47,028

I can do this!!!

Okay.

Sink or swim.

I am full of Dave Thomas Delights (read: Wendy's #2 w/ Mr. Pibb.)

Andreas V. in the diskman.

Let's do this thing.

45083


holy bannana nutballs

Shiesh. Bad me for not updating. Oh well, I really have not had the time. In case you wanna hear my sob - Monday (11/27) I came into work early and left late in order to catch up with stuff missed over Thanksgiving and also to prepare for a major project that happens today (Wed.) I was totally whipped after the driving and eating and visiting family this weekend, and so I didn't wake up early enough for typing in the a.m. and I went to bed at 8 p.m. I had no food, and so had to shop last night (Tues.). We had people over last night, so couldn't work in the livingroom. My bedroom torn apart for painting, in order to make my closet not the dankest hole in the house, so not conducive for writing in there either. Oh, add to this the fact that the cats have decided not to let me sleep a full night through, angry I suppose at us for leaving them for 4 days, and you have a series of unfortunate events that sadly does not lead to Emma battling Count Olik, but instead, to Emma sitting on her ass for a few days.

I am still retyping my hard copy stuff to soft, so should have word count soon. Looking forward to writing tonight and tomorrow and getting my 50,000 words. I hope.

Sunday - Back on line.

I really don't even think I ate that much for Thanksgiving, but man, my metabolism must have shifted because I have averaged about one meal a day plus snacks since Thursday night.

I thought about the story constantly through Tgiving vacation. Which was haunting but good, since I came up with some more answers that will shepard my story along. I realize that I never had that huge a handle on my world (it's, y'know, faerie. Where the fairies live...right?) And I don't have much time while writing 2000 words of story each day to world build (not that I didn't fudge and stick in some character specs and count them as actual words.) Anyway, soon it will all be over and I can start to actual work on the story and plot and so on and so forth.

Will upload word count after I transfer handwritten stuff.

*** UPDATE ***
Word count = 39,570

Curses! Why couldn't I break the 40K mark??? (and why is "K" the abbreviation for "thousand" when the Roman numeral is "M"? Stupid.)

Written offline - Saturday 11/25/2006

How in the world to people write offline on notebook paper and then enter the words into the computer? Is it better on your eyes to work on paper and then spend a smaller amount of time putting stuff into the computer file?

37,337

Outlined some yesterday. Still haven't got it all figured out. In the mean time I have listened to the books on tape "The Goose Girl," "The Tale of Desperaux," "Shadow Spinner," and "Ella Enchanted." It really does help to keep reading to find stuff out about writing. And books on tape are about the only way I can fit it into my schedule.

Written offline - Friday 11/24/2006

Still full from last night. Ug.

36,734

Getting into the nitty gritty and things are getting as hard to pin down as whipped cream. Emma's just barreling along, tripping over characters here and there. I want to do some outlining to day if I can.

Written offline - Thanksgiving!

Only got about 250 words down before food coma overtook me. Saw some Ambrosial trees as we crossed the Siskiyou.

P.S. Villain appeared. Did not plan it. He just showed up to say "hi" when Emma enters the dream world.

I added a short, rough sample below. Thought one was due, and it does a pretty good job of summarizing at least how the first part of the story goes.

35, 114!!

Yay.

Oh man, though, what a mess my manuscript is. I use an ergonomic keyboard at work (the kind that's folded in the middle), I have a full-sized wireless keyboard at home, and then I have my laptop keyboard. Between making my hands dance over all those different layouts, I'm lucky if every third word comes out to be what I want it to. And that is not even taking into account the fact that I am the world's worst speller. No one will steal my story, cuz it's written in code!

imediantly = immediately (spelling)
scracht = scratch (fast typing mistake)
wouldn = sound (???)
hight = height
knwo = know
vaugly = vaguely
impliments = implements
Porage, grule? = Porridge, gruel (ha!)


Oh my god, and so many more (those were just from a few paragraphs I wrote today.)
Those of you who can spell, are you cringing right now???

"I don't know," the gypsy boy shrugged. "What is Earthin like?"

"It's horrible," Emma heard the words slip from her lips before she even had a chance to think about them. It was her stock response whenever anyone ever asked her about her life.

"Why? What's so bad about it?"

"I have to go to school every day with people I hate to learn things I don't care about," she started.

"Me too," Nick said.

"I live out in the middle of nowhere and my mother never lets me have any fun or go to town or spend any money."

"Mine too."

"Where are we going?" Emma grumbled, changing the subject.

My signature on NaNoWriMo.org (it cuts off on the page, so I thought I'd post it in full here):

• Title: "The Dream Thief"
• Genre: Fantasy
• Theme: Have courage in the face of failure (coming-of-age adventure)
• # of times main character has tried to flee reality for faerie: 3
• # of times it actually worked: 0
• How the MC finally gets there: on the back of a shape changing dog
• # of royal families slaughtered: 3/4ths
• # of demons as secondary characters: 1
• # of angsty princes: 1
• # of sibling relationships that have a lot to do with the plot: at last count, 3
• # of forests in the dream kingdom of Ambrosia: 3
• # of bottomless impasses on the way to the dark magic reside of the Unknown: 1 (but isn't one enough?)

Every second of my day, except for those spent hugging my boyfriend or petting my cats, could be better spent writing.

I really was not happy with my efforts yesterday, so I drove to work without turning on the radio and let the alpah-waves lap away at my brain. When I arrived, I was inspired to write 1,257 words on what the moon pearl does, why Ambrosia is ruled by a prince (not a king) where the horrible, disgusting Sithwith, the demon cartographer and scribe who is chained to his library desk in the dungeon of the palace, came from.

Oh, it all fit together. I am so happy!

(edit) Total by end of day = 33,720

I took the day off yesterday. I didn't really plan it, it just happened.

32,023

Like pulling teeth. There is no way the full story will be done at the end of November, or in 50,000 but I will have 50,000 words at the end of November. Get that? The little things really slow you down - should Emma rescue Nick? Should Nick rescue Emma? I mean both versions have their merits, but when faced with a simple question like that, I hunch my shoulders and stare stupidly at the screen. Duh. I dunno.

Why has my antagonist not appeared yet? Well, everyone antagonizes Emma - I mean the villain. I think I like him so much I'm afraid to start writing about him, for fear that he'll turn out to be an uncharismatic wet blanket. Which is exactly the opposite of what he is in my head... hm. Maybe tomorrow.

[huff huff] finally going to post on time!

30,545

Ow, my wrist.

As I stated in my last entry, I found two old "dot-matrix" printed copies of "false starts" of this story. One was called "Searer of Souls" and had Emma as a goathearder's daughter who had been summoned by the prince to the palace. She had a magic-born guardian named Alassi that looked like a big walking armadillo with a beak. I am sorry to see that there is no need of him in the story - he's what shut that first try down after about 8,000 words. I didn't know where he came from or where he'd go once she reached the palace. Too bad, so sad. He worked really well in the scene he was in.

The other version also didn't work, for various reasons. In it, goathearding Emma had a brother, and it was known that she was found as a baby at the edge of the Visionary Forest (i.e. she was originally from Earth). After she and brother are attacked, a dreamkin comes to their rescue, but is reall y there to collect Emma and take her to the prince. Some scenes worked really well and I think I'll incorporate them into this version, but I didn't like the character of the prince, or Iandrew, the dreamkin (for a while I couldn't decide if he was young and stupid, old and severe, if he was a page, a soldier, or what). The dreamkins in general have always given me problems. Imagine ninjas that can change into dogs, horses and birds. Who controls them? How are they trained? Who do they serve and why? It's coming together in this version, but I still have a lot to work on.

...and damn, it's past midnight again. Oh well.

Written late 11/16/2006
Ga! Why can't I ever get these things posted in time???

28,447

I am lacing bits of my story together, so it is harder to do the "3 pages or 2000 words" goal. Mainly because that means I have to do math :-P

I dug out some old versions of my story, parts of which I want to use in this version. They are on that old perforated printer paper with the holes on the side! I don't even have them electronically anymore (perhaps on floppy disk somewheres). And more than I ever thought is hand written. I gotta make some backup copies just to have on hand, but some of the ink is so light, I don't even know if it will photocopy - certainly not well.

This story has waited a long time to see the light of day. I hope I can do it some justice.

Written late 11/15/2006

Setting up Christmas and Thanksgiving vacation plans, staying in touch with friends and family, budgeting, preparing for my volunteer meeting on Saturday, reading, visiting the post office, the library, listening to books on tape, sleeping, eating, cooking, cleaning, watching t.v., playing on line. Hell, why is there so much to do?

27,160

Okay.
She's in Ambrosia (the "fantasy world")
Now what?

I know that I can "remember" all the rules if I try hard enough (I wrote them for godsake - or will write them...) : Who are the dreamkins? How does the "real world" effect and be effected by Ambrosia? How is Ambrosia showing signs of being sapped of magic? I think I know all this stuff. I know I know it (somewhere.)

I actually feel pretty good today. Knock on wood.

24,443

Still frustrated with the starting and stopping nature of this story. I see through the inky mess the outline of some semblance of story.

Emma has tried three times to flee the real world for faerie. Now, at age fifteen, the last thing she ever expects is for the "fourth time to be the charm." But that is exactly what happens, and like it or not, she is whisked away by a magical beast to the dream kingdom of Ambrosia. Will she accept the task given to her by the prince to find the thief who is stealing the lifeblood of the land? Does she really have a choice?

Written late - Monday the 13th

Pleh.

22,080

I FORCED myself to write 2000 words, but it was excruciating. Not only did I totally sleep like a zombie through my morning writing hours, but I had to do some shopping at night, then ate some soup I'd let sit out all day (was supposed to have been my lunch) and watched Battlestar with some friends. Finally made it to the sanctuary of my room where I pounded out yet another sloppy day of junk.

I look back over what I've written (bad bad bad) and am like, this stupid story starts three times, and I'm still doing what I do all the time, which is jump around to scenes I like to write about without any real conscience regard for what that scene has to do with the rest of the story! It's annoying (like the scene I quoted below -- I like it, I had fun writing it, but what does it have to do with the story?) Gah.

20,082!!!


Twenty-thousand mark!
(I apologize to those of you who can't see the little dancing gif.)

I am liking a lot of what I have written, which is surprising to me. I am especially surprised that one of the characters I have no real attachment to was just in an interesting / funny scene that really worked for me. Go figure. Work forever on Miss Main Character and still don't feel that comfortable with her, and type for a few hours about Joe Shmo Dreamkin and have a fantastic result.

I've held off posting any clips thus far, but here is a taste of what I've been working on:

“Greetings Kin,” Kane said, leaning on the bar. His black eyes sparkled, and Ian knew it was because the bets always rose when a Kin came to fight. “Your health well today?”

“All the better now that I’m here.” He took a large swig from his mug. The cider was sharp and strong. “What’s the outlook?”

“Mmm,” Kane rubbed his bristly chin. “Word has it that a shipload of sailors is coming this way. Should be some easy battles against sea-legged southerners.” He smiled a gummy grin at Ian, who drained the mug and set it down.

“Nothing harder than that? I’m disappointed in you. When are we going to have a bear like that Nrrokian in here again?”

The Nrrokian was a long-running joke between the men. One of Ian’s first battles had been against a huge, nasty brute that smelled of skunk and fought like a wild animal. When Ian finally felt he had prevailed, it turned out that the Nrrokian had just fallen into a drunken daze and was up again after a brief nap. Only during round two, when his opponent’s shirt was accidentally torn off did Ian realize he was fighting a female.

Kane gurgled a laugh. “No Nrrokians.”

Written late 11/11/2006

Hey everybody! I went to the Doctor! I'm fine! But I still feel like crap. And actually, I am waiting on some more tests, but truth be told, I think I'm just stressed (about a lot of things besides finishing my novel in a month. I just didn't realize it), and I've been spending too much time in front of the computer screen (I have heard that laptop displays don't have the kind of radiation coming off of them that other monitors do, but I'm sure it's still not good for you.) Anywho -

Word count thus far: 16,252

My last entry was so short, and my word count hadn't increased that much. Just FYI, I added a prolog and decided that 20,000 words should take place in the real world, 20,000 in the fantasy world, and then, I dunno, 10,000 in some sort of combination / resolution 3rd act thingy. I need to go back to my theater notebooks and look up that structure again. Today I fudged and started writing in the fantasy world, even tho my main character isn't there yet. I'm sheepishly skipping ahead with the *** more stuff happens here *** filler line.

Baaaaa.

Written late - 11/10/2006

Horrible night with no sleep, awoke with shooting pain down my arm. Went to doctor and had to work late to cover the extra time, and went to bed early with a headache.

13,066

Real life is a Mire.

Skipped my first full day of writing yesterday.

Why? I had a restless night on Tuesday and awoke too late to be of any use. Then, after work, I talked on the phone for a time, waited for the landlady to come by (she didn't and so I had to call and reschedule), and I walked to the store to pick up milk and sympathy cards. In other words, mundane life intervened.

Word count = 12,053

I read something over again and cannot remember writing it. "A horse as black as an ancient shadow." I don't know if it's any good. But it's kind of spooky not to remember coming up with it.

Written late 11/07/2006

Today I could not get out of bed. I feel the rain that is forever showering down on this land to be washing the nutrients of everything away and churning up dead dirt and dying leaves. It is not nice (although I like it when it gets too dark to see.)

Word count 10,600 (broke 10,000 - yaah!)

One week has gone by. Although I am behind (should be at 14,000 words I guess,) I have 17 pages and I would say a good idea of where the story is going. I also got a chance to start constructing a "pitch," distilling the ideas down to one or two sentences and then expanding on them if someone seems interested.

Ergonomically, though, I'm a wreck.

11/06/2006 - written late

First Monday. I feel it. I think I pinched a nerve. I don't feel well.

9,881

I can't believe I haven't cracked 10,000. This morning I didn't start where I left off, but at the beginning again and added two or so pages that way. Then I wrote at night as well until my laptop battery gave out. I am trying to find out how much of a story I want / need before the journey to the "other world" begins. And yes, I have been sorta patterning my plot against Joseph Campbell's archetypes.

My arm hurts.

Back at home now. A greasy rain is falling outside, and I hear it is to continue for many months. The inside is not all that inviting either.

Word count to date = 8,009

Another day of pattering down many many words that lead in circles. Today I questioned the time in which I start my story. I had for the most part assumed it would start in the near-modern times and that the fantasy world that my character journeys to would be rather medieval. I have gone back and forth with questions about how women are perceived in my fantasy world, and I many times imagine my main character in a dress. Well, no girl in modern times wears dresses. So today I toyed with the idea of having her start from the 1940 or so, a very female-centric time to be living it (many men off to war). This would also set up the feelings of war within her and ready her to accept them when she entertains the problems in the fantasy world. Huh. I need to go to an antique shop and pick up a 1940s yearbook...

Still on birthday vacation and the place we're staying at serves a lot of horrible food. I couldn't even figure out last night, as we ate the slop, what in the world the "beef and vegetable barley soup" tasted so awfully of - rotten celery? I got a lousy Caesar salad (just limp lettuce on a plate with stale croutons, a slice of gummy garlic bread and some lackadaisical dressing with cheese), a cup of gritty clam chowder (which, I will admit, at least tasted as I expected it to) and a bowl of the aforementioned beef-free beef and vegetable soup. Total bill was over $20!!

Word count to date = 5,903

Things are inching along like a worm though compost. Slimy, unpleasant, eating up garbage and pooping out dirt which, at least, can be used to grow something pleasant. Man, that metaphor is more apt than I expected. I should call this blog "The Merry Exploits of a Garbage Writer."

I did an anagram of my name to pass the time. I came up with "Has a trash bar," or "Shat a bra rash." Ha. I like the first one..

11/03/2006 (written offline to be uploaded latter)

Today is the day after my birthday. Slight headache from staying up too late reading Eragon in bad light.

Total word count 3,933.

I would like to get it over 4000 today, or write another three pages if I have the time. The problem is, I am away from home and typing on an unfamiliar keyboard and so the words aren't coming as easily or as comfortably. I wrote a whole lot more garbage today, regressed my main character back to age 15 and burned down a school. Don't you love it when your story runs away from you?

ARG! I gotta get to work (that is, my day job!)

2500+ words total now.

Most of what I wrote today was important, but will most likely be trashed. I was struggling with the age of my main character. Nine is too young, I am sick of stories about 13 year olds, and 17 seems too old... I realized that the reason most stories are written with protags at puberty is because at that time, besides being totally messed up by hormones, people haven't been given the rights to make their own choices yet. By age 16 or 17, they have pretty much made up their minds (even if they don't realize it) about what they want to do and what they believe in. So I ended up going with the older age. Plus I want her to have a romance, and 13-year-olds getting it on is just icky.

Greetings! This is a journal of my efforts and my life during National Novel Writer's Month. Yay. One month, 30 days (why did they pick such a short month?), 50,000 words (which, I hear, isn’t even that long a novel).

Day one.

1400 word.

So far so good.

Once upon a time, my auntie Jean gave me "Arrows of the Queen" by Mercedes Lackey for my 13th birthday. I devoured that book, and the others in the Valdemar series. I didn't like all of them (and actually now, I’m not very interested in rereading them!) but they all held my attention in one way or another, and in such a fashion that I longed to write a story (or trilogy) of my own. At that time, I started forming scenes in my mind, and by age 17, I had started laying down characters and stories and trying to tie it all together.

My plot is a tenuous thread made of old, fragile material that stretches and twists and tangles in the wind. It has snapped a few times, and I have worked to knit it back together or tie it to other threads branching out in many different directions. It is my hope that, by the end of this month, it shall be a hearty rope, binding my ideas in one cohesive story.

A worthy and noble thing to work for. We’ll see if I can do it…