Week Two, continued

I gave myself Thursday night off from writing, because I had a meeting in the evening which took a chunk out of the available time for writing. I was, at least by my calculations, still a bit ahead of the pace as of yesterday, and I did take some time to brainstorm directions and options for the story even if I didn't write. So, I'm at least feeling better about what comes next in the story, as well as finding new ways to talk back to the internal editor:

"No, I don't have to go back and write the scene into the earlier chapter that would be absolutely essential to properly support this scene I'm writing now. I can write it now and move it into position later. Who says I have to write the whole novel in order anyway?"

"No, I'm not going back to remove chunks of novel that I've already written which are silly or no longer fit with the rest of the story. At best, I'll flag them for deletion (in a way that doesn't change the word count -- like changing the font or color) and deal with it later."

"No, it really doesn't matter that what I'm writing now directly contradicts something I wrote earlier. I can fix that later."

"Yes, I really can change viewpoint characters right now. Deal with it."

And I'm realizing that I'm going to have to take control of the plot and throw something unpleasant at my characters so they'll do something more interesting than talk to each other. It's time to do something to threaten the main character's person, family, home or friends. Time for some looting and pillaging! Or a little murder, mayhem and bloodshed. Watch out boys and girls, someone is going to get hurt! Fictionally speaking, that is, of course. Remember, it's just a story.