Despite having several hours to myself, it took me a really long time to get into the swing of writing. I really think the setting has a lot to do with it, because I tend to be a lot more productive when I'm back in my bedroom than when I'm sitting in the living room with some background noise.
I had to skip over a chapter today, which is almost a first, because I had so many ideas for the following chapter that I didn't want them to flee out of my head. Of course, now I"m going to have to go back and add in a whole chapter, which will be difficult from a formatting perspective, and I'll probably throw something off in the subsequent chapters, but whatever. That's what editing is for, right?
Here's today's excerpt:
Deedee shrugged. “It’s your dream. You can either wake up, or we can risk staying in the dream world and just leave this… place.”
Sophia took a deep breath and imagined being back in her bed. She opened her eyes and frowned at Michael. “I’m not entirely sure how to wake up. I’ve always just… woken up.”
Michael and Deedee exchanged glances, then Michael pulled out a gun, pointing it at Sophia’s heart.
Sophia held up her hands slowly and started to back away, only to bump into one of the large wooden crates being held in the warehouse. “What are you doing?”
Michael shrugged and cocked the gun. Sophia closed her eyes tightly, her heart pounding loudly. A loud bang sounded and Sophia bolted upright in bed. She felt down her body quickly to assess for injuries, then slowly let out a breath. Deedee woke up gracefully, and Michael materialized before her. She glared and slapped him.
“The hell were you doing pointing a gun at me?” Sophia demanded,folding her arms across her chest.
I half did that scene for comic relief, and half because I couldn't figure out another way to have Sophia wake up from a dream without it seeming like she was capable of doing everything on her first try.
NaNo Stats:
Days: 16
Words Today: 2568
Total Words: 15,586
Words Remaining: 34,414
Average Words/Day: 978
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Friday, November 15, 2013
NaNo 2013: Day 15
So I had an interview today. I'm not sure how it went. I have a feeling I won't match there. I hope I do, but I have a hunch I won't. Maybe if I start preparing myself now, I won't be devastated come March.
Anyway, I did manage to actually do my word count for today, though it was pretty hard with the kids upstairs running around, and getting a headache, and just overall feeling exhausted. And there's no fluffy couches at my mom's place to chill out on, which makes it really difficult to get into writing. You don't realize how much you rely on certain conditions until you're without them again. Next week's interview should be interesting, since I'll lose about 12 hours to driving, and won't be staying in a hotel, so I'll actually have to play friends with my host. We'll see how it goes.
Here's your excerpt for today. It relates directly to the events in Hidden Souls. I'm not entirely sure how much of this plot I'm going to keep, and how much I'm going to use it to revise HS. We'll see, I suppose.
Sophia heard footsteps coming from around the corner. Without thinking, she jumped behind one of the tall pallets of sand surrounding the outside wall of the warehouse. The lights swung back and forth, the bulbs covered with grime and shining a dull light on the rows of boxes. She could hardly make out her own hand, let alone anything else in the large room. Still, the sound of foot falls got louder as she started to make out a faint whisper. Straining to hear more, she leaned over to look around the pallet.
"We have done everything you've asked," a man said, his voice strained with tension.
"Not everything, I'm afraid. You were to make sure that no one else knew she was here," a soft, feminine voice responded. "I understand that there was a girl here, that she was snooping around in the office upstairs."
NaNo Stats:
Days: 15
Words today: 1766
Total Words: 13,018
Words Remaining: 36,982
Average words per day: 868
On the bright side, the word count in Google Drive seems to match up fairly well with the NaNo validator, so maybe it won't be so difficult to hit my word count on the last day.
Anyway, I did manage to actually do my word count for today, though it was pretty hard with the kids upstairs running around, and getting a headache, and just overall feeling exhausted. And there's no fluffy couches at my mom's place to chill out on, which makes it really difficult to get into writing. You don't realize how much you rely on certain conditions until you're without them again. Next week's interview should be interesting, since I'll lose about 12 hours to driving, and won't be staying in a hotel, so I'll actually have to play friends with my host. We'll see how it goes.
Here's your excerpt for today. It relates directly to the events in Hidden Souls. I'm not entirely sure how much of this plot I'm going to keep, and how much I'm going to use it to revise HS. We'll see, I suppose.
Sophia heard footsteps coming from around the corner. Without thinking, she jumped behind one of the tall pallets of sand surrounding the outside wall of the warehouse. The lights swung back and forth, the bulbs covered with grime and shining a dull light on the rows of boxes. She could hardly make out her own hand, let alone anything else in the large room. Still, the sound of foot falls got louder as she started to make out a faint whisper. Straining to hear more, she leaned over to look around the pallet.
"We have done everything you've asked," a man said, his voice strained with tension.
"Not everything, I'm afraid. You were to make sure that no one else knew she was here," a soft, feminine voice responded. "I understand that there was a girl here, that she was snooping around in the office upstairs."
NaNo Stats:
Days: 15
Words today: 1766
Total Words: 13,018
Words Remaining: 36,982
Average words per day: 868
On the bright side, the word count in Google Drive seems to match up fairly well with the NaNo validator, so maybe it won't be so difficult to hit my word count on the last day.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
NaNo 2013: Days 13-14
So I didn't get much of a chance to write yesterday, because I spent half the day on a plane (as it turns out, I can read my book on Google Drive while offline, but they don't allow me to edit it. Which kinda defeats the purpose), and the other half spending time with my mom and sister. And I went to bed fairly early Colorado time, since I had to wake up before dawn on the east coast to catch my plane.
At any rate, I did a bit of catching up today. Not as much as I wanted, but some. It's going to be a real struggle to get this challenge won this year. I'm about halfway toward the goal so far, which means I essentially have to double my word count daily in order to catch up. And with traveling and interviews, that might be a bit of a challenge. We shall see.
Anyway, here's your excerpt for today:
Under the cover of the students rummaging through their bags and the folding desks moving back into place, she glanced at Michael, eyebrow quirked. “You know you’re not supposed to bother me during class.”
He shrugged unapologetically. “You’ve been avoiding Deedee for a full day now. You do have to talk to her at some point, you know. She is your roommate.”
She slung her book bag over her shoulder and shrugged. “Plenty of roommates get along just fine without talking.”
Michael rolled his eyes. “And you know very well that you are not one of those people.”
Uh oh. Looks like there's a bit of trouble in paradise.
NaNo Stats:
Days: 14
Words today: 1173
Total Words: 11,252
Words Remaining: 38,748
Average words per day: 803
At any rate, I did a bit of catching up today. Not as much as I wanted, but some. It's going to be a real struggle to get this challenge won this year. I'm about halfway toward the goal so far, which means I essentially have to double my word count daily in order to catch up. And with traveling and interviews, that might be a bit of a challenge. We shall see.
Anyway, here's your excerpt for today:
Under the cover of the students rummaging through their bags and the folding desks moving back into place, she glanced at Michael, eyebrow quirked. “You know you’re not supposed to bother me during class.”
He shrugged unapologetically. “You’ve been avoiding Deedee for a full day now. You do have to talk to her at some point, you know. She is your roommate.”
She slung her book bag over her shoulder and shrugged. “Plenty of roommates get along just fine without talking.”
Michael rolled his eyes. “And you know very well that you are not one of those people.”
Uh oh. Looks like there's a bit of trouble in paradise.
NaNo Stats:
Days: 14
Words today: 1173
Total Words: 11,252
Words Remaining: 38,748
Average words per day: 803
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
NaNo 2013: Day 12
I'm slowly catching up. I cranked out words today, but I can only do so much at a time before I run out of ideas. But I am keeping ahead of the daily goal, so hopefully within the next week or so, I'll manage to get all caught up and hopefully manage to win this year. It would suck to lose on the year that's supposed to be the easiest in med school.
So I mentioned that I hadn't finished editing Hidden Souls prior to starting this one. I haven't decided whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, but more and more things are coming out about Hidden Souls as I write this one. The motivation of the antagonist, primarily. Which is what I was struggling with in the editing. So maybe I'll have a nice plot to work back into Hidden Souls retroactively. Or maybe I'll decide both story lines suck and just trash the whole thing. Who knows.
Here's your teaser for today:
Sophia remained quiet for several moments, before glancing back at Michael. “What did you two talk about?”
Michael tilted his head. “Us two?”
Sophia shrugged, picking at her bedspread absently. “You and Deedee.” At his raised eyebrow, she spread her hands. “Clearly you were talking long enough for you to blurt out something about me being in trouble, and you were convincing enough for her to sprint over here, so I’m just curious what you were talking about initially.”
He chuckled softly. “You’re jealous.”
She glared at him and raised her chin defiantly. “I’m not jealous. I’m just… not used to this whole dynamic with someone else being able to talk to you.”
He tapped her chin with his knuckle and smiled. “Don’t worry. We weren’t talking about you. She was asking about my death. And I gave her the same runaround I gave you.”
She swatted at his hand. “You still haven’t told me how you died. Or your last name, for that matter.”
He shrugged. “Need to know basis, sweets. And right now, you don’t need to know.”
NaNo Stats:
Days: 12
Words today: 2547
Total Words: 10,079 (roughly even with day 6 now)
Words Remaining: 39,921
Average words per day: 839
Also, as an aside, I've been working in google docs for the past week or so, mostly so I could write at work without having to save documents to the hard drive and whatnot. I just copied everything I had into my OpenOffice document, and the word count came out roughly 300 words higher. That does not bode well for validation season.
So I mentioned that I hadn't finished editing Hidden Souls prior to starting this one. I haven't decided whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, but more and more things are coming out about Hidden Souls as I write this one. The motivation of the antagonist, primarily. Which is what I was struggling with in the editing. So maybe I'll have a nice plot to work back into Hidden Souls retroactively. Or maybe I'll decide both story lines suck and just trash the whole thing. Who knows.
Here's your teaser for today:
Sophia remained quiet for several moments, before glancing back at Michael. “What did you two talk about?”
Michael tilted his head. “Us two?”
Sophia shrugged, picking at her bedspread absently. “You and Deedee.” At his raised eyebrow, she spread her hands. “Clearly you were talking long enough for you to blurt out something about me being in trouble, and you were convincing enough for her to sprint over here, so I’m just curious what you were talking about initially.”
He chuckled softly. “You’re jealous.”
She glared at him and raised her chin defiantly. “I’m not jealous. I’m just… not used to this whole dynamic with someone else being able to talk to you.”
He tapped her chin with his knuckle and smiled. “Don’t worry. We weren’t talking about you. She was asking about my death. And I gave her the same runaround I gave you.”
She swatted at his hand. “You still haven’t told me how you died. Or your last name, for that matter.”
He shrugged. “Need to know basis, sweets. And right now, you don’t need to know.”
NaNo Stats:
Days: 12
Words today: 2547
Total Words: 10,079 (roughly even with day 6 now)
Words Remaining: 39,921
Average words per day: 839
Also, as an aside, I've been working in google docs for the past week or so, mostly so I could write at work without having to save documents to the hard drive and whatnot. I just copied everything I had into my OpenOffice document, and the word count came out roughly 300 words higher. That does not bode well for validation season.
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