NaNoWriMo: Day 19

The day was really unkind for writing. I hemmed and hawed for a while before squeezing out one session, 1,003 words worth, and actually, that was pretty good considering the fact that my document crashed in the middle of it, leaving a couple of paragraphs unsaved and requiring a rewrite. Screen-capturing saved me from having to think about what I had lost. Just as the “this program will now terminate” popped up on my screen, I hit my capture shortcut key. Phew. Crisis averted. I still had to wait for it to load back up and re-type it, but it wasn’t lost. I imagine it would have been a really super session if I hadn’t lost several minutes in the ether. Oh well.

By that time I had two choices. Write another session right away, or do 24 minutes of yoga before Shaun gets home.

I chose yoga because my back was begging for it.

I invented a pretty tasty dinner last night. Golden Curried Meatlessloaf. The not-quite-a-recipe will follow under the jump.

33388 / 50000 words. 67% done!

NaNoWriMo: Day 18

I wrote 3,249 words, two sessions while Shaun was at work, and one with Shaun, cut short by an excitable Trudy who insisted I take her outside so that she could sniff around leisurely for 10 minutes.  Still, super productive writing day, it got me all excited that I was going to be able to keep this pace and finish early. Yeah. Well. We’ll see about that.

After we finished our writing, we went to India Palace for the monthly Rachel-Doesn’t-Feel-Like-Cooking date.  Afterward we went to Whole Foods to stock up on Smart Grounds, Tofurky balls and soy yogurt, for baking. I have committed to a lot of soy yogurt, and thus, a lot of baking, before the expiration date on the tub, November 30. Just what I needed, another November commitment!

We came home and watched The Ring, which we had in the netflix queue for October but never got to, after it there is a great big slew of Christmas movies, which we had hoped to start working our way through a couple of weeks ago.  It’s because all we really want to watch is Star Trek: The Next Generation. We need to stagger it out a bit, though, we’re working through the seasons way too fast.

32290 / 50000 words. 65% done!

NaNoWriMo: Day 17

Word count wise, the day was a success. I wrote 3,500 words in an hour and a half.  Actual story, plot, prose wise, it was kind of abysmal. I have the basic outline in my head of where everything is ultimately heading, which makes me think it might not quite fill the 21,000 words I have left to write.  I can probably devote 2,000 words to a comical love scene whenever I feel like I need some padding. I don’t know how many humorous variations of man sword & silken sheath I can come up with, though. It’s exhausting. I suppose it’s not going to hurt the scene to use those terms over and over, it’s already writhing on the floor in an agony of ecstasy.

Everyone has pretty ridiculous motivations for their current actions, so I have decided that it’s perfectly acceptable to give them ridiculous reasons for reversing their stances. This is pretty standard romance noveling, really. There’s always some man who refuses to sleep with his wife because he’s so terrified she’ll die in childbirth or something, but then she convinces him that she’s not so delicate and they do it all over the house and have 15 orgasms apiece.  Aside from the 15 orgasms this is not my particular plot, it’s a smidge more complex than that, but just as ridiculous.

I had a much deserved and super intense 20 minutes of yoga after I finished my writing.  It was a delight.

29041 / 50000 words. 58% done!

NaNoWriMo: Day 16

It was a pretty good day for writing. I completely intended to write three sessions, but I got a late start.  At some point I will have to give in and write while Shaun is home, but that time is not come.

I got 1,981 words, bringing me past the halfway mark, huzzah!

Things I enjoyed more than my novel: making golden curried tofu & vegetables for dinner (which I get to have for lunch the next day!) and baking chocolate chip cookies because I could.

25541 / 50000 words. 51% done!

NaNoWriMo: Day 15

I did not write at all. I barely even thought about it. I feel like my week two is probably extending a bit because my word count hasn’t quite reached the levels of week three yet.  I played Dungeons & Dragons all day. There you have it.

I should have hit the delightful halfway mark today, but I did not. 23,560 word count from Saturday unchanged. So it goes.

NaNoWriMo: Day 14

I actually wrote on a Saturday! Just one session, but 1,152 words was enough to pass the 23334 that the 14th of the month asks for.  I got it out of the way early and spent the rest of the day doing weekend things, like watching movies and inventing tasty curries for dinner.

I don’t have much time to update today, so here’s my word count & daily photo, ta da!

23560 / 50000 words. 47% done!

NaNoWriMo: Day 13

Happy Friday the 13th! My day was pretty good, though a bit bad for writing. I got up early and wrote one half hour session (1,135 words total) before going out to the family farm with my friend Megan for a photoshoot. I haven’t left the house much this month and it was kind of nice to be outside and completely separated from my novel. I planned on coming back home and writing another session but the day was pretty much ruined for writerly pursuits. I edited photos and then went to my father in-law’s birthday dinner. Now it’s approaching 10pm and I am quite frankly ready for bed. Oh well. I had hoped to stick to my weekend skipping ways, but not getting my second session in means I’m not even a full day ahead of schedule, so I’m going to try to get a session or two in tomorrow. I would really like to take Sunday off, though, because it’s D&D day at Pwhisker Hollow.

I need to stop thinking ahead. It’s easiest for me if I take it one day at a time, even better, one half hour session at a time. I’m still hoping to have the mental energy to ramp it up in week 3 so that I can finish before Thanksgiving, like I did last year.  Stop. Thinking. Ahead. Phew.

No yoga today because I was out and about. I might do a little stretching on the mat in a few minutes after I get into my pajamas. My back is feeling pretty puny this evening. It was probably fighting off the young, eager and super friendly pitbull Zeus while rolling around in fall leaves with Megan & her camera. Guh. That was exhausting.

22408 / 50000 words. 45% done!

NaNoWriMo: Day 12

Today was the most sluggish yet. I hope things really do get easier in week 3. I seem to remember that they do. I’m hoping to recapture some of the humor and parody aspects of my romance novel. I think I always lose the thread in week 2. I have just been plugging along in seriousland and it isn’t much fun. I have no idea how to get the parody back, though. It’s probably just an actual romance novel now, and that’s depressing. Oh well. Maybe something will come to me next week! In spite of all sluggishness, I had my best word count since day four, 2,260 words in two half hour sessions.

As I was doing yoga today, Trudy, the chihuahua I introduced you to a couple of days ago, licked me all over the face just as I was in a rather impossible to avoid her pose. Humorously enough, it was the Downward Dog portion of a Simple Sun Salutation. Seriously. I’m afraid this might come off as some kind of embarrassing yoga humor, but I’m just being honest. Every time I made a gap in the mat, she filled it. I managed not to fall on top of her and now I am beat. I think I’m going to need a yoga break tomorrow. I’ve been doing increasingly difficult sessions every day. I’ll try to stretch a bit after I finish writing, though.

21273 / 50000 words. 43% done!

NaNoWriMo: Day 11

I got a good word count for the day, 2,159. I did yoga when I was finished in hopes of alleviating some of my writerly pains. It helps immediately but I wake up the next morning feeling pretty uncomfortable. I think the mattress is partially to blame.

I worked on Sims 2 projects a good deal, cooked dinner, watched Star Trek: TNG and read some of The Myth of Bloody Mary: A Biography of Queen Mary I of England by Linda Porter before bed.

It was mostly a positive day, though I’m really feeling that deep pit of week 2 anguish in my stomach.  I’m looking forward to its passing. Come on Week 3!

19013 / 50000 words. 38% done!

NaNoWriMo: Day 10

I forgot to update yesterday because I was distracted by Sims 2 projects and my visiting teenhood chihuahua. My dad rescued her from the center median on a busy street when I was 15. She was pretty delightful, young, and spry. I named her Gertrude over Simple Simons pizza. I believe Legend was showing on the television as I scrawled potential names across a napkin.  Gertrude just fit, and offered so many variations. Trudations, Trudicles, Dude, Trudy Trudetta Trublood (nickname predating the Sookie Stackhouse novels and subsequent television program, I’ll have you know), Trudekei,  Gershananoff & so many more.  She is the dearest pet in my life ever, equaled only by my poor beloved departed Darwin, the Russian Blue kitty who was murdered by a racoon on Halloween 2003.

So I got my writing done yesterday with no real issue. Back to 1000+ word half hour sessions and on track to finish on the 30th. I need to step it up soon, though, and write more than two sessions if I can make myself, because I would seriously like to finish before Thanksgiving break.

On day 10 I wrote 2,136 words…

16854 / 50000 words. 34% done!