NaNoWriMo 2009 Day 25

[ladyseishou]

Day 25 - 5 days remaining

The only true creative aspect of (novel) writing is the first draft. That's when it's coming straight from your head and your heart, a direct tapping of the unconscious. The rest is donkey work.

- Evan Hunter (Ed McBain)



And how flow the words today, Nano Writer?

Was it a trickle or more like riding white water rapids? The word count today is 41,667! If you're behind, it's time to open the floodgates and let the story flow from your heart and head onto the page - raw and unedited! Every word counts now!

Excerpts? Questions? Comments? It's all good! Keep writing!

Comments

[xyndarella]

My word count flowed from 48,622 to 50,426 words today. I'm really excited to have crossed the finish like with five days left to go!

Right now, I'm feeling a huge sense of accomplishment and freedom, and an urge to keep writing. I never expected to feel that, but it's rather awesome. During the last couple of days, I've had a few ideas going around inside my head and I've decided to spend my remaining five days writing the first chapter of a new story that I am keen to start on.

I can honestly say that I am very much looking forward to participating in NaNoWriMo 2010! :D

[st_aurafina]

Wow! Congratulations on hitting 50K! How awesome.

[st_aurafina]

I'm sitting at 41,024. I have to kill people today. And I'm so fond of them by now, I want to ship them off to safety in an ark. I guess it's a test of my integrity as a writer.

*builds ark*

[yifu]

I just passed 50k, and felt like my arm deserves a month-long rest. However, the novel isn't finished yet and I still have an idea or two...

(I know I rarely comment on this community, but I find the posts helpful, and the quotes are great)

[tuulia]

I'm almost certain I will get to the finish line today! Whoo!

About today's quote: if the rest is donkey work, I love donkey work, and am relying on it to make my novel what I want it to be. As it is, it's got huge gaping holes and incongruities and is, in a word, a little stupid. I'm looking forward to months of making something out of it that will work like it's supposed to. It's a good thing I like that kind of work!

[tuulia]

Ark now, kill later? You can always leave the hard decisions to the editing phase...

Good luck!

[xyndarella]

Thank you! :D

[st_aurafina]

Yay 50k! Even if the hard slog isn't over, it's a great milestone. Good luck!

[st_aurafina]

Go, go! You can do it! You can patch the holes later!

[tuulia]

Just did it! :D Whoo!

Of course, the novel's not finished yet... I'm hoping to actually wrap up the first draft by the end of the week.

[angryoldhag]

Put them in the ark and then set the ark on fire?

[angryoldhag]

Yaaaaaay! Congratulations on reaching the 50k! And passing it.

[yifu]

Thank you! I'll try not to let this year's NaNo become like last year's NaNo, which is at 122k and nowhere near finished.

[yifu]

Thank you! If there's anything I learn from NaNo, it's that perseverance pays off.

[insomniac_tales]

Just crossed 50k and verified! Though technically this novel isn't anywhere near finished. It's nice to have a good chunk of the word done.

Jason Star Catcher didn't think that anyone would stand up for him. When he was being honest with himself it was because he didn't think he deserved it. Only people who were valued had other people defend them; he'd seen it in every place he lived no matter how short the duration.

Here, in the most unexpected of places, Jason had value.

Liesl stood up for him. Jerry guaranteed him that she'd take full responsibility for anything that happened, even knowing what it could do to her place in the commune. Curtis and Madelyn had become like siblings, willing to lay everything down to help him and protect him.

His father had told him that Liesl would take good care of him, he just couldn't have predicted how good.

Jason had lived on fragile ground for too long. So often he'd been ready to slip loose the mortal coil and see what else the universe had in store for him, only on the other side, the side that he hoped wouldn't hurt so much as this one. The cabin in the woods and the people who lived inside of it had changed all that.

Home had managed to sneak up on him while he was busy looking for other things.

Well Done!

[ladyseishou]

Fantastic!

[ladyseishou]

Nicely Done!

[ladyseishou]

Way to Go!

[ladyseishou]

[dragonjournal]

I'm way behind. Only at 37501, making me about 4k behind. But, tomorrow is my catch up day, since I don't have to cook. And it'll be a day of movies for the kids, and just hanging out, so I can just write around them. But I'm trying to get it done some today. But it's cold, and I'm kinda zoned.

[ladyseishou]

We need to be cruel to be kind ;-)

[ladyseishou]

Put on a pot of coffee or brew a pot of tea and start with some easy writing to ease back into the flow of the story - maybe a little scene description or a little character introspection about the weather being so cold... Good luck! You can do it!

Re: Way to Go!

[angryoldhag]

You're awesome! You did it! Congratulations.

[angryoldhag]

Congratulations!

[angryoldhag]

Congratulations!

Re: Fantastic!

[tuulia]

Thank you! :D

[tuulia]

Thank you! :) I'm very pleased - it's my first time.

[twistingthetale]

Congratulations! *applause*

[twistingthetale]

Congratulations yifu!

[twistingthetale]

Well done tuulia!

[twistingthetale]

YAY! Well done :)

[twistingthetale]

You can get there, so just keep chipping away at it :)

[tuulia]

Thank you! :)

Re: Way to Go!

[xyndarella]

Aww, thank you so much! That is the sweetest thing ever!

Re: Nicely Done!

[yifu]

Thank you :)

[yifu]

Thank you muchly :)

[dragonscrawl]

Crossed the 40k marker, so now I just need to push an average of 2000 words a day for the rest of the month and I'll be golden. We'll see how that goes, but I think I'll be able to do it.

The scene I was thinking of excerpting today is largely meant to be Samuel's impressions of the other main characters, but I'd end up excerpting the whole thing to get the good bits. So no excerpt today.

[withorwithoutyou]

Today was another lesson learned for me :) I was trying to make my story do one thing and it was going in a different direction. I got cocky and thought I knew better, and it took me two days to realize that I don't. As soon as I got over that, things started going well again. Plus, the scene I'd been obsessing over so much, thinking that it didn't work and I didn't like it, blah blah blah, etc? It totally works, and on top of that it tied together two other plot points seamlessly.
*thwacks self* Nothing like banging your head against a metaphorical wall to teach you humility, lol.

[juliet]

40,556 yesterday (day 25), so only 1,000 or so words behind. I am gradually catching up again, and feeling OK about making it all up by the end of the month. (Part of me is all BUT I COULD JUST BANG THROUGH IT ALL NOW SURELY but in fact I don't really write well that way, so, slow & steady continues to do it.)

[ladyseishou]

Congrats on reaching 40K! Keep writing!

[ladyseishou]

Sometimes the right brain knows better than the left ;-) Good luck!