Slow progress, but progress nonetheless

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the first post on the Graven page. What started as a cute idea to write 50.000 words for the NaNoWriMo challenge, hasn't really developed into what I had hoped. There are a few reasons why. Some of my followers from the Light My Way page know that I have been struggling with a lot of stuff in my life over the past year. Well, it just so happens that this month marks one year since my mother passed away. Last week to be exact. I thought that if I wrote about what I felt in a fictional way, it would somehow make me feel better so that I could also Look Back and check up on myself. To process stuff. I also used this month as a milestone.  What happened this past year? Did I improve? Where am I now? Professionally, and personally.

Unfortunately, the effect of writing about some of my experiences has led me to spiral down into a bit of a negative slump. Last week I was so upset that I didn't really take as much care of myself as I should have. I didn't eat properly and it was also very cold here...With my shields down, I got sick really fast. The last week I barely wrote anything because of a fever, coughing (so much coughing!), and the headaches that come because of the amount of coughing. It is what it is though. I managed to put out 1600 words today so that's a win for sure. But at this point I doubt I'll finish the novel by the end of the month. I'm 19k words in with only 9 days left...

The good part about all of this is that I noticed that the novel wouldn't really be 50000 words anyway. It would be more. I could condense a lot of it and skip parts that aren't as important in terms of story flow, but they're important to me personally. I want more parts that don't necessarily serve the big picture as much. They're relevant to a degree, but the novel could do without them if it comes to crunching the numbers to fit only 50k words. I simply choose to write more dialogue, more inner thoughts, more everything. 

What will most likely happen is a "Part 1" release at the end of November and a "Part 2" release hopefully at the end of December or January. I am well aware that pushing the final release of Graven will affect Light My Way, but I don't have the heart not to give Graven the time and affection it rightly deserves. 

As a final note for this story: be very aware that this is not your typical drama. I'm not holding back as I do with some characters from Light My Way. The characters in Graven are raw, heavy, disillusioned, almost real...If you are prone to letting your feelings wander when reading something, Graven will take you on a ride that you might not want to get on. 

But it's going to be worth it if you do. 

See you in Kazuul!
- Hadrian Maximus