November 28 goal: 46,676
Current word count: 55,276
Favorite writing song of the week: "Chasing Twisters" by Delta Rae
Hardest thing about this week: Honestly, that I hit 50,000 words and I'm still not finished with the story. I should be happy I don't have to spend an hour every day writing because of finals and papers but I'm not. I like writing so hitting 50,000 and still having a story left in me is hard. On the other hand, I'm also insanely proud of myself for hitting 50,000 six days early in spite of everything so it's bittersweet.
Easiest thing about this week: The actual act of sitting down and writing. This is probably because I was home and didn't have any obligations. But it's also because I got to the ending, the part I've had the most time to think about and plan.
Goals for this week: Write at least a little every day. I'm close to being done with the rough draft of the story and I don't want to just quit cold turkey.
Random closing thoughts: I think last year I finished on November 24 too. That's kind of cool. I also think my story last year ended at around 55,000 words so this one is going to be longer. It's still a first draft and I tend to 'underwrite' my first drafts. That just means I add a lot of scenes in revision. Never thought that would be the case. I was always convinced I'd have to cut stuff. I still do but I add more than I cut.
Announcements/ What's next
1. Finish All the World's a Stage, ideally before I go home for Christmas.
2. Over Christmas, start revising Sky & Steel. Shelby, I hope you read this.
3. Write my senior English paper on The Book Thief.
4. Post a review of the program I used to write this NaNo story. It's called Scrivener.
5. And last, but not least, I'm already getting ideas for the sequel to All the World's a Stage, title to be determined. There are only going to be two in this story and maybe this summer I'll start asking around for beta readers because this is a story I think people would like.
Now, if you're in college, good luck on your finals and projects and papers! If you're a real adult with a job, hang in there, Christmas is less than a month away. If you're a senior, don't forget to apply to graduate in the spring.
Monday, November 28, 2016
Monday, November 21, 2016
NaNo Week 3
November 21 goal: 35,007
Current word count: 43,538
Favorite writing song from the week: "Misty Mountains" by Richard Armitage
Hardest thing about this week: I realized my story is not going to be even close to finished at 50,000 words. That's good but it also means I'm going to be juggling finishing it while working on my numerous final projects. Stress-wise, that's been difficult.
Easiest thing about this week: I've gotten to write a bunch of awesome scenes. They were some of the scenes I imagined right from the beginning and I loved getting to write them. I'm also loving my main character. She's so sassy.
Goals for this week: Dare I say it? Hit 50,000. I already ordered my winner's shirt so I might as well finish the 50,000 words early.
Random closing thoughts: According to the helpful word counter on the NaNo website, I should finish on November 25. I'm thinking that it will actually be Thursday, Wednesday at the earliest. I mean, I could finish tomorrow if I really put my mind to it but...well, I have other things I want to do.
And seriously, dialogue is my favorite thing to write. I especially like bantering dialogue. It doesn't have to be romantic either. Friendship bantering is just as much fun. Jamie (the main character) banters with her best friend, Gwen, a lot.
But seriously, how am I less than 10,000 words away? How did that happen?
Current word count: 43,538
Favorite writing song from the week: "Misty Mountains" by Richard Armitage
Hardest thing about this week: I realized my story is not going to be even close to finished at 50,000 words. That's good but it also means I'm going to be juggling finishing it while working on my numerous final projects. Stress-wise, that's been difficult.
Easiest thing about this week: I've gotten to write a bunch of awesome scenes. They were some of the scenes I imagined right from the beginning and I loved getting to write them. I'm also loving my main character. She's so sassy.
Goals for this week: Dare I say it? Hit 50,000. I already ordered my winner's shirt so I might as well finish the 50,000 words early.
Random closing thoughts: According to the helpful word counter on the NaNo website, I should finish on November 25. I'm thinking that it will actually be Thursday, Wednesday at the earliest. I mean, I could finish tomorrow if I really put my mind to it but...well, I have other things I want to do.
And seriously, dialogue is my favorite thing to write. I especially like bantering dialogue. It doesn't have to be romantic either. Friendship bantering is just as much fun. Jamie (the main character) banters with her best friend, Gwen, a lot.
But seriously, how am I less than 10,000 words away? How did that happen?
Monday, November 14, 2016
NaNo Week 2
November 14 goal: 23,338
Current word count: 30,0000
Favorite writing song from the week: Honestly, it's a tie between "Heartland (Long)" by Celtic Thunder and "Narcissistic Cannibal" by EarlyRise
Hardest thing about this week: I'm finally getting into my story and enjoying writing it but I've had to split my focus between the story and school, so I haven't been able to devote as much time as I would like to writing.
Easiest thing about this week: Around Thursday I hit my stride and suddenly 1,667 words doesn't take me two+ hours to trudge through and that's made it a lot easier. I can just sit down and crank through 1600-1900 words usually and it doesn't take as long as it did during the first week. Also I wrote almost 7,000 words this weekend and that was pretty great.
Goals for this week: I have a test and an outline due on Wednesday and another paper due on Friday so I'm going to try to be okay with the fact that I can take a day off from writing. That's why I've built myself a couple buffer days.
Lessons learned this week: Um...most of my lessons have been about my characters and who they are and how they behave. I don't want to share because I'm hoping this story pans out into something like a book.
Random closing thoughts: Chocolate is still a great motivator but so is getting into the swing of my story. Also, being halfway done two days early was a great feeling. And yes, I am actually at 30,000 words right. I stopped because it worked out that the end of a sentence was at 30,000 and I'm a sucker for any number that's a multiple of 5.
Don't ask me why, I just really like that. We all have our weird things. I also refuse to write in any font other than Garamond (for school papers I switch it to Times New Roman when I'm done) and it has to be on 1.5 spacing.
Random last thought: If you use Microsoft Word, please for the love of every good thing in this world, click on the 'Remove space after paragraph' option under the 'Paragraph' tab. It drives me up the fucking wall when people don't do that. It looks awful and you waste more paper. Just do it.
Current word count: 30,0000
Favorite writing song from the week: Honestly, it's a tie between "Heartland (Long)" by Celtic Thunder and "Narcissistic Cannibal" by EarlyRise
Hardest thing about this week: I'm finally getting into my story and enjoying writing it but I've had to split my focus between the story and school, so I haven't been able to devote as much time as I would like to writing.
Easiest thing about this week: Around Thursday I hit my stride and suddenly 1,667 words doesn't take me two+ hours to trudge through and that's made it a lot easier. I can just sit down and crank through 1600-1900 words usually and it doesn't take as long as it did during the first week. Also I wrote almost 7,000 words this weekend and that was pretty great.
Goals for this week: I have a test and an outline due on Wednesday and another paper due on Friday so I'm going to try to be okay with the fact that I can take a day off from writing. That's why I've built myself a couple buffer days.
Lessons learned this week: Um...most of my lessons have been about my characters and who they are and how they behave. I don't want to share because I'm hoping this story pans out into something like a book.
Random closing thoughts: Chocolate is still a great motivator but so is getting into the swing of my story. Also, being halfway done two days early was a great feeling. And yes, I am actually at 30,000 words right. I stopped because it worked out that the end of a sentence was at 30,000 and I'm a sucker for any number that's a multiple of 5.
Don't ask me why, I just really like that. We all have our weird things. I also refuse to write in any font other than Garamond (for school papers I switch it to Times New Roman when I'm done) and it has to be on 1.5 spacing.
Random last thought: If you use Microsoft Word, please for the love of every good thing in this world, click on the 'Remove space after paragraph' option under the 'Paragraph' tab. It drives me up the fucking wall when people don't do that. It looks awful and you waste more paper. Just do it.
Monday, November 7, 2016
NaNo Week 1
November 7 goal (1,667/day): 11,669
Current word count: 14,353
Favorite writing song from this week: "You Are Free" by Jimmy Eat World
The hardest thing from this week: I struggled a lot with getting into my first-person narrator. It's been three years since I wrote in first person and the transition was more difficult than I though it would be. There's a lot of freedom in a third person narrator but there's also a lot of things you give up when you let go of such a close relationship with a main character. At the same time, it's difficult to go back to limiting your descriptions to what a person would believably notice or think about.
The easiest thing from this week: There were two days (Thursday and Friday) where the writing came easily and felt right. I should also lump in one of the major scenes because it turned out much better than I expected for a first draft try.
Goals for this next week: Stay on top of all my homework- I have a test on Friday that will need to be studied for. Plus I have the never-ending research stream to tackle but in less than two weeks I'll be headed home for Thanksgiving, so that's giving me the strength to keep going.
Lessons learned this week: Chocolate is a really great motivated for when I don't want to write anymore but I really want the chocolate. WinCo bulk, you are my savior.
Random closing thoughts: I'm ahead on my word count but I'm going to try not to use my 'skip day' for as long as possible. I'm most likely to need it next week because I have another test but I have two research-related assignments due as well. But, depending on the outcome of the election tomorrow, I might end up consuming large amounts of wine and then I'll need a skip day.
I just realized I've written more than 14,000 words in the past week. That's more than most people write in a year, let alone a week, and I'm suddenly really, really proud of myself.
Go me!
Current word count: 14,353
Favorite writing song from this week: "You Are Free" by Jimmy Eat World
The hardest thing from this week: I struggled a lot with getting into my first-person narrator. It's been three years since I wrote in first person and the transition was more difficult than I though it would be. There's a lot of freedom in a third person narrator but there's also a lot of things you give up when you let go of such a close relationship with a main character. At the same time, it's difficult to go back to limiting your descriptions to what a person would believably notice or think about.
The easiest thing from this week: There were two days (Thursday and Friday) where the writing came easily and felt right. I should also lump in one of the major scenes because it turned out much better than I expected for a first draft try.
Goals for this next week: Stay on top of all my homework- I have a test on Friday that will need to be studied for. Plus I have the never-ending research stream to tackle but in less than two weeks I'll be headed home for Thanksgiving, so that's giving me the strength to keep going.
Lessons learned this week: Chocolate is a really great motivated for when I don't want to write anymore but I really want the chocolate. WinCo bulk, you are my savior.
Random closing thoughts: I'm ahead on my word count but I'm going to try not to use my 'skip day' for as long as possible. I'm most likely to need it next week because I have another test but I have two research-related assignments due as well. But, depending on the outcome of the election tomorrow, I might end up consuming large amounts of wine and then I'll need a skip day.
I just realized I've written more than 14,000 words in the past week. That's more than most people write in a year, let alone a week, and I'm suddenly really, really proud of myself.
Go me!
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