In the previous post, I discussed how my writing method has evolved since I started publishing my stories. I also disclosed that it was on that day (or maybe the day before) that the second half of The Fall of Skullkeep finally “clicked” in my mind.

November 10th started out as an awesome day for writing. I woke up energized and excited to write, even more than was usual. Over the course of a little more than a hour, I finished Chapter 20 for The Fall of Skullkeep, and it was the kind of chapter I would’ve loved to share with Mom. It was also the kind of chapter that knocked me on my butt.

When I finished it, I was drained. I felt like I’d just run a hundred-meter dash. Without training. With ankle weights.

So, I stepped back from writing to do other things and let my mind or subconscious or whatever relax and recover. I caught up with some news. Read a little of some stories. Eventually, I made lunch.

But then… right after lunch… I made a big misake.

A colossally huge mistake.

When I came back to writing, I tried diving into Chapter 15 of The Shepherd, the new story/series/world I started on my mom’s birthday. As you’ll see from the screen cap of my writing log, it didn’t work.

Because it wasn’t the story I should’ve been writing.

I didn’t see that at the time and thought I was just still beat from finishing Chapter 20. So, I knocked off for the day.

Looking back on it now? I should’ve started Chapter 21.

See… I can nibble around two, three, or even four stories at once without much of an issue. But eventually, one of them will develop a kind of critical mass. A pressure that it is the story I need to finish next. Dawn of the Sorcerer was that way, back when I realized there was only 9,000-ish words to go.

The story at critical mass now? The Fall of Skullkeep.

I didn’t realize it, but I had been waiting until I figured out the final half of the story. Do I know all the bits and pieces of how the second half will go in complete detail?

Nope! Not at all. But I don’t need to.

The simple fact that I know the general direction now will let me fill in the blanks and connect Point A (Chapter 19) with Point B (the climax of the story). And there is now a pressure or weight, if you will, to the story.

But it’s a good pressure. A good weight.

It’s what will allow/encourage/drive me to put in 5,000-word days or 6,000-word days until I reach the end and the story feels right and whole.

Daily Word Count: 2,490
Weekly Word Count: 11,292
Remaining Words to 25,000: 13,708