Day Twenty-Eight

FINISHED!   63741 words.  

Well, when I say finished, please understand that this is only a relative expression.  I'm finished with the rough draft.  I hit 50,000 words in record time, for me anyway.  But this went far longer than I anticipated.  This is not a bad thing.  There is a lot going on in the novel.  I had to tie up loose ends.  Or I felt I had to. 

anyway: here is my final breakdown:

DAY	Goal	Actual	Buffer	day total	over/under avg	%	Average
1	1667	1813	146	1813	146	3.626	1813
2	3334	4052	718	2239	572	8.104	2026
3	5001	6260	1259	2208	541	12.52	2086.667
4	6668	9176	2508	2916	1249	18.352	2294
5	8335	11109	2774	1933	266	22.218	2221.8
6	10002	13006	3004	1897	230	26.012	2167.667
7	11669	15138	3469	2132	465	30.276	2162.571
8	13336	18009	4673	2871	1204	36.018	2251.125
9	15003	19725	4722	1716	49	39.45	2191.667
10	16670	21435	4765	1710	43	42.87	2143.5
11	18337	23569	5232	2134	467	47.138	2142.636
12	20004	25529	5525	1960	293	51.058	2127.417
13	21671	27223	5552	1694	27	54.446	2094.077
14	23338	29071	5733	1848	181	58.142	2076.5
15	25005	32007	7002	2936	1269	64.014	2133.8
16	26672	34540	7868	2533	866	69.08	2158.75
17	28339	37645	9306	3105	1438	75.29	2214.412
18	30006	40886	10880	3241	1574	81.772	2271.444
19	31673	43428	11755	2542	875	86.856	2285.684
20	33340	45586	12246	2158	491	91.172	2279.3
21	35007	47366	12359	1780	113	94.732	2255.524
22	36674	47366	10692	0	-1667	94.732	2153
23	38341	50011	11670	2645	978	100.022	2174.391
24	40008	53598	13590	3587	1920	107.196	2233.25
25	41675	56022	14347	2424	757	112.044	2240.88
26	43342	58706	15364	2684	1017	117.412	2257.923
27	45009	61019	16010	2313	646	122.038	2259.963
28	46676	63741	17065	2722	1055	127.482	2276.464

Day Twenty-six --

Guess I missed yesterday.  I got in an average of about 2500 words both yesterday and today.  I'm just over 58000 words now.   The novel is about 95% complete.  I think I will possibly finish tomorrow, but just to be safe, I'm thinking it will more likely be Wednesday.   I am in the tail end of the big ending conflict/resolution.    Then I need to tie things up and sail in for a smooth landing.  

Day Twenty-Four!

Up to 53598 words today, over 3500 more words lumped on the total.  There is no question now of "winning" NaNoWriMo.   I just need to finish the novel.  I estimate two to three days to complete it.  Or this version of it.  Not sure how many words I'll end up with.  The story is telling itself at this point.  I'm just a conduit.  We'll see. 

I haven't posted my entire progress table in a while .. here's how I made 50,000 words this year:

DAY	Goal	Actual	Buffer	day total	over/under avg	%	Average
1	1667	1813	146	1813	146	3.626	1813
2	3334	4052	718	2239	572	8.104	2026
3	5001	6260	1259	2208	541	12.52	2086.667
4	6668	9176	2508	2916	1249	18.352	2294
5	8335	11109	2774	1933	266	22.218	2221.8
6	10002	13006	3004	1897	230	26.012	2167.667
7	11669	15138	3469	2132	465	30.276	2162.571
8	13336	18009	4673	2871	1204	36.018	2251.125
9	15003	19725	4722	1716	49	39.45	2191.667
10	16670	21435	4765	1710	43	42.87	2143.5
11	18337	23569	5232	2134	467	47.138	2142.636
12	20004	25529	5525	1960	293	51.058	2127.417
13	21671	27223	5552	1694	27	54.446	2094.077
14	23338	29071	5733	1848	181	58.142	2076.5
15	25005	32007	7002	2936	1269	64.014	2133.8
16	26672	34540	7868	2533	866	69.08	2158.75
17	28339	37645	9306	3105	1438	75.29	2214.412
18	30006	40886	10880	3241	1574	81.772	2271.444
19	31673	43428	11755	2542	875	86.856	2285.684
20	33340	45586	12246	2158	491	91.172	2279.3
21	35007	47366	12359	1780	113	94.732	2255.524
22	36674	47366	10692	0	-1667	94.732	2153
23	38341	50011	11670	2645	978	100.022	2174.391
24	40008	53598	13590	3587	1920	107.196	2233.25

Day Twenty-Three

Okay, I took a couple of days off of posting.  Sorry.  Things get hectic around here on the way to Thanksgiving.   I did write on day 21, Wednesday.  I hit a minimal 1700+ words and pushed myself to about 47500 or so words.  Just a rough guess. 
Thursday, I was busy with some cleaning and a LOT of cooking.  Menu was Turkey and Dressing,  a green bean casserole (family recipe, definitely not your usual green bean casserole), two family gelatin salads, one from Gretchen's family and one from mine.  A corn casserole and a sweet potato "pudding" recipe ... both of which have been added over the years.  We had a smattering of other things, like the requisite cranberry sauce and olives.  Also a couple of things people brought, a spinach/artichoke dip and some deviled eggs. 
All in all it was a good day.  But no writing.  I didn't write last Thanksgiving either.  I had a buffer going into Thursday of over 12,000 words. 
Today, day 23 I managed a minimal word count, but since I was off today, I managed to kick back in gear and crank out another thousand or so words.  I pushed my self over 50,000.  This is five days earlier than I have ever hit 50,000 words before.  So there is no question of being called a "winner" on NaNoWriMo this year but ... the novel draft is still not finished.  I think I have at least two good days of writing ahead to actually call this draft finished. 
So, I'm pushing on ... the novel will come in at whatever word count it ends up with. 

Day TWENTY ---

Another 2100+ words today, bringing my total to 45,586    Worked mostly on setting up for a the really big scene of the novel.  Not sure how long that will take.  I want to finish close to 50,000 but I don't want to rush it either.  I'm thinking somewhere around 55,000 or 60,000 overall.  We'll see how it goes. 

Day NINETEEN

I hit a major turning point in my story.  The diversion from my original storyline has been completed and I think it was all worth the extra trip.  There is a slight twist that adds a bit more to the story overall.  At least so it seems to me. 
Total as of today is 43428.  I managed 2500+ words today.  My buffer stands really close to 12000 words  I think if I wrote the minimum average of 1667 words I'd be at only about 31673 today. 
I've never been this far this quickly in NaNoWriMo before.  It feels good.
But what feels better is the fact that the story is going so well.  It isn't just word counts, it is word counts telling an actual story that seems to make some sense. 
Oh, don't get me wrong ... writing this fast you can be sure that it is pretty awful   But at the core, there is the basis for a good story.  The foundation, the structure, the overall look and feel of the thing is I think something that I can work with and craft into something worthwhile. 

Day EIGHTEEN ...

Today I broke the 40,000 word mark.  Offically at 40,886.  Just over 3200 words today.

The coolest thing, and the scariest thing about hitting 40,000 are both related.  As one approaches 40,000 words, it can be really easy to have some anxiety about writing so many words.  Where it it going?  What is the point?  Even with a plan, even with an outline, it is easy to veer off into some uncharted territory.  I have been doing this of late.  A huge diversion.  It seemed like a good idea, but I wasn't sure of exactly where it was going.  After finishing today, I came up with a new idea, a new angle.  It HAS a point.  Yay.  That is the cool thing  At 40,000 words, it is almost magic.  The idea just popped into my head.  The pieces are fitting together in my head like a jigsaw puzzle.  Wow. 

Day 17.  I am now slightly over the 75% point, at least as far as 50,000 words are concerned.

Official count is 37645 words.   Just over 3100 words today.  I think that is my best count so far this year, certainly way over my average, which currently stands at over 2200 words a day.

One of the stats on the NaNoWriMo site is a count of how many words you need to currently average to just finish on November 30 ... mine is now about 800 words.  I think that stat works a lot better if you are behind ... it tells you "you need to bump it up to 1800 words a day now to catch up and win."  But in my perspective, it is interesting.  Like I am going to slack off now and just cruise with 800?  Nope. 

The story is trucking along ... the main character has a crisis going on ... his last crisis before the big climax of the story.  Not sure how close to 50,000 I will end this thing.  It may well go over.  That's okay  with me. 

Day SIXTEEN

I managed 2500+ words today.   I'm up to 34540 words now.  I've been setting up a couple of action scenes for a few days now.  Accomplished one today, and that leads to another one.  These both lead the character to the eventual climatic events of the novel ... I have just over 15000 words to hit the apex of the story, then start winding it down.

As I've said before, it isn't just about writing a lot of words.  You have to create a story with a beginning, middle, and end.  You can digress, creating eddies  and whirlpools within the story, you can examine rooms off the main hallway, you can introduce quirky characters with telegrams ... you can do a lot of things, but at some point you follow the general three point outline: beginning, middle, and end.  Somewhere near the end of the middle, all your work should begin to culminate in some event or series of events ... this is where it all should start to make some sense, or at least you deliver the main course of the literary feast you have been preparing and cooking all of this time.  Then, after this feast,  you can start on dessert and start clearing the table, effectively ending the story.  In NaNoLand, if you do all of that right, it should be right around or after the 50,000 word point. 

At least that is the general working theory. 

DAY FIFTEEN ... the more or less halfway point.  Except I am way beyond the halfway point ... Today I had my single largest daily word count of 2012 NaNoWriMo.  I came in at 2936 words, and that was in a rare 2 writing session outing.  I was interrupted by life in mid session, and then was delayed getting back to my writing for about 40 minutes, then got back into my novel and hammered away for about another 35 or 40 minutes. 

My overall total stands at 32007. 

The best news is that my plot is moving along as well ... I am set up to delve into a major scene tomorrow and all of this will help set up the overall climax several thousand words down the line.  I can't wait to see how it comes out! 

Day Thirteen and Day Fourteen

Okay, so I skipped yesterday. 

I ended yesterday at 27223 words and ended today at 29071.  I've had a bit of a disrupted morning schedule both days.  I should be back on my regular schedule tomorrow and have set myself up for a good start, so I hope to increase my output slightly.

My average has dropped but is still over 2000 words a day.  My buffer is still standing at over three full days of "words" so I am doing okay.  Unlike previous NaNoWriMo attempts, I have yet to drop below the theoretical average of 1667 word a day so I fell really good about that.

Two of my writing buddies are already over 50,000 words.  I have concluded that they must be mad.   :-)

Day TWELVE. 
Okay, I generally don't care too much for milestones but this is a good one.  If I am shooting for 50,000 miles, then I just passed the fifty percent mark.  25529 words as of today.  My buffer has increased to over 5500 words.   1960 words today.   Below my average but still above the theoretical average of 1667.

Day Eleven. 

Okay, I guess I forgot to post yesterday.  Oops. 
Yesterday was a mild success.  At least I made my quota, pecking out 1710 words.

Today I managed a healthy  2134.  The plot is moving along.  My total word count is currently 23569 words.  My main character thought he had a bold plan, he thought he had it all worked out.  He was balking at skeptics.  But he became his own worst skeptic, and that looming prophecy he encountered earlier has come back to haunt him and make him doubt his own plans even more.  So what?  New plans.  Maybe. 

I was so tired yesterday I just leaned back in the recliner and zonked right out.  I woke up later to find FIVE CATS all cuddled, splayed, draped and whatnot all over my body.  A veritable cat blanket. 

Day NINE.   I stopped just short of 20,000 words today.  My day's total was 1716 words.  I stand at 19725 words.  This was my lowest daily word count in 9 days but I was tired this morning because I was up later than usual last night and decided to sleep in an extra 40 minutes or so. 
Still, I managed more words that the theoretical minimum of 1667.  And even if I hadn't managed that,  I have a good buffer.  Still, I am a miser with my buffer. 
Do I feel bad about my lower production today?  No.  This is because I introduced a major story element, one that will drive my main character on toward the climax and conclusion of the story.  Up to this point I have been introducing my character and his surroundings.  There have been explanations and flashbacks.  Good for the backstory and generally good for raw wordcounts,  but it is time to take a sharp left turn and start moving this puppy along.  This is what I accomplished today and I feel very good about it. 

Day 8.

Okay, one week in and I am at about 36% of 50,000 words ... that equates to 18009 words as of my writing session this morning.   I was way over my personal goal of 2000 words, hitting over 2800 today.  I've added a few more minor characters but I am lagging behind on the action.  Still, I had a good flashback today, further establishing a plot element central to my main character.  Okay, it was a full-fledged digression but it was some fun writing. 
With cooler weather, the house is cooler in the morning.  That means I have to contend with cats wanting to snuggle with me as I sit and write.   My most comfortable writing is in an easy chair in my living room, when I'm using my laptop.  There is not much room for both the laptop and one, two, or sometimes more cats.  It was a struggle this morning with both Dobie and Cookie trying to nudge the laptop out of the way.  Finally Cookie got on the back of the chair and Dobie allowed himself to be skootched to the side, sort of wedging himself between me and the arm of the chair. 

It is official ... I passed two milestones today.  I passed 15,000 words which meant I also passed the thirty percent mark. 
Totals so far:
DAY    Goal    Actual    Buffer    day total    over/under    avg    %      Average

  7         11669    15138    3469    2132              465         30.276    2162.6

Day six of NaNoWriMo ... sitting at just over 13000 words.  I'm pretty much through an expository section I had been plodding through ... getting back to the meat and potatoes of the story tomorrow, hopefully.  I've found that writing a lot of dialog is a real word count generator, so with this exposition, there has been minimal dialog. 

Still shooting for ending this thing shortly after 50,000 words so with that as a general goal, I should be well past 25%.  Closing in on 30% tomorrow, depending on how my word count comes out. 

Today, my word count was below my general personal goal of 2000 words, but still well above the NaNoWriMo goal of 1667 words a day. 

As usual, I'm starting to generate some down the line story ideas I hadn't thought of before, and have managed to do a couple of tweaks to things I've already written to accomodate those changes.  I try to squeeze those changes in after I've finished my writing for the day. 

Okay, I had a very slow start today.  I kept wanting to fine tune bits of research.  I relegate myself about 1-2 hours in the morning to write.  I've found that if I defer that to later, I will never write that day.  It just never works in my schedule.  I have plenty of time to do mindless research at other times.  I finally managed to tear myself away from that notion and get down to writing. 
Overall total is now 11109 words ... almost 2800 words over the theoretical goal of 1667 words a day.  I am almost at the twenty-five percent mark.

Here is my stat sheet for my current progress, from the spreadsheet I use:

DAY Goal Actual Buffer day total over/under avg % Average 1 1667 1813 146 1813 48 3.626 1813 2 3334 4052 718 2239 572 8.104 2026 3 5001 6260 1259 2208 541 12.52 2086.667 4 6668 9176 2508 2916 1249 18.352 2294 5 8335 11109 2774 1933 266 22.218 2221.8

The end of daylight savings time.  I still think the time change is the bunk.  Leave it like it is ... one way or another.  Still, our body clocks get to enjoy a day or two of beneficial results, hard earned the other way last Spring. The time change does nothing in my opinion.  And the slight beneficial effects will be absorbed by routine soon enough. 

Anyway, I pulled out to a total word cout of 9176 words today, 2916 for the day.  Sure I could have written a little more and hit three thousand but you know what?  I was at a good stopping place for the day.  2916 or 3000, it doesn't really matter.  I've left myself enough of the story in my head where I can sit down and start running in the next session.  THAT is more important.  Getting a good start is better that writing one's self out and then sitting down the next time and wondering ... now what? 

Day 3 ... word total is 6062 ... about 12.5% done on the way to 50,000.  I see trying to complete the novel over but near 50,000 as one of the challenges of NaNoWriMo.  In the writer forums you see people saying they are going for 60/70/80K even up to over 100K words. That is all fine and good I suppose.  I'm lucky to get in my daily average because I have a family and work a job. 
I am keeping to my plan but let me say this about my plan.  Plan?  hahahahaha.  It is a rough outline.  I veered slightly today.  New character and new idea.  I also tapped a memory I hadn't thought about in years and years.  See, novelists generally have good memories about seemingly mundane events in their pasts.  Their muse taps these if they are on the ball and can pull from the inspiration.  Novels are generally about people doing things you or I would do.  Your characters may or may not react the same way you might, but your entire life provides examples and indicators of what your character might say or do.  Novels are like dreams, unfolding on the paper (or the screen) in myriad ways, just like dreams might.  And as that story unfolds, lost memories can pop up in you, the writer's, mind. That's what happened today.  It so happens I used to have a clunky old car with a faulty starter.  My character had already shown some inclination toward having "starter anxiety" whenever he put the keys in the ignition of his car and I tapped that memory to explain why.  My memory was impressed on his memory, explaining in some detail about the why and how of this situation.  Geez, I hadn't thought about that old car in years ... mental block, probably. 

I had a good morning, pushing my word count to 4052 words.  That gives me a daily average of slightly over 2000 words a day.  That is my theoretical personal goal, 2000 words a day, a bit more than the NaNoWriMo goal of 1667.  Anything over that 1667 number builds my buffer and the more buffer I have, the more I know I can slack off if I need to.  The funny thing is, in the past I have become a miser with that buffer.  I covet it.  I don't want to let it go.  But it is nice to know it is there in case I feel I need it.  Last year I missed only one day in writing during NaNoWriMo ... Thanksgiving Day.  And I had every intention of writing that day too, I just ended up being too busy.  I felt guilty all day too ... and I was close to the end as well ... which only added to the guilt.  Why?  Because when you start on a project like this, it takes on a mind of its own, that's why.  The creative process churns and percolates and molds your ideas into constructs that veer into directions you never ever thought it might go when you first started the project.  By the time you are down into the 20+ days you can't wait to see how it comes out! 

Okay, NaNoWriMo has started.  It is November 1.

I managed a fair start with 1813 words this morning.  Only slightly more than 48,000 to go. 
Ack, that doesn't sound so good, does it? 

Ah, but it is a start and that's all I needed.  For those of you unfamiliar with the National Novel Writing Month ... basically one commits to writing a rough draft novel in 30 days, which averages out to 1667 words a day.  Getting in more than 1667 words builds what I call a word buffer.  

My general NaNoWriMo writing routine is to get up early and try to hammer out my word count first thing in the morning.  I got a slow start today because I stayed up later than I would have liked last night.   Looking forward to the Daylight Savings Time switch this weekend ... that should help.  It is all about getting into a routine. 

Last night's dinner!

As sort of a pre-holiday ritual, we are doing the low-carb thing.  It is the only "diet" that seems to work for us. 
Here's what I came up with last night, a sort of f aux pizza casserole.

Spaghetti Squash Pizza Casserole
Base:
1 small spaghetti squash, cooked and shredded.
1/3 cup half and half
4 eggs
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used some leftover Swiss then filled in with Colby/Jack)
topping:
1 pound ground beef, browned and drained
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 small can sliced black olives, drained,
1/2 can diced tomatoes, drained. 
Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste.
1 cup shredded cheese (I used Colby/Jack)

Cook and cool and shred and drain the spaghetti squash.  I lightly press it with a few paper towels with the shreds in a colander to get a little more of the moisture out of it.  Lightly beat the eggs then add the half&half and beat to combine.  In a bowl mix the cheese with the squash then gently combine the egg mixture with it. 
Spread this mixture in a greased casserole dish (oval or rectangle -- on the large side) ... spread evenly over the bottom of the pan, and even push up the sides a little.  Bake this at 350 for 25-30 minutes until well set. 
Meanwhile, brown and drain the ground beef.  Lightly saute the onion, pepper, mushrooms, tomatoes ... .  Sometimes I saute them together with the beef (just drain it before use).  Season the meat while cooking with your choice of salt/pepper/herbs. 
Spread the meat/veggie mixture over the baked squash mixture.  Top with about half the cheese and bake at 350 for 15 minutes, then add the rest of the cheese and bake for another 10 minutes.
Allow this to rest for about 5 minutes before slicing into serving pieces. 

Interesting spell checker on this blog application .. it suggested low-crab for low-carb and pee-holiday for pre-holiday. 

Okay, I'm gearing up for NaNoWriMo, starting November 1st.   For those who don't know what this is, it is National Novel Writing Month, an annual exercise in literary abandon.   The goal is to write a fifty-thousand word rough draft novel in 30 days or less.  Some write more, but believe me, 50,000 words is plenty.   That averages out to 1667 words a day.
You can find more information about this at www.nanowrimo.org.

I've been doing some general research for my novel, coming up with a few character profiles, and localizing some of the settings I'll be using.  Some people write by the seat of their pants -- they are called pantsers, and some people do a great deal of preparation and planning -- they are called planners.  I tend more toward the Pantser but I also see a bit of value in having at least some clue to a few details.  After all, the story itself has been lurking in my brain for quite a number of years.  To sit down and start hammering out 1667 words a day with absolutely no ideas in place, well, that is not realistic.
This is my third attempt to write a novel this way.   I have two rough drafts in the hopper ... both successes.  If you can call a rough draft a success.  It is just a step in the creative process.  Sure, it is a big step, but it is just a step.  Last year, I had a rough outline and didn't look at it for about a week.  Then I hit a wall, a block.  I decided to check my outline, even though when I jotted it out it was just a loose progression of BS.  I was surprised to see that I had actually been generally following it.  At the point where I was now, I think I had jotted down like a single word.  Conflict.  "Huh?" I thought to myself, "What does that mean?  What was I thinking?"   Suddenly several ideas popped into my head and I continued on.  This rough outline saved me again and again and kept my on track.
See, I consider the 50,000 word goal as part of the challenge.  You see people on the NaNoWriMo forums touting their plans to write 75, 100, 120, 150 thousand words.  All fine and good, I guess, but trying to fit a beginning, middle, and end into 50 thousand word suggested limit is part of the challenge.  As you write along it is part of the fun to wrap the story up and try to come to a logical and entertaining conclusion by the 50,000 word mark.