Days 29 & 30: Nanowrimo

Nanowrimo

Words written so far: 51,617

Impressions: Well, I am happy to say that I am done! Hooray! I passed the magical 50K number. The silly thing is...the book isn't over. I am not going to write anymore today and I may not even write anything tomorrow but I would like to spend a little more time writing before I put it away and let it ferment.

I like this story. I like the characters (and hate others, which is the way it should be). It doesn't make a whole lot of sense taken as a whole. It is disjointed in places but I still love it.

I have absolutely no idea what to do next. Well that is not exactly true. Here is my list of what I am going to do in the immediate future:

• Clean out mail closet
• Set up a new home page
• Figure out a new theme for this blog (if needed)
• Finish any Christmas shopping
• Mail gifts.

But as for the book, other than finishing it and letting it ferment, I don't know what to do after that. What do I do next with 50,000 plus words? I suspect I will be (along with every other Nanowrimo winner) going to the library to search for books on editing. I believe I have a long road ahead of me but the journey looks interesting. Thanks for hanging in here with me.

Likelihood of Finishing Nanowrimo: 100%. I am done! Yay!

Day 7: Nanowrimo (and NaBloPoMo)

Nanowrimo

Total words written: 12,691 total words

Impressions: Another day of strange writing. Today I was writing a scene in which the two main characters couldn't hear each other. They had to make lots of gestures and try to read each other's lips. How do I write myself into these crazy corners? The story is still flowing but I am less optimistic about it than I was the first few days. I keep trying to convince myself that it will get better with editing (which I don't have time to do). Having never written a published book before, I am curious about the process. I mean, how good does your first draft have to be? My novel from Nanowrimo 2004 was crap with a few interesting ideas in it. It was not worth any editing (even though I did attempt it). This story seems to be worthy. I guess we shall see if I can tie everything up in the end. I am introducing characters like crazy which is making me nervous. I had to create a "character descriptions" file to keep track of everyone! I am happy that I just popped over the 12,500 word bar. Yay!

Likelihood of finishing Nanowrimo: 100%. I am still motivated.

Likelihood of finishing NaBloPoMo: 100%. Although I may change the way I post about Nanowrimo and leave those posts till mornings (thus allowing me to go to sleep earlier).

Super goal: End up with a decent first draft that is worth all the work of editing.