The world’s greatest fantasy novel writer is back on the job. No, not J.R.R. Tolkien, although that would be news, wouldn’t it. No, not Terry Brooks. Who then? George R.R. Martin? Nope, not him either. I mean me, of course. Last night I wrote for about two hours.

Ok, maybe “world’s greatest” is a bit of a stretch, but I am writing fantasy, after all, and half the fun is just making stuff up. The point is, I’m back in the writing habit. Exactly one day in a row. OK, maybe “habit” is a bit of a stretch, too, but I feel a lot better about making progress than the alternative.

I worked on a new scene last night, the last scene of Chapter 9. The main character is about to get himself into a whole new mess, and it should be interesting. But he’ll also meet a new ally, whom I’ve already introduced. Together they’ll be able to get out of the mess, but not in this chapter. All I have to do tonight is finish getting our hero into the trouble. Throw in some bad guys and the scariest fantasy monster you’ve ever come across, and we’re in business.

I should be able to finish at least the rough draft of Chapter 9 tonight, and then get a good head start on Chapter 10.

In the early stages of writing a novel, there’s a lot more planning than writing. I feel like I am getting to the point in the story where the planning has mostly been taken care of, and the action of the story begins to drive itself. I don’t have to think about what is going to happen next, because what happens next follows naturally from what happened previously. That makes the writing part a lot easier.

Let’s hope it continues.

(World’s Greatest!) Fantasy Writer’s Progress Report:

• Consecutive days of productive writing: 1
• Chapters complete: 8
• Word Count: 33,808

Ok, so it’s been about a month and a half since I wrote my last post. Not good, really, considering that this blog was supposed to help keep me on track with my writing habits.

Unfortunately, writing every day is a much harder habit to develop than not writing every day.

I haven’t been totally inactive since the last time I posted, but I haven’t written that much either. I am about two-thirds of the way through Chapter 9, which is about a chapter and a half further than I was late in August. I have somewhere around 33,000 words complete, and I hope to get through Chapter 9 tonight.

In the meantime, I finished reading the latest from Terry Brooks a few nights ago ( The Gypsy Morph, book 3 of the Genesis of Shannara series ). It was a good book, well written, with Terry Brooks’s usual style, and I consider my time spent reading his work as studying as much as reading for pleasure.

I admire Brooks for his pace and writing style, and if my writing can come anywhere close to that, then my “studying” time will have been well spent.

So, with inspiration anew, I’ll tackle the rest of Chapter 9 tonight. Wish me luck.