The Words: 3002 written on my Neo.

In previous years, I would often write after midnight, before I went to bed, in an effort to get a jump start on the next day’s writing. I’d still get the same amount written in a day, but when I got to my writing the next day, if I already had 500 or more words written, it was obviously so much easier to get the writing done.

I have barely done that this year. Last night, I took my Neo to bed, because I really was in the mood to write some more. I only got 82 words before I was too tired to keep going. Not exactly a huge jump on the day.

The majority of the words came over the course of a few sprints with @NaNoWordSprints.

The Story: Nathan and Clark are educating the king on a particular element that exists in the world that the king’s region knows nothing about, called the Power, and they think they might be able to help stop Antios. But first they have to convince him that they are trustworthy and that they are telling the truth.

Nathan and Clark are two of my absolute favorite characters from my main group of stories. I hadn’t planned for them to be in this story until a few days ago. This story is set in the same world, but a vastly different part of it, that is much more medieval in nature, so in many ways it’s been like writing a brand new story compared to what I’ve been working on for many years. When they met the king in today’s writing and started to talk with him, it felt like I was writing a cross-over episode of a TV show, and it was really weird. But good weird.

Total word count: 47,793

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2018 – November 17th

The Words: 2346 written on my Neo.

I finally got to really delve back into the writing today. I had some time after supper to write, so I did some sprints. Then it was time to put my daughter to bed. After that, I got back to my desk, planning to write some more before midnight, but got distracted. It’s just as well. I’m seriously going to run out of story not long after 50k, and I don’t want to be done that quickly.

Today I had to think about where to go next in the story. I know what else needs to happen, but I’m not sure how it should be ordered. I’ve definitely gotten away from my outline, which is fine, but it slows me down a bit.

Between sprints, I spent some time making notes on my outline. The structure of this story is a bit convoluted, because it’s too boring for me to ever write a normal story. It starts near the end, chronologically speaking, and then the bulk of the story is told in flashbacks. But I’m starting to be less certain about where the “present time” should lead to flashbacks, and where the stories told in the flashbacks should be split up.

Plus, there are several new scenes that I’ve thrown in that I like enough to be pretty sure they’ll stay in the story, but they don’t have a spot in the outline either. Anyway, while doing that, I decided that the next thing I should write is something that I didn’t even know was going to happen in this story, and I don’t know how much will actually be shown to the reader, but as I write it, I’ve realized that it’s absolutely what needs to happen.

The Story: I finished Lorrin’s letter to the king, and am still debating whether or not he’ll ever read it. I suppose he should, or what’s the point of writing it?

Now we’re moving on to see the end of the war with Antios. So it’s going to take an outside force to stop this man, and I know just the duo. They are a big part of the rest of this series, and I’ve even realized that this fight is referenced in the previous book, which I drafted last year…I just didn’t know it until now (isn’t writing fun?). I’m even pleasantly surprised by how much sense it makes that they’re involved in this.

So now, these two, named Nathan and Clark, have shown up asking to see the king. It takes them a little work to convince the people there to allow them an audience, but he is coming in to see them right as I ended today.

(I can’t express how much I love the intersection of these characters that I have written about for 15 years with the king from this story, that up until only a few weeks ago I thought was completely unrelated to my other stories.)

Total word count: 44,791

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2018 – November 16th

The Words: 1867 written on my Neo.

After yesterday, I was pretty amped to write today. Unfortunately, a full day of work, followed by an evening of errands, kept me from having time to write until about 10:15 pm. I did a few sprints with @NaNoWordSprints and was glad to at least get par.

I’m so sleepy now.

The Story: After some catching up with her parents, they tell Lorrin that they’re moving away from their hometown. Actually, Lorrin’s brother drops the news, which annoys her parents (but I loved it). Her brother and niece are staying in the hometown though.

Then we cut back to where I last was in the main story, which is talking about new developments at the front lines base where Lorrin is stationed. Antios has started to really amp up his attacks, but has proven very difficult to stop.

Total word count: 41,924

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2018 – November 14th

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