Yeah… writing 50,000 words and completing a novel are two totally different things. I can’t seem to finish this bad boy. Call it a consequence of pantsing it, but I don’t really know what the point of this story is. I don’t know what the logical conclusion is. But I super duper want it to end so I can move on with my life and my projects.
Total word count so far is 53,182.
Smack dab in the middle of a climactic scene, I hit my NaNoWriMo winning word count and forced myself to pause and reflect and celebrate. Maybe order of o’ them winner t-shirts while I’m out here in the real world. Brag a little. Scroll through Facebook and then realize that was a mistake. But then it’s right back to writing, kids. WIPs don’t finish themselves, ya know.
I would like to thank my husband for giving me some kid-free time, the Sleep Sounds app on my phone for covering the obnoxious sound of neighbors with glorious white noise, and Sundays at work where no one bothers me and both actual work and writing get done with relatively little disruption. Thanks as well to all the #amwriting and hashtag games participants and moderators for keeping me motivated. And above all, thanks be to coffee. You always help me keep it real, little beans, and I love you for it.
I’m starting the day out with 42,714 words after a slow couple of days but I’ve carved out several hours today of writing time and if I can’t make it to 50,000 today, I can certainly get close.
We’re in the home stretch, kids. We’re going the distance.
I’m researching for my NaNo WIP and I came across this quote:
I’m convinced of this: Good done anywhere is good done everywhere. For a change, start by speaking to people rather than walking by them like they’re stones that don’t matter. As long as you’re breathing, it’s never too late to do some good. Maya Angelou
That’s exactly where I’m at in the world right now and I think I needed to hear that that’s ok. I’m not a protester. I’m not a yell down the haters kind of person. I’m not a social media crusader.
I am a woman of small acts, consistently performed.
And Maya Angelou says that’s enough.
I’ll tell you what I should be doing: I should be writing 700ish more words to get over 30,000 of my NaNo WIP. I’ll tell you what I AM doing: eating my son’s goldfish and taking a damn break.
I’ve come to the point where I need to decide what the hell this story is about, what the climax will involve, and how I can possibly end it. I think 50,000 words is a good goal but that being the goal, I keep thinking I have to end the story near that amount instead of continuing on to the logical conclusion.
“Oh, only 20,000 words left? Well, let’s build up quick to the let down so we can get this nonsense over with, eh?”
No, that’s not how it’s supposed to work! But that’s the game and I’ve committed to the game and once 50,000 are written and November ends, I can play my own game. I can add on or take off or edit the bajesus out of it and make something new.
As excited as I am to finish this challenge and find out how this story ends, I really liked the WIP I finished last month (the coming of age story) and would love to start editing that. Also, I’d like to take off some of the pressure of having to write EVERY day. It’s nice to take breaks once in a while and bingewatch some TV instead.
But we’re almost there. So don’t give up! Just keep swimming, Mr Grumpy Gills.
I’m over 20,000 words and feeling pretty good about my NaNoWriMo WIP.
There’s ghosts and scifi technology and converted mill apartments and drunken spats with exes in womb-like lounges; everything you could want in something I am totally making up as I go along.
It’s what’s keeping me sane, to be honest.
I’ve been in self-preservation mode since the election, focusing on my son, my daily tasks, my job, my NaNoWriMo WIP and avoiding Facebook at all costs. But I took a look this morning and saw outrage and protests and bitterness and LOTS of hypocrisy from both sides. I saw people preaching love and acceptance and moving on with love in your hearts for all and I saw people committing to hate, vowing to avenge the wrongs done to their families and communities.
And what I thought was this:
Choosing love doesn’t necessarily mean Turning the Other Cheek. It can also mean fighting the power out of love instead of hate. Love burns bright and endures. Hate burns out and leaves nothing behind. Choose love because love will sustain your fight.
The mountain doesn’t move from one big push. It takes slow steady effort to get over, around or through.
Hey, if you want to feel better about the election, binge watch Designated Survivor. After four episodes, I switched over to the news and was like, “oh missing emails? who gives a poop?”
I mean, that’s what I thought the first 8,000 times that email nonsense was brought up too but watching Keifer Sutherland pretend to be a meek minor cabinet member forced into a role of ultimate power (ha. Kiefer can handle anything) and seeing how everyone bitches about every tiny thing he does all the damn thing… well, it really puts things in perspective.
I am disappointed in big fat nothing they’ve given Maggie Q to do. Every episode, she’s sad and staring at something that reminds her of her dead lover. No. That is not what you do with Maggie Q. Give that woman some ass to kick. Give Keifer a gun and a license to kill. I want to see that show*.
*Which would be Nikita and 24, I realize. But I liked what I saw of both of those shows.
EDIT: Props to the malefolk over on Twitter who liked and retweeted the link to this post without reading it at all. It’s a nice little reminder of how social media works. I’ll just throw this little tidbit here at the end: Designated Survivor, while intriguing, is still a sexist show. Less so than many out there, true. But there’s a character who is much more qualified to be president but she’s a woman so she’s a backstabbing shrew. There’s a character who would make a competent and trustworthy Chief of Staff, but she’s a woman, so she’s a “special assistant” and has a romance brewing with the significantly less trustworthy choice for Chief of Staff. There’s a female general but no one listens to her. And naturally, the First Lady had to quit her job and has to spend her time being the President’s ear piece and taking care of the kids.
So… it’s no Speechless, with the overt objectification of teenage girls like there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but it’s not a paragon of social progress either.
Also, #ImWithHer so… if ya’ll non-reading retweeters are thinkin’ that Trump = Kiefer, NO. Not at all. Kiefer is an excellent actor, the character he plays is the anti-Trump, and maybe you should freaking read what you retweet.
Today, on the first day of NaNoWriMo, I had a consultation with an oral surgeon who could realistically be played by Matthew McConaughey in the movie adaptation of my life.
“Hey, hey, hey there cowgirl. What you got there are some impacted wisdom teeth. Yeahhh. But don’t you worry because they ain’t all that bad. You could hold off on surgery if you like. I would if it were my mouth. And I ain’t retirin’ anytime soon so you do you, girl. Come back and see me when you’re good to go, alright alright?”
So that was half an hour wasted.
Also, the oil man came to fix “that rattling noise” my husband keeps hearing which took several hours, zero of which my son would nap so I got no writing done then either.
Sometime between oil man and McConaughey dentist, before my in-laws arrived to babysit my son but after my husband came home and decided to give me a play-by-play of his entire morning at work, I managed to write about 900 words.
It’s not great for a first day, but it’s not nothin’. Also, as of yesterday, I had no idea what I was going to write. Today, I have a vague concept and a main character. Progress looks different to different people.
Eda J Vor 