It took me 839 words, but I got the rest of the chapter, and I LOVE the hook at the end. I kept plugging toward it, not knowing how it was going to end or how I was going to move Will, Kettan, Emerald, and Fred into the next part of the story…

…I just had this idea that Will’s world was the secret. And when a few paragraphs from the end I realized how it was all going to come together, I could barely sit still to type it.

Am posting the chapter into Aweber now so it’ll go out on Monday for folks who are caught up.

Hope you folks have a good writing weekend. I’m off until Sunday night.

Kettan learned more about Will than Will would have preferred tonight. None of it was bad, but some of it left Will pretty stressed.

Tomorrow I have to get to the bit about the nightmares—that’ll be the end of the current chapter.

Tonight, though, 666 words.

How about you?

So Kettan, Will, and Emerald decide that Blade may be watching Kettan’s place, as well as her world—and decide they’ll go into Story though someone else’s world.

And end up tonight deciding to try to get there through Will’s world. Which is filled with women. Babes, even. Lots of them.

I had some fun with tonight’s writing. Emerald got the night’s best line.

521 words.

How about you?

Tonight, Emerald, Will, and Kettan prepared for their trip back to Story to find Blade. I got 531 words in twenty minutes—two runs of the timer.

Read through sections of the previous chapter to get into the story—and as usual, cringed. First draft can be wonderful…or it can be the first way you miss telling the story you intended to tell. And while I had some good bits in “The Face In The Moon Is Not Mine,” it was definitely a case of having missed my mark by a long shot.

This is what first draft is, though. A trial run—nothing like what the finished story will become. After so many books, you’d think I’d be comfortable with that.

I never am.

How are your words coming?

After FIVE MONTHS of everything in the world getting in the way, Chapter 18 of TalysMana is posted.

Most of you will get the chapter via e-mail tomorrow. New folks, of course, have to catch up first.

But it’s LIVE. I’m so happy to be writing fiction again!

505 words tonight, sticking to my 20 minute time frame. 1913 for the week, and for the completed chapter, which I’ll post Monday to go out with the next scheduled mail day.

Emerald takes his stand, and steps foot onto the path that will lead him back into hell. He came together well as a character, and he’s already adding a layer of richness to the story.

He’s seen things. I suspect the things he’s seen are going to figure in my nightmares pretty soon.

So. Good writing night for you?

I had no idea when Emerald sat down to tell me his story that he would describe Blade. I had no idea until I started writing what Blade would look like.

Now I know, and I find myself wondering more about who this nightmare is.

405 words tonight, 1408 total for the chapter. I’ll most likely finish it tomorrow night.

I felt sorry for Emerald. He got a hell of a shock talking to Kettan tonight…and I know, though neither of them does yet, that worse is yet to come.

Going to have to change the chapter title to “The Face In The Moon Is Not Mine,” but the story is cool. And so is the drink—a Silver Moon.

And Emerald surprised me. And scared Kettan I got most of it tonight—473 words before I ran out of time. Sticking to 20 minutes again, and pleased with what I accomplished in that time.

How about you?

589 words tonight, and the first fiction I’ve written since everything went to hell for me months ago.

I read through the previous chapter, I set the timer, I started in…and twenty minutes later, I had the first chunk of James Joseph Emerald in his bar, Emerald’s, in Fort Lauderdale, pouring drinks for Will and Kettan, and telling them the story of the night the face in the mirror was not his.

Tomorrow, I’ll find out what that story is—though the interesting tracery of old scars Kettan noticed on his hands give me a clue.

But I wrote! And I’m glad to be back to the fiction again.

How are you coming with your words?

I got words on TalysMana today. Well, they aren’t words IN the story. But I redid my index (plot) cards to reflect the change in direction the story took, and to make sure that I stay on track with the sense of wonder in having imagination create your own living alternate universe.

So, in spite of vertigo and feeling rough, I’m getting back on track.

How about you?