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)