Words Today: 1,968
Word Count Total: 62,124
MC #1 being rumbled, and having to do desperate things to deal with it.
This was a continuation of the chapter I was working on yesterday, so I now have a single 4,000 word chapter, which is rather surprising. It's not the only 4,000 word chapter to be sure, but I confess that it is not one I would have expected to grow to that size. But there was more to write - I truncated a sword fight rather crudely, for a start.
Three chapters left, still looking at about 70k total I should say, although I am not sure that I will get all the time I need to write another 8k over this next weekend. I was supposed to be travelling on Sunday night which would have given me a good solid few hours in the airport and on the plane to work on this, but that has been put back a week (and which also stomps on any hopes of going to the TGIO party, much to my distress).
Still, I should have some time on Saturday which will get me most of the way there. If I have to keep writing a couple of days into December to finish satisfactorily, then so be it.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Committee
Words Today: 1,920
Word Count Total: 60,156
MC #1 learning more about the underpinnings of the society.
Something I have lamented in the past is my characters' propensity to have meetings. I suppose this is just another element of that, and I am fairly sure that this particular scene will not survive the edit, but it helped me articulate some ideas about my world which have been percolating for a long time. Good to have them expressed clearly, even if the mode of expression is unbearably dull.
And this is 60k, which is good. This is about two thousand words more than I have ever written during NaNoWriMo before.
Word Count Total: 60,156
MC #1 learning more about the underpinnings of the society.
Something I have lamented in the past is my characters' propensity to have meetings. I suppose this is just another element of that, and I am fairly sure that this particular scene will not survive the edit, but it helped me articulate some ideas about my world which have been percolating for a long time. Good to have them expressed clearly, even if the mode of expression is unbearably dull.
And this is 60k, which is good. This is about two thousand words more than I have ever written during NaNoWriMo before.
Illness and Revision
SICK! Like everyone else it seems, I've fallen ill. I had an almost-week-long cold that's just been kicking me in the butt. Headaches, sore throat, congested, everything you don't want during this daring November. I was supposed to hit 100k! This was going to be my year. I was going to be a bull in the china closet of NaNoWriMo, breaking everything in my path and rushing as fast as possible toward the one thing I wanted: 100,000 words. Not 50k. Not 75k. 100k!
Dreams disappear so quickly. Now, I'm going to be lucky to hit 70k or, if I work very hard, 75k. I have to move this week. Need to be out the end of the month and all of my stuff moved this week. Tonight is the big night to get as much moved and out as I can. Tiring. Even more exhausting given that I'm still not completely over this cold.
Push on! I finally hit that 60k mark the other night and I was ever so proud of that. Just keep pushing on. I. Will. Make. It. At least 70k. 75 if I'm a little lucky and very inspired...
Dreams disappear so quickly. Now, I'm going to be lucky to hit 70k or, if I work very hard, 75k. I have to move this week. Need to be out the end of the month and all of my stuff moved this week. Tonight is the big night to get as much moved and out as I can. Tiring. Even more exhausting given that I'm still not completely over this cold.
Push on! I finally hit that 60k mark the other night and I was ever so proud of that. Just keep pushing on. I. Will. Make. It. At least 70k. 75 if I'm a little lucky and very inspired...
Monday, November 23, 2009
Dissent
Words Today: 2,147
Word Count Total: 58,236
Parliamentary debate: it's not exciting, but it's the best way I know to think about mighty plots. I will rewrite it later to make the plots more personal, but for now I am pleased that I have some more dissenters to throw around.
Had a miserable writing session at lunch, partly because I was just too tired after a horrible night's sleep (not one but two break dancing children in the bed! Aargh!) but also because I always have lunchtime meetings on Mondays which make it hard for me to recover my momentum. Still, good post-bedtime sesh there, so pretty happy with my day's word count.
Four chapters left to write. I think 70k is looking like the probable terminal word count.
Word Count Total: 58,236
Parliamentary debate: it's not exciting, but it's the best way I know to think about mighty plots. I will rewrite it later to make the plots more personal, but for now I am pleased that I have some more dissenters to throw around.
Had a miserable writing session at lunch, partly because I was just too tired after a horrible night's sleep (not one but two break dancing children in the bed! Aargh!) but also because I always have lunchtime meetings on Mondays which make it hard for me to recover my momentum. Still, good post-bedtime sesh there, so pretty happy with my day's word count.
Four chapters left to write. I think 70k is looking like the probable terminal word count.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
illness and body parts and murder, oh my
so, i've been sick this week. not sick enough to miss work (or can't afford to stay home from work is most accurate). but my head has been stuffy and nose stuffy and weak and tired and yada yada. i've been writing bits here and there but it has felt stilted, stale, slow - sluggish. like me.
i whined a little. slept. whined, worked, napped, slept. oh, and ate a little. and drank coffee. whined. wrote.
was feeling a little blah about the story or that we have not gotten to the exciting part yet. everything feeling drawn out.
i let the one character be murdered instead of hurt and in a coma. oh well.
then a body part appeared in the hamper. weird. and that thread is going no where so far.
and. stale. ugh. sloshing through the muck.
then today, i was feeling better, had another eight hours of sleep (careful, this could become a habit). even got up and went for a two mile walk (i could not do the 3eight i was scheduled and was advised to not push my body that much). home. showered. went for breakfast (in true nano fashion, this "breakfast" was at 1:30 pm) at one of my writing spots, along with my laptop.
oooh. so i said the story was getting stale.
well, over breakfast and writing, they (the characters, of course) decided that someone would die. well, another one would die. and this was the dog. omg, i told them. no, not the dog. geesh, what do you want people to think?
then i went to work.
oh well. it is their story. and the dog is dead as i approach 40,000.
back to work.
i whined a little. slept. whined, worked, napped, slept. oh, and ate a little. and drank coffee. whined. wrote.
was feeling a little blah about the story or that we have not gotten to the exciting part yet. everything feeling drawn out.
i let the one character be murdered instead of hurt and in a coma. oh well.
then a body part appeared in the hamper. weird. and that thread is going no where so far.
and. stale. ugh. sloshing through the muck.
then today, i was feeling better, had another eight hours of sleep (careful, this could become a habit). even got up and went for a two mile walk (i could not do the 3eight i was scheduled and was advised to not push my body that much). home. showered. went for breakfast (in true nano fashion, this "breakfast" was at 1:30 pm) at one of my writing spots, along with my laptop.
oooh. so i said the story was getting stale.
well, over breakfast and writing, they (the characters, of course) decided that someone would die. well, another one would die. and this was the dog. omg, i told them. no, not the dog. geesh, what do you want people to think?
then i went to work.
oh well. it is their story. and the dog is dead as i approach 40,000.
back to work.
Travel
Words Today: 3,418 4,216
Word Count Total:55,291 56,089
Worked on a couple of chapters today: MC #1 learning more about his new toy, and MCs #2 and #3 on a long journey.
Slow start this morning since we had a late night last night. Still have five chapters to write; it's looking quite unlikely that I'll be done before Thanksgiving now unless I start doing much shorter chapters, but that wouldn't seem like actually telling the story.
Update - had a little time in the evening while one child was asleep and the other was out on an errand, so made a start on another chapter. It is a strange chapter, which is kind of needed but which is difficult to write.
Indeed, there are a few chapter like this one - chapters which are about delineating the circumstances of the story but which might be more effective from a story-telling point of view if accomplished in a different way. But first I need to to determine the circumstances so I can recast them later.
Another Update - fixing the MC numbering, since it was wrong.
Word Count Total:
Worked on a couple of chapters today: MC #1 learning more about his new toy, and MCs #2 and #3 on a long journey.
Slow start this morning since we had a late night last night. Still have five chapters to write; it's looking quite unlikely that I'll be done before Thanksgiving now unless I start doing much shorter chapters, but that wouldn't seem like actually telling the story.
Update - had a little time in the evening while one child was asleep and the other was out on an errand, so made a start on another chapter. It is a strange chapter, which is kind of needed but which is difficult to write.
Indeed, there are a few chapter like this one - chapters which are about delineating the circumstances of the story but which might be more effective from a story-telling point of view if accomplished in a different way. But first I need to to determine the circumstances so I can recast them later.
Another Update - fixing the MC numbering, since it was wrong.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Capabilities
Words Today: 1,724
Word Count Total: 51,873
MC #1 finding out what a new toy can do.
Not a big day, but more than half a chapter written.
Word Count Total: 51,873
MC #1 finding out what a new toy can do.
Not a big day, but more than half a chapter written.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Trapped
Words Today: 2,676
Word Count Total: 50,145
Hard times in the city.
And fifty thousand words! Yay!
Still seven chapters to write, though. Done in a week, maybe?
Word Count Total: 50,145
Hard times in the city.
And fifty thousand words! Yay!
Still seven chapters to write, though. Done in a week, maybe?
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Halfway there!
Well, things didn't go as well as I hoped. The flash drive containing fell out of my purse and slipped under the seat. I had to dig it out. One of the two plot ninjas is currently missing, as it probably also fell out of my purse and is stuck in the seat. But I've still got one, and he seems to be helping.
Tonight I made it to the halfway point. I spent a little time celebrating and watched the Blazers game on tv. I made it to 26K a little after 11. When all is said and done, I feel about 40 words short of the catch up point, but hey, that still means I wrote over 1,900 words today, and over 2,000 yesterday. I'm still hopeful about catching up...the weekend isn't far away, and I hope to make some progress....
Tonight I made it to the halfway point. I spent a little time celebrating and watched the Blazers game on tv. I made it to 26K a little after 11. When all is said and done, I feel about 40 words short of the catch up point, but hey, that still means I wrote over 1,900 words today, and over 2,000 yesterday. I'm still hopeful about catching up...the weekend isn't far away, and I hope to make some progress....
Secrets
Words Today: 1,824
Word Count Total: 47,469
MC #1 digging deeper into why exactly the rebellious elements are winning.
Ended up with a chapter almost four thousand words long. There is actually more to write on this, but I need to keep moving on the plot.
May actually hit 50k tomorrow! Still seven chapters to write, though.
Word Count Total: 47,469
MC #1 digging deeper into why exactly the rebellious elements are winning.
Ended up with a chapter almost four thousand words long. There is actually more to write on this, but I need to keep moving on the plot.
May actually hit 50k tomorrow! Still seven chapters to write, though.
Week Three
Here we are, halfway through Week Three now. I'm done counting by days, I'm thinking in terms of weeks now.
Was it just me, or did the first two weeks whizz by like they had better things to do? I didn't make it this far in NaNo last year, so this is my first time taking the week three corner on two wheels, full speed ahead. Those first two weeks were not nearly the challenge they were last year, but this is new territory for me now. Can I sustain this pace for another two weeks? (ok, week and a half) This, as they say, is where the rubber meets the road. My word count is maintaining, despite a small setback over the weekend but I'm still ahead of the daily minimum. I know some people have already hit the 50K mark (rather anti-climactic, no?), I don't know what they do after that. Keep going, I guess?
I'll say this: writing at this pace sure produces piles of garbage. If I didn't have a day job, and had nothing to do all day but write, 1667 words a day should be a piece of cake. But trying to squeeze it in to a couple of hours in the evening when I'm almost too tired to think is not producing the level of writing I would like. Frankly, it's pretty craptastic. Ah well, there'll be plenty of time to clean it up later. How's everyone else holding up?
Let's have a little levity for the day, courtesy of the late, great, Douglas Adams:
Was it just me, or did the first two weeks whizz by like they had better things to do? I didn't make it this far in NaNo last year, so this is my first time taking the week three corner on two wheels, full speed ahead. Those first two weeks were not nearly the challenge they were last year, but this is new territory for me now. Can I sustain this pace for another two weeks? (ok, week and a half) This, as they say, is where the rubber meets the road. My word count is maintaining, despite a small setback over the weekend but I'm still ahead of the daily minimum. I know some people have already hit the 50K mark (rather anti-climactic, no?), I don't know what they do after that. Keep going, I guess?
I'll say this: writing at this pace sure produces piles of garbage. If I didn't have a day job, and had nothing to do all day but write, 1667 words a day should be a piece of cake. But trying to squeeze it in to a couple of hours in the evening when I'm almost too tired to think is not producing the level of writing I would like. Frankly, it's pretty craptastic. Ah well, there'll be plenty of time to clean it up later. How's everyone else holding up?
Let's have a little levity for the day, courtesy of the late, great, Douglas Adams:
I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Enclosing
Words Today: 1,954
Word Count Total: 45,645
MC #1 and the cityfolk finding out that the war is coming to them.
Fragmented day, with no large writing chunks, but just started a scene which will be fun to write tomorrow.
Word Count Total: 45,645
MC #1 and the cityfolk finding out that the war is coming to them.
Fragmented day, with no large writing chunks, but just started a scene which will be fun to write tomorrow.
Well, I'm behind again
The vacation last week and a busy week at work means I'm way behind. I've been in this position before and made my 50K. So I'm trying to catch up and get ahead if possible. I have six more off days before the end of the month and I can get some writing done on work days. So I'm off to get going again. See you Wednesday at Southeast Grind!
Barbara
Barbara
Finding
Words Yesterday: 2,897
Word Count Total: 43,690
MC #1 discovering something important.
I didn't really mean for this to be an almost 3k day, but this chapter flowed so well when I was writing it that I just kept going. However, I was too tired afterwards to post here, so this is a day late...
45k today, I should think. Yay!
Word Count Total: 43,690
MC #1 discovering something important.
I didn't really mean for this to be an almost 3k day, but this chapter flowed so well when I was writing it that I just kept going. However, I was too tired afterwards to post here, so this is a day late...
45k today, I should think. Yay!
Dropping Out is Hard To Do
During the six years I've participated in NaNoWriMo I've seen Wrimos do a lot of wacky stuff: writing their novel in 24 hours, writing half a million words in 30 days, starting their novels over half-way through, coming from 25k words behind in the last two days to win. I always applauded their efforts, encouraged by their enthusiasm. But every year the majority of participants did something I thought I'd never understand: they quit.
Well, now I understand.
After spending almost the entire year rewriting another novel, I just don't have enough writerly mojo left over to make NaNoWriMo work. I gave it my best shot. But I'm a spoiled writer: one month of prep just isn't enough for me anymore (especially for a novel based on the astrophysics of neutron stars).
Unfortunately, this is also likely my last NaNoWriMo. As much as it might seem like a contradiction, my commitment to writing has deepened enough that NaNo now seems more like a distraction than an opportunity.
But I'll always be grateful for this crazy event and the people who put it together and support it every year. When I participated for the first time in 2004 I'd never written a novel before, and all but two of my short-fiction pieces had never even been finished. But I overcame my drive for perfection and lack of confidence, and reached my 50,000th word and, soon after, The End. It was a revelatory moment. And I would go on to do it four more times, as well as writing another novel in the "off season" and rewriting two of them from scratch. It's difficult to articulate everything I've learned from my participation in this brilliantly transgressive creative event. I suspect it has changed my life in ways I have yet to fully realize.
But the time has come to move on. I wish now I'd remained faithful to my original decision to not participate this year, to retire gracefully from NaNoWriMo. But life, like art, is sometimes a messy process. So this is my messy goodbye.
Good luck to everyone still reaching for novely greatness. It's a wild ride if you can see it through. And my humble thanks to Lauren for allowing me to blog here. Even if very few people read it, I've found an important sense of closure in being able to publicly express my thoughts.
Well, now I understand.
After spending almost the entire year rewriting another novel, I just don't have enough writerly mojo left over to make NaNoWriMo work. I gave it my best shot. But I'm a spoiled writer: one month of prep just isn't enough for me anymore (especially for a novel based on the astrophysics of neutron stars).
Unfortunately, this is also likely my last NaNoWriMo. As much as it might seem like a contradiction, my commitment to writing has deepened enough that NaNo now seems more like a distraction than an opportunity.
But I'll always be grateful for this crazy event and the people who put it together and support it every year. When I participated for the first time in 2004 I'd never written a novel before, and all but two of my short-fiction pieces had never even been finished. But I overcame my drive for perfection and lack of confidence, and reached my 50,000th word and, soon after, The End. It was a revelatory moment. And I would go on to do it four more times, as well as writing another novel in the "off season" and rewriting two of them from scratch. It's difficult to articulate everything I've learned from my participation in this brilliantly transgressive creative event. I suspect it has changed my life in ways I have yet to fully realize.
But the time has come to move on. I wish now I'd remained faithful to my original decision to not participate this year, to retire gracefully from NaNoWriMo. But life, like art, is sometimes a messy process. So this is my messy goodbye.
Good luck to everyone still reaching for novely greatness. It's a wild ride if you can see it through. And my humble thanks to Lauren for allowing me to blog here. Even if very few people read it, I've found an important sense of closure in being able to publicly express my thoughts.
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