Ah well, reality bites.

I have to say, I'm not going to hit 50,000 words by midnight tomorrow night. However, in the past couple of days, a new spin on what I've already got occurred to me, so I've gained wordage by going back and larding the past chapters with things to make that new insight all come together. And it's pleasing enough that I think I will finish it and work on it and edit it until I'm actually happy with it.  Then I'll leave it for my heirs to figure out what to do with. Nyah-ah-ah, let them think about novel-hawking. I'm retired.  :)

Forgot to mention...

A couple of weeks ago, I posted another "Uh-oh, lookout" post? With this picture:

Well, I got that little project done the other day. It looks like this (I apologize for the crappy quality; I used my MacBook camera):

Shutters! They, however, are just one part of an overall project I'm plotting for my bedroom. It may not get finished until Spring. I'll do a big reveal when it's done. Because I know all the internet is waiting to see what kind of oddball thing I come up with for my bedroom. 

More words; just not enough.

Sat down and hacked out about 2200 more words tonight. That's about the maximum I seem capable of in a single day.  I did have one nifty idea come to me as I typed, and that generated another one, so that was good. I may not finish this (reach 50K words) by November 30th at midnight (then again, I MAY) but I think it'll at least be worth working on.

Trudge trudge trudge.

Do not go see the film "Nebraska"

directed by Alexander Payne, if

1)  You "just can't watch" black and white movies (I am paralyzed with incredulity that I even have to say that, but apparently there are people like that) - because you don't deserve to see this movie.

2) You must have car chases, sex, gore, loud music, or Mafia thugs to keep your interest.*

3) You can't believe that old people, fat people, not-beautiful people, can love and be loved, have sorrows in their pasts, have dreams, disappointments, failures, fears and hopes.

4) You are shocked into insensibility that actual people use "naughty" language.  There's not much in it but it's there.

This film moved me like no other I can remember. It's like a jewel, carved by a man who loves these people, and who loves the world they live in and knows it's fading away, and wants to record it so all posterity will know what it was like. I've been in that world. I spent my professional life driving those roads, visiting those farmers and farm houses, eating in those cafes and bars, listening to those conversations - dear lord sitting on Thanksgiving Day in those somnolent living rooms with those half-asleep old men having single-syllable conversations over the roar of the football game.

I feel like sending Alexander Payne a thank-you note. He's reminded me what film can be.




*Actually, there are some realistic fisticuffs, and one hilarious heist scene. So there's that.

Pretty low word count tonight

BUT instead I made MAJOR progress figuring out what the heck is going on in my story! So I'm hoping to have several fast, high-count sessions over the next couple of days. This is encouraging enough that even if I don't get to 50,000 words by midnight, Nov. 30, I feel like I will keep working on it until it's actually, you know, a novel.

Inch...ing...Ever...Closer...

Doing a few hundred extra words per night, I'm slowly catching up so I'll be done with this thing by Nov. 30. I'm going to win this one!

Still not quite caught up, but

up to 28,000 words, which reduces the required word count per day to 2,001 and I can whittle away at that easily. And, things are kind of coming together finally. So, yay!

Got caught up a little bit tonight

I powered through 3,345 words tonight. Dividing the rest by 11 days, I'll need to write at least 2,035 a day to win NaNo (or reach 50,000 words by midnight Nov. 30th). Piece. Of. Cake.

Big discovery in tonight's writing, camouflaged under a really big happy ending for one situation. Nyah-ah-ah...

Back at it tonight

I needed about 8,000 words to catch up. Didn't get that, but I did get well over 1700, and some more ideas. They kind of seem to pop up like chicory plants by the side of the road as I go zooming past...funny that.  More headway tomorrow! This is catch up week!

Goofed off yesterday, but atoned tonight

20,532 words so far! And tonight's progress has encouraged me that this isn't like, the worst dreck ever to disgrace a computer screen. It's just starting to get more interesting...

NaNo word count MET

I hope not to take TWO days off in a row again. That's scary enough NOW when I'm still having fun with this thing; later on it might be fatal. Well, for the novel I mean.

NaNo Saturday is here!

And I'm doing much better today. It's 3 pm DST (or is it CST. I can never remember.) and I've got almost 2,000 words so far. I'm aiming to reach a total of 15,000 yet today, but we'll see.

WTA: YAHOO I DID IT! I broke 15,000 words. That brings me right up to date with the necessary daily word average. I had fun doing it, too. I got some more of the setting sketched out and firmer in my imagination, and added a bunch of characters to my list who will come into it later. At this point, it's still fun.  :^)

NaNo Saturday!

Been in the doldrums the past couple of days. No work on the NaNo novel, no progress on the Secret Project.

Today I am devoting to racking up lots of words in my NaNo novel. I'll report back later.

Uh-oh. Again.

+

=

?

I'm hoping to replace that question mark with the answer by tonight. 

4:30 p.m. The question remains unanswered.

I don't want to talk about it.

:(

NaNo Day 6 Goal Reached!

I did a few less than the 1667 per day average, but for Day 6, I'm still ahead of the game. It's still going pretty well.

Letting go, little by little

I've had an industrial metal and particle board shelving unit in the garage full of stuff I'd either tried to sell online, and failed, or just pushed into boxes and sacks to wait until I felt like doing a yard sale - for at least two years now. Not long ago I finally admitted to myself that I will never, EVER "feel like doing a yard sale," and decided it's time to take that stuff to Goodwill. I told myself, I haven't had to look in those boxes for two years for anything, so there's nothing there I need, so I should just toss it all in the car and deliver it all to Goodwill without even looking at what's inside. That's sensible.

Ha, ha, you think you know where this is going, don't you.

Well, I did crap out on the resolve. I did look inside the bags and boxes to see what I'd put out there. I'll give you your point for that. And I did retrieve something from them. But don't get too excited. You want to know what it was?

A box of staples. As in, office stapler staples.

Everything else went. All of it. As soon as the shelves were empty, I moved all the hand yard tools over onto them, instead of on top of an ancient metal trunk that is full of ancient rusting woodworking tools. And several electric sanders whose guts have probably rusted into solid masses by now. So I can dig into that chest and figure out what to do with all the stuff in *there*.

I am very, very slow, but I do make progress. Eventually.

My reward is that I made apple crisp.  :^)

NaNo Day 5 Goal Reached!

It's like they say - the First Week is a *breeze*.  Ima gonna enjoy it while I can.

Day 4 NaNo Goal Reached!

I spent ten minutes before my writing session, trying to figure out why Scrivener wouldn't show me the 1667 words per day target in its Session Targets panel. It was only after fruitlessly searching the Scriv for Dummies book AND my class notes from the online course I took on Scriv, that I realized, Scriv was doing exactly what it's supposed to do: it's dividing the number of words left to the novels' goal (50,000) by the number of days until midnight, November 30! So of course, since I've been writing a bit more than 1667 per night, it's going to tell me my *session* goal is less than 1667.

DUH!

At least I got that little burr out from under my saddle.

I don't know about this novel. It's not bending to my will much, even though I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Maybe it'll end up being something entirely different than I'd imagined. I guess I'll find out.

Day 3 NaNo Goal reached!

My seat got really sore sitting here this time. Have to find a different place...

ETA: So, that's good, but I'm not very impressed with the new blog look. Considering it was free and took me about ten minutes, I guess I can't complain that much. I guess it'll do.

Day 2 NaNo Goal Reached!

So far, so good...

Day 1 NaNo goal reached!

So, it's started. 2090 words this time, not bad.  I've introduced the five main characters and part of the main setting. I feel good!