Day 30

This is it. Day 30 of NaNoWriMo.

I'm tinkering with my story right now. Not so much editing or adding anything, but I am fixing what is already there. I don't see any point of inserting things until I have a clear picture of what I want to say and the direction I want it to go in. It is a real rough draft.

I am working on adverbs today. Especially the -ly. I'm going to remove as many of them as I can.

Steven King wrote something that I've been trying to tell people for years. Of course he says it better than I ever could:

One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you're maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones...Make yourself a solem promise right now that you'll never use "emolument" when you mean "tip" and you'll never say John stopped long enough to perform an act of excretion when you mean John stopped long enough to take a shit.

People think they are doing something when their Flesch Reading score is 12th grade level. If you are writing a Chemestry Textbook then perhaps that is an awesome achievement, but if you are writing a novel, even an epic literary masteripiece, it is not necessary to be so haughty.

I have always said, if you can explain something complicated to a 4 year old and they understand, then you have mastered language.

I hate having to pull out Webster when I read a book. A few words here and there are fine, it builds vocabulary, but when every other word is 15 letters long, I get fustrated and put the book down.

Both of my projects: No Reservations and my untitled memoir are around the Third Grade reading level. I am proud of this. Not that I'd want an 8 year old to read the subject matter, but it isn't something so complicated that you have to read one sentence seven times to understand what I'm saying and probably get it wrong anyway.

I did a little expirement. I started removing the -ly from my manuscript. I only got to page 78 (out of 154) and decided to check something. Only being 1/2 way through I wanted to see how many adverbs I removed:

really 67 first draft 59 second draft
quickly 39 first draft 17 second draft
probably 21 first draft 15 second draft
slowly 16 first draft 12 second draft
softly 20 first draft 14 second draft
angrily 5 first draft 2 second draft
loudly 7 first draft 4 second draft
silently 5 first draft 3 second draft

Then I checked the readability statistics. I still have 2% passive voice, which I would like to get down to 1%, but don't know because of the backstory. I started with a reading ease of 90.6 and now it is up to 90.9. I suppose the removal of the -ly's made the difference. And it has moved from a 3.1 grade level to a 3.0 grade level.

I have just finished taking out all unecessary -ly words and I now have a reading ease of 91.5 and a 2.9 grade level.

You might say...so what. But I find it very telling. Small changes can make your writing more readable.

OK I'm done with -ly, now to work on -ness.




I leave the abstracts and complicated meanings to my poetry.

* * *

My rewrite of Letters. I changed the last few lines, trying to give it a more powerful feel:

Letters

Letters from the earth reveal the sound of tragedy,
listen to the cries of the bones that nourish her,
they lie deep within her womb.
These bones are angry.
Flowers grow teeth and leaves weep
on the tree as the roots take hold
and wrap themselves around the forgotten remains
of servitude and slaughter.
These bones recede
with rage into black earth
as thick lava blood blanketsand burns them to ash.

Day 29

Nano is ending tomorrow. Congratulations to all those who made it to 50,000. It isn't an easy task to do in 30 days.

I've decided I'm going to change the name of my blog to reflect writing in general not just Nano. I couldn't think of anything more clever at the time of creation, but I think, with Nano ending, it needs to be made more universal.

* * *

Running a close second was the realization that stopping a piece of work just because it's hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to go on when you don't feel like it, and sometimes you're doing good work when it feels like all you're managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position. ~ Stephen King (from A Memoir of the Craft: On Writing)

I need to keep Stephen's quote in mind when writing my memoir. It is emotionally hard. Remembering, bringing up things I buried long ago for one reason or another. I often have to stop and do something else, work on another piece. I plan to get through it, although it is painful.

11,370 / 75,000 (15.2%)

Untitled Memoir
* * *

Letters

Letters from the earth reveal the sound of tragedy,
listen to the cries of the bones that nourish her,
they lie deep within her womb.
These bones are angry.
Flowers grow with jagged teeth and leaves
weep on the tree as the roots take hold
and wrap themselves around the forgotten remains
of servitude and slaughter.
These bones recede
behind the myths and legends,
between the pages of historic truth
that vilify and smile on the thought of genocide.

© 2005 Elizabeth Kelso

Daddy

This poem started as a straight alliteration. It was a tough read, so I softened it by adding some words around it to make it easier to read. I also added more graphic imagery in the attempt to 'show' the scene better.

Daddy

Daddy died doing drugs
high on heroine his
body lie still beside the bed
frozen from the fix


The needle hung from his groin,
pants pulled down around his knees.
Empty bottles of beer and Bacardi
line a trail to his death


There he lay – outdone and ossified
in a putrid puddle of vomit.
His veins collapsed in
cocaine coagulation
from his final silent shot.

Day 28

Well this is the last week of Nanowrimo, and we have a lot of winners. Of course I'm one of them, not that I had a doubt. Congratulations to all my fellow winners.




* * *

I just did a crude count of my chapters for "No Reservations". I have 62. That is way too many. I really need to go and look at my thoughts. It wouldn't be too many if I had 125K, but I only have a little over 50K, and 62 chapters is ridiculous!

53,018 / 90,000 (58.9%)

No Reservations


* * *

One Word: PANE (that is right, it is still PANE, I guess they are on a looooong vacation!)

Pane has been the word for a week now. Does anyone every think about changing it. I can go to the dictionary and pick a word at random and have a better time than this. What the hell? Oh well, this site is a Pain not a Pane, not that anyone would care. I like this site, but this word has got to change. I will line my birdcage with this shit. Really.

* * *

I had interrupted my memoir reading to read:



It was a quick read and very interesting. Apparetnly this book has religious overtones, didn't really connect with that, although it was a great read.

* * *

9,973 / 75,000 (13.3%)

Untitled Memoir

Day 25

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. I did no writing yesterday, but I thought about it a lot, does that count?

7,484 / 75,000 (10.0%)

Untitled Memoir

Day 23

Well I haven't touched any of my stories today. I'm having a different type of inspiration today.

Georgia

Georgia O’Keeffe’s flower
hangs in the Met
in a frame older
than her bones

oil and light swirl
petals kiss

98 years
of life condensed

between metal and wood.

* * *

This is what comes out when you stear at a Georgia O'Keeffe print day in and day out. It is a beautiful flower, but when you have nothing to write about, you find things to stimulate your mind. Well this was today's subject.

Day 22

I'm not in the mood to type or work on my mss today. Perhaps after lunch I'll have more spunk.


I suppose someone went on an early Thanksgiving break. Oh well.

One Word: PANE

Again with the word. How many times can you write about a pane? Pane Pane...window pane. Yes I have one in my apartment. It is chipping and old. My building is 75 years old after all. It holds my plants, the pane, not my building. I haven't painted it, it is still white, that shiny white paint, not the nice matte kind. I like my pane, it works well in my apartment.

* * *

I am real lazy and when I'm typing I prefer to look definitions and use the thesaurus on line. I just used it today, and found they've added an encyclopedia. How cool is that. It has reference links for Medical, Literature, Almanacs, Articles and other neat stuff. Here are the links.

Encyclopedia
Dictionary
Thesaurus

* * *

6,627 / 75,000 (8.8%)

Untitled Memoir


Untitled Memoir Excerpt:

I wanted him to crawl into a bottomless pit. I wanted to see him burn up and float away ash by ash. I wanted him to fall into a meat grinder and be fed to a pack of homeless three-legged dogs, I didn’t care I just wanted him to evaporate.

* * *

See I'm not a slacker! LOL!

52,553 / 90,000 (58.4%)

No Reservations

Day 21

51,969 / 90,000 (57.7%)

No Reservations

* * *

Well I got squat done with reading or writing yesterday. That is OK though, I did cleaning for Thanksgiving. I suppose sacrificing one day for that is allowed. Or so I tell myself.

I am working on my mss and listening to Christmas music on a local radio station. Those of you in NY turn on 106.7 Lite FM, they have been playing Christmas songs for a while now. Oddly enough it gives me a push, maybe it is the happiness of it.

* * *

One Word One minute paragraph. Today's word PANE:

The window pane was filthy. Kevin cleaned it just last week, but the mud and flies still found a way to adorn it. It was disgusting and he didn't know how to clean it so it would stay clean. His girlfriend left the house and said she'd not return until he fixed the problem of the flies. The mud she could live with but insects were not her thing.

I'm always surprised at the stuff I come up with when I do one word. Little snippets that one day I might be able to work into a story.

* * *

No Reservation Excerpt:

She turned the key and the car coughed. It coughed sand and blood from the Grand Canyon. Another turn of the key yielded a shriek of pain. After a prayer to the Creator the car vomited out enough gas to start her up.

* * *

Untitled Memoir Excerpt:

He wanted to come to my house, so I let him. I didn’t like people in my house. I had roaches, lots and lots of roaches. I don’t know where they came from. I cleaned and sprayed. I put down the gels and the motels, but they just kept coming.

4,524 / 75,000 (6.0%)

Untitled Memoir

Day 19

Thanks guys for all the encouragement in my comments. You guys rock.

I didn't get much done today. I had my errands to run and we went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It was pretty good, not as good as the book of course, but I went in knowing this. My son pointed out that they left a lot out that will have an impact on the next movie. Book 4 builds up a lot in Book 5. People who haven't read the books will be very lost.

* * *

2,525 / 75,000 (3.4%)

Untitled Memoir

* * *

No work on No Reservations today.

Day 18

Have you ever been walking down the street a block from your home holding a bag of Popeye's Chicken when all of a sudden...

POP!
POP!

You turn to see a hoard of people running toward you, ducking in to buildings and hitting the deck.

They cover their heads like that is going to protect them from the flying metal?

Nothing like the Ghetto.

* * *

Things like that may seem horrible to some people, but I look at it as something I can weave into my stories. The taste and the smell of an urban panic.

* * *

Oneword of the day: Sketch

I looked at Jay and wondered what he was thinking. He would sketch the tree and then he would laugh. He was insane, or maybe he was just an artist. Artists are crazy, Van Gogh was and so was his ear. Now I'm not sure if I like a crazy artist, but I liked him. He was sure of himself. I've not been around that much lately.

* * *

Nano Random Exerpt:

Abby’s stomach did back flips at the site of him. She stared at him for a long while and his once vibrant hazel eyes now sang a deep song of sadness. His diseased body was dying, his frail frame fought to stay upright in the seat.


* * *

Memoir Random Expert:

I listened to his stories. He told them as if he were trying to impress me with his badass antics. I also listened to how he spoke. He was articulate and intelligent, but so was Ted Bundy.

* * *

What I am reading on this 18th Day of Nanowrimo:



OK, now don't act like ya'll don't read two books at once!

Day 17

Well I think I'm going to end up buying a Dell laptop. They are in my price range, and I get a deep discount if I go through my company. I know they are not top shelf, but I do have a desk top also. I hope I will be happy.

So as you know I am editing "No Reservations" my Nano project. I've also started my memoir project. It is yet untitled. I decided I want to write about the events that happened between April 1998 and September 2005. I know it probably sounds like a random set of dates, but it isn't.

51,084 / 90,000 (56.8%)

No Reservations / Nano Project

* * *

My Memoir project will be around 75K. That will be the number I'll settle out.

1,393 / 75,000 (1.9%)

Untitled Memoir

He bragged about dating an actress or model or princess. Someone amazingly tall, sexy and Latina.

“She was beautiful,” he said.

What could I say to that? I’ve never met her, I’m sure she was pretty hot. But I didn’t care.

“My last boyfriend was a cop.” He actually was a court officer but he carried a gun, so he could shoot someone if her wanted to. “He was half Puerto Rican and half Irish, he had blue eyes and blonde hair, and he was hot.” Two can play this game.

Was he thinking of her while he was on top of me? I was thinking of my cop.

Day 16

I know LuLu is the self publisher's everyone loves. It is an awesome site. There is another one that looks pretty good too. It is nice to have a choice.



Other's I've heard about.

Author House (formerly 1st Books)

iuniverse

Day 15

I did some editing to my nano story this morning. Right now I'm sitting in a room in the Hyatt with an archaic laptop. I printed out my story, so maybe I'll do some manual edits and type them later.

I am reading Novembers issue of Writer's Digest. It says that publishers and agents are less likely to gamble with novels larger than 100,000 words. Because the cost greatly increases. So if my book only tops out at 90K that actually would work better.

It also says to save every scene you cut because it might lead to another story.

I would also like to thank the guys Eric and incendiarymind for all the kuddos on being the first to finish in NYC. I had no idea, I just got to 50K and said "Yay". Do I get a prize? Huh? LOL! Oh well, it is still cool!

Day 14

50,153 / 50,000 (100.3%)

That is right, you are not seeing things, I have reached my 50,000 word goal for Nano!

50,153 / 125,000 (40.1%)

This is my total goal. A little under 1/2 way.

I have gone back and am in edit mode. I now have to really look at the story objectivly and cut things that don't fit, fix things that don't make sense. Make sure the dialoge isn't to 'elegant' for my book. I mean it is urban-contemporary, so people ain't gonna be talkin' like Shakespeare.

I am going to do my first print out, and go chapter by chapter with the editing.

Whew!

Day 13

It is not like I'm behind, I have a little over 4K to meet the Nano requirement so I shouldn't feel like I will not finish (or win nano). But I have so much more to go before I hit the 125K, although it seems like I'll top out at 90K, which is also fine.

Sunday is tough because my daughter requires so much attention. I have a 14 year old son, and you would think she'd be happy hanging with him, but NOOOOOOO! She senses I'm typing and she has to mull around.

I try to tune her out with podcasts, but I find them to be destracting. So I looked around for radio streams and found a cool Classic rock station that uses itunes, so now I'm listening to Santana featuring Steve Tyler.

I have a pretty good flow going today, lots of ideas.

On Tuesday afternoon I'll be sitting in a hotel helping out with a conference and I'll have a laptop, so I should be able to get some typing done in total peace and quiet.

I looked at laptops yestarday, the sony is nice, it is the Vaio notebook, the resolution was outstanding. I need to investigate, read reports and stuff about it. I need the 1GB and WOW! the price is way too high, but the 512MB isn't going to be enough.

And my mom gave me a keyboard she doesn't use so I hooked it up to my compter and it is so much better than the one that was there. The one I had was old as the hills and the keys stuck and I'd have a lot of spelling typos. I'm sure people thought I couldn't type for anything, but this one is nicer.

OK enough chit chat, back to work.

46,251 / 50,000 (92.5%)

46,251 / 125,000 (37.0%)

Day 12

I stole this from Writing Sya's Blog. They are such good questions. She (I think she is a she) compiled them from the Nano Board.

Pen and Paper anyone?
Typing is faster, and the majority of my work is typed. When I am home though and relaxed, I will pull out my notebook and start writing. I will have a scene in mind and start writing it. It takes longer but the stuff is usually better written then the typed stuff because I have more time to focus and pick my words carefully.

What is the last word you wrote of your novel so far?
"death"

What if we hit 50,000 but don't have an ending yet?
Why would you stop at 50,000? Write until you are done.

How long is your longest sex scene?
my sex scenes are not fleshed out yet (no pun intended). I write a hint of a love scene and then move on. Those type of scenes take colorful writing, they need special attention. I estimate my longest love scene will last a page only.

Nano word padding helping your writing?
I have not padded. I actually went back and took out some unnecessary things. I had a lot of "he said/she said" in the dialogues, so I nixed them. It lowered my word count for the moment, but then with the new ideas I had, it brought it right back up and over. I am lucky I don't need to pad, it will make editing easier.

How fast do you type?
I can type 100 words a minute. Although when writing on the computer, you need to stop and think sometimes, so that might lower my speed to 75 a minute. When I'm in the flow, my fingers fly.

Anyone doing more than 50k?
I am going for 125K, although my story might stop at 90K.

Post-Nano editing - how hard is it?
I burried my 2004 try. So I can't tell you. I've edited things in the past and it takes some effort. You will have to want to do it.

What reading level is your novel?
Passive sentences 1%; Flesch reading ease 90.3; Flesch-Kincaid grade level 3.2
That amazes me. I guess I am more coherent than I thought!!!

Who do you write for?
No one, everyone, you, me, them.

Do you judge people by their word count?
I only worry about myself. I am in no type of competition.

Do you write in order?
No, but it isn't on purpose. My timeline changes, and I go back and ad things.

What's your favorite bit you've written so far?
It is in my exerpt. Jay's childhood.

Stuck? What works for you?
I found the sites (in a entry below) help me a great deal.

How many words per chapter?
I haven't really worked it out yet. At the moment it looks like 5 pages (double spaced) per chapter so far. But I'm sure that will grow.

Are you including anyone you know in your novel?
I use composites of people I know. no one is exactly like someone I know.

Reward for words - a system of reinforcement?
I don't do a reward system. I don't have the need.

Are chapter titles and junk included in word count?
Nope, that is why my mss is nothing but book. No page numbers, title headings or anything like that. To seperate chapters I put a page break and put the first word of that chapter in bold and red so I will know it is a new chapter.

Are you letting anyone read your novel?
After it is edited I have a few people who want to read it.

Day 11

Sometimes when I am at home, I write some pages in longhand. The slow pace helps me think the scene through. I don't amass as much, but it is a nice change of pace.

My word count for yesterday was low. I didn't get to my minimum word count of 2,500. I don't know if I will make it there today either. The weekend is here and I usually don't do too much typing them, so by Monday, I probably will only have 45K.

* * *

Now I'm not one to go with the flow of reading the latest books. I read what I want to. Unless it is a Harry Potter instalment, I'm not reading what everyone else is. The last time I read a 'popular' book was when Frank McCourt hit the world with Angela's Ashes and then 'Tis. So when I see people on the subway with the same book, I'm gonna investigate.

I read the synopsis for A Million Little Pieces by James Frey on Amazon. It sounds like something I want to read. Then I found this. A Novel View: James Frey.

So now I have to go out and buy it, because frankly, it looks real good.

Day 10

OK so I went back. Yes, I'm a bad girl. I felt my story could benefit from some quick editing and better imagery. So the word count is climbing very slowly today. I am a bit over the 40K mark, so 10K by the end of November is not going to be a problem. I think I need to do this because I lost track of the story. I know I can fix it later, but it is bothering me to the point where I can't type. Anal right?

I'm not checking facts or anything right now, I'm just checking the flow and the timeline.

Day 9

The meter site is no more. Poor guy couldn't afford the bandwith. So I have to find a new way to track. The Zokutou meter is ok for a one time post, but it doesn't update automatically.

WOW! Things are very slow going now. I haven't made my 2,500 word a day quota yet. It is not that I am stuck, I'm trying to structure and tie things together. But no worries, it is fine, I have lots of time left.

39,814 / 50,000 (79.6%)

39,814 / 125,000 (31.9%)

Websites if you are stuck.

Some nanoers put these websites on the board for those of us who may be stuck.

www.everything2.com

I love this site. Anything and everything you need to know about whatever. Little details that will make your story pop can be found here. Try it, but it anything you like.

* * *

Wikipedia Random

Wikipedia is always a good source of info. But the way to use this is to hit the Random feature. Read what comes up, it might help you get some inspiration. It could clear your writers block.

* * *

OneWord.com

Since learning about this site, I"ve used it every day. What it does is give you one word every day. You have 60 seconds to use this word in a free write excersise. It gives me about a full paragraph, which I can stick in my story. I can build upon it if I think it is good enough.


That is it on sites for now. People find the best stuff sometimes!

36,484 / 125,000 (29.2%)

Day 8 *WEEK TWO*

OK so today officialy starts week TWO!

I didn't make my 5K/day quota yestarday, I got 4,108 for the day. So many interruptions. Hopefully I'll do better today, but things will slow from now until the end of the month, I'm sure.

* * *

Is it possible to write a book and have no one know? I don't think so. I told 3 people, but I really only got into it with my best friend. She knows the plot and everything. I am trying to keep it on the QT, why? Because people tend to sabatoge you when you are doing something creative.

* * *

I am nearing the 35K mark. I'm keeping a pretty good schedule, so I am happy.

* * *

Her legs from her knees down waded in the glacial, dark and mucky water, she was unable to see the ground below her, but she knew the plant life that lived there danced around her legs, and although her feet were growing numb, the fear of what was unseen to her was growing. Despite all of this, she trudged through it, looking ahead for any sign of life. The horizon seemed infinite and fear gnawed at her. The green grass that shot up from the bowels of the swamp gave her hope that she was nearing dry land, but as she forced herself to continue, her hope faded. The caw of a crow awakened her from her despair as it flew and swooped near her head. When it was done menacing her, it flew off into the elusive horizon.

OK how many cliche's can YOU spot. LOL! This is only the first paragraph...argh!

Day 7

Boy today is going to be tough, it seems people sense that I am trying to write and they are interrupting me left and right. I will get at least 5K typed today. That has been my current pace during the week. It is bad enough it is week 2 and things are slowing down, but I expected that. Anyway, currently at 29K+. Long way to 125K.

* * *

Being nice to people goes a long long way.

The library by my job is one of those satellite branches. They have maybe a total of 5,000 books/DVD/VHS. But I like to order my stuff and have it delivered there and you can return books there. So anyway, I found on the shelf the 2006 Writers Market. It was on the borrow shelf. When I go to the counter, she said it was a REF book and it couldn't be taken out. I was bummed. I asked her if they had it to borrow, she didn't know so she told me to ask the head librarian. He is a nice guy and very friendly. I asked him if they had a copy to borrow, he said they never do. But he saw how bummed I was and did some 'thing' on the computer and he allowed me to take it out until Thursday. WOW! How nice!

32,898 / 125,000 (26.3%)

Day 6

I thought yesterday was going to be a BUST, but it turned out I was able to snag some time and write about 3,000 words. Today I think may be the BUST day. I AM going to the movies to see Chicken Little!

I did type a few hundred words just now, so maybe after I come back from the store, I'll type some more.

Day 5

Well it is Saturday, and I got a little writing done this morning. My daughter is watching cartoons, but she still manages to ask me questions: "How do you spell diary?" "Can I have some toast?"

*ahhh motherhood*

So I got about 1,200 words typed this morning in about 40 minutes. It is diffuclt at home, it is not the same as at work. I really need a laptop so I can lock myself in the bedroom.

* * *

It is now 12:45 and I am past the 1/2 way mark required by nano, but sadly didn't even put a dent in my total goal. That is OK. I need to stop for now and take my daughter to ballet. It is such a nice day today it is almost 70 degrees. I think I'll take advantage. I probably will get to about 26,500 words today. Not that it is a race. The weekends were planned slow time.

And Chris Baty is a genius. I read "No Plot, No Problem." and he said to back up your work by emailing it to yourself. I thought that was an excellent idea. So after huge chunks of writing I did this. I have about 4 drafts sitting in my email. Well I was doing a spell check today and it seems one of my sections got corrupted! The font was nothing but boxes and some of the text was gone. I had saved it on my floppy that way as well. Luckily it was the first page and I had a back up in the email. And whalla! I was able to replace it. So ladies and gents, do what Chris suggests. Use your email account(s) ALL OF THEM for back up. It will save you a lot of grief.

27,020 / 125,000 (21.6%)

*sigh*

It makes me feel bad that people get so caught up in the word count. I mean, I can tell when someone is joking and then there are some who are just beyond competitive. So what if my count is higher than some. So what? I worked on my writing just as hard as everyone else. I type 100 words a minute, and yes I have uber amounts of time during the day. It doesn't make me unemployed, it makes me lucky as hell. I am not going to let anyone make me feel bad or guilty about being able to type fast or having the time to do it. Nor am I going to feel bad about having the 'flow' of my story.

Yes my count is over 22K. Yes I did it in 4 days. And I don't care if people believe me that I started at 9:30am on November 1st.

Day 4

Did you know that our podcast is on Yahoo? Nano Podcast Among other podcasts.

Anyway, I'm feeling much more like a writer today. I didn't too bad yesteray considering I was feeling pretty low. Guess the SAD is kicking in. But I thought of another juicy sub-plot yesterday, so I'll have to add that...eventually.

I maxed out at: 15,814 yesterday.

It will be good that I am ahead because this weekend will be light on the writing, so by Monday, I'll be where I'm supposed to be. If I don't write much, I will work on storylines in my head and jot them down. I just have to make sure I don't run any red lights.

OK juggin the java and I will be off to Nanoland.

* * *

At this rate I'll hit 50K before the end of the month. That is cool, I'm planning for this to be between 100K and 150K, so 50K is just the start. Today I am on a roll!

Edit: OK I'm pretty much done for today. I didn't work as many hours, but I seemed to type the same amount, I was rollin' today. Total Word count: 21,446.

21,446 / 125,000 (17.2%)

Total Goal (125,000)

Day 3

Well I had some subplots popping up in my head last night and this morning. This time, I wrote them down. My story went from having a weak plot to having a slew of subplots.

I typed a scene last night on my home computer, but it is so hard with my daughter wanting my attention. Not to mention that the keyboard is crappy. I really need to invest in a laptop for my writing.

News Flash: NaNo is Dead right now. The dreaded white screen keeps popping up.

Well darn, I can't put my cute little ticker on this page because it is too long. *sigh*

Word Count Thus Far: 12,473

I'm just not feeling it today.

Wow the internet is super slow today. Everything is taking ages to load.

Word Count at 2:50 PM: 14,444

Day 2

I'm about to start writing for the day. Let's see if I can surpass yesteray's word count of 4,300.

I am also adding Nano blogs as I go. For instance if you comment or I find you have a nano blog, I am going to add it. If you don't want your blog on my site, just drop me a line, I'll remove it.

OK, I'm off to Nanoland!

Edit: 11:53am Taking a small break. So far word count is up to 7,139.

I'm chompin' at the bit!

Edit: 2:57pm Taking my first break since Lunch. So far word count is up to 8,812.

Pretty good second day, even though my morale is pretty low.

I am glad I did an outline, it sure is helping me keep my story in order. I'm not following it to a T, but to have the visual helps.

I will probably type a little more between now and 4:30pm when I officially stop for the day.

I'm sure people wonder how I type so much per day, well work is very s l o w, and I type very fast. Those two combined really help.

Edit: OK I'm done for today. I finished today with 9,740 words in 7 hours.

NaNo Has Started

November 1st. So far 1,257 words typed. I'm taking a small break to get my thoughts together. My goal for each day (M-F) is to type 2,500 words a day or more. I only put M-F because on the weekends it is tough, with the children and errands. I do plan to do some typing during the weekend, but my bulk writing will be during the week between the hours of 9am and 4:30pm.

I just got my book No Plot? No Problem by Chris Baty. That is all!

I am spent! I've been typing on and off since 9am this morning. I think I did about 4 hours in total between working. So I'm at 4,330 words right now. I may get a flash and add some more, but probably not much more. My eyes are about to cross. The thoughts are coming so fast. I have an outline, but it just seems I need to get it out. I did go back and clean up a scene and made it work better. Looks like I'll be doing a lot of that.