Caitlin McColl's Blog, page 2
August 17, 2011
Camp Nano - Day 17
Today's wordcount: 2,760
Today was AWFUL. The worst day yet of writing! I managed to write the first thousand words earlier today on my lunch break. But once I got home, the last 1,500 words were agonizing, and the last 500 even more so! I've been writing ever since I got home about 4:30 today (on and off with lots of distractions and eating dinner). It's now ten past 9 and I'm finally done my word count for the day (actually over, as you can see). But man, that section just wrung every little bit of blood, sweat and ink out of me!
There's this quite well known quote about writing that I'm sure most writers already know and its: There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. ~Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith. Really?! Well if that's the case I've bled myself dry for today.I really liked what I wrote and I liked what I created - the visuals, the world. I didn't even think I'd be taking my story over to the UK (however briefly it was - which was about 2,700 words worth!) but it ended up that way, and I liked it. Its cool AND there's fireflies! which is weird because now there's fireflies in both The Clockwork Universe and Under A Starlit Sky! I don't know if that was really intentional. It just came to me a few minutes before I had to go eat dinner. But I like it! what's more 'camp'-ish that fireflies? (besides s'mores and sing-a-longs that is). Not much! Funny thing is, even though I mention them now in both books, I don't think I've ever seen fireflies in real life (though I have found out all about them just tonight doing some on-the-spot research!). And bizarrely, in Under a Starlit Sky when one of my characters said there was fireflies (geographically) was totally correct! (and one of the few places in BC that fireflies actually are! and I just found that out tonight!).So I guess unless I drive about 6 or more hours east, I don't think I'll be seeing actual living fireflies any time soon. Ah well, they can be in my books :).
Anyways, I'll stop here. I think I'll only write another few thousand words on this section. Maybe two more days worth. Then onto the final part of the book!and back to where my main characters life is hanging in the balance!
Villains story wordcount: 11,136. Gonna maybe write another 3,000 words or so for his story. maybe write until about 15k. Because his story won't end here, it'll continue on in the final part mixed in with the other two story veins.
Total wordcount: 52,955
Today was AWFUL. The worst day yet of writing! I managed to write the first thousand words earlier today on my lunch break. But once I got home, the last 1,500 words were agonizing, and the last 500 even more so! I've been writing ever since I got home about 4:30 today (on and off with lots of distractions and eating dinner). It's now ten past 9 and I'm finally done my word count for the day (actually over, as you can see). But man, that section just wrung every little bit of blood, sweat and ink out of me!
There's this quite well known quote about writing that I'm sure most writers already know and its: There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. ~Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith. Really?! Well if that's the case I've bled myself dry for today.I really liked what I wrote and I liked what I created - the visuals, the world. I didn't even think I'd be taking my story over to the UK (however briefly it was - which was about 2,700 words worth!) but it ended up that way, and I liked it. Its cool AND there's fireflies! which is weird because now there's fireflies in both The Clockwork Universe and Under A Starlit Sky! I don't know if that was really intentional. It just came to me a few minutes before I had to go eat dinner. But I like it! what's more 'camp'-ish that fireflies? (besides s'mores and sing-a-longs that is). Not much! Funny thing is, even though I mention them now in both books, I don't think I've ever seen fireflies in real life (though I have found out all about them just tonight doing some on-the-spot research!). And bizarrely, in Under a Starlit Sky when one of my characters said there was fireflies (geographically) was totally correct! (and one of the few places in BC that fireflies actually are! and I just found that out tonight!).So I guess unless I drive about 6 or more hours east, I don't think I'll be seeing actual living fireflies any time soon. Ah well, they can be in my books :).
Anyways, I'll stop here. I think I'll only write another few thousand words on this section. Maybe two more days worth. Then onto the final part of the book!and back to where my main characters life is hanging in the balance!
Villains story wordcount: 11,136. Gonna maybe write another 3,000 words or so for his story. maybe write until about 15k. Because his story won't end here, it'll continue on in the final part mixed in with the other two story veins.
Total wordcount: 52,955
August 16, 2011
Camp Nano - Day 16 - 50,000 word mark hit!
Today's wordcount: 2,778
My stats on the Camp Nanowrimo site actually say I have minus 195 words remaining and I need -13 words per day to finish on time. That doesn't even make any sense!
In any case, I actually reached the 50,000 word 'goal' of Camp (and regular NaNoWriMo)! even though I still have about 30,000 more words to go, I feel as if a large weight has been lifted off my shoulders - one I didn't even realize I had, to be honest!
I'm kind of amazed I wrote nearly 2,800 words today basically with my antagonist snooping around the site of his disaster and then being interviewed by the cops. Huh. Oh and I introduced his sister - well, not physically, but mentioned
Not sure what to write about tomorrow about my villain. Any ideas? I know none of you know what's happened so far...but any suggestions are better than none - even if you don't have any idea what's happened - it might be something I would never have thought of otherwise. So please, feel free to comment on here or Facebook (or Twitter) whereever you read this!
Total wordcount: 50,195!
My stats on the Camp Nanowrimo site actually say I have minus 195 words remaining and I need -13 words per day to finish on time. That doesn't even make any sense!
In any case, I actually reached the 50,000 word 'goal' of Camp (and regular NaNoWriMo)! even though I still have about 30,000 more words to go, I feel as if a large weight has been lifted off my shoulders - one I didn't even realize I had, to be honest!
I'm kind of amazed I wrote nearly 2,800 words today basically with my antagonist snooping around the site of his disaster and then being interviewed by the cops. Huh. Oh and I introduced his sister - well, not physically, but mentioned
Not sure what to write about tomorrow about my villain. Any ideas? I know none of you know what's happened so far...but any suggestions are better than none - even if you don't have any idea what's happened - it might be something I would never have thought of otherwise. So please, feel free to comment on here or Facebook (or Twitter) whereever you read this!
Total wordcount: 50,195!
August 15, 2011
Camp Nano - Day 15
Today's wordcount: 2,856
Hmmm. My villain is heading to a police station to be interviewed as a witness to some destruction that he actually caused but managed to lie his way out of it. That was unexpected! Tomorrow he'll be at the police station being interviewed - and of course lying about who he is (he's already lied about why he was wandering around the ruins of a building he caused to be destroyed).
I'm really kind of liking the evil-inventor person my villain is turning out to be. Not as a person, mind you, but just the other stuff. He's very complex and...unbalanced.
I'm excited and having fun building my world and inventing the technologies (or lack of!).
Looking forward to writing tomorrow and the third day of telling my antagonists story.
Oh and look - tomorrow I should hit the 50,000k mark! the 'goal' of Camp NaNoWriMo.
Total wordcount: 47,417
Hmmm. My villain is heading to a police station to be interviewed as a witness to some destruction that he actually caused but managed to lie his way out of it. That was unexpected! Tomorrow he'll be at the police station being interviewed - and of course lying about who he is (he's already lied about why he was wandering around the ruins of a building he caused to be destroyed).
I'm really kind of liking the evil-inventor person my villain is turning out to be. Not as a person, mind you, but just the other stuff. He's very complex and...unbalanced.
I'm excited and having fun building my world and inventing the technologies (or lack of!).
Looking forward to writing tomorrow and the third day of telling my antagonists story.
Oh and look - tomorrow I should hit the 50,000k mark! the 'goal' of Camp NaNoWriMo.
Total wordcount: 47,417
August 14, 2011
Camp Nano - Day 14
Today's wordcount: 2,742
Today I started the villain's part of the story. It started off with someone being killed. Always an exciting start to a story part!
I had a difficult time getting started writing today's 2,500 words (but as you can see I wrote more than that, and once I got started writing this evening things just happened. Things including metal automaton cats! Or well, cat.
I learned that the villain likes to build things. So that's going to be interesting and fun. It seems he
I have no idea what's going to happen in tomorrow's 2,500 words...so I am nervous, an anxious as to what will happen. I guess I'll have to wait and see when I put my fingers to the keys tomorrow!
Total wordcount: 44,561
Today I started the villain's part of the story. It started off with someone being killed. Always an exciting start to a story part!
I had a difficult time getting started writing today's 2,500 words (but as you can see I wrote more than that, and once I got started writing this evening things just happened. Things including metal automaton cats! Or well, cat.
I learned that the villain likes to build things. So that's going to be interesting and fun. It seems he
I have no idea what's going to happen in tomorrow's 2,500 words...so I am nervous, an anxious as to what will happen. I guess I'll have to wait and see when I put my fingers to the keys tomorrow!
Total wordcount: 44,561
August 13, 2011
Camp Nano - Day 13
Today's wordcount: 2,578
13 days in and I just realized I've now reached the halfway point in my novel! (as I'm planning to write 80k, maybe just slightly more - or maybe a lot more, who knows?). In any case, its time to celebrate! But...I don't drink and we have nothing to eat in the house really that is celebratory (or nothing really at all -some soup, some fries, a couple eggs, one piece of bread, a banana).
Just at the end of today's word count the Emperor has met my main character. So the first part of the book, and the second have now collided. Once I finish delving into a bit more of their encounter tomorrow, I'm going to switch gears and move onto the 3rd part of the book - the villains story. I don't have any clue what I'm going to be writing about with the villain really. I have a vague idea that is only a few sentences long. I have his character profile and a bit of back story/history. And that's it. It'll be a focus on the war in my story. I think. Somehow.
Total wordcount: 40,131
13 days in and I just realized I've now reached the halfway point in my novel! (as I'm planning to write 80k, maybe just slightly more - or maybe a lot more, who knows?). In any case, its time to celebrate! But...I don't drink and we have nothing to eat in the house really that is celebratory (or nothing really at all -some soup, some fries, a couple eggs, one piece of bread, a banana).
Just at the end of today's word count the Emperor has met my main character. So the first part of the book, and the second have now collided. Once I finish delving into a bit more of their encounter tomorrow, I'm going to switch gears and move onto the 3rd part of the book - the villains story. I don't have any clue what I'm going to be writing about with the villain really. I have a vague idea that is only a few sentences long. I have his character profile and a bit of back story/history. And that's it. It'll be a focus on the war in my story. I think. Somehow.
Total wordcount: 40,131
August 12, 2011
Camp Nano - Day 12
Today's wordcount: 5,375
Look up there. It's only 3:30pm and I've written that today. That would explain why my hands are sore!
I'm treating myself to watching LA and NY Ink that I taped last night which is what I'm watching right now!
At the moment I can't even remember really where I started writing at the beginning of these 5,000 odd words! All I know is a lot of big stuff has happened. And a really surprising thing happened as well! I figured out how the Emperor and his wife met - which I hadn't even planned on! So that was really neat.
Okay, now i'm going to sign off and RELAX for the rest of the day!
Total wordcount: 37,553
Look up there. It's only 3:30pm and I've written that today. That would explain why my hands are sore!
I'm treating myself to watching LA and NY Ink that I taped last night which is what I'm watching right now!
At the moment I can't even remember really where I started writing at the beginning of these 5,000 odd words! All I know is a lot of big stuff has happened. And a really surprising thing happened as well! I figured out how the Emperor and his wife met - which I hadn't even planned on! So that was really neat.
Okay, now i'm going to sign off and RELAX for the rest of the day!
Total wordcount: 37,553
August 11, 2011
Camp Nano - Day 11
Today's wordcount: 2,808
I surprised myself in more ways than one today. 1) I surpassed my wordcount by a lot more than I expected. And 2) what I thought would happen did happen, but in a totally different an unexpected way. Like...I can't even describe it! Mind you, I didn't really have a solid idea of what was going to happen, just a vague one. And the outcome is still the same, but it occurred in a totally different setting, but one that fits the story a whole lot better than my original plan. If you knew what any of this referred to that I'm talking about then it would make a lot more sense. But of course I'm not telling you! It would spoil the story and probably sound silly or stupid (or both!) because it would be totally out of context and I would have to explain the entire story from the very beginning...but I'm not going to do that. Sorry.
It's only 9:02pm and I'm done for the day! (well, once I finish this blog post). And I'm not working tomorrow as I said in my (ahem) post yesterday...so my goal tomorrow is try and write 5,000 words. But if I don't, that's fine because I already wrote 300 more words tonight than I planned. And I know i'll be able to write at least another 2,500 tomorrow.
I stopped writing at a really exciting/shocking part tonight and I kind of wanted to keep going, but at the same time wanted to start fresh tomorrow with a clear head. So I stopped at a point that's a great catalyst for tomorrow's writing journey!
I'll try my best to sleep in a bit tomorrow (since my husband will be working) even though I don't do well with sleeping in late, and then I'll get started on writing. I hope tomorrow (and the rest of the weekend) will go more quickly and smoothly than last weekend where it seemed to be a struggle to write despite having the whole day in which to write! I seemed to find anything and everything a distraction and a way to procrastinate which was very frustrating when I wanted to get all my writing done and out of the way first thing in the morning!
I've realized I've now written almost 10,500 words of the Emperor's story! I plan to write 20,000 words (or close to) before either jumping back to what was happening in the first part of the book or onto a third and altogether different character and story arc. What do you all think?
Now off to read some book on my Kobo Touch! (currently reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, but also just downloaded a free prequel ebook by Kady Cross, author of The Steampunk Ch
Total wordcount: 32,178
I surprised myself in more ways than one today. 1) I surpassed my wordcount by a lot more than I expected. And 2) what I thought would happen did happen, but in a totally different an unexpected way. Like...I can't even describe it! Mind you, I didn't really have a solid idea of what was going to happen, just a vague one. And the outcome is still the same, but it occurred in a totally different setting, but one that fits the story a whole lot better than my original plan. If you knew what any of this referred to that I'm talking about then it would make a lot more sense. But of course I'm not telling you! It would spoil the story and probably sound silly or stupid (or both!) because it would be totally out of context and I would have to explain the entire story from the very beginning...but I'm not going to do that. Sorry.
It's only 9:02pm and I'm done for the day! (well, once I finish this blog post). And I'm not working tomorrow as I said in my (ahem) post yesterday...so my goal tomorrow is try and write 5,000 words. But if I don't, that's fine because I already wrote 300 more words tonight than I planned. And I know i'll be able to write at least another 2,500 tomorrow.
I stopped writing at a really exciting/shocking part tonight and I kind of wanted to keep going, but at the same time wanted to start fresh tomorrow with a clear head. So I stopped at a point that's a great catalyst for tomorrow's writing journey!
I'll try my best to sleep in a bit tomorrow (since my husband will be working) even though I don't do well with sleeping in late, and then I'll get started on writing. I hope tomorrow (and the rest of the weekend) will go more quickly and smoothly than last weekend where it seemed to be a struggle to write despite having the whole day in which to write! I seemed to find anything and everything a distraction and a way to procrastinate which was very frustrating when I wanted to get all my writing done and out of the way first thing in the morning!
I've realized I've now written almost 10,500 words of the Emperor's story! I plan to write 20,000 words (or close to) before either jumping back to what was happening in the first part of the book or onto a third and altogether different character and story arc. What do you all think?
Now off to read some book on my Kobo Touch! (currently reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, but also just downloaded a free prequel ebook by Kady Cross, author of The Steampunk Ch
Total wordcount: 32,178
August 10, 2011
Camp Nano Day 10
Wordcount today: 2,516
Okay, okay, so I didn't actually post this last night on the 10th (shhh, no one has to know! look, even my blog says the 10th ;P), but I'm posting it only 6 hours later. So there. I was exhausted and didn't really want to type anymore. I haven't had a good nights sleep for the last week due to stupid loud road construction on a highway near my house that starts up about 9:30 pm and continues until at least 2am! And even though my wordcount from yesterday has now been erased from my stats on the Campnanowrimo.org website, I still remembered was it was because it was pitifully low (for me).
Later today (maybe during lunch at work so I'm not having to write the whole evening away!) I'm actually looking forward to what's going to happen. Not to one of the characters, but at least I know more of what to write about in the beginning than I have the last 2 days! And tomorrow as well should be pretty covered. Yay - I'm so relieved! It's quite difficult trying to write 80,000 words in 31 days when you have a vague idea what you're writing about, with plot markers along the way - but you have to fill the space between the plot markers - with words - lots and LOTS of words!
I'm sitting here thinking I've only written probably around 10,000 words or so of the Emperor's story. In one respect it sounds like a lot that I have another 10,000 words to go - but at the same time, I still have a lot more to try and get out and explain about him! When you're writing a minimum of 2,500 words a day, it kind of flies by quite quickly. I'm amazed I'm already almost at 30,000 words of my story. But then I think, wait a minute...I still have another 50,000 to write!
But I'm pushing that thought out of my head right now and I'm just going to think about it on a day by day basis. One day at a time, one measley 2,500. And in 20 days, just 20 little days - about 3 weeks, i'll have finished a novel! I know it's going to be full of typos because my Alphasmart keys are kind of stiff, but at least it'll be down on the page! As long as I can figure out what the typos mean afterwards!
It's 6:30am. I'm going to be heading off to work for the day but thankfully it's my Friday! But that still doesn't mean I can take the day off writing and skip a day - as my husband keeps saying to me since I'm 'ahead' of the normal Camp Nanowrimo wordcount!
He doesn't understand! This is as much a challenge of me sticking to writing 2,500 words every day no matter what, as it is to write 81,000 words in 31 days and at the end of the month have a completed rough draft.
I'll be back later tonight to write day Eleven's blog post!
Wordcount total: 29,370
Okay, okay, so I didn't actually post this last night on the 10th (shhh, no one has to know! look, even my blog says the 10th ;P), but I'm posting it only 6 hours later. So there. I was exhausted and didn't really want to type anymore. I haven't had a good nights sleep for the last week due to stupid loud road construction on a highway near my house that starts up about 9:30 pm and continues until at least 2am! And even though my wordcount from yesterday has now been erased from my stats on the Campnanowrimo.org website, I still remembered was it was because it was pitifully low (for me).
Later today (maybe during lunch at work so I'm not having to write the whole evening away!) I'm actually looking forward to what's going to happen. Not to one of the characters, but at least I know more of what to write about in the beginning than I have the last 2 days! And tomorrow as well should be pretty covered. Yay - I'm so relieved! It's quite difficult trying to write 80,000 words in 31 days when you have a vague idea what you're writing about, with plot markers along the way - but you have to fill the space between the plot markers - with words - lots and LOTS of words!
I'm sitting here thinking I've only written probably around 10,000 words or so of the Emperor's story. In one respect it sounds like a lot that I have another 10,000 words to go - but at the same time, I still have a lot more to try and get out and explain about him! When you're writing a minimum of 2,500 words a day, it kind of flies by quite quickly. I'm amazed I'm already almost at 30,000 words of my story. But then I think, wait a minute...I still have another 50,000 to write!
But I'm pushing that thought out of my head right now and I'm just going to think about it on a day by day basis. One day at a time, one measley 2,500. And in 20 days, just 20 little days - about 3 weeks, i'll have finished a novel! I know it's going to be full of typos because my Alphasmart keys are kind of stiff, but at least it'll be down on the page! As long as I can figure out what the typos mean afterwards!
It's 6:30am. I'm going to be heading off to work for the day but thankfully it's my Friday! But that still doesn't mean I can take the day off writing and skip a day - as my husband keeps saying to me since I'm 'ahead' of the normal Camp Nanowrimo wordcount!
He doesn't understand! This is as much a challenge of me sticking to writing 2,500 words every day no matter what, as it is to write 81,000 words in 31 days and at the end of the month have a completed rough draft.
I'll be back later tonight to write day Eleven's blog post!
Wordcount total: 29,370
August 9, 2011
Camp Nano - Day 9
Today's wordcount: 2,527
I really considered not finishing today's wordcount. I only started writing when I got home from work today and for some reason I started to feel all nauseous and sick and blah. And I thought to myself, maybe I could just write a few hundred words and save the rest for tomorrow? (adding on a few extra tomorrow of course!)
But I decided to break it down and write in little bursts. Fifteen minutes of writing, and then a fifteen minute break from writing. Then another 15 minute spell of writing, followed by another 15 minute break (well, one twenty minute break for dinner). It worked out well, I think. And I enjoyed what I wrote, even though at the start I had no idea what I would be writing about! (except that I knew it would be about The Emperor's character in my story!
Looking forward (with apprehension and excitement!) about tomorrow!
Total wordcount: 26,854
I really considered not finishing today's wordcount. I only started writing when I got home from work today and for some reason I started to feel all nauseous and sick and blah. And I thought to myself, maybe I could just write a few hundred words and save the rest for tomorrow? (adding on a few extra tomorrow of course!)
But I decided to break it down and write in little bursts. Fifteen minutes of writing, and then a fifteen minute break from writing. Then another 15 minute spell of writing, followed by another 15 minute break (well, one twenty minute break for dinner). It worked out well, I think. And I enjoyed what I wrote, even though at the start I had no idea what I would be writing about! (except that I knew it would be about The Emperor's character in my story!
Looking forward (with apprehension and excitement!) about tomorrow!
Total wordcount: 26,854
August 8, 2011
Camp Nano - Day 8
Today's wordcount: 2,563
It's the beginning of week two! Whoo! The week that is infamous in NaNoWriMo circles as being the first slump, for most, in the month of writing their novel - in the third week, people get a second wind. Apparently.
I have to say, today really was a struggle to get my 2500 words. mainly because I didn't start writing til 6pm after I made dinner and my husband wanted us to finish watching all of Hell's Kitchen before I started writing. And it's basically taken me from 6 til 9 to write my wordcount. With a LOT of stopping. To get drinks and...go online for a bit...and... well that's about it really. But I'm really proud I made it and I really like the start to this next part of my book so far. Bringing in characters I hadn't thought of before I started writing. I have no idea where it's going to go tomorrow though!
That's the great thing about writing and not really plotting the story (a la the great and wonderful....Stephen King!) you just never know where it's going to take you!
I wish I could tell you all what was happening so I could get your advice on where to go next with the story, but I don't want to spoil any of it! Darnit! maybe if I just wrote some questions like a multiple choice test. Like: Should the Emperor:
A) shoot a duck during a fishing trip (oohh, how not exciting!)
B) Admit he's actually not an Emperor (shock!)
C) end up quitting as ruler of the country so he could open his own bookstore because that's what he's always dreamed of (Awww, how sweet. Can you even quit something like that?)
D) None of the above
- I would hope you'd choose D) none of the above because I don't think I'd have any of that happen in my story. But I guess you never know!
Lesson learned today: Write sooner in the day rather than later! Wish I could write in the morning before I go to work but that would mean getting up at like
Total wordcount: 24,327
It's the beginning of week two! Whoo! The week that is infamous in NaNoWriMo circles as being the first slump, for most, in the month of writing their novel - in the third week, people get a second wind. Apparently.
I have to say, today really was a struggle to get my 2500 words. mainly because I didn't start writing til 6pm after I made dinner and my husband wanted us to finish watching all of Hell's Kitchen before I started writing. And it's basically taken me from 6 til 9 to write my wordcount. With a LOT of stopping. To get drinks and...go online for a bit...and... well that's about it really. But I'm really proud I made it and I really like the start to this next part of my book so far. Bringing in characters I hadn't thought of before I started writing. I have no idea where it's going to go tomorrow though!
That's the great thing about writing and not really plotting the story (a la the great and wonderful....Stephen King!) you just never know where it's going to take you!
I wish I could tell you all what was happening so I could get your advice on where to go next with the story, but I don't want to spoil any of it! Darnit! maybe if I just wrote some questions like a multiple choice test. Like: Should the Emperor:
A) shoot a duck during a fishing trip (oohh, how not exciting!)
B) Admit he's actually not an Emperor (shock!)
C) end up quitting as ruler of the country so he could open his own bookstore because that's what he's always dreamed of (Awww, how sweet. Can you even quit something like that?)
D) None of the above
- I would hope you'd choose D) none of the above because I don't think I'd have any of that happen in my story. But I guess you never know!
Lesson learned today: Write sooner in the day rather than later! Wish I could write in the morning before I go to work but that would mean getting up at like
Total wordcount: 24,327
