November 2005 Archives

Well, I crossed the 50K finish line, but I still need to finish the last story in the Di/Mart story arc. It should be wrapped up in no more than 5,000 words or so.

Thank you very much, Ruth and Susi, for your kind words, but please trust me, the later stories are pretty ghastly. I know they are going to need to be retooled. As I was writing them, I knew they were going to need very heavy editing at the very least. But I was trying to get the backbone down and get to 50K words, so I didn't worry about it too much. But the first story, with the three girls first heading off to college ("Closing Time") actually shouldn't need too much work, comparatively, so I am feeling a lot better about that one.

And borrowing the work laptop SAVED MY LIFE! Well, it saved my novel's life anyway. I'm not sure I could have been so disciplined if I had had to sit in front of my computer upstairs while Matt was downstairs, or sat on my parents' computer while everyone was downstairs, and I certainly would not have gotten the 4,000 or so words that I did while I was traveling.

I definitely want a laptop before next year's NaNo! *g*

Well, the end is in sight. Thank goodness, because I really believe I just wrote a pile of crap and I don't see how I can possibly actually post this. Maybe with a LOT of work.

But I did finish "Mr. Brightside" today and started on "Right To Be Wrong," so that story arc is almost finished.

That's how I am feeling about NaNo right now. Ugh. I am on track to be completed on time - except that means I am really behind, because I never really get any writing in when I go back to Michigan for Thanksgiving, so I can't count on getting in the 1,667 words a day there that I need. And my parents' computer had a virus last year and I lost all the words I had written in Michigan. The computer has NOT been fixed (long story *sigh*), so I don't want to use their computer. Because I do care this year if I lose all of those words!

One good thing is that I just finished up "Closer to Free" and started "What's Up?" That, at least, feels like a small accomplishment.

That is the number of words I wrote yesterday - a 2005 NaNo record. The most I'd written in any one day so far was 2,827. Actually, if you count all of the words I wrote for my meeting summary, it was quite the banner day. I just had to be a geek and go check out what I wrote for the summary yesterday - 2,624. So, my actual word count for the day was 6,986.

Have I mentioned how much I wish I could add my work words to my NaNo word count?

...can't I use the 12,081 words I've written for work since November 1 in my NaNo word count? *BAG*

Didn't write yesterday. Well, I guess I shold amend that to "didn't NaNo yesterday." I did, however, work about 6 hours on the summary I am doing at work. Brought the laptop home and got a lot done. We've got a lot of writing and editing tasks right now, and when I am writing I can't be reviewing the scientific reports that one other colleague and I are in charge of reviewing. And she's writing a summary, too, so NO ONE is reviewing right now. A Bad Thing. Especially since EPA just put out a call for these reports. We generally get in one or two a day. Last Thursday we got in 17. We're in a bit of trouble. Especially since I have three conference calls and another meeting (in Cincinnati - YUK!) coming up in less than a month and there is the Thanksgiving holiday and the vacation days I am taking to go to Chicago.

So, I took it home. And I was really "in the zone" as far as the summary went, so I didn't switch over to NaNo like I had planned on. But I just knew that I wouldn't be in the NaNo zone, so I belted out as much of the summary as I could. It's almost done.

Of course, now I am REALLY behind on NaNo, because I stopped on Saturday about 1000 words shy of where I should have been. Oy!

Plot twists: Lack of desire to write Brooke's family + CWP sickness = new plot line of OCD sister (Susan's brother).

I just realized that the MS Word Count knows that things with an em dash and no space should be separate words!!!!

I LOVE the em dash and it is so nice to know that doing--studying--but is three words and not one! As it doesn't understand the hyphen, this is Very Good News!

"Closing Time" is done!!!! RELIEF!!!!

I swear! She goes two thirds of her portion of the Closing Time story arc about the three girls, and suddenly she's all over him in the final "vignette" for lack of a better word.

Spoilers in extended entry.

I skipped the gym to write. I was not where I wanted to be when it was time to pack up and go to the gym, so I am still sitting here at work writing. I just got to where I need to be today to finish on November 30.

I skipped the gym to write yesterday and didn't write, and tonight I skipped an actual gym class that I really enjoy to write. I am feeling really guilty now, too. But if I hadn't, I would have been waaaaaaaaaaaaay behind on my word count and I would have felt guilty about that too.

And it doesn't help that I was traveling last week and didn't get to go to my class then either.

Chris Baty is right. Week Two sucks.

Honey and Di, not so much. I was able to complete Trixie's portion of the "closing Time" story easily and quickly. Honey and Di's parts are not moving along so easily. Although, Brooke Callahan finally made her appearance. And she's Canadian, too! I was leaning toward Canadian and didn't say a word of that to Matt. I asked him where Brooke should be from. He said Thunder Bay, Ontario. I was leaning toward Toronto, but Thunder Bay worked.

I just hope Di and Honey's parts get easier!

So, I am afraid I just jinxed myself.

Two years ago on November 1, I had weekend guests and life was so chaotic that I decided not to do NaNo. Then, on November 2, the guests left, Matt was out of town, and this woman named Darci popped into my head and would NOT shut up, so I wrote. But I still had 0 words on November 1, but I won anyway.

Last year, I was getting ready to go out of town (Chicago), wrote around 800 words on November 1 and hated every last one. I didn't end up using them in my novel, so, esentially, my net total words on November 1 was 0. But I won, anyway.

Today, I wrote 2,441 words (on a laptop in a hotel in Chicago; traveling to Chicago at the beginning of NaNo seems to be a tradition!), which not only puts me ahead of the curve to finish by November 30 (which means 1,667 words a day) but also puts me ahead of the curve to finish by November 22 (my personal goal so that I am done before we leave for Michigan for Thanksgiving; this means 2,273 words a day). I've never been ahead of the curve on Day 1. I am afraid that means I am going to fail this year!

I am writing Trixie fanfic. Spoilers and such in the extended entry.