I’ve been really rather irritated at myself at not producing anything for the last several weeks, but have come to realize that the best way to fix this problem is to, well, write stuff.

Which is easier said than done, as I think any of my fellow writers reading this will know. “Open the Word doc and add words to the work in progress” sounds terribly simple, and yet, if you’re out of the habit–at least, if you’re me–you have to get past the mental block of whatever the hell’s been messing with you all year. And that’s hard.

But. Kind of like with guitar playing, I’ve also found that I can’t press at it too hard. If I do, I just get stressed. I have to find that sort of zen place where the creativity is, patiently wait it out, and let it pop out when it’s ready.

Tonight, it was ready. And I threw over 500 words into Chapter 2 of Mirror’s Gate, wherein our heroine Yevanya is now headlong into making plans with her dead husband’s friend and colleague to try to track down exactly what she thinks she saw back there on the street. Woo!

Let’s see if I can do this again tomorrow maybe. That’d be a nice Christmas present.

Written tonight: 532
Chapter 2 total: 3,919
Mirror’s Gate total (first draft): 7,702