NaNoWriMo ‘17 Week One: In Which I Defeat Shelob’s Cousin and Fangirl Over My Own Characters

 

IT IS DAY 6 OF NANOWRIMO.

WHICH MEANS WE’VE ALMOST CONQUERED THE FIRST WEEK!!!

I can’t believe we’re already a week into NaNo! LIKE WUT? Wow. On the one hand, it feels like NaNo JUST started, on the other hand, I feel as if I’ve already been on a long, epic journey and probably need a nap or three (hundred). But psh. Sleeping is for December, right?

The past five days have been a blurry whirlwind of life and words and going to bed late and getting up early and wanting to marry coffee. Normal NaNo stuff.

The biggest highlight is MY SISTER IS DOING NANO WITH ME. I’ve never, ever, ever had someone in person to do NaNo with. But I’ve alwaaaaaaays desperately wish I had. THIS YEAR MY DREAMS HAVE COME TRUE. My little sister likes to write and has wanted to do NaNo for a while, she just hasn’t had the chance with school and everything. But this year she’s more free and chose to do it with me and WE’RE HAVING THE BEST TIME.

I thought I couldn’t write well with another person around. I do best when I’m alone and can fully immerse in my story, because people distract me. But when the other person is busy writing, too, there’s a quiet camaraderie there and I’ve been doing fine writing with someone around. We’ve spent a ton of time sitting outside writing, brainstorming with each other, fangirling together over our stories, and doing word wars. Soooo many word wars. Whenever one of us is stuck, we’re like, “Wanna do a word war?” and it fixes our block every single time. (DO WORD WARS, PEOPLE. THEY SAVE LIVES. At least NaNo participant’s lives.) IT’S BEEN SO FUN. Except she’s totally beating my wordcount, buuut thankfully I’m really only competitive with myself. Not really with others like…at all. So we’re good. XD HONESTLY I’M JUST SUPER PROUD OF HER. She’s rocking it, guys!

It has definitely, definitely been weird to not be writing a Colors of a Dragon Scale book (the fantasy series I worked on for all my last 7 NaNoWriMos for any newcomers). Between that and doing it with my sister and a couple of other things, this whole NaNo has just felt super different. And, like I knew I would, I’ve had quite a few bouts of nostalgia and moments of reminiscing over my past NaNos and missing my CoaDS cast. BUT, at the same time, I’m falling madly in love with the story I’m working on this NaNo, having the greatest time with my little sis, and just in general loving the newness and different things this whole NaNo experience is giving me. Every NaNo holds a special place in my heart, and I think this one will be extra memorable!

Buuuut since my memory is the actual worst, I thought it’d be fun to log each day of my NaNo for safe keeping. I’ve seen lots of other people do this, and I love reading those posts, so I’ve decided to try my hand at it. I have nooo idea if I’ll keep it up. I never really have any clue how my NaNo posts will turn out each week. I just kinda start typing in an exhausted state and hope something coherent comes out. (Spoiler: Nothing ever does.) But for this week, let’s give a daily log a shot! It’ll be fun!

FIRST WEEK OF NANO ‘17

DAY #1

I did not stay up until midnight on October 31st. Which made me WEEP. I have stayed up to countdown to midnight for NaNo and begin writing the moment the clock strikes twelve for every single NaNo I’ve ever done. It’s one of THE most exciting parts of NaNo. But this NaNo just had to have the first day land on a Wednesday, and I work Wednesdays. There was no way I could stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning writing like I normally would. I had to get my sleep so I could actually be a functioning human being for work. So, with much regret, I went to bed at a decent hour like a silly responsible adult. (I know! What has happened to me????) And worst yet, I couldn’t start writing until after I got off of work at 4. I guess I could have started my story on my phone. It was a very quiet day at work and I even got to finish reading a book while I was there. But I really wanted to at least start my story on my lovely Scrivener file, and I’m not wild about trying to type stories on my phone. So I just waited until I was home.

Right after work, I went straight home, made some coffee, snagged my laptop, and finally started the story I’ve been anxious to write since July! And it was glorious! That day was an overcast, drizzly day, and I just disappeared in my story all evening, immediately fell in love with my main character Karis, and was feeling excited for all the rest of the NaNo.

Buuuut I only got 3k words in. Which I know is good, but I’ve always used the first day to write the most amount of words. My average for first day NaNos is 7k-8k. And sometimes 9k. Yeeeah. This year was my record low wordcount for November 1st.

But then I reminded myself… I’m planning on going not as crazy with NaNo this year. I, erm, may go a little insane during NaNo. I actually basically always do a double NaNo and write 100k instead of the normal 50k. Buuuut well, after 7 years of that, and now that my CoaDS series is done, plus life is a bit busier, I decided I want to be at least a smidge more chill this year. So I told myself that writing 3k on the first day was FINE. Because THAT WAS THE PLAN. TO BE MORE CHILL.

Welllll, like I mentioned earlier, I like to compete with myself. And I get ridiculously obsessive with things. I just feel this urgent need to WRITE ALL THE WORDS EVER during NaNo. Buuut that’s not really even that healthy. So I’ve been forcing myself to be chill. It’s not easy, but I think it’s starting to work. Because as the days are going on, I’ve been a smiiiidge more laid back that my NaNo stats are much lower this year than they have been any other year. Though, at the same time, I’d really love to finish my story before November is over. Because that’s my actual goal for NaNo—not to write 50k, but to finish the novel. Unfortunately, I write really long novels. >.> I didn’t think this one would be quite as long as some, buuuut the chapters are turning out to be way longer than I anticipated. So I may actually do need to buckle down some this month and do some seriously high wordcount days. I DON’T KNOW. WE’LL SEE HOW THINGS GO. But for now I’m sorta kinda okayish with writing a smidgeon slower this year than usual. I’m even seeing that I’m way less weary and actually talking to my family some unlike most NaNos where I just hole away in my room for a month and turn into some frenzied, sleepless creature of the night. *cough*

But ANYWAYS. After the little hiccup of having work, the first day went really well!

 

DAY #2

Since I didn’t get to write as much as I wanted the previous day, I was determined to get at least 5k words in this day. And once I set a goal, I will move Mt. Everest to make it. Again, I can be a bit obsessive…

Unfortunately, it turned out to be a pretty full day. I had written 3k during the day, but still needed that 2k more. And my determined self ended up  throwing together words right before bed in a crazed, exhausted fashion. Good gracious alive, I was so, sooooooo tired that night for some reason. But I had to make my daily goal! Well, just before midnight, I made it! *cue trumpets and fanfare*

Relieved, but utterly wiped out, I stumbled to my feet to go get ready for bed, when my sister (who was already at 10k words that day because she’s awesome) suddenly LOST HER STORY.

*CUE FREAK OUT MODE*

Something happened to the file and it just disappeared. There were tears. There was much freaking out. I was literally scouring through her files both crying and panicking and praying that I could find it. And, praise God, WE FOUND IT! I still don’t know what happened, but it got lost in the dark depths of some weird files BUT IT WAS THERE AND EVERYTHING WAS OKAY AND WE BACKED IT UP FOR EXTRA SECURITY AND NOBODY DIED. I’m still praising Jesus for that one.

Whew. Okay, so everything was good there. Now I could get ready for bed and SLEEP…

Well, I went to the kitchen to do something and right there, chilling on the washroom door like it owned the place, was SHELOB’S COUSIN.

This spider, guys! It was solid black and I declare as big as my hand. I actually don’t mind spider. I find them very fascinating, really. As long as they’re small or outside. But this thing just hanging in our kitchen… NOPE. THE OPPOSITE OF OKAY.

Just then, my sister came into the kitchen and I screamed at her to backup lest she be eaten by the monstrosity before me. Neither of us had any desire to kill it, but we also couldn’t just go to bed with that thing roaming the house. I could picture it—all of us awaking wrapped up in web, a nice tasty breakfast for the beast to feed on.

NUH-UH. I HAD TO PROTECT MY FAMILY AND BATTLE THE BEAST.

………

After I stood there cowering in fear and staring at it in horror wondering hoooooow I was going to do this thing. My sister had the brilliant idea of using a fly swatter instead of a shoe like I was considering so I wouldn’t have to get within too close proximity. Heart pounding, I edged toward it, wielding my fly swatter, and slashed. Annnnd…the spider fell on the floor, unharmed. Not that my sister and I squealed and staggered away or anything. Noooo. Ahem.

Naturally, as bugs love to do, it got in the corner of the baseboards making it nearly impossibly to smush it with the fly swatter. But I had to. So I futilely swiped at it, making it scurry to another position. Well, after that, I was starting to get up my courage and I didn’t hesitate this time to hash at it again. Still, it evaded my attacks.

OKAY. Forget being scared. Now I was mad. How dare he come into my domain and mock me like this! I stepped right up to the beast and hacked at it like a raving berserker.

AND I WONNNN!!!

I smashed the beast so hard, it didn’t even look like a spider anymore. Just a distorted ball of black. HA!

And let us not forget I was doing this while I was so tired I could barely stand on my feet and two minutes earlier I had a mental breakdown due to my sister almost losing 10k words. Needless to say, I got to bed very late and fell asleep within 0.2 seconds and slept like nobody’s business. And no spider wrapped me up for breakfast because I was victorious.

Erm, yeah. Thursday was a wild ride…

But I managed to write 5k words annnd wrote the part where Karis finds the magic camera that takes pictures of the past. (Fun stuff, guys!) It was actually a good day after all. Just that night was…something.

 

DAY #3

Day 3, Friday, was absolutely lovely! (And, thankfully, a lot less adventurous and emotional than the previous day.)

My sister and I had the house to ourselves all day, and we took full advantage of it. We sat in the living room and wrote together for a while, made lattes, did word wars. Later we took a walk and wrote outside until the evening. Even though it was actually the warmest day of the week and way too warm for November. (I have not been pleased with the weather. I WANT IT TO BE COLD FOR NANO. *pouts* Okay, I want it to be cold all the time, I detest warm weather. But I especially want it to be cold during the months it’s supposed to be cold! #Rant)

I actually only got 4k words that day. I was sort of hoping for 5k, but knew 4k would probably be more realistic because that evening I had some things to do plus couldn’t stay up too late due to having work again the next day. And, at this point, I was starting to get a liiiittle more chill and learn to take NaNo slightly more easy and still enjoy life. (I’M TRYING, GUYS.) So I was mostly okay with the 4k. (Despite having dreams of grandeur of making it to 5k-7k for that day.)

DAY #4

I had work again this day, but it was Saturday, and we close at 2 on Saturdays (I work part-time at a little secondhand bookshop for any who doesn’t know) so it didn’t cut into my writing time much at all. (I’m not exactly one to be very productive in the mornings anyway. Honestly, I don’t really start getting busy with just about anything until after lunch most of the time… *sheepish grin*)

I was itching to write that day, super excited over the next scene that was coming up, and got busy the moment I came home. (I mean, after making coffee, obviously.)

THIS was the day I truly fell in love with the story.

I had been very much enjoying myself before. But, to be honest, I struggle with beginnings. It takes me a bit to really get immersed into my story. With the beginning, I’m having to set everything up and learning the feel of my story and figuring out my character’s voices, and it’s just a bit of a struggle for me. So the first few days of NaNo really aren’t my favorite.

But by day 4, I had really gotten a grasp on my story, was getting into the thick of things, and JONAH ENTERED THE PICTURE!!! <3

Before, it was mostly just Karis wandering around on her own. Which was good. I loved getting a feel for my Karis bby girl. She amuses me endlessly and I’m adoring being in her head. But then when Jonah appeared, I realized just how precious they BOTH are. THE AMOUNT OF ADORKABLENESS. I CAN’T. Karis is such a ridiculous bean who never thinks before saying or doing anything, and Jonah is totally an awkward, shy puppy. I was squealing and grinning and just wanting to hug my laptop while writing their meeting.

*sneaks snippet in*

“The moment she made it to the tree line, what little sense she had left kicked in. She released the boy’s arm, snagged the hammer still in her pocket, and swerved to face him. “Are you a serial killer?”

He backed up, eyes widening as he took her in. It occurred to her what she must look like to him. A five-foot-five girl with torn clothes, blood and dirt caked all across her body, hair more knotted than a bird’s nest, threatening him with a hammer of all things right after he saved her life.

Heat rose to her cheeks. She lowered the hammer, breathing out a nervous laugh. “I’m so sorry, it’s just hard to know who you can trust on this island, you know? I think a lot of serial killers get sent here. And assassins. You’re not an assassin, are you? Wait. Sorry.” She shook her head, as if that would erase all the babbles that had spilled out of her mouth. “Um. I’m Karis.”

There you go, Karis. Tell the would-be serial killer/assassin your name.

Though she was really beginning to think this boy wasn’t a murderer of any kind. The more she talked, the more his face relaxed, until she could have sworn a hint of a smile tugged at his lips. Though it could be a trick of the shadows. If only it were daylight and she could see him better.

“Jonah.”

She just barely caught the soft word, and it momentarily stunned her. Jonah? Grandfather had a friend named Jonah—a big, bearded man who ate too much and always talked with a slur. Nothing like this boy before her.

My babies. <3

I was having so much fun writing that day, I wrote nearly 5k words without much trouble. It was also donation day on the NaNo site and I donated some, which is something I’ve been wanting to do for YEARS. I was so happy this year I was able to. NaNo has done so, so, so much for me. It honestly changed my world, and I was so happy to give back, at least a little.

So that day I donated, enjoyed keeping up with the donation day progress on Twitter (the NaNo community is my favorite, it’s so fun!), and happily wrote. IT WAS A GOOD DAY! My favorite day of NaNo thus far.

 

DAY #5

Now completely pumped for writing after the success of the previous day, I dove in right away. (Even got a smidge written before lunch. :O) I ended up only writing 3k though, because some life-ness. Annnd I had to take time to write this blog post. Usually I prewrite my blog posts on Thursdays. But since I want to properly log what’s going on with my NaNo, I’ll probably put my posts together on Sunday nights this month. We’ll see if I can keep it up. If posts end up being late, I apologize. It is NaNo after all. Sticking to real schedules this month basically…doesn’t happen.

Anywhoozle, yesterday writing was lovely as I wrote more adorkable scenes between Karis and Jonah and continued to fall in love with this crazy story. And I was okay with stopping writing after 3k words becaaaaause…

I HIT 20K WORDS!!!

I figured that was a good place to end the week. And I’m so very much looking forward to the rest of the month and getting deeper into the novel. IT’S GONNA BE SO FUN!

CONCLUSION

To sum this monster up (if I keep doing this, I need to summarize each day in way fewer words, sheesh), this NaNo is very different but in many good ways, I’m having a blast having my sister join me for the first time, I’m adoring my story, and I’m taking this NaNo a bit more slowly than any of the others and tryyyying to be okay with that.

Onward to week #2!

 

Now that I’ve talked way, way, way more about my week than I should have, I WANT TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR FIRST WEEK OF NANO. Are you having fun? Have you already gone over the safe limit of caffeine consumption? What’s something fun that’s happening in your story? I want to hear about it ALL. And if you’re not doing NaNo, how was your first week of November? (Am I the only one suffering through a warm November so far? Bleh.) LET’S CHAT. (Although if it takes me longer to reply to comments than usual I apologize. It is NaNo…)