Day 22

Less than a week to go in NaNo and I'm chugging right along. I sit happily at 39755 total word count. That's a little shy of where I was hoping to be today (wanted to break 44k) but I am still above pace. Considering I'm going to fall behind this weekend any extra is good. Thanksgiving is this week and I'm traveling with a 12 hour drive tomorrow. By the time I get there not sure I'll feel like writing but I shall try! Then of course actual Thanksgiving which is always a zoo. A few days with my best friend and then drive back the 12 hours to home on the 27th (which doubles as my bday). I'd love to hit my 50k by the time I get home, but I doubt it.

On a non-NaNo note, well maybe slightly NaNo related as it does impact my ability to work on NaNo, I am so depressed recently. Been a long time since I was this low.          oops sorry fell asleep before i hit send.. night ;)      

Day 16 - 20

It has been much longer than I intended to go between updates. I was very sick last week. Finally on the 17th dragged myself to the doctor and I have/had Strep throat which caused bronchitis, laryngitis, and pharyngitis. Instead of updating here, I spent my non-napping times writing in my story just trying to stay on pace.

I started feeling better yesterday, woohoo for antibiotics! The bacteria is dying off in my respiratory system and I feel more like a human! Yesterday I managed a monster day of writing, almost 3000 words bringing the total, for the first time this year, above pace by an entire day! I ended last night at 33333, which is today’s word count to be right on pace.

Today I did it again, 3k word day and I sit comfortably at 36342 words total. The story has flared to life and been hijacked by one of the characters. I created him as a filler character and now he has turned into the main love interest. As I wanted to have a non-happy ending, this has annoyed me. I love him.. he became such a wonderful character and now I know I need to hurt him. I do not want to! I want to let them live happily ever after. But that is not the direction the story is going to go, he will have to be hurt. The extent to which remains to be seen.

Day 14/15

At the halfway point, in both time and words! Thankfully I broke 25k tonight, barely (25022). I continue to be very sick, I have lost my voice and my cough has progressed from a Canadian goose honking to a church mouse squeaking.

Trying to squeeze in time to write while being sick is much harder than I thought it would be, the lack of energy from this disease is staggering. I lectured this morning which put a lot of strain on my inflamed vocal cords, not to mention the cough keeping me up all night and I was exhausted this afternoon. I managed to get 1800+ words done this evening though. I hit the flashback portion of the story, where the first secret is revealed, so I was excited to write!

After consulting with my writing muse/friend, I have decided which direction to go from this point forward as well. Going to have her become the hunter, nice strong character development, versus her being the pray/victim. Should be exciting! Hopefully it will come together.

Halfway bonus Story excerpt below!
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Tori dashed through the woods, her hair flowing freely behind her as she ran. Yiva had  gone into town. While she had encouraged Tori to come, Tori had politely refused. As usual, Tori had reminded Yiva she was almost two decades plus five, no longer to be a child shortly. It seemed this fight was occurring more and more frequently.

The sound of roaring water began to fill the air as she navigated skillfully through the trees. Around the next bend, she could see the grotto ahead. A rocky cove funneled the water down a cascading falls into the rock pool below. The waterfall was small, only standing twice as tall as Tori. The water trickled out of the rock pool into a stream which would eventually wind its way to the far side of the meadow. The seasons were beginning to change, as evident by the brown, dying flowers surrounding the pool. The dark blue rocks were dotted by pale pink algae which had a soft, fluffy appearance. Tori knew this vision was deceiving as the algae was more like slippery slime, despite its puffy appearance.

Untying her belt, she slipped out of the white wrap around dress revealing a cocoa colored, skin-tight jumpsuit. Daintily, she crossed the rocks, taking great care not to step on the algae. Once she reached the water’s edge, she dove into the crisp pool. A large cluster of glittering fish darted out of her way, reflecting the light to confuse and befuddle any potential predators. A few kicks through the liquid and she surfaced in the middle of the pool. Standing on the bottom, the water came up to her lower chest.

She drew in a long slow breath through her pointed nose. A puff of condensed steam excited her nostrils as she exhaled equally slowly. Closing her eyes, she focused and took a few more slow, deep breaths. Her right hand came up to rest on the surface of the water. Nervously, her fingertips twitched on the glassy water top. Small waves rolled away from each finger as they tapped. Her eyes opened, sparking with determination. Raising her right hand, she looked at the water below it. Her middle finger curved down towards the water and slowly started circling in the air. Her stare intensified as she reached out with her mind. As her finger circled, a small whirlpool began to form as the water started to follow the motion of her hovering finger.

A small smile graced her lips as she watched the whirlpool swirl underneath her moving finger. Her entire hand started circling from her wrist and the whirlpool increased in speed and size. Raising her hand carefully away from the surface, a tendril of water raised from the center of the swirling pool reaching for her still extended finger. Tori’s smile intensified as the long, thin tendril reached towards her rising finger. When her hand reached the height of her arm span, eclipsing her head by another head’s length, Tori’s eyes trailed from the top of the water tendril to her finger. As her eyes moved, the water spiral reached up and joined to her finger. The water column continued to touch her finger and stood perfectly still, defying the same downward force the pulled the waterfall to it’s crashing conclusion in the same pool in which she stood. Tori stared at it with a sense of triumph and pride.

CRACK! A large clap of thunder shook the air. Tori jumped and the tower spiral of water splashed back to the surface. The glassy water top was beginning to be speckled as rain began to fall. A small sigh left Tori’s lips as she dove back under the water and kicked towards the edge of the pond. With the rain, her mother would be returning from the village and Tori needed to get home before her mother did or face deciding between having to lie about her practice session or face her mother’s displeasure. Slipping her dress back on, she tied the black ribbon around herself before running back through the woods as the falling rain intensified around her. The sky flared with bolts of electricity and crashes of thunder as the storm rolled over the woods.

Day 13

This nasty cold/flu/whatever has started to take a toll on me and my writing. Every five seconds i have to take my hands off the keyboard so I can cough into my elbow. And not a little ehh, ehh. No, it's a HACK, HACK, wheeeezzeeee, chest rumbling cough. It's a driving me crazy, making it impossible to think and unable to concentrate bone crushing cough!

As for the novel, it progresses decently. Today was an iffy day. Ended with 22040 words which is still above pace! WOOT! I've hit the big massacre scene which should be lots of words! But instead I cannot focus the details are not flowing so it progresses slowly. I also am a little bit squeamish but writing about a blood bath with swords! I have a hard time going into details to begin with so I have put it aside for the night. Hopefully tomorrow, after work, I will be more inspired to slit some throats ;)

Day 12

Finally! For the first time in NaNo2011 I have hit pace! Sitting at 20226 words, 226 over today's goal! I just started writing the flashback scene which I am very excited about so hopefully my word count will sky rocket. This head cold still has me feeling whipped so I'm going to head to bed instead of diving fully into the flashback. But since I am back on pace for the first time I thought I would post the beginning section from the novel..
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A thick fog hung over the vast meadow. Tall sepia grains fluttered in the soft breeze as it danced across the plain. Dawn was breaking over the tree line, beams of light streaking the landscape. The sky was a watercolor of green, magenta and aqua as the orange sun burst forth from the horizon.

There she sat on the edge of the forest, watching as the plain came alive. Her delicate hands were folded on her ankle, long slender fingers wrapped around it while her chin rested on one upturned knee. Her feet were together so that her knees made a V, the one pointing upwards while the other pointed parallel to the tree line. An oval face stretched up from the chin, her pointed and almost triangle shaped nose only served to enhance the appearance of her high cheekbones. Large, egg shaped eyes stared forward with an immeasurable intensity. Her light violet eyes were a stark contrast to her deep bronze skin, making them appear larger than they actually were. Chestnut color hair, that was straight as an arrow, framed her face and fell to her waist line, barely touching the ground as she sat.

The thick fog would normally hide the early morning creatures as they crept through the grass. But her keen eyesight saw most of them. Those that she eyes missed, her ears would hear. One hand reached up and pushed the thick strands of hair away from her ear, which was curved in a crescent shape pressed against the side of her head. The oversized and curved shape of the pinna allowed her ears to pick up the smallest of sounds. Insects were buzzing while darting between the flowers. Fluttering wings and sweet songs emanated from the various birds as they awoke to face the morning.

She watched as the durbunke scurried hurriedly through the grass towards his burrow. The short rodent creature was robust and rotund with small claws that scratched the soil with each step. One claw was oversized, a taller curving arch that kept it permanently exposed on the paw, to help it break through the shells of its favorite mollusk treats. It was a night dwelling creature and would return to its underground shelter throughout the day.

The majestic nanotori strutted out from the tree line, lazily walking into the field to munch on the delectable persimmon colored oshi flowers which had three large petals that drooped towards the ground. This quadruped stood almost 8 feet in height, and this was a small one, with a short black fur coat and two fuzzy, stubby horns coming off the top of its head. Their noses appeared as if they had been smashed against a rock, permanently crinkled and always bright yellow. The yellow underbelly and tail let her know this was a male as females were white underneath. The nanotori munched on the flowers, his tail swishing to keep the buzzing insects away.

“TORI!!!!!” a shrill, booming voice broke through the peace of the morning sequence and elicited a small sigh from the young lady. Rising to her full seven and a half feet in height, she stretched her back. Her name being called had shattered the scene, driving all of the small creatures back to their hiding spots. All except the nanotori who only looked at her in annoyance as he continued his breakfast.

“My apologies, my mother can be most persistent,” Tori’s blue lips curled up into a smile for the creature, though she knew he could not understand her. Turning on her heel, she sprinted on her four long toes through the woods; her long legs moved the landscape quickly beneath her.

Day 11

I did not quite make it to 15k by midnight last night. Took me until 12:13 to break through 15k. However, from midnight to midnight on November 11 I had a 3000+ day! Currently sitting at 18187, which is only 146 words off from pace for November 11. I should be able to catch up to pace and hopefully pass it by Day 12! One benefit of being sick I suppose, lots of time in bed so between naps I was able to write.

I hit the point of introducing the "bad guy" into the story tonight which greatly aided my word count. I think I will go to bed early tonight though, this head cold is zapping my energy.

Day 10

Currently sitting at 13756. Not bad.. granted still 2 days behind pace. My goal is to reach 15k by midnight though I am not sure I will actually accomplish this. I was feeling very confident about it, rolling along and then hit the end of the scene. Female main character just went to get a sex ed lesson from a friend of hers as her mother never clued her in and now she has a male seeking such attention from her. I do not really want to write out the entire sex lesson so I simply left it with the two girls headed upstairs where they could talk undisturbed. Now I am trying to decide where to go next. I know where I want to end up eventually, just unsure if I should jump too far ahead in the story. Should I jump straight to her seeing the boy again? Should there be some discussion from her mother about her weird behavior lately? Should I skip straight to the arrival of the bad guy? How much detail of the days leading up to the catalyst of the bad guys arrival do I include?

As it is NaNo I lean towards include EVERYTHING and edit later! But some of the details are fuzzy in my mind so maybe would be easier for the writing process to skip over them. I think it is time for a break from writing. If you have any ideas/opinions weigh in!

Day 9

I can feel myself starting to nod off. In fact, I've forced myself awake a few times. Word count is not quite where I would like it. I'm still over a day off pace :( Sitting at 12630. The next major character is about to be introduced and I am hoping that will speed up the pace of the plot and by extension the quickness of typing. But for now, to bed I shall go!

Day 8

I did it again! I fell asleep with the laptop! Apparently NaNo means my laptop and I are having a love affair that includes sleepovers! At least last night's sleepover there was plenty of activity before we passed out ;) Word count is sitting at 10970. Which explains why I fell asleep, I had wanted to break 11k before falling asleep but I finished the scene I had been writing all day. Once the scene was finished, I put my head back to think about what the next scene should be. And promptly woke up at the sound of people banging around in the house to get ready for work this morning!

Day 8 should have been finished with 13333. So I am still hopelessly behind. Day 9 supposed to hit 15k which would mean I'd have to have a 5k day today to catch up. I do not see that occuring. So I am shooting for 2000 - 2500 words today. This is quite ambitious knowing my schedule today, kid has tumbling and music lessons, grocery shopping has to be done, and I have a meeting tonight. Plus if I get an email back for my contracted, paid, writing job I will have to finish that up which takes away from NaNo time.

Here's hoping for 2500! ::fingers crossed::

Day 7...

was a complete bust :( I wrote just shy of 300 words throughout the day. Monday is a rough day for me schedule wise. Then I went to the gym and aggravated my back, put me in a lot of pain :( Ended up taking a super long, super hot bath and Advil. Finally settled in with a hot pad, my pillows, and my laptop determined to write for an hour from 11 to 12 before I went to sleep. I am not sure if I even typed a single word before I nodded off. Next thing I knew it was 3:30am, my laptop was still on my lap, and I was propped up on all my pillows. At that point I put the laptop off the bed and went to sleep.

So far day 8 has been more productive. I have over 1000 words, hoping to add another 1000 to that! I'll check back later with an update!

Day 6

Well... like I thought, I did not make 10k :( 8378, more than day 5 word count but not up to day 6 so only a day behind. That's at least something! Maybe I can catch up tomorrow.. or at least be less than day behind! 2000 word goal for tomorrow. Mondays are bad days though, so many outside the house activities. But here's hoping!! I have introduced a new character to the novel which I am very hopeful about. It's added a new direction for the novel and I think I have figured out how to have this particular story not have a happy ending! I am also considering the idea of a sequel, perhaps a trilogy. Once I have established this world, could be fun to do another novel or two inside of it.

Day 5 BED

Ahh time change, 1:59 turned to 1:00! I gain an extra hour to write! And I have utilized it for my NaNo. My word count is currently sitting at 7555. Goal is 10k by late tomorrow. I honestly do not think I will make it. I have yet to prep class for Monday and I still have to finish grading for Tuesday class. Plus I need sleep.. Pepsi is starting to fail me! BOO!

Midpoint Day 5

Went to a Write-In today. Was the first write-in I have attended! I went to last years region kickoff party but was too busy and impossible to find babysitting to attend write-ins regularly. Hopefully I will get to a few more. It was more social than writing, at least today but that can be nice. There was a NaNoWriMo sticker there that I adored and is now going to be my novel's mantra:

Run whooping through the valleys of your imagination 

Love it. Sums up my current novel as it is my first trip into the fantasy genre and I'm literally am running it off my imagination.  I added about 600 words at the write in, putting current total at 6036. I want to hit 7000 - 7500 before sleeping tonight. Goal is to catch up to pace (10k) by end of tomorrow. However, I still have grading to do and edits to my paid to write project that have to be done this weekend as well. Not to mention prep for class on Monday morning. So much for sleeping!


Ahh Pepsi how I adore thee :-D

Day 4

Day 4 is in the bag, tucked in for the night. Just over 5k. Wrote myself into a corner tonight.. not sure how my one character should respond. I might go for the classic unreasonably overreact when faced with logic in an emotional situation. I also got an email about more work that needs to be done in my real world job so that is going to put me even more behind :( I am an entire day behind pace right now, was hoping to catch up hit 10k by Sunday. I have no idea if that will happen now. I still need to get all my real world work done.

I know I CAN write more than this in a day. I spent almost all day today still in a funk over the whole boy issue and played video games. Virtual SCUBA on my Wii, Endless Oceans 2 never seems to have a good stopping point. It makes me want to play and play and play and play. Next thing you know half the day is gone and you have done no real world work and no NaNo work. But on the plus side, haven't been thinking about the other situation. If it wasn't November video games would be a good option. Fourth NaNo cannot be the one I fail.. Though it may end up odd number NaNo calender years are the novels that I abandon due to suck factor at the end of November.. not unlike the Star Trek movies! Anytime life parallels Star Trek must be a sign. So I will embrace the suck and hope this novel turns out more like Search for Spock and less like Final Frontier!

Day 3

Almost hit 3k... so, so far behind. I should have twice this at this stage in the game. But I don't. I'm also behind on real job work so this week is not looking promising. I've been distracted by the real world issue of my breakup. I want to channel the emotions I feel into the story but I have been so numb I cannot get any emotions to translate.

I am currently writing a flashback sequence to reveal when she first accidentally discovered her powers, much to her mother's dismay. This sets up the large secret that is central to the core of the novel. I do not want to mess this section up as it is the core. I have to keep reminding myself that editing is easier than creating. Push through this draft, go, go, go, don't stop.

2,868 at this exact moment. I will hit 3k before I sleep! Back to it I go!

Day 2

Another bad day on the writing front.. and I was feeling so confident about it. Had to run some errands, including time at the mechanics. I brought my notebook and physically wrote on notebook paper! Felt very retro ;) Flashbacks to high school abounded. I manged to fill 5 sides of paper which when you type it up is not as much as it sounds. Brought my word count up to 1,998. Which ironically is the last year I wrote almost exclusively on paper ;)

Now I sit at 2,011 words. A horrible showing for the rest of my afternoon and evening at home. I had put the story aside so I could work on my real job for a while. Then my night went to pot with a big falling out with the boy toy.. so writing has not happened. However, commiserating with sister did result in more brainstorming about the story so hopefully tomorrow will be a good day of catch up. Being this far behind so early is daunting but I know I can make it!

Day 1

November 1 has come and gone, and with it the start of another NaNoWriMo novel! As you all are aware, I had no idea what I was going to do this years novel on as of midnight November 1. Now at midnight November 2, I am sitting with 1,309 word count. Shy of the daily goal of 1,667 and my normal goal of 2,000 words in a day. But considering I did not start writing until just after 10pm I did alright.

With some consulting from friends, I fianlly decided to attack a story idea I've had in my head for a while. It is a sci fi/fantsy novel  that the background is well flushed out, but the actual guts of the story will have to be created on the fly. I have very few ideas about where I am going, or how to get there, so this November should be a wild ride!

I know I should stay up and write more tonight but I'm going to bed. I'm not feeling well tonight so hoping sleep will allow me to feel better and thus write more tomorrow!

2 minutes...

Two minute warning til the start of the 2011 NaNoWriMo.. and I still do not have a plot lined up and ready. This should be fun...

Outlining and Planning Stage 1

NaNoWriMo (http://www.nanowrimo.org) starts in 8 days. This is my fourth year doing NaNo, I started in 2008 and have successfully completed 50k+ words every year so far. First year, I had the entire plot outlined in a notebook and full character biographies created. Then last year I had very little outlining done but I had a plan! I knew the settings, the characters, the overall timeline of events and came out on top with a fully completed novel. This year... well.. I've got zilch.

I just pulled out my story file to see if there are any partially formed or previously abandoned ideas that I could try this year. I have just shy of a dozen ideas scribbled down, however, none of them are fully formed ideas! There is a few scifi/fantasy ideas, adventure, mystery, drama, certainly not a lack of diversity.

Going to brainstorm and hopefully start outlining this week. I will probably be putting up some polls here to help make some decisions as well. 

8 days.. I have 8 days.. hope you'll join me on this NaNo journey. If you are a fellow Wrimo, add me as a writing buddy: SCUBAJfer