Writing

Ok. I know this is doing things sort of backwards. Very much so like trying to get sponsors AFTER one has won the race instead of before. But I’m hoping that this will actually work. Here’s why.

If you’ve been reading this blog at all this month, you know that I’ve been engaged in National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo. While this has proven to be an excellent exercise for me in managing my time and keeping my writing production up, it could mean more still. NaNoWriMo is put on every year by NaNoWriMo’s parent 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the Office of Letters and Light, to raise funds to pay for the Young Writers Program and adult main programs throughout the rest of the year. A lot of the money raised comes from donations from the NaNoWriMo participants, but some of us have had better years than others. This past year has been a tight one for me, so I am asking folks to help me out by sponsoring my novel. If you’d like to sponsor me, just visit my sponsorship page and make a donation. If you’re not sure yet, read on… [click to continue…]

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And today… the finish line is crossed! Just one little problem. I’m not done. Yes, I’ve written over 50,000 words in my story, but I’ve barely started scratching the surface of act three. I’ve got at least four chapters to go, and I have the feeling that when I do the first revision of this story quite a lot of my chapters are going to split into multiple lesser chapters. But I did manage to write 2765 words today, and that was good enough to put me over the edge of the NaNoWriMo 50,000 word finish line!


50200 / 50000
(100.4%)

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Another good day of dedicated writing. Slept in today, so I got started late after getting in a good, brisk walk and a filling lunch. So… a late start to my writing, but a good day at the keyboard. I got in 2000 words before I decided to break for dinner, then came back afterwards and racked up another 2000 words. Total word count for today is 4,355. Not quite as good as yesterday’s run, but a good chunk of writing towards my big finish! I am now two days ahead of schedule and have less than 1000 words to being three days ahead. This story will definitely take more than 50,000 words, but I hope to cross that finish line tomorrow. For today, my total number of words written in this, my first NaNoWriMo, is 47,435! That is over 94% completed! Woot!


47435 / 50000
(94.87%)

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While some folks ventured out today and fought the crowds at Black Friday sales about the country, I stayed home today, thus avoiding shootings, pepper spray, and smelly crowds. Not necessarily in that order. Oh, I ventured out of the house. Took a good walk around the block to get in my exercise for the day. Also to help get the old creative juices flowing. A good, brisk walk, a shower, and a healthy lunch, and I was all ready to begin writing. I managed to crank out 3,419 words before taking a break for dinner. It might have been the boost to the creative side from the exercise, or the fact that I was writing action scenes, but the words seemed to pour out of me this afternoon. I went from being behind in my word count to being slightly ahead. After dinner I decided to resume writing for a bit more and managed to produce another 1000 words, ending the day with 4,440 words written, bringing my total word count for my novel up to 43,080!


43080 / 50000
(86.16%)

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I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving holiday. And those of you who don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you’ve at least had something that made you feel grateful for the day. We got together with a bunch of friends for a pot luck dinner and game night. We had a real good time, and that is part of the reason that this is being posted so late. I was busy for most of the day, but I did manage to squeeze in a little writing, adding 622 words to bring the total up to 38,640 words. The rest of this weekend will be dedicated to the push to reach that 50,000 word finish line!


38640 / 50000
(77.28%)

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Another busy day today, but somehow between 6 and 7 PM this evening, I managed to get in a great writing sprint. I wasn’t expecting it, but the words flowed so easily. Figures that it was a bit of scene that wasn’t plot important, but was important for establishing character and motivation. It was emotionally important, so it was easy to write. That little sprint netted me 1183 words for today. Still about 300 some words short of where I should be, but I should be able to catch up with that. I am now over 75% done, having written over 38,000 words in this novel. I expect that I won’t be writing tomorrow, due to the Thanksgiving holiday, but I’ll be dedicating Friday, Saturday and Sunday to trying to reach that 50,000 finish line!


38018 / 50000
(76.04%)

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Another day at work, today. Then home through horrid traffic, and then going out to exercise in the rain. After getting cleaned up and grabbing dinner, I barely had an hour to work on writing before it became time to record today’s Galley Table. But I managed to get some words written during the show and afterwards. It wasn’t much, but another 1254 words will keep me ahead of the curve to finish on time. Now I’m over 70% to the 50,000 word goal with 36,835 words written. And I think I’m finally through the tough middle section of the book. Now things should get interesting!

Oh, and I’ve come up with a new working title. The Adventures of Crackle & Bang had always pretty much referred to the entire series, but now I’ve finally come up with a working title that I like. So, until I come up with something better, my novel will be known as The Perils of Prauge: A Crackle & Bang Adventure.


36835 / 50000
(73.67%)

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Back to work today. And after a long day at work, I ended up taking a few hours off to nap. When I did get up and get moving, I managed to get in 1533 words before having to call it a night. So now I am over 71% done with 35,581 words on the clock.

 


35581 / 50000
(71.16%)

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This morning started with another attempt to get my motorcycle ready for storage. While the new battery proved to be adequate to the task of getting the bike to turn over, the old gas had apparently been contaminated with condensation and would no longer start the engine. Now I’ll have to figure out how to drain and change the gasoline.

I did spend most of the day writing, although it was slow going for the most part. I managed to get in 2178 words, bringing my total word count up to 34048. So I am slowly inching ahead of par. It is so odd to struggle through a fairly important section in order to make a transition, then get to a relatively unimportant  part of the book and have the words just pour out of you.

34048 / 50000
(68.1%)

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Today’s mission was to get my motorcycle ready to put into storage for the winter. That means being able to ride it to the friend’s house who is going to be able to store it. I haven’t been able to ride for most of his year because of some medical problems I’ve had to deal with this year. I had been keeping my battery on a charger, but sometime during the year the charger seems to have died. This also meant that I’ve had to get a new battery because the old one doesn’t seem to be able to hold a charge. I’ve no idea if the battery is ruined or not. I’ll have to be able to charge it up first.

So this morning’s first order of business was to go get the new battery. At least it was until I got in my car and the electrical system died. I managed to jigger it into working long enough to head over to the dealership. Good news is that it is covered under warranty and I have a loaner car. Bad news is they won’t be able to diagnose the problem until Monday at the earliest.

But I did get my writing in today! I kept plugging at things and added 2615 words to my story, bringing the total word count up to 31,870 words, putting me slightly ahead of where I should be. My target from here on out is 2000 words a day so I can finish early. Or at least hit 50,000 early. This story seems like it going to run more than 50,000 words. I suspect I won’t finish the first draft until sometime in December.

31870 / 50000
(63.74%)

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