Somehow, it’s almost halfway through November.  How does that happen?

I’ve had a very inconsistent week.  As I had hoped, I managed to build up a cushion on Wednesday.  Then on Thursday I wrote exactly ZERO words.  I knew that was going to happen though–I was out all evening for a party with friends.  So as Friday dawned, I was 600 words behind.  I closed the gap a bit Friday, and then today…today has been lovely.

I think today has been what my life might look like if I didn’t have a job and could write all the time.  I’m not usually one for sitting down and writing for hours at a time.  By necessity I’ve been writing for a couple hours every evening (when I can) this month, but usually I’d rather work in maybe half-hour stretches (barring those rare moments of ultimate inspiration).  I had a fairly clear day today, so I spent it alternating writing and everything else.  Eat breakfast; write for a while; go grocery shopping; write for a while; run an errand; write for a while; and so on.

And the grand total–which you already know if you’re looking at my sidebar–was 20,744 words.  That was almost 2,600 today, and it puts me about 750 up on the goal.  One of those good days.

I think I’m foreseeing some good word count days in the future.  My long-awaited second major character who finally turned up earlier this week likes to talk.  I don’t know why I haven’t mentioned his name–it’s Dastan, and he’s one of the princes in the story.

It tends to go that my plan is, say, to drop my narrating princess, Lyra, into any of the boats, just to get her over to the castle and move things along.  Instead, Dastan jumps in to say, “hey, she can ride in my boat, and we’ll have funny and/or character revealing conversations along the way!”  And then they do.  I’ve been a little worried about some future developments in their characters and their relationship, but I don’t think I need to be.  They’ll figure it out.

I have a feeling the above-paragraph may sound insane to non-writers.  Those of you who are writers, you know.  Characters do things like this!

Anyway.  It’s encouraging.  I like talkative characters.  Sometimes I have to go back and rein the in during revision, but it’s still helpful for a first draft.

Excerpt time.  Slight context here: Lyra and Dastan are in his boat en route to the enchanted castle where all that dancing is going on.  It’s just come out that there would be a way for the princesses to escape if they choose to.  And it may help you to know the princes are from a fairly small island country.

“What would you do?” I asked.  “If we decided to run?”

“I can’t speak for my brothers…”

“I didn’t ask about them.”  People always assumed that my sisters and I were of one mind all the time; we encouraged it, but it still frustrated me.  “What would you do?”

He shrugged one shoulder.  “I’d be sorry.  And I’d say Godspeed and good luck.”

“You wouldn’t try to stop us?”

He looked away, across the water.  “How do I put this…  I love my country.  It’s a good place.  And I’ve been trapped there my entire life.  Since the spell, sure, but before that too.  I’m not really a believer in trapping other people.”

“Try being trapped in just a castle.”

“I’d rather not.  How do you stand it?”

Do you know, no one had ever asked before.  My sisters had known me forever, and they were all in the same situation besides.  No one else at home would have that kind of conversation with us.  They wouldn’t ask—and even if they did, we wouldn’t answer.  Our anonymity held us together, but it kept us separate too.

So there was a definite thrill to answering, “I read stories.  In one way I’ve never been out of the castle—until now—but in another way…I’ve been so many places.”