NaNoWriMo: Day 30

I did it. I did it! I won NaNoWriMo. Second year doing it, and my second win. This year, it was a challenge. I was ready go give up so many times but thanks to a very special supporter, I marched on and wrote. And you know what, it feels awesome.

It was really easy to get the words out today. Every day should be the last day of NaNo, because that made me just want to write in a way I usually don't. And now that I've won, it's so worth it.

So, now I just have to finish writing the book. Sure, I have those 50,000 words all written down on that nice Word doc, but now I have to write the ending. I am just about there too, just one more scene to go until Charmed (the title needs to be changed, also) is done.

So, what's next? Well, I am going to let the book sit for a month, like I said yesterday. And I'm going to keep writing. That's my number one priority right now, not waiting for NaNo again to write again. I want to write my middle grade book I started in October from December to probably February. Besides that, I want to write at least two more books next year, not including next year's NaNo. Can I do it? I don't know. But I am going to try.

Also, I got a critiquer tonight. It's that special supporter/cheerleader who made me want to finish NaNo this year, and I wouldn't want anyone else to help me with my writing than her. She's blunt and brutal, and kind and supportive. The perfect person to tell me what I need to fix, and what's perfect the way it is, in my opinion.

To all of those people who did NaNo this year, you rock. If you won, yay! We won! If you didn't, WRITE ALL OF THOSE WORDS TONIGHT. Seriously, do it. You'll feel so good about yourself if you do.

NaNoWriMo: Day 29

One. More. Day. Those are the best words ever right now. As exciting as it is to have another novel nearly under my belt, this month has been super hard. Last year, it was easy as pie, but this year it hasn't been nearly as simple to accomplish.

But looking back, I was ready to give up just a few days ago, when I was nearly 20000 words behind. But I didn't quit, thankfully, and now I am nearly all caught up. I'm still behind, but I will write those final words tomorrow, and I will win NaNoWriMo. And it will be an amazing feeling.

I don't think I'll be able to wrap up my NaNo in 50,000 words, it will probably be about 55,000, which is about how long my NaNo last year was. I am nearing the end of this first draft, though, and I am so ready to finish it.

My plan right now is to finish this book, let it sit for the month of December, while working on other stuff. One of the publishers I intern for is opening for submission the first day of December, and I will start working on another book in December, and will write that (at a slower pace than my NaNo book, of course).

Then in January, I will edit this NaNo. I am at a complete loss at what exactly editing a rough draft really means, and I am freaked out. I think that's a big problem with my book last year, was that I was too scared to edit. So, if anyone out there has edited a book, WHERE DO I BEGIN? And where do I go from there?

So, one more day. I am going to win NaNoWriMo tomorrow, and it feels amazing.

Words written today: 3339
Total word count: 46696
Recommended word count: 48333

NaNoWriMo: Day 28

Well, I wrote the 3333 words I needed to today, and then some. And let me tell you, it was almost as hard as writing my over 8500 words yesterday.

The thing is, I was super tired today. I felt like everything I wrote was crap, but I kept going anyway. I just can't lose. I need to just win NaNo, then make the book good. I know now that it will need lots of work, but I'm not going to give up on this one like I did with last year's NaNo.

Words written today: 3354
Total word count: 43357
Recommended word count: 46666

NaNoWriMo: Day 27

You guys will not believe what happened. I hit 40,000 words! This is pretty much the best thing ever. Even better, I wrote over 8750 words today so I could hit this goal. It was pretty ridiculous to sit here all freaking day, but I am so glad I did it.

I started thinking about possible endings today, and there are three or four I am tossing around in my mind. Most of them are pretty sad, but when I talked about this on Twitter, people said to choose the happy choice, but I seriously don't know. I feel like there are no YA books with depressing endings, and maybe I could spice it up by doing one.

So it looks like there are only three days left of NaNoWriMo. I'm excited for all this stress to be over, but I am also kind of dreading it. After NaNo last year, I sort of stopped writing until this December. I'm gonna need a little motivation to keep writing this year, but I will, will do it.

Words written today: 8752
Total word count: 40003
Recommended word count: 45000

NaNoWriMo: Day 26

So... yeah, I didn't do it. I had hoped to write 5000 words today, but I wrote about 4000 less than that. But I do have a valid excuse: I was out all day.

I woke up at 11 (I stayed up late last night), and read for a little bit, and then got a text from my friend telling me that a few of my friends were going downtown today. So I was all, "Yay, I want to go." And then I went, and didn't get home until 8.

But right when I got home, I sat down and wrote as much as I could while keeping my eyes open. I'm tired, and I want to sleep.

But, if I do not make plans tomorrow, rest assured that I will write those 4000 words I missed, plus more if I can manage. My real goal for tomorrow is 9000, but I don't know if I can handle that. Either way, I am winning NaNoWriMo this year.

There is no turning back after all this work.

Words written today: 944
Total word count: 31011
Recommended word count: 43333


UPDATE: You know what, no! I will not sleep until I get to 35000 tonight. That's my final word on that. So, I'm gonna go grab me some diet coke and get to work. Wish me luck!


UPDATE #2: I couldn't do it. I wrote another 250 words, but I am so drained. 

NaNoWriMo: Day 25

I wrote the 3000 words I was hoping to today! Hooray! I wrote some pretty sad stuff, and almost cried writing it. What a baby I am! But yeah, I wrote what I wanted and feel good about it.

I wanted to write one or two thousand more words once I hit 3000, but didn't. I probably should have, but I felt like rewarding myself after a day of hard work. And so I did!

I was hoping to write 10000 words over tomorrow and Sunday, but I have plans for both days, so I don't know if that will happen. It would be great if it did, though.

Words written today: 3348
Total word count: 30067
Recommended word count: 41666

NaNoWriMo: Day 24

I did it, I did it, I did it, yay! I wrote over 2000 words today, so you don't get to punish me... yet. But tomorrow, if I don't write 3000 words, you can punish me again.

I'm trying to get really serious about this, because there is only six more days of writing, and I am way behind. I need to get my butt into gear, and work hard. I have tomorrow to myself, and I intend to use it to my advantage.

Words written today: 2018
Total word count: 26719
Recommended word count: 40000

NaNoWriMo: Day 23

Long story short, I had another wordless day. Here's the thing: right after school, I went shopping, and didn't get home for a few hours. I had stuff to do to get ready for Thansgiving, and I just finished that. I would stay up to write, but I took cough medicine and it is knocking me out. I'm finding it hard to stay awake just writing this.

I'm not that busy tomorrow. Thanksgiving with my family is being held at my house, and people will only be over for a few hours. I WILL WRITE tomorrow. At least 2000 words. If I don't, I'll let you guys choose a punishment I have to do and record.

Words written today: 0
Total word count: 24701
Recommended word count: 38333

NaNoWriMo: Day 22

So today I stayed after school for play practice, and then I had a choir concert. It didn't end until, like, five minutes ago, so I clearly didn't have time to write anything today. Bummer, right.

But thanks to a pep talk I got yesterday in the comments of my Day 21 post, I have decided not to give up. Tomorrow is a half day, and I am going to try my hardest to catch up with NaNoWriMo. I want to win this year, I really do. And I will try, I really will.

Words written today: 0
Total word count: 24701
Recommended word count: 35000

NaNoWriMo: Day 21

So at this rate, it doesn't look like I will be winning NaNoWriMo this year, which is a total bummer. I wish they would have a month-long break from school in November, so I could spend a few hours and write the right amount of words. I just... haven't been into it lately.

I lost momentum, which was my problem. Last year, I just went at it and didn't look back. Now, I'm trying to write something decent that I can actually work with. But I just can't get in the mood to write it. I'll sit down and get ready to write, then find a million other things to do on the internet before doing it. I don't even do productive things, just random stuff so I don't have to write. It's annoying. I'm annoyed with myself.

Is this what writer's block is? I hope not, because that sounds annoying. I seem like I'm in a bad mood, don't I? I don't know why... maybe because I'm tired. But that doesn't make much sense, because I got, like, nine hours of sleep last night. Hmm, who knows.

I'm thinking of crazy ideas for this NaNo book, and I can't wait to write them, really. But I just... I don't know. I like the story I'm writing with, but I'm worried that once I look it over I'll be terrified to do anything with it, because I will think it's crap. I don't know why I have this fear, since I am a pretty professional-ish book reviewer, and even do editing work for the publishers I intern for.

I'm clearly a mess.

Words written today: 690
Total word count: 24701
Recommended word count: 35000

NaNoWriMo: Day 20

I actually did write today, even though I didn't think I would. I had only a few hours to write, and was only able to write a few hundred words today. But it's... I don't know. I don't want to say it's okay, but I don''t really feel bad about it.

The thing is, I don't want to have to spend all of my free time writing. I want it to be something I can do, and dedicate time to, but not the thing that dominates everything else in my life. At least for now. I have so many things I do every single day, and writing can't just be... it.

Should I feel this way? Am I not a real writer because I don't want to write every second of my free time? I feel like I'm wrong, that I'm doing it all wrong. I don't know.

Words written today: 387
Total word count: 24011
Recommended word count: 33333

NaNoWriMo: Day 18

A day of no writing. I don't really even feel like it was a fail today. I went from school straight to the movies, and then came home. And I didn't feel like reading. I have family coming up tonight, and I will be with them all weekend, away from home and unable to write.

I should have probably sprinted to try to get ahead so I won't be way behind, but I am already way behind. I think I'm in that I-can't-do-it phase. I don't remember going through it last year, but I am this year. And it sucks. But I have things to do. For example, the day I finished reading a book last was October 30. That is no coincidence.

Words written today: 0
Total word count: 23624
Suggested word count: 30000

NaNoWriMo: Day 17

So... yeah, today was a fail day. I just... didn't feel like writing. So I didn't write very much. That's the story, you know. It seems like I write a lot one day, then a little the next.

I wrote some words. A crazy plot twist came into play, so that was fun to write.

And that's about it.

Words written today: 570
Total word count: 23624

NaNoWriMo: Day 16

I accomplished things today! Hooray! I still didn't get the amount of words I was hoping to but, wow did I improve my word count.

I invented a reward system to get things done. I had about two hours to write, and for every five hundred words, I watched another part of A Very Potter Musical. It worked really well!

I think what I wrote today was probably boring pretty boring, but who knows. It seemed a bit like that to me, but I can fix that.

So no I am not at the point I'm supposed to be at, but I'm okay with that. I'm pretty sure I can catch up. So yeah.

Words written today: 2301
Total word count: 23054

NaNoWriMo: Day 15

Hello everyone! Today marks the halfway mark of NaNoWriMo, so word counts should be to 25000. I know mine isn't that high, but it is pretty close. I didn't write as much as I was hoping to today, but that's okay. For the time I had, I am proud of what I accomplished.

So I got home, did some chores, and wrote a little bit. And then I had to go to a friend's house to work on an English project, and that took about two hours. I got back home, and wrote, wrote, wrote. I wrote a lot in a short amount of time, and I was surprised at how fast I was going.

So that's the story, short and sweet.

Words written today: 1890
Total word count: 20753

NaNoWriMo: Day 14

Well, poo! Here's the story of how I totally was going to write 2500 words today, but... didn't.

So I was cruising along, writing words and whatnot, writing backstory and building up to the end-of-the-first-part-climax-thing, and I am doing really well. I am writing words like it's no feat, and I start to get cocky.

"This is totally easy," I say to myself. "I can totally do this." So then I do other things, things that don't get words added onto my novel, and things that I really don't need to be doing. Like turning around, just looking at my bookshelf, or watching the Hunger Games trailer a few times.

I'm doing nonsensical things, and then I'm all, "Well, I should write some more words now." So then I do that. And then after some words, I do other things. Like make food, and eat, and think about how I want to read Twilight again.

And then more words. And then procrastination, and nonsensical things. And now here I am. I'm a big advocate for getting a good night's sleep, and to have a working, regular sleep cycle, so I'm not going to stay up another hour to write. I'm about 1000 words short of what I wanted to write today, which was 2500, so I'll have to write 2750 words tomorrow-Friday. And I. Will. Do. It. I know I said the same thing yesterday, but it will be different tomorrow, I swear!

Words written today: 1354
Total word count: 18863

NaNoWriMo: Day 13

Grr. I didn't write anything today. NaNo is so much harder this year than last. Somehow, I was able to write 25000 words in the first week last night, and it is now the second week of NaNo, and I am a few thousand words behind.

I did figure out that if I write 2500 words a day Monday-Friday this week, I will be caught up. So I will do that. I will do that. Even though I have a lot of stuff going on, and even though it will be hard. I have to, because I can't lose this. I can't let myself down.

Because when I win NaNo, that will inspire me. If the book isn't done by then, that will inspire me to finish it. When I finish it, that will inspire me to write something else for a month, and that will inspire me to edit my NaNo book in January. And after that, I don't know. Maybe I'll get an agent, and get published, and all that stuff. Maybe not. All I can do is work hard and cross my fingers.

Words written today: 0
Total word count: 17518

NaNoWriMo: Day 12

I forgot to blog yesterday! Oh no! Anyway, I wrote 500-ish words yesterday, but then I went out and didn't get home until late.

So, on to today. I wrote more than 500 words, but not as many as I was hoping, and not enough to catch up. Which sucks. I am still hoping to get caught up tomorrow, but who knows what will really happen. Catching up is hard. Much harder than writing the 1667 words you should be writing everyday if you are doing NaNo.

Today, I wrote the big revelation scene, and now the story will really take a new direction. The crazy stuff can happen now, and that's going to be fun to write.

Words written yesterday & today: 2519
Total word count: 17518

NaNoWriMo: Day 10

This post will be rushed, as The Vampire Diaries is on in nine minutes.

Though I am still not caught up with NaNo, I have made a plan which will enable me to be all caught up after tomorrow night's writing session. All I have to do is write about 3.5K tomorrow, which is what I did today, and I will be at the suggested word count goal for day 11.

I wrote a lot of words today, and am really getting into the thick of the plot. Evil character is really getting some spotlight, while hero guy is being pushed back a little. I think Charmed is pretty unique, even though it's a paranormal romance. I've read enough YA to know what works and what doesn't, and to know what is overdone. I'm trying to avoid the negatives, and bring uniqueness and stuff to this book.

I am still having doubts about it daily, but I feel like this could be something, with work.

Words written today: 3381
Total word count: 14999

NaNoWriMo: Day 9

So. I didn't write anything today. I just wasn't feeling it today. I know, I know, I should do it anyway. But.... I didn't. So, yeah. I can totally catch up, though, because I have half days tomorrow and Friday. And then there's a weekend, so yeah! I can do this!

Words written today: 0
Total word count: 11618

NaNoWriMo: Day 8

Success! Yesterday I said I had a plan to get back on track with NaNoWriMo. And I have accomplished that! If my calculations are correct, I wrote just enough words today that I can write the regular amount tomorrow and get all caught up. But, despite me having an A+ in math, I'm not that good at it, so I could be totally off. NOTE: I did the calculations again, and I was so off. It looks like I'm going to have to write 3500 words tomorrow to get caught up. I'm so dumb.

Today I had a really traumatic experience, and this next paragraph has nothing to do with writing, so read it if you want, or don't. The thing is, I have my leaner's permit, and I was driving home with my mother in the passenger seat, and my sister in the backseat. I am driving through "town" (which, there's like 1000 people in my township, so I use the word 'town' loosely), you see. It is dark because of daylight saving time, and because I am in "town", I can't have my brights on. So I'm driving along, when all the sudden a black and white cat runs into the road. It's only a few feet in front of me, and I freeze up and don't know what to do. And then I ran it over. I felt it's little body get ran over, and I started crying right then and there. My mom laughed at me, and told me she once ran over a squirrel on a moped. She's ridiculous. So yeah, I just needed to get all of that out.

Anyway, I wrote all night, from when I got home after running that cat over, until now. I had insecurities about my NaNo today, and am in that "this is the worst thing ever, I might as well quit writing forever" stage that I'm sure I went through last year, but cannot remember. I hope I'm not the only one this happens to.

Words written today: 2053
Total word count: 11618 (I'm in the five-digits range!)

NaNoWriMo: Day 7

So I have good news and bad news. The bad news: I didn't write as much as I was hoping to today, and I am not caught up with NaNo. The good news: I wrote a lot of words today, and have a very easy solution to get caught up with NaNo.

I was hoping to write, like, 4000 words today, but I didn't quite, ya know, do that. I did however write several thousand, and have gotten to a place in my NaNo where I know where the story will be going. There is a lot of mysterious stuff happening in it right now, and I should have the big revelation happen either tomorrow or the next day. I'm excited for that, because that's where the book will really kick off. I don't know what exactly will happen when it kicks off quite yet, but know that it will be super fabulous.

I used the whole Write or Die technique again today, but this time I wrote in larger chunks, instead of just aiming for 100 words every time.

I wasted a lot of time today, and I don't really know why. I didn't have school, and this would be the perfect time to write, get caught up, and shoot past the word count goal. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. I procrastinated all day, wasting so many hours I could have been doing productive things. Oh well, you can't change the past.

Words written today: 2461
Total word count: 9565

NaNoWriMo: Day 6

I got stuff done today! Score! I didn't write as many words as I was hoping to today, but I can make up for it tomorrow, since I have the whole day to myself.

I used Write or Die today, and wrote in one hundred word sections, then copied and pasted the words into my Word file. It worked really well and helped push me forward without overwhelming me.

I am in the middle of writing a really beautiful scene in Charmed right now, and so far the book is going great. It's definitely not as bad as my NaNo last year, which we won't ever mention again. Okay, that's probably a lie, but it's whatever.

Words written today: 1850
Total word count: 7104

NaNoWriMo: Day 5

This is going to be just a quick update, because I am beyond tired.

I failed again today. I wrote a little this morning, but then I went out with my friends and by the time I got back home, I was super tired. I plan on using Sunday and Monday to catch up, since I am not doing anything Sunday and I have no school on Monday.

Words written today: 235
Total word count: 5254

NaNoWriMo: Day 4

Hey everybody! Today was kinda fail-y over here. After school, I went straight to my friend's house and was over there until about 8, and by the time I got home I was really tired. I did manage to write a little bit, but I did not reach today's word count goal.

The thing is, I really just didn't feel like writing. I'm exhausted, and know I should try to keep writing the 1667 words a day, but it can really be hard. I was just in a slump today. An exhausted, uncreative slump.

But here's the good side: I have no school on Monday, so hopefully I can write all day then. And I half half-days on both Thursday and Friday, so I can write then too. Plus, all of the other days. I can easily catch up, I think, so I'm not super worried yet.

I am just one day behind, which I know isn't good, but I can fix this.

Words written today: 377
Total word count: 5019

NaNoWriMo: Day 3

Hey, everyone! How is your NaNoing going? Are you up to the suggested word count for the day, 5000 words? I'm not. Let me explain...

So I was writing along, and then I realized that it was almost seven o'clock. By then, I had reached 4000 words, and only had 1000 to write until I reached 5000 words. But the thing about it being seven o'clock is that at eight The Vampire Diaries is on, and then The Secret Circle. So I prioritized, and decided I'd write the remaining 1000 words after I watched the shows.

I then did basically nothing for an hour, waiting for the shows to go on. I know I logically should have been using that time to write, but ya know, I thought I had it in the bag.

And then after ten, I wasted more time, until I finally sat down to keep writing. In that time, I got nearly 650 words written, leaving only 350 to write to reach the word goal for the day. But then I had to blog about it, and here I am now!

So this basically means I'm going to have to write about 2000 words tomorrow, which shouldn't be too bad since it's a weekend and I can go to sleep whenever I want. Or not to go sleep at all.

Next week is going to be really good for my writing, because I have no school on Monday, and half days on Thursday and Friday. I can use all of that time to write if I want!

So that's what happened today.

Words written today: 1219
Current word count: 4642

NaNoWriMo: Day 2

Good news! I'm all caught up with the suggested word count for my NaNoWriMo project, and then some! Tonight I had a hardcore writing session, and managed to write 3154 words, making the total word count on Charmed 3,423 words!

Yesterday I was freaking out that Charmed was going to be terrible, but I no longer feel that way. I mean, it's no Harry Potter or anything, but it could definitely work. I introduced some new characters today, and really love writing them. One's a love interest and so far he's a total bad boy.

Though my whole night is now gone, I now totally am on the right track for this whole NaNoWriMo thing. Last year, I had 25000 words after week one, but with everything I have going this year, I doubt that will be the case this time. I do think I have a good chance of winning NaNoWriMo, with a decent book this year, however, and that's totally okay with me.

NaNoWriMo: Day 1

So here's what happened.

I started to write a book. It's a really serious book and it's about a girl who gets raped, tries to tell people she trusts, but they don't believe her. I got about fifty words in and realized that if she told an adult or counselor or something, they would have to believe her. So I decided not to write that since I didn't have it figured out enough.

So then I started writing Charmed, which is also known as the Leprechaun Book. I wrote 269 words of that, and think it's off to an okay start. I wasn't able to write any more because my new bookshelves arrived, and I had to set them up. It took five hours, and I didn't finish until 11:30. And it's a school night, so yeah.

What'd I'd really like to work on is the #magicmgwip, but I've already started writing that and have about 1,000 words of it written already. Plus, I seriously doubt that book will amount to 50,000 when it's finished.

The problem I face is that right now I don't think I am capable of making Charmed the best it can be, so I am worried to write a terrible book. I did that last year, and it resulted in me not writing for... a year. I know rough drafts are supposed to be... rough, but I want something I can at least work with.

So I don't know what to do. I'll have to write at least 3065 words tomorrow to get caught up, so yeah. I'll do that I guess.