I'm still here

Hi!  I'm still here post-nano.  I'm feeling very glad that I reached 50k, and that NaNoWriMo doesnt' happen in December.  Whew!  I've been up to my eyeballs in busy-ness!  I feel like Shari, the busiest girl in the world, right now. 

So I'm still planning to have the end of my novel written and at least something in draft form by the end of January.  But looking at the calendar, I'm not going to get started before 2011 does...  It's in the back of my mind though.  I'm pretty sure I know what happens next... and maybe last....unless it changes. 

Check this out!

http://www.wordle.net/

I couldn't make it work at work.  But I WANT to....  Leave a comment if it works for you!

Final Countdown NaNoWriMo 2010

This says it all about today's Nano!

We did it!!

We did it!!  The three of us finished our 50k last night!  Honestly, I was beginning to wonder it I was going to make it.  I was running out of steam and there seemed to be so many other things that I needed to do.  You know those important things, like laundry, dishes, Thanksgiving, and putting up a Christmas tree.  (none of which I have finished yet, except Thanksgiving).  Thank goodness for Allen and Shari.  Allen came over with his lap top yesterday.  We both sat at the kitchen table and had word war after word war until it was finished.  We skyped Shari in a few times to battle and then to toast. 

Shari's fingers flew over the keyboard and she smoked us to the finish line.  Allen was close behind her and beat me by a full 2000 words, then they patiently waited for me to catch up while challenging me and adding to their own word counts. 

I love the feeling of finishing a NaNoWriMo.  I'm a finisher.  A winner!  My story isn't finished yet.  I have some work to do still.  The third island is taking more than I planned and I think when editing comes around I'm going to find that I will need to add to the first two islands and trim from the third.  I thought that I was going to take December off from writing, but when I woke up this morning I was anxious to get behind the keyboard again.  So maybe I'll keep writing through December.  I think it will be wisest if I do.  I don't want to forget where I'm going with the story and I'm not to far off.  My goal is to have it all written by the end of January.  That gives me 60 days to finish up.  I know I can do that.  I just did 50,000 words in 30 days!!

Thanks for everything guys!!  This was amazing!  We only have 11 months until we start it all over.  Start outlining now!!!

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving day.  A day to spend with your family and be thankful for all we have.  Our health, our family, our friends, and in this economy our jobs.  This year I am also thankful for Nano.  Without it I may not have found the courage and the focus to write my story for many more years, if ever.  Without the Nano challenge I may not have the support from my friends and family to be able to work on the story.  I do have that support this November, and I'm thankful for it.

Tomorrow is also the first day that the Nano website opens up the word count validater.  That feels like a deadline.  The validater is only open for 5 days.  From November 25 through the 30th.  I still have 8000 words to type up in order to reach the goal, and now the pressure is back on.  I'm afraid that if I get the words in at the last minute the website will be overwhelmed with other Wrimo's who finished at the last possible moment and it could crash.  What if it can't get to me and I don't win?  I know that I will "win" whether the site counts my words or not.  I will finish.  But I really want the purple bar. 

That's right.  The blue bars on the nano site that track your word count progress turn green when you have reached the 50,000 word count.  Then they turn purple when the site validates it.  Tomorrow we will see green bars turning purple as those who have reached 50K already get their rewards.   I'm looking forward to seeing my bar turn those colors.  It's like getting a gold star!  (which I also really like)  

It's the little things for me.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I'm thankful for you as well.

EDIT:  Someone in Australia already has the purple bar, I just saw it change....  *sigh*

TSoD

I dreamed about the Travelling Shovel of Death last night.  It wasn't a scary dream and it was unrelated to my story, but I can't remember any of it now.  Only that I was surprised to be dreaming about the TSoD and trying to work in my story to make the dream make sense. 

November is catching up with me. 

I'm pushing for my 40,000 today (How did I get so behind? Oh, that's right, I did some fun things this weekend.  That was the trade off I guess.).  My buddies are both quite a bit ahead of me at the moment.  That is what is motivating me to keep going.  I hate being LAST.

Race time!!

Race to 40,000....

Shariware you are welcome to join us (I'm afraid we have a slight head start, but you have flying fingers, so I'm not sure who should be more worried actually).

Garnet Gal (Clementine) and RamblingAllen are racing to 40,000 words.  Allen beat me to 30,000 by the skin of his teeth!!!  I'm not planning to slack off this time, but I do have a lot on my plate the next 48 hours or so. 

Here is hoping Allen can't find the time to write any more easily than I can this weekend!! 

And we're off!!.......................