I have realised that this blog has turned into the occasional writing update. (Also, I need to update about how the editing went… all those months ago ><) But anyway, I’m participating in NaNoWriMo again this year, and here’s my Week 1 update:

Word Count: 10,085

I’m 1581 words behind, as of today, and that’s partly because of the Saga International Balloon Fiesta, and partly because I fell sick. As a result, there were a few days were I didn’t even meet the minimum word count. I’ve been averaging more than that, though, for the past few days, so while I’m not ahead (like I was in the previous years), I still have hope for winning.

This year, I’m trying something different: I actually plotted.

Well, actually, I wrote the beats for the first 22 chapters, and I got to know the characters and the world before I started writing on Nov 1. So far, I’ve got to say that it’s really useful – while writers block still exists, it’s not as bad as before, because I have this rough skeleton to cling to.

I’m going to need to plan the beats for the next few chapters soon though – but I want to know the world a bit more.

By the way, I’m putting my NaNoWriMo WIP up on WriteOn, mostly for the word count function. You can find it here.

By the way, in the spirit of plotting, I actually wrote out a blurb, but whether the story goes according to blurb is yet to be determined:

Everyone is playing a game. 

Heartless, foreign Ada is having fun breaking the hearts of Sakoku boys. Of course, she’s staying within the rules. Why get sent back to Kaiguo before her fun is over?

The Sakoku wizard trainees have their own bet going on – the first one to break Ada’s heart, well, since she’s heartless the first one to pull the rug from under her feet, will rise to the top of their group.  
Watching everyone is the Head Wizard, Pendragon, who’s playing a little game of his own. Only this one goes beyond Ada and the wizard trainees. This game is going to played among countries.

To end my update, here’s the first line of my WIP:

Dear Headwizard Pendragon,  

 Oddly enough, the reason why I decided to put my heart in a box wasn’t because of a failed relationship or anything like that. It was because of my friends.

What about my NaNoWriMo friends? How are you doing? (Also, I’m really sorry if I’m absent on G+, school’s been busy so if I have time, I’m working on my NaNo)