Background

Blech.

So I've gotten a lot done on the book: sixty or seventy pages of background material, outlines, timelines, character biographies, etc. I'm pretty close to being able to start my first draft...

...but I'm not quite there yet. I still have background to write, and let me tell you: I am SICK of writing background. If I have to plot out the linguistic and cultural origins for another country, blood is going to spurt out my ears. And I DO have to do it for another country. At least three countries, probably more.

And I have to put more detail into the character bios, and re-write a more extensive outline, and finally compile my notes into a single comprehensive form. So I'm more than halfway done with the background, but I'm not all the way done yet, and I am super sick of it.

In the future, I'm going to need to find a way to pace myself so that I have fun stuff--like fight scenes or anything with dragons--to write in between all the boring stuff, like which crops can grow in which climate and what effect that has on a culture's primary diet.

Plod, plod, plodding along. On the slightly brighter side, I spent most of yesterday and today writing, in addition to having written regularly for about a month.

That's the sweet, sweet smell of progress.