NaNoWriMo Day Thirty

Today is the last day of NaNoWriMo 2010.  It's been a blast!  I won again this year, which makes two years in a row.

I didn't write at all yesterday.  I was just riding on a natural high after validating my word count and being over 50K.  But today, I did write.  I'm so close to the end of my novel, I didn't want to lose all my momentum.

I didn't write this morning, just after work.  I wrote 1,968 words today.  I validated my word count again at the NaNoWriMo website, and I'm ending this year officially at 53,117 words.

Now I just have to finish my novel.  After that, I'll take a couple of days off just to read, then I'll start some basic proofreading to get it in shape to send off for my free proof copy from CreateSpace.  I'm very excited about that.  There's nothing like getting your novel in book form like that, except maybe actually finishing 50,000 words in 30 days.  I'm very happy now, but I was downright giddy last summer when my proof copy of my first novel arrived in the mail.  I'm ready for that feeling again, but right now, I'm just so happy to have won again.

Tomorrow, I'll probably be depressed that it's over for another year.

Word Count Widget:



My Month:

NaNoWriMo Day Twenty-Eight

I won!  I crossed 50K today.  I even validated my novel at the NaNoWriMo website and got an official word count of 51,149.  And I'm not done.  I'm definitely in the last chapter.  I'm almost done.  One crucial scene to write and then some epilogue-type stuff and then I'm done with this first draft.

I wrote more today than I've ever written in one day.  I wrote 4,240 words today.

And I cut out some 600 words I wrote the other day that I had added to my word count.  I was in such a foul mood last Tuesday that I couldn't write after work.  I started writing about what a bad mood I was in and why.  I kept that as part of my novel and my word count, even though I had no intention of keeping it in the novel.  I cut those words out today, and I feel much better.

I hope to finish tomorrow, and then I'll take a break for a few days.  Then, I'll start doing some clean-up, just fixing typos and obvious spelling and grammar errors.  I might do some sorting into chapters and the like, maybe moving some scenes around.  Then I want to send my novel off to CreateSpace for my free proof copy.  I procrastinated last year and didn't make the deadline for my free proof copy, but I'm going to get one this year.

NaNoWriMo Update

Day Twenty-Five

That would have been Thanksgiving.  I only wrote 512 words on Thursday.

We finished packing up food for Thanksgiving and clothes for our stay in Santa Rosa in the morning, then drove to Santa Rosa.  It was a pleasant drive.  It was a beautiful, clear day, hardly a cloud in the sky.  And no fog anywhere near the Golden Gate Bridge.  Traffic was also light, being a holiday and all, so the drive was more pleasant than normal.  Getting through San Francisco and past Petaluma can be tiring.

Anyway, had a lovely Thanksgiving meal.  And then I retired to my grandmother's bedroom to write.  I only managed the aforementioned 512 words.  Then I took a short nap.  We ended up watching the Galapagos documentary that my uncle brought over.  The visuals in that are spectacular.  I fell asleep during the third episode.

Day Twenty-Six

Black Friday.  For some reason, we decided we would actually venture out on the most dangerous shopping day of the year.  We went to REI, because my wife wants a new jacket for Christmas.  And, of course, we went to Toys R Us, which is right next door.  We didn't have much luck.  REI didn't have my wife's sizes in the two jackets she was interested in, and we didn't find any good deals at Toys R Us for the toys our boys want for Christmas.

We also drove over to Home Depot, trying to find 99 cent poinsettias.  They were sold out by the time we got there.

But I did write.  I wrote in the morning, which I've done most days this month quite successfully.  Then another session in the afternoon, and a final one in the evening.  I wrote a total of 1,861 words, for a total of 44,831.

Day Twenty-Seven

Our last day in Santa Rosa.  We decided we'd drive home today after having lunch.  One, we just didn't want to stay all day.  Two, I don't like driving home when it gets dark, and double so when it's raining or has been raining.

Lucky for us, the rain let up as the morning got closer to noon.  Traffic wasn't bad, either.  It was good to get home.  It's always good to get away to Santa Rosa to visit with my grandmother, but it's always good to get back home again.

I wrote in three sessions again today, one early in the morning right after breakfast, one a little later in the morning, and then one this afternoon after we got home.  I wrote 2,075 words today, for a total of 46,906.

I just have 3,094 words to go.  I might finish tomorrow.  If not, I'll finish on Monday for sure.  Tuesday's writing, then, will just be icing on the cake.

If you look at my calendar wordcount widget, it looks like I didn't write at all on Thursday and Friday.  I did write both days, though I certainly didn't make the 1,667 word count goal for Thursday.  They show up as red because I did not log on to the NaNoWriMo website to update my word count.  My grandmother does not have internet access, and I was not going to go out somewhere with WiFi to update my word count with my laptop.  How do I know how many words I wrote?  I used a different file on my Neo for each day, so I could track each day's word count, and then my total in Word once I transferred my writing over to my laptop from my Neo.  Wait!  There's a word for that.  Yes, I'm a little anal-retentive.

NaNoWriMo Day Twenty-Four

Today was not such a good day, either.

We took our car in to the shop last Saturday.  Two hours later, they told us there was nothing wrong with it.  The lights coming on in our instrument panel were caused by a short in a sensor.  They would order the sensor for us in a couple of days.  Sure enough, they called on Tuesday, and I called back and made an appointment for this morning to get it taken care of.

I thought it would be quick, so my eldest son and I just waited in their waiting room.  An hour and a half later, the service rep tells us the car is ready.  Then he seemed to have some difficulty finding it.  Then I see him track down a mechanic, and they've got the hood open.  I suspected then that things were not going to go well.

Sure enough, the new sensor worked fine, but sent back the same error message.  The short was occurring somewhere else, in some mesh of wires that they want to replace.  That, too, has to be ordered.  Which means I have to come back again.  And this time, they need the car for six hours.

Right now, I hate Honda.  I hate our CR-V.  I hate the dealership that sold us the car.  And I hate everyone in their service department.  What I have been given lately, is not service.  Or, to be more precise, it has been service, but it's been lousy service.

Apparently, my time is not valuable.  It took them two hours to tell me it was a short in a sensor.  Nothing mechanical, nothing complicated.  A simple short in a circuit somewhere.  Then, it took them an hour and a half, while my son was not waiting so patiently, to install that sensor only to tell me that it was not the sensor, but something else entirely.  And you get to come back here again and essentially give us your car for a whole day.

I did write today.  I wrote 1,971 words. I'm much happier with what I wrote today, in contrast to yesterday. My total word count now is 42,458.  I only have to write 7,542 more words to reach 50K.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  I'm driving up to Santa Rosa tomorrow to my grandmother's.  Then I'm cooking. I probably won't write tomorrow, but I'll try to sneak in about 500 words or so if I can manage it.

I will also be away from the internet, so no updates of my word count to the NaNoWriMo website and no posts here for a couple of days.

NaNoWriMo Day Twenty-Three

Apparently, I wrote yesterday.  It was a bad day.

I think I wrote in the morning, but I can't remember right now, nor do I want to put the effort into trying to remember.  I must have.  I usually do.

I had a bad day at work.  I was able to put off what was bothering me for quite a while, but it snuck up on me when I was ready to write and I was just not in the mood.  I'm sure everything I wrote yesterday after work is crap.  If it is, which it almost certainly must be, it would be appropriate for the crappy mood I was in.

People can be so mean.

Anyway, I did manage to keep track of how many words I wrote.  I cranked out 1,711 words yesterday, putting me at 40,487 words.

I treated myself to the movies last night.  After my wife got home, I went to go see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One.  I was in such a foul mood, that I thought I might not enjoy the movie, but I was wrong.  I enjoyed it quite a bit.  I certainly deserved a break.

NaNoWriMo Day Twenty-Two

I didn't write this morning.  I had to get some work done, checking in some papers, so I could get them back to students today and review them with my class.  I put off doing any work all weekend, so I had to get it done this morning.

I planned on leaving work as soon as I could, so I could get home and write.  My back was killing me.  My wife thinks it's from all the writing.  A couple of ibuprofen and something to eat - I skipped lunch - and I felt much better.

I got my writing playlist going on iTunes on my laptop, and grabbed my Neo and started writing.  I wrote like a madman.  I consistently find that I write more when I use my Neo.  I think it's the small display.  I'm not distracted by text that I've already written.  I don't keep going back and looking at what I've written.  Nor am I distracted by the red and green lines of the spell- and grammar-check.  I've made lots more typos this year than I did last year, but who cares?  That's what December is for.

Anyway, I wrote exactly 1,234 words in about 45 minutes.  I picked up my younger son and then my wife.  We had dinner, and then I wrote some more, for a total of 1,901 words for today.  I'm now at 38,776.  I checked the Excel spreadsheet that I'm using to track my word count and saw that I've passed the 75% mark.

I feel like I'm on schedule.  My novel has gone in directions I didn't initially plan, but I'm entering the territory of act three, so I'm getting near the end.

NaNoWriMo Day Twenty-One

A much more relaxing day today.  I wrote some this morning after breakfast.  Then I took a shower later in the morning, and wrote some more then.  So far today, I've written 1,337 words.  Only 330 to go!

Now, it's time to take a break and have some lunch.  I'm hoping to write more this afternoon and evening.  I want to get further ahead on my word count with Thanksgiving coming up.

My wife had to go in to work today.  She had to go to CostCo with her boss and buy stuff for their upcoming Thanksgiving shindig.  When she got home, our youngest hounded us until we agreed to take him to the park so he could ride his bicycle.  There was a lull in the rain showers, so we agreed.

I took my Neo with me and wrote a little bit.  I didn't quite finish my 330 words, but I was close.  I did write some more after dinner, with a total of 1,835 words for the day, putting me at 36,875.

NaNoWriMo Day Twenty

Had to take the car to the shop in this morning.  I've had warning lights coming on in my instrument panel.  After two hours, we found out it was just a short in the sensor.  There's nothing physically wrong with the car, but they don't have the sensor in stock.  They have to order it and I have to bring the car back in to have it replaced.  With any luck, it will go very quickly.

Stopped on the way home, and got lots of shopping for Thanksgiving done.  When we got home, it was nearing 11 a.m.  I really wanted to go to my local write-in, but I was just so tired.  I was really overstimulated after the shopping.  And the restaurant where we had breakfast, while the car was being looked at, was too loud for me.  So, I took a nap.

After my nap, I wrote for about an hour or so before we had to take the boys to their swim class.  Then we went out to dinner as we usually do.  When we got home, I watched a little SpongeBob with the boys, and then we sent them to bed.  My better half and I watched a couple episodes of Dexter.  We recently started watching the first season on NetFlix.  As I'm heavily into writer mode now, I find I think about things differently.  One, I've noticed how well-written Dexter is, and two, I just find myself thinking about things from a writer's perspective, noticing the various sub-plots, character interactions, the use of irony, etc.

Then I retired to the sunroom for my second writing session of the day.  I wrote 2,028 words today, for a total of 35,040, which puts me at 70% of 50K.

NaNoWriMo Day Nineteen

I wrote again this morning.  I feel better already, getting back on track with a regular morning writing session.  My morale about my writing hasn't been the best the last couple of days, but I feel much better this morning.  I wrote 621 words on my Neo.  Again, I'm finding that I write more and more quickly when I write on my Neo as opposed to my laptop.

Have to leave work early today for a parent-teacher conference with my youngest son's teacher today.  Then, I plan on getting some more writing done, about another thousand words to meet today's wordcount goal.  I'd like to have some time this evening to watch a movie and relax.  I think I need to reward myself a little bit for the good job I've done so far this month, and for reaching that three-fifths benchmark.  I wouldn't say the end's in sight, but I feel like I'm on a downward slope now.

I ended up writing 1,715 words today, putting me at a total of 33,012.  It felt good to be back on track again.  I stumbled there for a day or two, but now I'm back in my groove again.

NaNoWriMo Day Eighteen

I did write some more this morning, and then again this evening.  Today was one of my later writing sessions.  I took my sons to Family Math Night at my school.  An exhausting, but fun event where I get to wear two hats: teacher and father.  Not so easily done, but I pulled it off tonight.

Arrived back home around 8:40 p.m., got the boys into bed, and myself writing.  I ended up writing a total of 1,115 words today.  I crossed the 31K mark today, and despite yesterday's and today's poor writing performance, I'm still nearly a whole day ahead of schedule.  I ended the day at 31,297 words.

NaNoWriMo Day Seventeen

Not my best day.  Actually my worst so far this month.

One, if you look over at my monthly widget, it looks like I didn't write anything.  That red square is taunting me.  That's just because I didn't post any wordcount updates on the NaNoWriMo website.  Silly of me, really.

Two, I did write yesterday, but it was a measly 586 words.  I only wrote in the morning.  I was so tired last night that I didn't have my usual post-work, evening writing session.  I thought that I might just rest my eyes, because I was so tired, and then write.  Well, resting my eyes turned into going to sleep for the night.

Official word count so far: 30,182.  I should be happy crossing that 30K mark, but I'm not.  It's soiled by my total lack of writing yesterday.

NaNoWriMo Day Sixteen

Woke up early again this morning.  I did write for about half an hour this morning before I took my shower.  I didn't note how many words I wrote, but it was around 600, I think.

Was really tired tonight.  I feel asleep on the couch sometime around 8 p.m watching Comedy Central.  Woke up and dragged myself out to the sunroom.  I had to meet today's word count goal.

It was rough going.  I decided to keep writing on my Neo, because I've found that I type faster on it than I do on my laptop.  I tend to keep glancing back and what I've just written on my laptop, but you can't really do that on the Neo because it only displays four lines of text.  To go back, you have to scroll up, which I can stop myself from doing easily enough.

But I was just so tired.  And then I got to the end of a scene.  Took a little break, and then started another scene.  That scene proved to be troublesome because I got to a point where I didn't know what to write next.

Actually, I do know what I need to write next but I'm not looking forward to it.  My villains have to do something nasty to someone innocent, and I'm just not excited about the direction they're taking, but I see no way around it.  Maybe I can tackle that one tomorrow.

In the meantime, I had written nearly enough words to meet today's 1,667 word count goal.  I plugged my Neo into my laptop and transferred over what I had written.  As the words filled up the pages, I noted a couple of spots where I could go back and add a little bit more.  After doing that, I found I was at 1,762 words for today.  I'm now at 29,596 words, which puts me just shy of 60%.  I'm almost three-fifths of the way there.

NaNoWriMo Day Fifteen

Tired.  Really tired.

Son number one woke me up at midnight because his legs hurt.

Son number two woke me up at 4:30 a.m. because his stomach hurt.

Why did I have children?

Oh, that's right.  This is about NaNoWriMo.  Luckily, I wrote lots yesterday, some of which I rolled over into today's word count.  I had to get ahead on my words, because I had plenty of papers to grade and get entered into the gradebook.  I spent some time yesterday evening and this morning doing just that.  Didn't write at all this morning, but did write a little bit more this afternoon after work.  I logged another 1,800 words today for a total of 27,834.

NaNoWriMo Day Fourteen

You just never know how your day is going to go.

I woke up early, around 5 a.m. today, which is when I normally get up during the week.  It's Sunday, and I wanted to sleep in.  But, then again, I didn't stay up late last night.  I was tired again.

So, since I was up, I wrote.  In fact, I wrote 571 words in about forty-five minutes.  I stopped to go watch CBS Sunday Morning, one of the few shows I regularly make an effort to watch.

Then I came back and wrote some more, another 811 words in about an hour or so, perhaps less.  The words are coming quickly today because I'm writing a more action-oriented, suspenseful chapter than I've previously been working on this month.

I stopped somewhere between 8 and 8:30 to get some breakfast for the boys.  I decided it was about time I ate something myself.  So, I made a pumpkin bagel with Tofutti cream cheese, and refilled my coffee cup.

It's pretty early in the morning, and I've already written 1,382 words.  I've also crossed the 25K mark, so I'm halfway to the NaNoWriMo goal of a novel of 50,000 words.

Took my Neo with me and wrote while my boys played at the park.  Also wrote while they were getting their haircuts today.  I love my Neo.  I really missed going to write-ins this past week, because my wife is out of town, but I've been writing out and about with my Neo.  I'm surprised that I can write like that, but it's totally working for me.

Wrote exactly 1,700 words today, putting me at a grand total of 26,034.

NaNoWriMo Day Thirteen

It was a good thing I got a little ahead on my word count over the last couple of days, because last night I was so tired.  I don't think I would have made my wound count if I hadn't gotten so many words written earlier in the day.

Let me just go on record and complain about the time change.  One, I think the whole time change thing is silly.  I'm not sure it's necessary anymore.  And frankly, the disruption of sleep patterns is annoying, if not downright harmful. Lots of people talk about gaining an hour of sleep when we "fall back" as we recently did.  But no one ever mentions losing an hour in the evening.  It's all so short-sighted, this artificial adjusting of the clocks as if we could control time.

So, I guess it finally caught up with me, because I was just so tired last night, I could barely stay awake.  And this was somewhere around 8:30.  Normally, I'm up until 10 every night, if not later.

I did sleep in today.  And I didn't get started writing until about 11 a.m.  This is the same time as the write-in I attended last weekend, which I can't make it to today.  So far, I've written 1,039 words, so I'm well on my way towards today's word count goal.  I've now crossed the 23K mark, and on my way to reaching 24K today.

I'm off now to have a little lunch, and then back to writing.  I hope to have a total of three writing sessions today. I've finished my morning one, then one this afternoon, and the last in the early evening.

It's now about 3 p.m. and I have made my word count goal for the day.  I've written 1,733 words for a total of 24,334.  I'm 48.7% done.  If I do write some more today, I'll likely cross the 25K mark and be halfway there.

We'll see how I feel after taking the boys to swim class and then out to dinner.

After dinner, we came home and watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.  I was tired again after that, starting to nod off on the couch.  After I put the boys to bed I watched a little of the Monty Python documentary I've been streaming from NetFlix, and then went to sleep.  I didn't write anything in the evening as I'd thought of earlier in the day.

NaNoWriMo Day Twelve

After I updated yesterday's word count on the website, I kept writing.  I wrote another 488 words last night before I called it quits for the day.  I didn't go back to the website to update my wordcount again, so I'm just adding those words to today's word count.

I did write this morning again.  I woke up early, about forty-five minutes before my alarm was set to go off, so I decided to just go ahead and write before getting up and showering.  I wrote another 424 words. I already have over 900 words to add to today's word count.

I brought my Neo with me to work today, not because I was planning on writing at work, but because I knew I was going to go out to dinner with my son.  I figured he'd play on his Nintendo DS and I'd write while we were waiting for our food order.

I started a new chapter, because I had been writing on my laptop this morning, and I didn't have it synced with my Neo, so I wasn't sure where I left off.  I figured I would go back to that chapter on my laptop anyway if it needed some more work.

By the time I got home, I still hadn't reached my word count goal for the day, so I booted up my laptop, started my writing playlist on iTunes, and kept writing on my Neo.  Soon enough, I had enough words for today, writing another 814.

I wrote a total of 1,727 words for today.  I'm now at a grand total of 22,601, having crossed both 21 and 22K today.  It's the twelfth day and I'm 45% of the way there!

NaNoWriMo Day Eleven

Today being Veteran's Day and a day off work, I thought I would get a lot of writing done.  Yeah, well... it was a day off.

I did write this morning, getting another six hundred or so words done, putting my total up to 19,841.  I got to sleep in a little bit, make a full pot of coffee, and write.  The boys entertained themselves watching one of their Nick shows on streaming NetFlix.  Danny Phantom, season three, if you must know.

My older son was feeling better today - no more fever.  And since it was such a warm, sunny, beautiful day, we headed out to my younger son's elementary school, where they boys had fun on the play structures there.

I brought my Neo and wrote while they played.  We were debating on the walk back home where we'd have lunch.  We ended up walking down the street to a neighborhood pizzeria and had lunch there.  While we were waiting for our pizzas, I wrote some more.

When we got home, the three of us watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  Then I decided to see where my word count for the day was.  Lo and behold, I had easily met it, so I called it a day.  I finished the day at 20,874 words, with a total of 1,671 for today.  I'm two-fifths of the way there!

NaNoWriMo Day Ten

I wrote a lot this morning, for me: 774 words.  That's almost half my daily word count goal.  I usually only manage somewhere in the 400 to 500 range, which is somewhere in the one-fourth to one-third range.

It probably helped that the boys slept in more today than they usually do.  It was quiet, which is good for my writing.  That, and I had a scene in mind that I was looking forward to writing.  It's never as good on the page as it is in my head, but it was good to get this one down.  The action of my novel is now starting to take off.

On Sunday, one of the interns at the Office of Letters and Light, those wonderful people who put on NaNoWriMo every year, posted a blog entry about the Young Adult Novel Discovery Competition.  I was intrigued by this when I saw it.  One, I'm writing a young adult novel this year, and, two, the picture they used was the cover of a book I just read, Writing Great Books for Young Adults by Regina L. Brooks.  I decided to enter the contest, so last night I sent them my title, Asylum, the first 250 words of my novel, and my $15 entry fee.  I'm not expecting much, but if I'm ever going to get a novel published, I have to send my writing out to the publishing industry.  This seemed like a good way to start.

Wrote some more tonight, reaching 19,203!  At day ten, the word goal is 16,667 words, so I'm ahead of schedule, thanks to that lead I got the first day.  In terms of percentage, I should be at 33%, but I'm at 38%.  It's a nice feeling, being a little bit ahead of schedule.

This is how I won last year, writing every day, writing those 1,667 words, at least, just about every day.  I think I had two days last year when I only wrote about 900 to 1,000 words.  This year I'm averaging over 1,900 words a day.

I've got plenty yet to write.  No worries on the plot front.  I'm not going to jinx myself by saying "smooth sailing" or anything like that, but I am on track for winning again this year.  And I think I have a good chance of actually finishing my novel the first time through.  I have a much better sense of what I'm writing this year.  I know, roughly, how it's going to end, and I think that's making all the difference.

NaNoWriMo Day Nine

I made sure to write this morning.  I had such a hard time reaching my word count last night, that I didn't want to repeat that.  I wrote 274 words this morning before work.  I would have written more, but I had laundry to fold, and a bag lunch to make for my son's field trip.

A bag lunch he left in the car, by the way.  Luckily, I had also made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for myself, which I gave to him.  Someone in his class gave him an apple, and he got a box of cereal from the cafeteria.  (I ate his pb&j as a snack when we got home.)

He also got sick on the field trip.  Apparently, he wasn't feeling well this morning, but hid this from me because he wanted to go on the field trip.  He threw up after the bus ride, so wouldn't have been able to eat the lunch I had made for him anyway.

He was a real trooper, though.  He stuck it out with me during kickball tryouts for an hour after school.  Then we came home.

I wrote another 293 words before we went to pick up my younger son at his after-school program.

After dinner, I wrote some more, finishing a total of 1,680 words today, for a grand total of 17,528.  I am now 35% done, over a third of the way there.

If I keep going at this rate, I'll finish 50K, the goal of NaNoWriMo, somewhere around the 27th.

NaNoWriMo Day Eight

Didn't write this morning again.  Bad habit that I have to break.  Getting done some 400 to 500 words in the morning really helps.  Then another writing session to reach my word count for the day doesn't seem so bad.  But trying to do it all after a day of work, that's hard.

I wrote 1,686 words today, but they weren't easy words.

It's just after 10 p.m. and I'm stopping for the day.  I'm up to 15,848.

NaNoWriMo Day Seven

Another good day.  I am averaging over 2,000 words a day.  I didn't think I'd cross the 14K mark today, but I did, ending the day at 14,162 total words.

Also saw my wife off at the airport for her trip to France, and then took my boys to see Megamind.

NaNoWriMo Day Six

Went to my second write-in of this year.  Had a very nice time writing at Carrot's Coffee and Tea in San Bruno, my hometown.  Wrote some 1400 words there in about an hour and a half.

There were just four of us there, nice and quiet.  We talked a bit at the end.  That's what I like about write-ins.  We sit, drink our beverage of choice, whether coffee, tea, or a smoothie.  Then we talk for a bit about writing as we unwind and say our goodbyes.

The owner is very nice and makes a delightful soy latte.  Strong coffee, soy milk that is not too sweet, and she didn't overdo it on the hazelnut syrup either.  One of the best lattes I've had in a long time; and she doesn't charge extra for soy milk.

Came home and started working on my November playlist.  I make a new playlist for my iPod every month, mostly for driving to and from work.  I'm a few days behind schedule.  Pulled out some more new wave music compilations form the 80s, some R.E.M., who I haven't listened to in a while, and (don't say anything) some Christmas music.

Took the boys to swim class, had dinner at Red Robin, watched Toy Story 3, and put boys to bed.  Watched another episode of Dexter with my better half, then put her to bed.  Wrote another
five hundred words or so, and then called it a night.

Updated my word count at NaNoWriMo, then came here to blog about the day.  Wrote 1,942 words today.  My grand total so far is exactly 12,250.  All in all, a good day all the way around.

NaNoWriMo Day Five

I didn't write this morning before I went to work.  Just wasn't feeling it this morning.  My allergies have been bad again the last couple of days.  I think I have another mild sinus infection.  And I just didn't have any energy for writing this morning.

But I made myself crank out the words today.  I only got out 1,676, just barely going over the 1,667 minimum.  And the words didn't come easily today.  I was tired after work and my brain was just not cooperating, but I stuck it out and wrote what I think is going to be the better part of a chapter.

It was worth it, though, because for five days in a row I've written at least the minimum.  And today I crossed the 10K mark - 10,311 to be exact.  That felt really good.  It looked great on the website, seeing those five digits.  I'm 20% of the way there, on target for finishing on or around the 25th.

NaNoWriMo Day Four

I only wrote 393 words this morning.  I overslept.

Normally, I use an alarm on my cell phone to wake me up in the mornings.  I usually hit the snooze button the three times I have it set for.  But yesterday, I hit the Stop button instead after the first time the alarm went off, forgetting that it turns the alarm off completely.

So, this morning I overslept.  I rushed though my shower, had a cup of instant coffee, and went to the sunroom to write.  I didn't have much time this morning, so the not-so-great wordcount.

However, I did go to my first write-in this evening.  Our region has a regular Thursday night write-in at the Peet's Coffee in San Mateo.  I never tried write-ins last year, nor did I go to any of the meet-and-greets.  But this year, not only did I go to the first meet-and-greet last Thursday, I decided I would also try some write-ins.

So I loaded some information on my Neo from my laptop, some plot points and character information I thought I might need.  I charged up my iPod and made sure I had added my writing playlist; I had.  I even packed a notebook in case I decided to write longhand.

I bought a pumpkin spice latte with soy milk and a ginger spice vegan cookie.  I was so glad to see that they had at least one kind of vegan cookie.  Then I joined my fellow wrimos and wrote.

It turns out I did pretty well on my first write-in.  I wrote 1,603 words at Peet's.  They were playing some nice classical music, so I never got out my iPod.  The coffee tasted good on my sore throat; stupid allergies.  After I had gotten quite a few words done, I rewarded myself with most of my cookie, followed by sips of my latte.  After another long spell of writing, I finished off my cookie, then kept writing, coming to a good stopping place for the evening.

I'm looking forward to next Thursday's write-in.  It was fun writing together in a group like that.

I ended the day with 1,998 words written, putting me at a total of 8,635.

NaNoWriMo Day Three

Wrote 569 words this morning.  So far, the way I wrote last year is working for me again this year.  The last two mornings, I've written about 500 words in about 30 minutes, which is about all the time I have in the morning before I have to start getting ready for work.  Then, I just have to manage about another thousand words or so later in the day to meet my daily word goal.

It's nice having that big head start I got on the first, but I want to maintain about 1700 words a day so that I stay on schedule.  I remember last year, having a couple of 900 or 1000 word days, but I'm going to try to avoid that this year, if at all possible.

Wrote some more this afternoon on my Neo while waiting at the dentist's office with my two boys, and then came home and finished with a total of 1,670 words for the day, putting me up to a total of 6,637.

NaNoWriMo Day Two

Wrote 451 words this morning before going in to work, which puts my total word count at 3,687.

It's now 8:30 p.m. and I have met my word count for today: 1,734 words, for a grand total of 4,967.  I'm just shy of 10% done.  I suppose I should just hammer out another 33 words for an even 5K, but I'm at a good stopping place.  I just finished a scene, and I know exactly what I'm going to write next.

NaNoWriMo Day One

It's November first - the official start of NaNoWriMo.  I was going to try to stay up late last night and start writing early this morning, but I didn't make it.  I'm just too old to be staying up past midnight.

I did sleep in a little this morning, but got started writing before walking my younger son to school this morning.  By 9:30 a.m., I had written 1,302 words.  It shouldn't take me too much longer, about fifteen minutes or so, to reach today's goal.  But, I plan on getting in at least two day's worth of words today, since I have the whole day off.

It's a furlough day in my district today, the first of this school year.  It's not a paid day off, either.  It's furlough, as in: Unpaid time off given to government employees for the purpose of reducing the budget. I'm not sure "given" is the right verb to use there.

By 12:30 p.m., I was up to 2,012 words.

We seem to have crashed the NaNoWriMo website.  I've been unable to get on since my last update here at 12:30; it's now 3:00.  I wanted to update my word count, but I don't know if that's going to happen or not.  I checked their Twitter feed; they're trying to get it back up and running, but it appears, yet again, that a record number of people have joined in to write 50,000 words this month.  Nothing succeeds like excess - or something like that.

So, I had to go look it up.  It's from an Oscar Wilde quote, which is appropriate for NaNoWriMo in general, and today in particular.

"Moderation is a fatal thing.  Nothing succeeds like excess." - Oscar Wilde

Dan got the website up and running again, so I updated my word count.  At 4:30 p.m., I was up to 2,810 words.

Around 9:30 p.m., I called it a day at 3,233 words.  The website is still sluggish, so all I'm doing is updating my word count.  I wanted to log some shoutouts on the forums, but I can't sit around waiting for pages to load.

A good first day of NaNoWriMo.  Congratulations to the NaNo team, especially Dan, and wishes of luck to the thousands of wrimos out there.

I've completed my first two chapters, and have a chunk of chapter three written.  I spent a lot of time thinking about my main character, which made the first chapter really easy to write.  But chapters two and three were a little harder; I'm definitely winging it there, but having fun!