Good to have a goal

I have a goal.  I want the rewrite for the next Hollows book done in time that I can NaNo with you guys this November again.  I had fun last year.  It's a very do-able goal, but it won't leave me much time to enjoy the last few hours of sun outside this month.  It's cold outside, anyway, so I'm content.

I pushed through a hard pair of chapters yesterday.  It took me an unreal three days for 45 pages, but I'm happy, or mostly happy.  I will be peaking at it this morning and taking something out that will be pushed deeper into the manuscript.  Too much is going on in it, and I have to reduce to keep the pace moving.  That was the big issue in this chapter.  Pacing.

I had three introductions and a first look-see at several sections of the church.  I like to have no more than one "important" introduction and two scene descriptions in a chapter, (the original scene, and then one shift) but will fudge it all the time if I can keep the pace fast or the dialog interesting.  Everything was important in this chapter, and I tried something I'd seldom do.  It worked really well.  I had Rachel walk out of the room, and when she came back, it was obvious that greetings had been exchanged.  It was an important introduction, but the reader didn't have to see it.  What the reader saw was the comfortable ease in the room when Rachel came back, and that was far more important than "Hi, I'm Ivy."

Still learning . . .  ;-)