Here’s today’s progress on the battlefield adventure about a widowed nurse from a Confederate hospital aboard a west-bound train pulled by a Union war engine — now with military intrigue, steampunk Texas rangers, undead political separatists, murderous plots, bushwackers, bandits, sabotage, and epic scenes of mayhem:

Project: Dreadnought
New Words: 2701 (pretty good)
Present Total Word Count: 5007 words
Goal: 100,000 words

Observations: How bad would it suck if your job was to go around telling people they were widows and orphans? What a goddamn thankless job. Anyway, I was concerned that maybe my first chapter/introduction/whatnot was going to run too short; I shouldn’t have worried. I’m 5000 words deep, and I haven’t even gotten to the telegram yet. Thank heaven for Western Union, eh? Bloody well up and running (and transcontinental!) long before 1880.

Things Accomplished in Fiction: Delivered some very bad news; showed the daily typical workings of the hospital; established Captain Sally and introduced the Clara Barton cameo.

Things Accomplished in Real Life: Did so much dayjob reading that I nearly went cross-eyed; went to lunch with Psynde and then hit up Petco for cat/fish supplies; cleaned house; wrote 2700 words in about 2 hours, go me!

Reason for Stopping: Time to work on that other creative project now.