I did it!

Today I wrote 4,561 words. That puts me over 50,000! That feels pretty amazing! I'm pretty sure this is the earliest I've hit that mark in the month.

What now? (you might ask) Well, there are still 5 days left in the month. I am not finished with the novel (to have it feel really finished, I'm not even close). This has happened the last couple of years. I write so much to get to the ending I hit the 50K mark before the ending is written. This surprised me a little this year, as I thought my skipping ahead would lead to me getting right to the ending and then going back to flesh out the earlier stuff. That didn't seem to happen. In addition to needing an ending,  I also still have dares left to fit in.

Here is my plan:

• Tomorrow, no writing. (this due to a very busy schedule, not because I hit 50K)
• Sunday, try writing the very end in a hasty fashion to at least have an ending of some kind. 
• Additionally, try fitting in those leftover dares! 

There is a lot more I want to say about the 50,000 mark, but I'm tired, have an early start tomorrow, and have typed a lot of words today so I will have to save that for another time. 

To those of you that have crossed the line before me or with me, congratulations! 

To those of you still left to get your 50,000, there is still plenty of time. So, you better get writing! (see you at the finish line soon!)

Nearing the end

I will admit, I am feeling pretty good today. I was able to write another 2,000 words last night, so I am now less than 8,000 words away from my goal of 50,000!!! Again, that feels pretty good. I don't want to say that I am confident that I can make it, as I don't want to jinx my luck, but I do like my odds at this point.

I am far from being the best. Some amazing people finish in a few days. Some have over 100,000 words at this point. That is just astounding! The people I really want to write a short passage today are those that come from behind. I've been there, I've been behind. I'm pretty good about keeping close to the goal, though. The writing buddies I've had in the past have pulled off some outstanding last minute rushes to win. With a little over a week away, this is the time when I start to see it happen. This is also the time of the month when the laggers are feeling the most down, and the overachievers work hard to encourage and rejuvenate some life back into them! This is one of the most positive times of the NaNoWriMo event every year, as some have passed the goal line, others see it close at hand, and many that are far from seeing the 50,000 mark find some new energy to make an all out sprint to see if they can make it. I usually say that the beginning is the most exciting part, but that's because I forget about this point in the race.

This is it for me. I will be excited when I cross the 50,000 line, and even more excited when I get my word count validated and download the winner certificate. The thing is, though, I was actually more excited a couple years ago when a writing buddy I met on the NaNoWriMo website made it across that line. I had been encouraging him throughout the month, telling him he could make it, then he made an amazing run at the end to actually get the 50,000 words that month. He thanked me personally in a message, and then created a thread for people to thank those who had helped encourage them that month. In that first post he made sure to thank me. I actually felt better about helping others achieve their goals than I did about my own. I think that is one of the most treasured things I learned about writing from NaNoWriMo, that writing doesn't have to be a solitary adventure. Working together...helping each other, can help make writing a much easier, fun, and rewarding world to be in.

8,436!!!!!!

That is the number of words I've written today. 8,436!!!! I am really proud of that number, as I am sure that is the most I've written in one day. I wonder how high the number would be if I included the blog and emails I sent while taking a break from the novel.

This number is especially nice as it allowed me to hit my weekend goal of passing the 40,000 word mark! Less than 10,000 to go now.

Time for bed! (that is, of course, assuming I can sleep after all this excitement (really, I think my eyes are so tired from staring at the screen all day that won't be a problem))

Day 16 Dare!

I feel like I've used exclamation marks more this month than ever before in my life! (see, there's another one! (and another!)) Perhaps it is just the excitement of NaNoWriMo, or the number of times I wish another writer good luck on their writing. Does being positive and encouraging require exclamation marks?

I did not reach the halfway point last night. I first made the mistake of turning on the television for a few minutes, and got trapped into watching As Good as it Gets...again. My computer was also moving very slowly last night. Doing one of those ridiculous 'waiting until I've typed 10 words to allow them to appear and tell me I've misspelled all the words in part do the computer lagging and not recognizing every keystroke' dances. I was frustrated, and I was tired. I let it all get to me. I even stopped 10 minutes before midnight knowing I was too far away to reach the goal of the day.

That is what I call a low point.

The good news is I'm back again for another day! (There it is again! (Does blogging require exclamation marks?)) I'm starting a bit earlier tonight, so hopefully I can catch back up or at the least get the 1,667 for the day.

Today's dare comes from the Mystery Dares thread:

Leaving: 

Include this twist on the angel of mercy type killer: Killer targets people who are the cause of suffering rather than those who suffer.

BP - killer was once a bully or other cause of suffering in others.

DBP - The killer decides those of wealth cause others suffering.

TBP - If the killer is filthy rich.

QBP - Killer realizes he is a living inconsistency in his mission, decides to kill himself , and fails.

Infinite points - If the killer, having failed in his suicide attempt, is then murdered by someone unrelated to his own killing spree. (An opening for a whole new novel!)

--posted by stepensdemise

I could use this as an interesting side story. This is one of those frustrating times when I've come across something that I feel could be its own story easily. I'll try to use it, but if it doesn't work in revision it may very well become its own story. Another notable dare that I saw, but wasn't the most recent, involved cute zombie plant eating animals. Perhaps it is my love of Monty Python, but I think zombie bunnies attacking would be terrific. (Should it be comedy or horror? I feel like it could work either way.) I'll bookmark the cute bunnies for something later. Or, possibly, I might at them when I run out of ideas in this novel.

For now, I better get writing!

15,952

I made it beyond today's goal of 15K, and made it just beyond today's word count goal. I ended up writing 1,747 words in an hour and half. That is how things can work when I can keep writing steadily and have an idea of what I'm doing. It isn't always that fast. I do think it is also important to note that speed is about as fast as I can go. Better typists, or writers, could do it even faster.

Why I'm writing this isn't to brag. In fact, it is just the opposite. I want you to realize that I'm not particularly fast, yet I can sometimes write 1,700 words in an hour and a half. That should show that anyone could do this. Imagine how you could alter part of your day to write for an hour and a half. It is possible, and something to consider next November, or for script writing during Script Frenzy, or just anytime you want to get a large project like this accomplished. It's fun to do in November when everyone else is joining in, but you could do this any month you choose!

Whatever your creative ambitions, I wish you luck! As for me, time to go to bed. Maybe tomorrow I could reach my daily word count goal without having to do a rush right until midnight!

Day 9 Dare

Today's dare of the day is from the Horror and Supernatural Dares thread. KCunningham16 posted:
Dare: Have the main character shout "look a distraction!" in the middle of an intense scene.

Bonus: They look

Double bonus: Lives are saved.


I guess this means there will be a lot more comedy than I expected to my novel. I think that's fine, but best I start rolling with it now! 


As a point of interest, I noticed that one of the dares that I left earlier was accepted by someone else from Ohio. NaNoWriMo can make the world feel smaller at times. =)


I made it to 14,205 words yesterday. The goal for today is at least 15,000. I better get writing!

13,154

A push right up until midnight, but I did get my 1,667 words in today. That is helping me to keep almost  a day ahead. It feels pretty good to know that I've been able to stay ahead so far. I hope to keep that up. For those of you that may be falling behind, don't lose heart! I've been there before, and come back from it before. I've seen some of my writing buddies in the past pull off some amazing comebacks.

By the way, I'd recommend trying to catch up earlier than a dramatic comeback at that end. (though when it comes to deadline time, I'll be encouraging anyone to try for the win)

Off to sleep. Tomorrow I already have a plan to start by focusing on one of the dares I've been waiting to use.

6121

When the goal is to hit 5,000 for the day, and I get past 6,000 that feels pretty good. Whenever I give tips to people new to the NaNoWriMo experience, one of them is always to build a buffer. There will be days when creatively it will be difficult to get the 1,667. There will be days when time will be an issue. There could be (though hopefully never again) 3 days when a computer crashes and writing by hand in a notebook (so much slower!) becomes necessary. That happened to me during my first NaNoWriMo. My writing really lagged for 3 days. It's also a good time to remind everyone to back up their novel, on a usb and/or emailing it to themselves.

Back to the point, it feels good to have gone a bit above my goal each day for the first 3 days. That helps to build confidence in me and it reminds me that I can do this.

What doesn't feel good? I'm tired. I've ended up staying up later writing than planned, waking up early for no reason, then only being half asleep until my alarm goes up each day. That's why I'm going to bed after I finish this. It's time for some sleep. Then the plan is to use this weekend to build an even bigger buffer!

Tomorrow's dare comes from the Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense thread.