I wrote 2,279 words today, so I gained a little (very little) on all of that lost ground. I am fairly happy with what I’ve written, but I know it’s going to take a lot more rewriting than usual to make it good enough to make me happy. Partially that is because I am writing my first novel. I have never written any one single piece that was longer than a few thousand words. This one is close to 60,000 words, well over 10 times the previous record. It is much harder to maintain a certain narrative tone, not to mention sustain a plot, for this long. When I finish the first draft, I will go back and treat each section like a separate short story. Maybe that will help me fix the flaws of this version. The other barrier I have to writing my best is that I am dictating a large portion of my daily output with something called Dragon Naturally Speaking Software. I have it installed on my dad’s laptop and I carry it in the car and I use all of that otherwise wasted commute time to get some writing done. It’s not ideal, but I am not sure how much writing I would be getting done without it. It is funny when I look down and see that I have been yelling at other drivers, though. Tonight I saw this line in the middle of my paragraph, “Don’t mess with me, buddy!” That is not something one of my fantasy characters would say. 
Anyway, tonight’s tally is 2,279 words and this month so far is 6,345. I am still 6,155 words behind schedule. I better get cracking!
