I managed 50 000 words in November. Barely. I finished the very last day, which has never happened in all the years I’ve attempted NaNoWriMo. (That’s eleven, if anyone else is counting.)

Barely still counts. My draft is still going, rewriting all of that thing is taking a while. I passed 75 000 words today. I had to take time to figure out where my antagonists have been heading, and where they need to end up, but it’s going to end up where they’re supposed to be.

This draft started out as a huge struggle. I didn’t think it was working. I couldn’t focus on what was going right in it because I was so worried about what I lost from the previous one. I’ve never taken such a large project and tried to change so many things in a draft at once: POV, plot structure, and world-building.

I know the world-building isn’t quite all there, but it’s coming together a lot better. I’m excited to sit down with this book every day (and I work on it almost every day). Other than that, I’ve gotten far enough – over halfway – to see that what I gained might be more than what I lost in this draft.

Probably also good to note that every time I bring those other characters in the room, I know the secrets behind their eyes. I just wish I could share more of them. And that, as what my writer’s group reminded me, is what short stories for novel promotion are for! So when I finish this draft, and that might even happen this month, I have even more to work on.

Good thing I really love this book.