Tomorrow is of course American Thanksgiving, so it’s highly doubtful I’ll get anything done tomorrow, either. I shall see about resuming work on Bone Walker over the weekend, though, once we get past Turkey Day. I’m about to the point anyway where I need to take a step back and update the outline, and figure out how what I’ve written so far will affect the next several chapters.

Those of you still plugging away at Nanowrimo, good luck to you! Those of you who’ve crossed the finish line, congrats! And to all of you celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow, may your companionship be fine and your dinner tasty, whatever that dinner may be!

This puts me at 13K and change. At minimum, if I make 500 words a day every day for the rest of the month, I should make about 22K–but I’m thinking 26K is not out of the question. I’m going to keep going, regardless. The Nano cred would be shiny, but finishing Faerie Blood‘s first sequel? Shinier.

I’m about to finish up Chapter 5 as of tonight. Jude’s life has just gotten quite a bit more difficult, though she doesn’t realize it yet. And I’ve enjoyed writing a tender moment between Christopher and a very worried Kendis. More updates as they happen!

Written on the 10th: 584
Written on the 11th: 515
Written on the 12th: 537
Written on the 13th: 215
Written yesterday: 2,454
Written today and tonight: 1,019
Chapter 4 total: 2,882
Chapter 5 total: 2,442
Bone Walker total (first draft): 13,751

I am amused to observe that despite the fact that I wrote out six chapters’ worth of outline for this thing, I’ve already gone off script. Carson and Jake muscled their way into the scene in Chapter 3, which is probably a damn good thing for Elessir, since that boy’s in sorry condition right out of the gate, and Jake is a retired EMT! That’s my characters for you, always willing to screw up plot plans for the greater good.

On a bigger picture level, one of the early plot points in my head appears to have shifted around on me as well, in terms of how I’m going to introduce it. I think it’ll still be in the next chapter, but there will be no buildup for it yet because everybody’s already being distracted by Elessir and Melisanda coming on camera. But once I have the next big plot ball in the air, that’ll be the last of the initial plot points, and then I can start working on complications on those.

And Elessir hitting on Kendis. Wait, did I say that out loud?

Written tonight: 524
Chapter 3 total: 2,963
Bone Walker total (first draft): 8,427

Chapter 3 is a good way towards done at this point. Melisanda has dropped a little bomb on Kendis, who really does not care for her arrival in the slightest. Team Kendis is about to figure out in the meantime exactly what to do with the Unseelie bard who’s pretty much fallen back into their laps.

And speaking of whom, for giggles and grins and in particular for , I’m going to give y’all another snippet. But this one’s bigger and spoilery if you haven’t read Faerie Blood yet, so I’ll stick it behind the fold!

“Oh God, no way,” I burst out. “No fucking way!”

The figure on the ground had no shirt or shoes, and the form-fitting pants that were his only clothing had seen far better days. Even from several steps away I could see a long tear down one leg, showing bruises and streaks of blood beneath. What flesh the trousers didn’t cover seemed little better, for half-healed scars crisscrossed his back, and skin that should have gleamed with the translucence of moonlight looked bone-pale with fatigue and cold. Black hair that I’d last seen styled into quite the retro pompadour was reduced to an unkempt mop. For an instant I hesitated, stunned by this piteous appearance; was I really seeing who I thought I was?

When he looked up at me, though, I was sure. So was Christopher, who swore as he whirled to join me, and only then did I find I’d charged forward in a rush of reaction. But the newcomer’s large, wavering smile stopped me in my tracks, a smile that clued me in that nobody was home behind his eyes. He tried to rise, to push up to his knees in a ghost of his normal grace; maybe he was trying to bow? I couldn’t tell and didn’t care, and yet, I couldn’t help wincing as he promptly pitched forward onto his face.

“Mah dear Miss Thompson,” he said on the way down, in a Tennessee drawl I knew to be as false as a six-dollar bill, “we’ve jes’ gotta stop meetin’ this way.”

Oh yeah, I knew him. He was a bard of the Unseelie Court, a singer who shamelessly exploited his coincidental resemblance to a young Elvis Presley, modulo tapered ears and eyes that gleamed like sapphires–or would have, at least, in proper health. Like me, he was a mage, though he was many centuries my senior and had had much more time to master his power.

His name was Elessir a’Natharion.

And he’d tried to kill me.

I am going to have way too much fun continuing this. Assuming I can actually keep pulling the words out of my brain!

Written Friday: 226
Written Saturday: 1,699
Written tonight: 514
Chapter 3 total: 2,439
Bone Walker total (first draft): 7,903

Good news is, though, Chapter 2 is done and I’ve brought another couple characters on camera. Millicent gets to make her first appearance, as well as another character who showed up in Book 1 and who will be back for more this time around.

Written on Tuesday: 777
Written yesterday: 901
Written tonight: 235
Chapter 2 total: 2,906
Bone Walker total (first draft): 5,464

For amusement value, here’s a bit of a snippet from yesterday!

Christopher’s favorite band had come to town, and the audience was having the time of its life.

And I had to admit, so was I. The good humor and boisterous energy of the performers were infectious, and the music, irrepressible. I didn’t know the words to most of the songs, but on the strength of rhythm and melody alone, I was thrilled to clap and bounce along with everyone else. I didn’t mind that mine was the only brown face in sight, or even that half of the white girls in range were paying more attention to the man at my side than they were to the stage. Not that I could blame them. At six-two, clad in a black T-shirt emblazoned with the blue, red, yellow, and white of the Newfoundland flag and cheerfully bellowing lyrics he knew far better than I did, Christopher MacSimidh was difficult to miss. He’d spruced up for the concert, with a new shorter haircut that’d traded off his ponytail for front locks that dangled along his brow. For once he’d even shaved properly, baring an intriguing little dent in the line of his chin that I was certain was drawing the gaze of every straight woman and gay man at the show. It certainly kept drawing mine.

I am up a bit later than I like, but I did manage to meet tonight’s word quota and therefore preserve the small padding that I’d built yesterday. We’ll see if I can do this again tomorrow. And tomorrow’s plan? Finish Chapter 2!

Written tonight: 1,675
Chapter 1 total: 2,558
Chapter 2 total: 993
Bone Walker total (first draft): 3,551

And yeah, technically, I know you’re not supposed to start a true Nanowrimo effort before November 1st. I figure roughly 200 words could be safely ignored–and I dropped about half of those words anyway because I decided I didn’t like the paragraph.

Anyway, Bone Walker is out of the starting gate, you guys. For the interested, this book will be set roughly two months in time after Faerie Blood. And I’m already close to the end of Chapter 1, which feels like it’s going to run short as my chapters tend to go. But that’s okay. Because this means I’m also very close to the return of Elessir. Muah!

No word meter, because the lovely and talented Zokutou Word Meter appears to have vanished off the face of the Net. But I daresay I can soldier on without it.

Written tonight: 1,876
Chapter 1 total: 1,876
Bone Walker total (first draft): 1,876

Anyway, for those of you just tuning in, I’m Angela Korra’ti, a.k.a. Anna the Piper, and wherever you’re reading me from, I’m the author of Faerie Blood from Drollerie Press. When I’m not posting on angelakorrati.com about my writing, I am posting from annathepiper.org about everything else. By “everything else”, I generally mean “Great Big Sea, periodic jam sessions at my house, and books”. Lots and lots of books. You’ll see me post a lot of book reviews as I endeavor to top my annual goal of 100 books per year.

Right now though I’m probably about to enter extensive radio silence, given that Nanowrimo is upon us, and I need to start work on Faerie Blood‘s sequel. I will endeavor to post regular updates on my progress, and I’m also officially signed up on the Nanowrimo site as annathepiper. Feel free to keep tabs on my progress in either place! And for those of you who are also tackling Nanowrimo this year, good luck!

Since Nanowrimo’s closing in, I thought this’d be timely to post about. Hope y’all enjoy the read.

On a related note, I do actually plan to take on Nanowrimo this year. The goal: to write Bone Walker, the now-retitled Book 2 that will follow up on Faerie Blood. I need to finish my outline planning by the end of this month, and then we’ll see if I can dive in on November 1!