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Yes, I Survived NaNo

December 2, 2011 by Skyla
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Lineage finished with 28K written in November. Godless started with 14K. Then midway through the month, I switched to Exhumed and wrote 50K--19K of which was done in the final three days.

There will be a blog post, probably at the ELEW, about it at some point. About writing through pain, about being stupid and stubborn, about how I am utterly insane and, kids, you should NOT try this at home. But for now, I fall over DED.

Exhumed is well past the halfway mark. I am, by now, in the thick of things, emotionally drained and crying half the time, positive this book'll get me hate mail. This isn't a funny book. This isn't wild explosions and car chases and flashy guns--yes, all of those things are in there, and there is some humor (one of the current fave lines: "I wonder what my cleaning lady would think of the BDSM dungeon I was turning my bedroom into"). Plus three sex scenes in the first 40K--I both giveth and taketh away. But it's all the background to a much harder story.

So sharpen the pitchforks, chickadees. I'll be hiding next year when this one releases.

(From the book playlist.)

BTW, did you see Mel scooped the Lineage cover/teaser blurb? Go show her some love and say hi!

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What Happened with NaNo

November 17, 2011 by Skyla
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I began with the best of intentions.

1. Finish Lineage. I had 20K or so to go as of Nov 1.

2. Simultaneously write a book for NaNo, 5th and final on in this unpublished series.

I finished Lineage last Friday (and I wrote most of that 20K in three days, 7400 words on Friday OMFG but thank you Write or Die Desktop), which was much easier than trying to juggle two of them at once. And I want to switch over to Godless, but...

I really don't have a fucking clue what will happen.

I always was a pantser but I've moved towards...I don't want to say "plotter", but stories have a definite shape in my head ahead of time now and I know roughly the arcs, the big moments, etc. Every other book in that series, I've known beforehand, and now this final book--the big one--is where I have to tie everything together, and I haven't a motherfucking clue about anything, even directly ahead of me.

I think all the ingredients are there, they just need time to shape and bake a little longer in my head.

Plus...someone is talking to me again.

I'm doing some initial revisions on Lineage at the moment and it might be easier for me to just stay in that world rather than switch to Godless, especially with Zara yammering in my head. So...

Yeah. We're over halfway through November and I'm changing my major, Mom! Exhumed it is.

I wrote the first 3K words last night and I'll switch over my NaNo details later today. Fine, Zara. You win. Let's get in some trouble.

Favourite non-spoilerish line from last night's writing:

“You do NOT approach Zara Lain, attempt to procure her services as a killer-for-hire, and then punk out on your end of things. And continuing the conversation in this direction will, at best, result in me leaving here without having a business arrangement with you, and, at worst, result me in sending your head back in a box to your boss for insulting me."

Also! Royalties the other day. Yay! Thank you for buying my books. It looks like, however, that 80% of sales are through third party ebook sellers...which means most of you haven't read Thrall (Mundania exclusive Bloodlines ebook and paperback) and probably won't read Sunrise (Mundania exclusive Lineage ebook and paperback). So...I have to shift gears because I do write the books with all those extra stories in mind. Y'all are gonna be in for a HUGE surprise come Exhumed... *cackles*

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NaNo Excerpt

November 20, 2009 by Skyla
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Um...the only thing I think you need to know is that nekros = zombies in this world, and the characters are coming back after running into some. On the way back, they found a dog--one that our narrator recognized and kinda freaked out about.

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Works in Process:

Exhumed (DOB #4)
94000 / 94000
(100%)

Godless (Dessa bk 5)
14000 / 85000
(16%)

Ashes (Ashes bk 1)
26000 / 75000
(34%)

In Darkness Waits (Darkness bk 1)
22000 / 90000
(24.44%)

Jane (secret project)
0 / 90000
(0%)

Children of the Apocalypse 3

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