Writing Update: 13-06-25

Change: +8,417

Year to Date: 107,468

It feels good to finally be hiting some bigger numbers with the word count, regaining a sense of genuine progress. This week, it's felt as though the writing has gotten easier again. Or maybe the subject of the current chapter is just a little easier. In any case, the next chapter should be ready by next week, and we seem to be back to a chapter-a-week for the first time since Easter.

In the chapter in progress, triggered by the visit to the izakaya Edo, David has a flashback to his time in Japan. I lived in Japan for a few years, quite some time ago. It's been fun diving into old memories and mining them for details. Here's a little extract:

"Just under two years ago, and it’s a memory anchored in a tailored suit and a quality watch, heavy at my wrist, and sturdy shoes, sitting at the counter at this tiny little bar, late at night in the middle of fucking nowhere, real inaka kind of place called the Seadragon, so authentic it hurt. This was my third night in a row, and I liked the place, it was good. Only late spring but already hot and muggy, cicadas buzzing in the background, string lights glimmering the dark. You couldn’t squeeze more than half-a-dozen patrons into the place, on stools along a single wood counter, pitted and polished, thick and dull from years of wax and rubbing. A folding patio door, cheap plastic that closed away like an accordion, made up the rear wall and opened onto a narrow road, pavement cracked and worn. Beyond that, a short fence. Rail line on the other side, and every fifteen minutes, like clockwork, an old train went rattling by, a flash of carriage lights and squeal of metal on metal."

The Seadragon's a real place, one where I left entirely too much of my time, money and liver. But for a period in my life, it was wonderful having a place where they knew my name, had a pint waiting for me when I passed through the door.

There's a fair bit of me scattered here and there through Constant. For most of it's half-a-million word count, I wrote in a sort of blissful ignorance of how much of myself I was projecting into the text. But something like this, it's fun to bring to life in words a place I once loved, a little homage to a tiny favourite bar. I don't even know if it even exists anymore.

Coming Next Week:

• Constant in All Other Things: Book 5, Chapter 7,

• Some wonderful art by Fraylim.

The current plan (always subject to change) is to beaver away at Constant until Act 5 is done. I reckon there's another four or five chapters to go there, so this should be done by August. This includes covering the second and third task set by Darius, recontextualising scenes already told in Book 4. Also to come, an intimate evening with the girls, quite possibly leading to a salacious scene with Mel. And finally, the Sin-DI concert.

Then, either a short break or I'll try my hand at a one-off, just for the fun of it, a short five or six thousand word story. Then, I'll probably focus on the next chapter of Lamb.

Have a great week!