It’s February 21st, 2015. A solid seven weeks in and the writing is just smooth as silk. Maybe not great writing, but the words are coming and coming with so much ease.

Days 46 through 52 have been successes, with a minimum of 1,000 words per day written. I had a rough week at work, but this the writing did not suffer as you will see.

Stats for Days 46 to 52:

Day 46 – 1114 words
Day 47 – 1192 words
Day 48 – 1083 words
Day 49 – 1020 words
Day 50 – 1079 words
Day 51 – 1732 words
Day 52 – 1156 words

Total count for the year thus far is 72,429 words. Average daily word count is 1,392 words. Gridfall is at 70,697 words. Based on my projections for the story, it is 35% finished (I passed the 1/3 mark!).

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Last week I talked about the main rival faction our characters are involved with, the World Above You. Let’s talk about the other rival faction today, the Mauders.

The Marauders, or Mauders for short, are about as close as things get to the stereotypical Mad Max style post apocalyptic biker gang. For one thing, there are no motorized vehicles because combustion technology died long before it became the standard, and all the grid vehicles are completely dead. So instead of a biker gang, they’re an urban horse gang. They ride atop their mounts with rifles, running down civilians, harrying supply caravans, interrupting trade, and just generally being nuisances.

Not much is known about the Mauders except that they aren’t allied with anyone, and are mostly just intent on taking what they want, when they want it. They have taken up residence in the city’s capitol building and control most of the downtown financial district. There are rumors that the Mauders are fighting not just the WAY and the Rebuilders, but also have been absorbing smaller collectives of survivors into their ranks through force. And the best possible rumor to reach Rebuilder ears is that there might be a surviving military force doing battle with the Mauders for control of their sector of the city. If there are surviving military and police forces, maybe there’s still a central government backing it? No one’s heard from any of the economic, industrial, or governmental leaders since Gridfall, save one very drunken and generally worthless Mayor.

There is a bright side to the Mauders, and in a battle against them, Nella meets with a young boy who isn’t just all about murder and mayhem. Is there room for peace with the chaotic faction?

Next week I’ll talk about the Everguard, a friendly faction that takes over a hospital and with which Kurt becomes intimately familiar!

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And remember, writing is a skill. So write the hell on, writers.