Tracking post

This is the sort of thing matociquala does, so I'll join in the fun.

Project: Unconventional Historical Romance Novel
Deadline: Haven't got one. This is my very first try, and it's on spec.
New words written: 1142
Present total word count: 16297
Reason for stopping: Sleepy
Mean things: The lieutenant being no help at all defending the viscount against his grandmama, who is nagging him to get married
Fun things: Using a friend's surname for an offstage character. Bluebells. Architecture.
Stimulants: Coca-Cola and embarrassing snack food.
Words Word don't know: for some reason, Google Docs tagged "Grandmama" the second time it appeared, but not the first.

Other notes on my process: I listened to a greatest-hits clip of Dame Maggie Smith on Downton Abbey to get the voice, spent a chunk of time researching enclosures, first in general and then for the specific location that I'm using as a model for the viscount's estate (it was in the county I wanted, and it was PRETTY), and spent another chunk of time trying to find aerial views of the property so I could decide where I was sticking an entirely imaginary dower house and figure out what the path looked like. The enclosures were for a single paragraph. The garden path was for one goddamn sentence. This is how I work.

Tomorrow: getting them OUT of Grandmama's house and back into the post-chaise, where their reward will be an overnight stop at a coaching-inn. With privacy. Either en route or at the inn, they will have a very necessary conversation about their respective thoughts on marriage. Which has some melancholy or at least bittersweet overtones, but will not stop them going at it.

Today's Tracking

Project: Unconventional Historical Romance Novel
Deadline: we don't need no steenkin' deadlines
New words written: 479
Present total word count: 16776
Reason for stopping: Cannot brain
Mean things: The lieutenant was slightly out of patience with the viscount's first-world problems
Fun things: Grandmama dropped her guard for a second.
Stimulants: Homemade minestrone, really large mug of sweet milky tea
Words Word don't know: None today

I got distracted from the novel today because following_sea had a challenge up about flowered underwear. (I swear there's historical evidence!)

Now, I'm the sort of person who, given an angst-loaded pairing, will do my utmost to write them a happily-ever-after. I do death fixes, for crying out loud. (Nobody is allowed to kill Jamie Bamber. I can't let it stand.)

So, naturally, when given a ridiculous, lighthearted challenge, I write angst.

~550-ish words (AO3 and Google Docs don't agree, that's somewhere in the middle).

Tomorrow I'll try to get them past the initial Comparison of Grandmothers and onto the Marriage Discussion. Then and only then will I let myself write The Next Sex Scene.