Journaling - Day 30 of NaNo

I'm finished!

Total Word Count: 55, 103

I made the word count goal, and my story is completed. It turned out nothing like it was supposed to, not at all like I thought it would, and I'm relatively certain it's pretty sappy. Like I said in the last post, I'm an action writer, not a sit-around-and-think-and-make-tough-decisions-and-fall-in-love writer. Unfortunately that's just how this year's NaNo seemed determined to come out.
Eh, oh well. I've got that story idea off of my plate and out of the way, and I've completed my second successful year of NaNoWriMo. So all's not lost, even if the story didn't turn out quite the way I wanted it to.

On the whole, I think this year's NaNo has been a great way to get myself back into a serious hard-and-fast writing groove after a long, crazy-busy summer and fall. I'm ready to get back to Son of the Shield and hit it hard. That editing just isn't going to finish itself (believe me, I know - I've been waiting for it to for some time now). I'm ready to get back to the 'normal' writing life bright an early come December first!
Well... maybe I'll let myself sleep in a little. You know, just to recover from NaNo. But you get the picture.

Writers, have you finished yet? What's something interesting or unexpected you've learned about your story this month, or maybe even something you've learned about yourself as a writer?
Non-writers, are you ready for your writer friends and family to finally be getting back to normal?

Journaling - Day 28 of NaNo

Total Word Count: 42, 717

Yes, by now I'm sure you're used to the fact that I'm behind. Between Thanksgiving and the nasty cold I've had that just refuses to go away, it's been tough catching up. I'm gonna have to really crank it tomorrow and the next day to finish on time. Frankly, I'll be glad to get it over with and get back to work on Son of the Shield, Falls the Shadow, and my bevvy of other projects.
One thing I've learned from this NaNo: I am totally an action writer, and I really don't do well when there's not a lot of action going on. Last year during NaNo I got to write naval battles and shipwrecks and invasions and last stands and espionage and kidnapping and escapes and plots and... yeah, you probably get the picture. This year, all my characters will do is sit or stand around and talk and think. And no matter what I do, they just won't do anything else. It's to the point now where I'm beginning to get very disgusted with all of them.
But, I only have to put up with them for two more days, and then I can get back to work on other things.
How's it going for everyone else? Have you reached the finish line already? Are you going to make it before the end of the month?

Journaling - Day 19 of NaNo

Total Word Count: 26,333

Still behind, I know. But making headway! (Or at least, not falling any farther behind.)

I came across this quote today:

"A novel is a work of creative imagination and to write it an author's mind must be completely at peace."

~Fyodor Dostoevsky

The man had obviously never done NaNoWriMo

Journaling - Day 16 of NaNo

Total word count: 21,370

Time to bring out the big guns, and employ shameless NaNo tactics. Today's weapon of choice: describe everything.

Journaling - Day 15 of NaNo

Total word count - 20,613

Yes, I'm behind. Quite a bit behind, actually. I'm hoping to catch up over today and tomorrow. The weird thing is, I'm not even sure what happened that caused me to get so far behind. Oh well, such is NaNo, I guess.
At the moment I'm trying to find some exciting action points I can throw into my plot line to sort of liven things up. At the moment it seems like it's all just thinking and talking and thinking and talking.
One interesting note is that I watched The Scarlet Pimpernel over the weekend, and now I'm starting to find that my main character, Grayson, is behaving sort of like Percy Blakeney. He's all tough and rugged and gallant on the inside, but on the outside he comes across as being more like absurdly charming. He's currently in the process of befriending the cooking woman who brings meals to his cell every day, going way overboard with his politeness and charm.
All the while, of course, looking for a way to escape. I have absolutely no idea how that particular plot thread is going to unwind, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Oh, and by the by, in the excitement of NaNo Day 1 I forgot all about notifying you all about the release of Falls the Shadow chapter 12 on November 1. My apologies. However, with today being the 15th, Chapter 13 has just been released. You can Click Here to read it.

We're at the halfway point today, writers. The first half of NaNo is behind us. Here's to a wild and crazy and successful second half!

Journaling - Day 8 of NaNo

Word Count so far: 13,376

I'm finally caught up after the weekend! Hurrah!

Ashamed as I am to admit it, at one point I was forced to resort to pulling one of the infamous NaNo stunts along the way:

Grayson forced a smile and said something mildly profound as a moving conclusion to the chapter, but at present the author is unable to think of what it is so it will be added later.

Shameless, I know. But hey, sometimes a writer's just gotta do what a writer's gotta do.

Writers, have you been forced to pull any 'NaNo stunts' so far?

Journaling - Day 7 of NaNo

Total word count: 10,985

I'm a little behind on word count after the weekend, but I wrote over 2,500 words today alone so I'm sure I can catch up again... just in time for next weekend, probably. *rolls eyes* Oh well.
I've taken the excellent suggestion of several different people and shortened Tiberius' name to Ty for now. I may go back and change it once I don't have to worry about the NaNo deadline anymore, or Ty may turn out to really be Tiberius' nickname. Who knows?
I was kind of surprised to begin discovering today that my character Edea is pretty self-centered. It's not really how I imagined her, but the more I think about it the more I guess it makes sense. After all, she's royalty, and her entire life she's lived in the palace with servants to do everything for her, and until she became queen (just a little bit prior to the beginning of the story) all she ever had to worry about was entertaining herself. So even now that she is the queen her world still basically revolves around her.
I'm looking forward to seeing how this affects things when she sees my character Grayson offer to trade himself in as a prisoner of war in exchange for the freedom of his younger brother. I should get to that scene tomorrow, so I'll let you know!

How did your first NaNo weekend go?

Journaling - Day 4 of NaNo

Word Count so far: 6591

No, I'm not quite to my daily quota yet, but in my defense I've been at orchestra all day so I'm just thrilled that I've done as much as I have. I can probably get the rest finished this evening after I get home.
I'm beginning to question the wisdom of naming a NaNo character 'Tiberius'. It just takes way too much time and effort to type, especially when you're in a hurry. At least he's a cool character--calm and committed.
Plot-wise, things are progressing... well, they're progressing. I guess that's a good sign, especially since I really don't know just how the whole thing is going to play out. Right now the good guys are staking out the castle and formulating a desperate plan to rescue another the main character's little brother. For future reference (to anyone who may be interested) you probably need more than two people to effectively stake out a castle.

Oh, and by the way, I have a new story up on Avenir Eclectia. If you've been following my stories on there, you'll probably want to be sure and catch this one. I won't give it away, but it's a significant plot point. : ) Click Here if you want to read it.

Journaling, Day 3 of NaNo

Word Count so far: 5020

It's only Day 3 and already I feel like I'm barely staying afloat. I'm on schedule, but it's been a battle. I think I chose a storyline that involved way too much character turmoil and inter-character relationship stuff and all that. The story I did last year had a lot more action in it. Of course, this one may turn out to have a lot of action--the whole midsection of the plot is still a great big vacant blob in my head right now, so it may turn out to be action-packed, I just don't know.
As for my characters, they're still turning out to be different than I thought they would be--for the most part. Brant is exactly like I had imagined him, but Grayson (who was supposed to be a calm, laid-back, do-what-has-to-be-done sort of guy) seems a little panicky, and Queen Edea (who I had imagined as an insecure, people-pleaser type) so far seems like she has a lot of guts... maybe even a bit of attitude. That ought to make things really interesting when her advisers start usurping her authority later on in the novel. It might just turn out to be a lot of fun to write.
I guess we'll see! : )

Have you learned anything surprising or unexpected about your story or characters yet?

Journaling - Day 1 of NaNo

Word Count so far: 1694

The first day went pretty well, all things considered. My horse sprained his ankle over the weekend, so I had to take a trip to the vet's office this morning to pick up some meds for him (meds which he now adamantly refuses to take), but that didn't take up a terrible amount of time, so I was able to make my word count for the day plus a few extra words. Always a good thing. : )
I'm a little unsure what to make of my main character from what I've seen of him so far. I had really anticipated him being this calm, laid-back sort of guy, but so far he seems pretty worry-prone and panicky. Of course, he did just find out that his little brother has been kidnapped by enemy soldiers... so I guess that could be part of it. Maybe I'm just jumping to conclusions prematurely. It's been known to happen.

How did your first day of NaNo go?