Tired tonight.  But total word count is at 4,884!

I really wanted to get ahead tonight, because I’m going to be out tomorrow evening.  I may find myself with some time to write on the fly…and I might not get anything done!  So a good solid cushion is a welcome thing right now.

To get there, though, meant fighting the “Kitten of Distraction,” as I saw it called on the NaNo forums.  Yesterday, I was pretty focused.  Today, for the first hour of writing I kept thinking of all the other things I could do.  Things that were totally relevant–like setting up a chart in Excel to track word count (spent twenty minutes on that) or visiting the NaNo forums (at least fifteen there).  But those aren‘t things that make actual writing progress…

The good thing is, the Kitten of Distraction got distracted itself eventually, and I got into a better rhythm in hour two.  I can already tell that how frequently I check word count is a pretty good barometer of how it’s going.  The slower it’s rising, the more frequently I check.

But tonight I got enough words written to get my dancing princesses in and out of their magical forest, and to go back in time for some background.  Tonight’s excerpt:

We turned back towards the glittering diamond forest.  I glanced over my shoulder as I walked towards the first trees.  I wouldn’t have minded exploring, at least a bit.  As I looked back, I thought I saw movement, just on the edge of the light.  It was a shadow among shadows, possibly a silhouette.  But I blinked, and when I looked again, I couldn’t be sure that I’d seen anything.  Even if I had, I didn’t know if that was a reason to stay, or an even better reason to go.

They might get to meet the silhouette tomorrow.  Or the next day.  But not if I don’t get off the computer tonight…