it's sort of like Aladin, but staring Jafar and with werewolves

Got a fair amount done on the YA today, and it's blossoming into a pretty cool book.  Better than the adult novel?  I don't know...

but this one is definitely coming more naturally.  So far, the process has been:

1. Outlined the whole book the day I got the idea

2. Wrote the first act (of five) sticking closely to that outline, but picked up different threads than expected for the second act.

3. Wrote the first half of the second act, keeping to some elements of the original outline, and changing others.

4. Wrote a new outline- the second act has every plot point recorded, the third act every major turning point, the fourth act the topic of every chapter, and the fifth act the major topics I want to wrap up.

It's been fun, and new, better ideas keep popping up.  MEANWHILE, 

the adult novel has been a bit of a slog.  I'm at what *should* be a very intense, interesting part of the book, but I'm sort of going through the motions.

Some of that might be because I've been aiming for 3,500-4,000 words/day (1500 for the YA, 2,000 for the novel), which is exhausting.  Some of it might be that I know this story so well, and have plotted it so thoroughly, that there's no element of surprise for me.

I'm going to chug through until I've got a finished draft, but I may have to put it away for a while before I start my polishing (away meaning two, three weeks).  

When I started this version, I thought it was just the same book I'd been writing since last spring/summer.  But re-reading that other story, I realized that this one was about completely different characters in a completely different situation, taking place in a different setting, and told in a different voice.  Weird, huh?

Who knew I started my second novel this month?  Well, I guess I mean my third.