NaNoWriMo - Day 4

So yesterday I decided to take a day off, lol. I know it might seem strange that I would take a day off only four days into a 30 day challenge but:

1) I desperately needed it. Not because the writing was stressful, but because the week as a whole was and I was on the edge of a general stress-related meltdown of epic proportions.

2) It was Friday, and I think Fridays are a good day to choose to have a regular day off. Writing 7 days a week, 365 days a year is a pretty harsh thing to set yourself. From what I've heard, most people do take one day a week off. Most of them seem to choose Sundays, but the idea of sacrificing a weekend day gives me the shivers. Those are usually my best days. Whereas it's nice to come home after work on a Friday evening and know there's absolutely nothing that you need to do.

3) I'm ahead in my wordcount so it wasn't a big sacrifice.

So I think I made the right decision. I plan to write a bunch today and tomorrow to make up for it and take advantage of the weekend, as well as giving myself a solid cushion heading into week 2, which is always a tough week for me. More updates to come.

NaNoWriMo - Day 5

Welp, today I came back to Dreaming, refreshed and ready to tackle it again after my break. I had a sort of tentative goal of 5000 words for today, but I didn't get started until late, had an interruption in the form of houseguests for an hour, and then hit a slight wall when I realized I wasn't exactly sure how I wanted to do the next bit and needed to have a bit of a think. So I topped out a little over 3000 words for the day.

I still feel really good about it, though XD 5000 words in one day is something I've only managed a couple of times. It was an ambitious goal and I'm happy with 3000, which puts me over 10,000 words for the month so far.

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Today I wrote Chapter 8, which turned out to be pretty short. The first bit is from Sam's best friend, Landon's, POV, in third person. He reflects on his own perspective on all of this. While he cares about Sam, he also is determined to get the partnership at the firm, and feels he's likely to get it anyway. He thinks it's probably best for everyone if Sam just gives in now, instead of working himself into a nervous wreck competing with him for the spot.

Kendra comes out of the room, distressed, and Landon gets perhaps a bit too intimate while comforting her. Is he just a close friend? Or does he have designs on Sam's wife as well as his promotion? We find out that it was Landon's idea that Kendra sign Sam's rights over.

Then we're back in Sam's POV as the doctor returns. Sam is angry and shouts a lot, and finally takes a swing at his doctor. This has predictably poor results, considering Sam's in a mental institution at the moment, and they sedate him.

This sends us into Chapter 9, where Sam wakes up in the castle where he had gone to sleep earlier. He dresses in native clothing with the help of invisible, magical servants, has breakfast with Kendra in the huge, empty castle, and then they depart, using broomsticks to travel faster. Riding a broomstick and dealing with all of this magic is disconcerting to Sam, but also fun.

Right now he questions whether the whole episode in the hospital is even real. Maybe everything he's experienced has been a dream up to this point. He has a hard time believing that there's a real world where he could have a breakdown like that, and where his wife would betray him to such an extent.

They reach the borders of the country of Shun and enter Li, which is a vast desert. And that's where I stopped for the night, because they're about to be attacked, and I have to decide if I want them to land first ;)