The Words: 2296 written today.  My husband’s side of the family had their Thanksgiving get-together today. We went straight from church (which was an early morning, as we were both on the worship team today) to their church, where they were hosting the meal. I wrote about 60 words in a notebook there.

Then we came home, scrounged supper, and I fell asleep on the couch. After the kids were settled to bed, I was rested enough to get some real writing done (after taking some time to gush over the article in the local paper about a write-in I attended; see the bottom of the post for more on that).

The Story: The crazy woman has been talked down, and all are safe. More than one suspect have been arrested, though no definitive answers were really given.

Then Darcy went and talked with an older blacksmith who hadn’t been around all week. He recapped the week’s events and said something that led Darcy to a disturbing revelation…at which point the story ended! So that was the “brilliant moment” I was going for, in an attempt to leave the readers in surprise, frustration, perhaps even a little confusion (though not enough to leave them with no idea at all what’s going on). But I know it would need a lot more clarity to ever work. Part of the problem is that the idea for this came to me during NaNo, but would require some real planning to pull off. Something I can’t take the time to do during November. So for now (and likely for a very long time), the story will sit as it is. But it’s done, and the month is only just half over!

Total word count: 57,555

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2015 – November 15th (I haven’t read it yet myself; I’ll have to go do that now!)

On a fun and exciting note, my very first ever write in was in the local newspaper! There was a reporter there, and she asked various questions, while also just jotting notes down while we Wrimos talked amongst ourselves. This is tomorrow’s paper, but it showed up on our porch tonight. Here’s the article:

The Words: 2769 written today. I’ve been working on a word crawl for several days (not constantly, but I keep going back to it). Not only are there word crawls for various fandoms, the crawls break up the monotony of writing the same length sprints over and over. Using the @NaNoWordSprints Twitter feed does a similar thing, but I can start and stop when I want to, so sometimes it’s easier to work with than the Twitter feed.

I’ve been listening to period music a lot this month, from fife and drum music to songs by Father, Son and Friends. I love how it gets me in the right mindset and provides some background noise so the room isn’t so quiet.

The Story: The wife of one of the smiths who’ve died has decided that Darcy’s dad is responsible for her husband’s death. So she has come to exact her vengeance on him, assuming that the police won’t be able to adequately prove his guilt. At the moment, she’s in a stand-off with him. She has a poker in one hand (the very poker that someone murdered her husband with) and a red-hot piece of metal in the other. She’s already stabbed someone with the hot metal, someone who tried to overtake her.

And meanwhile, Darcy is off in the corner puking from the stress. Or possibly from something else that sort of just came up in today’s writing with no real planning (and no reason for why or how it came up the way it did). It may not stay as part of the story in the future.

Total word count: 52,818

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2015 – November 13th

The Words: 3304 written today. I knew I was going to be gone from 8-10 pm, which is some of my prime writing time, so I wrote a couple of 15-minute sprints around 5:30, before supper. I was at 1593 words  for the day when I did get back to the computer in the evening, and I realized that I was only around 3000 words away from reaching 50k. I pushed forward, hoping to make that tonight. Then the ceiling in the room I was in started dripping, and the distraction from taking care of that made the writing a lot less productive than I was hoping for. But I’m coming in today with just a few thousand shy of the win.

(And spoiler for tomorrow, I did keep going and reached 50k at about 12:30 am!)

The Story: It’s the busiest day of the reenactment, and the crowd is abuzz with rumors about everything that’s happened during the week. Then there’s a battle, complete with cannons and muskets and fallen soldiers. Only one of the soldiers doesn’t get back up when the battle is over.

Total word count: 48,793

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2015 – November 11th

The Words: 3128 written today. I went to my first write-in today, and it was not what I was expecting at all. I’m guessing write-ins go a lot of different ways, depending on how many and what type of people attend, or even the setting. We were in a room in the library with tables in a U shape, so we were facing each other mostly. And we talked as much as we wrote. But a write-in at a coffee house or book store maybe wouldn’t be as conducive to talking. I’m only guessing though.

I personally enjoyed the interaction, but if someone wanted to get more writing done, they may not have appreciated the rest of us talking so much.

I went with my sister, who actually lives 45 minutes away, and there are write-ins from our region that are closer to her. But I cajoled her into coming to make me feel less stressed about going alone (she’s a lot more outgoing than I am, but she has expressed that she would like it better if she knew someone at a write-in too). We settled in and introduced ourselves. There were only 3 other Wrimos there, and they were all new to NaNo this year.

There was a reporter from the local paper there during the first hour; she asked questions now and then while we were talking and took pictures. We did a total of two 25-minute sprints together throughout the 2 hours. There was no comparing of word counts afterward, which I assume happens during some write-ins, but this was definitely a very relaxed atmosphere. Two of the others were writing by hand anyway, and not keeping track of their words.

During the first sprint, I wrote over 1500 words. I was a little sad that I fell just barely short of 1667, because I thought it would be fun to say I’d reached the daily word count in the first sprint. But I reached it shortly after. And then I wrote another 1400 during the second sprint. Outside of the sprints, we mostly just talked about NaNo, about writing, and about our stories.

The write-in was a lot of fun, and I’m glad I finally went to one. I will probably go back at least one of the other Tuesdays this month.

I would have done at least some more writing during my normal evening writing time, but tonight my sisters and I had an editing session over Skype.

The Story: After being separated for 5 days, Darcy and her husband of only a few months, Sol, were reunited. The reenactment Darcy’s family is attending lasts for 9 days, and Sol had to go home from Monday through Friday to go to his regular job. Almost the entire day’s word count consisted of her filling him in on what’s happened while he was home and him comforting her. She has multiple reasons to be stressed.

Then Darcy tried to explain to her dad why she’s worried that he might be in danger, but he doesn’t agree with her concerns.

Total word count: 45,489

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2015 – November 10th

The Words: 2477 written today. I decided to try out a word crawl today. I’d heard of them before, but hadn’t ever looked into what they really were. When I looked into some in more detail today, I realized that they might be perfect for my current situation.

Though the words came a lot more slowly than if I were just sprinting 15 minutes at a time with a few minutes in between, it didn’t take as much mental cajoling to get to the writing. I’m not sure why this worked better for me, and it probably won’t always, but since it did today, I’m happy.

The Story: After the bit of action that yesterday’s final line started off, I spent most of today’s words in the mind of someone who’s just lost a loved one and isn’t thinking very clearly. I went down a unhelpful track and then got myself back on the right one, one that will lead to the climax I want.

Total word count: 39,885

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2015 – November 8th

Now that we’re into week 2, I’d love to hear how you are all doing. Are you ahead? Behind? Right on track? Is the story taking on a mind of its own or panning out exactly like you’d hoped? What motivational techniques have you found work or don’t work for you? Are you aiming for 50k, and stopping even if it comes early? Or are you going for an ending to the story?

The Words: 2222 written today. I almost let myself stop after 900 words, because my word sprints were feeling like work, and I thought with the lead I had, maybe it’d be good to stop early today. But I figured I’d keep pushing through. I did another 15-minute word sprint, and it resulted in 1000 words. At that point, I was 4 words away from 2k, so I started into a new scene and ended with the number you see above.

The Story: Have I mentioned that I haven’t been feeling this story. Though I had a couple of new ideas yesterday that brought back some excitement, they didn’t work as well in the incorporation. Well, the first one didn’t. The second one I’m still toying with a bit. If I can pull it off, it might just be brilliant. But if I don’t do it well, it’ll just leave the readers with a, “Huh?” feeling.

Anyway, Darcy did start snooping a bit today. Most of the other blacksmiths at the show  are a bit on the snippy side today. When I have more time to think this through, I may try to figure out how best to drop in proper clues as to what’s going on. I did come up with some of that during October, but not enough.

I wanted to share the last line I wrote today, which will be where I pick up tomorrow:
“In the relative calm that settled in after the kids had left, the scream from the west was all the more disturbing.”

Total word count: 37,408

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2015 – November 7th