NaNoWriMo 2009 Day 16

[ladyseishou]

Day 16 - 14 days remaining

I ask myself, "What is the next sentence?" That's all I have to write, and it's good for me to remember it. And when I focus on that, my inner critic seems to drift away.

- Ed Gaffney



And your next sentence?

Sundays are slow start days for me (I love to sleep in :-) so last thing Saturday night, I try to leave myself something fun/evil to start from to jump start the day just as Gregory McDonald suggests.

Here's an excerpt (including the last sentence which happened to close the chapter): The boy crouching there, hidden in shadow, reminded me of a wind cat I tracked once as a youth, many lifetimes ago. Dangerous, beautiful, intelligent. I wondered if I would have better luck of the hunt this time. That time I nearly lost a hand. This time I could lose my life.

Kicking the inner critic aside (oh word repetition! bane of my writery life - rewrite later!), I'm eager to start the next chapter. How shall I test you today, my dears?

Today's word count is 26,667! How is everyone doing? Questions? Comments? First sentence you wrote today? The last?

Remember: it's all good! Keep writing!

Comments

[withorwithoutyou]

Meeh. Today was one of those blah days. I had to remind myself 'just keep writing, just keep writing' far too many times, lol. I managed it, although most of today's chapter is filler.
The cool thing is that after a while of the just keep writing mantra, I started getting snapshots of what it's like inside my MC's head while she's having one of her episodes, which was actually fairly enlightening.
(MC is a little girl with child onset schizophrenia).
I actually got something usable out of it after all.

[withorwithoutyou]

Hmm. I posted on Monday's post, didn't I? That's really great, self. Wonderful. xD *fp*

[geminianeyes]

Completely alright, I think. :D

[withorwithoutyou]

Hehe, thanks :D
I can totally blame it on exhaustion, lol.

[ladyseishou]

Yep, it seems that sometimes when we're just writing "filler," it turns out to be something cool after all. Sometimes I wonder if it's the best method to get at what's really cooking inside our imaginations which is where the really good stories hang out.

Good work!

[geminianeyes]

Am cruising along to 37k now, just simply writing. Muses have pulled another 360 on me. At this rate I wonder if the story will ever be finished.

The calmer he was, the more panicky he felt. Annwn was very sure of it.

My characters are impressing on me that they're having fun. The idiots. I'm struggling to keep up with them heh.

[ladyseishou]

Fantastic word count! And the best thing is that it seems like you're having fun too!

[geminianeyes]

*points to icon* XD

[ladyseishou]

*sends coffee and offers a donut with sprinkles*

[geminianeyes]

*takes some coffee and shares some pie back*

[meretia]

I just broke ten thousand tonight. I'm that sort of good at this.

[ladyseishou]

Wow! You have 10K more words than anyone else that hasn't started yet. Keep going!

[xyndarella]

My word count is sitting at 27,616 and I'm deciding if I want to strive toward the 30k mark while I am in the mood or just make dinner. It's a very tough decision. I like to get ahead while I can, but I find my stomach is distracting me.

Sitting at the same writing bureau, I reflected upon the past and where I sat in the present.

My inner critic is all tied up. An introduction to bondage and I find a ball gag to be a wonderful tool. I am the one holding the whip in this relationship and any more mention of fixing anything shall result in the type of punishment nobody enjoys. :)

I am a little puzzled that my story is still being derailed from the original concept when I started writing it, but I am no longer fighting with myself about that. At the end of the month, I may not have a proper story, but I'm hoping to have a 50k word foundation that I can use for something at least. Assuming the stormy weather takes a backseat.

Thank you so much for these daily prompts. I quite look forward to them in the evenings and they give me much to reflect on.

[geminianeyes]

My inner critic is all tied up. An introduction to bondage and I find a ball gag to be a wonderful tool. I am the one holding the whip in this relationship and any more mention of fixing anything shall result in the type of punishment nobody enjoys. :)

<333

[ladyseishou]

Your word count looks very good - so eat! But I know what you mean about not wanting to stop especially while the muse is whispering in your ear.

And very happy to hear that you've showed the inner critic who's boss! Yes! Because you will have a beautiful rough draft at the end of November!

And it works both ways these daily posts - I love reading everyone's comments and advice! Absolutely inspirational!

[juliet]

27,165, just finished today's stint. Had trouble sitting down to start it (this seems to be a Theme!) but it was OK once I got going. The "just write the next sentence" was useful a couple of times - thanks!

Excerpt from the end:
"Of course," I agreed. "You too -- don't get mugged on your way to Scotland. Say hi to Alex for me, not that he knows who I am."
"Yeah, and to Bella from me," Stuart said, and the twitch was barely noticable. Huh. Maybe it wasn't me, then.

[ladyseishou]

Fantastic progress! I'm very happy to hear that the writing advice helped out! And it sounds like you have a cool line to work from tomorrow - twitch, eh?

[otter_nanowrimo]

I'm doing well so far today!

Day 8/16 just started for me four hours ago. I figured I need to write about 2950 to finish "officially" with everyone else, and closer to 1800 to finish by my self-imposed due date. In the last four hours, I've written 2435 words. After I sleep, It'll still be the same day, so I'll already have that jumpstart and almost everything more than that that I write will be extra.

I've spent probably about three days not writing anything at all, and I feel like today is a breakthrough both becase I wrote, because I wrote a lot, and because I found a new way to help myself get started.

I've known for a while that there are scenes missing. Just before midnight, in my wrap-up post for yesterday, I wrote out a list of scenes that needed to get written and things that needed to happen, either somewhere in the middle of teh text or afterward. Using that, I was able to find something to work on when before it has been "ugh, there is no plot, there is no way to move forward and anyway I don't even know where it's going, suck suck suck." Now it's "Oh, I could do this, or this, or this. Let's do this." And I write. This has been so helpful that I will almost certainly take it for use on other projects, once I have time for other projects.

My first sentence: She came to his rooms every day for a week, talking to him in between homework assignments and often staying well into the night.
My last sentence: Her hand skimmed over his shoulders as she walked past, both a comfort and a source of pain.

I managed to develop both my main characters so that the female lead is much less like me and the male lead has some history beyond brief descriptions of his family. I haven't yet introduced the other male lead directly, but the characters have talked about him and he now has a name--Michael.

All in all, I am feeling pretty badass. :D Also sleepy. Goodnight! <3

[ladyseishou]

You are badass! You've done great today! And I like your method of choices! Kind of like a box of chocolates - pick one that looks good and have at it!

Your first and last sentences seem to bookend some interesting character development! Very nice!

[twistingthetale]

I'm just having a quick break to update my word count and back up the chapter so far, and have to say that I'm rather enjoying the hedonistic and slightly odd (to say the least) side of my antagonist and his gang. Here's a snippet of what I've written so far today:

"From his office Guy could hear the sound of the van approaching, the goods it carried silent and still thanks to the effect of the anaesthetic that had been administered without the victims’ knowledge. All of that would change as soon as the drug had worn off, making them alert within seconds of opening their eyes. As soon as they saw the group of hungry vampires that surrounded the cage in which they found themselves, eyes blazing and fangs ready to tear at their flesh, the screaming would begin. Oh, how they loved the screaming, and the smell of fear seeping from every pore as the mortals huddled together in the far corner of their prison like the pathetic, dumb animals that they were."

Update: Have finished the day at 31086, leaving Kate and the police officers who are investigating the reason for her bus crashing feeling very confused - which isn't as a result of me losing the plot; they just have no idea how to explain some of the things that have happened from a logical point of view :D

[ladyseishou]

Back up good! Word count great! And wow - that's some powerful imagery you're writing there!

[twistingthetale]

Hehe, thank you :) The bad guys seem to be the most fun to work with!

[angryoldhag]

I think I made up my weekend's lack productivity today when I reached 40,170 so I wrote 5,156 words today. I am almost there and I'm actually also almost there when it comes to my story so I figure that I'll finish it this week, print the story, go through it and start adding scenes that I think should fit.

By the way, writing English on a laptop that only has a Dutch spell check and automatically corrects words is really quite weird. It kept changing 'frankly' to Franklin so when I read it over I went "Who's Franklin? What's he doing here?"

[ladyseishou]

Wow! 5K in a day! You are a writing machine! I look forward to you crossing the 50K line this week! I think that Franklin will also be very proud ;-)

[eien_herrison]

Had the weekend (Fri/Sat/Sun) off as I was visiting my parents, which has put me behind schedule -- didn't help that I wasn't able to write on Thursday. Sadly, today's not been a productive day; I'm hoping I've not hit a block. I've written just over 800 words today, putting me at approaching 35k, and I've got 1hr 45 mins to write another 1.2k.

My first sentence today was:

She snagged the gun from its holster, slipped off her other shoe, discarding the pair next to the limo, and took off at a quick pace back towards the dock.

[ladyseishou]

800 wonderful words! Wonderful because I know that it can be hard to start after a lengthy break. But I think that it's an easy bet to say that you'll do your 1.2K - your first sentence reads like it will lead to a lot of exciting action!

[eien_herrison]

Thanks; I managed 1.3k in total yesterday, about 700 off my intended goal. I'm starting to run out of plot for my current chapter (the plot was initially suspected to be enough for one chapter, but it's stretched to a second), but thankfully I've found some nice places in Shanghai my MC can visit with his girlfriend after the mission's over, which should give me some nice padding.

[lassarina]

2163 words today and I'm over 27,000. Feeling a lot more optimistic now that I'm working from a baseline of being caught up!

[ladyseishou]

Fantastic progress today! Yes! Your word count looks great!

[dragonjournal]

I have done nothing today, and know I probably won't get anything done tonight. But, I'm almost completely moved, and will be sleeping in my new flat tonight. Meaning life is awesome. I can catch up on NaNo after the move is done.

[ladyseishou]

Congrats on the new place! *sends virtual salt and bread for luck* Be sure to set up your new writing space!

[dragonscrawl]

I pushed through to 31k, but fought for every word toward the end. I'm contenting myself with being careful with how far from on track to my personal goal I get, since I have next week off and can catch later.

The last sentence I wrote today was A vague answer, but an answer none the less.. At least this sentence should give me something to follow it up with.

[ladyseishou]

Oh yes, it's a good sentence! Good luck with the follow up!

[lei]

26,719! I've been behind a few days so it's good to be caught up ♥ I am going to try and get ahead tomorrow, though.

I started a new part today and have very little idea where I'm going, but the most amusing line I wrote today was definitely this: "He had known his lack of experience in the outside world would hurt him when he left his home, but nothing could have prepared him for impromptu boating lessons."

[ladyseishou]

Yes! Wonderful! Starting a new part can be scary but I bet that once you start in on it, the writing will just flow ~

Impromptu boating lessons, eh? It does bring to mind comical imagery! Good luck!

[insomniac_tales]

The first sentence I wrote today was: September was disappearing so quickly it left Madelyn's head spinning.

I hit 33k today and considering I was writing intermittently with studying for a test this morning I think I did more than ok.

[ladyseishou]

Hope that you did well on the test as you did with your word count! Great transition line!

[wyrdkat]

I wrote about 2075 words today bringing my word count to 32,740. It felt a little slow today, mostly because I'm not sure what is going on at the moment and in the near future. I know what it going to happen closer to the end but it isn't time for that yet.

eta: my first sentence was a short one:
Jack was running.

and the last one was: Had she just not been paying enough attention to him?

[ladyseishou]

That's wonderful progress! And I like the first sentence - the structure works well with the action. And a good last sentence - a question!