Day four of NaNoWriMo and I’m finding it difficult to reach my personal goal of 2k-or-2hr-a-day. This month is so busy, it’s seriously cutting into my writing time. On Wednesday the kids did not make their fundraising target of $1,500 and I have to admit, I damn near cried with relief. I was not looking forward to trying to stay up all night or the long process of recovery afterward. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about supporting student council and I had planned on using the time, when I could concentrate on it, to make up any deficit in my word target. But come Saturday night, when I go to sleep at a descent hour and wake up Sunday morning ready to write rather than going to bed after rocking back and forth all night (the fundraiser was a Rock-a-thon), I am going to rejoice.

That being said, rested or not, I am also struggling with this particular story. As stated earlier, I am using Vladimir Propp’s structure to provide a frame for the plot, but while it might be good for Russian folk and fairy tales, it might not be so good for more detailed fiction. It should simply be a matter of expanding appropriately on the details, but I am having trouble doing so.

I cannot help but wonder if this is due to the influence of The Kevodran. My primary project was just not at a place where I could leave it so easily. I wonder if there might be some subconscious fear that if I do wholeheartedly throw myself into Scions of the Moon—thinking about it, day-dreaming, planning, plotting—devoting my whole attention to it as I did The Kevodran, it will indeed, eclipse The Kevodran ‘creeping’ in as The Kevodran ‘creeps’ out. Heather warns about creep in terms of a writer taking time away from a project and I can feel it might be happening here.

Originally posted in The Salamander’s Quill 1.0 now deleted.