NaNoWriMo Update #8 - THE WIN

So right now, I am floating on a ridiculously high cloud of AWESOME.


I always knew I had it in me, but I never knew it would feel so good! And I even finished a DAY EARLY!

Counts		Document
Words:		50139
Characters (no spaces):		208676
Characters (with spaces):		258845
Paragraphs:		1788
Sentences:		5224
Pages (approximate):		84

A few more stats before I progress onto the mindless gushing:

Words written: 50139
Total words warred: 20150
Average words written/day: 1626.48
Days skipped: 9
Days wrote over 4000 words: 4
Days wanted to go crazy: 29

-----

So, like, I can't come off of this high. It's so crazy! I posted on my twitter about a moment after I won, updated my facebook status, and then Ally called me and said she was kidnapping me and Karynna (who had won about fifteen minutes before me) out to ice cream to celebrate... and just wow.

I have a feeling that childbirth is something like this, (bear with me on this one): Beforehand, it's all "Soon I'll have something wonderful! Oh won't it be wonderful?" And then, in the middle of it all, it's like: "Gawd, what was I THINKING?! This is absolutely certifiably INSANE. Why would anyone DO THIS?! I just want it to be OVER!" and then when it's all over, you're all, "Oh, look what I just created! I want another one!"

(See? It makes at least a little sense!)

Because now, a mere hour and a half after it's finished, I understand why people keep coming back to nanowrimo year after year, why it is in its elventh year of existence:

It feels good at the end. Like, really good. And at the end of it, you're ridiculously numb in all sorts of places you usually aren't, and your ass hurts like crazy and you have irritated rashes where your arms have been bearing down on the desk for thirty days... and it's all worth it. ALL worth it.

I have literally never been so creative in my entire life. I have never, in such a short amount of time, created something so big! Sure, my first fanfiction piece Not Knowing was 57000 words, but that took me three years to complete! Three years! And I did this in thirty days?

I can't tell you how good it will feel to walk around tomorrow and have won this thing. I have a button that says "Ask me about my novel" that I'll be proudly displaying! I think I might explode into colored confetti or something. It doesn't matter that for the last six days of my life I have been practically glued to my keyboard (I am talking more than 25,000 words since last Tuesday.) It feels good. And you know what?

Next year, I'll be back full force. NaNoWriMo November 2010? Heck yes.

(Before then, however? Not a chance. I need an eleven month recovery period.)

NaNoWriMo Update #7

First, the stats.

Counts		Document
Words:		43725
Characters (no spaces):		182335
Characters (with spaces):		226161
Paragraphs:		1499
Sentences:		4461
Pages (approximate):		79

Ten things I am going to do after winning NaNoWriMo... which, god willing, will happen tomorrow.
1) I am going to read that book that I have been pushing back that I need to read for my final exam for English. (And then reevaluate time management for next year's NaNo)

2) Seriously, dance and scream and shout and buy myself a HUGE milkshake. I really want a milkshake.

3) Try and bum a massage out of someone.

4) Read a book for pleasure. Like seriously, I haven't touched one of those in, like, a month.

5) Reintroduce normal habits back into my writing; stuff like adding in contractions and dashes into my writing.

6) Knit that darned scarf that has been sitting in my bag for MONTHS.

7) Study for finals.

8) Study for those annoying "Oh, it's the last week of class! What a perfect opportunity for a test!" tests.

9) Brag to everyone. No, I'm not even kidding. I can imagine my conversations looking a lot like this for the month of December:
-"Hey Stef!"
-"Why yes, I wrote a novel, thanks for asking!"
-"I, uh, didn't... okay. A novel - wow!"
-"Yeah, it was pretty epic. Even though I took a bunch of days off I pulled it off in the end."
-"That sounds great, hey did you do the chemistry homework?"
-"No, but I did write a novel - didn't you hear?"
-"Yeah, uh... that's great."

10) Take a nap. I miss naps.

(Uh, and now I go back to my novel...)

NaNoWriMo Update #6

I've emerged from the depths! Can you believe it? I have a short update for yall who prefer my blogs in text, and then I am going to head back into the depths of my novel. Picture this as a surfacing-for-air for me.

For the stats inclined...

Counts		Document
Words:		37981
Characters (no spaces):		158596
Characters (with spaces):		196656
Paragraphs:		1258
Sentences:		3805
Pages (approximate):		72

And for the words inclined (though I probably shouldn't be wasting them on the blog), I am just 12000 words away from winning. According to the nifty little document that Karynna created (which we have fondly dubbed the Quotameter) I have to average 3000 words a day for the rest of the month.

I wrote 3000 words yesterday (Yes, on thanksgiving! - What, you think I have a life?), and it is totally doable. It actually, ironically, felt light. Even, dare I say it, downright easy. 3000 words is something like six pages of writing in Microsoft Word.

On Wednesday, when I last updated yall, I ended up writing 6000 words. I went to bed that night with a brain that could be best described as a pile of gelatinous mush, but I went to bed feeling ridiculously competent and accomplished.

I did break it up into different writing sessions. I wrote 2000 from 4-6pm at my apartment, 3000 when I could no longer stand being at my apartment and went to La Madeline and sat in on a write-in with some other Austin NaNoers, and another 1000 words when I got home and thought "I could totally make my ambitious quota today. Screw my safety!"

Something I have noticed during this month (which I mentioned to Siobhan in an email yesterday) is that while yes, I have suffered from a crazy high level of writers block, the nature of this competition is to just keep writing, and write on through that writers block. In the past, I have had a tendency to wait for perfection and just suffer through weeks of internal debate and angst, and nanowrimo has forced me to just push any and all writers block behind me, because if I spend too much time faffing about not writing I lose time. And time is words.

I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving yesterday (ours was so ridiculously delicious that I cleared my plate twice). I can tell you that I am thankful for many things... and one of those things is my awesome family who just lets me go along with this crazy-stupid writing challenge!

Back to my novel! Huzzah!

-----

Today's ambitious goal is: 43000
Today's slightly-more-realistic-goal is: 41000

Nanowrimo Update #5 (Text. Vs. Video!)

Today is text and vlogday (as always, click into the browser to see the embedded video.)

Part 1: Text!

Can't talk now, I'm novelling.

Counts		Document
Words:		29950
Characters (no spaces):		125747
Characters (with spaces):		155735
Paragraphs:		966
Sentences:		2959
Pages (approximate):		52

Part 2: Vlog

Can talk now, since I'm making a vlog.



P.S. Yes, I have a cold, or something coldlike. Allergies? Cold? I'm actually thinking mild cold because it seems to be a pretty consistent level of suck, though it isn't that bad.

Double Whammy

Not only is it my 20th birthday... it also happens to be Vlogday!



Today has been beyond awesome... and I cannot possibly thank everyone enough for being there for me.

Thanks to everyone who loves me. I love you too!

NaNoWriMo Update #4

Today I took two tests and then sat my arse down in my chair and wrote. For seven and a half hours. I did some pretty serious damage control to my word count, though! It was certainly worth it. (Consequently, I have used up my entire quota of my daily allotted brain function.)

This morning, I was about 10,000 words behind. I wrote about 5,000 words today and have gotten my word count through at least November 12th's quota. I am only about 600 words short of the 13th's quota, though...

Today, I've written about my characters' first date and his subsequent desertion of the campus. It's not his fault, though! He was called away to a secret vampire council! He keeps trying to contact Cassie and explain, though and I keep telling him sternly that that simply will not do! He has to stay away from her for a while, or else I really have NO PLOT.

Yall ready for a stats update that will rock your world?

Counts		Document
Words:		21027
Characters (no spaces):		88150
Characters (with spaces):		109209
Paragraphs:		668
Sentences:		2067
Pages (approximate):		36
Readability		Document
Average sentences per paragraph:		3.09
Average words per sentence:		10.17
Average characters per word:		4.19
Average words per page:		584.08
Flesch Reading Ease: [?]		82.93
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: [?]		4.00
Automated Readability Index: [?]		3.00

Tomorrow's goal of 4000 words should put me at the 15th's quota (25,005 words.) If I can write 4000 words or so every day, I should be able to catch up by this Friday. Also, that might kill me... But I am counting on Thanksgiving to be my pillow of super writing awesomeness!

(In 24 hours and 19 minutes it'll be my birthday. Not that I'm counting down, or anything.)

Novelling Supplies

My list of supplies needed for writing a novel might be a little different than the classic interpretation...

Coke Zero (in sunshiney glory)


Blue cheese and crackers


A peek into the outside world, just to remind me that there IS an outside world.


My daily word count chart, to guilt me into not falling too far behind.


And facebook. To, well, distract me.


My goal today is to make up for lost time... literally. As you can see, I am just about at where I should have been on November 10th, and today I plan on making it to where I should have been on November 13th. That's just over 5000 words.

Um, if I go crazy, would someone mind writing my novel for me?

Lookie! A New Toy!

I am the luckiest almost-birthday-girl ever. :)


I have a new phone! And it's my new iPhone! Yay!

I've already weeded out contacts from my old phone that I no longer want and I have created a calendar in Outlook that I will somehow sync with my phone. I'm not entirely sure how it works, but I'm getting there.

I would write a longer blog, but unfortunately I have to read the rest of Frankenstein for my English test tomorrow!

No progress on NaNoWriMo - bad Stefanie! Unfortunately, this weekend wasn't very conducive to writing. Will make up word count this week, somehow.

They Call Me Ms. Powling. Awwww.

For the last few months I've been observing (and occasionally teaching) a group of first graders at a local elementary school as part of my UTeach and Intro to Teaching requirement.


Today was my last teaching day (not my last day, though) and my cooperating teacher took photos of me teaching.


See? I'm totally legit.


This morning, on the way to the elementary school, the fog was incredible! You couldn't see 100 yards in front of you.


Happy Friday, everyone!

P.S. See? I do have a life outside of my novel right now.

An Actual Post - With Words!

Hello, all! So let me tell you guys about my novel like I promised.

It is a struggle every day to get my daily word count. At the moment, I am close to 4000 words behind, and while I am enjoying the process of crafting my characters' lives, I will not pretend that it is all fun all of the time. Nor is it easy in any way.

Into week two, I have come to realize that where I was wading last week, I am slogging this week. Slogging uphill. Probably in ice cold water with bare feet. (Okay, so it's not that bad!)

Part of this has to do with the fact that I have other things to do every day: I attend 16 hours of class weekly, I have tests to study for, food to cook, and homework to complete. And on top of this, I want to write a novel?

On the one hand, I can always drop out if I feel like it is too hard. I would receive no bad grade and there would be no lasting side effects from dropping out, except the desire to do it again next year, and actually finish.

On the other, if I am anything I am determined. I feel like getting to 50,000 words, while a crazy goal, is a totally attainable goal. I do not want to be a participant of NaNoWriMo, I want to be a winner. For once, my inner voice telling me "Giving up is failing" might come in handy rather than be a nuisance.

I refuse to get so far behind that I can never recover. Thanksgiving break will be my time to at the very least catch up.

In the last 12 days of November, I have picked up an interesting habit or two because of NaNoWriMo. Things like becoming obsessed with eliminating all contractions from my writing. Contractions cost words, and therefore they are my enemy. Since then, even when I am doing things such as writing emails or taking notes, any apostrophe makes me pause and ask myself "Wait, does this matter?"

Another habit is eliminating hyphens from my syntax nearly altogether. Words like "time-saving" and "low-budget". Words that are hyphenated are considered one word, and are therefore my enemy.

A third, more amusing habit arising from NaNoWriMo is my new tendency to create names of characters that include more than one word: names like Mary Beth. While hanging out with Karynna yesterday, she suggested I should create a Hispanic character with a ridiculously long name... and thus, Kerri Ann Marie De la Cruz Gonzalez Lopez Salazar the Second was born. She refuses to let people shorten her name, and she is my new favorite character. I think I'll include her in every scene I write. And never use pronouns.

(Okay, maybe I won't. But it's funny, right?)

I have developed a certain love-hate relationship with my word count. I have also developed a crazy obsession with Word Wars. The idea behind a Word War is that a timer is set, and at the end of that the participants tally up how many words they wrote and the person with the most words wins. What they win is often nothing... but it works. In 20 minute word wars I can usually knock out 700-1000 words... which makes me a very happy girl!!

I have been hosting write-in/study-ins (since Katlin is not doing NaNo, and Ally has grudgingly dropped out - poor girl has 20 hours of workouts in addition to class every week!) at my apartment every week. Karynna, Katlin, and Ally have been coming by and I have cooked. It is a lot of fun, and I hope that even after November ends I can continue doing this. It is nice to cook for people once a week and have my friends over!

Well, I need to get back to my novel! Words won't write themselves. (Unfortunately... or else my novel would be made.)

NaNoWriMo Update #3

I swear that the next blog I write about NaNoWriMo will include more than just how many words I've written. But that blog won't happen right now at 1:45am...

(I am 4205 words behind right now, because I, ya know, do other things. Like study. And eat. I can't believe that some people have already WON NaNoWriMo...)

Counts		Document
Words:		15779
Characters (no spaces):		66637
Characters (with spaces):		82436
Paragraphs:		502
Sentences:		1501
Pages (approximate):		27
Readability		Document
Average sentences per paragraph:		2.99
Average words per sentence:		10.51
Average characters per word:		4.22
Average words per page:		584.41
Flesch Reading Ease: [?]		81.94
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: [?]		4.00
Automated Readability Index: [?]		4.00

Maybe tomorrow during my Super 3-Hour Break I'll write about my story. I promise to do three things:

1) Complain (a little)
2) Brag (a little)
and
3) Tell you more than just numbers. As my second grade teacher taught me (in song) "Elaboration is the way to make your writing exciting every day!"

But that's all. (For now!) I'm off to bed!

NaNoWriMo Update #2

Good lord, what a weekend. Unfortunately, not a weekend completely filled with words as I was hoping. But... progress has been made!

It's not "I'm totally caught up" kind of progress (tonight I should have had 13336, and tomorrow's quota is 15003) but it IS progress! 2943 words short of (tomorrow's) quota is still less than what it was at the beginning of the weekend! Yay!

Counts		Document
Words:		12060
Characters (no spaces):		50737
Characters (with spaces):		62818
Paragraphs:		370
Sentences:		1127
Pages (approximate):		19
Readability		Document
Average sentences per paragraph:		3.05
Average words per sentence:		10.70
Average characters per word:		4.21
Average words per page:		634.74
Flesch Reading Ease: [?]		82.27
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: [?]		4.00
Automated Readability Index: [?]		4.00

More on my weekend later (probably tomorrow) when I have more energy to put into a blog.

Night, all!

NaNoWriMo Update #1

So at this very moment, I am told that my novel is all of these things (by Google Documents, which I have discovered is the coolest thing since sliced bread. It means that I can work on my document from any computer, provided it has an internet connection.)

Counts
Words:		6013
Characters (no spaces):		25570
Characters (with spaces):		31590
Paragraphs:		240
Sentences:		637
Pages (approximate):		10
Readability
Average sentences per paragraph:		2.65
Average words per sentence:		9.44
Average characters per word:		4.25
Average words per page:		601.30
Flesch Reading Ease: [?]		83.52
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: [?]		4.00
Automated Readability Index: [?]		3.00

I'm behind, but not that behind. (By today, I should have 8335... which, as you can see is not the case. However, tomorrow is Friday, and Friday seems like a good day to catch up, right?)

I also have cover art!


What do you think? I like it. I made it yesterday.

Green Halloween?

I need to catch up on last weekend, so here's a short blog about it!

So on Halloween day I kept it chill. I slept in till about 12 or 1 and generally enjoyed a lazy afternoon. In the evening, I went over to my friend Ally's place with Karynna and we turned on Hocus Pocus and snacked on candy until 11, when we headed over to this comic book store called the Dragon's Lair for the NaNoWriMo midnight write.

(As an side, I generally consider myself Dorkus Supremus, as I am about a nerdy as an average English major can get, but I have never felt so cool and non-dorky in my life! I'm a nerd, but I never got into comic books.)

At midnight, we had a countdown and we started our novels! It was super fun and I got a good start on my novel: I Bleed Orange.



Here is Karynna happily novelling away...


And Ally getting stuck...


So Sunday was a big day in APO. It was BP/LP Sunday (Big person/Little person) when we (the pledges) get our Bigs and our family. There are six families at UT: Greens, Butts, DJs, Blackhands, Outsiders and Speers. My big is a girl named Lindsey and I am now part of the Green family!



Super exciting! We all went out to eat (and literally took over this little Italian restaurant on Barton Springs - we had like 20 people) and the Bigs treated the Littles... and a lot of laughter and general hilarity ensued.


Tonight I'm cooking dinner and having a write-in for my other novelling friends. I think I'll have to strictly enforce the writing thing, because last night we gave it a try (I baked cookies!) and we all novelled for 15 minutes and got distracted. Now I need to catch up on yesterday's word count... which I will do during the rest of my break.

Oh! I registered for classes! I'm going to hold off on posting my schedule until the next semester begins. Be assured that it is awesome, though.

It's NaNoWriMo! The Vlog edition

Happy Vlogday!



It's time to jump for joy and put pens to paper!

P.S. Yes, I have blue paint on my hands. The service project I did this evening was hanging out with adorable cub scouts and painting with them... unfortunately, the paint won't come off my hands!