Shortly after the derailment post, I was fortunately able to pick things up again. I've now made it through seven chapters of the second draft, which is currently up around twenty-five thousand words. I also did something else I've never done before: I divided each chapter into its own document and I think I like working like this. It's easier to manage than one big file, especially when it comes to versioning.

Of course, I'm about to derail myself again. Not due to outside influences but because the easy part of the story is now behind me. This is where things start to get a bit thick and there's going to be far more rewriting from this point forward.

Makes me tired just thinking about it.

Hard to believe that was two weeks ago already. I was fired up for another solid run but got immediately derailed by work and life and all the in-betweens. I made it about halfway through the rewrite of the second chapter, and that's where things stopped. Hopefully I'll be back at it soon. I'm just glad this isn't November, because then it'd just be really sad.

After a nearly three month hiatus, I began the second draft of The Spark last night. Threw out nearly the entire first chapter (more like a prologue) and I'm now coming at it from a completely different angle. And, as is my wont between drafts, I changed the name of the main character. I don't know why I do that. Why can't I simply: 1) pick the right character name to begin with, or 2) learn to like it? I mean, it's just a name, right?

I think it really says something about the value we place on names. For me, it's not until I put it into use for a couple hundred pages that I can know whether it fits or not.

Anyway, it feels good to get back on the horse. I'm hopeful this keeps going.