Journaling - The final hours of NaNoWriMo 2013

Well, since a picture's worth a thousand words...

I did it! I hit 50,000 words at about 6:15 this evening... after writing about 8,000 words since 8:00 this morning. 8,000 words in a day isn't a record for me, but it's close to it.
Not only did I hit the 50K mark, but I finished the story too, which is an added bonus. For a while, I was afraid that the story was going to end up being much, much longer than that, but it all finished up quite nicely, I thought.
The finished story I ended up with is not even remotely close to the story I thought I was setting out to write, but that's perfectly okay with me. Honestly, I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out. The story I ended up with is (in my humble opinion) far better than the one I thought I was going to be writing.
It's amazing what giving up our preconceptions and letting God take control of where the story goes can lead, hmm? I found myself surprised by a lot of things, totally lost now and then, and a little panicky a time or two, but it all turned out okay. Even though this story is going to need huge amounts of editing, expanding, and rewriting before I can even think about letting it out, I've got a great place to start, and a story that I never dreamed I would write already written in its first draft.
NaNoWriMo 2013 has been an amazing experience. I know some of you probably aren't finished yet - after all, we still have two and a half hours until the deadline - but I sincerely hope all of you had a NaNo2013 as great as mine was!

Journaling - Week 3 of NaNoWriMo

Well, this week left me a bit bogged down - i.e. behind on word count and completely surprised at the direction the story has taken. It has actually been a very exciting process, though. While I've always written from a Christian worldview and with the desire for my writing to please God, with this story I decided to consciously, intentionally seek to write the story God wants, rather than fighting for the story I want. So at the beginning I told God that We are the Rising is His story, and to help me write it the way He wants it.
I was expecting that to have some effects on the story, but I wasn't prepared for how dramatic those effects would be. What started out as an idea for a fantasy story about a man and a dragon fighting to avenge themselves on the empire that enslaved them has turned into a story about Christianity's earliest arrival in Western Europe, and about how God can even use something as horrible as the Roman Empire to accomplish His good purposes. Of course, there is some of what I'm calling "speculative history" thrown in there too. Basically, it's my imagination playing with the concept of domesticated dinosaurs. (I had to find something to do with the dragon character, after all.) Honestly, I would like to see a lot more Christian writers start exploring that concept. We have plenty of evidence that people in the past did domesticate dinosaurs, so why not incorporate them into our fiction?
But one thing at a time - and the first thing on the to-do list is to finish NaNoWriMo!
Best of luck, writers! We're on the home stretch, so don't quit now!

Journaling - Week 2 of NaNoWriMo

Well, over last weekend I got several thousand words behind schedule, and I'm still trying to catch up, but I've at least managed to close the gap to about 2,000 words.
As far as the story goes... well, it's interesting. What I had originally thought would be a story about a former gladiator and a dragon going off on a quest to become the scourge of Rome has turned instead into a story of a former gladiator wanting to do anything but go after Rome, and feeling very betrayed that during his absence his sister has embraced some new, foreign religion called "Christianity," which he sees as a Roman (and therefore to be avoided at all costs) thing.
This is absolutely nothing like I initially thought the story would be, but I'll be honest - I'm liking this new thread a lot!

Journaling Week One of NaNoWriMo

So far I'm right on target with word count. Hurrah!
Unfortunately, that outline I mentioned making, while it held together and proved very helpful, only took up about 12,000 words, leaving me with 38,000 words of completely uncharted story to write. I honestly thought the outline would take up at least 25 or 30K words, and I figured that making up the last few thousand wouldn't be too hard. But, I guess it was to be expected. Since when do stories do what they're supposed to do, right?
For a nice change, I haven't come up with any ideas for sequels to We are the Rising. However... I did decide to convert it to historical fantasy and turn it into the prequel to another one of my ideas, one I've had on the back burner for a while but haven't done anything with yet. So in theory, a few years from now We are the Rising and The Last Ember will be a set. No, I haven't said anything here at the Lair about The Last Ember yet. But if you want a look, Click Here to visit the story board I made for it on Pinterest. Come to think of it, you can do the same thing for We are the Rising by Clicking Here!

How is NaNoWriMo going so far for all of you?

Ready for NaNoWriMo?

It's hard to believe that NaNoWriMo starts in just two weeks! That being said, I'm very excited for NaNo2013 to get here. I've been planning this year's project since August, so I can't wait to get started on it. I've put way more advance planning into this one than into any of my other NaNo projects - I even went so far as to write an actual outline for part of it! I'm treating it as a sort of experiment; my other NaNo endeavors have turned out fairly well (with the ghastly exception of The Queen's Flower, my 2011 project) without any kind of outline and very little advance planning, so with this one I want to see if having an outline from the get-go makes the result better or worse. I know, I know, NaNo is supposed to be an exercise in wordcount productivity, not prose quality, but hey - if you can get a good novel out of the deal, why not?

We are the Rising

 Desperate to discover the fate of his family, an enslaved warrior hopes to escape the life of a gladiator and return home by forging the only alliance he can--with the dragon he's supposed to fight to the death. 

 

My original intent was for this novel to be classic high fantasy, but the more I plan for it, the more it turns into some kind of historical fantasy. Think Celts vs. Romans... with dragons.

Oh well. It's NaNoWriMo. We'll just have to see what happens.

Are any of you planning on entering this year? Anyone who wants to be my Writing Buddy can do so by clicking Here.

In the meantime, tell us about what you're planning for NaNo this year! Feel free to share your logline or sneak peeks in the comments box.

NaNoWriMo is over. Now what?

It's a rhetorical question, really. Everyone knows that once NaNoWriMo ends we all just catch up on sleep and then go back to life as normal, right?
Only it doesn't exactly work that way. Because for a writer, the wild and wonderful month of madness that is NaNoWriMo has a direct impact on what constitutes 'normal'.
Before NaNo, we didn't have the novel that we spent the month writing. Now that it's over, we do have it. We've been on a journey, met and come to know characters we didn't know before, experienced an adventure we'd never experienced before, and learned things about ourselves as writers and people that we didn't know before.
Post-NaNo Normal is not the same thing as Pre-NaNo Normal.

So what do we do?
Obviously we can't go back to something that doesn't exist any more, so the thing to do is embrace and dive into what normal has become.

For me this year, Post-NaNo Normal means that the pesky inner editor whom I have been unable to rid myself of since finishing the editing of Son of the Shield back in July, is finally silent and subdued, leaving me free to finish the first draft of my WIP, Empathia's Hope, without her snarky fatalist input harping on every sentence, demanding perfection before allowing me to move on.
It means that I now have a completed first draft of my first independently authored steampunk novel.
I've explored character personality types that I had never explored before, and experimented with story twists I'd never worked with before.
It's opened up new ideas, new ways of looking at stories and characters.
A month of no-editing-allowed has gotten me ready to dive back into my WIP at full throttle and turn a half-finished first draft into a FINISHED first draft in short order. It's reminded me how much fun it really is to just roll with the story's adventure, leaving editing for later.
It's reminded me how much fun it is to just make stuff up and go along with it like it's all part of the plan. It's reminded me that writing was fun before it became work.
And that is something I am more than happy to go back to.

What have you taken away from NaNo2012? What are you looking forward to now that it's done?

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words...

So here is a picture to sum it up:

Yep, I won! In spite of all my own expectations, I managed to hit that magical 50K mark with fourteen whole minutes to spare before the stroke of midnight.
Of course, the story itself is a total disaster and didn't really end, it just stopped - in quite a state of disarray, too.
Thaddeus, Fu-han, and Cole all got suspended from coming to St. George's Academy, while the school authorities try to figure out how they're going to explain away all the unexplainable stuff that has been happening at the school since Reuben Clark's arrival.
Fu-han and Jen must have gotten their issues resolved one way or another. I don't really know, since I don't speak Chinese, but I assume so since they decided to get married.
One of the bad guys died as a result of the fire that almost killed Thaddeus, and the other bad guy is currently recuperating from some rather serious injuries, after which he will be transferred to a cell somewhere and promptly forgotten about. (Unless I need a bad guy from the past to return for a sequel... wait, what am I saying?! No more sequels!)
I seem to have mislaid Lorena Cavitt, the St. George's Academy teacher that Ann Morgan captured after finding out she was an anarchist agent. I put her in Jen Qiao's care in Chapter Seven, but she disappeared after that and hasn't been seen or heard from since. I can only assume that she'll surface eventually.
But, on the whole, I'm perfectly satisfied. I didn't set out on November 1st to write a masterpiece, I set out to write 50,000 words in 30 days, and that's what I did. The editing, rewriting, (and plotting) can come later.
Thanks so much to all of you who dropped by during the month to offer encouragement or just track my progress. It's been fun, and I appreciate every single one of you!
That being said... I am completely exhausted, and why on Earth am I still sitting at a computer pecking on the keyboard? I happen to know that there's a box of butter pecan ice cream in my freezer, and if there were ever a moment when a dish of butter pecan ice cream was needful, I would say it is now. So I am off to set the universe back in balance by doing what needs to be done (i.e., eat a bowl of ice cream). And then I think I'm going to drop into bed and go to sleep... for a very, very long time...
Happy NaNoWriMo 2012, everyone!

Journaling, Day 29 of NaNoWriMo

Total Word Count So Far: 40,003

Yes, still behind, but catching up. All I have to do is write 10K words in two days... with one of those days being Friday, my busiest day of the week... okay, so maybe I am in trouble. But I'm not going down without a fight, so we'll see what happens.
At present my story is in complete disarray and I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen next or how it's going to end. My main character Thaddeus is currently out of commission and being nursed back to health by his wife after suffering from some pretty severe smoke inhalation. (We burned down the textile factory after we broke into it. In our defense, it was an accident.) Since he's supposed to be the main character, that leaves the story in a bit of a lurch, especially when one considers the fact that Reuben Clark, the boy Thaddeus and Fu-han are supposed to be protecting, is still missing after being kidnapped by James Wells, who we thought was a good guy but wasn't. So, Thaddeus' current state leaves Fu-han to rescue Reuben with the help of Jen Qiao, the woman who has the connection to his past that neither of them want to tell anyone about.
I'm hoping maybe they'll use the opportunity to work out some of their issues... I just hope they do it in English, since the only words I know in Chinese are their names. I suppose we'll just have to see.
So on that note, I'm off to write.

Oh - but before I forget - today is C.S. Lewis' birthday! If you're like me and woefully behind on NaNo, you probably don't have much time to spend the day celebrating the life of the man I consider one of Christianity's most influential writers (and who is my personal all-time favorite writer). But, I am going to make time today for a nice big cup of Irish Breakfast Tea and re-read a few of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes, since I feel I would be remiss if I did nothing at all to celebrate. I'm currently reading That Hideous Strength, the third book in his Space Trilogy, for the first time too, so maybe I'll take time out from writing to read a chapter or so.

How about you? How has the life and/or work of C.S. Lewis influenced you? Do you have a favorite work or quote of his?

Share it in the comments box! And for those of you frantically struggling to catch up on and finish your NaNo... don't give up!

Journaling NaNoWriMo, Day 26

Total Word Count So Far: 31,333

Yes, I am unbelievably far behind. And it has been way too long since I've journaled, so please forgive me.
This November has turned out to be one big hectic roller coaster. In a moment of blind, rash stupidity, I decided that I needed to tear the old carpet out of my room and give the whole thing a thorough deep-clean... in November. *Note to Self: Never, ever undertake a project of this nature in the month of November again!* Then my mom got sick and was down for a few days, which left me in charge of all the normal, routine cooking and housecleaning, on top of the added work of getting ready for Thanksgiving. No sooner did Mom get well than I got sick and was down for three days, so Mom had to cook Thanksgiving dinner all by herself, while I laid on the sofa and got absolutely no writing done.
By the time I got well and was able to open up my NaNo document again, I was 12,000 words behind. Can I get caught up fast enough to still finish on time? I guess we'll see.
As for the story itself, it's taking some crazy and totally unexpected turns. I've had a bit of a hard time dealing with 'quantity over quality', but my main character Thaddeus took it upon himself to call me out into the story and give me a pep talk (yes, I am actually in a scene in the story - blue jeans and all), which helped me get back on track. That's when the surprises started showing up in the story. So far I've discovered that one of the characters, who was supposed to just be a highly annoying good guy, is actually a bad guy. Then this random Chinese girl, Jen, waltzed into the story, and apparently she and my character Fu-han have some pretty intense history that neither of them want to talk about. Thaddeus' wife and sons, who weren't supposed to be actively involved in the story at all have now been dragged out of their home and through the streets of London in the middle of the night to hide out at Jen's house where the bad guy can't find them. Thaddeus' student Cole has developed a major crush on Thaddeus' daughter Ann. At the moment, Thaddeus and Fu-han have broken into a textile factory in search of the leader of the anarchist rebellion. And I, the writer, have absolutely no idea where any of this is going.
With only four days left, though, I'm going to have to hurry and find out!

Journaling, Day 12 of NaNoWriMo

Total Word Count so far: 13,304

Yes, I'm already a few days behind. I had a bit of a crazy weekend, and time change really threw me for a loop this time around, which doesn't usually happen. Plus I've had a really hard time getting into this story for some reason. Of course, that could be due to the fact that the story idea was only two weeks old when NaNo started... not the greatest plan I've ever had... but I've ironed out some issues and I think this week I should be able to get caught up. Maybe I can even start building up some cushioning so I don't get behind again over Thanksgiving. (Whose crazy idea was it to put a national holiday right in the middle of NaNo, anyway?)
I realized that my main character, Thaddeus, had no character arc, and that that was part of what was creating so much drag in the story's flow. So I've figured out what his arc is, and I think it's starting to streamline things a little more. That being said, I should probably get off the internet and go write. I have a lot of ground to gain!
One last thing: since life does seem to go on outside of NaNo (It's a wild idea, I know, but hey--they laughed at Copernicus, too.), I've got a few more interviews with authors from the Avenir Eclectia anthology that I'll be posting later this week, so be sure to watch for those!

How is NaNoWriMo going for the rest of you (whether you're writing or not - you still have to live through November)?

Election Night Write-In, anyone?

Today is Election Day, people, so unless you're not a U.S. citizen or not old enough to vote yet, I'd better not hear about any of you not going to the polls!
That being said, I'm planning an Election Night watch party/write-in tonight, and you're all invited to join me! It's pretty simple: stay up to watch the results come in, and write while you do it. If you ask me, I think it's monstrously inconsiderate of them to put Election Day in the middle of NaNoWriMo (don't they know we've got enough on our minds already?), but since they're doing it anyway we might as well make the best of it. So get thee to the polls, and while you're out and about stock up on your favorite writing treat. Then come home and get settled in for a long night of writing in front of the TV while the results come in. Come morning, we'll all be aware of the national results already, but we can still get together and share our personal word count results.

Who's with me?

Journaling, Day 5 of NaNoWriMo

Total Word Count So Far: 7,387

Not quite up to quota for today, but the day is still young. I'll get it. And, even if I don't, I should be able to catch up tomorrow. First of all, there are no violin lessons to teach tomorrow, so I won't have the interruption. Second, I'm planning an Election Night watch/writing party, so I should be able to get quite a bit of writing done then... since I doubt I would be able to sleep anyway. (I hate suspense, and this particular election is about to kill me already, so I'm just going to save myself the agony and stay up.)
I am totally loving my characters! Well... most of them. Mr. Bowden, the superintendent of St. George's Academy, is a bit too stuck on his own authority. And Mr. Wells, the prime minister's chief of security, is absolutely infuriating. Fortunately, I just finished the last scene that he's going to be in for a long while, so I'll get a bit of a break. And my poor main characters will get one too... since they don't like Wells any better than I do.
But aside from Bowden and Wells, my characters are awesome and I am having so much fun working with them. They're definitely keeping me entertained. This morning Thaddeus hid Cole in a washroom so Bowden and Wells wouldn't find him, but then he forgot about him so poor Cole has spent most of today locked in a very small and very stuffy room. Frankly, though, I think he deserved it. He shouldn't have been eavesdropping.
I'm beginning a search for an opportunity for Ann to use her derringer, but so far I haven't been able to come up with just the right scene. But that's okay, I've got time. I'll think of something. A derringer is just too cool not to use. ; )

How is NaNo going for all of you?

Journaling, Day 3 of NaNoWriMo

Total Word Count so far: 4,836

Yes, I'm already a bit behind schedule. Fridays are my busiest day of the week, so Day 2 falling on a Friday was rather unfortunate. I think I'll be able to get all caught up before bed tonight, though. My characters have already surprised me a few times, which is interesting, especially this early in the story, but I think it's kind of cool. Fu-han, who I had anticipated being a very aloof, only-speak-when-spoken-to kind of guy, has turned out to have a hangup with stating the obvious, and offering advice whether it's been requested or not. Cole, who I had imagined as a down-to-earth, hard working, all-around good kid, has turned out to have huge problems with arrogance. Fortunately, he knows that he has a huge ego and that that is problem, and he's trying very hard to learn to keep it controlled, but the results are mixed. And Thaddeus... ugh, Thaddeus! My main character has wasted no time in revealing the fact that he is the main character not only of The Sword Masters of St. George's Academy, but also a whole series of steampunk novels. Lovely. Don't get me wrong, Thaddeus is a great character and I'm really enjoying writing him so far, but the last thing in the world I need right now is more story ideas packed into this little noggin of mine. So Thaddeus and I are going to have some words about the situation, and we'll see what happens.

How is NaNo going for the rest of you who are participating?

Journaling NaNoWriMo, Day 1

Total word count so far: 1698

I've just barely made my quota for the day, with a few words to spare, but hey - setting the story up is the hardest part, and the day's not over yet.
Why didn't I do more research before starting on this?!?!?! So far today I've Googled at least 20 different things, from 'glossary of fencing terminology' to 'Anglican ministerial hierarchy' to 'traditional Chinese clothing'. (Yes, all for the same story. I like variety, what can I say?)
I've got the initial setup done now, though, so hopefully it will get easier from here on. Exciting stuff should start happening soon... and being exciting steampunk stuff just makes it that much cooler. ; )
Well, since I haven't accomplished a great deal (i.e. much at all [i.e. anything at all]) today, I should probably get some work aside from writing done. Then I'll get back to writing.

Oh - and per special request from Marlene, who is graciously serving as moral support for those of us who have just flung ourselves into the battleground of NaNo, here is the teaser/synopsis from The Sword Masters of St. George's Academy:

*  *  *

They say the best place to hide something is in plain sight...
At least, that's the theory the British prime minister decides to rely on when he finds himself the target of a violent anarchist faction. Fearing for the safety of his teenaged son, the prime minister hopes to protect the boy by hiding him among the dozens of students at St. George's Academy, one of London's finest schools. Who would think to look for him there?
St. George’s Academy is renowned for employing only the finest teachers, and its sword masters are no exception: Thaddeus Morgan, master of a revolutionary fencing technique sweeping Europe; Fu-han Dao, master of Eastern-style swordsmanship as well as hand-to-hand fighting. Both reputed to be legendary in skill. Who better to protect the prime minister’s son?
So when young Reuben Clark arrives at the school, Thaddeus and Fu-han find themselves conscripted into a job they didn’t sign up for or want—a job that they both know involves much more than simply looking after one teenager. With the entire school's safety now at risk and resting in their hands, it quickly becomes obvious that no one can be trusted... and that plain sight might not be the best place to hide something after all.

NaNoWriMo 2012 begins!

Here's hoping for a great month of writing madness!

Where has October gone?

Agh! I cannot believe October is almost over! Where did it go and how did it get there so quickly?!
(They say time speeding up is a sign of getting old... should I be worried?)

Well, since October is nearly over, I suppose it's time for news and updates.
First on the list: I'm being featured as a guest blogger over at Stories in the Mind, the blog of my dear friend and fellow writer Pure Grace. She's an amazing writer, and I'm honored by the opportunity to be a guest blogger there. So hop on over and check it out. I talk about the weirdness we writers all share/suffer from, and even share a few of my own embarrassing and humorous writer moments. I'm sure Pure Grace would love it if you all stopped by and shared your own writer moments with us. ; )

Second: While I am no fan of Halloween, I have accepted a challenge issued by Gillian Adams over at Of Battles, Dragons, and Swords of Adamant to enter the Character Costume Challenge. The challenge is just what its names implies: writers dress like a character from one of your stories; readers, dress like a favorite fictional character. Then take a picture of yourself in costume and post it on your blog on October 31st. Anyone and everyone is encouraged to participate and/or spread the word. Click Here to read the full details in Gillian's post.
I'll actually be dressing and posting pictures as two of my characters - one from my current novel in progress, Empathia's Hope, and one from the NaNoWriMo project I'm about to begin, The Sword Masters of St. George's Academy, so look for those pictures tomorrow!

Speaking of NaNoWriMo brings me to announcement number 3: NaNoWriMo is about to begin!!! As I'm sure you've gathered already, I'll be participating yet again this year. This is my third year to undertake what is probably the most insane event known to man (next to the running of the bulls), and I'm very excited. The last two years I've written fantasy stories; this year I'm turning to Steampunk for a high dose of fictional epicness! Swords, conspiracy, intrigue, action, and more swords, all coated with a thick layer of awesome steampunk style. Just as I've done the last two years, I'll be journaling my progress here at the Lair for those of you interested in following it. But of course, if you're participating in NaNo as well and would like to be my writing buddy, just look me up at my NaNo Profile. I look forward to seeing you there!

Well, I think that's all the announcements for now, so I'm off! Between Character Costume Challenge tomorrow, and NaNo beginning the day after tomorrow, I've got a lot to do! : )

Emerging on the other side...

... and finding that the world is still here!
After thirty long, grueling days and nights of NaNo (Has anyone else noticed that NaNo is only a few days shorter than the time God used to destroy the world in Noah's day?) we've at last emerged on the other side to find that, remarkably, life still goes on.
And better yet, there is no diabolical daily quota hanging over us any more! That uncanny internal clock that chants "You're getting behind, you're getting behind" has been silenced. No more annoying 'Stats' page telling us just how dismally far behind we are and how many millions of words we'll have to write per day to catch up.
Life's good, isn't it?
So, now that NaNo is safely behind us for another year (and by the way, my hearty congratulations to everyone who participated, whether you made the goal or not - merely taking part was no small thing), it's time to get back to life as we knew it.
And on that note, I'm pleased to announce that a new chapter of Falls the Shadow has been posted at The Lost Scribes! If you haven't already stopped by and read Chapter 14, you can Click Here to do so.
In this chapter, Skylar is beginning to struggle with the idea of keeping the library a secret from the professor who has done so much for him, and Coll, his best friend. The library is what they've been after for so long - now he's found it, and he can't even tell them.
He does make a surprising new discovery about the library, though... in the professor's study, of all places! Read Chapter 14 to find out what it is.

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