Monthly Archives: November 2010

Winner!

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That’s right, I’m a winner for the 5th year in a row!  It’s been a great month, and yes, frustrating at times, but I think this is my favorite nano ever!  I’ll be doing a wrap up for each novel, plus a general wrap-up post as well over the next few days.  

Secret Service: 50,255; I was listening to Use Somebody by Kings of Leon when I hit 50k, at which point, I screamed and jumped up and down.  I finished this one today!

Harry Potter: 50,707; got to 50,000 and decided to write an extra 700 words.  I was listening to No Way from A Very Starkid Album when I hit 50k.  This was the first one to reach 50k, and I screamed and did a happy dance.

2006 Sequel: 50,023; This was the 2nd one I finished.  I was listening to Wildflower by the JaneDear Girls.  Not much celebrating for this one, just me saying Yay! when I hit 50k.

Grandtotal: 150,985; I was glad I had an extra 700 words for the harry potter fanfic, because when I went to validate, the validator had me at 149,800, which almost a thousands words off.  I added a couple hundred words to my secret service novel, which brought me up to 150k.  Since I was validated and had saved my winners certificate, I entered in my true wordcount.  It was quite the scare, because I’ve never remembered the nano site being that off, but oh well.  I still have my 150k, which is all that matters.

And as a side note, I was listening to Days of Summer from A Very Starkid Album when I validated the 1st time.

Validating

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I’ve had a debate going on with myself the last couple of days.  Do I want to validate now, even though I don’t have 50k, to be on the safe side, and then revalidate when I get to 50k?  Or do I want to wait until 150k to validate my wordcount because that’s how I’ve always done it?

I think I’ve settled on doing the official validation when I reach 150k, because it doesn’t seem right to validate before that.  50k or bust is my unofficial motto, after all. 

I have learned today that writing while sick is not fun.  All I want to do is sleep, although that nap I did take earlier should help me out.  And if I can stay away from the couch cough medicine until I’m done writing for the day, I should be good.  I hesitate to stop writing, mainly because I’m very determined to reach 150k.  And besides, I’m so close to it that I might as well finish.

Secret Service Novel: 47,726; I’ve decided I want to stretch this one out, because not finishing something on November 30th feels weird.  Kiora’s back in school, she’s friends with luna, and she’s realized the gravity of what she and Dustin did while in Texas.  Expect more of an update in December.

Harry Potter: 49,122; I’m hoping to finish this one today.  The next chapter should be interesting as it’s the chapter where hermione goes to the underworld to bring back the giant prehistoric chicken.  And not only that, she’s going without Ron or Harry.

2006 Sequel: 40,079; I have no clue what to write next, which hasn’t been anything unusual for the last couple weeks, but I’d like it to be somewhat interesting. 

Grandtotal: 145,927; this time tomorrow, I’m hoping that I’ll have reached the 50k I’ve been working towards all month.

The End Is Near!

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The other day, I was looking at my word count for one of my novels, and it finally sunk in that November is almost over.  I knew it was almost over, but realizing that I had about 5,000 words or so left for each novel was mind-boggling.  It’s been a great month overall.  I’m sad November’s over, but I know on December 1st, I’ll be ready for the madness to start all over again. 

And on a side note, I feel a cold coming on.  I’m thankful it waited until the end of the month, although I’m surprised I didn’t completely fall asleep while writing.  A nap will probably make me feel better.  And cold medicine might help too. 

Secret Service Novel: 45,236; only 4764 words away!  Still debating whether I should do the 1667 or if I should write 2382 today and 2382 and finish early. 

Harry Potter: 49,122; just 878 words away.  I should finish this one tomorrow, but today is also a possibility, depending on what I do with the secret service novel, and if I feel up to it.

2006 Sequel: 49,079; 921 words away!  This one will likely be finished tomorrow, which is quite the relief, given I have no idea what to do with it.  On the plus side, the shovel of death and Mr Ian Woon have made an appearance.

Grandtotal: 143,437; I’m just 6563 words away from 150,000!  I have an inkling that I’ll be several thousand words over 150k, which will be a nice change from previous years.  Having extra words is good, because there’s usually a discrepancy between word and the nano validator (and thankfully they’re pretty close), but usually I try to wrap things up at 50,000 words.

Meet My Muse!

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Since I talked about my inner editor yesterday, I thought today I’d talk about my muse.  Sometimes she’s with me, sometimes she’s not, but writing is a lot better when she’s around than when she’s not. 

I definitely have a better picture of her in my mind than I do of my inner editor.  She’s definitely has wavy hair, and she’s the long flowy skirt type.  There’s a fairy vibe to her, no noubt about it. 

Secret Service Novel: 45,236; for some reason, I’ve decided this one is going to be the last one that I want to get 50,000 words on, so I think I’ll keep up with my tradition of working on this one last. 

Harry Potter: 45,728; I’m looking foward to working on this one post-NaNo, because there’s a lot of story to tell.  I have the feelinhg that this is the one I’ll finish first, and quite honestly, it’ll be a big accomplishment to finish this one first because of all the difficulties I had writing it the first few days!

2006 Sequel: 45,136; I’ll be quite glad when I’m finished with this one, or at least, when I get to 50k on this one.  There’s a story in there, I just have no idea where it is.  A break from it may be what I need.

Grandtotal: 136,100; with all the extra writing I did yesterday, combined with the little I got done at today’s write-in, and with the writing I somehow managed to do at home, I’ve finished today’s word goal pretty early.  I’m still itching to get some writing done, so hopefully I can get ahead, and hopefully finish at least one novel early.

Meet My Inner Editor

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I thought today I’d talk more about my inner editor.  We all have one, and it’s the voice in the back of my head that keeps telling me to fix my grammar and check my spelling.  It’s that voice in the back of my head telling me that my writing is terrible, my ideas are terrible, and my characters are lifeless and boring.  Every year, I do NaNo, it gets easier to ignore her while writing.  I have no idea what she looks like,  but she seems like an Isabella to me.  She seems pompous, and has an air of superiority surrounding her. 

This year, I’ve managed to almost completely ignore her.  Not completely, of course, but I’ve gotten a lot better at just writing, which to me is what NaNo is all about.  The poorly written sentences, the inconsistencies, and the terrible (and yet oddly funny) spelling errors can all be fixed later.  You can’t edit it if there’s nothing to edit.  Ignoring Isabella means I can focus on writing, and not have to be bogged down with the worry that it won’t be good enough.  It is a rough draft, it’s not supposed to be perfect.  Accepting that has gotten easier every year as well.

Secret Service Novel: 41,839; I feel like the pace on this one has definitely slowed down, but there’s still plenty of ideas to go around.  I think I’ve settled on a direction for this one, so we’ll see how that goes.  But if it doesn’t work out, then I’ll have no problem trying to find a new direction to go in.

Harry Potter Sequel: 44,342; the ideas just kept coming forth today.  If I can write an extra 667 words today, I’ll be a day ahead! 

2006 Sequel:  43,415; the complaining/venting seems to be working out rather well so far, but it is getting a little old.  Hopefully, I’ll have inspiration for something in the next few days, or failing that, I can always go back and write one of those chapters I know I’ve skipped over.  I’ve lost my muse on this one, I’m hoping I can miraculously get it back in the next few days.

Grandtotal: 129,596; today was a good day for getting ahead (at least for one novel).  I’m hoping that I can continue to get ahead today, with the hope that on the 30th, I won’t be writing until 11 pm and scrambling to get my word count verified, because that’s usually when things go wrong.  I’ll be very superstitious the next few days to be on the safe side!

What I’m Thankful For, Writing Style

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I thought that today I’d talk about what I’m thankful for, in terms of writing.

  1. First, I’m thankful that I heard about NaNo.  It’s been a big part of my life the last few years, and it’ll be a big part of my life for years to come.  I’ve meet a lot of great people through NaNo, and it’s one of the few things that I can really depend on.
  2. The fact that I’m able to keep writing everyday, and for the joy that writing brings me, even when my characters drive me crazy and do things I never intended them to do.
  3. Writing has kept me sane, giving me a way to get these ideas out of my head.  At the times when I felt my worst, it’s given me something to focus on, and my way of dealing with everything going on around me.

It’s a pretty short list, but doing NaNo every year is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.  So onto my wordcount!

 Secret Service Novel: 41,839; I worked on this one while watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, and miraculously didn’t get all distracted by it. 

Harry Potter: 40,655; I’ve been working on this one off and on, while waiting for food, and when I got bored. 

2006 Sequel: 41,684; I worked on this one last night.  I’m still not sure if I’ll work on it tonight or not.

Grandtotal: 124,178; I didn’t get as much writing done as I had hoped, but I’m not worried about it either, since I’ve been doing pretty well.  And after all, it is Thanksgiving, so a huge number was low on the priority list.

The End Is Near

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I thought today I’d talk about writing during thanksgiving weekend.  Usually I’m catching up on thanksgiving, which has always been the one day that saves me every year.  I normally don’t do much on thanksgiving.  I have an aunt who likes to do most everything as far as thanksgiving goes, and everyone usually brings something.  And of course, the fact that I barely have to do anything means plenty of time to write.  This will be the first year that I’m not catching up.  While I might not finish early, thanksgiving will be a good time to get some extra writing in.

Secret Service: 40,182; I’m hoping to get ahead tonight, but if I don’t, there’s always tomorrow.

Harry Potter: 40,018; all kinds of things are happening!  Hermione has plans to take the potion with fred, george, ginny and luna, and everyone’s getting suspicious.

2006 Sequel: 40,123; I’m hoping to get ahead on this one as well, but like I said with my secret service one, if I don’t there’s always tomorrow.

Grand total: 120,323; I’m just under 30,000 words to 150k!  It’s gone by so fast, and the last 10,000 words are some of the easiest words to write.

Everything But Writing

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Today was one of those days where I managed to do everything but write.  I did get some writing in this morning, but it was a struggle.  Today was a last-minute-thanksgiving-shopping-day, running around trying to find thanksgiving napkins and lets make pumpkin bread for thanksgiving day.  Hopefully I can get myself to focus today, because tomorrow I’ll be more distracted.

Secret Service Novel: 36,724; kiora and dustin aren’t really talking to each other right now, except for when they have to.  Kiora’s dad was apparently in hiding, and when he disappeared, it was so rushed that somehow a bunch of secret service agents forgot about brining kiora with them.  you’d think my subconscious would remember that.

Harry Potter: 38,343; things are moving along slowly.  the giant prehistoric chicken finally made an actual appearance!  it wasn’t as dramatic as I’d hoped, but if I can get myself to edit, it’ll be much more dramatic.

2006 sequel: 38,413; I’m hoping I can get some complaining/writing in for this one, but it won’t be a priority until I get the writing done for the secret service one.

Grand total: 113,480; with each passing day, I’m writing less and less at a frantic pace.

Every Story Needs A Giant Prehistoric Chicken

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I’m pretty impressed with myself this year.  I’ve managed to write over 100k with contractions, not splitting up words like however, or using any other word padding techniques.  In the past, I’ve used song lyrics, not used contractions, and I’ve split words like however and nonetheless into multiple words. 

Every year I’ve had a character mention or do NaNoWriMo, and this year is no different.  I still need to work it into my secret service novel, but that should be soon.  It did get me thinking about other things I need to include in my novel this year.

  • The giant prehistoric chicken naturally needs to make an appearance.
  • mr ian woon also needs to make an appearance.  No NaNo is complete without him.
  • the traveling shovel of death
  • a bunny.  The only reason i’m writing 3 novels is because of too many plot bunnies.
  • ninjas!  (or ninkas as I like to call them).  pirates.  vikings.  Some kind of ninja, pirate, viking war!

Secret Service Novel: 35,152; still need to write today, but if I don’t, I have no doubt I’ll be able to catch up.

Harry Potter: 35,126; I still need to write for this one as well.  Watching Deathly Hallows Part 1 certainly gave me a couple ideas, so all in all the distraction was well worth it!

2006 Sequel: 38,413; I’m surprisingly ahead with this one, so it’s doubtful I’ll add to this one tonight.  But since I’m a couple days ahead, I’m not too worried about missing a day.

Grandtotal: 108,691; a lot of words, and hopefully I won’t have to resort to nefarious means to get 150k.  However, nefarious means are certainly in my bag of tricks if I need them.

My Thoughts Are Turning Towards December

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Every year, I tell myself I’m going to keep writing something once November’s over.  And yet, I somehow manage to not write much of anything the rest of the year.  And yes, every year I feel like I get a little closer to actually writing post-November.  I feel like this is the year that I’m actually going to keep writing, adding more to what I’ve written, but at a more leisurely pace.  We’ll see how it actually works out, of course, but this is the year where I’ve felt like I’ve actually meant it, as opposed to previous years when it was more of a I-should-do-more-writing during the year. 

Secret Servivce Novel: 33,522; there’s so much to think about with this one!  This one is the one that I’m most likely to finish post-November, since there’s so much to work with on this one.  A lot of the decisions I’ve made with this one are mostly because of the conflict and tension they cause.  I was kind of thinking one simple kiss would be sufficient to prove my point, but if there were more to their relationship, and it developed more than I had ever planned, the consequences would definitely be more severe.  and of course, creates even more conflict/tension, and provides some very interesting choices for not only dustin and kiora, but those around them.

Harry Potter and the Giant Prehistoric Chicken: 35,008; I’m pretty likely to keep writing this one once November’s over.  I’m not sure why, but I’m sure the giant prehistoric chicken is behind it.

2006 Sequel: 38,413; It’s doubtful whether I’ll keep writing this one after November.  If I do, it’ll probably be every once in a while, but it’s not high on my priority list.  I want to say I’ll need a break from it for a few weeks, but given that I usually don’t go back on work on stuff, it’s doubtful I’d do so after a break. 

Grand total: 106,943; I’m surprised that I managed to write anything, considering it’s been cold and rainy, and my fingers can barely move because they’re so cold.