Meri Benson's Blog, page 21

NaNoWriMo – Check In – Day 19

Thursdays are my hardest days at work. They’re the days that I have a seminar to set up for, and then clean up, and my lunch break ends up being all of 30 minutes due to this seminar. Which also means that I’ve got little to no writing time because during that break for lunch I have to actually eat too. And then there’s the planning, and gathering before hand of all the things needed for said seminar too.

All of this leads me to why my words written today is the number of a plane. Now if you’ll excuse me, Ill be sticking my head into my novel as much as possible today.

Words Written Today: 737

Total: 20,893

First Sentence:

“She’s right, Stephan.

Last Sentence:

Thanks.

NaNoWriMo – Check In – Day 18

I’m calling tonight quits early, though, to be fair, this is actually later than I’ve been staying up to write most nights this week. I’m still far from catching up, and every day I don’t write around 2K or more I’m falling even more behind. But! I’ve written the most today out of the rest of this week, so I’m going to call it a win. My word counts are slowly getting stronger than before, and right now I think that’s the most important thing. My story is getting written, and my word counts are growing day by day.

Words Written Today: 1,155

Total: 20,156

First Sentence:

Samantha offered idly as she snapped a couple new pictures of the yarn shop’s wall.

Last Sentence: 

It doesn’t undercut your power or position, in fact, it helps you look better at your job because people can see that you know when to reach out and actually ask for help.

NaNoWriMo – Check In – Day 17

Time. It’s the bane of my existence. I always end up feeling inspired, and wanting to work on my novel when I can’t. And yesterday, my quiet afternoon was taken up by a doctor’s appointment that lasted an hour and a half. I’m having my leg looked at after the accident last week, because I’ve been having pain and it’s been hard to walk and move around much after a day of working. During the appointment, I was poked and prodded and stretched to see what hurt the worst and to assess wheres and possible why’s. They’re figuring I hit my leg on the door when I felt the car jerk, and it’s bruising on the muscle that needs time to heal. Week on anti-inflamitory meds and if it’s not better I’m to see a physical therapist and get their opinion on what’s going on.

But after that, I crashed hard from the tired from pain, because of course being poked, prodded and stretched meant that I was in pain more than normal.

Summary being, I got nearly no where on my novel. I hit 19K though, so small achievement. I’m hoping to get some done this afternoon. And most of my office will be out next week for Thanksgiving plans and vacations and things, so I’m crossing fingers that next week will be a super charged word count-ness. I can hope at least. Heh.

Words Written Today: 306

Total: 19,001

First Sentence:

Katherine paused, brow arching as she watched him stare at her.

Last Sentence:

Or in the path of getting back to camp for whoever is causing this.

NaNoWriMo – Check In – Day 16

Well, the kitten makes up for the low word count from yesterday, right?

Words Written Today: 564

Total: 18,695

First Sentence:

Katherine moved around Mitch to get a closer look at the tarp.

Last Sentence: 

But instead, you’re staring at me as I talk to the vendors.

What to Count – NaNoWriMo Thoughts and Questions

So, with NaNo in full swing, I find myself asking a couple questions. First and foremost, will I get my word count by the end of the month? If you’ve been following my check in updates, you’ll know that I’m not exactly anywhere close to my word count needs, being that I just topped 18k last night and should be closer to 26k by the end of today. Every day I don’t get at least double my word count, I fall farther and father behind and I hate that. But I’m trying not to let the stress of it all get me down.

I’m trying to focus more on the story and just getting the writing done than the word count itself, because if I focus on just how far behind I am, I won’t be able to write because the stress will lock down my brain. And that just helps no one.

So I write, and I toil away to just get down what I can and focus on my story.

But this morning, while working on my other blog, I had to ask myself, is it only my novel that I should be counting? I run a Sims 4 Legacy blog that is, in and of itself, like an on going novel that I write Monday mornings to be released throughout the week. Should I be counting the fiction in these posts as well?

If I counted them – just so far of what’s written, it’d jump me to be closer to 22k. That’s right, another 4k words just from my Sims 4 blog. Or maybe I should just add this amount to my final total on the 30th, and surprise myself with how much it’s contributing.

I mean, to be fair, they are a fiction story that I’m writing during November. Just because it’s a different story, should I exclude it from my NaNo?

What do you think, dear readers? Should I surprise myself by tallying my Sims 4 story at the end of the month and adding it to my novel count? Should I not count it at all, even though it is fiction being written now in the heat of NaNo?

NaNoWriMo – Check In – Day 15

Today has been better then the past few days, or to be honest, the last week as a whole. I think I wrote more this weekend than I was able to get out in the entire week last week. I’m still no where near the word count that I need to be, but I feel like I’ve been able to get my momentum back. And I’m hoping to keep the momentum I’ve found and let it carry me to higher numbers this coming week.

Wish me luck. How is your November coming?

Words Written Today: 1,520

Total: 18,131

First Sentence:

And you both deserve to be happy.

Last Sentence: 

I’m going to have to replace two of the sides.

NaNoWriMo – Check In – Day 14

Today is coming to an end. I’m not nearly where I wish I was, but most of my morning ended up out with my mom so I can’t say that I’m disappointed either. I was able to get more words than I had before down. And I think I’m in a really good place to continue tomorrow.

Words Written Today: 1,410

Total: 16,611

First Sentence:

Katherine tugged Darrion forward.

Last Sentence: 

You look incredibly happy, and so does Finn.

NaNoWriMo – Check In – Day 13

Friday the 13th. Depending on how superstitious you are, it could be a bad day, a good day, or just your average Friday. For me, in the past, it’s been a pretty good day of the year. We’ll see if that holds true for me today (this was written at the start of the day.) 

And unfortunately, Friday wasn’t all that helpful toward my word count. I just kind of crashed after a hectic day of work.

Words Written Today: 156

Total: 15,201

First Sentence: 

The crowd cheered, taking a minute for Stephan to be able to quiet them down so the next person could introduce himself.

Last Sentence: 

And loving every moment of it.

NaNoWriMo – Check In – Day 12

Whelp. Thursday didn’t really go as planned either. I’m not going to stop hoping though. Nor am I going to stop working toward and for it. I will get back on track, even if it takes all weekend to do it – and pending where I end today (Friday), it just might.

I’m determined to not let this get the better of me over all.

Words Written Today: 390

Total: 15,045

First Sentence: 

Katherine wasn’t sure if Samantha could turn a brighter shade of pink, as her head dipped and she motioned for people to come and get their food.

Last Sentence:

Kalli smiled as she stepped back out of the limelight and waved for the next person to take over.

NaNoWriMo – Check In – Day 11

 So. This week has been just one stress after another in my life. It all started with a car accident Monday morning on the way into work, and has just kind of snowballed from there. Tuesday was just a myriad of small things that creeped up on me, but I was able to walk away with a decent word count. Wednesday, not so much. The day started slow, which had been nice, and snowballed into problem after problem that left me too stressed to write while I was at work. And then when I got home, planning to write, and because of the storm we had in my area, I lost power and wasn’t able to write. Because my whole story is on GDoc, which I need internet in order to access. So over all, it wasn’t a great night, and so far it just hasn’t been a great week. I’m hoping that it’ll be better today and tomorrow, but there’s also just me grasping at the weekend.

Words Written Today: 555

Total: 14,655

First Sentence: 

Kind of like what you’re doing with Samantha, Kat.

Last Sentence: 

The way you two looked at each other, I just knew it would lead to great places.