Thursdays seem to be my skip days.
Which works out well, I guess, since Thanksgiving is on a Thursday.
I actually fully intended to write today, but it just didn’t happen.
*sigh*
Oh well, Scarlett…tomorrow is another day.
Word Count: 7183
Feeling: Tired
Why on earth am I blogging about my (mostly failing) attempt at NaNoWriMo? I am well aware that my journal of this experience is hardly the most interesting of all the NaNo posts on all the NaNo blogs in all the NaNo world.
…so what’s the point, Sam?
I blog because it forces me to write.
If no one reads my chronicle of this experience, it doesn’t matter.
I know it’s here. And that some imaginary person somewhere is expecting it to be here. And that if it’s not here, then I’ve let that person down.
It’s not about letting myself down. I let myself down all the time.
I break promises to myself all the time.
I am the queen of falling short of goals. If I’m the only person holding myself accountable, well then, baby…you can kiss that goal goodbye.
It’s about that imaginary reader who is obsessively checking his blog roll, looking for my update, waiting to hear about my writing today, cheering me on to my goal.
I don’t want to look like an idiot or a quitter in the eyes of that imaginary person. So I keep writing, and I keep blogging.
(I also keep making cupcakes. I should start a side business.)
If it weren’t for this journal, these daily NaNo updates, I would have quit long before. (Like, the second day, when I realized that everything on my schedule that week was double booked and I had to write 1k words a day!)
So what if it’s not the most brilliant blog post around! If it keeps me from quitting, it can be as dry as Miss Melba’s toast and I wouldn’t care.
Word Count: 6458
Feeling: Defiant
Supposedly, Week Two of NaNo is the Week of the Doldrums. Not sure if that will be true for me since today was my best writing day since, um, Saturday.
We’ll see if that momentum holds up…especially since I just ate the last cupcake.
Word Count: 6148
Feeling: Skeptical
My goal today was to glue my bum to the couch until I had gotten my word count up to 10,000. I’m only halfway there, but the day isn’t over yet.
I’ve posted the first bit of my novel here. It’s nowhere near perfect (in fact, I cringe every time I read it), but I’m trying to be strong and keep from editing anything until December.
Feel free to read and leave a comment or two.
Word Count: 4817
Feeling: Mildly Triumphant
Remember that episode of Friends where Ross accidentally cheats (or not, depending on what camp you’re in) on Rachel, then spends the rest of the season explaining that “We were on a break!”?
That’s how I felt when I opened Microsoft Word this morning, and the pitiful little word count glared accusingly at me.
“We were on a break!” I wanted to yell. “Remember? I explained that! I had a lot to do yesterday! It was a busy day! It’s been a busy week! Can’t you just give me a break? I promise I’ll write scads and scads this weekend! I promise! I promise!”
It didn’t help that I overslept and already felt guilty for having only a few minutes to devote to writing.
It didn’t help that the cruel overlords at the NaNoWriMo headquarters sent out an email from “My Novel” begging me to get back to work.
We were on a break, I tell you!
Word Count: 3574
Feeling: Harrassed
Yes, I am aware that the last few posts haven’t been earth-shatteringly examples of brilliant prose.
The truth is, I’ve been using up all my creativity on my novel…and in the kitchen.
Mostly in the kitchen.
Because, hey, when you’ve got Pumpkin Cupcakes with Caramelized White Chocolate Ganache, who needs 50,000 words?!
In other news…Nathan Bransford has a sweeps going for a new Kindle Paperwhite. Enter to win, and check out all of the awesome writing tips. (That’s probably what I should be doing, too.)
In other news…I have cupcakes.
Word Count: 3127
Feeling: Frantic
I’m totally counting Character Sketches in my word count.
I wrote them.
In November.
And it pertains to my novel.
So there.
Word Count: 3127
Feeling: Remarkably Chill
I’m stuck.
Not even three thousand words into this thing, and I’m already at an impasse.
I’ve written about a thousand words today, but it’s been the same paragraph about ten times. So the real count is 124. Yep. That’s right. One hundred twenty-four little words is all I have to show for today.
The helpful little chart on the NaNo homepage tells me that, at this rate, I will finish January 21, 2014. (Which is pretty good considering that when I started, it said I would finish sometime next July.)
But I just can’t figure out how to progress this scene, and I can’t bring myself to write crap just for the sake of word count.
So what will I do?
I’ll do what I always do when I come to a problem I’m too tired to handle…
…go to bed.
Word Count: 2462
Feeling: Irritated
So, you’re supposed to pick a genre for your novel.
My genre is called “No freakin’ clue.”
I mean, seriously, I haven’t written the thing yet. How am I supposed to know what genre it’s in?
Supposedly, the trick to figuring out your genre is to imagine you’ve finished writing your book. You’ve queried your agent, gotten representation, been picked up by a major publishing house, and your little baby is finally hitting bookstores! (Pause…Let’s enjoy this dream for a bit.)
Now, imagine you’ve walked into a bookstore, and you see your book.
What shelf is it on?
Well, duh. On the “Bestsellers” rack at the front of the store!
I mean, if we’re gonna dream, we might as well dream big.
Word Count: 2338
Feeling: Slightly panicked.
Today was my favorite kind of day to write:
Wake up.
Drink Coffee.
Have quiet time.
Watch Grimm!!!
Think about writing.
Take a shower.
Write.
Go shopping.
Write.
Make cornbread.
Write.
Start making cupcakes and realize all of the ingredients are supposed to be room temperature.
Write.
Finish making cupcakes.
Write.
Eat a cupcake.
Or two.
Go to bed.
Even with all of that writing, I’m only halfway to where I wanted to be today. I know I really need to stop evaluating each word before I type it, and just start putting things down on paper, but the perfectionist in me just can’t quite do that yet.
On the plus side, there are some really yummy cupcakes in my kitchen.
Word Count: 1553
Feeling: Tired
Inscriptia 