I have decided to update Thursdays at 17:00 Eastern Time (GMT -4:00), which means I will be writing my posts in advance and scheduling them to publish at that precise hour. It’s what I did for my last post. I never feel right announcing any sort of plan until I’ve sort of succeeded at it, that way I never end up saying, “I shall do this!” and then it doesn’t happen.
I haven’t been keeping up with Camp NaNoWriMo unfortunately. People must have been validating their word counts since yesterday, while I have accepted a defeat of sorts. It’s not a real loss, though; I’m still writing most days at my snail’s pace, taking advantage of the train ride home. I find I’m lousy with my promise to write more on the weekend, though. I have a table set up in the corner of my living room with everything I need to write, including a pair of speakers I can plug my phone into so I can put some mood music on. So far this weekend, I’ve been playing Minecraft. Building towers is fun, building worlds is better… I have to remind myself of that.
I have reached a point in my story where most of the major characters have appeared. I have made some drastic changes from previous attempts; there is a master/apprentice pair, and this time, on whim, I’ve decided to have them be romantically involved (the apprentice is of an appropriate age, don’t worry). Elsewhere, there is a murder, and the murderer then masquerades as his victim while all assume that he (the murderer) has fled. I am embracing inspiration, letting it take me a little off course, telling myself that if these changes don’t work out, I can fix them later.
The rough draft is my sandbox, where I can play and experiment and try things I might not dare to do if I take myself too seriously. This is my hobby, and I should have fun, right?
Lukas Rowland 
Its always great to have fun in the sandbox of the first draft. Sometimes you’ll find the characters have a better idea of how the story should work then you do. I love following my characters down the rabbit hole and often just work on nudging them only slightly onto a better course.
I wasn’t able to do Camp last month, but hope to be participating in the next one, they are so much fun, especially when you have an active cabin.
As for a schedule, good luck with that. I had a go with a schedule a while ago, it lasted all of a week. But perhaps posting daily was never the best idea.
I had a great time posting daily in the beginning, but I was on break from work then. Also, I quickly ran out of things to write. I find weekly is much more sustainable; I’ve already got a post in the queue and ideas for another.
It’s really so much fun when the characters take on a life of their own and lead us places we didn’t expect to be.
I still want to post daily because I’m posting my stories directly and I want to be writing daily. I’m glad you’ve found something that works for you.
When the character starts having a life of their own that’s when you know you’ve done a good job. That’s when you’ve created a character that really feels like a real person. Because that’s the only time when they can start saying “I wouldn’t do that”.