~Tuesday 21st July, 2026.

I started late today but still managed to finish up by 10.30pm, so I'm very grateful. I managed to actually add enough words on after my last update that I didn't have to write anything yesterday, but it's looking more and more likely I'll need to aim for 120k... eep. Hopefully I can write that additional 20k during the last two weeks of my deadline when I have my annual leave tbh. Although the words are flowing okay at the moment, I don't want to push myself too hard yet, and 2.4k sometimes feels a bit unmanageable until I get started so I think if I get in my head about having some bigger writing days I won't have as much success.

There's still time anyway, so we'll see how we go.

Words written today: 2,535

Overall word count: 48,729

Favourite line from today/so far:

Yseult’s gaze snapped to mine, almost as though she’d forgotten I was there. She lifted the box a little more and the pearls clacked against the wood. While I was sure the others would be amazed at the vast wealth inside that little box, Yseult barely seemed to register it. She plopped the lid back on top and closed the wardrobe briskly.

“Come on. Let’s go and tell Merewyn we’ve found our first treasure.”

It wasn’t until she left that I realised: I had never spoken the title of the story. She had never heard the word veil leave my lips. That had come only from Gloom.