If I went to sleep right now, I would sleep for ten hours. Easily. I’m tired. It’s the end of week two and I’m nothing short of exhausted. Waking up early so I can get my word count in and then staying up late so I can read is really leaving me with not enough sleep. Some of you may pishaw at groaning at 6 and half hours of sleep, but for me I become non-functional after a while. I’m generally not a morning person, but that’s also when I get my best (and most) writing done. So onward I push.
I’ve been meeting my goals. Sometimes just barely. In fact, last Friday I chumped out 133 words short when I realized that I had written only 200 words in 3 hours. (Writing late in the day just doesn’t work for me because… Now what was the name of that anime again.) I made up for it and pushed myself since then. As of writing this, I am sitting at roughly 60600 words.
As for my story, it is going well, though admittedly it is shorter than I initially intended. It moved at a quick pace early on and still is. When I go through my revisions, I’ll need to expand and potentially add another plot event. We will see. I’m quite enjoying the dynamics of the characters. They are so different than each other, but they find solace in each other as well. I will likely finish it tomorrow and take a break for the rest of the day before I start working on my other story.
It’s excerpt time. Again this is entirely unedited. It is from the first chapter of my story.
—
The lights flickered throughout the room as the electricity surged in and out in time with her pacing. A knock startled Dahlia from the path she was making on the floor of her dorm room. Eyes wide and sparks flying from her fingers, she attempted to straighten her hair and went for the door.
Aubrey stood in front of it a bright ball of energy and struck a pose. Her black hair flopped to the side to match her contorted pose. Her eyes ran from Dahlia’s toes to her hair.
“You’re nervous,” Aubrey said as she let herself in. She pointed to Dahlia’s hair that stuck up on end. “You shouldn’t be. You may not be top of the glass, but you’re one of the best. They’ll give you a good assignment.”
She hadn’t even thought about what location they might stick her to run off and hone her skills in the real world without being caught. She’d been more worried about failing and exposing herself and her kind to the world. There hadn’t yet been a person who’d been through the school who’d made such a mistake, but Dahlia was certain she could change that.
A weak smile spread across her face. “Of course.”
Aubrey eyed her suspiciously, but didn’t push the subject instead marching to the closet to rifle through clothes. “Don’t tell me you are planning to wear that.”
Dahlia turned to the mirror. It didn’t look like such a disastrous outfit. She’d worn it a hundred times and as far as she knew it blended in well with the current style in the normal world. She pouted, but before she could say anything, Aubrey hurled clothes at her.
“Change now.”
She half-heartedly saluted and did was she was told, slipping into a pair of jeans and a shirt that seemed a bit too drapey and silky to be casual.
“You know this is the biggest day in my life,” Dahlia started.
“It’s your first opportunity to return to the real world and find your mom.” Aubrey mocked. It wasn’t like it was the first time Dahlia had been on the tangent. Usually Aubrey just listened and grunted. This time she grabbed Dahlia’s shoulders and electricity from her hands shot through Dahlia.
“Hey, watch it.”
“No. You need to watch it. You were lucky you got precious parent time, but that is over. You are property of the Americas government and if they catch you going off book it’s going to be toast for everyone involved. Don’t do it.” She let her go and flopped on the bed. “Besides, what’s so important about them, I turned out fine without a fabled family.”
There was no doubt Aubrey wasn’t wrong. She was fully functional if not a little odd. In fact, she was like most people here. Most of the kids in the school had been her longer than she had. Either their parents gave them up right off the bat or the moment they showed their ability, the powers that be swooped in and took them away. That made Dahlia one of the rare outliers who had strong memories of being with family.
So, I pondered... 