For the past couple of weeks, my writing buddy and I have engaged in word count wars during out writing group sessions.  Both times, Janina won.  This past week it was by a much narrower margin but I don’t like losing.  Especially when I’ve won Nanowrimo for the past 4 years and consider myself good at writing a lot of words in a short period of time.  However, I have succeeded in writing a lot of words both times, so I suppose that’s good for Blood Countess.

I just find myself getting distracted by having to look up what bathtubs were like in the 1600’s, or what were common insults in the 17th century.  Or by the woman sitting next to me who is reading a stack of periodicals with titles like UFO Magazine, Mysterious America, and Skeptic (one of these had a cover story about the 50-foot SuperCroc).  And one issue of Better Homes & Gardens.  I theorized that her home renovation process had been derailed by some paranormal activities caused by ghosts or possibly aliens.  Or SuperCroc?

I have been tempted to begin working on the sequel to Hitchhikers (working title: Dreamwalkers), but just yesterday I was reading Rachel Hawkins’s blog posts about how she got published, and she calls this the Slutty New Idea that tempts you away from your work with the promise that this new story will be easier and more fun to write.  I. Must. Resist.  At least until I can finish Blood Countess, although at 38,000 words and no sign of how I’m going to wrap this up, I may be putting off Dreamwalkers for a good long while.