A while ago I mentioned that I was working on a new series called the Investigative Privateers. Book one, The Horned Scarab, was suppose to come out late October (hah--hah). Obviously that hasn’t happened, and for the moment it has been postponed until early 2016.

This year's NaNoWriMo, unsurprisingly, went pretty horribly. I’m some 40k words short of the goal, and unless some divine intervention happens, I’m not going to hit the 50k mark. The month started off great, I was hitting the daily goals and trucking along feeling good, and then a sweaty wad of life decided to fling itself into my face.

*vomits physical rage*

*smears magma filled rage chunks on computer screen*

Outlining. The evil ye-shall-not-say-its-name plot backbone that we all like to ignore. I’ve always been one of those people who ignore outlining. I’m a pantser by nature, waiting until I’m staring at the blank document to start putting down the story as it comes. An outline always feels like a big restriction, like chains holding you to the bottom of a word pool you didn’t want to commit to. But really, that’s not what an outline is. It’s a guideline to help direct the way. 

One foot in front of the other, inch by inch, slowly getting closer to that goal post you’ve set. But does it matter how fast you get there, or just that you eventually get there? I don’t know, I guess it’s different for everyone. For me, I think there’s a lot of benefit to valuing the small steps, because each of those small steps push you forward, and if you’re moving forward then you’ll eventually get to that goal.