Scribes & Archers

So, I’m going to start something new: A writing update every Saturday. Since this is the first one I’m pretty much playing it by ear, so we’ll see what this includes. :)

Sunday, September 17th – Word Count: 6,189

I wrote two blog posts that day, neither of which has gone up yet, and that was the day I renamed Alpine Writer to Scribes & Archers. Fun fact: The short story I planned to have go up on Sunday is not actually the one that went up. I wasn’t happy with the way the planned one was going, so I wrote 4,099 words of another short story that I knew I could keep on track and posted that instead. I believe that the other 2,090 words were on those two blog posts I mentioned. I also chose names for the characters of a short story that’s currently expected to go up on the eighth. It’s an urban fantasy, which I’m a little nervous about since it’s outside my genre, but I’m excited about it.

Monday, September 18th – Word Count: 2,399

On Monday I got more into the groove of writing The Last Assassin again. I’d been kind of struggling with it, but Monday was my first step toward getting out of that rut and back on track.

Tuesday, September 19th – Word Count: 4,347

I almost doubled the words I wrote per day on The Last Assassin from Monday to Tuesday, as seen above. Yep, all of that was on The Last Assassin. This was where I really got into a groove, thanks to the Fighter’s Block word sprinting tool. Since I found that (or rediscovered it, actually. For some reason the first time I saw it I thought it was boring. Why, Past Self?!) it’s been my goal each day to use it to write 4k on The Last Assassin.

Wednesday, September 20th – Word Count: 3,919

That’s actually not quite an accurate word count. 4thewords counts words differently than Fighter’s Block. I wrote 4k that day. Or Fighter’s Block lied, one or the other. This was when I discovered that at this rate, and presuming that The Last Assassin doesn’t go too far over 100k, I’ll be finished with the first draft on October 4th. I’m excited for that day.

Funny quote of the day: *asking my sister* “What did I do writing-wise today?”

“Tortured me to death.”

I love having a tiny fandom. ;)

Thursday, September 21st – Word Count: 2,598

Well, obviously I didn’t make my 4k goal on Friday. I was distracted making a document of moments I want to remember and looking back through old stories with cringes. Although, looking through old stories did give me ideas for the third book in a dystopian trilogy I plan on writing in the future.

Friday, September 22nd – Word Count: 1,026

Yesterday I did more planning than actual writing. I did write a bit of actual story, but mostly I was prioritizing my list of future projects/past projects that still aren’t finished and figuring out what I need to do with each one before I can write it, so that I can pick one and outline it or worldbuild for it or whatever needs to be done while I’m working on drafting The Dark War Trilogy. Ideally I’d like to have another project ready to start when I finish this one, and then keep that cycle going. How well that works remains to be seen.

The story scheduled to begin after this one, if anyone was curious, is a fantasy temporarily called Dark Queen Rising. (I’m trying really hard not to get attached to that name, since it’s rather spoiler-y.)

Saturday, September 23rd – Word Count: 3,307

And then we come to today. Today’s research on license plates (the MC of Dark Queen Rising needed a license plate number) led me to learning that not all license plate numbers are just randomly selected. In Britain, in particular, the first two letters and the first two numbers correspond to region and date of registration, while the last three numbers are selected randomly. In some states in the US, the license plate number includes an expiration date and/or has numbers corresponding to the county or region in which the plate was issued. The random things you learn from writing research. Also, Tolkien fans will appreciate this one: Elevenses and second breakfast are actual meals in some countries. Countries that eat elevenses include Australia, Chile, New Zealand (I mean, it is Middle Earth, after all), and the United Kingdom, among others. Countries that eat second breakfast include Bavaria, Poland, and Hungary (they must be hungary… Yeah, that was bad. If you want good puns, this is not the place to look, unfortunately).

In addition to learning random facts (e.g. the above about license plates and how London Bridge ended up in Arizona), I actually did writing. I did a lot of work enhancing my story binder for The Dark War Trilogy, which is shared with The Heart of the Baenor, and unfortunately I wasn’t able to write a full 4k in the story once I got to actual writing, but I’m glad I came closer than I did the past couple of days.