Day 30 -- The Final Push

So this is the end of my participation in this years NaNoWriMo. Say it ain't so. What a wild ride. I did not do it justice. So much to do in so little time. You get the picture. I hope to do this again next year and do a better showing of it. Next year I should spend some time before the start, working on my outline or at least a synopsis of the story I want to write. Also I was worried about having to actually write it on the WriMo site. I know how thing work now and I won't be so afraid of what I actually write. Its all on an honor system until you cross that final count and can actually cut and paste that 50k into that little block.

And even though the WriMo is over I will go on as if the end never happened.

I will continue to write this blog as well. Maybe not with the intensity of this past month but with the intention of continuing to support and cheer myself on.

Day 29 -- Mad Dash for the Finish Line

Tonight is the final push to write. There is tomorrow but I won't reach the goal of 50k. Tonight I reach for 20k and maybe more. Tomorrow I just keep going but I don't get to post the whole thing. It wasn't a wasted effort by a long shot. I learned more about myself and my writing then I really wanted to know. And what I learned is that it is a lot more hard work than I ever truly realized. I won't quit but I have reevaluated my abilities as a writer. I need to test myself more and as my mother would say, I need to knuckle down if I truly want it. So this is me, knuckling down to a writing schedule that needs to be constant and at the same time flexible. Is that another oxymoron moment in my life? Sure why not. 20,093

Day 28 -- Do a Little Shopping

Today is the big day. Black Friday. The biggest shopping day of the year. Everyone goes crazy today. I used to be one of the crowd. Up at 5am moving from one store to another or one line to another. But not anymore. I still go out into the crowd but later in the day after all the desperate people are gone and the shoppers are more like me. Searching for something just right. Gifts for people I know and love but know very little about. A lot of people find themselves in this position during the holidays. So many relatives live so far apart in the 21st century nuclear family. Even if you were close to brothers and sisters as kids, as adults you may know nothing about each other. The same goes for parents, cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparent too. So the best you can do is hope for the best and do a lot of shopping online. But please don't wait till the last minute. I'll bet the second busiest shopping day of the year is Christmas eve.

Day 27 -- Happy Turkey Day

Have a great holiday. Even though I know I will eat too much and and fall asleep soon after, it is all worth it for the the sound of my two sons telling me "That was great Mom thanks for everything." I know my time at home with them is short as they move on to their own lives, so I pull out the stops a couple of times a year and cherish every extra calorie and naps taken together in front of the TV.

Day 26 -- Eat a Little Pie

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day and I always make my pies the day before. I like them better the next day anyway. It gives the pies time for the flavors to mingle and get stronger. Think of writing like making a pie. You have your basic ingredient, your major flavor just like your main idea and then you add your basic wet ingredients and your basic dry ingredients. These are your story conflicts. Just like a three act play. Act one mixes your dry, these are easy to mix and they follow a set pattern. Act two mixes your wet ingredients. This is a little more involved. Each ingredient has to be added in just the right order and with the right amount of stirring. You add that special ingredient last and this is your black moment. The finial step is to add the wet to the dry and put it into the oven to bake to your conclusion. And with my pies I get the perfect resolution and final outcome. All that's left to do is to eat the sweet satisfaction of the end to a good story. So lets make a pie.

Day 25 -- Play a Little Football

The count down to Thanksgiving has begun and today we play a little football. It is a tough game. And playing it as a girl with a bunch of guys is even harder. But at the tender age of twelve it was no sweat. I could knock them down just like they could knock me down. I had their respect and their friendship. I couldn't say the same for the girls in the neighborhood. To them I was a freak and they just couldn't be my friend. That was when I knew I marched to a different drummer. Through out the rest of my life I stepped into one mud puddle after another. I was a library geek and an arts and crafts addict. I finally focused that football player into writing. This month I have been knocked down over and over but I keep getting back up and getting back into the game. I have the ball clutched close to my heart and I am running with it. I will fumble and drop it but the next time I get it you better stay out of my way. I'm going for the touchdown. 17,609

Day 24 -- Coffee and Me

It's Monday and the beginning of the end. The start of the last seven days of the WriMo challenge. I have tomorrow and the next day off. Then four days of work while everyone else is enjoying the holiday. Am I jealous? You bet. Will I get over it? For sure. Its what happens when you work in the service field. So take a good look at the picture and put my face on it and that's what I will drinking for the next two days. This morning I was at a lowly 16,492 words. I want to make it to 20,000 by the big 30th deadline. So catch me on the flip side Sunday night and see how I did.

Day 23 -- The Final Frontier

Okay, so I know I will not make it to the final challenge count. But I will complete my challenge. I did sign up and I did participate and I did learn a lot. I did what I set out to do. Its not over till the fat lady sings or in this case not till the Klingon sings. I still have seven days left to go as far as I can. I still have to slip in a working holiday and a working weekend. It could happen.

Day 22 -- Time Spiral

Time is spiraling away from me. My time left is getting smaller and smaller and my word count to keep up is getting larger each day. Today is my wake up call. I WILL NEVER CATCH UP. But I will never give up. I've had a taste of what a real push to write is like and know what it takes to finish. I may not make it this year but I will be back next year with a completed one behind me and a new one to work on. And next year I will know to clear out my real life commitments a little better. So on to the last eight days and the the drive to continue on past November 30th.

Day 21 -- Curves Ahead

Today was a rough day. Lots of little things to be done and a wild day at work. But walking in my front door was a quiet relief. When all the decompression was done and I could focus on my real life I went straight to my computer and started typing. It didn't make a difference that it was this I wrote first. I was writing and working on writing.

Day 20 -- Space Case

I am here. Am I really?

Today I struggled with my priorities. Writing started at the top of the list but kept losing ground. So I tried to work it in around a long list of things to do. It worked for awhile. Once I sat down to write, it would take over and I would give myself more and more little pieces of time. Less and less of my list got done as the day slowly passed. I felt more and more guilty for doing something that in my mind is still a hobby. When will that thinking and feeling go away?

Day 19 -- Hump Day 3

Hump day! Oh my!
I got some major inspiration and support from a fellow writer yesterday. She is amazing and so are the other writers I call friends. Writing is such a lonely, singular profession that you have to make the effort to reach out. Without that human touch we are not the sum of all our parts. Where does our inspiration and our emotional resources come from? Sure we can reach down deep to find that hint or spark for our stories. But attached to any story or any writing we do are the others. Our relationships to other people. So go forth and experience and then write from life and turn it into fiction.

Day 18 -- Taking Off

Well today I took off. Not as big or as fast as the crowd at WriMo but my own little explosion. I finally made it to 15000. For me that is a big deal. I think I have found my writing niche for this challenge. So back to the writing hi-octane style.

Day 17 -- Mind Boggling

I'm not sure what happened but you could call it "seeing the light " well
something like that happened today. I was feeling sorry for myself and my dismal showing on my work count and decided to mess around a little longer this morning and check out the procrastination station at the official WriMo site. I began to read all the posts about how all those people either just started or about how far behind they were and all the reasons for it. I started laughing, thinking about how well I would fit in with that group and realized I didn't want to fit in. So this morning I started writing again and after about an hour it was just pouring out of me. It's still a very messed up bag of words but they are there on the page until I cut them up, rearrange them and spit some out in the next phase of this unofficial writing challenge "the edits." But I have to finish the story so I can have something to edit. So back to the rock pile and no more slacking off.

Day 16 -- Snake Eyes

So today I learned it's all the roll of the dice, the flip of a coin, the turn of a card. What ever you want to call it, life has a way of messing with your plans. I would love to blame it on my job, my kids or my life in general but the truth is I'm the one to blame. I'm not going to make it to the goal. I've cheated, fudged and talked myself out of writing so many times I know my original goal is beyond reach. I have not given up!! I have been given permission by the holy high mucky-muck to shoot for a smaller goal. So now my new goal is 30k and my count right now means I am half way, for real. I have to deal with real life for a little while but I will be back later to work on my journey through writer land. Think good thoughts and send good vibes.

Day 15 -- The Big Half Way

Whats the old saying? Half full or half empty. In this case it would be half way over or half way to go. It puts the big spot light on it all. This could be the defining moment in my challenge. I know from this point on that if I want to make the goal I have to write almost twice as much each day to reach the 50k. When I'm at the computer I loose focus and direction but away from the keyboard my outline is quickly taking shape. I still lean toward the pen and paper better than the HP. I hope this will change with time or I will be left behind without proper transportation on the information super highway. I give myself some credit because only two years ago I had no clue how to do what I am doing right now. But for every one new thing I learn to do there are three more newest thing to learn about. And even though these things are meant to be used to get the word out about your writing I sometimes wonder if I could turn all my blog writing into what I do. And then as usual as soon as I think something like that I see that someone beat me to it. So I just keep writing and thinking and try my best to get past that half way mark.

Day 14 -- Rolling Along

Rolling, rolling down the river. Well maybe not. I'm rolling along with the writing but not anywhere near the goal. The half way mark is tomorrow night and I'm short right now by a still whopping 10k. I have also written more than I ever thought possible. So I'm just going to go with the flow and see what happens. Oh and I have been cheating again but only by a little. I have used everything I had previously written and from this point on everything is new. So after I slap my wrist and pat my back I will get back to work.

P.S. Doesn't that picture make you think calm thoughts? Now let me turn up the rock&roll.

Day 13 -- Going Nowhere Fast

You get the idea. I'm definitely going nowhere fast. I'm so far behind on my word count I don't know if I will ever catch up. So I change my goals a little and keep going. I may be a turtle but I never give up. Two days till the halfway mark and I'm only 10k behind. But my mind is running wild and I'm having a hard time catching up. I'm not a fast typist at only about 30 wpm. So I slow myself down stumbling over the keys. I really need to fix some of my spelling mistakes or I will never know what I was writing about. Time off is extra time but never enough to truly run this challenge to the ground. So it must be time to pick it up and put the petal to the metal.

Day 12 -- Hump Day again?

Well I made it through another day. No wiser and no further along on my
word count. I did do some writing but not nearly enough to catch up. And to top it all off I read the note from the man in charge (Chris) that for those of us who make it to the 50k word count by the end of it all will get their writing printed and bound by a very generous company. I'm having trouble keeping up as it is and then they go and throw in that incentive. Even if I do make it to the final total I'm not sure I want what I have written printed up like that. Then people will expect me to let them see it or, god forbid, even read it. And it is mostly garbage with a little plot and some outline thrown in. If I really want it printed up then I at least have to go back in and correct all the spelling mistakes. It is a goal and that is what this is all about. So lets wait and see if I can even get to the end.

Day 11 -- Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day and I have it off. I don't normally get holidays off so I will be spending the day with my son. See you tomorrow and please don't forget those that should be remembered on this day. I salute you all.

Day 10 -- The 2nd 1/6 or 1/3

Elementary, My Dear Watson.

So today is the second 1/6th of the month or the end of 1/3rd of the challenge. Or as the WriMo official site proclaims it to be, the beginning of the second week and the end of the second weekend. But no matter how you slice it the totals for today are a staggering 16,660 words. I'm still under 9000 so that makes me more than 7000 words behind. It should scare the hell out of me but it seems to stir me up even more. I grew up in a tough world and became a tough woman to make it through each day. Why should this be any different? So once more into the breach.

Day 9 -- Slip Sliding Away

Yea I know. After a week of counting and hoping that the numbers come out bigger then they really are I know I am "slip sliding away" from my commitment. I am letting my outside life continue to rule and my inside life is scared to death that everything I am writing is crap. So what do I do? I keep writing even when my brain is sliding away. I write down the bones. The skeleton you could say of my story. I can skip around. Write what I feel for at that moment. Add a new scene anywhere because I can always move it around later. Its a shame you can't do that with real life. I would love to rearrange a few things in the past to see how they would turn out now. Anyway back to writing.

Day 8 -- Falling Behind

Yep! That's me. I'm just falling behind, way behind. But I see an extra block of time to work today. My children are away for the week-end and even though I have to work both days I will have the evening and early morning to myself.

Day 7 -- To Boldly Go

To boldly go where no man (or woman) has gone before.

Yea that sounds about right. This is definitely a new experience for me. I started out boldly but have fallen prey to the green dancing alien. I have been enticed away by many evils of the mind and body. The goal for tonight is 11,662. My count after work was only at a pitiful 7725 which means I am about 4000 words short. I'm going to see if I can play catch up. Later.

Day 6 --

Okay so today I'm falling behind. I missed my word count yesterday. I really didn't try too hard. Other wants and needs got in the way. I have to do better or I will never make it to the end. I love the little pep talks coming my way but they don't sink in like the ones from my writing group.

Day 5 -- Hump Day 1/6 Th

Hump Day-Wednesday- The middle of the week. Half way over and half way to go. Not true for the NaNoWriMo challenged. True hump day for those of us tied to the computer is November 15th. But I can use it as a special mile stone for myself. So today is 1/6 th day. One sixth of the way through. By the end of today I should have a word count of 8,330. I'm up for it. I'm going to go work on my hump now.

Day 4 -- Decisions

Did you vote today?

Today is a day of decisions. Choices have to be made. With the finial outcome only hours away.

While I write I also have decisions to make. Plot points need to be figured out. The directions in life that my characters take can shape the whole story. I worry if I am making the right choices. It is very much like real life. I tried to work up an outline of my story but I kept going off on little writing tangents and forgot to KISS(keep it simple stupid) it. Now that I am knee deep in the writing some of what I did is useful but mostly what is coming out is what is affectionately know as "By the Seat of Your Pants" writing. Now isn't that a great visual. At this point in the writing I don't care how I do it just as long as it keeps coming. My finial outcome won't be tallied until the last day of November.

Day 3 -- Bad Day?

I can't decide whether to classify today as a good day or a bad day.


I admit to cheating. The story I am writing for WriMo is one I have been trying to write for a couple of years. Adding together everything I've written so far only adds up to about 9ooo words. My goal in signing up for the challenge is to write the 50,000 word bare bones of this novel in a feeding frenzy. But I added a little chum to the water to keep the story churning. So I did a little of both. Some old writing and some new. Sounds like a marriage made in heaven to me. Hope I catch the bouquet at the end of this crazy wedding.

Day Two

Did you change your clocks today?

The time change takes a while for me to get used to. This year I am taking advantage of my early wake ups to get in a little more writing. I tried to upload my word count last night but the site is in glitch mode and only the word count went in, not the body of my writing. It's no big deal. I know that things will sync together soon. I was just all excited to post what I had done even if it didn't quite meet the minimum daily requirement. After a long day at work I'm ready to get back to it. My word count is suppose to be 3000 by tomorrow morning. I've got a couple of hours to work with. But it is Sunday night. And as any mother knows that's the night to get things together for the school week. At this early stage I'm still game for the challenge. Lets see how I do by the end of the week.

DAY ONE

Day one of my official challenge!
It started out a good day. I was up a little early this morning even with the candy hangover from last night. I did some writing but not for the body of my novel. I am still writing on my outline. I had ideas I needed to get down that came to me in the steamy fog of my morning shower. My mind always seems to work in overdrive in that misty free flowing atmosphere. Then I had my writers group meeting. It was productive and high calorie. But I did not come prepared. The talent flowed around me at an amazing level. I have been writing for years and am still going nowhere where as the newest writer in our group is only a few minor details away from being a published author. Did the evil green haze of jealousy rise its ugly head? Yes, but only long enough for me to see the humor in the vision as I cut off its head. I do not do jealousy or any other destructive emotion. I only see possibilities in my life and everyone else around me. I hope we will be able to help her along her path to success. As for me, I need to focus on my current path and see how far I can go in WriMo.

Last Day Before Big Day

Happy Halloween!

Only one day to go. More prep work to do.

I had breakfast with a writing friend yesterday. It was great to see her again. I know that writing is suppose to be this solitary thing but I really like hanging out with other writers. They are my support system and inspiration. Even though we meet as a group on a regular basis I am unable to make many of those meeting. So I take the initiative to met with them outside the scheduled times. As the old saying goes "You learn something new every day." It is so true when you work with other writers. It is even truer these days with all the resources we have to find new things to learn. I anticipate the next 30 days to be the biggest learning curve I have ever been on. And what I learn I hope to pass on. Maybe next year I can get a few friends to join the ride.

Biggest Dream Ever

If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less but to dream more, to dream all the time. Marcel Proust In two days time I begin the biggest dream I have ever had. After nine years of writing as a beginner I have desided it is time to take the big leap. I signed up for the NaNoWriMo contest. A personal contest with the demon inside me. A true struggle within myself to see which of my inner personalities comes out on top. Can I make it to the end without giving up? Can I really write 50,000 words in 30 days? On that last day will there be a true novel waiting for the evils of editing? Only I can answer those questions and day one starts with a word count of over 1500. For today I start with the prep work. Clean everything off my desk that could distract me in any way. Fresh notebooks and a short outline of possiblities. A clean space for my cups of coffee and a dish to put a personal stash of halloween candy.