Journaling: Day 29 of NaNo

Total Word Count: 50,971
I won!!!!! My first NaNo ever, and I won!!!!
I have just concluded a glorious evening of eating end-of-NaNo pizza, enjoying cream soda and dark chocolate-covered pomegranates, and watching my favorite movie of all time, The Young Sherlock Holmes, to celebrate. My wonderful mother (without whom my successful completion of NaNo would not have been possible--and I mean that in all seriousness) spent the evening with me, sharing in my revelry... since celebrating all by yourself isn't half as much fun as celebrating with a friend.
The only down side is that--well, The Pirate Shrine isn't finished yet! Nearly 51k words and I'm still just on the verge of the big climax of the story. My characters just will not be rushed, not for me, not for word counts, not for deadlines, not for anything. I'm seriously hoping that the story will wrap up around 52 or 53k--surely no more than that! (Famous last words) At any rate, I'm hoping to get the story finished up tomorrow, and then I'm closing that lousy computer file that I've lived in for the last month, and moving on to something with a much lower stress level!
I've got a host of exciting new projects lined up, so for those of you who have so patiently stuck with me through the drudgery of NaNo, keep sticking around for the adventures to come!

Journaling: Day 28 of NaNo

Total Word Count: 46, 668
After ten days of being woefully way behind schedule, and three days of cranking it out to get caught up, I am now one whole word ahead of schedule! So now I am enjoying a celebratory bagel complete with melted butter and strawberry cream before putting in another hour or so of writing time tonight.
We're cruisin' the home stretch, people! Only 51 hours of NaNoWriMo2010 left! (At least in my time zone, anyway. I don't know about yours.) Oddly enough my entire family, none of whom are writers, have all jumped on my little bandwagon and are nearly as consumed with NaNo as I am at the moment. Between Mom and my brother James I haven't had to update my word count on the site a single time today--but the two of them have collectively updated it about 14 times. Any time I stray too far from my desk chair one family member or another commands me to "sit, stay, and write!" Both of my brothers have, at some point today, informed me that I will finish on time or else (the details of 'else' have not been specified). Their enthusiasm has struck me as a little odd, but... well after all, I've known they were all odd for years. : P
So, to those of you who have already finished and become verified 2010 winners, congratulations! To those of you, like me, still plugging away towards the finish line, keep at it! We're almost there, and you can do it! To those of you who chose or were forced to drop out early on, well... I understand. Really. Better luck next year? We'll see.
I'm off now--got to get back to the story that I seriously doubt will conclude itself in 3,332 words... although it may, you never know. If it does though, it's going to have a serious bottle-rocket ending. Only one way to find out!

Journaling: Day 15 of NaNo

Total Word Count: 23,835
I'm currently behind schedule, but the plot begins to thicken... and that isn't necessarily a good thing. When Day 1 began, I really didn't have that much of a plot, so I'm grateful to have one(23k of plotless words would begin to get very tiresome) but now the storyline is growing more complex--and I didn't think Tor's story would revolve so much around his journey to faith--and I had no idea that Marcus got captured by the enemy--and I didn't realize that one enemy was actually trying to double-cross another enemy... yeah, you all get the idea.
Basically, I'm charging ahead at full steam with no headlights and absolutely no idea where I'm going. So come December 1, the novel that is now waiting impatiently beneath my internet page may be a totally different story than the one that I started out with--or thought I started out with--on November 1. But, such is NaNo, I suppose.
Now I'm off to get back at it. There's a cream soda screaming my name from the refrigerator, but I've told myself that I can't have it until I'm caught up on the weekend's word count... no matter how late I have to stay up to do it.

Journaling: Day 10 of NaNo

Total Word Count: 15,932
I got to introduce my favorite character yesterday! Of course, I didn't know that he was going to be my favorite character, probably because he wasn't at all the type of character I expected him to be (that seems to be a recurring theme for me in this story) but he made the whole day of writing a treat! He's one of those characters whose personality and mannerisms are so distinct and clear that you don't have to figure out anything they say or do for yourself; they just do their thing, and you write it down.
My main character now has a trusty sidekick, and I'm off to do the breakfast dishes and get back to writing!

A Tribute to Writers' Companions...

...always eager to help in any way they can.

...willing to 'burn the midnight oil' with you when you're writing at 3 in the morning.

...and even when they can't take any more, they're still willing to encourage you!

As we all buckle down and plow into Week 2 of NaNo, don't forget to appreciate all the ever-loyal writer's companions (be they cats, dogs, goldfish, or family members) who make our month of madness possible!

Journaling: Day 6 of NaNo

Total Word Count: 8623
I took a bit of a break from writing yesterday, although I was able to have a good little 'writers' conference' with a couple of my NaNo writing buddies. We exchanged stories of writing woes and gave each other pep talks... though all of us were still in one degree or another of panic when we finally parted ways. Ah, well, what would NaNo be without panic?
I wrapped up the evening by attending an absolutely fabulous Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert with my parents and siblings--our family Christmas gift a bit early. If you guys have never seen them in concert, check their website for their 2010 performance schedule and find out when they're coming to your area. Trust me: it's worth the high ticket price!
With that over, though, I'm ready to get back to writing... and start playing TSO Christmas music.

Journaling: Day 2 of NaNo

Total Word Count: 4,150
No, I don't plan on journaling every day of NaNo, necessarily, but we're still in the very beginning stages so there are a lot of important things going on to journal about. First of all, congrats to all my writing buddies--your word counts are looking great! I know some of you haven't been able to update your counts yet due to problems with the site, but I've talked to most of you via email so I know that your novels are coming along beautifully! Keep up the good work!
As for me:
I'm developing the horrible feeling that by December 1 the Narnia soundtrack will start making me break out in hives. So far I've listened to "The Blitz, 1940" 9 times today--it's a great invasion/naval battle track.
After lying awake listening to a grandfather clock 'bong' all night I did some quick calculations and discovered that a standard grandfather clock actually 'bongs' 1038 times in a 24-hour period. (So the next time someone asks you how many times a grandfather clock 'bongs' every day, you'll know what to tell them.)
My main character isn't shaping up to be quite the handsome, intrepid hero I had hoped for pre-November. Handsome, I suppose so; a good fighter, sure; a good military leader, absolutely. Shy, awkward, and terrified of public speaking? Unfortunately, yes.
Oh, Torsten, what am I going to do with you?

Journaling: Day 1 of NaNo

Total Word Count: 2257
Well, I made my word count quota for today--only 29 days to go! Ugh... yeah. 29 days to go.
Well, anyway, I'm happy. I've made my quota for today and a little extra for tomorrow. Maybe that'll make up for the time it'll take to go and vote in the morning. (Make sure none of you forget, by the way!)
I've got to admit, though, that even though it's only the first day of my first NaNo, things aren't exactly as I thought they would be. First of all, my plan to go to bed early last night and get a good early start to writing this morning didn't exactly work as well in practice as it did in theory. Oh, I got to bed early, all right, but I laid awake half the night,wondering if it was time to get up and if that noise in the kitchen was really just the wind or some freaky intruder.
I finally gave up trying to sleep and got up at 5:30 this morning, got dressed, made myself a cup of tea, sat down in front of my laptop, opened a new blank Word Document, and typed: The Pirate Shrine, Chapter One. Then I hit "Enter"... and panicked.
There was that cursed cursor, blinking away at me, and I hadn't the faintest clue what to write! So, I took a deep breath, told myself "Quantity over quality," and then wanted to slap myself for uttering such sacrilege. But I did it anyway--closed my eyes, pictured the opening scene in my head, put my hands on the keyboard... and started writing!
The day went pretty smoothly for the most part (if you don't count a minor disaster involving paraffin wax and a hapless little sister) and right now I really think that I can do this! With that being said, though, it's 9:30 pm and I still have dishes to do, so I'll quit journaling and get to it. Maybe I'll get a little more writing in before I go to bed, too. Good night, NaNo-ers, and hope you all got in a great first day!