NaNoWriMo 2015 Day 30: The End is Nigh

Posted on November 30, 2015 by A. Elizabeth West

I hope everybody had a safe, sane, and happy Thanksgiving weekend. If you don’t celebrate the Day of the Turkey, I hope you had a good weekend regardless.

Welp, it’s the last day of NaNoWriMo and I have not finished Secret Book. I have written 15,250 words this month, which is more than I wrote on the thing in quite a while, so I don’t consider it a failure at all. My total words come out to 94,997.

According to my NaNoWriMo stats, at the rate I went this month, I will finish on February 7, 2016. Maybe. Maybe sooner, if I push myself through December. I’m starting to see the links in this story (actually, it’s two stories that converge, then break apart again), and that perks me up a little. It’s like building something; at first, it’s just a jumble of parts, but when you get to a certain point, you start to see the finished product emerging.

Just stack those over there; we'll have this done in a jiffy.

Just stack those over there, Nigel; we’ll have this done in a jiffy.

Photo: Elizabeth West

I don’t think I’ll do NaNoWriMo to finish something this complicated again. Tunerville had the distinct advantage of being somewhat simplistic; it’s just a straightforward urban fantasy and I could fly by the seat of my pants throughout.

Remember this guy? Kinda like him.

Image: circuswarehouse.com

So now there is a month left to go before New Year’s Day. I shall lurk a bit and see if I can finish the draft by then. I’ll keep posting the increased word count (I made a cool spreadsheet) so watch the counter on my homepage. You’ll know when I’m done. Hell, they’ll probably hear me scream all the way in London. I still have a couple of vocabulary posts to go, so expect those upcoming.

Thank you for sticking with me through the lamest NaNoWriMo of all time. I PROMISE I WILL FINISH.

Now I shall leave you lovely people and go watch The Walking Dead. Here is a video of a dog who feels my pain at having to get up to go to work after a long weekend.

NaNoWriMo 2015 Day 23 and 24: BLAST

Posted on November 24, 2015 by A. Elizabeth West

Word count Day 23: Zippo (on the page)

Word Count Day 24: 2152

I finished a very pivotal scene. And I thought of several ways I can tie Protagonist 1’s experiences in so that they foreshadow later events, without actually giving anything away.

Heh heh.

As a writer, I live for realizations like that. They’re what keep me going through a first draft. I think some of the difficulty I’ve been having with Secret Book is that it felt disjointed for so long. I couldn’t see how the pieces fit together; writing it in a linear fashion would not have helped. Reading the outline didn’t either.

Now I can see them, as I take them out of the puzzle box of my mind and assemble them on the page. As scenes go from a summary paragraph to fleshed-out realities, some of the things Protag 1 and 2 do and say are surprising me, but they make more sense now.

Nothing is set in stone at this point. Everything could change in rewrite. I so look forward to that adventure.

————

It’s two days until Thanksgiving in the U.S. Tonight’s video is from Blue Mountain Cards and gives us an amusing musical look at the standoff between a farmer and his holiday dinner. Enjoy!

NaNoWriMo 2015 Day 22: Road to Nowhere

Posted on November 22, 2015 by A. Elizabeth West

Word count: 289 lame, stupid, words that were like pulling impacted wisdom teeth

This manuscript draft is like doing homework I don’t want to do. I want to work on the Rose’s Hostage sequel and Tunerville queries, but I HAVE to finish it. I may be writing on it all the way through Christmas.

Speaking of which, see how to shut down your crazy right-wing relatives at the upcoming holiday, courtesy of SNL!

NaNoWriMo Days 20 and 21: The Realizations

Posted on November 21, 2015 by A. Elizabeth West

Today’s word count: 768

It snowed this morning. Ugh. It vanished after a while, but the weather has turned cold and the ceaseless wind that will plague us until July has begun to blow. This sort of weather makes me wish more than ever that I had someone to keep me warm under this stupid blanket.

No words last night; this is what I did instead of writing:

Photo: Elizabeth West

I made Welsh cakes for a Doctor Who fan club meetup potluck. They turned out okay, if a bit heavy; not bad for a first try. I had to play around with my new griddle to figure out the proper temperature. It basically took all evening, but it was worth it *nom nom nommm*

I also realized two things.

That November is a shitty time to do NaNoWriMo. There is too much going on–Thanksgiving, Christmas (ice show) prep, the change in weather, and a constant, ongoing parade of potlucks. November has so many interruptions that it’s like–well, life. October would be better. When you’re already struggling to finish a project this way, any help you can get is welcome.

That, while I dislike summer, I really, really hate winter. Goodbye, autumn. *sigh*

In tonight’s video from SciShow, we learn why earworms happen and what you can do about them!

NaNoWriMo 2015 Day 19: Boost!

Posted on November 19, 2015 by A. Elizabeth West

Word count: 1,873

Holy marathon, Batman, I finished the most annoying scene ever. It sucks like a giant Dyson from space, but that’s okay. I just repeat my mantra for pushing through a first draft: I can fix it later.

Possibly influenced by Scarlett O’Hara.

Plus, I broke the 90,000-word mark. Yay me! \0/

This book will need to go through several rewrites and about a zillion edits before I’m anywhere close to ready for any beta readers. In fact, I think I’ll probably have to start on the Rose’s Hostage sequel next, or that poor thing will never get done.

Our bizarre 1960s video for tonight–a cinema snack bar advertisement. Anyone besides me think that peanut at the beginning looks a little…..protruding?

NaNoWriMo Day 17: Building

Posted on November 17, 2015 by A. Elizabeth West

Word count: 1,831.

Much better, yes? As tired as I am today (I have no idea why, but I’m going to bed soon, I promise), I found it easier to write this evening. That feeling has been rather AWOL of late. Along with it comes relief. During those dry spells and blockages, you sometimes think it’s not going to come back.

In tonight’s video, we learn what happens to you when you don’t sleep. Good night, everybody.

NaNoWriMo 2015 Day 16: Slow Burn

Posted on November 16, 2015 by A. Elizabeth West

Word count: 797

This is going much more slowly than I thought. I’m not in a race to finish by the end of the month anymore. It’s too much pressure. If I do, then great; if not, I’ll keep going until the book is done. I think that NaNoWriMo has done that much for me this time around, and that’s good enough.

Writing is like this sometimes. Some books don’t come as easily as others. Some characters kick and scream and clutch at the door as you try to draw them into the light. Rose’s Hostage practically fell out of the keyboard. Tunerville went faster the more I wrote. Perhaps this book will too.

Speaking of easy, let this wonderful song by the uber-talented Ed Sheeran insert itself into your ears. Just try not to tap your feet. I dare you.

NaNoWriMo Day 15: Post of few words

Posted on November 15, 2015 by A. Elizabeth West

Word count: 889

Cleaned house; watched Once Upon a Time (hush; I know it’s sort of dumb, but I like it), and managed to get a scene percolating from one of the illustrative passages I mentioned before. Now it’s late and I am very tired and I have to work tomorrow.

I forgot to update my counter on here last night, so now it will reflect the word count from both today and yesterday. My NaNoWriMo count stands at 7,540 so far.

In tonight’s video, we see some adorable penguins who managed to break out of their enclosure at a zoo in Denmark but were soon busted. Helpful hint, guys–you might dry your feet before you try that again!

NaNoWriMo 2015 Day 14: Rounding up the strays

Posted on November 14, 2015 by A. Elizabeth West

Word count: 1,442

I’m not feeling well tonight, so I decided to comb through my notes for scenes I haven’t written yet. I found these strays floating through them, where I made notes and then wrote small passages to illustrate them. They’ll all go in the book.

I also found the name of the road in London that I appropriated for Protagonist 2’s locale. It’s a pretty road with a lot of Victorian row houses on it. I stumbled onto it when knocking around Hampstead one day last autumn. There’s a house listing on this road, and it’s only £4,500,000. Sure, I’ll make an offer. IN MY DREAMS.

Image from Google Street View, Heath Hurst Road, Hampstead London

Protagonists 1 and 2 are young adults in the 1960s; here is a hilarious look at their social scene in London at the time. The narration is super snarky, but it’s a good representation of the kooky fashions of the time.

NaNoWriMo 2015 Day 13: Tragedy in France

Posted on November 13, 2015 by A. Elizabeth West

Word count: Maybe some later; I’ll update

If you haven’t heard yet, tragedy struck in Paris tonight as at least five coordinated terrorist attacks took place in the Bataclan Concert Hall, the Le Petit Cambodge Restaurant, 90 Rue Charonne, the Stadium of France, and possibly at Les Halles shopping mall.

Many are dead, many injured. France has closed its borders. I hope they did that in time, before any of the attackers got out. The French government has asked people to stay inside. Many Parisians are offering shelter in their homes to stranded tourists and anyone who can’t get home due to the attacks.

I will try to write later. For now, I’m following the news. My chat room has several members in France, and a friend of mine has a friend who is there with her husband. I’m hoping our loved ones are all okay. My thoughts and prayers are with the French people and the citizens of Paris.