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!)

Day 25

I'm having a lot of time getting motivated lately. Perhaps it is the lead I have on my goal. Perhaps it is the lack of certainty I have about what I'm writing at this point. I definitely think I'm going to try to cut to the end, and make do with it as best I can today. I am currently at 45,888 words so I am very near the end. I just need to push through my current malaise and get some words written. (point of interest, I wrote this part 2 hours ago. Get away from me malaise!)

I went to the Humor, Satire, & Parody forum for dares, but alas, there weren't any new ones. There were a number of people taking older dares, though. I've decided to go back to the most recent dare before the one I took last time, which is:
Have a Character Say "Why YOU-"
* If the character is overweight and male (or male-ish)
** The character reaches out to strangle the person
*** The character accidentally kills the person.
**** The character is supposed to be really good or graceful.
***** The person killed was supposed to be the hero of everyone.
Now I'll have a Homer Simpson impersonation added to the book. I suppose, as far as additions, this one will be fairly easy, I'll try to make sure to include it today. I'll also try to do a post before going to bed tonight, as tomorrow I will be busy most of the day and I'm not sure if I'll have time. With that in mind, I better get writing!

Day 24

Also known as Thanksgiving this year. Happy Thanksgiving to all those in or from the United States!

This is one of those times of the year that it is difficult living overseas. In South Korea they have a holiday called Chuseok that they celebrate a little earlier in the year that they equate to being the same. However, for me, it isn't. It is the odd combining in the calendar of getting days off that mean nothing to me, and then having to work other days like Thanksgiving that should be special. Many times, like today, I've spent the special days doing nothing special, and likewise for the Korean holidays as they aren't special for me. I'm not trying to whine, or complain, it's just something I noticed today, as I barely even realized today was Thanksgiving. There's a lot more I could say about this, but I need to get back to my novel today. Perhaps in a later blog.

Today, I must continue on! I struggled yesterday, and only wrote about 1,200 words. I'm also not sure exactly where to start today, so I've been dragging my fingers a little. (dragging my feet would only prevent me from getting to the computer, but my time on youtube and facebook prove that wasn't the case)

My dare for today comes from the Romance Dares thread. The_Word_Fairy posted:

*** A main character is forced to join a band of terrorists or a gang and they are part of a scheme to assassinate an important figure .....and they are in love with the person they have been scheming to assassinate
BP if they knew who the person they were scheming to assassinate was before the assassination attempt
TBP if they actually go through with the assassination


Oh dear! That means I need to add someone important, and to get the extra points I will need to add a backstory as well. Hmmm....well, maybe that should be my starting point tonight. Better get writing!

Day 23

Ahh! After tonight, there will only be one week left of NaNoWriMo. This is the point when people start to think about how their lives will be after the month is over. Many will be glad to have time to get back to the things they wanted to do all month. Some people in the forums were mentioning Skyrim, the new Elder Scrolls game. Others were warning that the game was so addictive and good that they blamed it for the reason they were behind this year. There is also that, not as exciting, realization that there are things like laundry, dishes, and other various chores to catch up on.

What will your December 1st be like?

Today's dare comes from the Mystery Dares thread. stepensdemise posted:
The Traveling Shovel Of Death. (Had to)

A sport's team's mascot is a suicide bomber.

Poisoned Twinkies (on the store shelves, like the Tylenol scare - forgot when it happened)

The Detective is being shadowed by a reality forensic show's crew while trying to work the case. (BP if he accidently delivers them into the hands of the killer and the last minutes of their lives are accidentally broadcast on Live TV)

That's all I have at the moment.
There is a bit of history to that first one, which is the one I will definitely be taking. Check out the WikiWriMo  for a bit of fun trivia about The Traveling Shovel of Death!

The others could be fun, but I'm running out of time, and there are still so many dares to fill! Better get writing!

Day 22 dare!

I posted earlier tonight about how I'm feeling at the moment, and about this time of NaNoWriMo. It's really an exciting time, if you didn't read that post, I recommend hitting the older posts link to read it.

Word count: 42,131
Dares taken: 22 (officially)
Sleepiness: very
Busy factor: very
Sanity: surprisingly good!

I haven't gotten all the dares in to the novel yet, so I will really need to keep focused on getting them in soon. That may be when the sanity level drops a bit. I am ahead on word count, and that feels great! I looked at some profiles today, annoyed with people at 38,000 words. That was until I realized I was actually ahead of them. My mind is still in that catching up mode, I guess. Last night I wrote the 1,667 for the day, but it was so close to a rounder number for the total which pushed me to keep going. I noticed my count for the day was close to a better number, so I kept going for that. That left me with a very happy 2,000 words yesterday.

Today's dare comes from Mnemophage in the Horror & Supernatural dares thread:

Dare: have someone die in a way that has absolutely nothing to do with your main creatures. 

Bonus: If it's a 'natural' death, ie: heart attack after desperately fleeing for life.

Double bonus points: If the red herring screws up exposition or the plans of your main characters.

I wouldn't mind having someone die of a cause other than some creatures I create. That is just another way to keep things going. The second part is also possible. The third...well, I don't have a red herring at the moment so I don't think I will get to that one soon if at all.

It's getting late now, as I had to write this twice. Google Chrome, why is it when you say you've crashed and I tell you not to shut down, you do anyway? That is a story for another time, I suppose. I have to stick to my current novel. Better get writing!

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.

Day 21!

Well, with only a couple of hours to write, I certainly won't have a day like yesterday. My goal today is just to see how many words I can get in a couple of hours. I hope to get the standard 1,667 to keep the lead ahead of the goal that I have now. I am also going to writing about the ninja cows, so that should help!

Today's dare of the day comes from Archon_Huskie in the Fantasy Dares thread:

Here is my Dare for all of you.

I dare you to have you novel pass the Alison Bechdel Test.
1) You must have two named female characters.
2) They must have a conversation with each other
3) It must be about something other than a man (doesn't matter if it is a lover, brother, or king). 

That is all.

That is something interesting. I have just procrastinated looking into that idea. I'll help you out by having you watch a short video here. Knowing that I need to get more women into my stories, especially in stronger roles is something that I know I need to work on. This dare is good for me, and will help push me a bit out of my comfort zone.  It's not that I don't want a more feminine influence to my stories, it's just that I'm a man. Writing for men is more comfortable for me. I fear that spending a lot of time on female characters will just reveal how inadequately I understand women, or how they think. I fear that the feminists might be harder on me if I write women badly, than if I just didn't focus on them. On the other hand, risks are good in writing, right?

As far as tips on writing go, there is a great entry identifying 50 blogs helping people through NaNoWriMo. You can read that here. You could also visit my friend Chazley's blog, which is mentioned in that entry. I also want to thank my friend Eamon, who has been sending me articles about getting through the rough patches of writing this month.

One of the worst patches is procrastination. I better stop writing and start writing!

Wait...that was awkward, perhaps there's a better way.

Better stop blogging and start writing! (not perfect, but it will have to do for now. I have 1667 to write today!)