Day 25: Winner takes all!

Today was a marathon to reach the end. Once I got within 3K of the finish line, I couldn't allow myself to stop until I finished. It was a crazy afternoon and evening at Panera Bread, pounding out words until they kicked us out after closing. I had a mere 380 words to write.

So I came home and after everyone was in bed, I ventured downstairs to get those final few hundred words down. They were actually quite tricky to manage because I'd finished my novel back at Panera Bread! So it was adding 20 here and 15 there that eventually added up to a verifiable 50,033 words.

Whew! It was such a weird ride this year, but I am so very thankful to be a part of it. I'm quite relieved to be finished now as this week is going to be a busy one.

This is the earliest I've finished since I started doing NaNoWriMo, but it was also the hardest to get through. I had many more "zero days", but higher word counts than ever on the days I did write. Odd. I guess stranger things have happened. Like writing 9,454 words in one day! My word--now that IS a record for me.

Anyway, hooray for me! Another NaNo novel is in the record books--to be forever covered with dust until one day I have the time and energy to surmount the beastly task of editing the monstrosity. Oh well. It was all a blast just the same.

Words to date: 50,0033 (verified!)
Words to go: Zilch! Yay!

Day 24: Now I'm thankful!

My writing endeavor today was superbly successful! I think I may have finally found my stride. All it took was for Dali to develop a backbone. Who wants to write about weak females, I ask you?

Anyway, I wrote for almost three hours and hammered out a total of 6,372 words. I am officially caught up as of Day 24. (The goal for today was 40,008.) That daily total might actually be a record for me. I'll have to check my previous NaNo report cards...

We have a write-in tomorrow at Panera Bread that I will be attending. Likely, I'll go over a little early to get a head start, but if I can bump up my word count with a similar count tomorrow, I should be looking pretty for the finish line.

Words to date: 40,579
Words to go: 9,421 (Now THAT looks easy!)

Day 20-23: Vacation days

Our internet went out at home Tuesday afternoon, so I haven't been able to update for several days. Ack! I so despise being disconnected. *grumble grumble* Anyway, here's what I raked in during the holiday vacation:

Day 20: 536 words
Day 21: Zip, nada, nuffin' (Hey, it was the day I made Thanksgiving dinner for one side of the family!)
Day 22: 560 (We went out for Thanksgiving lunch that day.)
Day 23: 3,001 (Now why can't I do this every day?)

I am currently cowering in fear at my 34,207 word count. Less than one week to go, and I haven't done well writing during the week. This is my last "catch up" weekend. I NEED to pass 40K by Sunday. My husband is being very supportive though and practically pushed me out the door to go write tonight. He told me not to come home until I hit 40K.

On that note, I'd better get started!

Words to date: 34,207
Words to go: 15,793 (Hey, that doesn't look TOO bad!)

Day 19: Milemarker

It may be after midnight, but I'm calling this word count for Monday, day 19. After writing until my eyes were literally closing and I was entering a dream state, I managed to reach the 30K mile marker and a few feet over. Total word count for Day 19 is 3,574 in one sitting. Now if only I wouldn't do this every other day, then perhaps I might get somewhere!

As it stands, I'm still over 3K in the hole as of Day 20. I'm rounding those final corners though, so I think there may still be some hope. Just don't remind me that NaNoWriMo ends next week. Eeps!

Words to date: 30,110
Words to go: 19,890

Day 17 & 18: Still slipping

My husband and I went to a marriage conference on Friday to Saturday, so that took up most of the day (though it was totally worth it!). However, I did get out to write Saturday night and ended up with an impressive 3,384 words. But Sunday got away from me completely. So here I am at 10:51 p.m. on Day 19.

I need to start noveling, but I'm like this--> Oh, I need to uninstall that program that keeps messing up when I open my NaNo Word Count doc. I think I'll check my gmail while that uninstalls. Oh, look, Elizabeth left me a comment on my blog! Let me see that. Wow, I need to update my blog. Oh, look at that, Emerwen is on gchat. I wonder if she answered my PM on CleanPlace? Let me see. Oh, she did! Now I must reply. Oh, did that thing uninstall yet? Oh man! I uninstalled the wrong thing! Now where is that install CD?

Anyhoo...Now that I've written that out, I realize how much I really need to start writing. Hmmm...Maybe I should check out the plot dares to get started. LOL Off I go! Where to procrastinate, nobody knows.

Words to date: 26,536
Words to go: 23,464

Day 14, 15, & 16: Goose eggs

I ended up taking three days off in a row. Eeps! What happened to my stride? Things got busy. That's what happened. That coupled with feeling sick last night. Now it is after midnight Friday night, into Saturday. I sat down with the intention of writing at least 1,000 words to give me a head start for Day 17. And with a sudden burst of inspiration, I was able to write 2,052 words in just under an hour. Whew! Hooray for sudden inspirations!

Tomorrow, or rather later today, I plan on writing some more to double that for the day. Or perhaps if I'm lucky inspiration will strike again, and I can stamp out a few more thousand than that.

I'm still looking for a clear direction with this story. Slowly but surely though, it will come. And suggestions for strange things that could happen in a futuristic sci-fi circus are welcome! Leave me a comment. :o)

Words to date: 23,052
Words to go: 26,948

End of Day 13

Ah! A fairly good success at last. I wrote a little bit more tonight to get me to an even 21,000 total, having written 2,657 words today.

I am still just barely shy of being officially caught up for the day, but I'm not worried because I have broken firmly into the 20Ks. And that makes me happy.

Words to date: 21,000
Words to go: 29,000

Day 13: a lucky day

My original plan had been to write tonight after the kids had gone to bed. But that really hadn't been working out so well of late. So as it happened, both kids went down for a nap this afternoon. What an opportunity!

So instead of sitting on the couch and watching cooking shows for the next three hours, I decided to sit down and write. I managed to get a total of 2,310 words during my little impromptu writing date. Not only this, but it was probably the best scene I've written so far this month. I absolutely loved it.

Looks like those hints to my Muse to start hanging around here have worked! She was so scared off by what happened to my Inner Editor that I suppose she was a little afraid it would happen to her. Well, welcome back, Girl! It's GREAT to see you again.

Words to date: 20,653
Words to go: 29,347

Writing time extended

By a series of unfortunate events, I'm not going to my writers' group tonight. However, I am dead set to use that time instead to catch up on my NaNo novel. Every day that passes puts be further and further behind. :oops: It has even passed through my mind for one second that perhaps I won't finish on time this year.

But the thought was fleeting, and I'm feeling that old determination again. Onward to ever-higher word counts!

Highest Day

Alright. I did a little more writing and finished at a respectable 4,017 words today. It wasn't quite enough to get totally caught up for the day, but hey, 4K is nothing to sneeze at. Day 11 has been my most prolific day yet this year. I've had 5 and 6K days in past years, but this is good.

The story has been laying flat a bit over the last week, but I'm determined to find that golden streak in there somewhere. Tomorrow, I'm going to do as the experts suggest and write at a different time to day to see if any sparks of inspiration come flashing my way.

Words to date: 17,805
Words to go: 32,196

Day 11: Near Success!

We had another official write-in today, this one at Panera Bread. I ended up hosting it for Nia because she got a new job (yay!), and they called her in for training today. Sarah (ihatepeas/twinkie) showed up later on though, so it was good to have moral support. What a turnout we had! There had to be at least 14 people at one point.

I did write over 3K during that time period and including a couple hundred I wrote just a moment ago here at home on the desktop computer. Sounds impressive, but I still need about another 1,236 words if I want to be technically caught up for day 11. I may or may not try to pound that out after posting here, but I want to upload pictures from the write-ins first. We shall see how I feel. The fog of sleepiness is beginning to penetrate my brain...

Words to date: 17,101
Words to go: 32,899

Day 9 & 10: Write-in & Speed Flashback

I hosted a write-in on Friday at Einstein's, and we did several timed writings which was very good. Often timed writings are all I can offer my poor NaNo novel when my word count is floundering. I wrote 1,805 words that day.

Saturday turned out to be a strange one. I'd wanted to write in the afternoon, but lost the chance when my husband came home late from doing a mountain climb. I'd also planned to go see a movie with a friend at 9:40 p.m., so at 20 minutes til 9:00, I sat down and pounded out 1,085 words in about 25 minutes by inserting a flashback into Dali's childhood. I was pretty impressed with myself even though it didn't exactly meet my quota. We all have those days!

Words to date: 13,787
Words to go: 36,213

Wrimo Radio Spot!

Been meaning to post this: My "inspiration" audio clip was used in the first episode of Wrimo Radio on the NaNoWrimo site. You can hear it here. (My spot comes up about 23:17 into it.)

Day 7 & 8 go poof!

I didn't get a chance to write yesterday because I chose sleep over word count. What an exhausting day it way! Today, I didn't start writing until well-nigh onto 11:00 p.m. Ack. I have advanced a pitiful 622 words in the last 48 hours. So sad, so sad. Not to mention that I fear I've gotten Dali into too much trouble entirely too soon.

However, tomorrow is another day, and the weekend cometh! I'm optimistic about catching up over the next three days.

Words to date: 10,897
Words to go: 39,103

Day 5 & 6 are gone!

I had a zero day yesterday because it was too stinkin' busy to get any writing done during the day or afternoon, and I sacrificed my evening time to visit with a friend. Oh well. Today, it almost looked like I would get nothing written, but I got online to do some timed writings with my good friend NarniaPrincess and was able to break 9,500.

With a little extra prodding, I crept up my word count a little more and finished looking pretty and exceeding my daily quota by a mere smidgen--1,863.

Dali has already been discovered, which I didn't think would happen so soon, but I wanted to move the action along faster. (The words flow much easier when something exciting is happening!)

Words to date: 10,275
Words to go: 39,725 (Woot! I'm into the 30Ks!)

Day 3 & 4 done!

Morale is high today! I went to the first official write in for our region at Pikes Perk downtown. Very cool. We had quite the turnout too--over a dozen people. It was fun to be surrounded by other writers.

Didn't get to post my daily word count yesterday which was 1,822. Today, I reached my highest for the month so far: 2,739. Things are going swimmingly so far, and the story is continuing to grow. Dali has officially stowed away on a departing airship and has met our male protagonist. His name is Fire.

Words to date: 8,412
Words to go: 41,588

Oh so slow

I'm getting quite tired of seeing this screen:



Spending this afternoon writing at Einstein's Bros. Bagels. I was going to post on the NaNo forums that I'm here for the next couple hours. However, the site is being so stinking slow again. AAAGH!

As of this very second, I'm at 4,524, but I've got another 45 minutes worth of writing to do before I have to leave.

Got to get that timer going and bump up my 10-minute speed writing. I've been averaging about 370 words every 10 minutes which is just sad in comparison to what I was writing last year--around 550-600 words in 10 minutes. :rolleyes:

Day 2 is muddled through

Once again, I was unable to write all day until well near 10:00 p.m. For some reason, I was possessed with the desire to fold ALL the laundry. Oh well. At least that's done! We writers need a clean workspace, right?

I found myself incredibly tired tonight, so I got the timer out and did four 10-minute timed writings. By the end of the last one, my body had slid to a nearly completely prone position. Must be time for bed.

It was a good night for the story though. Plot is moving along just fine. I'm anxious for her to get to the circus, and it looks like it should happen in the next section/chapter.

Dali spent this chapter traveling through the trammin station, which turned out to be a sort of train station with these weird pods that hang from a string of electricity like a Japanese lantern. Established her ability to see dreams well. This should be a fun aspect to explore.

I managed to get down 1695 today. I suppose I could go back and write five more words to make it an even 1700. Nia would do that. But me? Well, I'm working on diminishing my OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), so I think I'll just head out to dreamland myself.

Words to date: 3,851
Words to go: 46,149

End of day 1, with a nice cushion

It's the end of day 1, November 1. I did write a little bit after midnight last night, but it only amounted to about 380 words. I made quick work of my 2,000-word goal this evening. Breached that mark by a little actually. This gives me a nice cushion for tomorrow. If I can break the usual 1,667 words tomorrow too, that gives me a cushion for Saturday.

I discovered that Dali isn't nearly as cynical as I thought she was--which is good because I don't want to get tired of her. ;o) Anyway, she's learned about the circus from the mailman, Mr. Benson, and she's decided to take the trannin (whatever that is!) to the Metro (wherever that is!). But that is an adventure for tomorrow because midnight approaches.

Words to date: 2,156
Words to go: 47,844

Ready, set, go!

November 1 snuck up on me this year. For the last two years I've anticipated that first day of writing with much anticipation. But for some reason, this year's firing bullet has eluded my mind completely. Well, not completely. I've been thinking "NaNoWriMo starts Thursday!" all week, but it was only this evening, as I was putting on my pajamas that I realized, "Oh! Thursday is TOMORROW!"

So here I sit in bed now, waiting for the stroke of midnight so I can put down the first line that came to me this week. Can't write it now though. That would be against the rules. ;o)

Words to date: 0
Words to go: 50,000

A plot emerges

As we were driving home from Awana tonight, I was thinking about a dream I had last night, and the plot for my NaNo this year just flashed before my eyes like a big bunch of exploding sparklers. It was truly magnificent!

I came home and wrote down as much as I could. Oh my, is this going to be fun!

The title will be Airship Circus, and it'll be fantasy-science fiction. (Think The City of Lost Children.) I'll write in first person again (did so for NaNo 2005), and the main character will be an early-20s girl named Dali. Actually, that's a nickname. Her real name is Jane.

She has a very special and unique ability which makes her feel quite the outsider among a population of "normal" people. To escape, she joins the circus one day. And...well, the rest of the little details will be discovered in November.

I found this blog template tonight. It really reflects the mood I'm thinking about for Airship Circus. Isn't it grand? :oD (I made the little Zeppelin graphic myself.)

Oh, this is gonna be SO fun to write! *bounces in anticipation*

Realization!

Oh my goodness! I got a PM from Nimelen on CleanPlace this morning asking me about starting a NaNo thread, and I thought "Yeah! NaNoWriMo starts next month!" I am SO excited for it to start this year.

I mentioned it to my husband today, and he replied in a most downtrodden voice, "Are you going to do that?" To which I grinned stupidly and said, "YES!"