Tuesday, November 29
Winner
So here I am, at 51,000+ or so. Made it. It was hard. It's not pretty. I'm not sure I want to read it, at least not tonight. Or tomorrow. But it's done. It's over. Four swings, four home runs, four "novels" in four years. OK. Now to sleep a bit....
My pal Jared made it this morning. His friend Andy made it too. And a couple of other Greeleyites have made it too. So congrats to all, and I'll see you at Borders tomorrow night to celebrate.
Interview with the writer
So when I was standing here (did I mention we've got a new high speed hook up in the kitchen?) updating my word count 45 minutes ago, I took a call from a reporter at the local newspaper, who's doing a story on all my local fellow WriMos for tomorow's paper. We chatted for a few moments, I said some stupid things and totally forgot most of my media training. Oh well. We'll see what happens in the morning. You can try to beat me to it at the Greeley Tribune website.
49,263
Ever closer
48,373 as of now, mid afternoon two days to go, playing (legal) hooky from work.... going to go pick up a car getting new tires, and then come back for more....
And closer
Another 900 words this morning brings me to 47,132. Closer....
Monday, November 28
And closer...
46,190 words... and boy are my shoulders and eyes tired.
Less than 5000 words to go. 48 hours left. Optimistic again. Hopeful.
Less than 5000 words to go. 48 hours left. Optimistic again. Hopeful.
Closer...
Back from 90 minutes at the library, and I'm now sitting at 42,055... with more time planned later tonight....
Three days to go
So my pal Jared is quoted in the Denver Post NaNo story about Greeley vs. Fort Collins (a local competition that's going on beyond my awareness). He's got some good quotes. (He's also got some 46,000 words, about seven thousand more than I do as of this morning when we chatted.)
So, yes, three days to go and aside from several hundred words this morning, I haven't written since last Wednesday night. I've had plenty of fun in the meantime, hanging out with my newphew and seeing movies and doing some work on the deck and (finally) hooking up a high-speed wireless net connection (g'bye dial-up!) and so on.
I was telling Jared this morning than I'm on the verge of not making it for the first time in four years. I was also telling him that in the past three tries, by the end of the month I had pretty much a complete novel, bad, sure but complete with a beginning, middle and end. This year I've got a beginning and the start of a middle. It's muddled at best. I have a lot of color and internal though, but very little action.
This morning, in fact, when I typed I just started keying in the outline I hand-wrote a few weeks ago on an airplance, just typing in the short action steps I need to fill out, mostly just to get word count. (I'm currently at 39,768 or so).
I also have time tonight to go to the library and write for an hour while Reade has a final rehearsal for her chamber orchestra concert tomorrow night, so I'll have a couple 3000 words, and I hope to stay up late tonight and write some more.
And then there will be just two more days. Two more 5,000 words days? See: it's looking iffy. Iffy at best.
So, yes, three days to go and aside from several hundred words this morning, I haven't written since last Wednesday night. I've had plenty of fun in the meantime, hanging out with my newphew and seeing movies and doing some work on the deck and (finally) hooking up a high-speed wireless net connection (g'bye dial-up!) and so on.
I was telling Jared this morning than I'm on the verge of not making it for the first time in four years. I was also telling him that in the past three tries, by the end of the month I had pretty much a complete novel, bad, sure but complete with a beginning, middle and end. This year I've got a beginning and the start of a middle. It's muddled at best. I have a lot of color and internal though, but very little action.
This morning, in fact, when I typed I just started keying in the outline I hand-wrote a few weeks ago on an airplance, just typing in the short action steps I need to fill out, mostly just to get word count. (I'm currently at 39,768 or so).
I also have time tonight to go to the library and write for an hour while Reade has a final rehearsal for her chamber orchestra concert tomorrow night, so I'll have a couple 3000 words, and I hope to stay up late tonight and write some more.
And then there will be just two more days. Two more 5,000 words days? See: it's looking iffy. Iffy at best.
Wednesday, November 23
One week to go
And it's look good again. Been sitting here waiting to leave for the airport to pick up Nick, who's coming for a few days, and with extra time because his plane out of Chicago's been delayed, I've had an extra hour to work.
Word count: 38,594.
Words left: something under 12,000.
Days left: Six.
Words per day 2,000.
Definitely doable, even if I'll lose the next two days to hanging out with family doing fun holiday stuff. (Which means I really have four days left and 3,000 words per day, which is a little less doable, but certainly nothing to worry about. And now, off to the airport!
Word count: 38,594.
Words left: something under 12,000.
Days left: Six.
Words per day 2,000.
Definitely doable, even if I'll lose the next two days to hanging out with family doing fun holiday stuff. (Which means I really have four days left and 3,000 words per day, which is a little less doable, but certainly nothing to worry about. And now, off to the airport!
Moving forward
A good night, a couple three thousand words, maybe even 3500! -- brings me to 33,784 as I go to bed, late. I shall try to get up early and crank out another thousand somehow, some way, before work. No promises. It's late....
Tuesday, November 22
Word count update
Slow going after a great start on Saturday morning. Sunday was awesome so we spent all day outside finishing up the decking. Then we went to see the new Harry Potter movie. Yesterday I blew two chances for serious writing time and just played around a little. Same this morning. So it's not going good on the "sit down and write" front. When I do, the story flows, I'm having no trouble cranking out the words; I'm just having trouble sitting down and forcing myself to do something I love to do. Which is crazy/stupid. Oh well.
Word count as of this morning: 29,313.
And I have just over a week to come up with 20,787 words. It can be done. It must be done. It won't be pleasant. Or good. But it will be done.
Word count as of this morning: 29,313.
And I have just over a week to come up with 20,787 words. It can be done. It must be done. It won't be pleasant. Or good. But it will be done.
Saturday, November 19
Half way for real
OK, the wind continues to blow outside and after spending an hour or two messing around and wasting time this morning, I finally sat down here at the laptop for another two or three hours and listened to Coldplay and U2 and Pink Floyd and wrote and fixed and tweaked and added color and a bit of plot and so on.
New word count, as of now, noon today: 26,055 words. So I'm past the halfway point in word count now, too. That's good. I should be at 31,666 in word count today, if I was on pace, but picking up nearly 5000 words over the past two or three hours is good progress. I may be 5,000 words behind pace, but I'm not worrying about it. Downhill ahead of me. I should have a couple more hours in me today to write, and tomorrow is Sunday with no job to go do. And next week I have four days away from the office, so I should be able to pick up a couple hours on each of those days.
What? You want to know about the book itself? That doesn't matter, does it? Not right now. Only word count matters.
But I'll admit it is going interesting ways, as they tend to do. Maybe later I'll give an actual update on the novel itself. But not now. Now my shoulders hurt and I'm hungry and the sun is out (despite the wind) and work on the deck should actually take precedence now. So off I go.
Still: 26,055. Nice.
New word count, as of now, noon today: 26,055 words. So I'm past the halfway point in word count now, too. That's good. I should be at 31,666 in word count today, if I was on pace, but picking up nearly 5000 words over the past two or three hours is good progress. I may be 5,000 words behind pace, but I'm not worrying about it. Downhill ahead of me. I should have a couple more hours in me today to write, and tomorrow is Sunday with no job to go do. And next week I have four days away from the office, so I should be able to pick up a couple hours on each of those days.
What? You want to know about the book itself? That doesn't matter, does it? Not right now. Only word count matters.
But I'll admit it is going interesting ways, as they tend to do. Maybe later I'll give an actual update on the novel itself. But not now. Now my shoulders hurt and I'm hungry and the sun is out (despite the wind) and work on the deck should actually take precedence now. So off I go.
Still: 26,055. Nice.
Friday, November 18
Suffering this year
Word count as last check was 21,123, and that was like three days ago.... it's a grind this year. I like the story, but am having a very very difficult time sitting down to write and making time to crank out the spew. Very difficult. Maybe this weekend I can get back on track. Maybe. Keep your fingers crossed.
The Denver Post e-mailed me earlier this week to chat about Nano, but I didn't check my e-mail much this week so I didn't see it until tonight. I wrote back, but I suspect it's too late for his deadline. So check out the denverpost.com sit on Sunday to see if there's a Nano story out there, sans your pal.
The Denver Post e-mailed me earlier this week to chat about Nano, but I didn't check my e-mail much this week so I didn't see it until tonight. I wrote back, but I suspect it's too late for his deadline. So check out the denverpost.com sit on Sunday to see if there's a Nano story out there, sans your pal.
Wednesday, November 16
Word count
I'm at 21,123 this morning..... and I flip and flop between loving my novel and thinking 'finally, this one has a chance' and laughing at myself as the world's biggest fake poser of a novelist. But this is NaNoWriMo, so then I duct tape my inner critic's hands to his feet with a big swirl around his mouth and eyes and I throw him under the deck and get on with it.
Monday, November 14
Nearly half way
Well, I'm thinking in terms of the calendar, mostly but with my post weekend word count sitting at 20,369 I guess I'm getting closer. I only worked on the novel a little bit this weekend; most of my time was spent outside on the deck. We also spent Saturday night down in Denver at a concert of the stunning bassist/composer Edgar Meyer and the amazing banjoist Bela Fleck. Those dudes can play!
Friday, November 11
Day 10?
Another good day yesterday: 3,213 words for a new on pace total of 18,945. No time to chat. Must get kids to school, me to work.
Wednesday, November 9
A good night - 15k for real!
Tonight was one of those good nights, great nights even, when all's going well and there's plenty of time to write and it goes well and easy and fast and I think, wow, maybe I DO have talent for this and yes, this IS what I was put on this planet at this time to do, and and and and now it's nearly three hours later and I've just tacked on a good 4,300 (!) or so words to the total and I'm woofed and ready to sleep but so jazzed about progress -- developments in the story, and a tweak to the process that just worked perfectly and just sheer honest-to-goodness good old fashioned stellar word count -- that I can tell I won't be sleeping anytime soon and I'll be up late reading.
Oh, man, it feels good. (How does it feel? To be on your own? Like a complete unknown? Like a rolling stone? -- I quote because this is the Dylan song I'm strumming these days as the computer boots and logs on....)
It feels good. So if my math is correct, I'm now sitting at 15, 732 words. Yes -- I did make it to 15,000 words today after all. Pushing 16,000 even. Did I pass Jared today? I don't know. Did I catch up to the pace I should be setting -- 1667 words per day to make 50k by the end of the month, I think maybe yes I did. Did I skip the weekly meeting of my fellow Greeley-based WriMos? Indeed -- sorry folks. Maybe next Wednesday I'll catch up with you guys.
So, related to story development: I'm writing about this guy Les Dempsey who leads what he thinks is the perfect life, a model 21st century American single male life, but he's bombarded with messages from the world at all times, and he senses something is up, but can't quite figure out what it is...(while on the other reality based level he meets two women and struggles to choose which one to hang out with) anyway, he hears voices in his head, as I discovered earlier this week, and tonight I think one of the voices he hears might actually be the narrator of the story. So I'm going to watch that closely and see what happens: it might even be interesting and let in some sort of meta-stuff that I always tend to like.
Second, about the process: Usually I just sit and refer to my outline and start typing where I left off, which often leads to long word-heavy passages that allow me to get up to speed and in the groove and whatnot, but which passages are usually whacked out when I start editing. So tonight, instead of doing that, I just started at the beginning of my story and started reading it, and adding words and sentences here and there that seemed to fit, that seemed to add to the story and the character development, fixing typos and so on, and with the reading and tweaking I got into the groove/mood pretty quickly, and by only adding a bit here and there, I was making it better and finding my voice (and Les's voice) too. I liked what I did a lot -- always dangerous, I know, but at least it was fun. And then, I scrolled down to the bottom of the story and picked up where I left off at the coffee shop last night and rolled through a couple three thousand words piece of cake.
So I'm feeling good now. I'm on pace, the story is rolling, I'm liking these voices in his head and I'm excited about what might be a new process for me, which I'll try bright and shiny tomorrow morning, if I can get to sleep early enough to get up super early, or perhaps tomorrow night.
I wish I could capture this feeling and unleash it tomorrow when I'll need it again. But tonight I won't worry about it: Off to read Rick Moody.
And, oh, hey, while I'm thinking of it, a book review I wrote was published recently on
Oh, man, it feels good. (How does it feel? To be on your own? Like a complete unknown? Like a rolling stone? -- I quote because this is the Dylan song I'm strumming these days as the computer boots and logs on....)
It feels good. So if my math is correct, I'm now sitting at 15, 732 words. Yes -- I did make it to 15,000 words today after all. Pushing 16,000 even. Did I pass Jared today? I don't know. Did I catch up to the pace I should be setting -- 1667 words per day to make 50k by the end of the month, I think maybe yes I did. Did I skip the weekly meeting of my fellow Greeley-based WriMos? Indeed -- sorry folks. Maybe next Wednesday I'll catch up with you guys.
So, related to story development: I'm writing about this guy Les Dempsey who leads what he thinks is the perfect life, a model 21st century American single male life, but he's bombarded with messages from the world at all times, and he senses something is up, but can't quite figure out what it is...(while on the other reality based level he meets two women and struggles to choose which one to hang out with) anyway, he hears voices in his head, as I discovered earlier this week, and tonight I think one of the voices he hears might actually be the narrator of the story. So I'm going to watch that closely and see what happens: it might even be interesting and let in some sort of meta-stuff that I always tend to like.
Second, about the process: Usually I just sit and refer to my outline and start typing where I left off, which often leads to long word-heavy passages that allow me to get up to speed and in the groove and whatnot, but which passages are usually whacked out when I start editing. So tonight, instead of doing that, I just started at the beginning of my story and started reading it, and adding words and sentences here and there that seemed to fit, that seemed to add to the story and the character development, fixing typos and so on, and with the reading and tweaking I got into the groove/mood pretty quickly, and by only adding a bit here and there, I was making it better and finding my voice (and Les's voice) too. I liked what I did a lot -- always dangerous, I know, but at least it was fun. And then, I scrolled down to the bottom of the story and picked up where I left off at the coffee shop last night and rolled through a couple three thousand words piece of cake.
So I'm feeling good now. I'm on pace, the story is rolling, I'm liking these voices in his head and I'm excited about what might be a new process for me, which I'll try bright and shiny tomorrow morning, if I can get to sleep early enough to get up super early, or perhaps tomorrow night.
I wish I could capture this feeling and unleash it tomorrow when I'll need it again. But tonight I won't worry about it: Off to read Rick Moody.
And, oh, hey, while I'm thinking of it, a book review I wrote was published recently on
Settle down, settle down
Those on the ball who manage to read the previous post before this one can settle down. It was a Freudian typo: I'm a bit over 11,000 words, not a bit over 15,000.
'Twas merely wishful thinking. Hi ho, hi ho...
Entering week two
So yesterday morning, just after I penned the post below complaining about my failures as a writer etc., I get this mass mail note from the organizers of NaNoWriMo, and it was like an echo of me. Chris writes about week two:
"As you move from the spring wood of Week One into the trying climate of
So please excuse my crybaby act below and know that it at least hasn't come to No. 3. I'm not quitting. Last night, while C was at his drum lesson, I unpacked the laptop and spent an hour at a local coffee shop typing and have now pushed past the 15,000 mark (but only barely).
So: onward!
(Of course, this morning I slept in and wrote nothing but this post. Sigh.)
"As you move from the spring wood of Week One into the trying climate of
Week Two, one or all of the following are likely to happen:
1) The fun, good-time feel of the first week will evaporate.
2) You will decide that your book is a miserable failure, that you are a
creative fraud, and that novels are best left to novelists.
3) You will put 1 and 2 together, and decide to cut your losses and drop
out now while the getting is good and the fall TV season is still
relatively new. "
So please excuse my crybaby act below and know that it at least hasn't come to No. 3. I'm not quitting. Last night, while C was at his drum lesson, I unpacked the laptop and spent an hour at a local coffee shop typing and have now pushed past the 15,000 mark (but only barely).
So: onward!
(Of course, this morning I slept in and wrote nothing but this post. Sigh.)
Tuesday, November 8
One week into NaNoWriMo
So we're starting the second week. My word count sits at 9,882. Again: behind pace, but not too bad I suppose. I'll try not to worry about it. I will worry about the trouble I'm having making regular efforts to sit here on the second floor and watch the sun rise over the mountains as I type my story. I will worry about the lack of effort I'm making to be regular in my writing. It's been so sporadic, binge-y. Three hours one day, none the next. Two hours this morning, nothing yesterday. And I'll try not to worry about the looming calendar of absences.
It's not a good process.
And we also won't go into my state of mind, which is also not so good for novel writing. I'm just not "into" it this year, like I was the first two years. I don't have the ambition and drive I need to get up every morning at 5 and write for 90 minutes before the days activities begin. I don't have the youthful stamina to stay up to midnight and beyond every night when the rest of the house is asleep. I have this big young dog here who's spent much of this morning chewing things he's not suppose to chew: the TV remote, my daughter's GameBoy game, her pencils covered in feathers, a library book (talk about distraction: try writing a novel with one year cocked to hear the splintering of plastic from down stairs while everyone else is asleep). I have huge doubts about my story, which I need to crush and flush. I have even bigger (yet normal) doubts about my talent and my desire and my need to do this weird novel writing hobby. I must ignore those doubts and just write write write write write.
That's the whole point of NanoWrimo for me: just write. Tie up the inner critic and leave him in the basement for a month and write. Write write write. OK. My rant is over. We'll now return to regular programming.
Saturday, November 5
Day 5, Part 2
A good evening of work, more than two hours, more than 3,400 words, putting me at a total word count of 5,858 so far. It's some 3000 words below the pace I need to be at, but I'm hitting a stride and I had a good day, so I won't complain. The story is moving. The people are showing up and the one surprise so far is the main male character has voices in his head that he listens too. I didn't expect that when I set out to write this. I've always enjoyed the discovery of the characters being who they are and doing what they want beyond my control.
Day 5, Part 1
OK, the sun is up, the dogs are restless and my quiet typing time this morning is now over after about 90 minutes: My word count sits at 2,452. I'm happy with it. I've got deck building, dog walking and a bar mitzvah to attend during daylight today, so I'll try to get back to some typing again tonight when darkness falls.
For now: life among the living. And thinking about what happens next in my story...
Day 4 a bust
Day Four of Nano came and went with nary a word count addition. Bummer. My brother reports 4,000 words. My pal Jared something over 5,000. (And his friend Andy is over 6,000.) There's where I am by now usually, pushing 10k and feeling guilty I'm so far ahead of everyone else I know. This year is my year to drag my feet and understand and perhaps appreciate really how hard it is to write 1700 words a day, every day, and try to keep it together.
But it's very early only day five, it's dark outside, the house is asleep and I'm at my keyboard.
Let 'er rip!
Thursday, November 3
Day Three
Well, it's not much, but it's a start: 797 words after an hour or so of hacking around the beginning of the story. We meet Les Dempsey as he gets up and begins the routine of his perfect life against a backdrop of disastrous world news, advertising, logo assault and celebrity mishaps. It's not much, but it's something, 797 words. Three pages to start another novel, my fourth National Novel Writing attempt. Now I must sleep.
State of mind re: Nano: Cautious concern. I'm already a couple thousand words behind; I've got things to do this weekend that will likely prevent any serious writing time: major deck building time required during daylight hours, parties to attend, kid taxing to do, etc. Next weekend we're going to Pueblo for a dog show (altho' I now remember typing in that Pueblo hotel last November when we went to the same dog show); the weekend two after that Nick is coming for a three or four day visit, and then it's the home stretch. So I do have concerns. But I remain happy to have nearly 800 words on disk and thrilled to have a fairly complete outline, unlike last year when it seemed I wrote 25,000 words in the last six days. A long way to go, but plenty of time to get there.
Les Dempsey Tries Again
Day 3 of NaNoWriMo is under way and I have an official word count of zero. But: on the airplane Tuesday I wrote a fairly detailed outline of my novel, and on the airplane coming home yesterday I re-wrote it with even more detail and started working on some characters descriptions, backgrounds, etc. So I'm in a fine spot to start cranking out the copy.
However, this morning is not that morning. Slept in a bit instead. So tonight, with luck, I'll start with my first two thousands words. Onward!
