, I think, one of the only posts I’ve ever updated post-posting (hah).

Anyway, I hit the 11,000 mark today. Nearly wrote 2,000 thanks to some word wards with the great Natasha McNeely. We’re going to start doing them regularly now, even after NaNoWriMo ends, because both of us gained so much ground in our stories. I really recommend, if you’re competitive, trying to find a word war buddy to “spar” with on a weekly or even daily basis.

Total words written today: 1,822

Total word count: 11,093

“And what about Home? Where is that located?”

“Do you have business with the Trusted One?” Now the fox modified was wary again.

The woman mentally kicked herself for being too forward. “No, but my uncle works as one of his bodyguards.” She checked their expressions and hoped neither of them personally knew any of the three men who served as Edwin’s personal retinue. “I wanted to visit him while I’m here.”

That was sufficient enough. The fox motioned for her to pass. “Please enjoy your stay, and I hope it isn’t too big an inconvenience that the hospital isn’t finished yet.”

“Not at all.” She barely blocked the devilish, cold bite from her smile. “That just gives me more time to become even more familiar with this wonderful City of yours.”

NaNoWriMo: Day 8

Today was confusing because of my funky schedule. Stayed up really late, slept in late, but tonight I’m going to bed early because my body’s mad at me, haha. Anyway, sorry again for not being around much.

A new character sort of inserted himself into New Fate. His name is Kulaj Sokolov, and he is my only European character. Dominant Race and its sequel are set in a post-US North America in which most of the population that isn’t genetically modified with some sort of animal DNA lives in one of the Greater Cities, ruled by the Great General. These people don’t have contact with anyone outside of their sphere of influence — they’re completely isolated by choice, so anyone from, say, Canada or Mexico would be rare. Even rarer would be someone from Europe or Asia or Africa.

Kulaj is from Russia (or at least the Russia that exists in the Dominant Race universe), and he’s easily one of my favorite characters. His creation also allowed me to expand the universe a bit and allow a glimpse of the outside setting beyond the Cities. That made me happy.

How about you? How’s NaNo going? Give me your word count, tell me about a fun moment. Anything.

Total words written today: 1,740

Total word count: 9,271

“I’m sorry for your loss.” Edwin never stopped looking forward. “I’d heard rumors of your relationship with Katherine, but nothing was substantiated.”

It took a moment for Marcus to recognize Edwin was talking about the Ninth; as per custom, their original name was returned to them in death, which was considered the highest honor for a General.

“She knew Maya, you know.” Kulaj tossed a casual glance back at Samuel. “They went to the same military academy. One exceled in politics while the other decided to become a surgeon. Both achieved their dreams, until one disappeared almost twenty-eight years ago. It hurt Katherine to hear that her friend ran away.” He chuckled. “That was the official story, anyway.”

NaNoWriMo: Day 7

I didn’t write on Saturday or Sunday, but today I got back to work and wrote a decent amount. I’m not really aiming for the NaNo daily word count; all I need is around 1000-1,200 words a day to make my30-35k word count for New Fate. So far, that seems to be going well. Also, a friend introduced me to the font Palatino Linotype. It’s apparently a common book font, and it makes writing New Fate a lot easier on my eyes. I love it.

Total words written today: 1,359

Total word count: 7,531

Marcus wanted to crawl under a rock or run to Lilia’s car and hitch a ride before they left for the Arland cabin. Elk and the newly hired Samuel also looked disheartened, though Samuel for different reasons. His niece just killed his sovereign leader. That wasn’t something Marcus was able to comprehend.

“Since no one is technically at war yet, Kulaj, the Ninth’s senior advisor, is running things until they can find the proper candidate to become the Tenth. But if this gets worse, and Maya makes good on her promise, they might declare war on us.” He ran both hands through his hair, which Marcus swore was turning grayer by the second. “And then we’re out of time.”