A Month of Writing Constantly

I feel like I haven't been posting much and I'm not sure how true this is. 

I feel like I've been neglecting several things this month because of work and also because I'm participating in NaNoWriMo. The goal of National Novel Writing Month is to write 50,000 words of your novel before the end of the month. Right now, with five days left to go I am at 35,000 words. I am pretty certain I can make it, but with all my other obligations as well, I'm starting to feel the crunch. 

I wanted to share an early part of my novel. It is titled "The Legend of the Chamurai" and tells the store of how Samurai and Chamorro warriors end up defeating a Spanish invasion of Guam in 1616. This story takes place over 600 years with different makahna or Chamorros with magical and superhuman abilities try to keep hope alive of defeating a mysterious force that will come to obliterate them. Part of the fun of this story is that I get to bring into a story about Ancient Chamorro history all sorts of creative elements. For example, makahnas in my novel don't just have the power to talk to the aniti or the spirits of Chamorro ancestors. They can also manipulate elements, see the future, control animals, creates energy shields and other cool things. 

I'm pasting a passage from early on in the novel below for anyone to check out. 

Wish me luck in finishing the entire 50,000 words by the end of the month!

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"The Legend of the Chamurai: 1.2"

The brothers of ?, were well-known would be challengers. In the Southern part of the island it was believed that they could not be defeated in battle upon the water. Together they had the power to form the water, to channel and direct it. Those who challenged them on the water learned the extent of their power very quickly.

While she was fishing one day, alone, as she did most things, they crept out of the jungle on the shore and struck with a fury. They hit her from two directions with small storms, barely taller than her, but which spun with incredible intensity. The water smashed her body, driving her under the surf. The force of the storm was thus transformed, pressed down into the water above her. As she struggled, the pressure kept her down, the intent to drown her.

As she was drowning the world opened up before her. They say the oldest world in our language is li’e’. Those with gifts can see more than others. They can see our ancestors around us. They can see into the spirit of living things. They can see ropes that bind things together and pull on them to control them. They can also sometimes see time as it looks back at you. The greater the gift, the further one can see.

As she was drowning, a pit opened beneath her and she saw farther forward than ever before. The lives of so many to come lined up before her, and raced by her. As the pit began to blur and ripple away, she saw the island, scrubbed clean of life. Hollowed out as faceless figures used the bones of her people to chip away at the rocks and soil.

She was saved by her brothers, including the Maga’lahi of Hagatna, who were tending to a canoe nearby and saw the attack. They hurled stones at the brothers from ? breaking their thoughts and loosening their control over the water. The brothers rushed into the water and pulled their sister out, water pouring out of her as she struggled to regain herself.

She began to shiver and her older brother called for a guafak to be wrapped around her. She whispered to him through chattering teeth, that she wasn’t shivering because of the cold. Then why he asked?

“I am shivering because I have seen the end of our people.”