sunfright | sunday.

I've been working on this story for a week now. I started Monday, it's Monday again tomorrow, and I am 700 words from hitting the 25k mark. Isn't that something?

It's not even that much about the word count, to be honest. It's the process, and this has - so far, knock on wood - been the most magical, easy-flowing writing process I've ever been a part of. I breeze from scene to scene, I don't doubt or second-guess myself, I don't force myself to revisit earlier parts to make sure it's all 100% aligned. I'm saving all those thing for the editing process that will be its own beast, for sure, but right now, I'm just enjoying this feeling of the words flowing freely from my fingers and everything being very... good. It's good.

I'm thankful for that.

I started out writing this thing, thinking it would be a lesbian love story. And granted, I still think there will be a lesbian romance in it, but we're halfway through a NaNo project here and it hasn't emerged yet, I'm guessing it's either going to be a very long novel or the romance isn't the center piece of the story at all, I just didn't know until now. I didn't realize.

Rather, I'm busy shipping the MC with her soon-to-be fiancée who is a closeted queer man and hoping to marry her for the sake of a peaceful lavender marriage, while she will soon meet her female love interest and throw all caution to the wind. And on the side, we have her rocky relationship to her brother, part co-dependency and part-complete ambivalence. It's a good one.

But honestly, I just really love my MC, I've never clicked this much with one of my own characters before and it's definitely part of the reason I can get so much writing churned out, I love her narrator's voice, I love her style of speaking and thinking and it inspires me so much to write her. The whole 1920's setting is also helping, because it's not called the Roaring Twenties for nothing, what a time to be alive.

Glad it isn't me, but yeah. What an age.

The goal isn't as much to hit the 50k mark at some point, the goal is to keep this process well and alive and going. I want to finish this story, even as I don't know exactly how it's gonna pan out. I want to see this through. I have another week of November and then it'll be December and there'll be so much escapism to do, because I hate the holidays in general, so I hope to have finished some kind of first draft before Christmas. No matter how long.

I want this story to live.

And I would very much like to always feel this alive, please and thank you.