I have some pretty amazing news today. My friend Svenja, who’s read the first two chapters of the novel that are available right here on the site and who I’ve now also given a draft copy of my current manuscript to review, has sent me some fanart of Joe based on the novel. This is the first fanart I have received for this project and it makes me very happy.

My descriptions in the first two chapters of the novel must be pretty on point, because she’s captured the feeling of the character and the look of the environment perfectly.

I did it! I just won the National Novel Writing Month 2021! With two days to spare, I wrote 50,000 words for my novel in November. I’ve won! For the second time. And unlike 2011, I will not throw this novel out. I will continue writing it. I will edit it and I will, eventually, put it up on this very website, chapter for chapter, for you to read. And when it is completely done, I will get it published as an ebook and as a paperback.

But right now, I will go and sleep. A lot.

I’m now at 40,120 words written for NaNoWriMo 2021. Which means I’m right on target for my goal as of yesterday. I am hopeful that I can catch up to today’s goal later in the day. Once I’ve slept a little bit. I’d really like to be one daily word goal ahead as I tend to write into the night and need this safety blanket to finish in November instead of the early hours of 1 December – and thus fail the challenge by a hair’s breadth.

But, if everything goes according to plan, I’ll be using most of the weekend to write – and I might be streaming a lot of this on Twitch as well. The goal is to finish the 50,000 words right there and then and not even run the risk of failing during the last two days. Not sure I can manage that, but I will definitely try my best – real life commitments permitting.

To feel myself into the world of the novel while I am writing it, I’ve been experimenting with drawing some of the people and locations from the story. I want to share one of these drawings with you today to help readers get the same kind of feel for the world that I’m trying to cultivate for myself. So here is some work in progress art of the exterior of Humboldt Station:

This weekend was very good for my writing effort. I’m now halfway there for NaNoWriMo 2021! I’ve written 25,120 words total this month, which means I’m now officially a day ahead in daily words – tomorrow being the halfway mark of the challenge and requiring 25,005 words. At least according to my statistics on the NaNoWriMo website. I have no idea where the five extra words come from, either.

With a little bit of luck and willpower, I will be able to carry this lead through the challenge as a rescue blanket by consistently hitting my daily goals.