Still writing!

I broke 11,000 words last night, and the new Crystal Tokyo flashback is done. It's a brief scene that follows Rei in the hours after the big sequence in chapter 9, as she wanders through the ruins of Crystal Tokyo. Not what you'd call a fun piece.

To be honest, it may get cut entirely in the final draft; I'm not entirely happy with the logic of having the scene there, and it really only serves to re-establish something I'd mentioned, in passing, in an earlier chapter. Or, hm, well, perhaps it serves one other purpose as well. I'll make up my mind later. It's done, in any case, so I can move on …

While browsing the message boards on the Straight Dope the other day &mdash

If you haven't met the Straight Dope, I really can't recommend it strongly enough. You can find it here. The message boards are among the best I've seen anywhere.

— I ran into some excellent writing advice — as found in this thread. The strongest point made: if you want to write, you have to do it every day. Even if you don't feel like it. Even if what you're turning out is trash. Do it anyway.

I knew that. That's how I finally managed to finish chapter 11. I sat down and wrote, no matter what.

Somehow I'd forgotten. I'll try to fix that ...