Statistically better Thursday

Thursdays in November have been a disaster for writing, but today I got 40% more words down than I did last Thursday. Granted, this means I did 2,550 words, which is about half of what I wanted, but I did get to the studio and we recorded a bunch of shows. We also figured out cool things for DragonPage Cover to Cover for the coming year, and that will be a blast. I also got work done for GAMA, and it needed to be done right then and there.

The chapter today was a lot of fun. I’ll hammer it into complete shape in the rewrite, but it felt good. I even got a chance to make an offhand comment about “sparkly vampires.” Folks who’ve read the DragonCrown War series might have seen two oblique references to the Harry Potter books buried in those books. It’s entertaining to be able to slip those things in. Every so often a reader will ask about them, not sure they actually read what they just read.

Tonight I went over to The Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale. Larry Correla and John Brown, two new authors of SF and fantasy books, were there for a signing. John was signing Servants of a Dark God and Larry was signing Monster Hunter International. Both men had all the enthusiasm of authors new to the business; but both of them also had a maturity that I’ve seen missing in authors with many more novels out than they have. Both are a lot more internet savvy than their peers would have been ten years ago, and are more savvy than many authors who have been in the business for a bunch of years. It was fun to listen to them and see the knot of die-hard fans who had come out to see them. I’ll have to snag their books when I’m done mine.

Seeing new authors come into publishing is something I truly enjoy. It’s not so much remembering how it was for me at that time, as much as it is just being pleased that others can have the pleasure of seeing their name on a book, and answer questions from people who clearly loved their work. When a reader really connects with a story you’ve written it’s a very special thing. I can imagine a chef would feel that same way when a diner cleans his plate and is looking for seconds. It means you did you job well, and our job is to entertain someone, to take them away from whatever they were thinking and bring them into a whole different life. They turn their brains over for us to drive, and when we do it right, they couldn’t be happier.

November Word Count: Hard: 53714 Soft: 12986

Tomorrow, a big push. Three chapters if I can pull it off. Wish me luck!