After passing the 50,000 word NaNoWriMo finish line, all of my motivation evaporated. Big time. I said, "Oh it would be cool to finish by December anyway." Then, "Oh it would be cool to finish by Christmas." Then, "Oh it would be cool to finish soon." But I only piddled and I never sat down for some serious writing. Finally, I decided to ditch the wimpy goals and make myself a firm deadline: Finish the novel by my birthday. Or else.
Please note that even in that firm statement, the definition was still a little fuzzy. Is that "by my birthday" as in before the day or "by my birthday" as in by the end of the day? By default, I chose the second definition and geared up my energies to finish the novel before midnight on the day of my birthday.
I can proudly say, that at 11:57 pm the day of my birthday I wrote the final sentence of my NaNoWriMo novel.
Final word count? 61,647
Other statistics? 27 days to write 50,010 words. 77 days to write 11,637 words.
(There are a lot of sevens in this post)
I am proud to have completed Step 1.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
The Toils and Delights of the Interweb
Sometimes I really love the Interweb. Sometimes I despise it. And I both love and hate it for pretty much the same reasons. Here's an example of why it's wonderful:
2-3 months ago someone posted a link on Twitter -->
I followed this link -->
I read the page, enjoyed the page, left the tab open for 2-3 months so I wouldn't lose the link-->
Last week I showed my sister the page -->
She read the page, enjoyed the page, asked me to send her the link -->
Yesterday I sent her the link AND I posted the link on Facebook -->
Last night a friend starting chatting to me about the link-->
This morning I had feedback on Facebook about the link AND I saw on Twitter that my sister had pinned the link on Pinterest
It's exhausting; all the in-and-outs and back-and-forth and the mess of social media sites can just run you in circles. But this story is about someone bringing a fun site to my attention, which I passed on, and this morning I smiled because my sister had passed it on even further. That's pretty cool.
By the same token, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to keep things separate on the Interweb. I learned today that in order to sign up for Pinterest you absolutely must link it to your Twitter or Facebook profile. That means anything you like on Pinterest will be posted to Twitter and/or Facebook whether you want to share that news with everyone or not. This was not the case two weeks ago.
I regret signing up for Google+. I thought it was a nice enough design, and Facebook could stand to have some real competition, but it's not worth it. Google+ is a parasite that wraps itself around your heart and sends its tentacles into your bloodstream (Fringe fans, you should have a pretty clear image of this). I can't get rid of it without destroying my pre-exisiting Gmail account and I'm pretty sure it messes with this Blogger account. Maybe I'd like to have a little more anonymity here than there. That should be my choice. And maybe I'm exaggerating, but maybe I'm not because it's so difficult to see what my site looks like on the outside. A few places have a "view as so-and-so" feature, but it's not widespread enough to be of much use.
I want to see all the sites I use from the outside, not just the inside.
I want to set up a different profile on every site, even if they're owned by the same people.
On that note, I want a comprehensive list of who's in business with whom. (I'm sure it exists, but where?)
In regards to the Pinterest example, I want to choose the particular items I post to Facebook or Twitter. Maybe I will post everything, but even if that's the case, I want to push the button each time.
So, that's just a little rant that's been on my mind. I've never been a fan of watching my back and sleeping with one eye open, but it seems we're heading that way. The Interweb can provide many magical moments, but I don't like the idea of wild magic. I prefer to wield the magic myself rather than hand my wand to someone else.
All right, enough metaphors. Here is the aforementioned link that had traversed so far http://www.box.com/shared/static/a6omcl2la0ivlxsn3o8m.jpg. It's a highly entertaining flow chart that helps you choose a fantasy or science fiction book to read.
2-3 months ago someone posted a link on Twitter -->
I followed this link -->
I read the page, enjoyed the page, left the tab open for 2-3 months so I wouldn't lose the link-->
Last week I showed my sister the page -->
She read the page, enjoyed the page, asked me to send her the link -->
Yesterday I sent her the link AND I posted the link on Facebook -->
Last night a friend starting chatting to me about the link-->
This morning I had feedback on Facebook about the link AND I saw on Twitter that my sister had pinned the link on Pinterest
It's exhausting; all the in-and-outs and back-and-forth and the mess of social media sites can just run you in circles. But this story is about someone bringing a fun site to my attention, which I passed on, and this morning I smiled because my sister had passed it on even further. That's pretty cool.
By the same token, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to keep things separate on the Interweb. I learned today that in order to sign up for Pinterest you absolutely must link it to your Twitter or Facebook profile. That means anything you like on Pinterest will be posted to Twitter and/or Facebook whether you want to share that news with everyone or not. This was not the case two weeks ago.
I regret signing up for Google+. I thought it was a nice enough design, and Facebook could stand to have some real competition, but it's not worth it. Google+ is a parasite that wraps itself around your heart and sends its tentacles into your bloodstream (Fringe fans, you should have a pretty clear image of this). I can't get rid of it without destroying my pre-exisiting Gmail account and I'm pretty sure it messes with this Blogger account. Maybe I'd like to have a little more anonymity here than there. That should be my choice. And maybe I'm exaggerating, but maybe I'm not because it's so difficult to see what my site looks like on the outside. A few places have a "view as so-and-so" feature, but it's not widespread enough to be of much use.
I want to see all the sites I use from the outside, not just the inside.
I want to set up a different profile on every site, even if they're owned by the same people.
On that note, I want a comprehensive list of who's in business with whom. (I'm sure it exists, but where?)
In regards to the Pinterest example, I want to choose the particular items I post to Facebook or Twitter. Maybe I will post everything, but even if that's the case, I want to push the button each time.
So, that's just a little rant that's been on my mind. I've never been a fan of watching my back and sleeping with one eye open, but it seems we're heading that way. The Interweb can provide many magical moments, but I don't like the idea of wild magic. I prefer to wield the magic myself rather than hand my wand to someone else.
All right, enough metaphors. Here is the aforementioned link that had traversed so far http://www.box.com/shared/static/a6omcl2la0ivlxsn3o8m.jpg. It's a highly entertaining flow chart that helps you choose a fantasy or science fiction book to read.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Validated
I tell you what, I saw that finish line and I took off. Two days ago (we're pretending it's still the 27th, so on the 25th I had 8,751 words remaining. Even though that's pretty close to 9,000 which is pretty close to 10,000 if you divide it in half it doesn't look so bad. I decided that I would LOVE to push for the over 4,000 a day and finish today (the 27th). Distractions come and hot water heaters break, but my resolve never faltered. I pushed through and passed the 50,000 mark just before midnight. Unfortunately, it took me longer than those ten minutes to figure out where the validation button was hiding, so NaNoWriMo thinks I finished on the 28th.
But we know the truth!!!
I wrote 50,021 words in 27 days. Really it took me right around 42 hours of actual writing time (let's not talk about procrastinating, I mean, contemplating time). For the final day, my stats:
Your Average Per Day: 1,853
Words Written Today: 4681
Target Word Count: 50,000
Target Average Words Per Day: 1,667
Total Words Written: 50,021*
Words Remaining: 0
Current Day: 27
Days Remaining: 4
At This Rate You Will Finish On: November 27, 2011
Words Per Day To Finish On Time: 0
*I feel I must mention that even though I "won" NaNoWriMo, I haven't actually finished the story. I do have a few more scenes left to go, even though I can feel it winding down. If I'm really good, I will push myself to finish the actual story by the end of the month. If not, I know I need to finish it soon. Even so, I am fully celebrating crossing the hurdle of 50,000 words, especially since this is my first year attempt.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Sighting the Finish Line
I know I updated yesterday, but I have to comment about today's success. Today, I needed 38,333 in order to be on par. At one of my stopping places, I was at 38,333 precisely. Yes, I wanted to add "he said" to the end of the sentence, but I left it 38,333 for a couple of hours just for fun. Tomorrow's par is 40,000, but I planned to take Thanksgiving off, so I preferred to pull ahead rather than behind. Happily, my stats tonight are these:
Your Average Per Day: 1,754
Target Average Words Per Day: 1,667
Words Written Today: 3,529
Target Word Count: 50,000
Total Words Written: 40,356
Words Remaining: 9,644
Current Day: 23
Days Remaining: 8
At This Rate You Will Finish On: November 28, 2011
That's right. I now have less than 10,000 words to finish NaNoWriMo. Now I think I am going pass 50,000 words before I run out of novel, but that's okay. I would rather have that problem than try to write 10,000 words of fluff.
I would love to validate my novel early, and I have a pretty packed work schedule until into December, so here's hoping I stay ahead of the curve.
Happy Thanksgiving to all & to all a good night!
Your Average Per Day: 1,754
Target Average Words Per Day: 1,667
Words Written Today: 3,529
Target Word Count: 50,000
Total Words Written: 40,356
Words Remaining: 9,644
Current Day: 23
Days Remaining: 8
At This Rate You Will Finish On: November 28, 2011
That's right. I now have less than 10,000 words to finish NaNoWriMo. Now I think I am going pass 50,000 words before I run out of novel, but that's okay. I would rather have that problem than try to write 10,000 words of fluff.
I would love to validate my novel early, and I have a pretty packed work schedule until into December, so here's hoping I stay ahead of the curve.
Happy Thanksgiving to all & to all a good night!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
The Myth of Writer's Block
Okay, this is the Week 3 update for NaNoWriMo, but I cheated and waited until I had good news before posting this. To explain the title, I don't believe in Writer's Block -- it's just a mythical creation to excuse a day off. Still, I do believe in Writer's Boredom which is what struck this week. I reached a surprisingly muddy part of the story and found that I hated the story, the characters, the very concept. The beginning of the week I piddled around, and produced a lousy amount of material. Last Tuesday, I had set the goal of 3,000 words since I didn't have work -- I ended up with 276. Pathetic. Finally, I threw in a completely random and inappropriate flashback, just to write something out of context. By the end of the flashback I had figured out how to continue and suddenly, it was like the faucet had been turned back on.
I think the hardest thing to do is to remember to think ahead. I'm no good with outlines, so most of this is on the fly, but once I come to the end of the scene I want to know where to go next. I think that's what got me in trouble early last week and I needed the time outside the main story to decide how to continue. The benefit of this experience is it helps me learn what kind of writer I am and what I need to do for lengthy projects. Hopefully, at the end I can say that this particular project was a success.
Here are my stats from the end of today (as I said, not actually representative of the week):
Your Average Per Day: 1,673
Target Average Words Per Day: 1,667
Words Written Today: 3,560
Target Word Count: 50,000
Total Words Written: 36,827
Words Remaining: 13,173 (looks pretty good, I'd say!)
Current Day: 22
Days Remaining: 9
At This Rate You Will Finish On: November 29, 2011 (how I hope this is true)
I think the hardest thing to do is to remember to think ahead. I'm no good with outlines, so most of this is on the fly, but once I come to the end of the scene I want to know where to go next. I think that's what got me in trouble early last week and I needed the time outside the main story to decide how to continue. The benefit of this experience is it helps me learn what kind of writer I am and what I need to do for lengthy projects. Hopefully, at the end I can say that this particular project was a success.
Here are my stats from the end of today (as I said, not actually representative of the week):
Your Average Per Day: 1,673
Target Average Words Per Day: 1,667
Words Written Today: 3,560
Target Word Count: 50,000
Total Words Written: 36,827
Words Remaining: 13,173 (looks pretty good, I'd say!)
Current Day: 22
Days Remaining: 9
At This Rate You Will Finish On: November 29, 2011 (how I hope this is true)
Monday, November 14, 2011
Meet Algernon
Btw... I realized in writing the post below that I never introduced my new car. Meet Algernon:
Algernon is a nautical blue Toyota Matrix (pre-owned) with everything I could have wanted and more. Poor Richard the Lionheart fell in a terrible accident, but he died nobly, protecting his family and even strangers. Algernon and I took to each other right away and he has graciously stepped in to fill the void Richard left behind. Oh, and did I mention he has a sunroof?
Algernon is a nautical blue Toyota Matrix (pre-owned) with everything I could have wanted and more. Poor Richard the Lionheart fell in a terrible accident, but he died nobly, protecting his family and even strangers. Algernon and I took to each other right away and he has graciously stepped in to fill the void Richard left behind. Oh, and did I mention he has a sunroof?
20,000 Words Onto the Page
This update pertains to yesterday, so take a moment to pretend it is Sunday, November 13 and the end of the week. This was an interesting week now that the show has closed and it was my first pure American Greetings week since I started in September. Monday was a very important day. Algernon went on his first road trip with Mom and I to College Station and carried home his first load -- my desk and three boxes of books. Oh, and while in CS I had to go to Hastings. And buy two more books.
The rest of the week I pretty much devoted to writing a book and getting caught up from performance week. Friday, I met trouble when I got sick. I managed to write for a full 5 minutes, churning out a prolific 130 words before succumbing to a medicine-induced sleep (I slept the entire day.) When I read the thing in December, I'll see if those 130 words stick out horribly. Fortunately, I had the rest of the weekend to make up for lost time.
What I found this week is that it does start to come more naturally. Last week I sometimes struggled to get 450 words out of a half hour, this week I'm consistently getting 650. However, my concern for the weeks ahead is that I'm going to run out of story. I may need to do something drastic! For this week however, I am proud to report that I have caught up! Here are the stats from last night:
Your Average Per Day: 1,646
Target Average Words Per Day: 1,667
Words Written Today: 3,325
Target Word Count: 50,000
Total Words Written: 21,402
Words Remaining: 28,598
Current Day: 13
Days Remaining: 18
At This Rate You Will Finish On: November 30, 2011
This is the first time it has told me I will finish in November! Woohoo!
The rest of the week I pretty much devoted to writing a book and getting caught up from performance week. Friday, I met trouble when I got sick. I managed to write for a full 5 minutes, churning out a prolific 130 words before succumbing to a medicine-induced sleep (I slept the entire day.) When I read the thing in December, I'll see if those 130 words stick out horribly. Fortunately, I had the rest of the weekend to make up for lost time.
What I found this week is that it does start to come more naturally. Last week I sometimes struggled to get 450 words out of a half hour, this week I'm consistently getting 650. However, my concern for the weeks ahead is that I'm going to run out of story. I may need to do something drastic! For this week however, I am proud to report that I have caught up! Here are the stats from last night:
Your Average Per Day: 1,646
Target Average Words Per Day: 1,667
Words Written Today: 3,325
Target Word Count: 50,000
Total Words Written: 21,402
Words Remaining: 28,598
Current Day: 13
Days Remaining: 18
At This Rate You Will Finish On: November 30, 2011
This is the first time it has told me I will finish in November! Woohoo!
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