Nanowrimo Souvenirs

If I haven't mentioned it before, this is my 6th year doing Nanowrimo.

Over the years, I've collected various objects that either inspired or aided me in my quest for 50,000 words. The most memorable items include:

Bicentennial quarter - exceedingly rare to find in your change these days, it was the inspiration for my 2008 Nano, Tricentennial.

Coffee cup - arrived in my Nanowrimo care package last year.

pair of postcards from Illinois- (see above). I've included postcards from the Rose City when I sent out my Nanowrimo care packages.

squishy six-sided die - a great stress reliever bought for my 2007 Nano A Roll of the Dice.

set of light blue frosted polyhedral dice - picked up at a convention many years ago as 'swag'. Used for my 2007 Nano as a decision making tool.

pair of 1 1/4" ninja figures - picked up in Las Vegas last week during the convention I attended. They are 'plot ninjas', helping me boost my word count.

pair of rubber bouncy balls given to me by an ML (Municpal Liason) in 2005. I chose them because my MC 'had balls', literally and figuratively...

Okay, so I don't really have much in the way of souvenirs for my 2004 Nano, but still, it's starting to be an impressive collection.

2,000 word day!

Still feeling poorly from a lingering cold/sinus infection, I decided to stay home from work. I got up around 9:30 am and set to work on the Nano. I also got the clean dishes put away and did three loads of laundry.

But more importantly, I managed to write over 2,000 words today. Finally, I was able to catch up on some of the word count I lost while I was in Las Vegas this last weekend.

Unfortunately, I think I'm feeling well enough that I'm going to go in to work tomorrow....

We interrupt this Nano....

4 days and so far so good. I've hit 4,500 words, which is a bit behind, but not terribly so. I hope to make a lot of progress on our flight to Las Vegas. I'm attending a convention, so I don't expect to get a lot of writing done this weekend except in small bits and pieces.

However, I do expect to have a lot of fun...and I'll miss my two cats terribly.

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

Less than an hour to go. I'm tired after playing 36 holes of disc golf (and getting up too early to play), but I'm determined to make it to midnight. I'd like to make it to two and see the Changing of the Time, but that's a different battle.

Another cup of tea for me? Probably.

What to do? The notes are open, the spreadsheet is waiting. A new word document awaits. Now to file some papers and wait with bated breath.

Breakthrough!

Well, I was fretting about not having a good idea, but it seems the logjam broke, and the outline actually started coming together. I have an end in mind, but as always, the trickiest part is getting there from the beginning.

I still need more characters, but I have decided on the main character. She's not going to have a very good day...

Wow, October Already

Wow, it's October already and I've got the small fragment of an idea for a Nanonovel. So I have the main character. Now I need a team to build around the MC. And they need to have some interactions between them too. Perhaps they can be like the A-Team of old. Nah, I've never been too good at crazy.

I do have something going for me this year, as Daylight Savings Time actually ends on November 1st, which means an extra hour of writing. :) I'm going to be going to Las Vegas for a few days in November too, which means I'll have less time to write, but I can certainly write on the plane.

But until then, there's Halloween to worry about. I have three Halloween party invitations. One (the week prior) I can't do because we'll be out of town that week. Usually it falls on my gaming night. The other is hosted by a local store, and the last is a friend of my hubby's. We'll probably not go to them, as we're playing the Hope Open, a disc golf tournament in Corvallis.

Counting the days....

The 1st of September

Wow, the summer's over. Nanowrimo isn't too far off. This year's going to be challenging, I think, as I'm planning to go to Neoncon in Las Vegas from the 5th to the 8th. At least they have lunch and dinner breaks, so maybe I can sneak in some novelling.

But right now, I still have no idea what I'm going to write. Nothing new, really. But there's still time.

Speaking of time, work is still as stressful as ever. At least I get to work overtime, but that's because one of my co-workers went back to Texas, so now there are only 4 of us doing the work of 6. Ugh! I suppose I should be glad that I have a job, since my state has the 2nd highest unemployment rate in the whole country.

The other challenge is Facebook. It's a major time sucker. Must cut back....

April Sunshine

So now it's April and the first weekend of nice weather we've had here in ages! So I didn't waste it and went out disc golfing. It was supposed to be me, my hubby and two friends, but another couple decided to join us Friday evening, and two more guys showed up that morning, so we started with a huge group of 8 but soon decided to split off - three girls, five guys. Only problem, the three of us didn't have a clue about the course. We played 17 holes and then called it quits. Doh!

Okay, so I've been occasionally working on rewriting my 2007 Nanonovel. I've also taken back the reins of Mage Phoenix. But I suppose I should start thinking about 2009's novel. Only thing is that there's a convention in Las Vegas that I'm thinking about attending. Fortunately it's the first weekend of November, so maybe I won't lose too much word count. :)

And I'm back to trying to find a different job. I made some progress in February, but my grandfather's death in March set me back a little ways. I haven't found many jobs that have met my criteria but I'm still looking...hope springs eternal, right?

Victory Lap!!!!

So, the day started off a little slow. I lost about three hundred words due to an odd computer glitch. But I managed to rally and write more.

The story took a bit of an odd turn, and I found myself debating as to whether or not I should let my MC live. I asked two of the three people I'd sent the increments of my story to. Both liked Jenna, the MC, and were pulling for her. I still couldn't really decide. Then I hit and passed the 50,000 word mark. Looking at the paragraph I had, I realized that I could simply stop the story right where it was. It would make for the sort of ending I hate to read, but it is an ending nonetheless.

So shortly after 10 pm, I copied and pasted my work into the validator. It then announced that I had won!

45,000 Words!

The current short term goal was to hit 45,000 words by bedtime Friday. Here it is, early Friday afternoon, and I just hit the 45K mark. Less than 5,000 words to go, and hopefully a lot less by the time I go to bed this evening....

40,000 Words!

And now I'm slightly ahead of where I need to be. (Well, by all of 8 words.) Thanks to taking the day off and the prodding of the Write or Die website, I managed to have a 3,200 word day.

Chris Baty had challenged everyone to write 40K by bedtime Monday. I had my doubts on Thursday when he issued it that I would actually make it, and I was very doubtful on Sunday when I realized I would have to write over 3,000 words, which is a difficult feat for me.

But I did it! Shortly before 11:30, I hit 40,008 words. Yay me! Now to just either stay on track or ahead long enough to finish. Less than 10,000 words. I know I can do this...

35,000 words

Made it this morning. Then I broke down and gave the write or die site a try. The song it's playing is quite annoying, but I think it does actually work, because I managed to hit 36,000 words, and the day's writing isn't over quite yet. So maybe the 40K by bedtime Monday isn't so out of reach after all. But we'll see....

30,000 Words

I didn't make it by midnight, but I did make 30,000 by bedtime Wednesday. The next deadline is 40,000 by bedtime Monday. Good thing I already planned to take the day off.

Things are getting bad at my office. No more overtime for my department, but a lot of others are looking at 32 hour weeks. Ugh! I think this may be the impetus I need to start looking for another job.

Halfway there!

Well, after a bit of a disappointing day yesterday, I went and helped out my hubby's disc golf team and worked on my novel. I transcribed what I'd written during the Shadowrun game (I really hate it when I can't do anything.) and then wrote another 1,700 words. Which brought me up to exactly 25,000.

I'm not really too far behind, and I expect I'll have more time to work on it, because I'm going to have to start taking longer lunches thanks to a newly established prohibition on working ANY overtime at all. I so need a new job. :(

20,000 Words

Despite the temptation of Thursday night television (Survivor, CSI and ER) and a phone call from my mother, I still managed to make 20,000 words before bedtime, just as Chris Baty had suggested. I had my doubts that I'd make it, but I did. Yay me!

But sadly, I learned today that my company has asked that we not have any more overtime. We can only work 40 hours a week. This is not very cool, as I typically come in early because my husband and I carpool. I guess I'll have to start taking longer lunches.

15,000 Words

Chris Baty (of Nanowrimo fame) issued a challenge to everyone. To make it to 15K by bedtime on Monday. I managed to make the target with 15 minutes to spare.

Today, his new challenge is to make 20K by Thursday night. I don't think I can, but I'm willing to give it a shot.

10,000 words

With over 2,000 words written today. Not bad, considering that as I was getting ready to settle down to writing this morning, my sister-in-law called to invite us to join them on the Coast and have dinner together.

We knocked out some of our Christmas shopping, and had dinner at the Pig and Pancake. We all ordered breakfast, then headed to the casino. I spent an hour working on the novel, and had 1,900 words done once all was said and done. Driving home, I got another 400 words done, and then a less than productive hour between eleven and midnight.

Total words: 2,448

Not a record, but it definitely makes a dent in the deficit. :)

5,000 Words

Election Day - One candidate (Obama) has been declared the winner, and I just hit the 5,000 word mark. Which means, I'm about a day behind on my word count. But what's new really?

The story is progressing slowly. I am anxious to see it pick up. :)

1,000 words

Are written now, and it's only about 10 pm. 9 really, when you consider the time rollback. It's going a bit slow, but it does take a little while for things to pick up, and I'm not looking at my outline very much. I probably should, but I'm going to try flying by the seat of my pants for a little bit.

I must admit, I am getting pretty tired at this point. The airline trip was very long and I'm still trying to recover from it, I think...

November 1st

Is also called All Saints Day, but it also marks the first day of Nanowrimo. So far, I haven't done too much, but we're going to head on a two hour trip to The Dalles later today, which should give me lots of uninterrupted writing time.

I still need to get my notes transferred from paper to computer, but I'm not going to worry about it quite yet.

After tea, a shower. Then packing my bag. Maybe after that, I'll get to work....