I WON!

I've crossed the 50,000 word line with 50,466 words verified by the NaNoWriMo site but I will probably add a few more words over the next few days to make the novel feel more complete.

What a great feeling it is to accomplish something like this - especially since I was so far behind and had to find the motivation and energy to keep trying.

Thanks to all of you who encouraged me and cheered me on throughout the month. Congratulations to all you winners, good luck and skill to all who are still writing and biggest congratulations to everyone who even attempted to do this at all this month no matter how far you got.

It's in the trying that we really alive - success is just an afterthought.

49, 235

I can see the finish line and even my cramping wrists can't stop me now!

Shooting for the Top

48, 341 and writing. Have to make a 16 hour road trip to North Carolina tomorrow to find a new home for our Australian Black Swans (long story) and will have to work most of the day Monday preparing for Tuesday's classes and labs so I decided I need to get this done now!

Almost done!

I had an glorious 10K day today!

Okay, so it wasn't really so glorious. In fact, I can barely still type. But I'm now actually AHEAD of word count for the first time since Day 2 and I can coast to sweet, sweet victory over the next few days with the last 3K.

No doubt I'll do that tomorrow just to be safe!!

Time to rest my brain...

30-minute word sprints

I'm doing 30-minute word sprints using Write or Die! (I'll stop posting the results 'cause you probably already get the idea.)

I know this is crazy, but I think I might actually be able to crank off the whole 13,000 words that I need to finish today. Lisa is at work and I have no distractions except what I create. I'm leaving the TV off and will only stop to eat (leftover turkey!!) at 5K intervals.

Having a HUGE goal is sometimes the only way to accomplish great things...

Cruising!

Wow, that was seriously hard. I managed to crank off the last words in a very stream-of-consciousness kind of way just as the time was running out.



I'm now even more amazed at the people who write the whole 50k in 24 hours. I mean, to write like I just did for 30 minutes to get 1,200 words and then to keep going and doing that over and over and over again almost seems super human. True, it does get the mind going and the words really start to flow but there's very little time to think about what come next or plot or conflict or any of that other noveling stuff so I don't know if I would want to try to do it.

Oh, who am I kidding, I know for sure that I'd like to try to do it just for the sheer act of doing it to see if I could push myself that much - like marathoning or doing triathlons.

Maybe I'll try that during next year's NaNoWriMo... For now, I have to finish the 50,000 in 30 days!!

Turkey is in the oven!

Okay, so the bird is cooking and I'm getting ready for another round of Write or Die!

I'm doing 30 minute word sprints aiming for 1,000 words each time. I think I'll make the goal harder each time to really push myself. Since I did 1,134 last time I'll aim for 1,200 in 30 minutes. I'd better get a tall glass of water and stretch my fingers first. I'll check in later to let you know how it's going.

LOT's of people are in the same boat as me and winners are popping up daily so the big push is on...

Thanksgiving is a day for increasing word count

Well, I'm off today because the college is closed for Thanksgiving break (I think I'm happier about that than my students are).

For those of you in other countries - Thanksgiving is a traditional US holiday where families generally get together to have a huge meal. Usually we cook a big turkey (which we don't usually eat the rest of the year) and mashed potatoes and vegetables and lots of fruit pies for desert. The tradition comes from a story about the early settlers having a huge communal meal after the first big harvest to "give thanks" for their success after toiling so hard. Of course, this was right before half of them froze to death the following winter...

Anyway, it's a major state and federal holiday so practically everything is closed and since people tend to travel long distances fo be with their families the whole thing has evolved into a 5 day weekend starting Wednesday and ending Sunday.

Anyway, I'm free but Lisa has to work at the hospital tonight (sick people still need their care and medicines) so while she's working I'll be cooking our feast (we'll eat at about midnight tonight) and WRITING. I hope to surpass 40k and give myself a chance at finishing this thing over the weekend!

So, while all of the rest of you Americans are watching football this afternoon, I'll be clicking my computer keys and making words come out of my head. For THAT I'll be giving thanks!

Nasty!

Whoa - this thing is seriously NASTY. If you set the settings high enough, it actually starts ERASING words if you stop typing for more and a couple of seconds!! Talk about a great tool to keep you churning out the words...

Write or Die!

I'm trying out Write or Die! to help increase my word count. I'm pretty motivated so I'm way ahead of pace most of the time but when my mind starts to wander the applet let me know it!! It's kind of fun.

After-burner time

Okay. Did 3k in 2 and a half hours (with some distractions). I actually only have until 11PM because I have to make dinner when Lisa gets done working (I love to cook and she's happy to let me!). SO, it's time to ignite the literary afterburners!

Taking the "10,000 words in 5 hours challenge"

I may not finish all 10k before midnight tonight, but this is exactly the kind of goal I need to get me to a manageable word count for the rest of the month...

And here we go!

25,014 and counting

Going to take a break to watch "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and will continue later.

The Night of Writing Dangerously!

We're having a blast in a chat room version of the NoWD. I'm hoping to crank out enough words to end the night with 30k.

We're doing 10 - 15 minute word wars. My spelling SUCKS (as you can see from all the red underlined text in Scrivener) and my writing is even worse. But my word count has been going up :)

Here's a screen shot:

20K milestone

Okay, so the more I write the more I want to write. Once I get going I remember how much I love this and want to do it ALL THE TIME. This is going to be a busy weekend but I'm definitely going to carve out some writing time!

100,000 of something...

Well, at least I passed the 100,000 character milestone tonight. It's interesting that it occurred at about 18,000 words meaning that my average word size is about 4.5 characters per word (plus one space between each word and occasional punctuation marks).

It seems that I'm appropriately writing for quantity over quality!

A great day at the beach

Today was a GREAT beach day - sunny and 77 degrees (25 degrees for those of you outside the U.S.) with a light breeze. The water has gotten rather cold so I only went for a dip a few times (I was the only person in the water). I think the Gulf Stream is way offshore and there's a major counter-current bringing cold water down the coast to North Florida right now. I'll have to start bringing my wetsuit if I want to do any more surfing this year.

Oh- and we did get to see (unexpectedly) the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis from where we were. That was VERY cool!!

Anyway, as soon as I opened my notebook my mind absolutely unloaded plot ideas. My hands could hardly keep up and I had a hard time later deciphering my handwriting (which is terrible anyway) but I managed to get most of it on paper. I have lots of scenes to write now and even know how the book is going to end! (Or at least how I think it's going to end...)

I had to do a bunch more prep than anticipated for classes tomorrow (my students come first) so I didn't get much writing done tonight but I'm including another screenshot of Scrivener below for you to see what my virtual work environment looks like.

I'm going to go to sleep and see what my characters do in my dreams!

16,018

Well, I managed a little over 10k in 48 hours. Granted I could have done a lot more if I really tried (some people manage the entire 50k in 24 hours), I'm satisfied with the amount of catching up I managed and I feel like I'm back "on track" for the challenge.

Tomorrow is a beach day; it's going to be sunny and warm so I'll be soaking up the sun and swimming and relaxing and reading and preparing for lecture on Tuesday. Now that I've done as much writing as I have I'll also be able to do some quality planning and be ready to write more specific scenes when I have a free hour or so.

Happy trails!

Taking a break for dinner

14,524. I was trying to reach 15k before taking a break but Lisa just got home and I'm going to make dinner. More later.

12,066

The sun has invaded my writing space and even Smudge thinks it's too hot to stay there. We're relocating to a cooler venue. For those of you in cold climates right now - you have my condolences!

11,317

Didn't get to write more last night - responsibilities got in the way - but I'm off and running now.

If I make 20k by the end of the day I'l be thrilled and will be able to catch the train later this week.

Broke 10k and still going

I've finally hit my stride. This is the way it's supposed to feel!

I hope to hit 12k before midnight and then have a marathon writing day tomorrow.

Cruisin'...

The weekend of catching up

Okay, so I'm behind in my word count. Way behind. That's okay.

I wrote 1,500 words last night and another 2,000 already today (in about an hour and a half of work). I have the rest of tonight and all day tomorrow to get as close to 25K as I can (I'm at 8K now). The best part is that my class lode is lighter than usual this week (I'm giving two exams, doing two fun labs and giving only one lecture on a topic that I know really well) so I will actually have time to write on a few of the weekdays.

This story is still trying to come out and I have to get out of its way.

5526 and still going...

There's still time and I still have a story to tell.

Not giving in; not giving up

Okay, so I'm going to do this thing. I had some great insights into the story today so I know I can get the word count back up to where it needs to be once I get back to writing. BUT, I didn't give in to the temptation to write when I was supposed to be working on other things. I had to prepare to lecture on 45 pages on the dense biochemistry of nutrition and metabolism on this week. And as a bonus, the dean is sitting in on that class for my teaching evaluation. No pressure there...

So, I put first things first but did record my idea so that I can crank out the text tomorrow.

14K by Monday night? Maybe not, but I'll try!

Doubt?

As another VERY busy day comes to a close with with no words written, I'm beginning to wonder if this is really going to be possible...

Life and its little curve balls

Okay, so I thought I'd have time to crank out a 1,000 words or so this morning but work and life sidetracked that idea. I'm posting this simply to let all of you who are in this game (and those spectators watching from the sidelines) know that no matter how busy life gets I'm still here and will write during whatever windows I get!

Happy to have 4180

Today was way busier than expected. I finally got home at 10PM and after finishing some work that I had to do here, I managed to write a few hundred words just to keep my head in the game and let my characters know that I'm still paying attention to them. 4,180 words is a little behind the curve but I'll make it up tomorrow morning. (Really. REALLY!)

Day 2

3829 words written so far - not where I'd hoped to be today but still ahead of the curve so I'm happy. I think that I've actually already surpassed last year's total in two days. How pathetic is that?

Today was slow due to a long day at my second job and a lot of prep time (still more to do) for teaching this week. Tomorrow I'm hoping I can used a lot of the time between classes to write. I have to set up a lab practical for students in my 6 PM class so as long as that goes quickly I should have a couple of hours to crank out the text.

I just realized that I haven't posted any image yet! So, here's a quick screenshot of Scrivener and what I was working on today.



Happy writing!

And We're Off!

Yep - started writing today. No outline, practically no characters - just a vague story in my head and the will to write 50,000 words this month. It's exhilarating!!

So here's the opening line:

Doug Morris was enjoying a relaxing Sunday evening at work, which is why he would be dead in exactly 18 minutes.

My fingers are flying as I'm approaching 2K words. I had WAY more work to do prepping for classes than I thought and I spent more than half the day finishing that before I started writing. I decided that 1) the schoolwork should be my priority since it's my job and I want to do it well and 2) that I'd be less distracted writing if I finished the school work first. I'm glad I did, but because of that I won't make the 6K words that I wanted to tonight. Well, at least I'll have something on the board for the first day and I can dream about the story tonight!