NaNoWriMo 2010 daily diary
Week One
Week One of NaNoWriMo is wonderful. Words flow, new friends are made, other regions are challenged, and all is sunshine and cookies and bluebirds.
Monday 1st3238 words. Wrote at lunchtime in the small conference room, another session after my karate lesson, and three 15 minute sprints with Carol after dinner at my place. Quantum deigned to sit on the sofa with her as she wrote and we both got a lot done. NaNoWriMo site utterly hosed, business as usual.
Tuesday 2nd5309 words, 2071 today. No lunchtime session, but doctor was over an hour late, wrote 1250 words while waiting for him. Write-in at West County Mall in the cafe of Barnes and Noble, finished up my word count in good company with the Travelling Shovel of Death at my side. You get some really odd looks for walking through a book store with a shovel.
Wednesday 3rd8503 words, 3194 today. Posted an excerpt on my NaNoWriMo profile page, the site has recovered from the mammoth Day One load spike. Lost a hundred words at lunch by accidentally saving my backup over the live document, more than made it up with four 15 minutes timed sprints after work.
Thursday 4th9737 words, 1234 today. Unproductive lunchtime session, only 532 words. Working on chapter three of twelve, finished up at home after seeing the doctor (different doctor, this one tends to be on time). Need some electroshock therapy research to write the next section. Ahead of my personal goal, but annoyed at the unproductive day.
Friday 5th12016 words, 2279 today. It's Guy Fawke's Night! 825 words at lunch writing about electroconvulsive therapy. Trying to make the boyfriend character a bit more likeable, but not too likeable.
Saturday 6th13348 words, 1332 today. Write-in at the Crooked Tree coffee house in St Charles, 10am-2pm. 641 words in 15 minutes in word war with Sam, doing her first novel this year. Got there late because of yarn store closing sale, but stayed till 2pm.
Sunday 7th16719 words, 3371 today. Took advantage of the time change to write 1030 words before 8am, hoping to write 3k today. Official write-in at Central Bread Co, 2-4pm was well attended.
After the sunshine of Week One comes the concrete-covered slog of Week Two...
Week Two
Tradition states that Week Two of NaNoWriMo is where it all falls apart and you wonder why you're doing this to yourself. The words are horrible and everyone else is doing better than you. The sunshine is replaced with Tropical Storm Crankypants, the cookies are mouldy, and the bluebirds have become vultures, waiting for your weary carcass to drop and give up.
However, my Week Twos seem to be just a continuation of week one, because I always have a plot roadmap to follow and a basic idea of what comes next. My chapters are getting larger as characters start taking unexpected turns, but it's all good.
Monday 8th18777 words, 2058 today. Plotting a gladiator match, three of St Louis's best against three from East Bay CA. Watching my chapters get longer and longer and wondering how big this novel will get. 648 words at lunchtime today, finished up in the evening after a couple of episodes of Fringe.
Tuesday 9th20804 words, 2027 today. Turned up partway through the write-in at West County Mall (Barnes and Noble cafe 6-8pm) after a half hour of karate and finished my word count for the day. 118 words before work with new light box blasting photons at 5:30am, plus a record 627 at lunch. Happy to have crossed the 20k barrier.
Wednesday 10th20935 words, 131 today. Wrote those 131 words with the light box this morning, and that was it. No lunchtime session, and flaked out in the evening.
Thursday 11th23064 words, 2129 today. Back on track today, writing at lunch (1082) and after work (1047). Writing about crazy people is fun! Also, stopping when I know what's coming up next helps with the second writing session. Hoping to hit the 25k point tomorrow, but I'm still in chapter five of twelve planned chapters.
Friday 12th25469 words, 2405 today. Good lunchtime writing session, 805 words. Introduced a new character and fleshed out another one. Finished chapter five of twelve, this story will be longer than 50k
Saturday 13th28204 words, 2735 today. Write-in at the Crooked Tree coffee house in St Charles, 10am-2pm. Realised one of my characters will need to be hunted down and killed off, so the Travelling Shovel of Death will claim an third victim in my novel.
Sunday 14th30313 words, 2109 today. Official write-in at Central Bread Co, 2-4pm. I think I've reached the halfway point in the story. This one may be longer than I had planned.
On to Week Three!
Week Three
By now, you're supposed to be over the halfway point both in words and in story action. My halfway point in the story occurred at 30k words, which means I'm likely on track for a 60k or more story. Week Three is where you hit the 35k mark and life suddenly gets easier. I'm killing off several characters this week, some of them with the Travelling Shovel of Death.
Monday 15th31159 words, 846 today. 761 words at lunchtime, writing my main character from another character's viewpoint feels a bit odd. Got a tiny bit of writing done in the St Louis Square office waiting for Hubby.
Tuesday 16th33633 words, 2474 today. 1109 words at lunch today, 912 after work. Write-in at West County Mall in the cafe of Barnes and Noble, 6-8pm, I arrived after doing half a karate group class again. Shared my NaNo spreadsheet with Munro and Tom, it doesn't turn green for the day until you've written 2000 words.
Tuesday 16th35735 words, 2102 today. Someone is occupying my lunchtime writing room at work and it's health insurance meeting day in the other conference room. 1039 words at lunch, writing at my desk. Carol came over and we wrote a couple of 15 minute sessions on the sofa with a cat curled up between us.
Thursday 18th38151 words, 2416 today. No writing at lunch, went out to eat with my architect and the architect from Raleigh NC instead. 15 minute writing sprints at my desk with the cat curled up in the chair beside me.
Friday 19th39002 words, 851 today. Wrote at lunch, totally brain-fried after work, so took the night off and went to the Masters of the Fiddle concert instead, Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy were awesome!
Saturday 20th41015 words, 2013 today. Went to knitting morning and knit for two hours with my friends, did 1200 words at the Crooked Tree coffee house write-in afterwards. Went to see "Harry Potter and the Extended Camping Trip Deathly Hallows" with Hubby, and finished up the words at home after dinner. Killed someone with the Travelling Shovel of Death!
Sunday 21st43426 words, 2411 today. Official write-in at Central Bread Co, 2-4pm. Got to the write in early and got over 2000 words written, finished up at home.
Heading for the finish line and the last nine days of National Novel Writing Month!
Week Four
Monday 22nd45500 words, 2074 today. Finally wrote the scene I've been building up to for the entire story, an epic car chase through London, ending at Tower Bridge. Love how it turned out! Challenged to a race to 50k by Munro, but he started 2k ahead.
Tuesday 23rd46656 words, 1156 today. Worked through lunch, came home early to do kata to work off the insanity of my new deadline, and skipped the write-in.
Wednesday 24th49164 words, 2508 today. Aiming for 49k today, I'm a little behind after yesterday's disastrous mood. 819 words at lunch, finished off at home.
Thursday 25th49164 words, 0 today. Thanksgiving Day, took the day off writing to make honey-roasted rutabaga and spend the day with Mandy and her family.
Friday 26th50736 words, 1549 today. Black Friday and both Hubby and I are off work. Went to the Friday morning write-in at the Crooked Tree coffee house, and cruised past the 50k mark. Validated at home and collected my winner goodies before the rush, I still have chapters 11 and 12 to write, though they might get consolidated. I like the idea of a novel with a prime number of chapters.
Saturday 27th52864 words, 2128 today, all done at the write-in at the Crooked Tree coffee house in St Charles. I think I've actually finished the story and tied up all the loose ends.