Breaking 79,000

Another update on my novel…

Yeah, this is definitely going to be a long novel.  But I wrote 1,800 words today and inserted a really crucial scene in the middle of some of the other stuff that I’d written, to help develop the story and hopefully flesh out some of the characters.  I don’t know how good a job I did, but at least I know I can fix any problems in the rewrite.

It was kind of interesting writing tonight, actually.  After working out, I showed up at my friend Steve’s house and went down to his basement, where I usually do my writing.  The house was practically empty, and it was nice and quiet.

For some reason, I felt like praying before I started.  So I gave a short prayer, thanking God for many things, asking forgiveness for the ways I’d been an impatient jerk today, and asking for help in writing my novel.  I asked for help to write a story that had some meaning to it besides “stuff happens the end,” and for help in writing tonight.

I didn’t notice anything too different from other times that I’ve written.  It was hard getting started, and it was hard to find the words that I wanted.  The writing was slow, especially towards the end, where I started to doze off.

I can’t say that praying changed the way I wrote tonight.  It was just as hard today as it was yesterday.  But I did manage to write almost 1,800 words, and to start and finish a scene that popped into my head today.  And it felt satisfying to take some time to remember God.  I don’t want my writing to crowd out my spiritual life–I want the two to meld together.

But one thing is for sure: all of this writing has crowded out my homework time.  I didn’t really do much of it today, between the writing group meeting, hanging out with my sisters, and writing tonight.

Meh.  Monday is a break.

Oh, and while reading Gamila’s story today, I figured out what to call her character Xenos.  He’s basically a man-wench.

By Joe Vasicek

Joe Vasicek is the author of more than twenty science fiction books, including the Star Wanderers and Sons of the Starfarers series. As a young man, he studied Arabic and traveled across the Middle East and the Caucasus. He claims Utah as his home.

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