NaNoWriMo 2010 - Day 3

[ladyseishou]

Day 3 - 27 days remaining

Some writers do plan everything.
They must not be as often distracted as I am.
Get it on paper, in any form that you can.

- CJ Cherryh



So was it a day of distractions, Nano Writer? It can be a hard thing to find the time to write, so you really need to take advantage of any situation...

Lunch at the office? Bring out your special notebook. Waiting for class to start? Add a few sentences to your story. Anything that you write gets you that much closer to the word goal for the day!

I've borrowed an oversized piece of newsprint from my daughter to sketch out a part of my story world and ended up writing parts of scenes all over the thing - front and back. What was the most unusual thing that you've used to write with or on? As they say, necessity is the mother of invention!

Today the number to beat is 5,000. Excerpts? Concerns? Questions? Hugs?

Remember to keep writing, Nano Writer!

Comments

good progress on g0ddesses.net!

[kallistixf]

up to 6700 words and counting!

here's a brief snippet, with the protagonist going shopping ... feedback welcome!

It was delightful being fussed over by the oh-so-attentive staff, a stylist, and my two new friends at Plumage of the Vanities. After we spent a few minutes talking about my goals for the day's shopping experience, I was quickly trying on a flurry of clothes in beautiful fabrics and colors, all of them incredibly flattering. I willed myself not to look at the price tag and hoped that the consulting gig really did come a clothing allowance.

When we were done I wound up in a dark grey suit with a perfectly-styled cream-colored shirt with hints of pink and orange highlights. Artemis picked a silk kerchief for me in azure and turquoise to match the bracelet, and I was thinking it might be too much, but everybody ooohed and aaahed and said it was me.

There was a pair of Christian Louboutins that I wanted soooo badly but they wouldn't have worked with the rest of the outfit so instead I settled for a sensible-but-sexy dark grey pair with almost no heel that fit a lot better. Artemis did some tallying and told me that if I bought the tie and shoes and rented the rest of the outfit, my clothing allowance would cover it. And Juno bought me a present, a lovely soft top in a dark red color that could go with jeans or something dressier.

I walked out of Plumage of the Vanities feeling ready for Manly McStud's or anything else life put in my way.

Re: good progress on g0ddesses.net!

[ladyseishou]

Very good progress indeed!

Great detail in the excerpt! I really got a sense of whirlwind fashion shopping.

[icysilverpill]

I thought at first I would be writing purely at the computer but I found myself yesterday going back to my notebook and pen then typing my writings. Oh well whatever works right!

[ladyseishou]

Definitely! A lot of writers, both pro and other, prefer to write with a pen in fact.

[dark_kana]

No distractions yet. But then again. Weekend hasn't started yet... Starting Friday I'll probably get distracted. So that's why I'm currently spending every free minute I find (and it does help that all the systems here at work are out yet they don't allow us to go home. *pouts*) typing. XD

Currently at 6.036 words, and still going on. I'm on a roll for the moment. For the first time it seems to be working and I'm having some good hopes. ^^

Lunch at the office is indeed when I am going to be writing most. It's only half an hour, but lots of words can be written in half an hour. ^^
Normally I prefere writing in one of my many notebooks, but for NaNo I decided to just type everything. Though it will probably happen that when I'm waiting for the bus to come (or while I'm sitting on said bus) that I will take out my notebook and write a little more. XD

[ladyseishou]

A fantastic word count and the start of a healthy buffer! Weekends are my big distraction too. And one must never underestimate the power of the half hour! ;-)

[angrboda]

Here's a distraction. No matter HOW TEMPTING and no matter HOW FUN and no matter HOW ADDICTING, do not purchase Peggle Deluxe (or any other PopCap games for that matter) while NaNo-ing.

Don't. Do. It.

I shall be making a start on day three shortly. Goal for the day is 5K new words (and I'm still a few K ahead of my worst NaNo rival. MWAHAHAHA!).

[ladyseishou]

Bejeweled was my siren. In the end I had to delete the app from my Touch. I will heed your warning and stay clear of Peggle until NaNo is done! And good luck with keeping a lead on your rival!

[insomniac_tales]

Today was a bad one. Election stuff beside, because that always distracts me, had some personal stuff go awry.

But a friend, a good friend I might add, told me that today can start fresh at any time. It took a few hours for that to sink in. Instead of sitting in a slump and unable to write for nano I started smiling and the words started to come. Found a new character and I have NO IDEA WHATSOEVER what her purpose is, but she'll be integral later on.

Kicking it at 5864, hoping to crank up some more words before the day ends.

An excerpt featuring my new character:

Hippolyta was the only composer. She couldn't play every instrument her minions had brought her, but that never bothered her much. She was best on the piano.

Bouncing around on top of her piano bench, sometimes kicking it out from underneath her body; she could play for hours. Even when she didn't have an instrument at hand Hippolyta hummed. Her mind tripped over notes until she found a perfect combination, a series that would invoke an emotion or an action in anyone else who dared to play it.

She dashed her compositions out on aged paper. Her pen revealed a tidy script, eighth notes stacked up elegantly on the lines she drew herself. She had stacks of these little pieces; all of them titled whatever name struck her fancy.

[ladyseishou]

I'm sorry to hear about your bad day but cheers for the advice of good friends! And cheers for a beautiful word count! And Hippolyta sounds like a very cool character!

[venetia_sassy]

I was just settling in to write when the cleaners arrived and the noise threw me off for a bit. I only wrote about 700 words in my first bout, then I made another cup of tea, went back to my study and focused. 1834 words today! I didn't even hear the cleaners leave.

I write notes on anything remotely paper-like. (Except books. I never write on books.) The TV guide is frequently used, envelopes, receipts ... I try to stick to notebooks but somehow they're never around when I need them ...

The worst distraction for me is, guess what, the Internet! As it happens we have two computers at home and the D-Link for my study computer broke a few months back. I have yet to replace it, as it means the temptation to 'just check my email!' or 'just look something up quickly!' instead of writing has been removed. I only go online in the evenings now.

Total word count: 5312!

[ladyseishou]

A beautiful word count! And that's the wonder of really getting into the world of your story. I call it "flow" - when your focus is so tuned into your writing, the real world sort of disappears.

Me too, I try to limit my on-line stuff for later, after my writing is done for the day. Whatever works, right?

[dreamingpixels]

I have been an absolute writing maniac lately. I don't know what it is about this story, or the characters, or what, but I'm currently at 10,870 words and I'm nowhere near done with writing for the day.

This is strange. Except for on the first day of NaNo, I'd always have problems just hitting the 1,667 word goals. The past two days, though, I wrote over 5k words each day. I feel crazy. :D

[ladyseishou]

Crazy fantastic good! You're in the flow, baby! Ride the wave for as long as it will take you and ask no questions!

[scifisentai]

8897 words and hoping to reach 10,000 by the end of the day. I get distracted very easily, though, especially when friends are online and interested in the story I'm writing, so I end up keep stopping for emails before dragging myself back to writing. >.>

[ladyseishou]

A fantastic word count and I applaud your goal! You're doing very well so I'm guessing that the support from your friends is a good thing!

[pixel]

About 500 more words this morning in my first little sprint. That puts me around 4500, but I'm aiming for 6000 or more today. Feeling much better this morning about things.

For distraction free writing pyroom is my savior. I even finally got it loaded back up on the netbook and took it to the library yesterday afternoon. May try that again tomorrow.

I also have a real spiral bound grid paper notebook that I like to keep notes in. I am going to have to start ironing more things out ahead of time I think, I was really stalled last night and that's a bit frightening.

[pixel]

So, in a fit of crazy, I started over, this afternoon. I know, potentially dumb move but it seems to be panning out, got over 4200 words on the new story, which puts me about even with the old one in a single day. It's still a net gain.

OMG time for bed now!

[orbitalfrequency]

Dear Characters,
Please don't have this dysfunctional relationship all month. There's another love interest I'd like to fit in there. Thanks.
Love,
Your Writer

6,036 and counting. We're getting a kitten tomorrow, so I don't anticipate writing much.

[ladyseishou]

A beautiful word count! It will make up a lot for "kitten" day! I have two blue point Siamese and have some inkling of what your day may be like tomorrow! Have fun!

[charamei]

I got 600 words on the train into work this morning! I usually only manage 200-300. Still got 500 to go before I hit my wordcount for the day, but I'll get them before I go to bed, no worries.

My writing is sloooowly getting back up to something approaching decency as I remember how to write long-form (haven't written anything but one-shots and edits of That One Fic in over a year). It's still very heavy on the telling, but I'm taking that as a good sign; if I write concisely enough, by accident or otherwise, I might actually finish the story in November and be able to edit the good bits in later.

Otherwise... yeeeah, I'm about to kill off my protagonists' son. The Plot Starts Here. Sorry, you two.

[ladyseishou]

Sounds like you're on the right track! I'm not worried because I know you can do it! And yes, building the story and filling in the good bits is a sound plan! And oh no! Your poor protagonist! It does seem that bad times are a-coming...

[tig_b]

Another slow day, not helped by my asthma nurse deciding I needed another injection this morning during my checkup(pneumonia vaccine)
but I managed 1k words

total so far 3283

I've been trying to work at my PC or laptop, as I'm hopeless at typing up loads of text. But I think I need to make sure I have a notebook for days like today.

[ladyseishou]

I'm very sorry to hear that it was a physically trying day for you but it sounds as if your spirits are good. A thousand words is a wonderful thing to have done given your circumstances. I hope that tomorrow is better!

For myself, I've been doing all of my writing on something called a AlphaSmart Dana. I've linked you to a page that shows the information for new ones but don't let the price scare you off if you're interested as they can be found on eBay sometimes quite cheap (my Dana only cost $18). What I like about it, is that it's very light and compact and lets me type anywhere I might be, in a chair, at a table, really anywhere. It's battery-powered (3 "AA"s or you can use a rechargeable battery pack) which really makes it a get-up-and-go-with-you-anywhere word processor. And when you're ready to upload your work to your PC or laptop, you just plug in the USB cable and hit the send button and it "types" right into any application.

I'm sorry to have gone on so long with this but I think that something like the Alphasmart Dana or Neo might really help you out when working on the PC isn't possible.

But a handy notebook can do the job too!

[emilia_schultz]

5601 - am glad it's back up again as I had a small slip yesterday. Nice to have the leeway from the day before!

[ladyseishou]

A wonderful word count! and yes, I agree - writing ahead helps a lot for those bad days I think that everyone has.

[twistingthetale]

I had to go out in the morning, then my sister and brother-in-law visited, so I didn't start writing until 4pm or thereabouts. However I managed another 1730 words in spite of having to stop for dinner and catching up with the penultimate episode of a TV series that I've been watching (Downton Abbey), so my total is now 5260 :)

[ladyseishou]

For such a busy day, you did very well! A solid word count!

[hopeoubliette]

Today's wordcount: 2126
Total wordcount: 9790

"Was it a day of distractions?" you ask. I'd have to say that yes, it was a day for distractions. Out of necessity, I spent a good amount of time at the sink, catching up on dishes that had gone unwashed in the face of Brilliant Creativity (tm), but overall, I feel it was still a very productive day.

I don't really have anything that was particularly unusual that I've written on. I tend to stick to paper, blank books, and spiral notebooks, overall.

I was stalled for a short time due to getting my scenes backwards on my outline, but I've passed that hurdle, and am back to going strong. RAWR!

[ladyseishou]

A very good day sounds like to me! and a fantastic word count! And yes I hear you about those dishes... at some point I realized that I was going to actually stick my hand in the water that I was soaking some pots in... umm, not a pleasant thing.

[medicalmouse]

Just finished today's sections up. I came in at 2028 for the day, bringing me up to 6040 total. Yay progress! I can't think of anything especially odd I've written on to date - just Word so far - but I have discovered the value of keeping a pen and a pad of Post-its on hand at all times. It's great for making note of the little things I think of that don't have a spot in the story yet but could be useful later, or for adding to my masterlist of minor characters so I don't forget who was the botanist and who was the geologist when I need them again in three chapters.

[ladyseishou]

A great word count! And I don't think I could survive without my Post-its! True story: I was at my wit's end about how to entertain my daughter while trying to write a bit and so wrote the word "hand" on one and pressed it on her hand. A lot of giggles and laughter later, she was covered with the things from head to toe. Not a lot of writing done but it was one of those times that it didn't matter.

[sonjadenise]

Lots of classes today, but I made myself sit down and write for an hour and a half to get up to 7,564 before midnight so my chart can look pretty. (Yes, I'm a little OCD, why do you ask?) And my characters are brilliant. I was worrying how to make everyone's race clear but mention it naturally, and there wound up being a funny scene involving a misunderstanding today. Problem solved!

Excerpt for today (yeah, tenses keep switching, I know):
"You know, Shiri, if you didn't slack off, this would be the perfect moment to prove the existence of psychic powers."
I love that she calls it "slacking off," rather than "no thank you, ma'am." Maybe this Adelle chick had the right idea--spirits are a pain in the ass. But nonetheless, my mother had insulted me, and being my mother, knew there was no better way to get my ass in gear than to fling a challenge at me. I cracked my knuckles.
"My powers are weak, not non-existent," I say, then lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees, and concentrate on the glass of water Marco had placed in front of me. I feel myself get warmer, ready to start sweating at any moment, and I begin to think that I overreached, that maybe a glass of water is too heavy.
First the water ripples very subtly.
Then it starts to splash, some of it out of the glass and onto the table. That should be enough, but I keep going, determined to show off even with my limited abilities. I was going to leave no doubt in their minds about what was happening.
The glass tips over, water pouring onto the carpet.
“There,” I say proudly.
Then the glass falls off the table and shatters into a few large pieces on the floor.
“Oh. I didn’t mean to do that, sorry.”
Though from the looks on Derica and Marco’s faces, they were less concerned with spilled water and a broken glass than with the fact that I had just performed (rather basic) telekenesis right in front of their eyes. My mother smiled, and I leaned back in the couch feeling very smug at the moment.
Now they were ready to listen.

[ladyseishou]

Umm, should I admit that I sometimes write just a few more words to make the chart look pretty too?

It sounds like you're having a lot of fun with your characters! That's as wonderful a thing as your word count!

Oh and I love the way the relationship between Shiri and her mother feels real. The whole excerpt is nicely done.

[fadedwings]

I usually make notes on index cards or scraps of paper but write on the computer but my husband needed my desk for his art homework for part of the day so I couldn't use my computer for a bit. I ended up writing 1200 words with pen and paper instead and just typed it in later so it worked out just fine.

I ended the day at 6,007 words!

[ladyseishou]

Great word count and (warning - possibly bad pun ahead) a handy solution for your problem!

[ohlalo]

Whew. Got in just under the wire, today. 1720 words, most of them wrenched right past a nasty block. Strangest thing I've written on, I think, is meal tickets while I'm working. They work just as well as anything else, though, and they're the only thing on hand.

Last bit I wrote:

Looking down at his feet, Leikr realized, unhappily, that he was going to have to go tromping around in a forest barefoot, because it wasn’t like he was the sort who wore his boots to bed. If he’d known this was going to happen, maybe he would have. Maybe he would in the future, now. Maybe he’d have special boots made for sleeping in because it wasn’t like you could sleep in combat boots or the constricting affairs that Mieli had foisted on him.

[ladyseishou]

Good work on the words today! I'm glad you got through the block but next time you might consider writing around it if it gets bad (ie. skip to the next scene or fill in more on the last until it feels right to move on).

Meal tickets, eh? Sounds good especially if they fit in the pocket.

I think that you've captured your MC's frustration very well! And for me, it made me sympathetic to his problem as you portrayed it with a somewhat humorous touch.

[cypher]

Hah, I was back at work today, so distraction aplenty! But that was me sitting with a notebook on my lunch break, scribbling some words down to try not to fall behind.

I didn't quite make the pace for today, but I had enough of a cushion from the last few days that I'm still ahead overall, at 6149 words.

[ladyseishou]

It was a slow day for me too. But your word count is solid and some or a little on a busy day is a good thing!