The Words: 2404 words today over the course of 4 sprints with my 11-year-old daughter. She’s been behind for a good portion of the month, but she wrote extra today, too, and bridged the gap a little more. I think she’s got a good shot at hitting her YWP goal of 20k words before the month’s end.

The Story: I came to a spot in my outline that I left blank. Earlier in the month, I saw that and assumed that I’d put it there in case I came up with something to put in it later, and just never did. So I figured that meant nothing went there. But as I approached that spot today, I realized something did go there, because I remember having an idea of what needed to happen to bridge the gap from a trap being laid to it being sprung in the climax. Those ideas are in a character interview somewhere, so I’ll read through it tonight so I can fill in the gap before tomorrow’s writing, when I’ll actually tackle that spot in the outline.

Total word count: 45,695

If you want to join me in my journey through the second year of NaNoToons (with a storyline), check out the NaNoToon from November 22, 2011!

The Words: 2061 words today, in messy sprints throughout the evening where I kept getting distracted by things. But I passed 40k. Only 10 left to go! The draft will definitely need more words than that, though.

The Story: I took some time to explain how the justice system works in the main country of my books, though I’m not completely sure I explained it right. One more thing for revision time. And then the main character was told that he’s a person of interest in a crime.

Total word count: 40,861

If you want to join me in my journey through the second year of NaNoToons (with a storyline), check out the NaNoToon from November 20, 2011!

The Words: 3399 words today, which is the highest daily count for me this month. I finally decided that I didn’t really care this year if I made the story last right up to the end of the month like I have the last few years. I almost didn’t even participate this year, so goodness knows just winning and having a finished first draft will be more than enough. Writing every single day simply isn’t a priority this year.

The Story: I just realized, literally when I was deciding what to write in this section, that I’m doing it again. I’m taking a character that’s not the MC and making her too big. She’s suspected of a crime, a situation that I didn’t plan to last more than a few days, and I’m dragging it out. Plus, the actual MC is sort of there during all of this, but more in the background. That needs to end immediately, he needs to come back to the foreground, and I need to move on.

Total word count: 38,800

If you want to join me in my journey through the second year of NaNoToons (with a storyline), check out the NaNoToon from November 19, 2011!

The Words: 1592 total words, which were all written in the dark of my car while my daughter was at youth group. Our church is half an hour away from our home, so going home while she’s at youth group is pretty much a waste of time and gas. Because it’s November, I took my Neo with me and wrote for a good portion of the time I was waiting. Of course, it was dark, so I couldn’t see what I was doing. And I make more mistakes on the Neo than on the computer, so…it’ll be a really messy block of words. But at least I made good use of my time! I thought about writing more when I got home to get to my current daily goal of 2000, but decided to let it go. I’ve reached an open section of my outline that may be a bit slower to muddle through, so I’ll worry about that tomorrow.

The Story: Today’s writing was mostly characters discussing the situation at hand. They went over some of the things that had happened recently and tried to make some sense of it. I think they’re realizing things I didn’t expect them to realize, so I tried to make them look in another direction. In revision, I will either have to make sure they don’t get quite as many clues as they’ve gotten or let them understand some things earlier than I expected them to, and see what that does to the story.

Total word count: 35,100

If you want to join me in my journey through the second year of NaNoToons (with a storyline), check out the NaNoToon from November 17, 2011!

The Words: 2066 total words, most of which, just like the last two days, was written during 2 sprints with my daughter. Nothing particularly special to today’s writing, but I’m plugging ahead, one small chunk at a time.

The Story: I continued with a few scenes from the antagonist’s POV for most of today’s words. Though she’s not actually the “head honcho,” she’s definitely the best choice for a POV character. I’m really enjoying watching how the behind the scenes action plays out from her perspective, though I think some of what I’m writing is me working it out as I go, even though I thought I had it worked out when I outlined it. It might have still been a little messy, so I’m figuring out how it will work while writing the first draft.

Total word count: 33,508

If you want to join me in my journey through the second year of NaNoToons (with a storyline), check out the NaNoToon from November 16, 2011!