Nano fail!

OK … so I didn’t write my 50k during November.

I did write about 26k, however, before getting derailed by family troubles and the need to do that thing where I, like, earn enough money to pay all the bills so people don’t constantly hound us with phone calls. ;)

I’m aiming to actually finish my novel this month anyway. Since that was what I was really trying to do with NaNoWriMo, well, I’ll count that as a win.

How did everyone else do? Did you reach your goal?

I’m feeling a little disappointed that I didn’t get to 50k, but I did do some other things last month that I didn’t think I would accomplish, so overall, November was mostly win. If I can make this month as much of an improvement on November as November was over the previous months, then hot damn. Soon things will actually be positively unsucky, and I may again be more than a merely functional member of society.

Wish me luck on that, and if you have any spare positive vibes, I would take them with hearty appreciation. ;)

2,307 words and an excerpt

Today I’ve written 2,307 more words (so far). That brings me to a total of 7,753 words. Pretty decent for the second day in, though I wouldn’t mind things going a little faster. Things are moving along pretty well and I don’t think I’ve written anything I absolutely hate yet, which is always nice. ;)

Below is a little bit of something I wrote today and don’t hate. This is the first excerpt I can remember ever publicly posting of a NaNoWriMo novel. Heck, it’s the first I can remember posting anywhere, of any NaNo writing, for other people to see. Here goes.

An excerpt from what’s currently entitled Illusions in the Festival Season (but which will probably have yet another title someday):

The weather had shifted while she was speaking with Hadei and finding her way through the school, and it was now overcast and blowy. The sky and ground remained dry as of yet, but Mind would have said it was storm weather. The quad was only somewhat less busy than it had been yesterday, though, and here and there students carried bundles that looked like coats or cloaks, so she imagined that the quad would stay fairly busy even if it came on to rain, unless perhaps it began truly storming. Perhaps there was even magic that could only be done during a storm.

As there was no chance of meeting Lassa today, Artiane moved slowly through the large green area on the pretense of exploring it, though really she was looking for a friendly face — someone to get to know, even if she did not know them already. Partway across the quad, she came across the white-haired boy sitting under a tree, heedless of the small diamond-shaped leaves the wind scattered in his hair and on his shoulders. He was writing in his book again. He looked up sharply, intently, as soon as she stopped to look at him, though she was still at least fifteen feet away.

“Wait,” she said, for he had tensed up and grabbed his notebook and a small bag as if to run off. “I don’t mean you any harm.” He stood smoothly, looking at her mistrustfully, his belongings clutched tight, poised like a wild animal ready to run, but he didn’t move any further. A grayish shadow from a nearby rock moved slightly, amorphously, toward him in a way that had nothing to do with the shadows of the wind blowing the trees and grass. “How do you do that?” she said, curiously.

His mouth twisted, his face and eyes darkening, and he said bitterly, “I don’t.” Then he looked away from her, into the shadow she had been pointing at. “Not always, anyway.” He dropped his bag back onto the ground and sat again, pulling up his knees and writing in his book, apparently ignoring her.

5,446 words

…is what I wrote yesterday. I haven’t written at all today, though. Partly it’s that that cushion makes me a little complacent, but partly it’s that the B had a day off today and that always means more distractions.

Going to try to write at least the required 1,667 words today, though.

Onward!

Published funnies

If you love to laugh at truly nonsensical grammatical wonkiness, you totally need to check out this thread on the NaNoWriMo forums: And these were PUBLISHED!

My favorite published quotes of horribleness from the first post in the thread:

“Sherlock Holmes leafed through the papers with one hand, as with the other he continued to crunch toast and marmalade.”

“The police report said there had been a thunderclap, as if the burning house had disappeared so suddenly that the air had rushed back inaudibly.”

These quotes inspire me to consider writing completely thoughtlessly, to see if I can come up with stuff that’s as funny as this in my own writing … which will then be thoroughly edited or thrown into the deepest trash receptable I can find, of course. ;)

Write or Die tool

I tried the online version of Write or Die just now, on Kamikaze Mode and using the “evil” grace period, but wow. It was nowhere near as evil as I expected. ;) I seriously thought “evil” would be like “stop typing for one second and your words will be erased,” but it was actually ten seconds.

Now … that doesn’t mean ten seconds won’t be kind of alarming when I’m actually trying to write for real and my brain won’t respond. But when I’m totally pulling words out of my butt to reach a random word count because I’m testing a tool … well, then ten seconds isn’t much at all. ;D

Writing warmup #2 (505 words / 8:15)

Today’s NaNoWriMo warmup sprint, in the same vein as the first, was a little better in terms of speed. (I’m using Microsoft Word’s word count function, to specify, since different word counters give different results.)

//stats: writing warmup #2

written: 505 words
time: 8 min 15 sec
writing speed: 61 words per minute / 3,660 words per hour

The prompt words for today were “hours,” “temper,” and “pink.” The results today were a little more nonsensical and in need of a continuity check, but slightly more fun than the results of the first writing exercise, which were kind of serious and melodramatic. I think it was the “pink” part that made me go fluffy this time. ;)

Now, time to test my typing speed and to see if it’s any better than it was a few days ago.

Abstract art title generator

I can’t stop playing with this abstract art title generator (which I’ve now put on my NaNoWriMo tools page). I love the stuff it comes up with:

Happy Old Man In Development
Complex Cloud
Perky Peacock - Number 8
Undefined Sphere of Life
Shimmering Surface
Rising Act With Useless Joy
Secret Nothing
Uplifting Logic of God 

Seriously. Apparently vaporous weirdness inspires me. I think I’m going to have to try using this one when I inevitably get stuck sometime in November. 

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