Guh this week has me beat...

Writing sucked today.

I had a busy schedule...morning meetings, class projects, a long class, etc

So I have one day left to Nano before I move onto NaNoFiMo in December.

The story is still going well--it's just that we're getting down to finals so I have less time. Also I've been waking myself up early in hopes of writing then, but it makes me too tired to write at night.

Sigh...

So I only wrote a mere 691 today. But Friday is my day--no other obligations.
I plan to write my heart out.

G'night

I'm exhausted...

I was going to write tonight, but I think I may just hit the sack early and write in the morning.

Why? Because I didn't really get to eat dinner at a reasonable time, so I am feeling semi ill. Plus I'm already past 50,000 words so I can relax a bit. Grr...

So I read this website of a person who is completely against Nanowrimo because it means a plethora of crappy novels by wannabe authors. I see what they sort of mean, but for some of the participants Nanowrimo is a catalyst. As it was for me.

I have always wanted to be a writer and wrote a lot of short stories when I was young. I even used to check out the Writer's Marketplace book and study all the publishers listed. When I got older, I had less time to write, but I was never short of ideas for novels. But I never wrote anything that was a full length novel--ever. I sort of thought it wasn't possible for me as I tend to not always finish things.

But Nanowrimo has rekindled my love of creating characters. Although I first thought of this story as just fluff for this challenge, I've become engrossed in it--to the point that I want to write more--a sequel even!

My one goal for the rest of this year and the next is to finish my novel. Edit and beta test it [friends you'll be doing some reading for me] and maybe...just maybe try to get it published. I may also start writing short stories again to submit to magazines.

Lordy lordy...I have a new hobby [sort of]. So that makes what...5? Writing, photography, costume design, comics and cooking.

Well at least I'll be busy. Maybe I can write 6,000 words tomorrow. We'll see.

I'm getting so close I can taste it!

So all my nerves aside...I have kept myself writing. I'm at 57,420. It might be crap now but I can always edit!

That's right...nothing is set in stone. Not names. Not places. Not scenes.
So write your heart out to get it done so that it's done. Otherwise it will never be written.

Ne who...

I got past one of my big fight scenes. It was weird--like choreographing dancing. I had to really think it out to describe it, especially since a lot of it is hand to hand and not with weapons or anything. I will probably have to go back and fix it after watching lots of wrestling and films that feature combat and such.

Revealed some new shite--hoorah! Poor Devii's now confused since she found out she's more similar to Silas than she thought. Turns out she's part ellementti--an ancient race of shape shifting elementals. Thanks great-grandma! Not sure how that will go yet plot wise.

So I'm around the end of #10 and about to move onto #11.

Just cruising along baby!

Pathetic...just pathetic

So I only wrote 1,000 words today, but I was super busy.

Inner critic: Yeah right. You reached 50,000 and then you got lazy. You're not going to finish your book by the end of November. But hey...it's not for everyone.

Me: Shut the hell up. I will finish it. And if I don't at least I won Nano finally!

Inner critic: You know the reason you're slacking is that you doubt your book is worth even finishing. You doubt your characters, your plot, etc. Some of my best work if I don't say so myself.

Me: GET OUT OF MY HEAD! If you're not going to help me then I'm kicking you to the curb.

Inner critic: You can't get rid of me. You'll need me in December when you start editing. I wouldn't get on my bad side.

Me: Sigh...you can stay. Just shut up until I finish. Then I'll let you do whatever you want.


So there you have it. I'm doubting myself. I'm busy with school again and I have so much left to write. But I did manage to finish a scene [#9] and hope to do a bit more writing tomorrow.

G'night.

I am a winner...okay now go back to writing.

So this morning I hit the big 50,000. Hooray!

I celebrated briefly and quickly returned to writing. I might have had met the Nanowrimo goal, but I still have a lot of story to write before I'm finished. And I want it done before the Nov. 30th, but I won't be angry if I don't.

I reached 53,000 tonight, so that makes 6,000 total for the day. Go me.

I finally decided to give my characters a break: they got a little swim to clean up after fighting zombies. I mean if I was covered with gore I'd want a bath too.

They also picked up a new friend. She's a little blind girl named Ila. Her twin brother, who they are going to find is name Eli. Hehe...yes I'm a clever one when it came to naming. Ila is nearly Eli backwards...but Ile doesn't sound as nice for a girl.

These two kids have some nifty powers. Eli can produce forcefields and Ila can see through the eyes of others.

Progress check: I just finished with #8 and now I'm working on #9.


Time for bed.

Try and try again.

Today I tried for the big 50,000. I tried my best but only managed to write about 5,000 words. It was a lot of work, but it's going pretty well.

I would have reached 50,000 if I had written 45,000 the day before. Oh well.

So tomorrow I will go for 50,000 again--maybe even 52,000.

Where am I in the story? About #6 if you check one of my previous posts. They're currently being attacked by zombie as two kids try to steal the stone. Othena is watching them from afar, planning to swoop in after the zombies have killed the bounty hunters.

Woot.

I think I would be able to write much faster if I had planned out every scene down to the description. Despite all my efforts, descriptions just keep stumping me. Just need to plan out each scene as I go along and hope for the best. I can always just go back and edit. [But that's the plan for next year.]

I'm nearly a winner, but still so much to write after that.

So tired.

Rock on!!!

So I didn't reach 45,000...I got 42,000.

But it's looking good so far. I fell behind because I had homework for one of my classes and it took up a bunch of my time [URG...so pissed about during the break homework].

Any who...except for a quick trip to Goodwill, I should be able to spend all day writing. So a goal like 50,000 might be within my reach.

Hooray!

Where are my characters now?
Devii has reunited with Cael in the forest and Silas isn't too happy about it because Cael seems to have a grudge against his kind.

Do I smell love triangle? Hrmmm?

Othena and Zavier are resting peacefully a few miles away. They'll soon find out Cael is missing when they wake up. Huzzah!

G'night folks.

Turkey day means write your heart out.

So my goal for today was 40,000 which I didn't make but I came super close at 39,283.

Cooking took away a bit of my time and I got stumped for a while with some descriptions. I need to learn to just keep writing and not get blocked like that, but hey I try. [Maybe next year when I do massive pre-planning and don't change my plot last minute all those little things will come to me easier.]

Woot!

Thanskgiving was nice and delicious--but a lot of cooking I get all tomorrow to myself for writing but I need to turn in a bit of homework first.

So tomorrow's goal is 45,000 or more. We'll see how that goes.

Good night folks.

Thank goodness I'm already ahead.

So with all the Thanksgiving hooplah and what not I wrote a total of 500 words.

Yep. That's a far cry from the 5,000 I was aiming to write. I will start writing tomorrow morning when I'm less tired.

So I seriously need to make headway Thursday, Friday and Saturday--no more bare minimum. I want to write as much as I can.

The plot as I see it will continue like this:

1. Devii learns more about Silas and why he was being held captive.
2. Cael leave the group to find Devii
3. Devii encounters a strange being and is nearly killed by it. Silas saves her. Cael
arrives.
4. Othena and others discover Cael is missing.
5. Cael, Devii and Silas are captured when they get close to their destination.
6. They meet their captors who were sent by Kole to retrieve this stone. They proceed
to try and take the stone, but it triggers a fail safe which attacks them. Devii
et al escape and try to get the stone, but it was taken by someone. Othena shows
up and they hide.
7. Othena stops the fail safe and talks about Kole as they watch--they run off.
8. Devii asks Silas to explain what is going on. He explains the stone and that they
must get it to Kole. Cael is skeptical.
9. A child and man had taken the stone, but they are cornered by others like Silas
who sensed the stone. They capture them.
10.The group shows up to rescue the child with the stone and exit forest to deliver.
11.Somehow they get split up and someone is taken.
12.Hostage situation. Othena offers someone in exchange for stone-will kill them if
deal not taken. Group manages to save hostage and keep stone, but one of them is
killed anyway.
13.They take care of their dead or wounded and make their way to Kole.
14.Devii and Silas deliver stone to Kole. Othena arrives after it is given. She
reveals the truth. Silas betrayal/Kole's intent.
15.Silas explains to captured Devii. They form a plan.
16.They enact plan.
17.Conclusion

It's a lot to write but it seems like I'm about at the halfway point of my story.

I can do this!!

Just keep writing...just keep writing...

Missed a day of posting because I was tired--but I made quota yesterday.

I've been working hard. Writing the story scene by scene. I took a few hours this morning to plot out a large portion of the rest of the book...so I have an idea where it's going now.

I reached 35,000 words. And I realize that with T-day around the bend [which I'm spending along cooking for myself] that I can write at maximum abundance without the distractions of school.

So with that said...I'm going to not only attempt to reach 50,000 words by the 23rd, but to reach 80,000 by November 30th.

I'm doing this because I know my story will not be finished by 50,000 words. I figure an extra 30,000 will be enough to complete it.

So we'll see.

Alcohol, Benadryl and writing don't mix

So I discovered last night that it is very hard to write when intoxicated even a little--it makes you sleepy.

But now I'm having the same problem with Benadryl. Something bit me and made my left ear itchy and puffy. But whenever I take the allergy medicine it makes me sleepy, which has kept me from meeting quota.

I know what I need to write but I keep falling asleep. There isn't much I can do.

I'm just going to concede tonight and try to write as much as possible tomorrow.

G'night.

So much for the write-a-thon

I've hit a semi-block. I need to figure out some issues before it'll be fixed, but I have at least 1,000 words before I need to write that part anyway.

As for my write-a-thon it died for some noble reasons:
1. Class
2. Drinkin
3. Social drinkin [I went to a party instead of being a loner--woot!]

So I figure I'll just write my butt off tomorrow, tuesday and onward.

Hazah!

But I did reach quota at like 9pm. So I did good today.

P.S.
My antagonist Othena has finally been given powers--telekinesis. She can move objects with her mind and people too [sort of like involuntary levitation].

G'night.

Into the woods...

So now at 27,569 words and 62 pages. My MC has finally entered the forest.

And now I have a lot more planning to do. There are a lot of things I have not figured out yet...like:

-Othena's past: her involvement with the war, the magic council, the business she keeps going off to handle, and why she's been banished to Benim.
-what Othena is keeping in the forest and why Silas wants it [the lie he tells]
-how Othena gets Zavier to join her to search for Devi
-how they plan to enter the forest and find her [use dogs maybe?]
-what Devii and Silas encounter in the forest, while trying to get the object

& and the rest of the story.

Yep...a bunch of work to do. So tomorrow I plan to do a mini write-a-thon since I can't go to the real thing.

30,000 words here I come!

Damn you brain!

My brain and I are having an argument:

Me: I just wanna go to sleep. No writing tonight...please?

Brain: Hell no. You'll just fall behind.

Me: But I promise I'll write tomorrow morning--tons!

Brain: Right...I remember you saying that before. I don't believe you.

Me: ::grovelling:: Oh please great brain I'll do anything.

Brain: ::rubbing temples:: C'mon you have like 800 words to go for quota.

Me: I know...that's why I should get tonight off.

Brain: No deal. Jean is whomping our butt and I wanna get ahead.

Me: Fine. Just give me some good music and I'll do my best. But don't expect it to be good.

Brain: I never did.


Yeah...so I nearly gave up tonight, but my brain won't let me.

I need to write tomorrow morning so I get over quota and get a well deserved break. I needs that soooo much!

Nearly halfway there...

Huzzah!

I have not only reached 20,000 words, but I've reached nearly 25,000. I so owe myself a movie this weekend.

Despite my nightly complaints I've been meeting quota and have no intention of falling behind this year. The story is going well, but I'm not in the forest quite yet.

Two more scenes and the major adventure begins. I've been saying that for a while.
I am starting to think that 50,000 words might be too short for what I've got on my mind. So if I get ahead I can make sure I finish the story and Nano at the same time.

We'll see.

I gotta beat Jean

Jean is just over 24,000. I am lagging behind at 22,333.

Now I am currently on quota, but I just want to reach 25,000 before I have to. I figure if I can get ahead I will have the extra time to finish my novel. Since I figure it will probably be more than 50,000.

Well tomorrow's another day.


G'night.

So tired...don't wanna write...

Today was a light load. I wrote a bunch the day before so I only had about 900 to write to meet quota.

But I am tired. And it's the awkward calm before the storm scene. A tiny little moment that leads up to the big thing that starts the wild and crazy adventure--aka gets her into the forest.

But I just want to go to sleep.

We'll see how I do tonight. But if I give up tonight--I'll just force myself to write a bunch tomorrow.

Update: I reached 20,000. Hooray! This is a huge accomplishment for me. And I've reached the moment right before the big scene. After that the story is mostly unplotted.

Excitement!

The case with day writing...

After Friday's attempt I was more determined to meet quota before midnight. I just get sleepy and defeated when I start writing too late.

Saturday nearly failed as I had class that morning and fell asleep once I got home. Around 5pm I began writing--but didn't meet quota until after 1pm. But I did manage to make quota and then some.

Today I made sure I started writing at 2pm and even took a little trip to Borders to write without distractions. I made quota at 5pm.

Hooray!

Now if I can keep up with my daytime writing--that would be great.

So much for that plan...

I treated myself to Ihop today and spent a good hour or so in B&N and wrote about 700 or so words. I was totally on a role, but had to stop to meet up with a classmate for homework.

Begin the procrastination:
-Preparing and cooking dinner
-Preparing and cooking muffins
-WOW gaming [hey I pay for it]
-talking on the phone with BF

I literally am 109 words short of today's goal. Le suck.

I'll try day writing again tomorrow.
But I'm tired and class is at 10am in the morning.

So to bed with me.

Trucking along...

So tonight I wrote one of the scene I've been leading up to. Well one of the many.
Either way...it went well.

Hoorah!

Now it's just a matter of keeping the ideas going once I plunge into the unknown--i.e. the rest of the book once she's ends up in the forest.

Tomorrow I try something I haven't done before: writing during the day!
I've set aside a bunch of time Friday and Saturday to write to my heart's content, which is good because night writing is wearing me out. Plus Jean's kicking my ass and I want to do more than just reach quota each day.

:: yawn ::

Time for bed.

I gotta start writing in the morning...

...but I gots homework to do.

For the past two nights, I've been up til 5am writing my quota. It's finally caught up to me and I'm exhausted. Luckily I reached quota tonight at 2am.

Woot!

Things are now getting pretty darn exciting, which is the way I like it. The more excited I am about the more I'm able to write. Now I just need to keep this up.

As a little treat I plan to spend either Friday or Sunday morning at a bookstore writing. I figure getting out of the house and writing during the morning will mean more words written--since I won't be fighting sleep.

Well that's all for now.

G'night.

Woot! I made it!

10,131 words baby!

Last Nano I failed at 6k, mostly due to an overly controlling inner critic, lack of organization and a very vague but overly complicated plot.

I can't believe I made it. Yes it's 5am, but I did what I sought to do--catch back up and get the plot working for me again.

There was a tiny roadblock in there for a while. My muse suggested some crazy plot where my MC and her best friend were doing a magic show to earn money so she could runaway. And another idea where she is forced to use her magic to impersonate people or torture them by making bugs crawl on them or some other creepy illusion.

None of this had to do with my main goal for the first part of the book:
GET MC TO FIND MAN BEING HELD HOSTAGE BY HER TRUSTED TEACHER.

Of course the BF [my official novel reality checker] helped to set me straight. I dumped the plots and made the "secret thing they were doing last night" something that related directly to the overall plot. It took some minor rewording in earlier parts of the text, but I'm much happier with the way the story is going now.

Huzzah!

Now bed.

Into the wee hours

I figured out a lot of things last night. Just need to write them down.

I just finished writing 7,952 words around 400 short of my daily goal. Boo! But it's 5am in the morning and I want to get some sleep. So I will make those few words up tomorrow morning.

The story is coming along...some of it's drivel or boring. My main goal is simply developing the characters and moving the plot along. If I really like the story I will go back and edit it during December.

But to sum up the plot:

A young girl who is gifted with the ability to create sensory illusions [they affect people so that what they see, hear, smell, taste and feel seems real] is forced to live in a corrupt city that her magic teacher was exiled to. She longs for escape when her already strange life is uprooted when she finds a strange man being held captive by her teacher. Believing him innocent she frees him, only to find out he's more dangerous than he seemed. Afraid of the punishment she will receive from her teacher, she flees the city the only way she can, into a dark and treacherous rainforest. Lost and confused she finds herself at the mercy of the very man she released and must help him find something hidden within if she has any desire to leave the forest alive.

Yeah...there is a LOT going on.

Right now I'm still on the everyday life part.
Soon the captive stranger will show his face.
And then...the forest.


Yes. :: tents fingers evilly ::

Damn tricky homework!!!

So this Sunday [yesterday] I fell behind again. As in I wrote absolutely NOTHING!!!

I thought I was going to have the free time to do it, but I had a feeling that wasn't going to happen. I had a meeting with a partner about a project plus I wanted to finish some tricky homework before I did any writing.

I finished at 2am.

Then add the fact that I made dinner and it left be little to no free time.

But I looked over what I had written and realized some additions that need to be made.

So hopefully I'll be able to make up 3,069 words today.

Woo!

Back on Track

So on November 2nd I wrote up a contract for myself, which outlined daily quotas along with prizes and punishments, which included:

1 piece of candy for every 1,000 words written.
1 chapter of any book for every daily goal met.
2 hours of WOW for exceeding my daily goal by 1,500 words.
Missing daily goals means no TV, gaming or book reading and time must be spend book planning or doing homework.

As I figured I was able to use today to make up for lost time.
Current word count [drum roll]: 5,261.

I have given my inner critic the boot except for his occasional advice on name and word choices. I only go back to embellish or add, but not to erase. I think I finally understand my characters and what they want. Hooray.

One minor change though. I created this character Cael who was to become Devii's new friend in Port Ryetto where she lives now. He was originally a kitchen boy--as in young. But somehow he blossomed into a 21 year old hottie who's the apprentice to what we would call a magician.

And on top of all this, he's becoming a possible love interest. That was not my intention for him, but he's made up his mind. He's even threatening to come on her adventure--we'll see. He could be handy.

Here's a little excerpt about him:

She glanced over at Cael who had not budged from his position. In fact he had been watching her. When their eyes met, he quickly looked away and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his dark brown pants.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he said, but still didn’t meet her eyes. Instead he picked up a watermelon and studied its markings. She walked over and stood in front of him. He looked down at her. Cael was at least five inches taller than her. A smile budded across his boyish face and he removed the hat from his head. Nervously he clutched the brown patterned cap against his matching vest.
“I wanted to talk to you.” He finally said, his voice wavering uneasily. Devii looked at him nervously. She knew what he wanted to talk about.

I'm making progress...slowly

So today I sort of "restarted" and what little 281 words I had written has been replaced with a decent 1731. I would write more but I was thwarted again today by life.

a)Homework
b)Meeting with partners about homework
c)Being so damn tired from all the meetings/homework
d)Phone call from friend that lasted too long

So my plan to start writing at 6pm turned into a writing at 10pm. And I still have homework to do. I wrote a contract and based on it I should be punishing myself, but I did well on daily standards. I just need time to make up the 1,666 I didn't write on Thursday.

Saturday I just have one class until 1pm. So after that it's a major writing session.

Sigh.

So my story opening lines:

“What’s that?” a voice asked.
Devii Fahrit looked down, in the direction of the voice, to where a dark haired girl stood on the ground. From her perch in the sturdy branches of an owari tree she could see that she had her slender arm pointed towards something on the horizon. Devii shifted uncomfortably against the tree’s rough green branches to get a better look. Something black and shiny glided quickly and effortlessly across the sand, leaving clouds of dust in its wake.

It's coming along.

It began...and I fell behind.

My original plan was to have all my characters, places, world building stuff done before October 28th. That did not happen.

My other plan was to start writing at the stroke of midnight on October 31st/November 1st. That also didn't happen--I was tired, a little tipsy and developing characters.

So it's day two. I've only written 281 words I'm going to delete and replace with a better opening. But it's all good. The plan for today [as I have no class or extensive homework] is 3,400.

But before this I plan to do some more character work [on any character mentioned in those first 3,000 or so words]. I'll have all Friday night to write. I'm buying me a pizza and holing up in here until I get some writing done.

But now I need to write up a Nanowrimo contract offering myself certain things if I achieve my required goals.

Whatever I gotta do to finish.