30th November

DONE!!

Holy crap. This month has been a long one. A really long one. And yet, oh so short. I can't believe it's over already, and it's time to return to the normal world of less-than-deathly amounts of caffeine, sleep and effective homework completion. Damnit. I want to go back to my novelling bliss. Please?

The novel is finished, all 116,697 words of it, and I don't think I'm ever going to touch it again, apart from to post it on the internet (with just basic spell check and formatting). I don't think I want to edit it, because although I loved the characters, and the story, I doubt anybody would really want to read it, and to be honest I wouldn't even know where to begin. It's been tough to write, and somehow I think it would be even tougher to edit. Don't even go there. @_@;

Anyway. Today, then, is my relaxation day. Apart from homework, I shall do nothing but watch TV, go for a walk, go out for dinner and enjoy myself. Though, having finished my novel at precisely eleven minutes past one this afternoon, I've had nothing to do since. I'm almost bored. O_O

Well, it's time for that walk I mentioned, where I can mull over what's happened this month, and then think about going back to work on Medina's novel- which I can't do until I print out all of the 80,000 words I have so far to familiarise myself with the story again. So, I'll leave you all with an excerpt, and go. :)

“I’m not joking, darling,” she said. “I wish I were. Mary says that there’s a two week window between finding out the unfinished business and solving it, or I’ll end up in limbo forever. And the worst bit about that is that I won’t be able to phone you. Limbo after the two week period becomes like-” There was a muffled voice as Mary clarified. “It becomes like prison, in hell. With torture. Lots of torture.” Her voice was weak.

“So I need to go to Eula and track down the next of kin of Florence Blouse to get your money back, in two weeks, or else you’ll be damned for all eternity? Literally?”

“That just about sums it up.”

I couldn’t believe it.

“Look, honey, I have to go. My minutes have run for the month-”

“But you didn’t tell me her name, or anything-”

“I have go hon, toodles!”

There was a crackle, and the line went dead. I swore loudly, threw the phone onto the floor and watched as it bounced on the hardwood floor. Danger shrugged.

“What was that all about?”

“My Mum,” I said bitterly. There was no way around this. Whatever higher being there was up there obviously just didn’t want me to rest. Ever. “Hey, Danger,” I said. “Fancy another journey?”

“To Eula?”

“Yes. To finish my mother’s unfinished business.”

Danger thought about this for a minute, and then pulled out her mobile phone. “Sure, why not? It’s not like I’d ever be able to relax in this place again, anyway. Shall I call the crew?”

“Sure. Call the crew. Tell them to pack their shorts and tees. It’ll be hot where we’re going.”

“Road trip?”

“No, just tell them we’re going on vacation, and I’m paying.”

Danger smirked at me and then offered her hand up for a high-five. And then, “Kez? It’s me. Danger. Fancy going on holiday? Eula? Right. Gather the crew. We’ll leave at five.”

I should have known that things wouldn’t get easier. What did I expect? I was a Candy Girl. Since when do things ever work out as planned?

Words written today: 2,525.
Word count: 116,697.

29th November

So, the novel isn't finished. That last chapter took a lot more work than I'd planned. I am, however, set to write the epilogues tomorrow, just in time to finish NaNoWriMo 2008 with a finished novel. It makes me happy.

For now, though, it's 2:30am and I have more important things to be doing. Like sleeping.

Excerpt: [spoiler alert! XD]

“For god’s sake Olive, can’t you keep yourself under control?” Rouge snapped. “What the hell are you laughing at?”

“I was just- they were- look!” She pointed, then, noticing Cassidy on the floor. Suddenly Cassidy wasn’t laughing, in fact, she was scrambling to her feet, still holding a number of wires in her hands that had been trailing along the floor, clutching at them for some support. My heart lept and I felt my hands grow cold in panic.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Rouge turned on her. “I told you to get out of here. Blue, get her out of here! For god’s sake! Can nobody do anything right in this place? If you’d just do as I asked then we’d never have half of these problems. Stop standing there like an idiot and get her out of here!”

Cassidy, though afraid, didn’t flinch as Blue headed towards her. Rouge was still gripping the control box for the electric chairs in her hands, the lever hanging loose as though it had not been fitted carefully enough. Cassidy seemed to be looking at it, and then she spoke, calm and curious.

“What do these wires do?” she asked, tilting her head to one side.

“No, don’t touch those! Put them down!” A sudden change, and was Rouge was waving frantically. Her head still tilted to one side Cassidy brought the wires a little closer together, and watched as Rouge almost had a heart attack.

“What happens if I put them together?” she asked. “Will it reverse the flow of the current?”

“No,” Rouge said quickly. “And besides, the power box isn’t even on.”

And then Cassidy shook her head. “You’re wrong,” she said. “Look, see? You’re careless.”

With that she pressed the two wires together, and before any of us had the chance to react we heard a faint buzzing, and Rouge began to shake uncontrollably. I closed my eyes, clung onto Danger for support, burying my head in her neck. There was a cry of pain, inhuman and terrifying, a thud, and then there was silence.

When I opened my eyes, everybody but Danger had moved further into the chamber, and they were all gathered around the middle, where Rouge had been standing.

“Is she?”

“I think she is.”

“I wonder how...”

“Cassie-”

“But how?”

“Electric currents.”

“Science.”

“Rouge?” Olive’s voice broke our jumbled examining, unsure and scared. “Rouge?”

“She’s dead.” Blue, who had watched the whole scene from afar without much interest, now approached the younger girl and laid a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay,” he said. “It’s okay, you’ll be okay.”

“It’s not okay.” Olive’s face crumpled, and tears sprang to her cheeks. “It’s not, it’s not.”

“It is okay. I’m sure we’ll see her in hell.” For a brother, he didn’t seem particularly grieved by Rouge’s death, but then I assumed that he was in shock. Either that or he didn’t agree with her moral values. But the fact that she had gone to hell; well, that was something we could all agree on.

The shop was ours.

The world was safe.

I couldn’t help but think that it was a little anti-climactic, though.

And Cassidy as Hero? Who’d have thought?

Words written today: 6,760 =O
Word count: 114,193

28th November

Now playing: Tracie Thoms - Let Love Begin

I don't think I even deserve to write a blog today, because I've been rather unproductive, but to be honest I think part of this is due to my usual pre-completion blues. Rather than the rush that a lot of people get from being near to the end of their projects, I get all nostalgic and teary-eyed, and then can't force myself to write. I lose all motivation and have to slug through the end. It's happening again right now, and though I thought I might be finished by today, I think I'll move that date forwards to tomorrow. I have the final chapter to write, and two epilogues (which aren't really that important). I'll do them tomorrow. I promise?

XD

Instead of writing, I spent my evening singing badly and watching videos on YouTube. One, the video of Idina Menzel on This Morning in October, made me laugh too hard. She was talking about her job as a wedding singer before she hit Broadway, and there was one incident where while she was in the middle of singing this guy on the dance floor started having a heart attack. She stopped singing, but her manager urged her on all like "the band never stops playing, don't stop singing! Keep singing!" So, she started singing again and then the bride came up to her and was like "you're so heartless, my uncle is having a heart attack and you're still singing!" and apparently Dee ran straight over to the buffet and started just stuffing her face with eclairs. XD I found that hilarious in itself, but then one of the hosts (I forget his name) was asking her if it happened a lot, if she was like, unlucky and bad things happen to her and whatever, and she said: "What, when I sing do people die?"

I laughed so hard. They also had a discussion about Idina wetting her pants on stage from laughing/singing too hard, and about the time she fell through the trapdoor during Wicked and ended up down A&E with a broken rib dressed in her full Elphaba outfit.

Behehe. That made my day.

Also! The Wicked tickets arrived today! It's such a load off my mind. I CAN'T WAIT. Seriously. I was worried that something might go wrong (mild state of neurosis anybody?) but it's okay. I have all of the tickets, so everything should go smoothly. December 13th! Holy shit! =O

Okay, back on topic. Excerpt (from whatever little I actually wrote):

King nodded. This was getting tedious. I shifted from foot to foot boredly, scanning the four Directors in front of me and then smiling viciously. Queenie glared at me, and Princeton began to quiver, his face contorted with fear. It was a shame really, the fact that I was going to have to kill him, since he had always been so fond of me. I had grown rather attached to the idiot, I have to admit. Perhaps I could be more lenient- No. No, I mustn’t get ahead of myself.

“Darling, can you pass me the bat, please?” I turned over my shoulder and smiled at my brother. He was obviously uncomfortable with being here, even though I had allowed him to wear a mask to hide his identity. I had argued that it wouldn’t matter if they knew who he was, since they were going to be dead soon anyway; the fact that he wasn’t comfortable with the murder in the first place didn’t really help, I guess.

He passed one of the baseball bats to me, sliding it into my hand and then slinking back to the wall where he hunched his shoulders over even further and seemed to disappear into himself. I winked at Antoinette and then sidled over to the table.

“So, shall we get this over with?” I asked. Queenie cringed, but it seemed they had already come to some silence agreement to let me do whatever it was I needed to do. Little did they know that I fully intended to go all the way to death, whether they reacted or not.

They didn’t even put up much of a fight.

Words written today: A lousy 518 words
Word count: 107,551

27th November

Now playing: Eden Espinosa - I'm A Star

I love this song more than is healthy...

Making progress!
Almost there!
Might finish tomorrow, or Saturday. :D

Excerpt:

“Don’t move an inch,” I demanded. “Move and you’re dead.”

“Aren’t we dead anyway?” Jack asked lazily, trying to cover his fear with carelessness. Princeton elbowed him in the ribs, but he didn’t quiten down. “You’re obviously intent on killing us all anyway, so why should we make it easy for you?”

“Easy?” The four of them were currently tied to each other, and to their chairs, around their table. They had been so easy to surprise, I hadn’t even had to knock them out to tie them up. Olive and Blue stood behind me, with an unimpressed-looking Indigo, Antoinette and some nameless drones Blue had picked up from an agency somewhere. We were going to have to have them unconscious to get them to the lair, which we had furnished appropriately, but this was just too much of an opportunity to miss. “I think it’s as easy as it’s going to get, to be perfectly honest, lads- oh, and Queenie? Sorry about your arm. We really did try to make it a little more painful.”

Words written today: 3,397
Word count: 107,033

26th November

Now playing: Shoshana Bean - Home

I know, I know, that blog yesterday was absolutely shocking. But, I don't care. I hit 100k, and I'm pleased. I think this is the earliest I've ever done it, and I think I'll be able to finish the novel this month. No, scratch that, I will definitely be able to finish it. I have one and a half chapters, and then two epilogues to write. And then I'm done. I'm currently writing Rouge's last proper chapter, and it's kind of touching, in a good way and a horrible violent way. XD But, that's just Rouge all over.

And then we have the confrontation between the two MCs. It'll be the first and last time they ever meet. How cool is that? :O AC will wonder what all the fuss is about, and Rouge will wonder what the hell is going on, and why she wasn't informed. =P And then, the epilogues will tie up some random loose ends (well, as much as they can be tied up in NaNo), and that will be the end. If I finish early I might... write something random, maybe work on PaLS for a day to fill up the time, or something. And then I'll print off Medina's novel and get stuck back into that again. But, only relaxedly because I'll have exams to start revising for, and then exams to sit. It's all good though, overall this NaNo has been great. And, I'll hopefully have a finished first draft to show for it as well, which is something I haven't had since the adventure with Merce in 2006.

Get this, my 100,000th word was: ALONE. Baha. Poor AC.

Anyway. I'm tired. So, like, here's an excerpt:

Olive seemed somewhat bewildered, but she nodded her head and smiled. I reached into my pocket and withdrew a small velvet box. I placed it in her palm, and for a moment she just looked at it. Then, wiping the blood from her hands and onto her skirt, she opened it carefully. Inside there was a small silver ring, with three rubies set carefully, sparkling in the dim lights of the lair. Olive sucked in a deep breath, gazed at it for a moment, and then opened her mouth like a fish out of water.

“Oh Rouge,” she breathed. “It’s beautiful.”

“It’s red,” I said. It didn’t matter that I was stating the obvious, making a fool of myself. I was in love, and that was the only excuse that I needed. “They’re rubies. To remind you of me. You know, because Rouge means-”

“Red. I know. I learnt French when I was little.” She smirked at me, took the ring from the box and slid it onto the middle finger of her right hand.

Words written over the past two days: 5,103, 3,573.
Word count: 103,636

25th November

100k!!

*collapses*

More coherent blog to come tomorrow.

24th November

Now playing: Les Miserables - On My Own

And now I'm all alone again, nowhere to turn, no one to go to. Without a home, without a friend, without a face to say hello to, but now the night is near, and I can make-believe he's here

Today I feel good about myself. I didn't have any homework, so got in, had a nap and then got on with the writing. 4k later I'm another chapter towards ending this thing. >D It makes me feel good, and so now it's just about bed time. :D I'd write more, but to be honest I don't really feel like rambling, and there's a cat sat on my face, making typing this extremely difficult. It's taken me ten minutes to get this far. =O

Excerpt for the day - here's a bit of not-quite-sex:

“Oh hush, you,” I said, reaching out to slap her bare arm lightly. Even despite the snow that was still falling outside she had chosen to wear a vest top and a skirt short enough that if she bent over I could see her underwear- or lack of it. Not that I was complaining, but the distractions were something I could do without. It was crucial that we managed to pull this off, because otherwise I had no idea how it would all work out in the grand scheme of things. If I could kill the morons, how would I ever get rid of any of them?

“Don’t you like to hear the truth?” Olive said, coming towards me and wrapping her arms around my neck. “Does it make you feel inferior?” Inticingly she let her lips linger on mine for a moment, and then pulled away, bouncing into the centre of the large, square room. I took a second to make sure that our trap was secure, and then jumped after her, grabbing her around the waist and tickling her. She giggled happily, squirming away from my touch, and together we danced around the room laughing loudly.

“Shush, shush,” I said, not really caring whether she listened to me or not. I pulled her close, pressed my lips against her and then let my hands wander down her back. She made a tutting motion, pulling away, and then grinned.

“You’re such a tease!” I cried out, reaching for her. She danced away from my fingertips, sliding this way and that as I reached out after her. Her skirt bobbed as she moved, her hair loose and wild. I wanted to grab her and make love to her right there, but that would be incredibly inappropriate- or, at least, we didn’t have time.

“Oh, I do try,” she sung and then stuck her tongue out.

While she was distracted I lunged for her, and together we tumbled towards the corner of the room. I pinned her to the wall, kissing her deeply and holding her arms high above her head so that her midriff was exposed.

“Oooh,” she taunted as I pulled out of our kiss. “Fiesty. I like that in a woman.”

“You’re too young to know what you like in a woman,” I said jokingly. “You’ve only ever had me and that damn robot. How would you know?”

“Maybe I’ve had more?” she breathed, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Her breath mingled with mine- she smelt like peppermints- and I pressed myself closer to her, our bodies entwined against the wall.

“Really?” I asked with a smirk.

“How many more?”

“Oh, hundreds.”

“Were they better than me?”

“Oh yes, every single one of them.”

“Really?” I kissed her again, and then licked her nose. She tried to keep a straight face, but failed miserably and was soon giggling too hard to speak. “Really really?”

“Yes,” she said in between giggles. “They were all, taller. And they had-”

“Longer fingers?” I tickled her thigh underneath her skirt and she doubled up with laughter, almost headbutting me in the chest. I backed up just in time to catch her, and she tumbled against me, still laughing.

“No,” she gasped. “Your fingers are definitely the longest.”


Words written today: 4,038
Word count: 95,233

On my own, pretending he's beside me. All alone, I walk with him 'til morning...

21st, 22nd &23rd November

Here's a nice blog for the last three days, simply because of internet access problems. Actually, that's a lie. Friday night I didn't blog because I fell asleep while still writing, and therefore didn't bother to blog. I was too tired. Yesterday I wrote a nice amount of words (about 5k or something), and today has been another good day as well. I'm making good progress, and should hopefully be able to finish the novel by the end of the month. Maybe. >_> I love Rouge's scenes, especially her scenes with Olive, and I'm looking forward to the next couple of AC scenes, so it shouldn't be too bad.

After a shaky middle two weeks (at least, the poor story has been suffering, and so has my health) I think today has proved that the final week is off to a good start. Not only am I enjoying myself again, I've worked out pretty much everything that I need to include in the novel before the end. I've worked out where both storylines must end, and it's not too bad actualy because there's a similar amount of plot left for each of them. Then, there is the final scene, followed by two epilogues, and then I have to go back and slide in those blogs that I left out (that I was talking about on Saturday), and I'm done! :D

It makes me happy to think about it. And, although there's more plot left than I thought, I'm still getting there, and still hoping that I'll be able to finish it all off in time. :] Then, I can go back to my serious novel (which I'm missing more than I ever thought possible) in time for Christmas and all of the exams. December will be my take-it-easy month, I think. :)

Excerpt time!

“We just have to try harder,” Olive pointed out. “Look, just because it doesn’t work out first time around, it doesn’t mean you should give up.”

“But this isn’t the first time around,” I said quietly. My nose began to grow numb and so I started to walk, taking steps small enough that Olive could keep up. “This is the third time, now, and I’ve killed people before. I’m not bragging, but it’s not as though I’m some idiot who has just decided that they need to die. I’ve been planning this for years, and yet nothing has happened. Both Queenie and King are both still alive. How can that be?”

“Like I said,” Olive repeated. “Fate. You’ve got to give it some time. Perhaps there is some specific way that it’s meant to be done.”

“But maybe it’s not meant to be done.” I folded my arms across my chest and sighed. “What if I’m not meant to kill them? What if I’ve spent my whole life planning for something that shouldn’t ever happen? I’ve always wanted to rule the world, always wanted to be the one in control, but I can barely even control them. I only started planning for their deaths a few weeks ago, sure, partly because of you- don’t ask me about that- but that shouldn’t matter. Each one of these murders was perfectly planned; I spent hours running through all the angles in my head, working out what would work and what wouldn’t. Come on, Queenie even fell out the window. That kind of stuff just doesn’t happen unless a person is going to die.”

“It was the ground floor window,” Olive said with a small smile. “I don’t think she could ever have killed herself doing that.”

“But that’s my point! She didn’t die, and yet she was supposed to. It makes me feel like I should just give up now.”

“If you give up, though,” Olive said as she held out her arm for a taxi. She knew how much I hated public transport, but I only hoped she would be the one paying. “If you give up on all of this, then what will you do? Is there anything else you could do?”

I thought about this for a moment, and didn’t answer until we had climbed out of the cold and into the back of a cab, telling the driver our address.

“I don’t know,” I answered her, making sure my voice was suitably hushed for such a place. “I’ve never wanted anything else. Ever since I was small, ever since Blue and I were little, I’ve always wanted this. I remember this conversation I had. It must have been when Indie was a baby, and Mum had just fired the nanny, or she quit, or something, and Blue told me that I would never be as powerful as our father. You know, he was very powerful. He worked for the government even before The Directors, but he left when Blue was born...

“Blue told me that I could never be like Dad, because I was a girl. He said that because Papa was descended from the Thau that I would never have a chance to be like him. Magic doesn’t travel through the female genes, he said, and he told me that I would have to watch as he ruled the world...” I trailed off, gazing out of the window as the black and white skyscrapers whizzed past. The snow was falling properly now, and soon there would be a thin white blanket along all of the streets. I shivered. “So, I told him that I would prove him wrong. This is what I’ve wanted since before I can remember wanting anything else.”

“Then how can you give it up?” Olive asked me. “If it means so much to you, if you want it so badly, then how can you let something so small ruin everything?”

I shook my head.

“I don’t know,” I said softly. “I guess it’s just because I’m sick and tired of nothing working out right.”


Words written over the last three days: 14,874
Words written today: 6,188
Word count: 91,197

20th November

Now playing: Kerry Ellis - Behind These Walls.

Best. Song. Ever.

Today hasn't been as productive as I'd like, but was better than I'd hoped. XD

Excerpt:

When his grasp on me slackened I yanked away from him, flinging myself towards the door. In my frantic haze I didn’t realise that the door was locked until Fitz had hold of me again; and still I fumbled at the lock, clawing at the wood, unable to understand why the door wouldn’t open.

“Clever of me, wasn’t it?” he hissed in between heavy breaths. “See, I thought you might put up a fight. You’re that kind of person-”

“Screw you,” I spat, spinning and bringing my knee forcefully into his groin. He staggered backwards, unstable on his hind legs, and then crouched onto all fours. This was his first animal display since our arrival, and despite the situation it still shocked me to remember how animal he actually was. Making a run towards the window, I hurled myself over the top of his desk, scattering papers everywhere and almost impaling myself on the end of a fountain pen. Fitz followed, barking and snapping like a feral dog- which, I suppose, was what he was.

“I guess we’re doing this the hard way, then,” he snarled, leaping onto the desk in a fit of rage. From here there was nowhere to go. The window was barred, the shutters flapping wildly in an attempt to remind me of what I was missing. I tried to scream again, but before the sound escaped my lips Fitz had leapt into the air again, and seconds later he landed on me with full force. This time I wasn’t quick enough to dodge him, and we collapsed on the floor together, his full weight pinning me to the carpet.

“Get off me!” I yelled, trying to beat out against him. I let my arms swing wildly, but he met ever blow with one of his own. With surprising dexterity he flipped me onto my back, pinned down my arms and then repeatedly headbutted me in the stomach, winding me so badly I could feel the bile rising in my throat. I let out another few feeble outcries, but these went unheard, ignored.

“You’ll consider my proposition,” Fitz uttered through gritted teeth, pressing onto my arms so tightly his claws engraved patterns in my skin. I wriggled beneath him, but it was no use. He was surprisingly strong, and had easily come to terms with his animal disadvantages.


Words written today: 3,705
Word count: 80,028

19th November

Not bad today, not good. Saw Easy Virtue. It's almost midnight. Too tired to talk.
Better update to come tomorrow.

Excerpt:

“Ah.” Olive shrugged her shoulders. “Was she supposed to fall from a great height?”

I nodded sadly, my head bowed on my neck.

“Was she supposed to die?”

I nodded again.

“Mhmm. Slight problem.”

“Really? You don’t say.”

“She’s not dead.”
"I can see that.”

There was a silence between us as we watched a number of people file out of the rooms across the way from the green where Queenie had landed, and I watched my plans for her death fizzle out with the presentation of a cold compress for her head and an icepack for her badly damaged arm.

How could this have happened? Twice?

“Fuck,” I muttered bitterly, bringing my thumbnail to my mouth in annoyance. “Why won’t she just die?”

Words written today: 2,007
Word count: 76,317

“Maybe we should try somebody else?”

“Aw hell.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Maybe we should.”

18th November

Belated post. :)

Now playing: Scott Alan - The Distance You Have Come

And when that day has come, when you've conquered what's behind you, don't forget the moments that have come before. And when you reach that place, when you're miles from where you started, don't forget the distance you have come

Last night- as my luck always decrees- was my best writing night in days. I actually hit my target of 3k, and didn't die trying. My Internet died instead. We went over our bandwidth for the month (three hours before it was due to start the new month) and so we got cut off. On the plus side, we now have full Internet again and I no longer have to worry so much about the amount of Internet I'm actually using when I sit on Gaia or update my NaNoWriMo word count obsessively. XD Soon Steve should unblock YouTube again, and I'll be able to listen to Kerry Ellis' new song (from the album Keys by Scott Alan) on repeat. I'm SO getting it for Christmas. I don't normally buy CDs, but this I've decided that I'm going to ask for all of those CDs that I really love, just to show my appreciation. So, at the moment that list consists of:

Keys - Scott Alan
Dreaming Wide Awake - Scott Alan
Wicked In Rock - Kerry Ellis
I Stand - Idina Menzel

I'm thinking of adding another Kristin Chenoweth CD because I like the other one of hers that I bought a few months back. And, as for DVDs I've been pretty sad and asked for Tin Man (because we had it recorded from Sky, but somebody deleted it off our Sky box), Les Mis 10th anniversary show (because I just really wanna see the damn thing), Stranger Than Fiction, and a special edition of The Wizard of Oz, because I know when I go to uni I'm not going to be able to take a video with me; I won't likely have a VCR. A DVD player on the other hand, well, I'm typing on one right now. ;)

Anyway. Enough about Christmas, and Kerry Ellis, and the Wizard of Oz. I'll leave you with another excerpt from the wonderful world of Exos, where my story is getting stranger and stranger by the day:

“Is she actually drunk?” he asked me. Spinning on his backside he shuffled to look me directly in the eyes where I was still crouched next to him. I shrugged my shoulders.

“I wouldn’t put it past her,” I answered. “Look, we’re really sorry we ran you down-”

“I’m afraid that a simple apology isn’t likely to cover it.” He pulled a disgusted face at my appearance, and then looked back at the trailer behind us. “I could have been killed- maimed- in an accident like this, and you wouldn’t believe for a second how much of a problem that would have been. As it is I think I’ve sprained my leg, and you shan’t get away with it. You- all of you- how many of you are there? - You will look after me until I have made a full recovery. First you will deliver me to my house and then you will wait-”

“I don’t think so,” I said, shaking my head sadly. “In case you hadn’t gathered, we’re in a bit of a hurry.”

“I don’t think you quite understand the severity of this situation, Miss.”

“No, let me make it simple for you: We need to get where we’re going, and we need to get there fast. Does that make sense? We need to get there, because there are lives that are at stake, and we’ve come too far to give up now.”

“If you do not come with me, then I shall report you for such reckless driving, and you shall have your vehicle taken from you. I can assure you now that listening to me would be your best course of action.” With an icy level gaze he took in our reactions. Eden was still snorting to herself, and Vivienne had poked her head around the door in time to here this last roll of speech. She cast a confused glance around, and then shook her head.


Also, worrying as it is, Rouge has been getting it on with Olive. This was... not planned? In fact, Olive as a character was never planned. Rouge sleeping with her brother was, and Rouge sleeping with Antoinette I can handle, but Rouge getting very close to having sex with Olive in an air duct while spying on government leader Queenie? It makes me faint just thinking about it. I knew I had to have a little bit of sex, but this is just ridiculous. Even said in Rouge's own words: "Olive’s kiss was rough and took me by surprise. In fact, I think it took us both by surprise." Mhmm, yes love. Whatever. Now I have the dilemma of figuring out if it would be appropriate for them to sleep together properly, and whether I could use a love triangle (square?) to bring about her downfall. It's not entirely out of the question, but I'd always thought of Antoinette as being too loyal, and I don't like the idea of Olive betraying Rouge... And Blue betraying his sister is out of the question. I mean, he'd never do that... Would he? Blergh. If anybody out there is actually reading this, feel free to let me know what you think. XD

Ehe.

Words written today (yesterday): 3,099
Word count: 74,289

And there'll be days when the weight of the world will bind you, and you're wondering if the world really needs you. But keep on goin', keep on driving, 'cause the sign ahead will soon be behind you.

17th November

Now playing: Oliver Tompsett - Anybody Else

Baby can't you see, you and I were meant to be. Yes you and I were meant to be. If I had to make a guess I'd say we'd be just fine

While today hasn't been a fantastic day in terms of writing, at least I've done some. I've almost written the amount I'm supposed to. 2/3 isn't bad, really, I guess. :P

I'm too tired to write much more, again, though, besides the fact that while today has been really rather crappy, I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I want that double study period. Becky and I are going to spend the time researching which film we're going to go and see on Wednesday night. It's gonna be WICKED mate.

Oh yeah, and I'm going to see Wicked again. December 13th Matinee. The seats aren't fantastic, but since we paid the full 60 squids for them, they'd better be better than the ones we had last time. They're further back, and still out in the corner, but they were expensive. Blergh. I've booked everything, the tickets for the show and for the coach. I haven't told Alisha about it yet, though, since I want to surprise her. I hope it'll be a really nice pre-Christmas surprise. I figure if we get there are 11am, we can hang around for the cast members again, see the show, and by that time it'll be around 5:30pm. Our coach doesn't leave until 9pm, so I'd like to take her around London on the tube, show her some of the sights and maybe take her Christmas shopping and buy her a present or something. It's gonna be so schweeeeeet. :D I can't wait. It'll be even better if Kerry Ellis is performing, though knowing my luck she won't be. XD

Never mind! I don't care! I just love the show. And I'm so glad I finally sorted it out so that we're going again. It's going to be so much fun. <3

Now, an excerpt:

“I’m fine,” I muttered. “I just want to sleep.”

“All you do is sleep,” Danger said. I felt the trailer tip slightly as she jumped to her feet, and then Kez hit another bump on the road and we all bounced. “You never come out of that shell, I bet it absolutely reeks in there.”

“It doesn’t,” I said, but I didn’t have the strength to argue. “It’s better than being out there.”

“Why? What’s wrong with our company?” This came from Kez. I pulled the covers back off my head and shot a confused glance in his direction.

“Kez?”

“Yeah, I’m still alive, would ya look at that?”

“You’re not driving,” I stated feeling rather dumbfounded.

“No, really?”

“But- I- who is driving?”

“Eden. We switched over for a break. Don’t worry, she’s got the map all set out in front of her, it’s a straight road. She can’t possible screw it up.”

“But Kez,” Danger said, laying a hand on the older man’s shoulder. “You forget one tiny little thing.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“Eden can’t drive.”

This piece of information fell into the silence, and then before we had chance to react in any way, we felt the trailer hit another pothole in the road and it bounced off the road. I clawed frantically at the side of my bed to keep myself from falling out as Kez and Danger stumbled into each other and landed awkwardly on the table.

“Eden!” Q shrieked, her voice slipping into ultrasonic. “What the fuck?”

“Hey! Hey!” she called back, hardly phased. “I got it all under control, darlings.”

Words written today: 2,108.
Wordcount: 71,231

'Cause coming home to you each night fills me with a joy endlessly...

16th November

Been ill today. Blergh.

Not written much.
But, it's okay. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, and hopefully that'll help me to get better. And then I'll be able to write my little heart out. :)

Excerpt for today:

“God, I wish we had a TV,” Eden moaned. I glared at her. The lack of a television was the least of our worries at the moment. The trailer was falling apart, the window had been boarded up with some wooden boards we had found in a dumpster outside a foodcourt where we had stopped to see if there was any cheap food on offer. We had been unsuccessful with regards to the food, but at least the trailer was a little less drafty now. We’d also had the problem of buying new clothes. The people at the dance club had taken everything else; they’d taken anything they thought would lift a profit, and so now we were driving without TV, radio, or half of the things we had brought with us. Not that we had had much to start with.

“Oh shut up Eden,” Danger retorted. “I don’t think you should be worried about that right now.”

“Well why not?” she asked, short dark hair bouncing as we hit a bump in the road. At least Kez had managed to find that new road map. “I’ve got nothing else to do, have I? We don’t have a fucking TV.”


Words written today: 1,523
Wordcount: 69,084.

15th November

Now playing: I dunno. XP

Today has been much MUCH better.

Too tired to talk. Here is an excerpt:

“Oh dear,” I said, letting the sarcasm spill into my tone. “I thought you loved us, and that’s why you live in our house and eat our food. I guess I was wrong. Blue, can you take her back to her room please? And lock the side door, I don’t want anybody leaving this house tonight.”

“But- Rouge!” Indigo screeched, jumping to her feet and slamming one of her feet to the floor angrily. “That’s not fair! I helped you out and everything! Why do you always do this! You know I’m going out tonight! I told you!”

“Precisely.”

“Then why won’t you let me go out?”

“It gets dark outside too late. I don’t want you going out there by yourself. Especially seeing as you smell like pig. You might get mistaken for a farm girl and raped, or something. I wouldn’t want that happening to my poor beloved sister, now, would I?”

“Rouge, you’re such a bitch,” she spat. “You’re a fucking arse! I hate you.”

“I hate you too. Now, please get out of my room before you get any more of your dirt on the furniture. I only just had it cleaned.”

She swore again, angrily tossing her head, and then in protest she dropped her still burning cigarette to the floor and smushed it into the carpet with her foot. I glanced at her calmly, knowing that she was waiting for an explosion of anger, any kind of reaction that might show my anger, but I kept my face completely straight.

“Oh, now that wasn’t nice,” I said coldly. “Blue? I need you to bring Antoinette up here as well, I want to speak to her about getting that door blocked off. It’s loosing us too much heat.”

He frowned at me, but I shot him a toothy smile and he didn’t say anything. He knew just as well as I did that if I got Antoinette up here while he was gone, then I wouldn’t be sleeping with him tonight, and I think he wanted that more than he wanted to see Indigo happy. So, he strode up to her, grabbed both of her arms and frogmarched her out of the door, glaring at me over his shoulder as he went.

“That wasn’t very nice of you, you know,” Olive reprimanded. “You really shouldn’t treat her like that, especially if she’s your sister.”

“Half sister,” I corrected her. “And besides, she deserves it. She’d only be out sleeping around for a bit of cash anyway tonight, so it’s best if I stop things before they get out of hand.”

“From what I hear you’ve got a bit of a promiscuous repuatation as well. It’s a little hypocritcal don’t you think?.”

“Ah, but the difference, Olive, darling, is that I only sleep with people I know, and I certainly don’t ask them to pay in anything but pleasure.” I winked at her. “Now, if you wouldn’t mind, I believe I just accidentally arranged myself a date with Annie, and I’d appreciate it if you’d leave me be for a while. Our robot Maimee is free for the evening, if she’s your sort of girl, and if not feel free to amuse yourself how you will.”

“I don’t sleep with just anybody,” Olive said, her eyes wide with shock. “What kind of girl do you think I am?”

“Maimee isn’t just anybody,” I said with a smirk. “Trust me. You’ll regret it if you don’t give her a go. I’ll send her down in a couple of hours. You’ll thank me later.” She got to her feet, eyes still wide and a look of confusion spreading across her face. She’d come a long way since she’d arrived here, though. A couple of weeks ago I think she might well have been horrified, not just confused, and she probably would have left the house immediately. Now, I could see that this wasn’t the case. I reckoned she secretly quite wanted to have some fun tonight, and since I was otherwise engaged I would keep my promise.

“I don’t want you to send her,” Olive said. She locked her gaze with mine, blue eyes swimming with something I might even desribe as a growing lust, and then she looked away.

“We deserve a celebration; I have the perfect plan in mind for our Queenie, so tonight is for relaxing. I’ll send Maimee around at eight. Go and get yourself ready.”


Words written today: 3,899
Wordcount: 67,659

14th November

Blergh. I'm ill, I'm allowed to slack off.

585 words written, in the last twenty minutes. It's all I've done today. Pity me.

And Alex is at like... 76k.
Bitch.
XD

I won't catch up now, what with school, but that's okay. I said she could win this year, anyway. Or, actually, I didn't 'say she could win' as such. She told me she was going to win, going to beat me, and then took it as the law. I won't tell her otherwise, because then we might get sneaky to beat each other, and I don't see the fucking point in that. Even now her word updates are few and far between so I don't know where I stand. I can't be arsed to keep track, though, and chase her words, because I think I'd rather focus in the finishing of the novel, rather than the overall word count.

I've had some ideas, though, for tying the novel up earlier than planned. I've been thinking that I'd rather finish it earlier than later, so that I CAN finish it this month, and then I could spend the rest of my month maybe working on something else, maybe even editing this novel or something. I was thinking, rather than having many more random scenes in the middle I might actually start the wind-down now. I only just got into the action with AC and the gang, and for Rouge, Olive and Blue things have really not even started. I'm thinking... for Rouge, I'll have five more attempted death scenes (each where they fail and they move onto somebody else with hopes of better luck), and then the final showdown for her, and then for AC I'll have a couple more mini scenes, the arrival at Mimi McNeil's house, an important revelation, and then I can have my characters meeting or something. That'll be fun. I also need to go back through and make the original 'blogging' elements stronger, because so far I have two blogs. Mhmm. Yes, I got distracted. XD They'd be better done when the whole novel is finished though, so I'll add those later.

Anyway. No excerpt tonight.

Words written today: 585 words.
Wordcount: 63,760.

13th November

No writing today.

Shocking.

I also REALLY don't feel well at all. .___.

12th November

Now playing: Something on the radio

Tonight has been something of a disappointment when it comes to writing. I did however do all of my homework and take the dogs for a walk with Mum. She's having some issues with her employer at the moment (all to do with the regionalisation of the Fire and Rescue Service, thank you government imbeciles D<) and so we took the time out to go for a walk this afternoon. I then did homework, had a power nap (damn you sleep!), worked on the plan for my English Literature coursework. So, by the time I got around to writing it was 9:45 pm. Needless to say, I only got 1000 words written. It doesn't matter though, because for the last two nights I've done pretty well, and tomorrow night is going to be another bad one because I'm helping out on the open evening for sixth form, for psychology this year. :D I can catch up on Friday.

An excerpt, not that there's really much point:

The hallway we found ourselves in last let out into a room that was very much like a dressing room, filled with girls of around Boo’s age, dressed in similar clothes to our own. Many of them were preening in front of mirrors, brushing their hair and applying makeup so thickly it looked like half of them were wearing a second skin. We stood in the doorway together, lingering, until one of the girls wandered up to us curiously.

“Who are you?” she asked, wrinkling her pert little nose. “You can’t be here, not with boys.” She eyed Kez, Casper and Cooper with a certain element of disgust, and then turned to me. “Mhmm?”

“We work here,” I said cooly, hoping that she wouldn’t question why we were there, in the room with her.

“Oh.” Suddenly we were a whole lot less interesting, and she was about to flounce away, back to her giggling group of friends, when I held up my hand.

“Hey, we’re kind of new here, and we’ve been told to take me friend here outside for some fresh air. Where’s the back door?”

“Back door?” The girl wrinkled her nose again. “Won’t your Radios go off if you leave the building?”

“We’ve got a special permit,” Danger added, nodding her head. The blonde girl in front of us hovered for a moment, unsure whether to trust us, and then she nodded her head, curls bouncing.

“It’s a bit complicated, but I can show you from here if you like. I’m not doing anything important.”

“We’d appreciate it,” I said hurriedly. “Really, we would.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she murmured airily. “Let me get my shoes.”

Words written today: 1,112
Wordcount: 63,184

11th November

Let us take a moment to remember those who laid their lives down for us. -Remembrance Day, 2008. 90th anniversary. Thank you.

Now playing: Avril Lavigne - Innocence

Waking up I see that everything is okay, the first time in my life and now it's so great! Slowing down I look around and I am so amazed. I think about the little things that make life great. I wouldn't change a thing about it, this is the best feeling

Today has been rather odd. =O I got home, did a little bit of homework, fell asleep for three hours, did more homework and wrote. Actually, not odd really, considering the amount of sleeping I've been doing lately. Anyway, tonight I got to have my characters angst due to the sex scene I wrote earlier today, and they're currently in the middle of a break-out. They pulled the typical "Doctor, she's sick! Come look!" *bash over the head with a chair and escape* "Ha, suckerrrr" type plot line, but I don't care how unorginal it is. It works. Sort of.

And now for a mini craptacular excerpt. :)

His kisses were sloppy on my neck, wet, and they raised goose bumps all along the flesh of my arms and my bare legs. I shivered, despite the fire burning in the grate, and he must have taken it for a shiver of desire for he suddenly grew more urgent. He moved his hands along the entire length of my body, kissing and murmuring to himself as he did so. He laid me down, began to unbutton the dress from my shoulders, and then I could no longer hold my gaze above me head. I closed my eyes, and waited.

Moments later I felt a familiar rush of cold air, and his wandering hands made their journey lower, patting and poking in places I had hoped never to expose to a man like him again. I was reminded of my last long-term boyfriend, Lucas, who had been a wonderful man with a great personality, but his love-making left a lot to be desired. Sadly, it was like taking a trip down memory lane, only this time there was a horrible knotting fear in my stomach, I was shaking, and I was utterly uncomfortable.

Master Himes seemed totally unawares of this fact, though, and kept at his incessant poking for another few moments. I felt his breath on my legs as he bent to kiss the tender skin on the inside of my thighs. I found myself wishing that he would just get on with it and leave me be. I just wanted to curl up and cry. I couldn’t do that until he had finished.

The violation came suddenly, then, and I almost jumped away from him in shock. Closing my eyes had sheltered me from his actions, allowed me to believe that he was no longer there and it was somebody else, but the sharp shock brought me around again. I opened my eyes, and he grinned down at me, moving over me.

Instantly I wished I’d kept my eyes closed, though, because now he was talking to me. He was whispering sweet nothings into my ears, expecting a response. I lay there, stony and cold and trying my best not to cry as he moved.

“Come on baby, talk to me,” he whispered longingly. “Come on baby, come on.”

I ignored him, pretending that he wasn’t there. There was nothing there but me in the middle of an empty room. The sensation was all in my imagination. And then I thought of Boo, and the fear that trebled in my stomach was for her. I knew what to expect, did she? I knew how to handle myself, did she? At least he was being gentle for me… Would Boo be so lucky?

Words written today: 3,944
Wordcount: 62,069.

This innocence is brilliant, I hope that it will stay. This moment is perfect, please don't go away, I need you now, and I'll hold on to it, don't you let it pass you by...

10th November

Now playing: Idina Menzel - Hope.

See ourselves flying over the moutain, Hope is the bravest most beautiful bird in the sky. Only Hope can light the way, only Hope can heal the heart, only Hope can keep the clouds hiding the moon and the stars

This is honestly one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. <3

Anyway. Today I've had fun with my writing. Although, AC's storyline just got really dark. They've already had their house burn down, been attacked by 'seasonal' zombies, and been chased by the police for breaking into a gas station, so I don't think that being gassed and kidnapped to work for a "dance" club is all that out of place. What's weird is how they're all really relaxed about it at first because they've been there for a week, and they're just being taught how to sing and dance. And all of a sudden, their timetable says "special session", and Boo and AC are like "Shit, what could that mean?" and BAM!. There you have it. Whores in the making.

I'm worried about my mental state. O_O

There was a sofa in front of his desk, and we took it.

“Now, you don’t know why I have called you here, do you?” We shook our heads. “And in that case I must commend you on such brilliant behaviour. We love to have employees like you, quiet and dignfied as you are-”

“You can hardly call us employees, though,” I cut him off, my voice stony with worry. His dark, beady eyes landed on my face and he watched me for a moment, then a smile spread across his face.

“No, I suppose you’re right,” he said. “But I’m not particularly bothered by political correctness, so I’m afraid you’ll have to make do. Now, as I was saying... Upon you’re arrival here I selected you two for this special task because I thought that you could handle it beautifully. You, Eight, are young and beauteous, and tight.” I shot a shocked glance at Boo and saw her swallow hard.


... Seriously, how does that just happen? Well, it's kinda fun to write, at least. Roll on the sex scenes. >D

Words written today: 3,948
Wordcount: 58, 121

If only we were as strong as this bird, spirit would never die. What do we name it? Only one word. Hope is the bravest more beautiful bird, Hope is the bravest more beautiful bird in the sky

8th & 9th November

Now playing: I don't even know... >_o

Yesterday doesn't get a post, because I only wrote 500 words and spent my whole day basically relaxing. Hey, it's practically tradition to do that after you hit 50k.

Today I was back into writing again, 4,088 words written, which isn't as much as I've been writing lately but I think maybe 3k a day is a good goal to aim for, as a minimum.

I'm too tired to post anything else.
But, here's an excerpt for your viewing pleasure:

There were eight women, as I had already discovered, each of them dressed from head to foot in black except for one band of white around their faces. Their clothes, while relatively loose fitting, were cleverly put together and stuck well to the form so that there was optimal movement. The material, which at first I had assumed to be some kind of leather, was actually cotton, and by the looks of it in this harsh light it appeared to be hand-spun. Each one of them was stood in a different pose, arms and legs raised in position for battle or hand-to-hand combat.

Nunjas. There was no other way I could think to describe them, and even now I can only remember their resemblance to both Nuns and Ninjas, equally fiercesome and loveably religious. To be honest, when confronted with a sight like that, I didn’t know what to think. I snuck a glance over to Olive and found her reaction to be almost identical to my own. Her eyes were wide in shock, but it looked like she was amused to a certain degree as well, despite the fear.

“Well,” I said snidely, finding myself incredibly less scared than before. “What have we here? Ninja nuns? Isn’t that against your following, ladies? I’m sure the Lady Aeve-”

“Shut it, you,” one of the women snapped. She was the tallest, the one with the most weathered face, and I assumed that she was the one to have spoken before. Three of the others nodded with their leader, the older ones, and the rest stayed completely impatial to our discussion, their eyes fixed on the wall directly above our heads.

“I think I have the right to know what this physical assault is the consequence of,” I said in a mockingly pained manner. “You’ve tied me to bed for goodness sake.”

There was a silence as the superior nunja thought this over, and then she nodded. “You know what this is about,” she answered by way of explanation. I simply shook my head.

“No, I believe you’re very much mistaken. I have no idea what I’ve done to deserve such wonderful treatment.” For the moment I was maintaining my calm relatively well, but already I could feel my levels of anger begin to rise. If these women didn’t let me go pretty soon, I might well explode. I knew this from experience.

“Miss Daniella Park and her loyal lover Sofia Jem,” the youngest of the nunjas announced. She took a step forward in military style before speaking. “You have been charged with illicit activities behind the back of the Church of our Lady Aeve. This is seditious and unlawful, as well as being physically and morally wrong.” Her speech was rehearsed, and made her seem younger than she probably was. I couldn’t give a more accurate age for the habit that she wore in her ninja style.

“I have perfectly no idea what you’re talking about,” I said, my voice growing thin. “I think you’d better leave. Now.”


Words written today: 4,088
Wordcount: 54,163.

7th November - 50k BABY!

Now playing: some shitty song on the radio. I don't even have a victory song. .___.

YES! THAT'S RIGHT! I did it. *dies*

Today, I decided that come what may I would write that 50,000th word OR ELSE. It turns out I didn't need to contemplate filling an empty threat, or think about going into extra time, I sat my ass down at 5pm this afternoon and wrote. And wrote, and wrote. I churned out all but 2k before dinner, and now I'm sitting here, rather smug, knowing that by 10:20pm on November 7th, I hit my 50k.

I didn't know if it was possible, but apparently it is. With time to spare. Now I have three weeks to write as much (or as little) as I like, and try not to kill myself from caffeine overdose, or some such thing. >_o

50,000th word: 'the'. How exciting.
50,001st word: 'pretence'. Better.


An excerpt to put this in context:

I’d taken the bonbons from the Emporium myself. I’d hand picked each and every one of them, made sure that they were perfectly round, beautiful things. I’d been so tempted to try one, almost put one in my mouth to savour the wonderful, flawless flavour, and had to remind myself of the symbol that they would become. They would be the first expression of my freedom from the government, my first call-out to The Directors to watch their backs. They were perfect because I chose them to be.

And then, they were tainted. Each and every one, thirteen bonbons tainted by my hand. I went out and bought the arsenic myself, under the pretence of needing rat poison, and used a seive from the kitchen to make sure that they were all dusted evenly. Perfectly. Perhaps Blue was right, perhaps I’d lost part of myself in that meeting room, when they’d placed the brown envelope in front of me and exposed my failures for what they were. Perhaps I had lost something, my sanity maybe? My mind?

I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter. The bonbons were perfect.


Another excerpt for the hell of it:

I always find that I have my best dreams in the moments after dozing off. I still feel the weight of sleep closing in on my, and my imaginings are vivid and realistic. The colours are always brighter, the dialogues more beautiful- or at least more pleasing to my ‘drama gland’- and the people always seem to glow.

Chris was not glowing. That was the only indictation that this wasn’t a dream. The colours were bright, the dialogue certainly appealing to my sense of drama, but the glowing? Well, that was missing.

“What?” I jolted out of my half-sleep to find a crowd of people in front of my bed. Kez appeared to have stopped the trailer, and he was just making his way from the driver’s booth when I came to.

“What is it?” I jumped down from the bed, the sounds of spluttering, coughing and gasps of shock assaulting my ears.

“Do the Heimlich!” somebody cried worriedly, and then a chorus of “Yeah, do the Heimlich manoeuvre! Quick!”

But for all the speech nobody seemed willing to do the manoeuvre, and so the coughing just kept on coming. I moved around Q, who was stood motionless in front of me with a hand pressed to her mouth in horror, and then I saw him. It was at this point that I realised that it wasn’t a dream, because nobody was glowing.

Today I have written:
-A death scene involving skittles
-A (not so) high speed chase (involving two trailers and a 'rusty bucket' police car)
-A plot to take over the world, one arsenic covered Bonbon at a time.

Words written today: 8,042.
Wordcount: 50,075. :)

6th November

Now playing: Heart - These Dreams

These dreams go on when I close my eyes. Every second of the night, I live another life. These dreams that sleep when it's cold outside, every moment I'm awake, the further I'm away.

Today has ben one tiring day. But, I've managed pretty well. The kids have reached the first stop in their mission to save the sweet shop, alright, though it's taken them a while to get there. I have the first death scene coming up shortly, as well as (hopefully) a plot to kill a government leader in the villain's storyline. This should be interesting. As for word count, I'm doing pretty well, I guess, for saying that we're only six days into NaNoWriMo. XD If I work hard tomorrow and don't suffer any horrible incidents that might keep me from writing my planned amount, then I should be set to hit the bit 5-0 tomorrow. I hope all goes well, because it really would make me feel fantastic to be able to say I'd reached the 50k in just a week.

Tomorrow I'll have to write 9k, which could be a bit of a challenge though. D: I get in from school at 1:30, tomorrow, after an hour at bookclub which will leave me sufficiently relaxed, so hopefully I'll be able to churn out at least 1.5k before Alisha gets home from school at 3:30. And then I have a little time in between her getting in and her leaving to go to a school disco- when I will stop to do her makeup- and then after that I should have the rest of the evening to write. I don't know if it's a realistic target, but I think it's one that I could reach with enough hard work and effort. If only I'd written more on Monday. *eyeroll*

Anyway, now for the excerpt of the day!
Why yes, the prose is getting worse. You're going to need glasses by the time I'm through with you! XD

“Then I think we’ll just go home. I think that’s the general consensus on the matter-”

“Oh but you mustn’t!” April cried shrilly, her arms flying in an animated move of warning. “No! You mustn’t do that. You mustn’t even think it.”

“Uh, why?” Danger pulled a face. I thought she might be about to hit the other woman, which I would definitely have commended. I could feel myself growing pale, all thoughts of being home in the next few days wiped from my mind completely. In fact, I was so distraught by this revelation that I thought I might just cry.

“Because if you even so much as think these negative anti-prophecy thoughts, you will die.”

“We’ll die?” Casper asked incredulously. “Like, literally? Or metaphorically? Because if it’s metaphorically I think I can handle that-”

“No. You. Will. Die.” April laid her sheet of paper on the table, on top of the gardening handbook, and then shook her head sadly. “You must listen to me; this is of utmost importance in your quest-”

“But what if we don’t want to do the quest?” Vivienne whined. “What if we don’t care about the damn shop and just want to go home?”

“Oh quit with the angst,” Boo cut in, speaking with a loud, harsh voice. “This is our duty, yeah? We should do it.”

“But we could die,” Cassidy said, suddenly deciding that it wasn’t quite so fun any longer.

“You probably won’t die, you know.” April smiled thinly. “It’s very rare that it happens. Dying.”

“For most people it only happens every seventy-eight years,” Q pointed out. When met by several icy glares she clamped her mouth shut and took a step back.

Favourite non-excerpt lines:
“Well, it might narrow things down a bit, eh?” April smirked. “Look, guys, you need to take this more light-heartedly. You seem like you like to have fun, so what’s so different about this? It’s a quest, an adventure, where you get to battle evil foes and fight for the prize. Why, when I was your age I would have loved-”

“Yes, but now we’ve got television.” Danger popped a piece of bubblegum in her mouth. “Have you get any more to tell us?”

Words written today: 5,837 (so far)
Wordcount: 41,296 (so far)

Is it cloak and dagger, could it be Spring or Fall? I walk without a cut through a stained-glass wall.