NaNoWriMo: Day 5

 Word count: 7,430

Made good progress today. Over 2,000 words typed, and many more written.

I guess I should explain that one. When I get myself into a stuck place when I'm writing, I take a step away from the keyboard, pull out the designated composition book for the project, and start free writing. I'm not writing the story; I'm writing about the story, whether it's sketching out the sequence of events, or figuring out details like what kind of liquor is in a certain liquor cabinet. Doing it this way makes it easier to back out of things and take a different route if it doesn't quite work, or try on different ideas for size. 

Once I get to a stopping point, I sit down and start typing. Suddenly, everything moves much faster, because all the staring-off-into-space-figuring-out-what-happens-next time has been taken care of, and is in writing to be referred to. When I get to typing, the result is a little off to the side of what I wrote by hand, but that's fine. All I need is a general idea to work from.

I hadn't pulled this particular technique out of my arsenal for this project until today. I'll have to remember to use it more often.

Selected line: “There is a small liquor cabinet in the side table by the leather chair in the main room. Señor Gutiérrez says that you are welcome to partake of it, as long as you don’t take any of the bottles with you when you leave.”

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