Hello, Followers, Writers, and Readers!

Just wanted to pop on and give you a quick update on my NaNoWriMo Progress now that we are about two-thirds of the way done.

My current word count is: 35,881 words and I expect to hit about 42,000 before the end of the day. I was behind for quite a while and I am not writing every day, rather I take a couple of days off and then write in large bursts. I don’t know why but that is what has always worked better for me than just a slow and steady plugging away a little bit every day.

A couple of days ago I made the decision to switch from third-person-pov to alternating male and female first-person-povs. Friendzone has really wanted to be written in first-person-pov from the beginning, but since I really wanted to show some of Taylor and some of Mikayla while they weren’t together I figured I had to do third-person. However, a couple days ago I realized I could just break out of my comfort zone and do alternating first-person-points-of-view. I’ve only written one short story in a male point-of-view before, so I’m nervous about writing half the story from Taylor’s pov, but I’m also really excited because I think it is going to turn out really good. It’s just going to take a lot of editing and rewriting. Now that I’ve switched to the first-person-povs the story is honestly writing a lot faster and a lot smoother. First-person is always easier for me to write (from a female pov anyway) than third-person. I don’t know why I am always trying to force the third-person-pov. I’m just stubborn, I guess.

Besides being the 20^th day of National Novel Writing Month today is also Teaser Tuesday, so I’ve picked out a little excerpt from Friendzone for you. You will notice this was written while I was doing third-person-pov, so I will have to edit it and rewrite in first-person, but this is still one of my favorite scenes at the moment.

“Up against the wall, rebel scum,” Taylor directed her with his weapon and Mikayla obeyed. She backed into the wall and Taylor stalked after her. She was pinned into a corner with Taylor blocking her path.

“So, are you having fun?” Taylor grinned down at her.

Mikayla nodded and began to lower her gun.

“Uh-uh-uh,” Taylor tsked. “You keep that weapon up there where I can see it.”

Chagrined, Mikayla raised her gun back up in mock surrender.

“I could get used to this I think,” Taylor said as he moved in closer.

“Get used to what?” Mikayla asked as he moved in even closer. The distance between them becoming almost nonexistent.

“You. Doing whatever I tell you to.”

“Ha! Don’t get used to it,” Mikayla laughed.

Taylor placed a finger on her lips. “Sh-hh.” He ran his thumb over her lips and brushed her hair behind her ear.

Mikayla’s breath caught in her throat as she watched Taylor as he studied her. He licked his lips and Mikayla licked hers in turn. Taylor leaned his face in even closer to hers. She could feel his breath on her lips as she whispered. “You owe me a kiss, Mikayla.”

Mikayla held her breath as she lifted her face. The distance between their lips was microscopic. She could feel the heat radiating off of his mouth and warming hers. Just one tiny movement would connect them. Mikayla closed her eyes as she felt Taylor subtly shift his weight. Then she heard the sound of the laser gun blast and her vest binged and lit up indicating that she had been hit.

Mikayla opened her eyes in shock. Taylor took her face in his hand. “Whenever I kiss you, Mikayla. It’s not going to be because I won a bet.” He let go of her, turned, and ran around the corner.

Mikayla finally found her breath and her voice. “Asshole!” she shouted after him just as the music turned off and the light began to slowly light the room.

I hope you liked it and that you are as excited about “Friendzone” as I am! This book is one that I have been very excited about since I first got the idea for it. I can’t wait to finish it and start getting your reviews and hearing your thoughts on Mikyala and Taylor’s friends-to-lovers love story!

What are your thoughts on the excerpt? Are you excited to read more? How’s NaNoWriMo going for you? Tell me in the comments.

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Until next time,

Write on, Writers!