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Friday, November 30, 2012

NaNo 2012 Highlights

NaNoWriMo 2012 has come to its end. That mad clicking of typewriters has quieted, those overused mugs of coffee have finally found their way to the dishwasher while their users have found their way to bed, the world of the writers his calmed.

Typewriter

…Or has it?

I think instead, writers are celebrating their great achievements of this fantastic month, basking atop that glorious mountain of satisfaction all us participants have been climbing this month. And what a sight it is from up here!

As this month closes, I thought I would give an overview of the goings-on of my 2012 NaNo.

On October 31st, I excitedly stayed up to begin writing when midnight hit. I stayed awake until 2, happily tap tapping away on my keyboard, finally beginning to write this story that was beckoning me all the month of October. I got 2k words written that night before sleep seized me in its grip.

The first two days of NaNo were a little bumpy due to some stuff going on those days, but I was determined to get a fair amount of words written. Tallying up with the 2k I wrote that night, I ended the first day with 8,108 words. The second day I just barely managed to squeeze in 4,307 words.

After those first two days, it became much easier as life settled a bit and I got into the swing of things. For the first week of NaNo, I always like to go a bit (okay, maybe more than a bit) insane and then settle for the rest of the month. As a result, I managed to reach that 50k words on the 10th.

NaNoWriMo 2012 Winner Badge

Once I reached that point, I did begin to settle a little on the writing. Though, getting pretty obsessive over these things, I continued writing every day. It was around this time that I decided I want to make it to 100k. I had the last two years, so why not again this year? To do this though, I was going to have to keep myself going strong. Thus I set out a goal to attempt writing 3k a day, although 2k would be acceptable if 3k could not be reached on certain days. I kept to this plan fairly well.

Last year’s NaNo I decided I wanted to write at least 2k every single day of November and just to see if I could actually do it. And I did, which was exciting, but I figured I would never do that again because it proved to be a pretty stressful task. But then this year happened, and it was sometime around halfway through the month I was like, "You know what...WHY NOT!" Thus far I had managed to write every single day of the month, and it was already half done. So sure. Let’s do it!

I am ecstatic to say I actually achieved my goal!!

NaNoWriMo 2012 CalenderMy NaNo Calendar I made for this year naming how many words I wrote each day
Click for Larger View

Today I wrote 2,435 words, ending my NaNo of 2012 experience with 115,005 words.

What really shocked me about this NaNo is how much I managed to get written amidst all the busyness of life. Because life has just been a good deal busier this November than it was my last two, and I really did not even think I'd make it to 100k. My first NaNo, I ended with 111,500 words and I thought I would NEVER beat that. I kind of went insane on my first NaNo. But then this year, the year I thought I would not do too good at all, I actually passed my word count from my first one. It was a very pleasant surprise!

For the majority of the month, other than the first two days, I really did not have too much trouble trekking onward, to which I am so thankful for. My characters eluded me often, my story went places that surprised me, I even had one crazy moment where I almost threw out my outline just because other ideas jumped in my head (I then realized that would be insane and completely mess up the whole rest of this book series, but I think all us writers have those moments sometimes). But these are all the reasons I love writing. It really is an adventure. Sometimes its hard, sometimes you want to give up, sometimes you’re just too confused to know what on earth you want, but, even amidst all this, it’s exciting and wondrous and just an all around amazing adventure.

That was what NaNo 2012 was for me. I was taken on an adventure that I would not have given up for the world.

The adventure isn’t over yet! Not this one anyway. My novel still has quite a bit to be written. (About a whole other 50k actually… >.>) My goal is to finish it by New Year’s, so more and more writing shall ensue through December.

Regardless, my 3rd NaNo is over and I had an absolutely fantastic time!!

Favorite Snippet of the Month-

Irevik began traipsing forward, greatly anticipating finding some animal for his dinner. Riana turned and held up a hand to stop him. "Please stay here, Irevik. I'm afraid you're just too big and loud. Someone might discover we're here. I'll try my best to gather us all enough dinner, all right?"

The dragon seemed hesitant at first but eventually nodded his large head politely.

Riana smiled and gave him a pat. "I'll be back soon."

Eldoren frowned as she disappeared beyond the trees. So why is she so polite to you?

Irevik tossed his head, letting out a haughty huff.

Oh, you're not all that handsome, you big oaf. His breath was taken from him when Irevik suddenly pounced on him. Eldoren dropped to his back while Irevik held him down with one of his foreclaws and began licking him with his long, forked tongue.

"Stop! Stop!" Eldoren cried out, flailing his hands up in front of him in a futile attempt to deter the dragon. "You ridiculous dragon, get off me!" Despite his protests, his words came out in half chuckles. Irevik was probably the only one in the world who knew how ticklish he was, and the dragon made a point to take advantage of this whenever he could. "Come on now. Get off!"

Irevik eventually pulled away, vibrating with laughter. As Eldoren sat up, frowning deeply as he wiped off his very dragon saliva covered face, he heard a quiet, shaky rumbling to his left. Looking over, he was surprised to find Razel watching them. Her body shook lightly, and this noise came from her own throat as she chuckled at them. Her dragon laughter grew louder when Eldoren stuck his tongue out at her. He looked over at Irevik and found his dragon winking at the female dragon. He rolled his eyes. Irevik was the only dragon he knew in all the world that winked.

NaNo 2012 Calendar Counter

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Quite a Bit of Ecstasy

It has been a while since I’ve updated on my NaNo progress, hasn’t it? Or written a blog post at all. I guess because I’ve been busy actually doing NaNo. Eheh. But not only that. Lots of awesome things have been going on as of late.

Thanksgiving happened and was a very pleasant one. I had a lovely day (and even more lovely food and food…and more food…). There are so many things I’m thankful to God for, it would probably end up being a list adding together longer than the Lord of the Rings book. God is so good!

Vintage Thanksgiving ImageImage by Little Birdie Blessings

Last Sunday, on the 25th, I very much excitedly hit 100k words on my NaNo!! I was super de duper ecstatic about that!! Except for the fact that I think the novel in full is going to be around 160k words or perhaps more and I want to finish it by New Year’s…we’ll see how that goes. Trying…

On the same day, my awesome parents bought me one of those nifty NaNo Winner T-shirts. I’ve always wanted one, but never got around to actually acquiring one. This being my 3rd NaNo, I decided this would be the year. Because 3 is just a cool number for some reason. I cannot wait for it to get here!

NaNoWriMo 2012 Winner's T-shirt

Also on that Sunday, we put the Christmas tree up amidst a bit more Christmas decorating. Decorating for Christmas is one of my most favorite parts of the holiday season. I just love getting the house all prettiful and festive. It’s thrilling to go downstairs and see the tree glimmering in the living room. It just adds to the excitement of the season!

Christmas Tree

Needless to say, Sunday was a spectacular day.

The awesomeness continued on Monday, which happened to be Cyber Monday where most things being sold on the internet are much cheaper. I’ve been wanting a tablet for a while now. And, with Cyber Monday going, we found the one I wanted for quite a good deal. Thus… I got myself an Android tablet. And I absolutely and totally love it!! My ecstasy is bubbling over to finally have one.

Lauriloth's New TabletPicture courtesy of my mother over at Sweet Tea and Simplicity

As far as NaNo goes, everything is quite well. I really have not had much trouble with my novel at all. I’m kind of in shock with how smooth the writing has gone all month. Trust me when I say, that never happens for me. Most of my novels seem to take pleasure in giving me all sorts of trouble. Not to say this one has been perfect, it will need a whole lot of work, but for now I just want to get to the end. It’s the first draft after all, it isn’t supposed to be perfect. Or so I keep yelling, I mean…ahem, politely reminding my perfectionist side.

More Purple than Amethysts Banner

I cannot believe tomorrow is the last day of NaNo! It feels like the month just started. This has been, by far, the quickest NaNo I’ve ever done. But that’s okay, because that means we’re getting close to…

THE HOBBIT MOVIE!!!

Hobbit Movie Poster

Only two weeks away! *screams in uncontrollable excitement*

And then it will be Christmas!!

So much awesomeness and excitement going on!

Christmas BluebirdImage by Little Birdie Blessings

I hope you all are having an excellent holiday season!!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Fighting the Halfway Point Blues

Can you believe November is already halfway over?

That also means we’ve made it halfway through NaNoWriMo!

I know to some, thinking there is still a whole other half of NaNo to do is kind of overwhelming. I think the same. Those keyboards have been working harder than ever, those coffee mugs have never felt so loved, your fingers are screaming at the idea of a whole other half a month to keep going, your characters also may be screaming at you (mine are…a lot).

But that does not mean you should give up! We’ve made it this far. We’ve climbed up halfway the mountain, and though journeying on seems impossible, that beautiful prize of satisfaction is just waiting for us at the top.

For motivation and the drive to go on, I have some buddies keeping me in line.

You Should be Writing Doctor

The Doctor is very serious about NaNoWriMo. He loves books after all. And besides, how could I ever say no to him?

You Should be Writing Loki

Even Loki is on the NaNo boat. And, trust me, he doesn’t mess around.

When you’ve got two very powerful aliens giving you orders, well…woe be to those who rebel.

Even Larry my laptop, who has a place just above the keyboard to put text in, has been cheering me on. Actually…screaming at me might be the better term.

You Should be Writing Laptop Text

Larry has a very…er…pushy personality. He might be as scary as Loki.

That’s really all the motivation I need right there. Gracious, just the Doctor picture would suffice for me.

I think our greatest motivation, though, is looking to the top of that mountain we climb, knowing very soon we’ll be there, novel in hand, with a satisfying feeling unmatched to anything else.

But, unfortunately, motivation isn’t always enough. We actually need means to get the words written, yeah?

Just the other day, one of the participants on the NaNo forums said to really get those words written out, she covered up the word counter on her word document so she could focus on the writing and not worry how many words were there. I thought this was brilliant. I have a horrible habit of just staring at the word counter down there in the little corner, worrying about how many words I have and how many more I need to get out, instead of focusing on the story.

So during my writing today, I tried just that. Getting out a sticky note, I cut it in half and stuck it right where the word counter on the computer screen is.

Just Write Sticky Note

Let me tell you, it really works miracles. I found I could just focus solely on my story and stop thinking about that word count so much. And, as a result, I ended up getting more words. …Though it’s extremely tempting to peek under that piece of paper.

Another tip that is the only way I’m ever able to accomplish writing is by not allowing myself to touch the internet until I’ve written my daily quota of the day. That internet sure is distracting. So…so…distracting.

If anyone has any motivation or tips for getting those words written, I’d love to hear them!

Only half a month more. Let’s climb this hill. We can do it!

Hang in There Applejack

Sunday, November 11, 2012

As Happy as a Smiley Face

Giant Smiley Face

 

Here is a perfect picture of how I felt as of early afternoon of yesterday.

Why?

BECAUSE I HIT 50K WORDS!!!!!!!

I’m just kind of bouncing around with glee.

You see, it occurred to me a few days ago that if I kept writing at the rate I was going, I could make it to 50k words on the 10th. Now, if you knew me you’d know I love the number 10. I mean, what’s there not to love? It’s the perfect number. Right? 10 is awesome, there’s just no denying it. So hitting the winning 50k mark on my NaNo on the 10th was just too resisting to pass up.

Off my life went into the cupboard.

CupboardImage not mine

I was hoping it’d be safer in a cupboard than a wardrobe. One can never be sure where things will end up inside a wardrobe.

Narnia Wardrobe

And off to the land of writing I went!

And writing…

and writing…

and writing.

And then there it was! Like opening the wardrobe to find Narnia inside, 50k words! (Okay, not quite that exciting. But exciting nonetheless.)

After I hit that 50k mark, I went to the cupboard to retrieve my life back, glad (and perhaps a little surprised) to find it there and waiting.

It still may get stuck in the cupboard yet though.

Hitting 50k words does not mean my 2012 NaNo is finished. Far from it! I plan on continuing writing a great deal throughout the entire month. My adventure is far from over. NaNo 2012 has much more to give. And I look forward to it all!

Now, if only my characters would stop fighting…

Favorite Writings of the Day:

Sucking in a quick breath, Riana snatched up a long sword on the table beside her and thrust it into his hand.

Eldoren looked down at it in confusion. "What's this?"

She jerked away, doing a quick glance around to see if they needed anything else while also trying to figure out why she was even doing this. "I knew you were simpleminded but I thought by now you would at least know what a sword is."

She smirked to herself when she heard him huff in frustration. "Yes, but why am I holding it?"

"Do you have a weapon?"

"No. Unfortunately, mine got lost during our last attack."

"Well, now you have one."

Monday, November 5, 2012

5th Day Updates

The 5th day of NaNoWriMo is drawing to its end.

I cannot believe the first week of NaNo is almost over!

What have I been doing for these first 5 days of NaNo you ask?

Let’s see here…

Oh yes! I’ve been doing everything in my power to keep my two main characters from killing each other. That’s right. It seems Eldoren and Riana, my NaNo novel’s main characters, have a great desire for the other to not exist. I’ve endured one fight after the other. I’ve spent hours upon hours listening to Eldoren complain…and complain…and complain. *sigh* I’ve pondered over why Riana seems to be utterly heartless. I’ve gone to bed each night amazed that the two are still alive. …Yep. It’s definitely NaNoWriMo season.

So, it’s obviously been going terribly for me, right?

NOPE.

I’m thoroughly enjoying myself! I mean, yes, my MCs this year are beyond infuriating, but they’re mine and I love them. I’ve never had MCs like this before and I’m actually enjoying the change and challenge. They make things…interesting, that’s for sure. And plus, there’s Eldoren’s dragon, Irevik. Irevik is lovely and hilarious and all around ridiculous and is quickly becoming my favorite of the many, many dragons in this series.

I’ve been extremely pleased with how smoothly this story has been going honestly. Thus far I have not hit any walls of writer’s block-ness of doom yet (yay outlining!) or got into many writer, I’d-rather-die-than-write-right-now ruts. In fact, it’s all been going so smoothly…

I HIT THE HALFWAY POINT TODAY!!!!!

Lauriloth NaNoWriMo Wordcounter

I am so excited! Now, it is nothing to my 35k words I had on the 5th day my first NaNo (I’m literally embarrassed at how crazy I went that first NaNo, dear me…), but last year for my second one I hit the halfway point on the 5th day as well. So…success? Each year I keep telling myself I’m not going to get so obsessive and just take it slow and easy. But…it seems there’s no doing it. I have a tendency to get very obsessive with things, and NaNo is definitely one of those things. *sigh*

Ah well, I’m still pretty excited about my wordcount, despite me pretty much throwing away my life to get there. I also am hoping to get this book done quick. I am very much enjoying it, but I have many writerly plans for 2013 and am aiming to get this one finished before then.

Sorry, Life, you’re just going to have to wait.

My first two days of NaNo ended up being fairly stressful, but all in all I’d say I’ve had a pretty great first week of NaNo thus far. I’m looking forward to the rest of the month.

I hope all of you NaNo’ers are having a good first week as well!

The best of luck to everyone!!

Favorite Writings of the Day: (This is something I did on my blog last year during NaNo and thought I’d continue the tradition.)

Irevik took wing, splashing in the stream and sending a rain of droplets all across his rider before bursting into the sky. He made it look like an accident, but Eldoren knew better. He spluttered out water and shook his arms, shaking his head at his dragon's nonsense.

Oh, Irevik, you silly dragon you.