08 November, 2006

NaNoWriMo: One week in 

So, a week in, I'm on pace to finish my novel a few days early. Well, that is to say, I'll have 50,000 words on or before November 30. Basically, my plot is in a death spiral right now and I think I'm going to have to either kill someone (in the BOOK, people, not IRL!) or maybe have my main character have a near death experience. It wasn't the way I originally meant to write out the life-altering conflict, but whatareyagonnado.

At this point, I'm trying to write through my slump and this weekend will take some time and regroup and reorganize the story. It's tough slogging, but considering I've had one new character pop up, WHO COMPLETELY CHANGED THE STORY ARC, the day before I started writing (when I thought I had all the characters and plot reasonably sorted out), and another new character appear who is trying to sweep my main character off her feet, I'm holding up pretty well. I've embraced the first new character, and have thrown a bucket of cold water on loverboy, though he's not backing off without an argument.

A few of us Alameda NaNo'ers have met up at Julie's for a couple of informal write-ins. Julie's is a nice place: good coffee and treats and free wi-fi for *cough*research*cough*. However, on Tuesdays there is live music. It's a good folk band. I really loved the woman who sang, she has such a beautiful voice. But I was trying to get a group of characters off to an indie rock show, and as much as *I* enjoyed the folk music, it kept my characters at home on the couch. Also, I felt very self-conscious, as though, by working on my novel, I was being rude to the performers. That showed in what I wrote last night.

Which has been the other challenge. I've been carting around Hamish, the iBook, to write while I'm on the ferry. Although I do get about 100-200 words in while we're en-route, it is hard (especially in the mornings) to come back out of the world I'm creating and into the real world. In fact, the last couple of mornings, it's been a rather severe jolt and I've been somewhat agitated once I've had to close up the computer and walk to the office. It's a lot easier to transition between "realities" when I have a few hours to drift in and out of each world.

So, that's week #1 done. The word count "goal" for the week is 13,336 and I'm currently at 14,659. I should reward myself...maybe I'll treat myself to a chicken tikka masala supper this week!

Technorati Tags: NaNoWriMo

   ~~ victoria on 10:28 PM ~~    1 comments

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