#1k30min

NaNoWriMo Day 26

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The Words: 1864 words today, all in one 30-minute sprint with the @NaNoWordSprints feed on Twitter. I didn’t write at all yesterday, which wasn’t intentional. I usually try to at least get some words in on Thanksgiving, but it was an unusual Thanksgiving for us this year, and I completely forgot to write until after midnight. I’m a little annoyed that I ruined the daily writing streak I’ve had going all month, but not as much as I would be if I wasn’t already planning to stop early if I finished the draft before the end of the month.

The Story: Today was all post-climax falling action. I’m on the last scene of the book, though it’s probably going to be a fairly long scene. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll finish the draft tomorrow.

Total word count: 53,070

If you want to join me in my journey through the second year of NaNoToons (with a storyline), check out the NaNoToon from November 26, 2011!

NaNoWriMo Day 23

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The Words: 4323 words today, starting with a 10-minute sprint with my daughter, who was at the end of her writing time for the evening by then. Then I did a sprint myself and joined in with the @NaNoWordSprints feed on Twitter for a 15-minute sprint and then a #1k30 sprint. That last one ended 15 minutes before midnight, and when I entered my total words from it, I saw I’d just squeaked by the 50k mark!!

The Story: Between knowing that I was close to 50k words and writing a couple of scenes that were leading up to the climax, my adrenaline was pumping a bit tonight. Seriously, my leg still won’t stay still. And now I’ve just started into the climax, which I’ll continue tomorrow.

Total word count: 50,018

If you want to join me in my journey through the second year of NaNoToons (with a storyline), check out the NaNoToon from November 23, 2011!

NaNoWriMo Day 19

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Day 19 writing badge

The Words: 4118 words. The weekly write-in at my local library was today. It’s a small writing group that meets throughout the year, and none of them really do NaNo. Some like to come to the write-ins, though, and work on whatever writing they’re doing. No one showed up last week, so I went home after waiting about 15 minutes. Today, I had higher hopes that some would come, because it’s the Tuesday we normally meet monthly. But when no one was there at the starting time, I decided to start a 20-minute sprint myself, and at least get some writing in while also giving others a chance to arrive late. No one did, but at least I went home with a 1139 jump on my words tonight. The rest I got in a #1k30min sprint and a regular 20-minute sprint with @NaNoWordSprints on Twitter. It felt really good to get a higher word count again.

The Story: For the sprint at the library, I wrote for storyline 2b, which I haven’t spent as much time on this month, but is also the shortest of all the storylines (it is a sub-storyline, after all). The main character in that storyline got a little snarky and called his counterpart out, which was not in my plans.

The rest of the time was spent writing for storyline 2. That included more stress and anger, from the same character, actually. And then I started pantsing a scene that will transition from where I was to the next plot point in my outline.

I don’t quite know if I’m still on track to reach the end of the draft by the end of the month. Going strictly by the numbers, I’m about 70% of the way through my outline, and we’re only 63% of the way through the month. I keep adding new scenes that come up organically, or that seem necessary to get from one plot point to another, though. I’m still hoping to finish with all the little formatting thins I’m working for “Pithea” soon, which will give me the ability to go back to spending more time on my NaNoNovel. Publishing a book is a lot of work.

Total word count: 64,270

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already:
November 19, 2019
This is a good time to watch episode 4 of the NaNoMusical, where things really heat up!

NaNoWriMo Day 16

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Day 16 writing badge

The Words: 1954 words. I sat down to write near the end of a sprint on @NaNoWordSprints on Twitter, so I wrote a little to get warmed up while I waited for a sprint to start. Then they started a #1k30 (write for 30 minutes, try to write 1000 words), and I really hit a stride with the story, ending the half hour with 1637 words. It only took me a few minutes more writing to get to the number I ended with.

The Story: I was back to storyline 2 today, and got to write about a reunion between two old friends that goes back to my NaNoNovel from 2014. While things are drastically different for both of these friends, it was really fun to get to see them together again.

I am not progressing through my outline very quickly any more (it didn’t help that yesterday, I ended up pantsing an entire scene out of nowhere), so these shorter word count days are making me worried that I won’t finish the draft by the end of the month. But cutting it short has been helping me get through the final revision of my soon-to-be-published book, so…priorities.

Total word count: 55,998

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already:
November 16, 2019

NaNoWriMo Day 9

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Day 9 writing badgeThe Words: 3445 words. I caught a #1k30 with @NaNoWordSprints on Twitter in the afternoon when I made some time to try to get a jump on the day’s word count. Then in the evening, I wrote some on my own and some sprints with the Twitter feed. Overall, nothing all that out of the ordinary with today’s writing.

The Story:  I went back to storyline 2 today, where the two characters driving that storyline started off on a major adventure. Unfortunately, their analyzation of every detail on the way to getting started was incredibly dull, so I’ll have to figure out how to liven that up or cut it out in the future (though cutting it out will have them just going with a crap shoot, which doesn’t work for either of their characterizations or for the situation).

Total word count: 34,115

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already:
November 9, 2019

NaNoWriMo Day 7

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Day 7 writing badgeThe Words: 3404 words. Today was just a terrible day. My daughter and I were at odds all day, probably the worst it’s ever been. Not only did I have no chance to get a few words done earlier in the day, by the time my evening writing time came, I was just so drained, both physically and emotionally. I took a shower to try to kind of reboot my mind, then sat down to start writing at about 10:15.

I went straight to the trusty @NaNoWordSprints on Twitter and jumped into a 25-minute sprint with 15 minutes left. After that was a 30-minute (aka #1k30), during which I wrote 1500 words (that definitely helped!). Another sprint and a little more on my own to try to hit 3333 landed me with my total for the day.

The Story:  I went back to storyline 2 today, which at first I thought was going to be a problem, given the late start to my writing. Two characters were poised on the edge of a discovery the details for which I hadn’t really thought out yet. I planned to just gloss over it and move on, but I ended up figuring it out as went along. One of the characters ended up having some insight into what she’s thought to be right and wrong for years, and we’re about to make a huge leap the next time I come back to this storyline!

Total word count: 27,145

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already:
November 7, 2019
And in case you need some extra inspiration, check out the 2nd episode of the NaNoMusical!

NaNoWriMo Day 24

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The Words: 2462 written today.

I have to admit, it’s getting more and more difficult to write, after having already hit 50k, and with the story not really going a direction that feels great. But I am determined to write at least some every day, either until the story is done, or until November ends. I got to twitter.com/NaNoWordSprints during a time of one #1k30min after another. I came late for one, so wrote about 700 while I waited for that sprint to end. Then I wrote another 1300 during the next 30-minute sprint. After that, I was into a part that was more fun to write, so I kept going until I realized it was midnight.

The Story: Though some of it was pretty unbelievable, Justin finished updating the others on what he’d learned about Vin’s doings over the last several years. Then, something happened that I’ve been looking forward to since way before I ever started planning this book. Rogan’s brother finally arrived back in Pithea, after being away for a few months. His reunion with his brother was great!

Total word count: 69,503

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2017 – November 24th

NaNoWriMo Day 22

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The Words: 1982 written today.

Another day getting just past par, which is great after such a slump! Not much more to say here. I also finally wrote with a sprint from @NaNoWordSprints on Twitter, which I haven’t been doing as much lately (no surprise, since I’ve barely even been writing lately). I did one #1k30min, which is where most of the words came from, and then kept going to make sure I passed 1667.

The Story: The climax is definitely over, though I struggled to find the resolution to it that I had planned. I don’t think I’m very good at this kind of thing, which I chalk up mostly to having a decent, tragedy-lite life myself.

Total word count: 66,882

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2017 – November 22nd

I have been remiss in sharing the NaNoMusical as the month has progressed! Here is episode 4!

NaNoWriMo Day 14

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The Words: 1837 written today.

I got done with a #1k30min, for which I skipped past the talking my characters were doing, drawing out the scene before the climax, at least partly because I wasn’t absolutely certain who exactly was going to be part of the climax.

But I skipped by all of that and went straight to the climax, making a quick decision about who was going to be there. Then after that sprint, I realized something–my story is going to end way before the end of the month. I don’t want to be done that early.

I still have 5-6 letters from Vin to write, but if they’re like the others I’ve written, that will give me maybe up to 3-4000 words. And the climax might go on a bit, plus there’s the wrap-up. But it’s only the 14th. So I’m going to try to slow down. I’m not sure it’s any more fun to stop when I’m on a roll than it is to push myself to write a lot in a day, but I don’t want to run out of story on the 20th. Unlike 2015 when I had a 2nd story on the backburner that I started when the first novel ended on the 15th or 16th, I have no back-up plan this year. (Though I could fill the month in a bit with some written brainstorming, because I feel like I left a lot of this story unexplored.)

The Story: Nathan, Clark, and a special guest headed to a hidden, underground lair to try to find Vin. They succeeded in finding him, and then he put most of his cards on the table. There was some discussion, as Nathan in particular tried to talk Vin into giving up his crusade.

But then they started fighting. Fight scenes have always been a problem for me. Add to that the fact that a lot of Power will be used in this fight, and my mind just shuts down. So I summed up what would likely happen during the fighting, leaving the hard part for my future-self to deal with.

Total word count: 57,702

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2017 – November 14th

NaNoWriMo Day 11

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The Words: 7810 written today.

I didn’t get started on writing until 3pm, partly because it was too easy to be lazy when kids were gone and the house was quiet. But Saturdays are the busiest day of the week at my job (escape room company), and while I was not working in-store today, as the director of operations, there is still a lot that goes on through a Saturday that I am involved with, even from home.

I had decided to try a reward system to get through a lot of words–1000 words written, half an hour of laziness, back and forth. That lasted through two or three sessions, and then I got distracted by work things. Then I did a #1k30min with @NaNoWordSprints, and the sprint leader challenged us to move forward or backward in time during our writing. I decided to use that time to write more of Vin’s letters, which are a different timeline than the rest of the story. That came out to 1800 words, and then I was one solid sprint away from 50k. I passed that mark at about 6:15pm!

I wrote a little more after dinner, but then decided it wasn’t a bad idea to stop after that, even though I had a solid 2 hours before midnight. It was a good day!

The Story: I wrote 6 letters from Vin to the pastor. Each of these letters represents an event in which Vin affected the grander story in some way, though 3 of the 6 today were smaller parts of one larger event. He’s basically confessing all of this to the pastor as it happens. The pastor doesn’t know who he is.

Based on my timeline, there will be 5 more letters before the final one. So at least as it relates to Vin’s storyline, I am more than halfway through.

The main storyline took an interesting turn today. Nathan returns to where Penny and the others are with the journals and papers he found in the locked room. They start to read through these writings and discuss how Vin could possibly know all that he knows.

Meanwhile, Cathy has been gone for a few hours, and we leave the others to follow her and see what she’s been doing. This was the 2nd large thing that came up during the writing that I was not anticipating at all. The inclusion of Justin in the story was the first thing. But I had never planned to follow Cathy, and had always expected it to be this big reveal when she showed up with a surprise person.

Total word count: 51,828

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2017 – November 11th