Word count -- CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT.

Words: 4,059.
Total words: 8,138.
Reason for stopping: I finished chapter two! It's time for food.
The cats: Lilly, bed; Alice and Thomas, flopped over in the hallway.
Music: the soundtrack to Syfy's Monster Island, disturbingly enough.

4,000 words and a chapter—now that's more like it! The shape of the plot is starting to become apparent, and while we're not in the thick of things just yet, it's increasingly clear that yes, we're going to get there, whether we want to or not. (I want to, Toby, as you can probably guess, is not quite so enthusiastic about the idea. Poor Toby. She really never has nearly as easy a time of things as she wants to. If it were up to her, I would write an entire book where the most exciting thing that happened would be Quentin forgetting to put the toilet seat down.)

I think I'm really going to enjoy writing this book, now that I'm starting to get my claws into it properly. Better yet, I've finished some of the pending short fiction that was taking up space on my mental shelves, and that means my normal rotation (Toby, then InCryptid, then a third book) is reasserting itself. Life is good.

Also, this icon is my placeholder for books that don't have icons of their own yet, and I'm really excited to know that soon, I'll be able to swap it off of all my Ashes of Honor posts. Because I am that much of a nerd.

Word count -- HALF-OFF RAGNAROK.

Words: 2,731.
Total words: 8,017.
Reason for stopping: chapter two is done, and it's time for dinner.
The cats: all cats are currently out of view, which is worrisome.
Music: still the soundtrack to Syfy's Monster Island. I am predictable.

Once again, I am proving the old adage that all it takes to get me writing again is a finished manuscript and the sucking terror that comes from having nothing immediately demanding my attention. (These are things I needed to be writing anyway, mind you. It's just that Parasite was such a huge chunk of text that it sort of blocked the pipeline for pretty much everything else.) So now here I am, once more hip-deep in InCryptid and loving every mucky, slime-covered step.

Half-Off Ragnarok is really interesting so far, because it's the first book from Alex's perspective. I can't help looking at the text and thinking "gosh, the Machete Squad is going to kill half of this," and at the same time, I can't tell you which half they're going to target, so I have to write it all. That's a good thing, honestly. It forces me to get used to Alex's voice, and the little quirks and oddities of his personality. He's my first (and so far, only) male narrator in this series, and so it's important to me that I get him right.

I am very excited about this expansion of my universe. You get to meet Grandma and Grandpa Baker properly, and see more of the actual ecology of the non-sapient cryptids and how they're able to remain under the radar of modern science. It's going to be a fun ride.

Whee!