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!"

Day 29 & 30: Finished at 50,379

Well, Day 29 just slipped through my fingers somehow. But I did finish with 23 and a half hours to spare on Day 30. ;o) My final count? According to the NaNoWriMo Word Count Verifier: 50,379

And once again, I managed to finish the story as well as the make the word count by the deadline. Double hoorays!

If you're interested, here are my final stats from the fancy, shamancy Excel spreadsheet that I have been using to track my progress all month:

Word Count Reached 50379
Total Hours Spent Writing 27.75
Avg Words Per Hour 1815
Avg Words Per Day 1679
Avg Hours Writing Per Day 0.93
Words Remaining To Goal 0
Days Remaining In November 0
Avg Time Per Writing Session 0.35 hours

Yay me! Here's to my second NaNo win, the completion of my third novel ever, all my fellow Wrimos, and all the friends who showed up to support me. *tips a glass of sparkling cider and salutes all her supporters* Thank you!

Day 28: The last chapters + encouragement

I could probably finish tonight, but I'm not going to. It's 1:15 a.m. and my husband just announced he's going to bed. That's sure a good idea!

All that's left tomorrow is the last chapter and 1,200-odd words. I'm confident that I can get that written tomorrow easily. One more chapter, and I'm done!

Words to date: 48,722
Words to go: 1,278

In other news, I prepared and edited an excerpt of my novel to take to the Thank Goodness It's Over Party this weekend. It took me about an hour and a half to edit a mere eleven pages. I'm astonished. Well, actually I'm not. When you're trying to write so fast and so much, junk is bound to get spilled on the page. Let's just say that the eleven pages got whittled down to nine by time I got done with it. My inner editor was so happy. LOL :oD

Anyway, I took the slashed version to my critique group tonight to get some impressions and final edits. The response was surprisingly good. They had very few edits and gave compliments all around. My good friend who has published many books already encouraged me that Tag would make a great novella. Hm... So maybe all this will actually be worth something in the end.

It was good to hear that though because I'd been thinking lately how much I didn't want anyone to ever lay eyes on this monstrosity. But I guess that's what NaNoWriMo tends to create. It gives us a big old, ugly chunk of clay on the wheel and allows us to shape and form it into something beautiful. Without that first draft, there would be no clay at all.

You can read my edited excerpt on my profile page. Just click "turn" to get to page two, then click on the right-hand page to load the text. Enjoy!

Day 27: Still going!

It's a good thing that I got those writing sessions in during the wee hours on Day 26 because by time I got home, unpacked, organized life, and ate dinner, all I wanted to do was go to sleep...and I did.

Today, I managed to get in four 10-minute writing sessions which amounted to 1,885 words. Doing okay. Slow and steady. I should be done in the next day or two--definitely before Nov. 30!

Words to date: 46,420
Words to go: 3,580