# NaNoWriMo Daily Accountability Journal



## Philip Overby (Oct 31, 2013)

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say I'll be starting NaNoWriMo earlier than most others here since I live in Japan and we're a day ahead of most countries. 

So I thought this thread could be a good way to keep us accountable by talking about our daily successes, struggles, tidbits of advice, whatever. All you have to do is write:

Day 1: Hit my word count goal and went over. I'm really liking my main character so far.

Day 2: Not as good as yesterday, but I'm still moving along. I need to add a bit more flavor to some of my minor characters.

Etc. etc.

You can honestly write whatever you want to talk about, but I think seeing how others are progressing can be a good motivator for those of us that trail behind and don't like to be left in the dust. 

I'll start the first post tomorrow. Make sure to put Day 1, Day 2, etc. so we know what day you're talking about.

In any case, I'll be posting here (hopefully) everyday so if anyone wants to keep up with me, challenge me, or just root others on, feel free to post.

Happy noveling!


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## Philip Overby (Oct 31, 2013)

Day 1: It's already 2:40 am here in Japan, officially Nov. 1st, so I started working on my WIP. I'm going the "rebel" route this year as I didn't want to start on anything new. So before I go to bed, I hit* 1,623 words*, just shy of the goal for the day. I suspect I'll hammer out quite a few more when I wake up later today. 

I'm not completely enamored with what I wrote so far, but I think it's the direction this particular novel needed to go. I'm leaving off a lot of humor, which I actually prefer in my stories, but I've found for this one, splashing it here and there is going to work.


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## Chilari (Oct 31, 2013)

Day 0, 22:40. Still in the office as I have been since 07:20, tired, running on caffeine. Unlikely to get much writing done tomorrow, or sleep tonight. Still haven't sorted out the last character group I intended to work out in advance and blog about today, but they're the group that appear latest in the story so I can get away with it. Also, due to tonight's late one I'll get off early tomorrow so might get extra writing done in the end anyway.


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 1, 2013)

Day 0, 10:00pm...

Realized that my local didnt have anything to be a local of. Oh God.

Created Buer' Rad, a swamp town that harvests trees for the local fortress.

About half of my character bios are complete, still pondering over bizarre geological dilemmas... 
Actually i just figured out the worst one, due to typing that. i love this thread.

Cliffs, and climbs, and rivers, oh my...


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## Chessie (Nov 1, 2013)

Day 0: Midnight hits in 3.5 hours for me...and I have no idea how I'm going to start this novel. Um...yeah....


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 1, 2013)

Chesterama said:


> Day 0: Midnight hits in 3.5 hours for me...and I have no idea how I'm going to start this novel. Um...yeah....



Help is just a vague outline/concept in need of brainstorming away...


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## Graylorne (Nov 1, 2013)

Day 1: My first daily score was 2,169, bringing my NaNo Rebel Total to 23,001.

Just as last year, I'm posting the last paragraph I wrote each day to my website.


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## Chessie (Nov 1, 2013)

Day 1: halfway into my word count whoohoo! I have plenty of time on my hands today so hopefully I'll reach over the goal for today. I figured out how to start the story about 10 til midnight.


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## GeekDavid (Nov 1, 2013)

Despite getting a late start to the writing day (morning errands), I cranked out 2,222 words today according to the NaNo validator. That's kind of a nice number, I think.


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## Butterfly (Nov 1, 2013)

Day one - Yesterday I had one of those amazing flashes of inspiration which kind of put a few things into perspective. I wrote a brief outline and slept on it, which today led to a 3834 word development of two chapters in 3 hours. I still have one more chapter of this arc to work on tomorrow and then I will likely need to move on to a different character.


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 1, 2013)

Day 1: 1,017 and counting.

Introduced a character, love it.
Will finish my quota today, and start a morning routine... Morning coffee and nano quota, if it works out like that. The house where I'm staying is at its most quiet before 10am.


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## Chilari (Nov 1, 2013)

Day 1: managed 770 words, in the last 43 minutes of the day. Considering the first four hours of the day were spent at work, finishing a 20 hour shift to get a bid out before the deadline, only 3 hours were spent asleep, and at least an hour of the day involved a trip to the Minor Injuries Unit at the local Healthcare Centre (my town's too small for a whole hospital) because my fiance hurt his knee, I think this is perfectly respectable. Oh and I got to watch Thor too so I'm happy. Going to try another 300 words before bed, then really get cracking when it's really tomorrow, not this "after midnight" nonsense.


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## NellaFantasia (Nov 1, 2013)

Day 1: 1,813 words

NaNo began the exact way I thought it would. An agonizing crawl through the day until, with the effort of pulling teeth, I finally had my word goal. Fortunately, I think my deflated attitude crossed over to my character, which is a good thing since at the moment I need her to be that way.


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## Chessie (Nov 1, 2013)

2646 baby! It only took me all day though.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 2, 2013)

Day 2: Despite battling sickness, I'm forging on ahead. It may actually be helping me in some ways. I'm up to 5,635 words, while par is 3,333. So I'm ahead of the game so far. This is usually how things start. I do really well the first week and then slow down. We'll see how things go.

I'm enjoying some new characters I introduced and I feel like their motivations are shining through more than they were in my original version (this is my 2nd attempt at this story after getting some feedback that I felt made a lot of sense). While the story has more horror elements than it did the first go around, I felt it was suffering in the comedy department, which was something I really wanted to play up. However, since introducing some characters, the humor is seeping back in thankfully. I'm excited to see where things go.

I've got a big, insane fight scene (complete with flinging sorcery) coming up, so that should be fun to write. Looking forward to it!


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## Graylorne (Nov 2, 2013)

Day 2: 1,110 today. Not all that many, but I'm wrestling wit my times sheet. 

This final book starts with five groups of people. They are all bound for the same locations, but of course not at the same times until the end. Their distances vary, as do their starting dates. And ofc they need something to do along the way. Even with written tables, my mind has difficulty grasping things like this. I will get there in the end, only it slows me down, now and then. So I'm content with this score for today.


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## NellaFantasia (Nov 2, 2013)

Day 2: 2,343 words

Behind, of course, but weekends are generally a bad time for writing anyway. Unlike what seems to be the norm, I'm busier on the weekends and have all the time in the world during the week.

As for the writing, I introduced my second main character today. Don't know him as well as I do my other, so this scene will be...interesting.


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## Chessie (Nov 2, 2013)

^^Same here. Weekends are hard for me to write...so I only got 1606 words today. And it literally took me hours. This can't continue happening...I gotta rein it in.


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 3, 2013)

1,809...  If my count doesn't skyrocket in the next three days, I'm starting a "metaphorical cattle prod" thread.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 3, 2013)

*Day 3:* I've got *9,430 words *so far. I've been picking and editing stuff from other drafts, but I haven't been including that in my word count, only brand new stuff I've written since November started. My whole novel (counting what I've done so far before November) is at 22,841. Pretty solid for having basically just started the whole thing over at the beginning of October. If I stay at this pace, I may have a completed first draft by the end of the year. That was my goal in any case. If I get the 50K for November and I get a good word count in December, I'll be raring to go! 

I'm liking my character more this go around, too. She has a clearer purpose and goal and is not as whiny as she was before. I also added some villainous folks that make my skin crawl, so I'm glad I added them as well. They're so slimy they don't mind hanging out in sewer tunnels. 

The day's not over yet here, so I still have more to go I hope. I'm gearing for at least 10K by the end of the day. Here's hoping!

I don't know what others are doing, but I'm finding writing in short bursts is helping me a lot. I've been off work for three days though, so that's allowed me a lot of free time that others probably don't have at the moment. I'm thankful for the free time anyway!


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## Mythopoet (Nov 3, 2013)

I did a bit over an hour of writing last night. I write in a notebook first so I won't know my wordcount until I type it up today. 

Weekends are tough for me as well because my kids are home and there's absolutely no quiet anywhere in the house until they're all in bed by which time I'm usually exhausted. I expect my productivity to go up on Monday when 3 of them go to school.

I feel like my beginning is floundering a bit but I'm going to force myself to push through rather than try to fix it until it's perfect. I'm hoping NaNo will help me with those perfectionist tendencies.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 3, 2013)

Just a note about perfectionism:

There seem to be basically three schools of thought on first drafts:

1. Get it down no matter how crap it is and worry about editing it later.
2. Get it down as best you can and try not to make it crap if at all possible. 
3. Get it down perfect as possible so there is minimal editing later.

Not sure where everyone is on the experience scale, but I find a lot of newer writers get hung up #3. I don't think this is a bad way to write, however it ends up making you spend loads of time trying to tinker with each aspect of your story. It causes you to slow down significantly and increases the chance you may get bored with your story. At least that has always been the case for me.

I'd say I'm more along #2 now. I don't want everything to be crap, but I care a lot less about each sentence being awesome (I use tons and tons of "was" and "had" but I don't care anymore, I'll fix those later). I do, however, care about the plot moving along coherently, which has always been a major problem for me. That's why so many suggest outlining if you're not good at keep things organized and flowing properly. 

Anyway, I don't think perfectionism is a bad habit, but it can be crippling for first drafts. It really serves writers well when it comes time to edit though!


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## Graylorne (Nov 3, 2013)

2,125 today. Up to now, plot-technically, everything plays out ok.

NB: Like Phil, I'm with nr 2. While writing, I do plot-adaptions, but I know I will have a lot of adding & expanding to do later. I tend to write scenes rather bare-boned, the first round.


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## Mythopoet (Nov 3, 2013)

I struggle with anxiety and OCD so perfectionism is a strong compulsion for me. And it's what kept me trapped in a non productive cycle for years. That's one reason I've signed up for NaNo. You CAN'T worry about perfection if you want to succeed at the goal so I'm hoping that will help me break through the perfectionist trap. 

And it's not even that what I wrote is bad. I don't think it is. I just don't think it's good enough.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 3, 2013)

Yeah, I've wrote a whole novel worth of stuff that's not good enough so far. That's just part of drafting I feel. I imagine a first draft is kind of like the first coat of paint. It looks like crap, so you need to go over it again. It may be a beautiful color you're working in, but until you do enough coats, it's not going to look completely right.


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## Chessie (Nov 3, 2013)

I think I suffered from #3 yesterday...along with a bad case of D.G.A.F. *shrugs* I also do bare bones with minimal world building. I'll add more flesh later.

Normally I fall under #2. I don't like to produce crap but at a certain point, I have to move faster through the story. My tale has started with plenty of tension: the protagonist has been kicked out of alchemy school due to financial reasons. Then tension continues as the other characters are introduced...but the inciting incident happens in the next chapter. I've introduced one of the magical systems and about to introduce the second...but strangely enough I've decided this manuscript will need an editor. 

I'm in love with this story but I can smell my mistakes through the computer screen. Sigh. Anyway, I won't get to write until the evening but I have the scene planned out in my mind.


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## NellaFantasia (Nov 3, 2013)

I strive to be #2 on the perfection scale, but often suffer from #3. Although I've been writing for a long time, I still have to remind myself sometimes that it's okay to mess up the first draft. The Writer Gods aren't going to come down and clobber me for my mistakes.


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 3, 2013)

Winding down day three... 4,017. Hoping for another thousand today. I have two more good writing days and hope to push far ahead during that time.

To underline what Phil said-
 #2 is, I think, a good place to be. Honesty, before the last few days i was a solid 3, and one of my primary struggles was with plot advancement and "filler," those little interesting details that I was trying to PLAN OUT INDIVIDUALLY.
Writing quickly, but staying immersed in the story and not completely throwing out any attempt to write well, has created a happy medium for me. Backstory, filler, and plot advancement HAPPEN ON THEIR OWN at this speed, but I'm still happy and satisfied when I go back and retread it... Which I try not to do too often.

My biggest problem now? Still don't know how to type. Yep. Index fingers all the way. Maybe I'll take a class. In December. When I've stopped typing for long enough to learn how to type.


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## NellaFantasia (Nov 3, 2013)

Day 3: 2,851 words total

Still creeping along. My current scene is incredibly boring and I'm trying to think of a way to spice it up. Needs more 'splosions.


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## Zero Angel (Nov 4, 2013)

DAY 4!

...at zero words. Almost caught up with day-job work from the last four days though, so HA! NaNo here I come!





Phil the Drill said:


> There seem to be basically three schools of thought on first drafts:
> 
> 1. Get it down no matter how crap it is and worry about editing it later.
> 2. Get it down as best you can and try not to make it crap if at all possible.
> 3. Get it down perfect as possible so there is minimal editing later.


I definitely think #2 is what I do, and probably the way to go, although if you look at a lot of the NaNo material not done by writers, and specifically targeted at newbies, they seem to recommend #1 all the way. 

_Aside: I'm a little annoyed with the way NaNo as an organization seems more geared towards new members than old members, when I'm pretty sure every year there are more old members than new, but WHATEVER. _


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 4, 2013)

5,117 and still day 3. goal achieved. 
shooting for 10,000 by the end of the day after the day it's about to be.

day 5. that is.


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## Graylorne (Nov 4, 2013)

1,042 today (7,022 total score). 
After yesterdag's post I managed another 576. Perhaps that will happen today as well, but for now I need thinking-time.


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## Chilari (Nov 4, 2013)

I wrote 1,466 on day 1, 900+ on day 2 and 1,093 on day 3. So I've yet to hit the daily target of 1,667, but I am managing a lot more than I have in the past. I've been leaving my writing sessions to the last possible moment so far - close to midnight on Friday and Saturday, and before Downton Abbey last night, after which it was bed time. That is a problem. Tonight I'm going to trial a two session approach - one when I get home, of 30 minutes, and another at 9pm, before bed time. If I can get 600 words written in the first session and 1,200 in the second I'll exceed the daily target and start catching up towards where I should be. At the moment, a daily average of about 1,200 isn't good enough.

I've found 15 minute timed sessions is effective, as I get about 300 to 400 words written in that time limit, so in theory I'll only need 5 or so 15 minute sessions to hit the 1,667. So two sessions at 6pm and three or four after 9pm should be enough to cover what I need. Now it's all a matter of sticking to these plans, though.

If anyone else is interested in word wars after 9pm GMT (4pm east coast US, 1pm Pacific) then i'm happy to organise them in the chat. A word war, for anyone who doesn't know, is when you set a timer and write as much as you can within the time limit. everyone doing the word war then posts their total for the period, and the winner is the person who wrote the most. And yes, it must be continuous prose. I find competition a great motivator for getting writing done.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 4, 2013)

Day 4: I'm up to *11,353 words* now. Still ahead of the game, so to speak, but I had a weaker day than I anticipated at 1,923 words. Still, that's pretty decent so far. I'm hoping to hammer out some more words before midnight (I have about 45 minutes) so I'll save those words for tomorrow. 

MC is in a cabin by herself looking for clues as to the nature of her kind of weird hunter host. Sometimes "by myself" scenes can be kind of boring, but she's bashing down doors and stuff, so that's fun!


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## Butterfly (Nov 4, 2013)

Day 4 and I'm up to 12022. Starting to run out of ideas as I've pretty much reached a dead end with my time line. Saying that I can jump ahead and work on the ending.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 4, 2013)

Just worked for about 2 hours, 12 am style and now I'm up to 13,434 words. Not an official number for the day yet, but in two hours I did 2,000 words. Sweet! 

Official update later when I wake up.


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## NellaFantasia (Nov 4, 2013)

Day 4: 3,279 words total

Monday was supposed to be my "get caught up" day, but I had a plumber come this morning to take a look at a leak and, long story short, it turned into "watch them tear up my house for several hours" day instead. They're coming back tomorrow to continue putting holes in my ceiling and floor. So maybe Wednesday will be the good day?


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 5, 2013)

Invented a betting game. 
Played with matchbox cars.
Pounded two cups of ice cold coffee from this morning.
smoked a pile of cigarettes.
Guild Guitar website... Drool...
OKAY! I'LL WRITE.
One more smoke though.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 5, 2013)

Day 5: Very weird day. I actually got about 2,000 something words from about 12 am to 2:30 am to end up at *13,434 words.* I stayed at that number all day even though I had plenty of time to work. So I'm pulling another "late night write" by trying to crank out some big numbers for Day 6. I'm hoping to get another 1,000 words before going to bed and hammer out some more during the day.


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## Graylorne (Nov 5, 2013)

It wasn't much, today. I had to rewrite part of my timetable, so I only managed 662 new words. 

I was stupidly trying to fit all those convoluted happenings in a real-time map. That created so many illogicalities, that it didn't work. By omitting a few cities, it all fitted better.


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## Chessie (Nov 5, 2013)

I wrote 1709 yesterday, haven't done anything yet today. I was trying to fix a huge mistake I made earlier in the chapter that annoyed the living crap out of me. I couldn't move past it...but I still have plenty of time to make this happen for today.


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## Butterfly (Nov 5, 2013)

Only about 500 today. Bonfires, fireworks and veggie hot dogs were a major distraction today.


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## sarasvati (Nov 6, 2013)

I'm a little late to the party, because NaNo has actually kept me so busy for the first few days that I wasn't doing much posting anywhere. Hopefully it's okay for me to jump in now.

Day 5: Things were going well because I had an outline, so I would just sit down and write. But now I'm getting to the point in my outline where I'm beginning to feel fuzzy and I don't actually know what should come next. I have different events planned out to happen at some point, but they are not quite linked together. So tomorrow, instead of writing, I might have to spend the day on planning.


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## Chilari (Nov 6, 2013)

I wrote nothing at all tomorrow, and I'm going to rewrite some of what I wrote the day before because I wasn't happy with it. Losing steam a bit now. Need to get back on it today.


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## Graylorne (Nov 6, 2013)

My neighbor in the next apartment is laying a new floor. All the hammering and sawing is murdering my concentration, sigh.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 6, 2013)

*Day 6:* Got up to *15,357 words *now. I always love crossing the 15K threshold. I've been tempted to go back and fiddle with some things, but I decided forging forward is best. I have an extra file called "Notes for editing" attached to each chapter on Scrivener so I can make notes at any point about problems I'm having or things I need to change. I'm actually a lot happier with this version that I'm doing now as I scrapped a lot of rather typical fantasy monsters (chimera, dragons, etc.) and put in weirder, non-traditional stuff. I have sort of smart-aleck feathered serpent (based on the achiyalabopa of Native American mythology) who I really enjoy. He wasn't  part of the original plan, but I'm liking him a lot so far. 

Good luck to everyone else!


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## Butterfly (Nov 6, 2013)

Day 6. Today was my day off work and I aimed to write 5,000 words. I didn't quite make that number. I hit 4822, close enough and pushed my total up to 17374. Got to start getting ready for Band rehearsal now.


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## Graylorne (Nov 6, 2013)

Still managed 2,113 today, what gives a total of 9,797 since Nov 1st.


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## Chessie (Nov 6, 2013)

Everyone is doing so awesome! Whoohoo! 

Yesterday: 1686
Today: 1748
Total: 9719 

I have 3 days off coming up so I'll be doing massive writing sessions on those days.


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 6, 2013)

Im not returning to work as soon as i thought i was going to be. Thank you nanowrimo, for making that something im happy about. 
8,620. Invented horrible creature.
killed said creature. 

rapidly approaching the end of the prewritten chunks of novel i was filling between for nanowrimo... soon it will naught but open highway and imagination... not sure if im excited or terrified...


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## NellaFantasia (Nov 6, 2013)

Day 6: 3,279 words total (still)

Two days since I've written anything, though today I took out the first draft of a novel I completed a couple months ago and started reading over it to get ready for the second draft. As for my NaNo novel, I hate it. I don't like where it's going and I don't like the character I'm currently writing for. I'm thinking of setting it aside and starting on something else.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 7, 2013)

Day 7: Just wrapped up Day 7 and I had my least productive day yet so far. Still made the goal, but I felt like the chapter I was working on was being pantsed a little too much for my comfort level, so I'm glad to get back on track with my outline with this next chapter. I ended up with a final count of *17,030 words.* Now that I'm on my outline, I feel like I'm going to start hitting my stride more again. Looking forward to it!

My main character has horrible luck, by the way.


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## Graylorne (Nov 7, 2013)

1,548 today, to a NaNo total of 11,345. Plus I made a totally new time/distance sheet for this part of the journey. So I'm well satisfied for today.


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 8, 2013)

I needed 11,668 by midnight, and punched in a word count of 11,600 at 11:59. Close, but December 1st Aint November 30th. 

I had bits and pieces of a novel written, and was filling in between them for NaNo, obviously only counting the freshly written. 

I have surpassed the last written, thoroughly thought out section. ahead of me is blank pages, desperately hoping that what ive set up before them is salty enough to carry on through. 

I guess this is where it gets really interesting.


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## sarasvati (Nov 8, 2013)

Day 6: I made my word goal. The day's writing flew by because I finally got to use my favorite secondary character. I can't believe it took 7 chapters before he showed up.

Day 7: I spent a lot of the day on research (aka digging around an antique store for interesting props) and when I first got home, I was too tired to write. In the end, I managed to squeak out my word goal for the day just around midnight, so I was pleased with my persistence. I also got an idea for the upcoming plot that gave me the shivers. I love it when things come together.

The antique store taught me some interesting local history and rewarded me with a book about local ghost towns, several old photographs (unlabeled, so I can invent what they are!), and a deputy sheriff's tin star. Such treasures! These will mostly play into helping reveal the back story of my novel. (Northern California town with Gold Rush history, and dark secrets in its past.) Tomorrow, I'm going exploring in some of the locations from the ghost town book, so I hope to uncover even more inspiration.

For tonight, I am playing around with Aeon Timeline finally (I downloaded the free trial advertised on the NaNo forums). I am having fun uncovering all of the different functions of the program. I want to get my timeline of events (both in the novel's present and past) well-organized early in this first draft, so I don't make a mess of things. I hope this will help planning my plot both during writing and revision.


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## Mythopoet (Nov 8, 2013)

Well, I'm just recovering from a really awful week of head colds and stomach bugs that hit my family like a hurricane. At this rate I probably won't get back on track until Monday. I'm going to have to put in some serious work to make the goal. Sigh. Why does life always have to sabotage my goals?


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## Graylorne (Nov 8, 2013)

I thought it was absolutely nothing tody, but when I counted it was still 1,741 words. And every one of them a battle. At least I'm still on schedule; that's something.


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## Butterfly (Nov 8, 2013)

Day 7 - 3,205

Day 8 - 4,001

Takes me to 24,580 (Almost half way)


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 8, 2013)

13,345 this morning at 3:00. Hoping to start moving ahead now...


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## Philip Overby (Nov 8, 2013)

*Day 8:* Got up to *19,224 words.* I don't even really recall this day that much, but I definitely wrote! I'm finding my problem at the moment is that I can only seem to write between 12 am-3 am. This is a habit I really hate. I'm hoping to break it today. I wrote a good deal last night, so I'm hoping to carry this momentum on into Day 9 as I punch through the 20,000 word barrier. 

Anyone up for a word war? I'm challenging you all! 3,000 words by Saturday night at 11:59 pm.


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## Chessie (Nov 9, 2013)

I wrote 2414 today despite not feeling well. I felt worse yesterday so I didn't write...which only puts me at 13, 214. Kinda sad but I plan on catching up with some marathin writing sessions this weekend.

I decided to tell my internal retentive editor to buzz off, so I felt a lot of freedom writing today. The last scene I wrote didn't go where I expected it would but was even better. And now I'm at the point where the antagonist comes in so that should be fun.


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## nlough (Nov 9, 2013)

Day 9: Officially starting to write my story got distracted by some new video games that came out recently but now it's time to write. I already have 2629 words written going for more.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 9, 2013)

*Day 9*: Broke into *21,000 words.* In the middle of a scene so I always prefer to leave off that way so I can jump back into the scene without thinking, "What should I do next?" Things are moving along pretty well so far. I'm hoping (HOPING!) to break 25,000 by the end of this weekend. Can I do it?


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## Butterfly (Nov 9, 2013)

Phil the Drill said:


> *Day 9*: I'm hoping (HOPING!) to break 25,000 by the end of this weekend. Can I do it?



Absolutely yes!!!


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## Chessie (Nov 9, 2013)

Go Phil! You can get there!


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## Philip Overby (Nov 9, 2013)

Thanks! I'll try not to disappoint. 

Just reached 23,465. So only 1,535 words to make 25,000 for the weekend. Reaching that halfway point is always so great. Congrats to Butterfly, by the way for breaking through that barrier earlier!


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 9, 2013)

Phil,

I just wanted to thank you again for this thread. I've actually spent almost no time on the NaNo forums, and it's not that they're bad... It's just that this thread meets my exact needs. It's convenient and encouraging, and most importantly quick enough that it doesn't take away from my actual writing. 

great idea, and thanks for the help!


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## Philip Overby (Nov 9, 2013)

Jackarandajam said:


> Phil,
> 
> I just wanted to thank you again for this thread. I've actually spent almost no time on the NaNo forums, and it's not that they're bad... It's just that this thread meets my exact needs. It's convenient and encouraging, and most importantly quick enough that it doesn't take away from my actual writing.
> 
> great idea, and thanks for the help!



That's great! I'm really glad this thread has been helpful. One reason I created it was for the very reason you mentioned: the NaNo forums aren't bad, but there is so much going on, it can become a great distraction for me especially. I think consolidating things down to what we're working on, successes, problems, and word counts allows us to share our experiences and see how others are doing as well. 

I'm especially glad to hear it hasn't taken away from your writing. That, of course, is that most important thing.

Keep up the good work and hammer out some more words!


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## NellaFantasia (Nov 9, 2013)

Day 9: 5,855 words total

Wrote 2k today. I'm in shock, to be honest. Hadn't given up, but didn't think I was going to be doing much either. NaNo says if I write 2k a day I'll still be able to make 50k by the end of the month. Doesn't sound so bad.

I tossed my original story out and picked up one I started over the summer. Already had 30k in it, but I'm feeling better about this decision. If I can manage the 50k in it I might be able to complete the novel by the end of the year. Certainly another incentive to keep going


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## Philip Overby (Nov 9, 2013)

Yes, Nella keep up the pace! I find that if I work for about 2 hours I can get the minimum 1,667 words. That's just me though, some may work faster.

So, I made my goal for 25,000 words before the weekend was over. It's Sunday morning 9:00 am here in Japan and I stayed up all night and worked on and off (I have insomnia from taking a nap at around 10:00 pm on accident). My final word count after this marathon session is *25,017 words.*

Yowza! Half-way there to the 50K!

Whew! Thanks again everyone! I almost quit a couple of times, but then I thought, "Nah, I'll push through. Just 300 more words." I did that about 10 times before writing over 4,000 words in one day. The words of encouragement here definitely pushed me onward. It was tough, but I did it. Now for sleep!


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## Chilari (Nov 10, 2013)

Wow, Phil, you're really getting through it. I'm still at a little over 8k words, but yesterday I did manage to top 1,667, and today I'm going to Leicester, the region I used to be ML of for three years, to join some old friends and write like the wind. Or so goes the plan anyway.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 10, 2013)

Full disclosure, I'm teaching online from home at the moment and doing private lessons on the side, so it's not like I'm working full time or anything. I just don't want people to think I'm getting this word count and still engaging in a pretty busy life, because I'm not at the moment. However, I've done almost this same pace in previous years. It's all because of having an outline and doing some decent pre-writing before I sit down. Also not finishing scenes helps me a lot, too. If I stop in the middle of a scene, I can jump right back into it in my next writing session. For instance, last night I stopped in the middle of a potential tense situation where one character is forcing another character to make her a drink. Things haven't popped off completely yet, but it allows me to get back into the scene without having to think, "OK, what to do next."


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## Philip Overby (Nov 10, 2013)

*Day 10:* I'm staying on my pattern of writing from about 12 am to 3 am. I'm working at night at the moment, so that's sort of my thing. I figure if "it ain't broke, don't fix it." Got *25,017 words* after writing pretty much all through the night off and on. Aiming for a regular night tonight. Maybe 2,000? We'll see. I put the obligatory tavern scene in my story. I'm liking it so far as I don't think it's too typical. 

Anyway, good luck everyone!


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## Chessie (Nov 10, 2013)

Dang, Phil nice work! You're an inspiration to us all.  

My body chose the wrong time of the year to become sick, so the last couple days of writing have been brutal not feeling good. Still, I produced 2020 words yesterday, bringing my total to 14, 153. Now, I have no idea what's going on with the antagonist's introduction scene. My plotting hit a wall yesterday when I realized "Uh, oh this doesn't make sense at all!" So I'm leaving that scene where it is and moving on to the next part. Big hole there for the moment.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 10, 2013)

Thanks Chesterama! It means a lot for you to say that. I'm glad our little group here is motivating each other to succeed. 

I was also sick for about two weeks. Just now getting over it I think. Weirdly enough, I think I did a lot of my best writing when I was sick. Most of that had to do with "I'm sick so I'm not going to go anywhere, so I may as well work on writing." I guess it depends on the severity though.

Good move on skipping the plot hole for now, by the way. I think it's important to keep moving along if you have a place to move on to. Getting hung up on it could cost you days of not writing. And we know what that means!


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## Graylorne (Nov 10, 2013)

Did 2,112 today. I'm getting behind; still wrestling with the multiple POV. But I'll get there in the end.


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## nlough (Nov 10, 2013)

Day 10: It's the 10th day of NaNoWriMo and I've only written for two of them yesterday and today. So far I have just about 4500 words. I should be able to meet the goal by the end of the month, but if not at least I have made progress in my novel. I'm trying to push past all of my blocks. I know what what I want to say at points, but just unsure of how to say it. Luckily there's the revision and proofreading steps for that, but it's still difficult for me to keep going knowing certain section can be better. Alas in order to meet the goal I must continue on.


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## Chilari (Nov 11, 2013)

Day 10: Thanks to a trip out to Leicester where I used to be ML, I managed over 2000 words at the write-in and another 460 ish when I got back. Cool! I'm still a few thousand words behind, but after two consecutive days exceeding the daily goal of 1,667 I feel a lot more confident. Word wars are definitely a strong motivator - especially with loads of others around my typing away and not saying a word, and especially when two of those are the current MLs who were always both good friends and sufficiently challenging rivals when it came to word wars. So I think I'll go back again next week, and if I can manage it with train times, arrive earlier and stay later. And in the meantime, I've got some catching up to do to get back on track.

For anyone who hasn't been in the chat at the same time as me recently, I've been organising impromtu word wars of 15 minutes duration most evenings between 9 and 10pm UK time (early afternoon in the USA, possibly very early morning in Japan) which I at least have found fruitful (the timer helps me think only of moving forward and stopping myself from going back to edit). I'd be very happy to see more people there - the more the merrier.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 11, 2013)

Glad to hear the write-in helped a lot. I may have to find one around here at some point. I know they have them here in Japan also, but I haven't found one that works with my time yet (I work nights). The word wars idea is excellent. I'll check in on the chat next time I'm available and see if you're doing one.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 11, 2013)

*Day 11:* Another late night session generated over 2,000 words for *27,394 words.* I'm hoping for a good midnight stab at it to crack into 30,000 words for Day 12. Maybe I can do it? Not sure. I have some lessons in the afternoon tomorrow so I can't stay up as late as I have been. Here's hoping it'll turn out pretty good!


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## Graylorne (Nov 11, 2013)

Day 11: 2,308 today, to a total of 17,506.


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## nlough (Nov 11, 2013)

Day 11: It is my 3rd day of writing and so far I have a total of 7502 words. I am averaging about 2500 words per day. If I keep at the pace I'm going I should reach my goal by the end of the month. NaNoWriMo is really encouraging me to write this novel and I'm going to do it. It most likely won't be finished by the end of the month but I will have a good amount done. I work nights and luckily have tonight off so I have some extra time to write. Probably will sleep in after a rough past few days but I'll have a few extra hours to write and will thrive for 10000 words total tomorrow.


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## Chessie (Nov 11, 2013)

Did 2010 today, bringing my total to 17, 3 something. Getting up there!


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## NellaFantasia (Nov 12, 2013)

Day 11: 7,607 words total

Still chugging along. My MC just met the soon-to-be antagonist so I'm excited for that. Tomorrow I'm hoping to get up to 10k total, then Wednesday I'll be on my own all day until the evening. A good time to get a nice chunk of words in (specifically 5k). Here's to getting caught up.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 12, 2013)

Great to see the updates! Productive days are always good. I don't see anyone saying they've stalled out recently, so that's encouraging. If you get stuck, don't worry, just skip it and carry on. Novels don't necessarily have to be written in a linear fashion. In fact, if I find myself stuck, I'm going to probably write my ending. So far, so good though! Update later tonight on Day 12.


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 12, 2013)

I WAS stuck, but my outline saved me. 

When i wrote my outline, i added big interesting events at even spacing throughout, knowing that things would change as i wrote. I got stuck in a transitional point (leaving the swamp and its difficulties behind, crossing the highlands into the mountains) and after beating my head against a wall for two days and scouring the web for writers block breakers, went back to my outline. i took my next big event and kept breaking it down into steps, and was swamped with little twists and ideas as i went. more came when i started writing, and im back in the ballpark now with 16,300 words. 

hoping for another 1,500 tonight at least, and passing 20k before tomorrow would be really nice.


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## Graylorne (Nov 12, 2013)

2,000 today. Another 500 and I'll have passed 20,000. 

I have the following situation: 

A. The main character A did a Frodo on his friends B and crept away with his girlfriend for the story finals. Doesn't know the others are following.

B. His three friends follow A, they are 2 days behind. They know of A and now of D, who they want dead, but not of the others.

C. Another character, formerly an antagonist FA dupe, is following A as well, to warn him of antagonist FB's plans. He knows of A and F, but not the others. He has a young girl and a boy child with him.

D. A minor antagonist joined C under false flag. He should die at the finale. He knows only of C.

E. The rest of the friends come from the opposite direction. The girl vÃ¶lva among them must kill the main antagonist FB at the finale. He is the false gods' toy and too strong for A. They seek A and think B is with him, but know not of the others.

F. Main antagonists are two, and not a story line; they appear at appropriate moments. They try to capture and use A, kill or at least hold up B, capture and kill C and know not of D and E. 
FA is the corrupted jarl, FB his puppetmaster shaman who must be killed by E vÃ¶lva.

None of them, except C and D, should meet before the end. 

They all journey by horse, until the last stretch, what will be a volcanic land with false gods, rivers of lava, deadly gases, etc.

They all expect a journey full of adventures. And no, they can't kill the same crocodile four times.

Got it?

And I chose this for NaNo. Silly me.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 12, 2013)

*Day 12:* Passed another milestone, hitting over 30,000 with *30,095 words.* I may be going for a bare minimum next with 1,667, but we'll see how that pans out. I've been trying to stay ahead due to going on a short trip this weekend, so as long as I can hit good numbers, I should be safe. Keep going!


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## nlough (Nov 12, 2013)

Day 12: Into my 4th day of writing. My goal for the day was 10,000, but I have reached 12,000 instead. So far so good. Looking to be all caught up by the end of week. Came to a block in my writing, but I decided to go ahead and write the final chapter. I usually don't write ahead of the story but I had the idea fresh in my mind and decided just to write it out.


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## Graylorne (Nov 12, 2013)

Found 906 more words, that brought the total to 20,412.


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## Butterfly (Nov 12, 2013)

I haven't updated this in a while. Think I was at...

Day 9 - 1705

Day 10 - 3738 (Sunday)

Day 11 - 2099

Day 12 - (Today) 3959

Brings me up to... 36081.

I have the main plot sorted, beginning middle and end, all done. Now I have to go back and fill in the plot holes and turn all those tricky bits of notes and bullet points into actual scenes. Now the real work begins!


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## Chilari (Nov 12, 2013)

Day 12. After a zero day yesterday because I couldn't stop reading the latest Terry Pretchett novel, I've done a good few words today - over 2,700, with a tital wordcount just shy of 14,000. If I can maintain a similar daily wordcount for the next few days I will hopefully catch up with where I'm meant to be by the weekend.


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## Chessie (Nov 12, 2013)

I did 2,183 today for a total of 19,865. I really hoped to be over 20,000 by now but I have to stop writing for the day. I have some massive time off coming in this weekend so I'm hoping to blast out a good chunk of story by Sunday. 

I did get stuck on my antagonist's chapter as I stated before, so I jumped ahead to the following part which was a romance scene and that lit my fire. And of course, the scene that interrupts the love session is an action one, so I'm pretty excited about that. I get to use some magic!


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## NellaFantasia (Nov 12, 2013)

Day 12: 10,030 words total

With only 600 words written I was about to go to bed, but kicked my butt into gear instead and poured out 2,400 words. I made my goal for today, though I'm unsure about the 5k I want to write tomorrow...Sounds like a good idea in theory anyway.


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## sarasvati (Nov 13, 2013)

I don't remember the last time I updated here. I have been busy with life and writing like mad in between, managing a chapter a day (although this past Sunday's was completed after midnight, I am still counting that day as a success!). So I'll just update for today.

Day 12: 36K-something

I am still worried that my characters are sitting around talking too much. I don't know how to fix it. Action feels forced. I'll worry about it more in revision, because at least right now I have momentum.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 13, 2013)

If you feel your characters sitting around talking is interesting, then I don't see a problem with that. Lots of novels deal with people talking about various situations through discussion. Don't force action if your novel doesn't particularly need it. One thing I would do though, is try to have as much conflict as you can if your characters are sitting around talking. If they're just talking about stuff in general, it maybe isn't so interesting. If they're trying to figure out the best way to deal with a dragon is to kill it or trap it, then you have some conflict to play off of.

Good luck!


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## Philip Overby (Nov 13, 2013)

*Day 13:* Thanks to word wars with Chilari and senseiseth (which I lost handily, by the way  ) I cranked out a sizable amount of words last night taking my word count to *32,900 words.* It's midnight here, so Day 14 has officially begun. I'm going to give it a go tonight, but I'm pretty tired due to a wonky sleep schedule. Let's see what I can do. Good luck everyone!


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## Chessie (Nov 13, 2013)

I'm writing a horror scene today...so I hope my word count goes sky high with some dark ambient music to boost the mood.


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## nlough (Nov 13, 2013)

Day 13: My 5th day of writing and I wrote a little 3,000 words today that's 500 more than I my daily goal bringing my total word count to a little over 15,000. I thought I had written my ending yesterday but while at work last night I tried think of a few closing paragraphs for my story when a better ending popped in my head. I no way did it change the previous ending, okay I guess technically it did but the part I had before is still in there it just continues into the final part of the story involving an epic fight scene. Listening to my Heavy Metal music really helped. Looking to do at least 2500 more words tomorrow, I'm aiming for 5,000 if I can but if I only write 2500 that's fine. I still have a lot of the middle to write so I have plenty of holes to fill. Hope everyone else's writing is going well and keep up the good work.


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## Graylorne (Nov 13, 2013)

Day 13: 1,670. That makes my total NaNo score 22,082. I'm officially back on schedule now.

I'm writing the main character line as far as I can, before adding the secondary lines.


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## Butterfly (Nov 13, 2013)

Well done Graylorne!!

Day 13 - (unlucky for some)

Managed 3699 to take my total to... 39,780.

Tomorrow, those FIVE little numbers will become FOUR!


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## Chessie (Nov 13, 2013)

Today: 2,022 bringing my total to 21,887. Feels good to have broken through on that. I have some good scenes happening now so my hope is to do no less than 2000 words the next 4 days I am off work.


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 14, 2013)

well it was an unlucky day for me... shooting for halfway by tonight though!

18,412 right now... that means I'm setting a personal goal of 6,600 in the next 22 hours.

Wish me luck!


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## Philip Overby (Nov 14, 2013)

*Day 14:* My first "split shift" happened today. Instead of doing all my word count really early in the morning (1am to 3 am, like I'd been doing) I wrote some at around 2 am  and did the rest later on. I just made my normal 2,000, which makes me happy. I was fully expecting a sub-par day, but it turned out not too bad. I had one character do something stupidly awesome, so it sort of screwed up the path they were going on. I always like when that happens. Now I need to figure out what to do since it veers off my outline a bit, but I think it needed to happen because everything was kind of coming together too easily. 

Total word count now is *34,906 words.*

P.S. Just wrote another 184 making it over 35,000!


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## Butterfly (Nov 14, 2013)

Day 14 - 4674 done. Overall total 44454. To go = 5546.

Thinking... In theory I should reach 50,000 by Sunday at the latest, so I am seriously considering upping the monthly goal by 10-20k. Providing I don't end up pooped out on the weekend.


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## Graylorne (Nov 15, 2013)

1,879 today. Too little to make up for yesterday, but I've cleared up some plot uncertainties, and that's worth something.
And I can't delay too much; my main female character is by now 17 weeks pregnant.


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## Graylorne (Nov 15, 2013)

Added another 1,428 to bring the total to 25.389. That did make up for yesterday.


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 15, 2013)

23,025

missed my goal last night, but will catch up today, hopefully. 
sugarfree redbull and coffee, don't fail me now.


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## Chessie (Nov 16, 2013)

I'm up to 25,163. It feels good to have passed the midway mark. Its interesting, I had a vague idea of my story and the two main characters at the beginning of NaNo. But now, I have a stronger idea of where I want to take this, and a lot more about the story is being revealed to me. I thought I would do 3 povs at first, but now I'm strongly leaning towards just one. We'll see what happens in the editing process since it could all change. 

I'm just glad things are solidifying for me and I'm really glad I just went for NaNoWriMo instead of 'waiting' until I was ready to write the darn novel.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 16, 2013)

*Day 15:* Been out of town for a couple of days, but still wrote longhand in the hotel and on the bus. I'm dedicated.  For Day 15 I managed to get up to *36,800 words* by mostly sitting in the hotel. It was rough, but I managed. I just got finished riding 4 hours by bus, swam around in several pools, relaxed in a jacuzzi and saw a Hawaiian dance show. After all that, I still stayed away long enough to get some writing in. 

*Day 16:* Wrote on the looooooong bus ride home (traffic jam) and got up to *38,514 words* plus what I wrote once I got home. These were two of my weakest days so far, but I figured they would be since I was traveling and doing vacation like things. So not bad, considering!


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## Graylorne (Nov 16, 2013)

1,473 today, to a total of 26.862. Not brilliant, but still going forward.


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## Butterfly (Nov 17, 2013)

Day 15 - 3994 words

Day 16 - 3063 words written and a total of 51511... finished Nano's goal, but the book is far from done.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 17, 2013)

Great job, Butterfly! The first of this thread to reach 50,000. It's also good to hear that you're not finished. I've had a bad reputation in the past of not finishing projects once they hit 50K. I did well to not do that last year, as I continued on to about 100K, but that book was such a mess I have to redo much of it or just chalk it up to a practice novel. 

Good luck finishing the rest!


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## Graylorne (Nov 17, 2013)

Past 50k. already? Brilliant work, Butterfly!


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## Philip Overby (Nov 17, 2013)

*Day 17:* Day _just_ ended for me, ready to do some midnight oil burning. Pushed into the 40K range now with *40,404 words.* Got a little off track with my outline, but I don't think it did any major damage or knocked things off course. It allowed to get some character development in and shift the plot a bit (They were going one place, but have decided to go to a much more dangerous place instead without any sort of idea where they're going to do when they get there. Anger does that!)


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## Philip Overby (Nov 18, 2013)

*Day 18:* Just ended Day 18 and it was my most productive day yet, mostly in part to several word wars I did. It was actually quite remarkable how much and how fast I can write when I'm doing a battle scene. I just let the words flow out of me. I noticed later when I was writing the aftermath how slow it was coming. Anyway, at the end of the day, I ended up getting 5,309 words altogether. That brings me to a total of *45,713 words.* One more day like I just had and I'll be hitting the 50K almost 10 days early! Wow, that would be awesome and I think the first time that's ever happened for me. So 50K by Day 20 would be the goal for now. 

Let's do it!


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## Graylorne (Nov 18, 2013)

1,996 today, to a Nano total of 28,858.


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 19, 2013)

26,507

2,750 words before midnight, which was 15 minutes ago... still going. 

Digging through treasure in a dead dragons cave. I'm trying not be too envious of my own characters...


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## Chessie (Nov 19, 2013)

I had some drama to deal with over the weekend so I didn't get much writing done. I'm at 27,613. I'll catch up though with some extra free time this week.


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 19, 2013)

28,631

almost five thousand, and my longest streak of writing ever, I think. Goodnight, fellow NaNos.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 19, 2013)

*Day 19:* While I did get about 2,000 words or so, I ended up deleting a lot of them so I actually went backwards a little bit. I'm not counting words I'm not keeping, so my word count is *46,049 words* for this day. Kind of sucks, but I'm so close to the 50K I'm not too worried about it. I'm planning for a big night tonight, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to either hit 50 on Day 20 or I'm going to be right on the cusp of it.

Yeah, I should probably still count the words I _did_ write, but screw it. Towards the finish line!


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## Philip Overby (Nov 19, 2013)

Note: Since NaNo always seems to shave off 2,000 words from whatever my count is, I'm going to plow forward and keep writing (which I planned to do anyway) and not officially announce my final word count until it is at least 52,000 according to NaNo's infallible word count validator. So onward I go into the night!


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## Philip Overby (Nov 19, 2013)

*Day 20:* I wrote well over 50K, but not sure why NaNo's validator is different. Stupid thing.

Anyway...

I made it! *50,014 words!*

YES!

Now to continue on my journey to get this novel finished. Altogether it's 71,812 words counting what I wrote before NaNo started. At the rate I'm going, it's going to be a rather large novel. I'm hoping less than 150,000 words if I can manage. 

Well, I'll keep up with everyone else and keep posting updates until the 30 days are up. Good luck to everyone else reaching their goals!


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## Chessie (Nov 19, 2013)

Awesome Phil and Butterfly! Congratulations! 

I reached 30,030 today. But I still want to write another 1500 words today since I don't work until late.


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## Graylorne (Nov 20, 2013)

1,730 and every word paid in blood. So I'll cheer you, Phil, but in subdued tones  Still, don't mind me and be proud of your success; you've earned it.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 21, 2013)

Thanks! I'm not going to update anymore since I reached the 50K, but I'll be keeping an eye on this thread and hope everyone else can make some headway. 

I'd love to still do some word wars, but I haven't been able to find anyone to do them with me this week. Any takers?


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## Graylorne (Nov 21, 2013)

I realise I'm not going to make it, this year. I shouldn't have chosen the book I'm working on, for several reasons:
a. it's too complicated to hurry
b. it's a book that must be published (3rd book in trilogy), so it must be done well 
c. at the moment I'm spending a lot of time and energy on something that won't be well
So I'm letting it rest until I see my way clear and finish it later when the story is fun again.

I'm switching to Timelost, my Wattpad story, as I should have done from the start. Perhaps, if I get in the flow, I can combine both scores, that's not unheard of in NaNo.
But in the end is it the book that counts and NaNo is a tool, not a goal.
I'll see how it goes.


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## Chessie (Nov 22, 2013)

^^I'm in the same boat. The past couple days I've been doing a lot for my business which has left me drained and writing crap. I hate every single word that I have written this week...and I want none of it in my novel. Sigh. I don't know what to do at this point. I want to finish and I know I can, but why finish something that I won't even use? I'm stumped right now and don't even know how to move forward...I'm just rambling.

I took today off from writing and I don't want to do that tomorrow, or else I won't make it. I will say this: I know more about my story now than I did when I began. Part of me kind of...wants to start over.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 22, 2013)

I started over on my current project after I felt the vibe I was going for didn't work for that particular story. I'd still like to do a similar vibe with a different story and I still have that all in mind. When starting over with something, I feel like it's best to do it when you're very early in the project. However, if it's too late, then you can perhaps still salvage some of it. 

I had a moment last week when I wrote some stuff that totally crapped all over what I had wrote up until then. I caught that it was bad for my overall novel and dumped about 2,000 words. That's one thing to consider: just going back to when you felt like your novel went off course and dump that. Then start over from that point. It doesn't necessarily have to mean you have to start all the way over.

Just something to consider. Hope things pull through!


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## Chessie (Nov 22, 2013)

Thanks Phil, but it would be from Chapter 1 I'd start over. Sigh. But I have a game plan set: do more plotting. If anything, NaNoWriMo has proven to me that I'm NOT a pantser. Either way, I'm not going to tank it all just yet. Thanks for the good wishes, I need them!


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## Philip Overby (Nov 22, 2013)

May I recommend the Snowflake Method? I feel like I'm trying to push this on everyone, but I think it really works for people who have problems with plotting and it helps give you a concrete idea of your novel before you start. It could be worth a try if you plan to start over. I personally love it and I know several people who utilize it as well and claim it's worked wonders for them.

You can check out some stuff about it here:

How To Write A Novel Using The Snowflake Method


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## Chessie (Nov 22, 2013)

Its like you read my mind! That's exactly what I'll be spending my time doing tomorrow morning!


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## Philip Overby (Nov 23, 2013)

Well, since this hasn't been updated in a couple of days, I take that to mean this is a good sign I hope?

I'm at 56,151. I've slowed down a lot, but I'm still getting about 2,000 a day, which still feels like a good pace for me.

Just wanted to thank everyone who has participated in this thread so far. I'm sure I don't need to say this, but don't worry if you don't make the 50K. It's never really about that anyway. It's just about continuing to progress on something and to get you writing. I always learn something every year and it's great to have a group of encouraging people to do it with. You all really helped me this year and for that I'm thankful.

Good luck for the future!


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 24, 2013)

Bad week, still at 29,300. Pulling an all-nighter tonight to see if I can make some ground.


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 26, 2013)

34,017, after totally shutting down for a week. 

The snowflake method was helpful, thank you. I was already implementing most of it, but i added a sentence by sentence breakdown of each "Day" in my story, or at least the next few days, and that has rehydrated my efforts to an extent. I put in four thousand last night, and am going to push for six today.

This is where it gets dicey, i guess.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 27, 2013)

So about three or four days left. I've petered off honestly. I guess once I reached my goal for the month, I was happy. I plan to do the same thing in December. Another 50K or first draft completion, whichever comes first.

I suppose I have about 5 major scenes left altogether, so I don't imagine it will be too much longer. I keep changing my ending because I want something tangible to work towards. I may get one that makes me go, "Eureka!" sooner or later.

Here's wishing luck to those of you still plugging at it.


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## Chessie (Nov 27, 2013)

Thank you for having this thread for all of us to participate in. Unfortunately, I had to stop. My business is demanding a lot of attention right now and I cannot ignore it (clients clients everywhere!). Next time, I will make sure to take some time off, which is doable for me, so that I can write away. I didn't think I would have to this year but oh, was I so wrong. My story is still thriving though just at less words per day. 

Good luck to everyone with your projects! Its been great connecting.


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 29, 2013)

I'm way behind, 
But I don't care.
There's a finish line,
And I'll see you there.

43,272


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 30, 2013)

47,801. I hate to put it off to the last day, but I'm incoherent.

2,200 words to victory... after some sleep.


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## Philip Overby (Nov 30, 2013)

You can do it!


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## Jackarandajam (Nov 30, 2013)

50,068.

Winner's page. 

Probably wouldn't have done it without this thread. Thank you everyone for the support and encouragement! directly or indirectly, related troubles and conversation about them helped immensely!

Now to finish the book. Probably another 20,000 words to go. Rock N' Roll.


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