I thought that I would be able to keep up with two journals, but I was wrong. If anyone wants to follow my writing related posts, you can find me at my main journal anaquana.

I am doing NaNo this year. I think I might be an insane masochist.

I'm doing fairly well so far, I'm 500 words in and I've got a fairly clear sense of where I'm going.

Wish me luck.

First rewrite is done. I'm still not sure how the epilogue is going to be written. Or even if I'm going to do an epilogue.

I'm sending it off to my writing group, but since they are all consumed by their own projects, I am looking for a couple of volunteers to read it and tear it apart for me.

Any takers?

It's been quite a while since I last posted and I wish that I could claim being completely caught up in rewrites as my excuse. Unfortunately, that's not why I've been quiet.

I went through a nasty bout of computer issues that left me without a working computer for the better part of a week and it completely killed my momentum. I'm slowly working back up to the frenzied pace I was at before, but stress and dragons have also taken their toll on my productivity as of late.

On the up side - I've added in a chapter and a half that wraps up some loose ends that I had forgotten about and I'm currently up to chapter 29 in my rewrites and there are only 32 chapters so YAY!!! I'm almost ready to send it off to my writing group so that they can tear it apart. Then it's time for me to start the rewrite process all over again.

I also opened an Etsy store to make a little extra $$ so I've been busy crafting things. Go check my stuff out and let me know what you think.

Just and That seem to be the words I use most often. I average about fifteen each per chapter. I've been going through and using the Manuscript Analyzer that bethanydonne turned me on to. It's a great program that breaks your manuscript (or whatever other text you put into it) down into individual words and tells you how many times that word has been used, if it is an adverb, a commonly used word (the, an, a, etc), and if it is what they call a "frequent offender" or word that is most often abused by people.

They have the online version which I use or they have a version you can download straight onto your hard drive.

Just a quick update on where I stand with the book.

I haven't decided how I want to end it. I have several different endings written out/in the process of being written and I like different aspects of all of them.

I know a lot of people say that once you finish you should step away from the ms for a while, but I just can't do that right now. I'm going through and rewriting the bits that have glaring errors or horrendous continuity issues. That's the biggest problem that I've had because I wrote everything out of order. In the chapter I'm working on now, I said one thing at the beginning of the chapter and halfway through I said something completely contradictory.

Once I go through it and fix the big stuff that I see, I'll send it off to certain people to get torn to shreds so that I can put it back together again all purdy-like.

Except for the very last chapter, I am DONE!!!!

Two years worth of hard work is finally at an end!!!

Well, almost at an end. I just have to decide how I want to wrap everything up. But now I can begin seriously editing this thing. Right now it stands at just under 80K so once I add the epilogue it should be about 82-83K.

I am so freaking happy right now.

I made my minimum goal of 75K words. It feels very good to have accomplished that goal. The book isn't done yet. I still have a couple of chapters to finish and I added in two more chapters that needed to be there.

I'm kind of amused that just a couple of months ago I was worrying that I wouldn't even be able to make 70K words and now it looks like this is going to close in around 80K. Yes, I am a worrier, I will freely admit that.

In other news, I have the first couple of pages of book two hand written in a notebook. Insomnia is good for some things some times.

I've hit a wall. And it hurts.

I am 1500 words away from my minimum word goal and I'm stuck.

Part of my problem is that I have been thinking ahead to the editing phase and realizing what a HUGE undertaking that is going to be. There are so many things that I need to add in and change and continuity errors that resulted from a massive chapter rearranging.

But part of it is also fear. I am so close to being done, and other than some fanfic and school assignments, I have never finished a writing project.

And of course there are the insecurities that are cropping up. What if it sucks? What if I can't get an agent? What if... what if... what if...

Also, my idyllic five-month long vacation has ended. It's time for me to get a real bill paying job again. I am so blessed and thankful that my fiance has a stable enough job that I was able to take these few months off to devote to writing. The two years that I was at my last job I wrote a total of 20,000 words. In the time since I quit, I have written nearly 60,000. And I'm scared that when I do go back to work I won't be able to write like I have been. Will I be too tired at the end of the day to work on my writing (as was the case with the last job)? Will I have to write on the weekends and neglect family and friends?

So, with all of this stuff percolating in my little old brain, my brain has decided to take a holiday. *sigh*

My question stems from the fact that my original plan for my series was to have each book revolve around a different character from different points after the falling of the Veil. My Muse has other ideas and is doing everything in her power to keep Alex as the main character. Since we are at an impasse, I am putting the question to you, my future (hopefully) adoring readers.

Poll #1235451 Main Characters in a Series
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6

In a series would you rather see one main character throughtout the series or a different main character each book?