Day 24:
Today was alright. I was very excited to have a virtual write-in with not only my fellow local wrimos, but also the ones of another region. Unfortunately I was not impressed with some people in the new region, several of us weren't actually, and I retreated back into the virtual arms of the people I know. And got more work done there than I would have done otherwise. I actually got a rather impressive amount of work done! And yes, I did order my winner's shirt. I'm close enough that I know I can, and will, win.
Day 25:
Thanksgiving! That means I didn't write. I spent my time with my husband and my parents instead and at last enjoyed the new Harry Potter movie. I thought it was exceptionally well done and I look forward to the 8th and final installment next summer.
Day 26:
Crunch time. There's only 5 days left of Nano. WOW. Time has flown! I can barely believe that I've written as much as I have. I can barely believe that I've done this for 26 days (well 24 if you count the two I missed). It's starting to feel like normal life to me. And I can barely believe that my story is really just beginning. I've written thousands of words, more than I've ever dedicated to any story, and the real story has yet to take off. If only my characters knew what was in store for them. If only I knew what was in store for them. All I know is that it will be exciting. And I'm excited to write it. I had another virtual write-in tonight and despite not feeling well I was quite pleased once again with the amount of work I got done. I want to finish on the 29th so I can not stress on the 30th. Do you think I can do it? Good, because I do too.
Day 24: 3265
Day 25: 0
Day 26: 2217
Total Words: 42008
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Day Twenty-Three
Today I wasn't up to my peachy-keen best, but I wasn't about to let a second day go by with no writing getting done. It wasn't an excessively productive day, but I'm determined to finish NaNoWriMo with my 50k goal. I'm too close not to. In fact...I'm going to order my winner's shirt tomorrow so that I have to finish. That will put the pressure on myself not to give up. But for now, I knocked out another thousand words. So close. I'm so, so close.
Words Today: 1062
Total Words: 36526
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
Words Today: 1062
Total Words: 36526
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
Day Twenty-Two
Alas, I am a bit ashamed to say that on day twenty-two....I did nothing. 21 days of straight writing, then nothing. It wasn't for lack of creativity or writer's block, but because it was Thanksgiving shopping day for my mom as well as stock up our pantry day for me and my husband (it was getting low) and I was at WalMart with my mom for a good almost 3 hours. At least we had fun going out to eat and shopping, even if we were both moving exceedingly slow. (She has a broken foot, I have a bad knee.) By the time I got home I had just enough energy to thoroughly clean out the freezer (our ice machine had gone a bit crazy for awhile) and restock it, then it was time for bath and bed. I'm crossing my fingers for making tonight a productive one! There's only 8 days of Nano left and I'm less than 15k from winning. It may come down to not sleeping, but I refuse to not win!
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Days Eighteen -- Twenty-One
I know. I'm really really behind with blogging. Lately by the time I stop writing at night my fingers hurt too much to sit and type anything else that does not count towards my story. Besides, there hasn't been much to tell anyway.
Day 18 -- A very slow day. I wrote down just a tiny bit at work, then it was my nephew's birthday and I spent the evening with family. I came home and typed only what I'd handwritten earlier and called it a day. I was beyond exhausted. I needed sleep.
Day 19 -- Woke up feeling much more rested! Sleep was definitely a good option. Had an excellent night virtually attending the write-in and wrote a total I was extremely pleased with. I did some serious catching up for the amount of words I was falling behind on again. Plus write-ins are something I have come to love and treasure. I have no idea what I'm going to do when they go away.
Day 20 -- NONE of us felt like writing. I spent many many hours in the chat room talking about Nano and countless other things, but we definitely weren't writing. We ran a few 10- and 15-minute sprints at odd intervals throughout the day and that's the only time I got my word count in. I was impressed with the day's work considering I spent so little time on it. Hey, I think I'm finally starting to get used to writing. Sometimes it still really hurts my mind to think, it definitely is starting to hurt my hands to type, but even when I get stuck I still feel ready to sit down and try to sort it out. Even on the bad days when I can hardly crank out 400 words, I'm excited about it. Those words took me somewhere. Somewhere that hadn't existed yet until I wrote them. And the next day will continue the journey. Oh my goodness, what will it bring?! I'm only on the first leg of this very long, guaranteed to be very-trying journey, but I'm finally beginning to feel like a traveler and not a weekend-vacationer. Nano has already provided me what I wanted and more. And I still have 10 more days (officially) to go.
Day 21 -- Went to the write-in at the library today and shared countless rounds of excellent laughs that brought us to near tears. I really do love these people. All of them. They have made my life so much fun and brought so much excitement, enlightenment, and encouragement that I can never thank them for it all. We're almost to the end of Nano. I can see it! I can feel it! I can do it!
Words Day 18: 482
Words Day 19: 3226
Words Day 20: 3263
Words Day 21: 1426
Total Words: 35464
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
Day 18 -- A very slow day. I wrote down just a tiny bit at work, then it was my nephew's birthday and I spent the evening with family. I came home and typed only what I'd handwritten earlier and called it a day. I was beyond exhausted. I needed sleep.
Day 19 -- Woke up feeling much more rested! Sleep was definitely a good option. Had an excellent night virtually attending the write-in and wrote a total I was extremely pleased with. I did some serious catching up for the amount of words I was falling behind on again. Plus write-ins are something I have come to love and treasure. I have no idea what I'm going to do when they go away.
Day 20 -- NONE of us felt like writing. I spent many many hours in the chat room talking about Nano and countless other things, but we definitely weren't writing. We ran a few 10- and 15-minute sprints at odd intervals throughout the day and that's the only time I got my word count in. I was impressed with the day's work considering I spent so little time on it. Hey, I think I'm finally starting to get used to writing. Sometimes it still really hurts my mind to think, it definitely is starting to hurt my hands to type, but even when I get stuck I still feel ready to sit down and try to sort it out. Even on the bad days when I can hardly crank out 400 words, I'm excited about it. Those words took me somewhere. Somewhere that hadn't existed yet until I wrote them. And the next day will continue the journey. Oh my goodness, what will it bring?! I'm only on the first leg of this very long, guaranteed to be very-trying journey, but I'm finally beginning to feel like a traveler and not a weekend-vacationer. Nano has already provided me what I wanted and more. And I still have 10 more days (officially) to go.
Day 21 -- Went to the write-in at the library today and shared countless rounds of excellent laughs that brought us to near tears. I really do love these people. All of them. They have made my life so much fun and brought so much excitement, enlightenment, and encouragement that I can never thank them for it all. We're almost to the end of Nano. I can see it! I can feel it! I can do it!
Words Day 18: 482
Words Day 19: 3226
Words Day 20: 3263
Words Day 21: 1426
Total Words: 35464
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Days Sixteen & Seventeen
Combo post! I was too tired to do it last night and far too busy at work this morning to do it then, so we're just going to combine two days into one post.
Day 16 = NONE of us wanted to do anything. We all sat in chat all night trying to motivate ourselves, randomly issuing sprints and BoDs. It helped a little, but the creativity just wasn't there. I guess after having as incredible of a night as I did (and a lot of us did) on Monday, Tuesday was just due to be a bit of a bum. It happens.
Day 17 = Bum night number 2! At least on Day 16 I met my daily goal. Tonight I just felt utterly burnt out. I suppose it happens and writing really does come in waves. However I sense an exciting weekend ahead and I think I'll be able to write a lot. Personal goal? Hit 35k by Sunday night. (That's also where I should be to be on track.)
Words Day 16: 1695
Words Day 17: 348
Total Words: 27067
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
Day 16 = NONE of us wanted to do anything. We all sat in chat all night trying to motivate ourselves, randomly issuing sprints and BoDs. It helped a little, but the creativity just wasn't there. I guess after having as incredible of a night as I did (and a lot of us did) on Monday, Tuesday was just due to be a bit of a bum. It happens.
Day 17 = Bum night number 2! At least on Day 16 I met my daily goal. Tonight I just felt utterly burnt out. I suppose it happens and writing really does come in waves. However I sense an exciting weekend ahead and I think I'll be able to write a lot. Personal goal? Hit 35k by Sunday night. (That's also where I should be to be on track.)
Words Day 16: 1695
Words Day 17: 348
Total Words: 27067
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Day Fifteen
I'm just going to say that right now I am totally rocking the words. Work kept me just busy enough yesterday that I was never truly busy, but I never had the time to pick up my spiral and write either. Kind of an in-between day. Still, for a Monday it was quite pleasant and I've had Mondays that were much much worse!
Then there were a few errands to run and a project at home to complete. I didn't even sit down at my computer and open my word document until 8:30. At that point I was just hoping to hit 1 of my 3 goals which were:
1) My minimum daily wordcount for a total of 22691 words
2) Passing the ML's halfway point challenge (doubling my daily average words) for a total of 23828 words
3) Catching up to being on track for a total of 25000 words
The first box of doom we started (thank goodness for write-ins, even ones I attend virtually) brought me almost to my first goal. It also gave me a new personal record for box of doom, 1103/1069 words in 30 minutes. It ended just in time because I ran into a point that was very important. I was about to explain things that would effect the entire outcome of the story, and I had no idea how it all worked. The character who was supposed to be explaining it to my main character was being very tight-lipped about it even to me. This was a problem and I had less than 30 minutes to figure it out before the next box of doom began.
So I sat and thought. I tried explaining it out loud in her voice. I tried envisioning the amulet's spell. I tried to place myself in the position of the gods. (Just for reference's sake, that one is very difficult to do.) And finally, just in time, it all came to me. And I do mean just in time. We were drawing word counts for the next BoD.
The second BoD went by in yet another flurry of activity, still furiously working on the same pivotal scene. I saw my first goal and I passed it successfully, my brain running at full steam. I started to get the joyful feeling that nothing was going to stop me tonight as I wrote more than 1000 more words, exceeding my BoD requirement of 950. We all took another break and I ran off to take a shower and put on my pj's. I'd already sat at one computer all day in work clothes, I wasn't about to sit at another all night doing the same. Once again, I returned just as they were getting ready to draw for our third and final BoD. 750 words this time. My reaction to that was "That's all?" I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've ever felt that way about writing 750 words in 30 minutes.
Time was called and off I went again, wrapping up one and charging into another very pivotal scene. Last night was all about getting this story rolling, explaining to the characters the direness of the situation that was brewing, and preparing to embark on the adventure that is looming ever closer in their future. It's exciting, let me tell you. Have you ever read a book, a real page turner where you felt like you couldn't read fast enough? That was last night, only I was limited by how fast I could write. It was a whirlwind and after the rash of insanity I experienced during it I have come to one conclusion: Having a week of bum days and stress of not meeting word counts and worry about not knowing where your story is going is entirely worth one single night of that pure joy of excitement and love of characters and plot. Completely worth it.
The third BoD took me up to and past my second goal of the night and I finished just over 24k words. Oh this wouldn't do at all. My eyes were starting to feel heavy and I knew I needed to sleep soon, but I had powered through 1k extra words the night before when I was unhappy stopping at 20k, right? Then again, I had only barely written my 1667 wordcount at that point. Still, I refused to settle for 24k. If I'd gotten stuck at 23k I probably would have called it a night, but the precious 25k halfway point that I was supposed to be at wasn't even 1000 words away! I could finally stop being behind! And with that I powered through, even with no BoD, even as all of my writing guild signed off of chat one by one. My support system was gone and it was just me and my charcters. I could do this. (And since I set not one, but two people on fire, it was quite enjoyable.) I could do this, right?
Words Today: 4000
Total Words: 25024
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
Then there were a few errands to run and a project at home to complete. I didn't even sit down at my computer and open my word document until 8:30. At that point I was just hoping to hit 1 of my 3 goals which were:
1) My minimum daily wordcount for a total of 22691 words
2) Passing the ML's halfway point challenge (doubling my daily average words) for a total of 23828 words
3) Catching up to being on track for a total of 25000 words
The first box of doom we started (thank goodness for write-ins, even ones I attend virtually) brought me almost to my first goal. It also gave me a new personal record for box of doom, 1103/1069 words in 30 minutes. It ended just in time because I ran into a point that was very important. I was about to explain things that would effect the entire outcome of the story, and I had no idea how it all worked. The character who was supposed to be explaining it to my main character was being very tight-lipped about it even to me. This was a problem and I had less than 30 minutes to figure it out before the next box of doom began.
So I sat and thought. I tried explaining it out loud in her voice. I tried envisioning the amulet's spell. I tried to place myself in the position of the gods. (Just for reference's sake, that one is very difficult to do.) And finally, just in time, it all came to me. And I do mean just in time. We were drawing word counts for the next BoD.
The second BoD went by in yet another flurry of activity, still furiously working on the same pivotal scene. I saw my first goal and I passed it successfully, my brain running at full steam. I started to get the joyful feeling that nothing was going to stop me tonight as I wrote more than 1000 more words, exceeding my BoD requirement of 950. We all took another break and I ran off to take a shower and put on my pj's. I'd already sat at one computer all day in work clothes, I wasn't about to sit at another all night doing the same. Once again, I returned just as they were getting ready to draw for our third and final BoD. 750 words this time. My reaction to that was "That's all?" I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've ever felt that way about writing 750 words in 30 minutes.
Time was called and off I went again, wrapping up one and charging into another very pivotal scene. Last night was all about getting this story rolling, explaining to the characters the direness of the situation that was brewing, and preparing to embark on the adventure that is looming ever closer in their future. It's exciting, let me tell you. Have you ever read a book, a real page turner where you felt like you couldn't read fast enough? That was last night, only I was limited by how fast I could write. It was a whirlwind and after the rash of insanity I experienced during it I have come to one conclusion: Having a week of bum days and stress of not meeting word counts and worry about not knowing where your story is going is entirely worth one single night of that pure joy of excitement and love of characters and plot. Completely worth it.
The third BoD took me up to and past my second goal of the night and I finished just over 24k words. Oh this wouldn't do at all. My eyes were starting to feel heavy and I knew I needed to sleep soon, but I had powered through 1k extra words the night before when I was unhappy stopping at 20k, right? Then again, I had only barely written my 1667 wordcount at that point. Still, I refused to settle for 24k. If I'd gotten stuck at 23k I probably would have called it a night, but the precious 25k halfway point that I was supposed to be at wasn't even 1000 words away! I could finally stop being behind! And with that I powered through, even with no BoD, even as all of my writing guild signed off of chat one by one. My support system was gone and it was just me and my charcters. I could do this. (And since I set not one, but two people on fire, it was quite enjoyable.) I could do this, right?
Words Today: 4000
Total Words: 25024
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
Monday, November 15, 2010
Day Fourteen
Again I'm blogging this the morning after, but I was just too tired last night to blog then. Boy was it a day, but boy was it a good one. I even managed to not completely ignore my husband! I keep telling him I feel bad neglecting him so much since it seems like I'm either working or trying to write (with occasional moments of "I should really clean up a bit around here..."), but he reminds me every day that this is my dream and that if I give up now I probably won't go back. I have to write. I can't even begin to describe how amazing and also how incredibly essential having the support of someone like that is in this endeavor. I couldn't do it without him. I would never push myself far enough. He told me yesterday that the majority of Wrimos don't win NaNoWriMo and that a big majority of the winners aren't first timers. He reminded me that if I fall behind and don't hit the 50k by November 30th, that I was still chasing my dream and that was what was important. There was no shame in not winning NaNoWriMo. It just made me want to win even more.
So I went to the write-in yesterday excited to actually get something done. I knew I would write at least something there and hopefully it would be enough that when I came home I could go over my 1667 words so I can try to play catchup, as I feel I'm always doing now. I was at a spot where I sort of knew what was coming up, but once again just wasn't feeling the transition. My crazy guild of writers came to the rescue once again. They fed me homemade cookies, made me laugh until I almost cried, made my hopes and dreams soar even more, got me out of a very awkward spot in my novel and did so with the perfect explanations so that my writing still flowed, and forced me into the box of doom twice which I successfully emerged from both times. I was handwriting so they decided that since I write fairly small, 2 pages was a good challenge for me. They'd been watching me write and knew I'd have to write almost nonstop for 30 minutes to successfully achieve that. I wrote just a tiny bit more than 2 both times, then add that up with the other sporadic writing I did and it knocked me over 20k! But was I happy with that? Absolutely not. 20k was exciting and I bought the NaNoWriMo shirt I've been wanting to celebrate it, but I'm supposed to be at 25k tonight if I'm going to get back on track. So 20k wasn't good enough. No. I pushed until I hit 21k. What a rush! Oh my goodness, I'm feeling the story run through me right now like the blood in my veins and I hope it doesn't stop. I can't wait to start writing tonight.
My characters are now truly becoming people in their own right. I got not one, but two surprises from characters yesterday. One got surprisingly darker, and not in magic but mood. I wasn't really expecting it, but looking back I'm so very very glad that he did. It added a whole knew element to the story and made some of the upcoming scenes more plausible. Another character got a bit more harsh in her ways, but it was a necessary character aspect that needed to develop. She's carrying quite the weight of responsibility on her shoulders and she needs to be a take-action sort of character. But my poor main character? He's still finding himself. No longer wondering aloud all the time about it, but still doing it just in his actions. Maybe that is a theme of the story, one that is developing that I never intended to be there? I could see it fitting though. Something I look forward to playing with in my second draft (under the hope that I ever get there).
Do I think I can hit 25k tonight? No. Not saying I won't try, but I do have a few things at home that I must take care of that can no longer wait and must be done today. It will cut into my writing time by probably at least a couple of hours. I want to hit 23k. If I can do that, I will be tolerably content with myself. 23.5k is the real goal though, because that will allow me to play enough catchup that I will be able to officially catchup by tomorrow or Wednesday. That is, if I can keep up this speed.
Words Today: 2743
Total Words: 21024
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
So I went to the write-in yesterday excited to actually get something done. I knew I would write at least something there and hopefully it would be enough that when I came home I could go over my 1667 words so I can try to play catchup, as I feel I'm always doing now. I was at a spot where I sort of knew what was coming up, but once again just wasn't feeling the transition. My crazy guild of writers came to the rescue once again. They fed me homemade cookies, made me laugh until I almost cried, made my hopes and dreams soar even more, got me out of a very awkward spot in my novel and did so with the perfect explanations so that my writing still flowed, and forced me into the box of doom twice which I successfully emerged from both times. I was handwriting so they decided that since I write fairly small, 2 pages was a good challenge for me. They'd been watching me write and knew I'd have to write almost nonstop for 30 minutes to successfully achieve that. I wrote just a tiny bit more than 2 both times, then add that up with the other sporadic writing I did and it knocked me over 20k! But was I happy with that? Absolutely not. 20k was exciting and I bought the NaNoWriMo shirt I've been wanting to celebrate it, but I'm supposed to be at 25k tonight if I'm going to get back on track. So 20k wasn't good enough. No. I pushed until I hit 21k. What a rush! Oh my goodness, I'm feeling the story run through me right now like the blood in my veins and I hope it doesn't stop. I can't wait to start writing tonight.
My characters are now truly becoming people in their own right. I got not one, but two surprises from characters yesterday. One got surprisingly darker, and not in magic but mood. I wasn't really expecting it, but looking back I'm so very very glad that he did. It added a whole knew element to the story and made some of the upcoming scenes more plausible. Another character got a bit more harsh in her ways, but it was a necessary character aspect that needed to develop. She's carrying quite the weight of responsibility on her shoulders and she needs to be a take-action sort of character. But my poor main character? He's still finding himself. No longer wondering aloud all the time about it, but still doing it just in his actions. Maybe that is a theme of the story, one that is developing that I never intended to be there? I could see it fitting though. Something I look forward to playing with in my second draft (under the hope that I ever get there).
Do I think I can hit 25k tonight? No. Not saying I won't try, but I do have a few things at home that I must take care of that can no longer wait and must be done today. It will cut into my writing time by probably at least a couple of hours. I want to hit 23k. If I can do that, I will be tolerably content with myself. 23.5k is the real goal though, because that will allow me to play enough catchup that I will be able to officially catchup by tomorrow or Wednesday. That is, if I can keep up this speed.
Words Today: 2743
Total Words: 21024
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Day Thirteen
Just a quick note since I didn't write yesterday. I wrote a very measly 274 words in about 15 minutes when I had the time to sit down in between cleaning and getting a slew of other chores done. Alas, I didn't write more later and I didn't finish the chores either. But I had a good reason! My 'brother' (a friend, but we're more like siblings than friends) just came home from Afghanistan and my family was spending time with him. It was an excellent night of good food, fun games, and great company, but a terrible terrible night for my word count. I'm now even farther behind than ever! Still, while panic is rising I'm not giving myself into it just yet. I'm 2 hours away from going to a write-in today, one that will hopefully significantly boost my word count. Wish me luck!!
Words Today: 274
Total Words: 18281
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
Words Today: 274
Total Words: 18281
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
Friday, November 12, 2010
Day Twelve
NaNoWriMo is becoming a ridiculous roller coaster of ups and downs. Some moments I'm begging the teenager at the switchboard to turn it off, but he's chewing gum and his ear phones are blaring and he doesn't even notice me. Other moments I'm screaming "FASTER FASTER!" as the roller coaster gets ever more exciting and breathtaking. Sometimes it makes my head spin.
I attended a write-in virtually again tonight, and boy I don't think I could have written much tonight if I hadn't. I failed miserably on my first box of doom challenge, barely writing one third of what I was supposed to achieve. (I wrote 579/1400 words in 30 minutes.) But the second box of doom challenge I surpassed, creating a new personal record! (1068/900 words in 30 minutes.) GO ME!
Anyway I once again achieved my goal of 1667 today and went over it as well, which means I caught up just a tiny bit more for the days earlier this week that cost me dearly. As one of our beloved MLs told us tonight, "Novel-writing is not for wusses." She's absolutely right about it too. Novel writing is definitely not for wusses.
Words Today: 1941
Total Words: 18007
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
I attended a write-in virtually again tonight, and boy I don't think I could have written much tonight if I hadn't. I failed miserably on my first box of doom challenge, barely writing one third of what I was supposed to achieve. (I wrote 579/1400 words in 30 minutes.) But the second box of doom challenge I surpassed, creating a new personal record! (1068/900 words in 30 minutes.) GO ME!
Anyway I once again achieved my goal of 1667 today and went over it as well, which means I caught up just a tiny bit more for the days earlier this week that cost me dearly. As one of our beloved MLs told us tonight, "Novel-writing is not for wusses." She's absolutely right about it too. Novel writing is definitely not for wusses.
Words Today: 1941
Total Words: 18007
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Day Eleven
Oh my...the double digits! I suppose yesterday began the double digits, but I was too wrapped up in character drama to notice.
Today seemed much easier. I suppose I got over my Week Twos halfway through the week and just in time. I'm still behind where I need to be, but every day that I can write more than my required 1667 gets me just a little bit closer to making up for the words I haven't written yet. Oh my...lots of catchup to do! But I didn't want to waste it all today so I purposely stopped at a point where a lot can happen. It will make me excited to pick it up tomorrow and give me some time to think over exactly where the story is going next. At last, I'm excited again!
Words Today: 1839
Total Words: 16066
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
Today seemed much easier. I suppose I got over my Week Twos halfway through the week and just in time. I'm still behind where I need to be, but every day that I can write more than my required 1667 gets me just a little bit closer to making up for the words I haven't written yet. Oh my...lots of catchup to do! But I didn't want to waste it all today so I purposely stopped at a point where a lot can happen. It will make me excited to pick it up tomorrow and give me some time to think over exactly where the story is going next. At last, I'm excited again!
Words Today: 1839
Total Words: 16066
Yours Truly,
Mrs. C
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