Stephanie Gunn

New words: 2,607

Total words: 39,223

Better day today, for all that the insomnia hasn’t abated.

While lying in bed last night trying to sleep I was visualising the storyline of this trilogy – with the greater plot arc as a large sweeping line, smaller plots and sub-plots sweeping in and out of the main plot.

My aim is to have the greater plot running over all three books, but also a plotline that is resolved in each book. Shaede opens the greater plotline, and resolves its “minor” plotline within the space of the book. Daemon is somewhat more problematic in terms of resolving its plot – maybe because it’s the second book. The third book (Fae) will conclude everything. Maybe. I’m not sure if I want to play in this world again.

I am considering moving one plot into the third book instead of Daemon. We’ll see how it goes. Already I’m itching to have all three done, so I can work on weaving them together. That is assuming that Shaede doesn’t get sold, of course, in which case I’m going to have to be more cunning.

New words: 2,141

Total words: 36,616

Another hard day of writing. Insomnia is sapping my ability to think.

New words: 2,243

Total words: 34,334

Odd writing day today. I had no enthusiasm for writing – I’d actually not thought about the book all weekend and was feeling like I just didn’t want to get back to it.

Sat down to the laptop anyway.

And wrote a scene that I hadn’t ever consciously imagined. It involved the reveal of the fate of one of my “missing” characters and has also, at the same time, complicated things. Argh.

I’m not really complaining, though. The men in the basement do good work.

New words: 2,024

Total words: 32,091

Difficult day of writing again. Insomnia is kicking my arse again, which is flaring up my pain levels. Sigh. Still, there’s still forward motion.

And damn, one of my characters has become a little evil. Where the heck did that come from?

New words: 2,465

Total words: 30,067

Middle of the book. ‘Nuff said. Too tired for anything else tonight.

New words: 2,587

Total words: 25,155

Heading into the dreaded middle of book. It’s not going too badly at the moment – the writing is coming from the subconscious.

It’s weird how my method of writing varies from day to day. Some days it’s all on a conscious level, and some days it comes without conscious thought. I have a whole subplot that came direct from the guys in the basement today. No idea what I’m going to do with it yet – I hope they do!

New words: 2,416

Total words: 22,568

It’s interesting how often I hear people say things like “I could write”, “Writing is an easy job”, or “Well, it’s not like you have to work like a regular person.”

Writing as a career is bloody difficult.

It’s not just about those hours you spend with fingers on the keyboard. It’s about living writing. I can’t read anything or watch anything on television without analysing the writing. Everything is a lesson. Everything someone says to you is added into the subconscious, where it may ferment into an idea.

I breathe writing, sleep it. There’s a scene in the movie version of The Hours where Nicole Kidman playing Virginia Woolf is socialising with her sister and her family and isn’t there at all – she’s lost in the world of the book she’s working on.

This is what writing as a career is – having two lives. I walk in this world, but a part of me is always in that other world. Twenty-four hours a day.

And if you think you can write, then damn well write. I admire the people out there who are doing it, instead of talking about it. Even fan fiction – in my opinion it’s a great way to start. But that’s it – it’s a start. Play with the characters, trash it and move on. Make up your own characters.

Now tell me that it’s an easy life.

New words: 2,309

Total words: 20,152

It feels like I just started this, and I’m already 20k in. I even have a plot *gasp*.

I could have written more today, but life interrupted.

New words: 2,787

Total words: 17,843

That’s pretty much all I have to say today. Sleepy…

New words: 2,734

Total words: 12,357

Another difficult writing day, with most of those words being utter crap. I blame it on the weather (I am a human barometer, and there’s storms coming in = lots of pain) as well as the effects of withdrawing from medication.