Writing Is Painful?

I was true to my word and holed up in my apartment for an entire day and a half to write, leaving only to have dinner with my parents on Sunday and even writing through that, much to my mother's enjoyment. "Nicole, will you please get that thing off the table?" - that's my mom referring to my laptop. Anyway, she made pasta with ricotta and sauce. So. It was worth it.

ANYWAY. I wrote - and I did the math. And I'm not good at math, so I checked it with my calculator. I wrote 13,338 words this weekend. And it was basically the most painful thing I've ever done. But also the most rewarding? To see my counter move past the halfway point. There's so much blue now and so little gray. Look I'll show you:

Ah! So pretty!

I'm all caught up now and ready to hit my 50,000 words on or before November 30th! Rock on, WriMo'ers!

A Schedule

Okay. Here's my schedule for my weekend of nothing else but writing. I mean. I'm also eating. But I'm not showering. So. Gross. And. Lots of writing!

Saturday -
7 - Rise. Stretch. Eat.
8/11 - Write. Work on Chapter 6. Goal - 3,000+ words
11-1 - Break. Lunch. Clean? Start Eastern Promises?
1-3 - Write. Finish Chapter 6. Goal - 2,000+ words
3-4 - Break. Go for a walk?
4-5 - Write Start Chapter 13. Goal - 1,000 words
5-6 - Break. Eat Dinner.
6-9 - Write. Work on Chapter 13. Goal - 3,000+ words
9-10 - Call boyfriend?
10-12 - Finish Chapter 13. Start Chapter 7. Goal - 2,000+ words

Sunday -
7 - Rise. Stretch. Eat.
8/12 - Finish Chapter 7. Goal - 4,000+ words
12/1 - Break. Lunch. The Cut stuff.
1/4 - Write. Work on Chapter 8. Goal - 3,000+ words
4/the rest of the evening - go to parents for dinner and continue writing there. Finish Chapter 8 before you go to bed!

This is assuming I finish Chapter 5 and Chapter 12 (I've been working out of order. It's been working out for me) prior to the weekend. If I do that, and if I follow this schedule, I should be well ahead of Sunday's word count goal of 35,007.

Keep Going At All Costs!

So. I'm behind in NaNo. NaNoWriSLOW. Haha. Okay, I really need to stop with the NaNo puns. Anyway, not so far behind that I can't catch up. Just, you know, 5882 words behind. No big deal, right?

Are any of you as far behind as I am? Is being that far behind daunting or motivating? How do you motivate yourself to keep going and reach the end target of 50,000 words by the end of November? Or are you more inclined to admit defeat and bow out of the struggle?

I'm going to keep trying, I think. I was a failure last year for a number of reasons. The story I'd chosen to write too closely matched the real life of a well-loved family member and he was none too pleased that I was stealing what was emotionally his. And my boyfriend had broken up with about a week into the month and while the tears came quick and swift, the words just weren't. Though, I think I probably wrote 50,000 words worth of unsent letters, pouring my heart out to him in love, anger and pain. I should have submitted that.

But this year, things are looking up! I have an idea born of original thoughts and emotions that are not those of others. I have a wonderful new boyfriend who read my first four chapters (the first three, of course, not part of the challenge) and encouraged me to keep on writing. So though I paused, for a hot minute, really in NaNo time if you think about it - I'm going to go full steam ahead.

Current NaNo Count: 12,452
Grand Total: 26,610

Need Your Input!?

I'm having trouble finding really great suggestions for Beginning Readers/Early Chapter books. I'm talking really strong, stand alone titles. I'm aware of the series - Judy Moody, Mercy Watson, etc.

Anyone have a top five?

Shit. It's Almost the End of the Year.

And I still need to finish -

From Eternity to Here - Sean Carroll
Freedom - Jonathan Franzen
Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers
Tiger's Curse - Colleen Houck

Can I do it in 2 months?


P.S. Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

NaNo-Rhino

So I took this cute little guy from Melissa who in turn got it from its owner, Kate Higgins. He makes for a good buddy, I can tell you that much.

As of last night, I'm ahead of the count. The totals are:

Day 3 Word Count: 2,120
NaNo Total: 5,492
Grand Total: 19,650

I've been on a really good schedule - 600 words on the train (300 coming, 300 going), 500 words over lunch and the remainder in the evening.

What's shocking to me is that by the end of today, I'll be done with Chapter 4. Done!! It took me how many months to write three chapters? Also - if I stay on track, I'll have through Chapter 13 finished (but unedited, of course) by the end of the month. Craziness!

Anyway, I'm already exhausted. Since I was ahead last night, I took the time to nap on the train this morning instead of write. I really needed it. I always get a little cold at the change of the seasons. The fact that NaNo is happening at the same time is probably not good for my health. But I'll soldier on!

I'm planning on posting an Unedited Piece of My Soul at week's end.

NaNoWri-GO!

I finished Chapter 3 about a week ago, so I'm all ready to start NaNoWriMo fresh from Chapter 4. I'll update as often as possible with my NaNo count and my official count (which is somewhere near 13,000 right now).

Here's my page, just in case you want to buddy up.

Game plan:
Train: bring notebook and write by hand. (ugh) But this is prime writing time and I am NOT carrying my laptop. Make do.
Work: Can I do at least 500 words during lunch?
Home: Combine train writing and work writing and finish up.

The hardest thing for me is going to be JUST WRITING. Not thinking too hard and editing as I go. It'll be difficult for me, but it's essential. Blah.

Good luck, all y'all WriMoers!

Update:

NaNo Count: 1,709
Total Count: 15,867