Plodding Along

I am glad for the kids' extra curricular activities, they always give me the opportunity to continue to write. Twenty minutes at swimming, thirty minutes at karate, forty minutes at dance, etc., etc. Between all these I have managed to add about 2000 more words in the two weeks since NaNoWriMo ended.

The current impediment is that I am starting to think the story has reached the doldrums. I am wondering if the story is flirting with the "boring threshold" and needs more excitement, rather than just more progress along the story line.

Still in my rookie season, and figuring out this writing thing... onward...

NaNo No Mo'

So NaNoWriMo is over; I didn't quite get as far as I could have, but I was pleasantly surprised that I managed to write just under twenty one thousand words. 21,000 words!  


Actually I totally miscalculated what the Thanksgiving holiday would do for me. Rather than being able to write more, I ended up not being able to write before and after that week. Not that I would have done a lot better without the holiday... After a week of little writing I found it extremely difficult to get started again.


I did write a few hundred words on the last day, but that was too little too late. 


The wonderful thing about NaNoWriMo was that I got going on this project that I have wanted to do for a long time. I never expected to have a fully written novel in a month; I am too new at this sport to pull that off. But the momentum I have gained from last month should carry me to the finish line, even if it takes a few more months. I have already written about 600 words since NaNoWriMo ended, and I plan to keep writing anytime I get some time.


So watch this space for updates and wish me luck on this maiden voyage across the page.

I Blame Apple

OK, so I was determined to write last night. Then, my new iPhone 4S showed up. How can you blame me?

Blame Apple that I did not get anything written at all.

To redeem myself I told Siri to set an alarm for 5:00am which was done promptly with no typing or swiping required. This morning I woke up early and managed to write a few hundred words. Yay! Except today is the last day for NaNoWriMo and I still need to write more tonight.

Restarting is Hard

For the past three days I have been trying to restart my NaNoWriMo effort with no success. With the last two days I really don't have the luxury of trying again tomorrow.

Must write something tonight. Even if it is just a few hundred words. That might kick start the effort for a solid finish.

Wish me luck...

Crash and Burn

I had started seeing the signs of a tailspin early in week 3, but could not bring my NaNoWriMo plane out of it in time. Then the up coming Thanksgiving break really put a hole in my wings, sending me into the ground with zero words written for days. Total wreck, is how I can describe my writing effort now that I have flamed out, crashed and burned. I have totally lost my momentum and have no shred of hope to make it to 50,000 words even if I were to count my 6002 word start.

The only question left to ask as I am staring down the last three days of NaNoWriMo is if a Phoenix will rise from the ashes of my novel and get me to the halfway point...

Day 10, Where am I?

Another productive writing day. I was feeling sick all morning, but a restful morning set me up for a good writing session in the afternoon. Wrote for a couple of hours in the local Starbucks. Still only a quarter of the way there with a third of the time gone.


Current Score Board:

NaNoWriMo Score: 12979/50,000 = 25.96%  
Rebel          Score: 18981/56,002 = 33.89%


Hey, wait a minute, my rebel word count is a palindrome! 
OK, I'm a geek.

Getting Involved

Writing is tough work,I knew that, but I realized today that it can be emotionally draining too. The current chapter that I am writing is very emotionally charged and after I had been writing for an hour or so I was totally exhausted. 


I can't imagine how people write for a living. That is a really tough job, and my hats off to those that can pull it off.

Progress

OK, managed to stay focused, awake, inspired, and motivated to put down 1704 words today. Not quite as many as I had hoped, but this has helped me catch up a little. Still 2506 words behind the pace, so I have more catching up to do. Tomorrow might be another good day. But I need to write a good 3000 words tomorrow to get closer. A third day of staying up  late and still pulling off a reasonably productive day at work will be difficult, so tomorrow is critical.


Wish me luck.


Current Score Board:

NaNoWriMo Score: 10830/50,000 = 21.66%  
Rebel          Score: 16832/56,002 = 30.061%

Must... Write... Tonight...

I've been thrown off my game by the weekend. Even though I spent a large part of Sunday writing while waiting for all kinds of things, I have fallen behind.



NaNoWriMo Score:   9740/50,000 = 19.48%  
Rebel          Score: 15742/56,002 = 28.11%



So, must write tonight.
After Parenthood. ;-)

Is it? NO. Could it be?

So I was doing some writing while waiting for some auto work and my laptop battery died. The work is not done yet so I started thinking ... bad idea.

You see I'm nearing that age when men feel the need to reinvent themselves. You know...

And I thought to myself is the NaNoWriMo my manifestation of a midlife crisis?

Some men go off and do stupid things like climbing mountains and get themselves killed or injured.

Others go buy really expensive sporty cars they can't afford and dye their hair.

Wait, I could have done that? I should have thought of this earlier.

Too late. I guess I'll stick to writing a novel.

Then again, this might not be my midlife crisis and I'll get to buy that expensive sporty car after all.

Fall Back

Or as it's called in November/NaNoWriMo, save my Writing A** by giving me an extra hour day!


Making good use of the extra hour and total silence in the house I am working on catching up to the 5000 word shortfall that I have built up.


Now to shut up ans write...

Stalled...

It's been a day and a half, almost two days and I have less than a 100 words written.


Life caught up with me a little...


Friday time with the family and weekend chores, added to the first snow of the autumn ate up Friday night and most of today. Now we have a dinner to go to, which means I am going to need to write over 5000 words tomorrow.


Well if that what it takes, that's what I need to do.

How Were The Sandwiches?

Well, I forgot to ask! And they did not mention them, so they were probably not AMAZING. But the lunch boxes were empty, so at least they were not a total failure.


And today's word count? 1945. Not a bad day's work.
Still managing to stay ahead of the curve.


Progress:

NaNoWriMo Score:   5807/50,000 = 11.61%  
Rebel          Score: 11809/56,002 = 21.09%

As Long As The Sandwiches Are Good

So I didn't get ANY writing done this morning, yes, I realize that the trend is downwards for morning writing. But I have a good reason today... I decided to make artisan sandwiches for my kids' lunch. Took all of the 20 or so minutes that I have in the morning to write.


If at the end of the day they loved the sandwiches, it will have been a good trade.

Exhausted... But Happy

Another long day of writing, working, and then writing some more. 
The slow start this morning has been remedied.


I have written 1858 words today, less than yesterday, but enough to keep me slightly ahead of the curve. Need to pace myself so I don't crash and burn on Day 5, or Day 3!


NaNoWriMo Score: 3862/50,000 =   7.72%  
Rebel          Score: 9864/56,002 = 17.61%


Another good day.
Good Night!

Slow Start on Day 2

I stayed up late to write last night, and then realized that my Dropbox is full. 
That meant my WIP would not get backed up to the cloud. So I spent another half hour getting it cleaned out to the point where my document backup could start again.


All this made for a slow start this morning and I only got a 182 words written.
Luckily the only good thing on TV tonight is Modern Family which will be done before 9:00 giving me a solid two hours to write after that.


Hoping to continue my momentum from yesterday. The muse is still actively engaged so the ideas are flowing.

Ahead of the Curve

Surprised myself today and wrote 1995 words. 


Part of them this morning, some of them watching Parenthood on TV during commercial breaks, and the final spurt when the TV was turned off after 10:00pm.


But remember, I am a rebel. My rebellious start was at 6002 words, so I am at a total of 7997 words, with a target of 56,002 words. So although I am only 3.99% done with my true NaNoWriMo goal I am actually 14.28% done on my rebellious goal!


Hope I can keep up all the way through day 30.

But Those Green Lines...

...they are mocking me. The green lines all over my manuscript in Word. Grammatical errors, passive voice, fragments, and on and on. Every page in my manuscript is flooded with green lines underlining the words that have been rescued from my brain and onto paper.


But, don't edit they say. And by the way, don't edit.
That is possibly just as challenging as writing.


For now I am holding strong, and continuing to write as fast as the words are tumbling out of my brain and as fast as my hunt-n-pecking fingers can type them.


Don't edit.

Puts on Mask and Cape

My day job done, I head out from the old decrepit building where I maintain my cover as a video games programmer and don my mask and cape.


SuperWriter to the rescue! 50,000 words waiting to be rescued...


Wait make that 14,620.

Slight redemption

OK, a quick writing session while the kids ate breakfast and I managed to write 380 words in 20 minutes. Still 1300 to go to meet today's quota.

The morning's not a total wash.

OK I Suck.

Set my alarm for 5:00am and decided to sleep through it. :(


Yup I suck.


I have 20 minutes left now after the morning chores are done. 
So I might get a few words in.

So I'm a Rebel

NaNoWriMo rules require that you write all the 50,000 words in the month of November. Unfortunately for me I had begun my journey a few weeks before I had even heard about NaNo. 


I figured I'd just write as many more words as I had written before the beginning of November, but that is against the rules. So is my endeavor doomed before the start date?


Not really; the folks at NaNo are cooler than that. They have a special section for people who are operating just (or way) outside the bounds. These people are labeled "rebels" and are equally welcome into the NaNo fold.


So I am writing as a NaNoWriMo newbie rebel!

Final Day of Prep...

To help make an as smooth as possible NaNoWriMo experience I am following some advice I read on the NaNo site and also from duolit here. I've made an outline and doing so has made me realize that there are some holes in my story arc. Places where the narrative might slow down too much or just plain fall apart. Luckily this is in the latter part of the book, and I may be able to remedy this as I go along, or maybe the story will work itself out as I get there.


The other thing I have been doing for prep is to re-read a book I bought for my daughter (who is a much better writer than me) some time ago. Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly by Gail Carson Levine. I found this book useful as a basic writers' manual the first time I read it. Although it is aimed at young writers, and I am by no means young by age anymore, writer-me's age is comparable to a teenager. So I still find it gave me some of the basic pointers that a "young" writer needs. I'm about a third of the way in with plans to finish reading it tonight.

Let's start at the very beginning...

Found out about NaNoWriMo while following some writers on Twitter. Kept wondering for a few days what the #NaNoWriMo tag stands for and finally got curious enough to look. Well it stands for National Novel Writing Month. Authors commit to try and write a 50,000 (yes fifty thousand) word novel in one month.


For some writers this seems trivial, for others it is a challenge, for me; it seems like a daunting task at par starting from my sedentary office life and deciding to climb K2 next week. But there has been a story in my head for the last few years. It's been begging to be put on paper for at least a year now, and so I figured this will be the opportunity to do so.


This blog may be short lived, but I think it will be intense. It maybe a record of my success, or a chronicle of my failure from which I can learn some lessons the next time I try this.


So wish me luck, walk along with me, encourage me, or mock me as I try this impossible feat. They will all give me strength!