Writing Update
Bad news first: At the end of the day, I’d only managed almost 33k words, so I absolutely did not win NaNoWriMo.
Good news: Looking back on everything, I’d gotten a lot more done than I thought I did.
First and foremost, let’s talk about the actual goals of this month’s challenge. Did I reach the part with the zizzun? Absolutely, and they’re adorable. In the next draft, I want to see what I can cut to get to them sooner, especially as I’d recently realized that the zizzun’s queen, Yarrow, shares many similarities to Mick himself. Same reservations, same anxieties, same everything. To get to her story sooner would deepen the zizzun-dragon bond and give both Mick and Yarrow more time to learn how to lead from each other.
I’d also reoutlined the final chapters partway through this month, and we’re looking at a maximum of 30 chapters for this draft. We are, as of this writing, on chapter 18. If we go at a rate of about a chapter a week, that means we’ll be seeing the end of this draft sometime in January.
After that, I want to spend a round of editing cutting chapters and content. One uncomfortable thing I’ve noticed with this draft is that it is, in some spots, a bit slow, and some chapters are indeed repetitive. Part of the problem is that I’d only really figured a few key details out while writing the last chapter—a habit of mine, I’ve noticed. And I also know that with each draft, I say, “I’ve figured it out this time; I promise,” but this time, I think I actually have. It just means that I need to, ironically, spend less time setting up Sanctuary and the world around it and more time getting to the zizzun/Mick’s journey as a conductor.
Nothing is getting rewritten, by the way. As in, I’ve said this will be the last time I rewrite TNS from the ground up, and I’m standing by it. The next draft will be focused on cutting material, building bridges between the gaps said material leaves behind, and very likely finding more ways to bring Eleanor and the saints to the foreground. (A lot of this draft is admittedly focused on politics, but with cuts and the removal of repetitive material, I may have room to explore both a bit more.) There will, in other words, be chapters written, but we’re not doing the whole song and dance of bulldozing and starting over.
But that said, the burnout is real at this point. I’ve been working on TNS in one fashion or another since 2022. It was actually the subject of my NaNo 2022 run, which was the last time I’d attempted seriously (and won). To still be on it with very little movement is as frustrating for me as it likely is for you, and I know it’s slow-going for a number of reasons.
Certainly, some of those are personal. There were days when I just didn’t write because I was literally not at home, or because now is my day job’s busy season. But some of it is also just that I often don’t have the motivation to write. To me, this isn’t a new story. It’s a story three years (and counting!) in the making, and it shows. I’d be lucky to hit 1k a day.
So recently—meaning, the other day—I’ve decided maybe I should play with other ideas on the side, to give myself a break here and there. If you’re following me closely on Bluesky, you’d know I’d started toying with an idea as a joke, but honestly? I’m doing it.
I’m planning a side story still set in TNS’s universe (for now). It’s supposed to be fun and pretty cute, and more details will likely come over time. For now, a quick summary: Sherlock Holmes retelling, only if the consulting detective main character were a bee. (Hence, Mister Bee WIP.) Less quick summary: A zizzun detective teams up with a human doctor to solve mysteries, the first of which (that we’re told) being the mystery of a missing elf singer. Features already planned for this: trans rep, sapphic rep, blackmail, BEES.
This will be the first of a series and the first side story set in TNS’s universe. Think of it as the Manderville to TNS’s MSQ. Or alternatively, I guess we’re Discworlding TNS now.
In any case, I’m still in the infancy of building out this story, and it’ll just be a thing I do when I literally cannot muster the will to work on TNS itself on any given day. Still, keep an eye on future newsletters for progress.
Snippet
Probably my favorite snippet from this year’s NaNo, in which Mick wakes up two days after an eventful battle to find that Sanctuary has been taken over by well-meaning bees. One flies in to demonstrate (how cute this problem is):
Mick sighed, then turned on his heel and started back for the throne room . . .
. . . just as a zizzun in a dress and babushka zipped over his head and into the room first. As Mick jogged to the door, he watched the newcomer drop an armload of space crystals in front of a group of waiting zizzun.
Then, she began to dance. Angling herself to the east, she shook herself and took two large steps forward, before looping back and repeating the maneuver. Three times, she looped and vibrated in a figure eight, while her compatriots picked up the crystals and examined them.
That is, until a dragon came over and plucked her off the floor by her collar.
“Oh, no, you don’t!” he snapped. “Radiance, this is the dance they do before a swarm of them start digging around in the walls!”
The zizzun girl buzzed, flailed, and curled her tail desperately. Around her, the other zizzun jumped to their feet and flapped their wings, emitting not only loud buzzing but also . . .
The scent from St. Nadia again.
Mick leaned to Eleanor.
“Eleanor,” he whispered, “what’s it mean when the zizzun smell like . . . ?”
“Bananas?” she offered.
Was that what that smell was? He nodded limply.
Raising her own eyebrows, Eleanor kept her eyes on the fight before her. “It means they’re angry.”
“Ah,” he said. “Great.”
Sweeping back into the room, Mick pushed his way past the swarming zizzun, straight to the dragon holding the bee by the collar. He reached out and gingerly plucked her from his grasp.
“Okay,” he announced, “I know you’re all angry, and I intend on addressing all of your concerns, but we’re not going to treat the ziz—”
Something sharp jabbed itself past his ribs, narrowly missing stabbing any part of his flesh. Peering down, Mick saw the zizzun’s tail curled tight, and against his side rested a long stinger—black and crystalline, the length of his forearm, jutting from the tip of the zizzun’s tail to just past his armpit.
Suddenly, his head swam, and he looked to Eleanor for help.
Looking Forward
Technically, we are in Act IV, and looking over the outline, one chapter might even be cut. Right now, we have one major conflict between us and preparation for the final battle, and that major conflict is happening in the next chapter. Downside is, next chapter will not be completed this week, but hopefully, the pace will pick up just a bit after what’s going to be a rather eventful week in my personal life.
We’re still on track for finishing up this draft by January at most, after which will begin self-edits, as noted above. I’d still like to get another public read ready by spring 2026, or at least open up the call for betas. (A lot of my old ones dropped off the face of the earth.) Stay tuned for that.
In the meantime, there will be progress on Mister Bee WIP. I want to have at least an outline done by January, if not at least preliminary notes on the characters and their corner of the world. I also refuse to give it a title at this point. You will appreciate that pun, so help me.
I am still stubbornly on break from writing community events to focus on drafting and not dying throughout this month, but it seems that so is the rest of Bluesky. Other than a few daily prompt events (the kind where you get a question a day to talk about), there’s nothing really on deck, as far as I can tell. (The community is, it seems, also burned out with pitch events.)
Pic of the Month
Despite spending a lot of time out and about this month, I didn’t take many pictures as I went. I did, however, experiment more with Beenjamin pics, as they’re evidently a hit on Bluesky. My favorite was this one, taken at one of NYC’s holiday markets:
Up-close shot of Beenjamin (a plush bee wearing a red, gray, and gold scarf) in front of a decorated Christmas tree under a gray sky.
Bonus: A sketch of the zizzun from this month’s snippet, brandishing her stinger (which should explain why Mick felt lightheaded after):
Pencil sketch of a bee person in a dress, babushka, and boots. Her arms are held close to her chest, and her knees are up, allowing her tail to curl upwards. A long stinger protrudes from her tail.
As always, thanks for reading! Don’t forget to keep an eye on Bluesky for minor updates between the hefty monthly ones.