#WIPMarathon Update #10

Last report wordcount: I'd just finished my draft and was at 16K of my novella.

Current report wordcount: I finished my novella at 19K, and reached 62K of Shiny Book 3! For the first time ever, I actually won NaNoWriMo! :D

I also finished final beta edits on the first book. This book's come so far in the past few months, and I still love it to death. <3 Unashamedly.

I also sent in Darkworld Book 3 first-round edits to my publishers!

WIP Issues this month: The book refused to write itself. How rude. :P

For some reason, the murky middle of this draft started earlier than I'd expected and my brain refused to stick to a linear outline on this one, which meant it was scattered like a thousand-piece jigsaw. Luckily, Scrivener helped me everything organised! Especially when I kept writing bits of Books 4, 5 and 6 instead of the book I was supposed to be working on...

Four things I learned this month in writing:

• Every book is different. The first book in this series exploded onto the pages in a 24-day frenzy. The second screeched to a halt two chapters from the end and needed reworking. And the third is just... refusing to stay in the right order. I've given up trying to predict what the next one will do! :P
• Speaking of which, I'm somehow writing bits of all of them at once. Like I'll think of a line from one book, which sparks a scene in a different one, and next thing I know, I'll have met my wordcount but not written anything of my actual NaNo book. (*cue facepalm*)
• Don't. Panic. Seriously. So many days my wordcount seemed to be at a standstill, but as long as I wrote SOMETHING, it all added up in the end. (You'd think I'd know this by now!)
• I'm kind of scared of my own story. o.O I've never written anything quite this INTENSE. But it's a good thing! (I think!)

What distracted me this month when writing: In winter, I have to suffer the joys of Seasonal Affective Disorder, which means that instead of running hyperactively around writing All The Words and apparently not needing sleep, like I do in summer, I just want to lie on the floor all the time. It's extremely infuriating when you're trying to write multiple books.

Oh, and preparing for TWO book releases! Fear's Touch: A Darkworld Novella hit the virtual shelves on Monday 17th November, and it's two days to the next one. *runs around manically* *falls over*

Goal for next month: Finish this draft!

I also have another book release coming up on Monday! Walking Shadow (Darkworld #2) will finally be unleashed on the world! Demons, zombies, doppelgangers and other delightful things. Uh, that's what the book's about, not my promotional plan. Honest. (*hides zombies under bed*)

Also, there will be an Exciting Announcement after all the crazy book release stuff is over... which some of you know about already. Watch this space! *excited flail*

Last 200 words: Another Book 1 teaser!

We rounded a corner and met total chaos. Sparks of magic danced off the walls, creating a haze of blinding light, and I swore, flicking the stunner to life in my hand. I couldn’t see more than a few inches in front of me, and running headlong towards a wyvern blinded was the height of stupidity. But the others on our team were already on the case.

“I’m calling backup!” yelled the leader. “We’ll take care of the lizard – stop those magic-wielders!”

Hell. Those sparks were pure, raw magic energy – level-two. These were the real deal, all right. 

Blurred figures moved in the dark, and when one of them pelted towards the exit, I took off after them.

I might have been blinded, but I was faster than they were – faster than she was. My arms locked around her waist and sent us both sprawling to the ground. She kicked and squirmed but I held her pinned down. Screaming curses, she twisted around to glare at me from behind wild dark-red hair. She was little more than a kid, I realised – but I couldn’t afford to let her get away.

I went for the handcuffs. And the floor beneath us began to shake.