The Words: 1278 words total for the day.

We kept the writing time short today, just a couple of sprints, partly because I’m close to the end of the book, and partly because our whole family just feels crummy right now. At least I was healthy most of the month, which allowed for another great NaNo!

The Story: I got a little too…technical, and also very dark, with the explanation about what the villain gets up to in this book. I really didn’t like it, and probably won’t use any of it. I’m not sure, then, if the best thing to do is to continue to be vague about what she’s doing, or if there’s a way I can just make it sound better. And less dark, because I don’t want to suddenly go down that rabbit hole when the rest of this series is, at least generally, not quite so dark.

I have one scene left, and frankly, I can’t see how it will be very long. Tomorrow will probably be a very short last day of NaNo, unless I’m feeling much better and feel like rewriting some of the scenes from the beginning (an idea I held in reserve in case the draft came up too short and I needed more to write about to finish out the month), because I realized after I wrote them that they were from the wrong character’s POV. But we’ll see what happens tomorrow.

Total word count: 73,895

Enjoy today’s NaNoToon from this day in 2010!

The Words: 2023 words total for the day.

I had to spend some time today doing last-minute changes and formatting work on Outcast, because it’s release date is Tuesday. So my daughter went on writing without me and reached her YWP goal of 20,000 words! But she still did a couple of sprints with me later, which gave me my words for the day.

The Story: Today was a meeting between this book’s villain and a future book’s villain, which was interesting. Though I think the conversation was a bit too calm and civil. Not that it can’t be calm, it just didn’t seem in-character for the current book’s villain, so I’ll have to work on that in editing.

I stopped writing when I moved onto a new scene, because I only have 2 scenes left in the draft. Neither of them do I anticipate to be any longer than 2500 words, so it seems that the best way to reach the end of the draft right at the end of the month is to write one of those scenes tomorrow and one on Monday.

Total word count: 72,617

Enjoy today’s NaNoToon from this day in 2010!

The Words: 2433 words total for the day.

My whole family (that currently reside in the house) was ready for a day of laziness today, and I almost didn’t want to write. But that was all the more reason to insist that I get some words in. I shared with my 10-year-old daughter, who’s done much of this year’s NaNo alongside me, that days like this I like to do a stretch of writing, then take a break for something more lazy like reading or watching a show, then do another stretch of writing. So we did that, and a couple of sessions of writing produced a daily count I was happy with.

The Story: I’m quite pleased with how I powered through the section that I was concerned about slowing me down. Not that I love what I wrote, but that I got through it quickly and moved on to something a little less difficult to write. A major villain of the series is setting herself up in the position that allows her to wreak major havoc on the rest of the country. The scene coming next should be a lot easier to write, and then there are only 2 more planned scenes until the end of the draft!

Total word count: 70,594

Enjoy today’s NaNoToon from this day in 2010!

The Words: 971 words total for the day.

I had less success than I normally do trying to get some writing in during the Thanksgiving festivities, even with my Neo. But I got home earlier in the evening than I normally do after family holidays too, so I was able to get a little bit of writing in before midnight.

The Story: I’m heading into a very rough section, with a lot of darkness and violence. But it’s also a scene I wrote a very long time ago, before this story world and series of stories took the shape they have now. A lot of what happens in this scene can still happen the same way, but while I’ve learned from experience that it’s still better to rewrite something that I already did as writing practice or something, just in case it comes out better in the draft or in case something is different and needs to incorporated as different, it’s still incredibly hard for me to write it quickly. I am slowed down by trying to remember what happened before so I can do it the same way again, even though I tell myself not to do that. So basically, I’m glad I got as many words as I did.

Hopefully I’ll be able to power through it tomorrow so I can pick up the pace again and finish the draft in the next 4 days.

Total word count: 68,161

Enjoy today’s NaNoToon from this day in 2010!

The Words: 2575 words total for the day.

I managed to hit my personal daily word count goal of 2500 today, despite not having all of the extra time to write in the afternoon like I thought I’d have. I had only managed to get 800 words by the time evening came on and thought I might just have to stop there.

Fortunately, I did end up with some more time to write and caught a 30-minute sprint on the @NaNoWordSprints Twitter feed (also known as a #1k30). That got me only a couple hundred words away from my goal, so I wrote for a couple more minutes before calling it a day.

I don’t expect to get many words tomorrow, but hopefully the amount of days left this month and the amount of story in my outline will line up okay.

The Story: I probably shouldn’t have put this storyline off for last, considering that the MC in it is so far out of my comfort zone. But I’m doing what I can, looking in at key parts of her life leading up to the events surrounding the big battle around which all 4 storylines are focused. I got all the way up to a key turning point in her life, and next will have to write about the consequences of that event.

Total word count: 67,190

Enjoy today’s NaNoToon from this day in 2009!

The Words: 2766 words total for the day.

My husband had online course work to complete today (he got a bit behind), so in order to give him some quiet in the computer area, my daughter and I took to the living room to write. For me, this meant using my Neo, which I haven’t used much this month.

We did a 10-minute sprint and a 15-minute sprint, and then took a break for a while. While supper cooked, we did a 20-minute sprint, and that put me past 2500 words (my daily word goal).

I don’t know if it was a coincidence or not, but in all three of those sprints, I hit the upper limit of my average when doing a sprint, meaning how many words per minute I type. Most of the time, I am somewhere in a range with a difference from min to max of only 10 words per minute, though I’ve had some outliers in both directions. But with all three of those sprints, I was at the max. I don’t know if it has anything to do with writing on the Neo or not, though to be honest, it did feel faster. Maybe I should keep doing that and see what happens.

The Story: I was not real thrilled with what I wrote today, but I think that’s just because I had to look at a side of something that I’ve avoided in the past. And I think I got a little out of character with the main character in this storyline, so I’ll have to scrutinize that in the revision and either change it here, or make it part of his character that is seen earlier in the story too.

I think I should be done with this storyline either tomorrow or Tuesday. That will give me a full week, or close to it, to write storyline #4. That may be just enough time, or it may turn out to be too much or too little. If I’m running out of time, I’ll raise my daily word goal. If I end with some days left in the month, I’ll write some new scenes for storyline #1 that I have planned to slim down the length there.

Total word count: 60,642

Enjoy today’s NaNoToon from this day in 2009!