There’s something weird that happens in my brain when I type “The End.”
When I finished my first draft on this WIP back in January 2007, I ran around the house hollering like a banshee until my mother told me to be quiet and put up the dishes because the entire family was over for dinner. (Oops.)
When I finished draft two in January 2010, it was nearly 1 a.m. and I wandered the apartment like a ghost for thirty minutes, partly because I had been writing for almost six hours straight and partly because I had put my characters through hell at the end. (Yes, the end of the book changed drastically from draft 1 to draft 2. I have been assured it’s an improvement.)
Now, I’ve finished draft three, and I’m sitting on the floor in my room, not quite sure what to do with myself. I am trying to convince my brain that yes, for the love of all that’s holy, IT’S OKAY TO CLOSE THE WORD DOCUMENT.
So here’s the skinny on my goals for June:
1. Finish current edits on 2006 NaNo WIP!
2. Outline 2008 NaNo novel, aka my Camp NaNo project.
This will probably get bumped to August.
3. Write 30,000 words on said Camp NaNo project.
Well, I wrote around 3,000 words on it! So 1/10th of the goal.
4. Finish Buzz articles by June 11.
5. Read at least one novel for a brain break.
Camp NaNo: Final Update
Mmm, s’mores and writing.
Minimum word count for June 30: 50,000/50,000
My current word count: 46,728/50,000
Adventures in NaNoing: I realized around 11 p.m. on June 30 it was very unlikely I would hit 50,000 words, and mentioned this to my roommate.
“Sure you can,” he said.
I looked at him as though he was crazy. “Um, no. I’ve got about four thousand words to write. I don’t think I can do that in less than an hour.”
“Oh, that’s easy! ‘He mounted his trusty steed. “Giddyup! Giddyup! Giddyup! Giddyup! Giddyup! Giddyup! Giddyup! Giddyup! Giddyup! Giddyup! Stubborn horse! Giddyup! Giddyup!…”‘”
I hope you guys laughed as hard as I did. And NaNo people, I’ve got a new dare for November.
Very Short Excerpt:
Completely unedited.
Kiral scowled at the fire. “I suppose I ought to apologize to you, then. It’s fairly clear you didn’t want me to kiss you.”
She heard a groan from the direction of the table. “Don’t say that.”
“Don’t say what? That I kissed you?” She turned to look at him, a formless shadow across the room. “I did. And then you apologized, which I can’t begin to fathom. I thought we’d established you aren’t responsible for the actions I take.”
His only response was a low, repetitive thudding. Kiral wondered if he was beating his head against the table.
July #WriteMotivation
Also known as “The Critic Needs a Brain Break.”
1) Finish Buzz articles by July 13.
2) Read 1 book a week.
3) Update blog twice a week.
I know I said my goal is to read one book a week, but let’s be honest here:
My God, it’s full of stars.
You guys aren’t going to see me for a month.
Are those going to be read or have been read? I can say I’ve read more than that this past month while sorting through files and trying to make my desktop work.
Best brain break I’ve had in a while!
This is the “to be read” pile. It keeps growing. I’m kind of okay with this.
Best to have it, always growing.
you were so close to 50k. arg! i think i would have died laughing or killed my roomie, maybe both.
I know, so close and yet so far!
My roommate’s other word count-boosting idea was that my MC have a 10-minute charging time for a very long spell that involved a number of nearly unpronounceable words.
ha! as we say around my house, ‘almost good’!
Come to encourage you in writemotivation!
Thank you and nice to meet you!
Dude – nice work on finishing the edits on the WIP! You’ve totally earned yourself a break. A little reading, a little relaxing – just what the Doctor ordered.
And yes, I mean Ten.
Season 4 – aka Ten and Donna – is on my to-do list this month.
BRILLIANT. My favorite season.
[...] because of the whole finishing-a-draft thing, and partly because I wanted to get at least ONE of the books in non-Kindle form. Why, you [...]
[...] of finishing drafts” for me. With the exception of the third draft, which I finished on July 1 last year, every draft of my 2006 NaNo novel has been completed in January: January 2007, January 2010, and [...]