And here we reach the end. I wrote 354 words, bringing my total to 50,535. But now I need to do some research into Neith as the mother of Ra and Apep (a.k.a. Apophis).ย
So of course the question is what next. It is sooo tempting to go back and clean up the mad-dash writing of the past month. But have written two novel manuscripts, I know that in the middle this is always a temptation and a danger. For me, it’s better to finish up and then go back and clean up. So onwards…
1705 words, coming in at 50,181!! Woohoo. But I let time get away from me and it’s bedtime (school night). So just wanted to trumpet my victory. A lot of polishing in my future, but I’m enjoying the moment.
1432 words today – so close! But I ran out of steam. And now I have some Egyptian sections to write, which will take a little research. It’s been awhile since I looked at ancient Egypt in great detail (and was never my specialty). I studied hieroglyphs one summer. Such a weird writing system. It really is geared for decoration and thus very flexible for fitting space/aesthetics, but just felt like a beta script to me (i.e. not fully functional yet, even while realizing they just had different functional criteria). It did, however, make me appreciate more the struggles of my students working with Greek and Latin. On the other hand, it made a bit snooty watching Moon Knight when the character referred to bilaterals (or trilaterals, I can’t remember) instead of biliterals and triliterals (i.e. characters that represent 2 or 3 letters respectively, as opposed to uniliterals which only represent one) ย
My fun take away from my student of hieroglyphs: ๐น๐๐ด is essentially ancient Egyptian for “Live long and prosper” to the delight of my Star Trek Geeky soul.
1967 words ย – three days left and just under 3000 words to go. My protagonists are out of Hades and now have met up at Cirrha in Greece. Ready to head off to Egypt after the Feather of Ma’at (although they don’t know that yet). ย It’s a school night, so that’s it for today.ย
2071 words today and just under 5,000 to go in the remaining 4 days. My characters are now deep into Hades. They’ve crossed the Styx, left Cerberus to play with Hecate’s dogs (as she is playing tour guide) and are at the crossroads between the Elysium Fields and Tartarus. They’ve just met up with the shade of a character from the previous novel, Helenus the (former) Trojan Prophet.
Being a fan of William Blake, I leave you with his drawing of Cerberus:
Coming into the home stretch. 2127 words today. 43,006 words total, 86% of goal. My characters have reached Cumae and the Sibyl. As this is a sequel and a character in the previous novel visited here (albeit a couple of centuries earlier), I found myself rereading my first work to keep consistent, while also considering what would be different with the passage of time (e.g. new temple).ย
Overall, I’m happy with the writing this month. I’ve gotten the old version reshaped and with a clear story arc in mind and in progress. I’ve moved well beyond where I was. And the three disparate protagonists are all coming together (quite literally – two are together and await the third, even though they don’t know who they’re waiting for).
The whole manuscript stands at 82.3K. (I know I said I started at around 29k, but apparently I had about 10k of the old version I hadn’t yet looked back over or incorporated in/rewritten and I tackled adapting in those sections this month, but old wordage didn’t count towards the new goal).
Certainly I have a lot to clean up after the quick NaNoWriMo writing, but still great progress.ย
2971 words today, bringing the total to 40,879. I settled my wounded protagonists in the healing hands of the priestess of Feronia down in Terracina/Anxur and managed to finish expelling Tarquinius Superbus and the monarchy from Rome. So a good day’s work.
I was looking for an ancient equivalent to the the last straw or the straw that broke the camel’s back (which seems to date only to the 1600’s CE) and found a lovely quote from Seneca:
It is not the last drop that empties the water-clock, but all that which previously has flowed out; similarly, the final hour when we cease to exist does not of itself bring death; it merely of itself completes the death-process. We reach death at that moment, but we have been a long time on the way.
Quemadmodum clepsydram non extremum stillicidium exhaurit, sed quicquid ante defluxit, sic ultima hora, qua esse desinimus, non sola mortem facit, sed sola consummat; tunc ad illam pervenimus, sed diu venimus.
While Seneca speaks of death, I adapted it for one of my characters to speak of the end of tyranny.
295 words! I wrote something! And cooked like crazy. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
3059 words! My characters have escaped the slavers, although three of them are now in bad shape. Luckily they fled into the sacred woods of Feronia, a Sabine goddess identified with the youthful Juno. She was (in real ancient religion and myth) a patron of freed slaves and did have a sacred woods at Terracina (as a goddess of the wilds, she didn’t like built structures). The slavers who pursued them into the grove didn’t fare well. I also went back to Rome and filled in a nice little chitchat between Apollo and Vesta.ย
1156 words. Tonight starts break! I have my turkey dry brining for Thanksgiving. My characters in Italy have reached the coast at Terracina. They’re taking nice little naps near the beach. One has woken to realize they’re about to be taken by slavers. And that’s where I’m leaving them for the evening. ย With the break, I’ll have a little more writing time.
Ramblings 
