I'm back!

Hello again!

I've returned from my vacation with some very exciting progress to report. Without further ado, I present the word count on my new project:

10,229 / 100,000 (10.2%)

Whoo-hoo!!!!! That's right, in one week I've written two-thirds of the word count it had taken me months to accumulate on my previous story. I'm so excited. And proud. (Can you tell?)

On Saturday we drove up to spend the week with some family in Canada. It's about a twelve hour drive when all's said and done. By the end of the day, I'd finished plotting out the entire story in moderate to heavy detail. I make the distinction on the level of detail because the plotting I'd done for my last story was at the minimal to moderate level of detail and I never got the whole story done. There were big (think gaping) holes in the plot that I figured would just piece together somehow while I was writing. This project has been a very different experience so far.

On Sunday I had a bunch of vacation-type things to do, but I got the prologue written. After that I was writing about 2,000 words a day for the rest of the week with the exception of one day when I only made 1,600 because of some other things that were going on. Yesterday was a wash. My laptop crapped out in the car so I couldn't really work while Ben was driving in the morning and then I ended up driving most of the rest of the way back. Today I did a bunch of research I wasn't able to do (no internet connection where we were) and got a little over a thousand words in bringing the total to the fabulous number above. YAHOO!!!

I'm having such a great time. This feels so very different from my other project -- like this is how it's supposed to be.

Before I go, I need to give a big thank you to the fabulous Jeanne Stein, who sent me a copy of her newest book, BLOOD DRIVE. Jeanne is a great storyteller with a unique voice and I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the Anna Strong series, THE BECOMING. If you haven't already read it, zip right over to Amazon and order it. Heck, order both. The only things standing between me and Blood Drive are my new daily word count goals and, I confess, the new Harry Potter. But I'll post a review as soon as I read it, promise.

I've decided not to read anything for at least another week so I can settle into my new writing rhythm here at home with as little temptation as possible. Ben's comandeered my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in the meantime. It's just as well. I literally had to hide the damn thing under a pillow at one point today to get my words done. Hopefully I'll be able to remain blissfully ignorant of all Harry Potter plot secrets until I'm able to actually read it.