I'm 12 days into August and on par with daily writing.  On some days, it's pretty easy to get distracted by the internet (especially when you're a huge Magic: the Gathering fan, enough of one to write a novel based off of the game, and there's four major releases happening in the game between now and November).  Where I've fallen behind though, I've picked everything back up and caught up as necessary.  Now, I need to just stay consistent with those power-writing days of 5000+ words.

Here's where I am at right now (red is deficit word count, green is surplus word count):

AUGUST 04: 1673/1667
---CUMULATIVE: 4938/6668
AUGUST 05: 1824/1667
---CUMULATIVE: 6762/8335
AUGUST 06: 1871/1667
---CUMULATIVE: 8633/10002
AUGUST 07: 700/1667
---CUMULATIVE: 9333/11669
AUGUST 08: 717/1667
---CUMULATIVE: 10050/13336
AUGUST 09: 5016/1667
---CUMULATIVE: 15066/15003
AUGUST 10: 1054/1667
---CUMULATIVE: 16120/16670
AUGUST 11: 2262/1667
---CUMULATIVE: 18372/18337
AUGUST 12: 1659/1667
---CUMULATIVE: 20031/20004

Given the numbers I've outlined above, I'm on par for finishing the month at 50,000 words.  But anybody who followed my writing efforts last November knows that writing 50,000 words in a month isn't enough for me.  No, I need to finish the novel as well.  The story is rapidly expanding with emphasis on characters that I didn't even think would play a significant role in this novel. 

There were characters I planned on developing in the beginning as stemming from cards in the Magic universe, specifically this guy, but I ended up placing the characters linked above in an Exile area that exists within Magic and... well, the results are something I'm rather proud of.

The project still doesn't have a formal title, but as I'm writing it I am already thinking of sequels.  I'm sure sometime before the end of the month, there will be a "CARDSLINGER2" folder in my Breeding Pot.  My present hopes are that, when this is completed and edited, I will get in touch with Wizards - maybe even go out to their offices - and try to get it published through them.  Personally, I think the novel would be a big hit in the Magic: the Gathering community, and every Magic player I've talked to about it seems to agree pretty strongly.