The Words: 1297 written on my Neo.

I headed to my desk to write at around 8:00, expecting to write for an hour before it was time to put my daughter to bed. However, I ended up caught up in something else and didn’t get to writing until 10. At that point, I realized I didn’t have much will for writing today. My husband suggested that I just get a few words out (because I said I at least wanted to keep my streak of writing every day this month) and be done early.

So I did 2 sprints with @NaNoWordSprints and called it a night.

I don’t know for sure why I didn’t want to write today. I think it’s either general week 2 blues or a concern with my outline about to get messy. Or both.

Because a few days back, I realized that I was about halfway through the outline when I wasn’t even at 25k words yet, I started brainstorming more scenes for the story. I didn’t just want random scenes either, because it’s important that this story is long enough to be a book in the end, so it was clear it needed more legitimate scenes.

I came up with a few that were very helpful to the story, and have since thought of some more ideas too. The problem is that they weren’t in my outline. And the outline is somewhat convoluted already, because of the way the story is told in specifically timed flashbacks. So figuring out where these scenes fit is going to be important, but I haven’t taken the time to do that yet. Since I’m nearing the climax of the story, I want to have the other scenes written, so I do need to figure out how to fit them in. And I realized this at some point before or during my writing today, which I think was part of my problem today.

The Story: A unit from the main country’s army mount a rescue mission and are…mostly successful.

Total word count: 37,342

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2018 – November 12th

The Words: 3072 written on my Neo.

I wrote about 1400 in the afternoon alongside my 8-year-old daughter, who was creating things like a cell phone and a laptop out of paper. (Earlier this month, she made me a pencil, a notebook, and a word sprint timer out of paper.) After she made the laptop, she joined me for a 14-minute sprint (pretending to type on said laptop). She has pretended to sprint 3 times in the last 2 days. Each time, I ask her how many words she got before telling her mine, and each time, she picks a number within 50 of what I got, without knowing what I got. Twice now she has beaten me!

After she went to bed, I got the rest of the words during a sprint alongside @NaNoWordSprints on Twitter, and then one final sprint on my own to try to break 3000.

The Story: The king has evidence that the Groucans are working with Antios and tries to warn his people on the front lines before it’s too late. But a devastating outcome is unavoidable, and someone important is taken captive.

Total word count: 36,045

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2018 – November 11th

The Words: 2,027 written on my Neo.

Today was the first time this month that I thought about quitting before I hit the daily goal. I had to work this afternoon, and though it was only for a few hours, I was there about an hour later than I expected to be. So I got a late supper and I had a headache to boot.

I did a few sprints on my own while my 8-year-old daughter did some crafts nearby. When I had gotten to 840 words, I decided I didn’t really want to write any more. It was almost time to put my daughter to bed anyway, and I told her I was done. She convinced me to do a sprint until her bedtime came (11 minutes), so I did, and got another 608 words. At that point, I was close to the daily goal, so I decided to do one final sprint alongside @NaNoWordSprints on Twitter, which got me the rest of the way to my count for the day.

The Story: Today’s writing mostly focused on the concern about the nemesis nation causing trouble in the area where both the nemesis country’s army and the main country’s army are mustered (separately) against Antios’s army. While the main country’s people feel that Antios is much too great a threat to worry about their old feud with their nemesis, they’re not sure the people from the nemesis country agree. Yes, this would be a lot easier if these countries had names.

Total word count: 32,973

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2018 – November 10th

The Words: 2130 written today, all on my Neo again. It’s been my favorite way to write this month.

I wasn’t really feeling the writing today, but I think I know why. I wrote the outline for this story last year, after dreaming up the idea two years ago. During NaNo2016, I was writing the real account of the time my dad spent in the hospital only 2 months before that, and it was very difficult writing. During the month, this romance was playing itself out in my head, and now and then, when I needed a break from the reality of what I was writing, I’d write out whatever scene I’d gotten to of this romance in my head.

This means that the story I am writing this year already has a few scenes written out, and because it was 2 years ago, I have polished it a bit since then, and I really like it. So when I got to one of these scenes today, it was very difficult to write it, knowing that I already had it written in a way that I liked. I knew from past experience that it was better to still write it again, rather than just leave a gap to fill it in later, because A) it would keep the current writing flowing, B) I might hit on something else this time that really belongs in the story, and C) I need the words. However, it still slowed me down and made me less motivated than normal to write.

And I’m not past it yet, so I’ll have to pick up on the same scene tomorrow.

The Story: Lorrin and the king have arrived at her new posting (the front lines during the war against Antios), and she’s just met the famous general who is pretty much her idol. He’s informed her of some pressing issues they’re having with another army that has mustered against Antios–an army from a country that is an old nemesis of the main country in this story (man, I need names for these places). Then, there is a scuffle, and someone is badly injured.

Total word count: 30,946

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2018 – November 9th

The Words: 2139 written today, all on my Neo again, written alongside 3 sprints with NaNoWordSprints. I don’t really have much else to say about the words today.

The Story: Not long into my writing today, I looked at my outline and realized that, while writing away from home yesterday without my outline, I’d gotten a bit off-track. The story isn’t being told in chronological order, but I followed Lorrin from the base to the ship as she is being transferred by the king himself to the front lines. The story is supposed to skip ahead a few years to show the resolution of Lorrin’s time in the remote town dealing with the local animal issue. I realized that after my first sprint, so I made a note to come back to where I was later, and then changed gears.

So I wrote a scene that takes place some time after the war with Antios, when Lorrin is stationed on a different base and reconnects with someone from the past. But this isn’t necessarily a happy reunion, so to avoid more base drama, Lorrin gets herself transferred to the northern-most base in her country (unnamed currently), which is where we find her at the very beginning of the story.

Total word count: 28,816

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2018 – November 8th

The Words: 2896 written today, on my Neo, at my first write-in for the year!

Yesterday, I realized that I was halfway through my outline, but not halfway through the 50,000 words, and not even close to halfway through the month. I prefer to write most of the month, even if I hit 50k early, but that’s harder to do if you run out of story.

I have already started to think of ideas for a 2nd story to start on if I do run out of story, but I’ve decided it will also help if I slow down a bit. I still want to write at least 1667 words every day, because that’s the core of NaNoWriMo, but I won’t be pushing to write any more than that.

The Story: On the ship on the way to the front lines, the king tells Lorrin about the enemy, who is a recent threat to their country. This is mostly shown in flashbacks.

The man leading the enemy army was once the king’s best friend. When they were in their early twenties, Antios itched to explore the world. They’re taught as children that most of the countries out there are off limits to them, for one reason or another. They have some allies, but there is a lot of fear and hatred out there. The king, at this time still a prince, tries to tell Antios that traveling so far is a bad idea, but he sets off on his adventure anyway.

Total word count: 24,233

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2018 – November 6th

The Words: 5686 written today, all on my Neo again. I wrote about 2000 words before I went to bed last night, and then got the rest with sprints throughout the day, both with my region’s Slack group and with NaNoWordSprints. (It helped that I had today off.)

The Story: A character almost got mauled to death by a bear today, completely unexpectedly (even by me). It was a pretty exciting start to the day’s writing. Lorrin has been recalled from the remote town, though, before the situation could be resolved. She is being sent to the front lines to fight under the most renowned general in the army.

Total word count: 21,337

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2018 – November 5th

The Words: 4550 written today, all on my Neo. I didn’t write any last night after midnight, because I knew I’d have plenty of time throughout today to write. Just as I was about to start writing my first words today, I remembered that my home region recently started up a Slack group, so I joined that quickly, and was able to participate in some word wars with a few fellow Wrimos from my region. As helpful as writing with NaNoWordSprints is, I prefer more direct sprints and wars if possible. After getting the daily word goal, I took a break, and then caught a #1k30min on Twitter later, which netted me 1500 more words.

The Story: In today’s writing, we learn about the time that Lorrin spent in a southern region during a particularly brutal war with a very dangerous man. The war is in the background right now though, as some base drama leads to Lorrin being sent to a more remote location to help out with an unusual situation there. As she tries to figure out why local animals are behaving so strangely, she meets a man who does not want her or her fellow soldiers’ help.

Truth be told, they will never come to understand what is going on with the animals, and I am struggling to figure out how (and if) they can even stop the problem, or if it will be a continuous problem. This is the first way in which this story actually connects to my main story world.

Total word count: 15,651

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2018 – November 4th