NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 35

Well, it’s done. I finished the first draft of the new Gordon Gardner book (#2) mid-morning. The spreadsheet reads 79,032 words while Word clocks the word count just north of 80,000. Probably all the “Chapter [numbers]” throughout the book.

I’m happy with the book. It’ll get a re-work between now and Fall 2016 when it gets published. It’s a good story. It takes the Gordon Gardner character—he first shows up in WADING INTO WAR and takes the lead role in THE PHANTOM AUTOMOBILES—to a new place.

This book is my 9th overall but the 8th I’ve written since May 2013. It’s the second novel of the year for me; I wrote the first one back in August. It’s safe to say the Plan-for-a-Month/Write-for-a-Month pattern seems to work for me. With the completion of this book, all the novels I plan on publishing in 2016 are completed. Now, it’s just a matter of editing, creating covers and titles, and publishing them. It’s nice to have an entire year of publishing planned out. It’ll leave me time to write new books and take some chances.

For those of y’all who have read these posts since NaNoWriMo 2015 began, thanks for reading. I’ll definitely be doing NaNoWriMo again in 2016…but I’ll be writing more books before next November. When I do, I’ll repeat this daily routine.

It’s been fun!

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)
Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)
Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)
Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)
Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)
Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)
Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)
Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)
Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)
Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)
Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)
Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)
Day 15: 2177 (33,899 total; 16,101 remaining)
Day 16: 1775 (35,674 total; 14,326 remaining)
Day 17: 1703 (37,377 total: 12,623 remaining)
Day 18: 2707 (40,084 total; 9916 remaining)
Day 19: 1917 (42,001 total; 7999 remaining)
Day 20: 1951 (43,952 total; 6048 remaining)
Day 21: 1671 (45,623 total; 4377 remaining)
Day 22: 1791 (47,414 total; 2586 remaining)
Day 23: 2743 (50,157 total)
Day 24: 3919 (54,076 total)
Day 25: 3295 (57,371 total)
Day 26: 1758 (59,129 total)
Day 27: 2377 (61,506 total)
Day  28 2037 (63,543 total)
Day 29: 3697 (67,240 total)
Day 30: 2798 (70,038 total)
Day 31: 1807 (71,845 total)
Day 32: 1700 (73,545 total)
Day 33: 1813 (75,358 total)
Day 34: 1721 (77,079 total)
Day 35: 1953 (79,032 total)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 34

If the writing I did today proves to be what I think it is, today is the penultimate day in writing the second Gordon Gardner investigation. I have wrapped up most threads and now I have the payoff/epilogue to finish.

I should get to that tomorrow.

Looking forward to “The End.”

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)
Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)
Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)
Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)
Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)
Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)
Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)
Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)
Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)
Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)
Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)
Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)
Day 15: 2177 (33,899 total; 16,101 remaining)
Day 16: 1775 (35,674 total; 14,326 remaining)
Day 17: 1703 (37,377 total: 12,623 remaining)
Day 18: 2707 (40,084 total; 9916 remaining)
Day 19: 1917 (42,001 total; 7999 remaining)
Day 20: 1951 (43,952 total; 6048 remaining)
Day 21: 1671 (45,623 total; 4377 remaining)
Day 22: 1791 (47,414 total; 2586 remaining)
Day 23: 2743 (50,157 total)
Day 24: 3919 (54,076 total)
Day 25: 3295 (57,371 total)
Day 26: 1758 (59,129 total)
Day 27: 2377 (61,506 total)
Day  28 2037 (63,543 total)
Day 29: 3697 (67,240 total)
Day 30: 2798 (70,038 total)
Day 31: 1807 (71,845 total)
Day 32: 1700 (73,545 total)
Day 33: 1813 (75,358 total)
Day 34: 1721 (77,079 total)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 33

Not a long post tonight. Just moved ever closer to the end…and the end for a particular character. Didn’t see that coming, but it seems appropriate.

Looking to complete this novel this coming weekend. Maybe tomorrow.

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)
Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)
Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)
Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)
Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)
Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)
Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)
Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)
Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)
Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)
Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)
Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)
Day 15: 2177 (33,899 total; 16,101 remaining)
Day 16: 1775 (35,674 total; 14,326 remaining)
Day 17: 1703 (37,377 total: 12,623 remaining)
Day 18: 2707 (40,084 total; 9916 remaining)
Day 19: 1917 (42,001 total; 7999 remaining)
Day 20: 1951 (43,952 total; 6048 remaining)
Day 21: 1671 (45,623 total; 4377 remaining)
Day 22: 1791 (47,414 total; 2586 remaining)
Day 23: 2743 (50,157 total)
Day 24: 3919 (54,076 total)
Day 25: 3295 (57,371 total)
Day 26: 1758 (59,129 total)
Day 27: 2377 (61,506 total)
Day  28 2037 (63,543 total)
Day 29: 3697 (67,240 total)
Day 30: 2798 (70,038 total)
Day 31: 1807 (71,845 total)
Day 32: 1700 (73,545 total)
Day 33: 1813 (75,358 total)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 32

The good thing about this book extending past November is that my 2015 writing streak—I’ve written every day this year!—is easy to maintain. My tale took a surprising turn today, one I had no idea was in the cards. It slowed me down…but it got me closer to “The End.” I’ll probably finish this weekend, maybe Friday.

There’s an angle that emerged today that I’ll have to go back in the manuscript and sprinkle in. No worries. This book I’m writing now won’t come out until fall 2016.


Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)
Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)
Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)
Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)
Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)
Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)
Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)
Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)
Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)
Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)
Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)
Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)
Day 15: 2177 (33,899 total; 16,101 remaining)
Day 16: 1775 (35,674 total; 14,326 remaining)
Day 17: 1703 (37,377 total: 12,623 remaining)
Day 18: 2707 (40,084 total; 9916 remaining)
Day 19: 1917 (42,001 total; 7999 remaining)
Day 20: 1951 (43,952 total; 6048 remaining)
Day 21: 1671 (45,623 total; 4377 remaining)
Day 22: 1791 (47,414 total; 2586 remaining)
Day 23: 2743 (50,157 total)
Day 24: 3919 (54,076 total)
Day 25: 3295 (57,371 total)
Day 26: 1758 (59,129 total)
Day 27: 2377 (61,506 total)
Day  28 2037 (63,543 total)
Day 29: 3697 (67,240 total)
Day 30: 2798 (70,038 total)
Day 31: 1807 (71,845 total)
Day 32: 1700 (73,545 total)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 31

Yeah, yeah. I got to the end of November, clocked in 70,000 words, but didn’t finish. So I’m still plowing forward. Had an oddly difficult day trying to figure this last action sequence. But I found a path and am moving forward with it. I have one crucial decision to make, so I’m leaving literally in the middle of a scene—the middle of a sentence no less—and sleeping on it.

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)
Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)
Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)
Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)
Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)
Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)
Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)
Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)
Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)
Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)
Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)
Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)
Day 15: 2177 (33,899 total; 16,101 remaining)
Day 16: 1775 (35,674 total; 14,326 remaining)
Day 17: 1703 (37,377 total: 12,623 remaining)
Day 18: 2707 (40,084 total; 9916 remaining)
Day 19: 1917 (42,001 total; 7999 remaining)
Day 20: 1951 (43,952 total; 6048 remaining)
Day 21: 1671 (45,623 total; 4377 remaining)
Day 22: 1791 (47,414 total; 2586 remaining)
Day 23: 2743 (50,157 total)
Day 24: 3919 (54,076 total)
Day 25: 3295 (57,371 total)
Day 26: 1758 (59,129 total)
Day 27: 2377 (61,506 total)
Day  28 2037 (63,543 total)
Day 29: 3697 (67,240 total)
Day 30: 2798 (70,038 total)
Day 31: 1807 (71,845 total)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 30

Well, I give myself a pass and a fail.

I pass because I wrote more than 50,000 words. With today’s 2798 words, I have reached 70,038 words for the month of November. That’s a nice round 20,000 words over pace. I am very satisfied with my output. That doesn’t quite match my 30-day pace back in August (71,000 words), but it’s way more than I anticipated.

I fail because I very much wanted to finish Gordon Gardner’s second investigation in the month of November for NaNoWriMo. I did his first last year. Granted, it was a little over 30,000 words, but I *finished*. But, the writing streak for the year can easily continue since I’m not done. I’m very close. Maybe another day or two. Maybe three.

I’ll keep providing the daily updates until I complete the novel. All in all, however, the experience was fantastic. It proves yet again that a writer like myself—with a day job and a family life—can get a novel written (mostly) with little-to-no extra effort other than getting up early and doing the work.

How’d your NaNoWriMo go?

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)
Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)
Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)
Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)
Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)
Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)
Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)
Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)
Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)
Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)
Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)
Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)
Day 15: 2177 (33,899 total; 16,101 remaining)
Day 16: 1775 (35,674 total; 14,326 remaining)
Day 17: 1703 (37,377 total: 12,623 remaining)
Day 18: 2707 (40,084 total; 9916 remaining)
Day 19: 1917 (42,001 total; 7999 remaining)
Day 20: 1951 (43,952 total; 6048 remaining)
Day 21: 1671 (45,623 total; 4377 remaining)
Day 22: 1791 (47,414 total; 2586 remaining)
Day 23: 2743 (50,157 total)
Day 24: 3919 (54,076 total)
Day 25: 3295 (57,371 total)
Day 26: 1758 (59,129 total)
Day 27: 2377 (61,506 total)
Day  28 2037 (63,543 total)
Day 29: 3697 (67,240 total)
Day 30: 2798 (70,038 total)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 29

I made really good progress today albeit way slower than I wanted. Like yesterday, I had to slog through a couple of scenes to get to my big finale. The slog proved to be somewhat thicker than I expected. The twists and turns the story took—despite my road map—made me rethink a few things. I’m hopeful that tomorrow will bring good progress.

But tomorrow will likely not bring the end of the book. We’ll see.

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)
Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)
Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)
Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)
Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)
Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)
Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)
Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)
Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)
Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)
Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)
Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)
Day 15: 2177 (33,899 total; 16,101 remaining)
Day 16: 1775 (35,674 total; 14,326 remaining)
Day 17: 1703 (37,377 total: 12,623 remaining)
Day 18: 2707 (40,084 total; 9916 remaining)
Day 19: 1917 (42,001 total; 7999 remaining)
Day 20: 1951 (43,952 total; 6048 remaining)
Day 21: 1671 (45,623 total; 4377 remaining)
Day 22: 1791 (47,414 total; 2586 remaining)
Day 23: 2743 (50,157 total)
Day 24: 3919 (54,076 total)
Day 25: 3295 (57,371 total)
Day 26: 1758 (59,129 total)
Day 27: 2377 (61,506 total)
Day  28 2037 (63,543 total)
Day 29: 3697 (67,240 total)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 28

Yes, I surpassed the daily minimum. I’m on track to have written more the 1667 words every day this month. But I hit a bit of a road block today, and it slowed me down.

I have the Big Ending, but the pathway to get has become muddled. Late in the day, I’ve figured out a way to get there, but I’m too tired to actually get the words on paper/pixel. So I’m leaving to tomorrow a heavy chunk of writing. I really wanted to finish by 30 November, but I’m not sure that’ll be possible. I’m not sure. We’ll find out.

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)
Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)
Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)
Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)
Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)
Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)
Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)
Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)
Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)
Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)
Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)
Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)
Day 15: 2177 (33,899 total; 16,101 remaining)
Day 16: 1775 (35,674 total; 14,326 remaining)
Day 17: 1703 (37,377 total: 12,623 remaining)
Day 18: 2707 (40,084 total; 9916 remaining)
Day 19: 1917 (42,001 total; 7999 remaining)
Day 20: 1951 (43,952 total; 6048 remaining)
Day 21: 1671 (45,623 total; 4377 remaining)
Day 22: 1791 (47,414 total; 2586 remaining)
Day 23: 2743 (50,157 total)
Day 24: 3919 (54,076 total)
Day 25: 3295 (57,371 total)
Day 26: 1758 (59,129 total)
Day 27: 2377 (61,506 total)
Day  28 2037 (63,543 total)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 27

Nothing major. Moved the bar forward. Had a scene I didn’t prepare for, but I finished it. And I wrote a fun chapter that uses a cinematic technique.

Three day left. Wondering if I can finish by 30 November.

Onward and upward.

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)
Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)
Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)
Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)
Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)
Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)
Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)
Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)
Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)
Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)
Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)
Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)
Day 15: 2177 (33,899 total; 16,101 remaining)
Day 16: 1775 (35,674 total; 14,326 remaining)
Day 17: 1703 (37,377 total: 12,623 remaining)
Day 18: 2707 (40,084 total; 9916 remaining)
Day 19: 1917 (42,001 total; 7999 remaining)
Day 20: 1951 (43,952 total; 6048 remaining)
Day 21: 1671 (45,623 total; 4377 remaining)
Day 22: 1791 (47,414 total; 2586 remaining)
Day 23: 2743 (50,157 total)
Day 24: 3919 (54,076 total)
Day 25: 3295 (57,371 total)
Day 26: 1758 (59,129 total)
Day 27: 2377 (61,506 total)

NaNoWriMo2015: Day 26

I got almost 2/3s of the writing done at 6am this morning before the festivities and the cooking and the preparation for the big feast started. Then the whole day was consumed by what you do on Thanksgiving: eat, drink, play games, and watch football (and ELEMENTARY). I had to finish out the bare minimum tonight after 10pm.

I gave some thought to letting the word count slide. That is, not to reach the 1667 per day minimum. I’m nearly 15,000 words ahead of pace. It would not have been bad to write less than 1667. But I wanted each day of the entire month to be above pace, so I forged ahead and did it.

Onward and upward…

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)
Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)
Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)
Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)
Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)
Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)
Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)
Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)
Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)
Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)
Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)
Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)
Day 15: 2177 (33,899 total; 16,101 remaining)
Day 16: 1775 (35,674 total; 14,326 remaining)
Day 17: 1703 (37,377 total: 12,623 remaining)
Day 18: 2707 (40,084 total; 9916 remaining)
Day 19: 1917 (42,001 total; 7999 remaining)
Day 20: 1951 (43,952 total; 6048 remaining)
Day 21: 1671 (45,623 total; 4377 remaining)
Day 22: 1791 (47,414 total; 2586 remaining)
Day 23: 2743 (50,157 total)
Day 24: 3919 (54,076 total)
Day 25: 3295 (57,371 total)
Day 26: 1758 (59,129 total)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 25

I managed another 3,000+ word day. Not bad. I’m at the final part of the story so things are picking up some good speed. What surprised me, however, is my co-star, Lucy Barnes. She had a scene that I had planned out, but she delivered it in a way I didn’t see coming. I think it’s much better now. Gotta love inspiration on the fly.

I have my note cards per scene stack with me. I know I can knock out 1,000 or so in an hour. If every scene I have left to write is about a 1,000 words, more or less, I have about 10-15 hours left in this book. Kind of nice to have knowledge of my writing pace.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Onward and upward…

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)
Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)
Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)
Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)
Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)
Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)
Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)
Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)
Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)
Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)
Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)
Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)
Day 15: 2177 (33,899 total; 16,101 remaining)
Day 16: 1775 (35,674 total; 14,326 remaining)
Day 17: 1703 (37,377 total: 12,623 remaining)
Day 18: 2707 (40,084 total; 9916 remaining)
Day 19: 1917 (42,001 total; 7999 remaining)
Day 20: 1951 (43,952 total; 6048 remaining)
Day 21: 1671 (45,623 total; 4377 remaining)
Day 22: 1791 (47,414 total; 2586 remaining)
Day 23: 2743 (50,157 total)
Day 24: 3919 (54,076 total)
Day 25: 3295 (57,371 total)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 24

Today was an interesting day. I reached 50,000 words yesterday, so the drive to 50K has been accomplished. In the early part of my writing day, I’ll admit that I let off the gas a bit. But I ended the day strong with my single best day of the month!

If I have to estimate, it’s looking like I’ll need another 10,000 to 15,000 to finish this book. Now that I’ve reached 50K, I’ll allow the book to end when it does, even if that’s after 30 November…but I’m really gonna strive to hit that mark.

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)
Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)
Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)
Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)
Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)
Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)
Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)
Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)
Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)
Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)
Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)
Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)
Day 15: 2177 (33,899 total; 16,101 remaining)
Day 16: 1775 (35,674 total; 14,326 remaining)
Day 17: 1703 (37,377 total: 12,623 remaining)
Day 18: 2707 (40,084 total; 9916 remaining)
Day 19: 1917 (42,001 total; 7999 remaining)
Day 20: 1951 (43,952 total; 6048 remaining)
Day 21: 1671 (45,623 total; 4377 remaining)
Day 22: 1791 (47,414 total; 2586 remaining)
Day 23: 2743 (50,157 total)
Day 24: 3919 (54,076 total)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 23

After another day of solidifying the ending of the story, I managed 2743 words of new fiction. With that number, I have reached 50,000 words. Not only that, I reached it seven days ahead of standard pace. My goal was always to complete the story in November no matter the number of words.

This marks the first time I’ve successfully completed NaNoWriMo in November. I wrote 50,000 in 21 days back in August and, in 2014, I completed the first Gordon Gardner novel, but it was less than 50,000. I've now completed a total of nine stories of substantial length.



Well, I’ve passed one major hurdle. Now, to finish the book itself.

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)
Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)
Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)
Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)
Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)
Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)
Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)
Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)
Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)
Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)
Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)
Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)
Day 15: 2177 (33,899 total; 16,101 remaining)
Day 16: 1775 (35,674 total; 14,326 remaining)
Day 17: 1703 (37,377 total: 12,623 remaining)
Day 18: 2707 (40,084 total; 9916 remaining)
Day 19: 1917 (42,001 total; 7999 remaining)
Day 20: 1951 (43,952 total; 6048 remaining)
Day 21: 1671 (45,623 total; 4377 remaining)
Day 22: 1791 (47,414 total; 2586 remaining)
Day 23: 2743 (50,157 total)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 22

It was an interesting day. I gave a talk at my church today. Thoroughly enjoyed it, but I spent the morning mentally preparing and reviewing my notes. No writing. The afternoon was spent monitoring the Texans game while I did laundry. No writing. Later, I dictated over 3,000 words of brainstorming to get me to my end scene. No writing. I didn’t start writing until this evening. I’ll need to get back on track with morning writing tomorrow. There’s a very good possibility that I’ll reach 50,000 words tomorrow.


Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)
Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)
Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)
Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)
Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)
Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)
Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)
Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)
Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)
Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)
Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)
Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)
Day 15: 2177 (33,899 total; 16,101 remaining)
Day 16: 1775 (35,674 total; 14,326 remaining)
Day 17: 1703 (37,377 total: 12,623 remaining)
Day 18: 2707 (40,084 total; 9916 remaining)
Day 19: 1917 (42,001 total; 7999 remaining)
Day 20: 1951 (43,952 total; 6048 remaining)
Day 21: 1671 (45,623 total; 4377 remaining)
Day 22: 1791 (47,414 total; 2586 remaining)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 21

You’d think a Saturday would be a day in which the word count would just soar. Normally, you’d be correct. But this wasn’t a normal Saturday. Errands to run, bills to pay, and an all-afternoon visit with some friends the next street over, and a movie night here with the family all added up just barely over the minimum word count today. Still exceeded the 1667 today, but not by much. Heck, I’ve written more words on a work day than I did today.

Go figure.

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)
Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)
Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)
Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)
Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)
Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)
Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)
Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)
Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)
Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)
Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)
Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)
Day 15: 2177 (33,899 total; 16,101 remaining)
Day 16: 1775 (35,674 total; 14,326 remaining)
Day 17: 1703 (37,377 total: 12,623 remaining)
Day 18: 2707 (40,084 total; 9916 remaining)
Day 19: 1917 (42,001 total; 7999 remaining)
Day 20: 1951 (43,952 total; 6048 remaining)
Day 21: 1671 (45,623 total; 4377 remaining)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 20

A day off from the day job, the first of ten days off for Thanksgiving. I expect to make some serious headway on the book in this time span. Actually, the fact that I return to the office on 30 November, I aim to be done with the book ahead of that day. It’ll be nice to return to the office with the novel completed.

The book I’m writing takes place in Houston, 1940. Some of the scenes take place at Bayou Bend which is now a museum. I went there today and talked with a librarian and got some books to use for research. I’ll be returning to tour the entire property next week so I can infuse this book with some accurate historical details. There are benefits to writing a historical mystery.

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)
Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)
Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)
Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)
Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)
Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)
Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)
Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)
Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)
Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)
Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)
Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)
Day 15: 2177 (33,899 total; 16,101 remaining)
Day 16: 1775 (35,674 total; 14,326 remaining)
Day 17: 1703 (37,377 total: 12,623 remaining)
Day 18: 2707 (40,084 total; 9916 remaining)
Day 19: 1917 (42,001 total; 7999 remaining)
Day 20: 1951 (43,952 total; 6048 remaining)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 19

I did a thing I haven’t done with this book before: Go back and change something I had already written. My standard writing process is that I forge ahead and never look back. If something occurs to to me, say in chapter 13 that affects something in chapter 7, I make a note in chapter 7 and then I go forward from chapter 13 *as if I had already written the extra stuff in chapter 7*. This way, I always have forward momentum.

Now, this was nothing major today. I wrote chapter 37 at my 5am session. When it came time to write chapter 38 during my breaks at the day job, I got to thinking “Hey, if I made one small change at the end of chapter 37, the tension would be upped for chapter 38.” So, I went back and re-wrote a few sentences at the end of 37 and then wrote 38. I figured it was literally about four lines so it wasn’t major, but I don’t normally do that kind of thing.

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)
Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)
Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)
Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)
Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)
Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)
Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)
Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)
Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)
Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)
Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)
Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)
Day 15: 2177 (33,899 total; 16,101 remaining)
Day 16: 1775 (35,674 total; 14,326 remaining)
Day 17: 1703 (37,377 total: 12,623 remaining)
Day 18: 2707 (40,084 total; 9916 remaining)
Day 19: 1917 (42,001 total; 7999 remaining)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 18

A nice surge back to high productivity. After most of yesterday spent doing some brainstorming, today was spent getting on paper the next couple of chapters. It is SO nice to know the road map because that means I can just fly. 
 

On my spreadsheet, I have one listing of the actual pace you get if you do only 1,667 words per day. By that listing, you reach 30,000 words today. I am now over 10,000 words ahead of that pace. I am quite proud of that number. And with today’s words, I’m a little less than 10K words to get to 50,000. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: even folks with day jobs--like me--can write a novel in a month.

Onward and upward.

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)

Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)

Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)

Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)

Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)

Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)

Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)

Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)

Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)

Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)

Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)

Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)

Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)

Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)

Day 15: 2177 (33,899 total; 16,101 remaining)

Day 16: 1775 (35,674 total; 14,326 remaining)

Day 17: 1703 (37,377 total: 12,623 remaining)

Day 18: 2707 (40,084 total; 9916 remaining)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 17

Interesting day today. My morning writing session was consumed by middle-of-the-book brainstorming. That is, I got to a point where I needed to assess where the book was headed. That’s natural for me...but not usually during NaNoWriMo when I need to maintain a pace. Almost all of my breaks at the day job were dedicated to brainstorming scenes. After family time and watching THE FLASH, I only started writing tonight after 10pm. I really don’t like writing at night anymore, but I had to tonight. I’ll be back bright and early tomorrow morning at my usual time.

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)
Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)
Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)
Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)
Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)
Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)
Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)
Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)
Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)
Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)
Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)
Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)
Day 15: 2177 (33,899 total; 16,101 remaining)
Day 16: 1775 (35,674 total; 14,326 remaining)
Day 17: 1703 (37,377 total: 12,623 remaining)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 16

Two things combined to lessen my word count today. The first was various meetings at the day job. It knocked me out of my regular breaks which are the times I write. The second was the fuzziness of the scenes. The first scene all but wrote itself, but the second scene I had to write today I didn’t finish. I wasn’t too sure how to proceed despite what I know much occur in the scene. The vicissitudes of the writing vs. the outline finished on 31 October didn’t quite match. It’s actually not a bad thing to stop in the middle of a scene. Come 5am tomorrow, I know exactly where to start.

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)
Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)
Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)
Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)
Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)
Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)
Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)
Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)
Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)
Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)
Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)
Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)
Day 15: 2177 (33,899 total; 16,101 remaining)
Day 16: 1775 (35,674 total; 14,326 remaining)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 15

After my personal best day yesterday, I’m down to a more reasonable 2,177 words today. I got slowed because I needed to rethink a few things in my flexible outline. Late last night, I reach a scene that I had mapped out back in October. The only problem was that, after actually going through the writing process, the scene as envisioned didn’t work. So I tweaked it. And then I had to tweak another one. And then a brand-new scene emerged.

Oh well. Progress was made and the story moved forward.

This is the exact halfway point of the month and the novel. At the start of the month, I said that my only goal was to complete the novel by month’s end regardless of word count. I think my pace proves that I’ll likely reach 50,000 and beyond, but my goal is still a completed novel, no matter the word count. If the story sudden resolves itself in 10,000 words, then it’s a win.

I hope y’all’re doing well. Onward and upward!

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)

Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)

Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)

Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)

Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)

Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)

Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)

Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)

Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)

Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)

Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)

Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)

Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)

Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)

Day 15: 2177 (33,899 total; 16,101 remaining)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 14

Finally! I had the best day of the entire month today: 3,539 words comprising four chapters. Up until today, the best day was Day 1 with 3,464. Sure, I didn’t pass the threshold by much, but I passed it.

And I passed 30,000 words today. By my spreadsheet, I’m approximately 8,000 words ahead of schedule. What that means is that I could not write for over 4 days and I’d still be on track to finish 50,000 by the end of the month.

But I won’t be doing that. Late tonight, a new wrinkle I didn’t foresee cropped up. I’ll have to do a little deliberation tomorrow to determine how best to proceed. But proceed I will.

Onward and upward.

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)
Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)
Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)
Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)
Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)
Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)
Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)
Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)
Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)
Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)
Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)
Day 14: 3539 (31,722 total; 18,2789 remaining)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 13

I had a day away from the day job today and I expected to get some more words done. I had some other things crop up and a wonderful dinner with some friends visiting from Canada so my time was used up. Still, I managed to maintain my above-average pace and moved the bar forward.

 

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)

Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)

Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)

Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)

Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)

Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)

Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)

Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)

Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)

Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)

Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)

Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)

Day 13: 2008 (28,183 total; 21,817 remaining)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 12

Big News Today: I crossed the halfway point of the 50,000!

I took a quick time out in my 5am writing this morning to write out the next 12 scenes in order. I have all the note cards pinned to my cork board, but a few new scenes have cropped up and I needed to verify their proper place in the story. I have a three-day weekend starting tomorrow so I’m looking forward to keeping my momentum.

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)

Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)

Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)

Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)

Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)

Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)

Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)

Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)

Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)

Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)

Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)

Day 12: 1801 (26,175 total; 23,825 remaining)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 11

Today was the day in which scenes I didn’t foresee made themselves known. That’s perfectly fine. It’s also anticipated. What I like about my style of writing to date is that I create an outline--usually with note cards and/or brainstorming Google Docs file (so I can have it anywhere I am)--and keep it pretty high level. This allows for small nuances to show up and keep the prose interesting. Today was one of those days. Added a new scene that’ll set up later scenes already pre-planned. Good day overall: 2181 words.
 

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)

Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)

Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)

Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)

Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)

Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)

Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)

Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)

Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)

Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)

Day 11: 2181 (23,374 total; 25,626 remaining)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 10

After barely eking out the minimum quota yesterday, I came back strong today. 2023 words. The funny thing was that the photo I took of my cork board was a little too blurry to read properly. As a result, during my last break at the day job, I wasn’t able to keep writing. Oh well.

As a friend and fellow writer always says, “Onward and upward!”

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)

Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)

Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)

Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)

Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)

Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)

Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)

Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)

Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)

Day 10: 2023 (22,193 total; 27,807 remaining)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 9

All the late festivities from last night led to me sleeping in until 5:15am this morning. I was quite tired and only managed a little over 500 words. Then, long meetings and a deadline limited some of my writing time during day-job breaks, so I had to get to 1667 late tonight. I got there: 1712. Whew. I know I’m ahead of the actual pace and could conceivably write less than 1667 and not be behind...but I like the idea of a daily quota and 1667 is that quota for this month. Heading off to bed now--and stopped the writing mid-scene--so I’ll be refreshed in the morning.
 

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)

Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)

Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)

Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)

Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)

Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)

Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)

Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)

Day 9: 1712 (20,170 total; 29,830 remaining)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 8

Lots of things conspired to limit a greater word count: playing in church orchestra, preparing for a birthday dinner, and welcoming good friends visiting from Canada. 2371 words today. Had to fit in the writing between church services and in the spaces during our readying of the house. Thank goodness for being able to write on the iPod.

 

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)

Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)

Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)

Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)

Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)

Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)

Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)

Day 8: 2371 (18,458 total: 31,542 remaining)

NaNoWroMo 2015: Day 7

Even though it is a Saturday, I didn’t get much more than the minimum. But I got there and moved the bar forward. 1767 words.
 

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)

Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)

Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)

Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)

Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)

Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)

Day 7: 1767 (16,087 total; 33,913 remaining)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 6

Today I was off from the day job, so I was able to get some extra words in: 2453. Had another new character walk on stage, and a possible change to another slowed me down. Tomorrow’s forecast is for rain so I hope to maintain a steady pace through the weekend.

Head on over to DoSomeDamage.com tomorrow for my first weekly recap.

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)
Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)
Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)
Day 6: 2453 (14,320 total; 35,680 remaining)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 5

Normalcy. After yesterday’s skirting of disaster with the crashing MacBook Pro, today was just normal. Woke up a tad late and realized I forgot to load the coffee machine. End result: I had less time in the morning session. Also, new characters entered the stage so I had to suss out who they were. Slowed me down. Only got 1204 in the morning. A combination of iPod writing and more laptop writing tonight got me up to 1732 words today.

 

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)

Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)

Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)

Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)

Day 5: 1732 (11,900 total; 38,133 remaining)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 4:

The theme of today was flexibility. This morning’s writing session was interrupted when my Mac wouldn’t start. So, I shifted to connecting my iPod Touch with my Apple keyboard. I managed 1100 words or so, but knew I needed to make up the deficit. I wrote some on the iPod at the day job, but deadlines and meetings ate up all my break time. Not much writing done during the day.
 

Throughout the day, my mind wondered if I had lost all my data. I diagnose the problem, fixed the drive--took apart my laptop and extracted the drive to repair it--and got it working again. Finished the day at 1709 words.

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)

Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)

Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)

Day 4: 1709 (10,100 total; 39,900 remaining)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 3

Another good day today. I wrote 1708 words in my 5am session. It’s a great feeling to have the daily word count completed before the day job starts. I got 451 written on the iPod sitting at Starbucks waiting for my book club and then another 478 tonight to round out chapter 6.

Day 1: 3464 (3464 total; 46,536 remaining)
Day 2: 2325 (5789 total; 44,211 remaining)
Day 3: 2637 (8426 total; 41,574 remaining)

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 2

First NNWM day on a work day. Rose at 5:00am. Wrote 1,244 words before work on the laptop. Wrote additional 796 words on the iPod at breaks during the day. I finished off the night with another 285 to round out a chapter.
Day 1: 3464 words
Day 2: 2325 words (5789 total; 44211 remaining)

Now Available: The Tale of the Naked Man

It’s not every day that the passengers of a stagecoach in the Old West see a naked man hiding behind a rock. But the motley group of people on a stage bound for Uvalde, Texas, stop and question Finnegan McCall, naked as the day of his birth. He claims to be the new manager at the bank in town and a thief stole all his clothes.

But if Finnegan McCall is telling the truth, then who is the stranger at the bank claiming he is the new bank manager? And why is this stranger asking the assistant manager to open the safe?

Available exclusively at Amazon.

$0.99

NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 1

I had a good start to NNWM 2015. Instead of sleeping in the extra hour, I woke up at regular body time for a weekend. Yesterday, that was 6:30am. Today, it was 5:30am. With coffee steaming next to me, I started in on Gordon Gardner 02.

I did two sessions totaling two chapters. The first was 2287 in 81 minutes. The second was 1177 in 35 minutes. I’m keeping track of my time and words/hour this month to my efficiency on weekends as well as weekdays.

Day 1: 3464 words

Book Review Club: Take Off Your Pants by Libbie Hawker

(This is the October 2015 edition of Barrie Summy's Book Review Club. For the complete list, click on the icon following this review.)

Book Review Club: Take Off Your Pants!: Outline Your Books for Faster, Better Writing by Libbie Hawker

by
Scott D. Parker

National Novel Writing Month is just over the horizon and that means everyone is trying to prepare for the sprint that is NaNoWriMo. I think most who read Barrie’s blog are familiar with the concept of writing a 50,000-word novel in the 30 days of November. I’ve done it--although not solely in November--more than once. Back in August, I hit 50,000 words in 21 days so I know I can do it. However, I didn’t complete the novel until mid-September. Yes, I know six weeks to write a 92,000-word book is nothing to sneeze at, but I wanted to see if there was a way to optimize my process and get a book done in 30 days.

Enter Take Off Your Pants. I don’t know about y’all, but when I hear the word ‘outline,’ I still think of the way we were taught back in high school with Roman numerals and capital letters. That may work for a five-paragraph essay in high school, but it’s not the best way to outline a novel. So how do you do it?

I’ve found the method of Lester Dent, the old pulp writer who created Doc Savage back in 1933. There’s a famous ‘formula’ for writing a 6,000-word short story. It’s pretty good and it’s scalable. But it didn’t have the true skeleton I wanted. I love seeing how other writers create their books, and Hawker’s book shows you, step-by-step, the process she uses.

She mentions a few times certain light bulb moments went off for her as she read other books on the craft. Well, I had one reading her book. You see, up until this helpful ebook, I have attempted to create outlines for my novels and stories, but what I started doing is crafting a plot. I started with an opening scene, the hook, and went from there. Scene after scene, event after event, I put my characters through the paces.

I always ran into a road block somewhere in the middle. I rarely fretted because I’d always re-brainstorm when I got stuck in the middle. I didn’t particularly like that, but it allowed the vicissitudes of the writing to meander along the general direction of the ending.

Hawker’s methodology is different. Sure, she gets to the scene-by-scene stuff, but she starts with character. Okay, well, I did that. I got a character and he had to go through stuff. Nope. Hawker suggests starting with character and then his flaw. What the heck? Why would you start there? Well, let me tell you a little something. I'm planning my NaNoWriMo book now (the second Gordon Gardner novel)...and merely by focusing on Gardner's flaw, nearly half of the outline emerged almost fully formed. Yeah, I couldn't believe it either. Here's my light bulb moment: by focusing on the flaw and the character as the through-line of the tale, the plot pieces are all but written. Sure, there are details, but half of my novel is, arguably, already planned out.

And I've not even started writing in the individual scene beats. The overall arc is there, the map. That was my light bulp moment.

Take Off Your Pants has numerous little nuggets like this. She has a set structure she uses. She introduces the structure, explains it, and then uses one of her own books as examples. She takes you, step by step, from zero outline to a completed one. Something that helped me was actually doing my own outline while reading and highlighting the book. By the time I finished the book, I had the overall arc all but complete. And it was only the 12th of October. And, best of all, that process only took me a few hours (of reading and writing). I got very excited when I realized how straightforward this process actually is.

Now, I can't wait for November to get here!

If you're in the planning stages for NaNoWriMo or have struggled to complete a novel, trying to Take Off Your Pants. You might be surprised at how fluidly your story flows out of you and onto paper. It has for me...so far.

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@Barrie Summy

Forgotten Books: Ed McBain

Today, on Friday's Forgotten Books*, Patti Abbott suggested we focus on Ed McBain. I didn't read a new book for this week's post, but I'm posting my three former reviews.

The Gutter and the Grave


Cop Hater


"Monsters"


For the complete list, head on over to Patti's blog.