NaNoWriMo Captain's Log, Issue 2

Here's update numero dos:

Day six: 11,879 total. 2891 added (1877 ahead)

Wow, those words just kind of flew out tonight. Building the tension up between characters was a lot of fun, and I knew where the conversations and events all needed to go in order to make two characters really hate each other—and now they do! And now the main plot can begin. Writing is magical.

Day seven: 12,809 total. 930 added (1140 ahead)

Sooooo sleeeeepy. Long day at work, plus cooking a full meal for Josh and myself plus sibs tonight. Can’t go on any further this evening. Need sleep. And braaaaiiiiins. (Note: there are no zombies in this novel.)

Day eight: 13,409 total. 600 added. (73 ahead)

Very tired. Full day teaching from 9-5, plus a few hours grading since first quarter grades are due by midnight on Thursday. Typed for 20 to 30 min, but I can’t devote more time to it tonight. It’s only 10:30, but I need to stop and go get some sleep. The end of Daylight Saving time is really throwing me off right now. Chores are falling to the wayside. Kind of gross.

Day…13: 14,415 total. 1,006 added. (7,251 behind.)

Waaaah. Four days of no progress. Grades were due on the 10^th, and all of my word-resources were directed toward grading student essays rather than creating any words of my own. Was too exhausted Fri. night to do anything, and then was gone from 8 am to 11:30 pm on a trip up to Morro Bay and SLO on Saturday with some friends, so again, no progress. Still exhausted today, and needed to get caught up on laundry, hence the measly increase. At least Thanksgiving Break is coming up next week! I get a whole week off from teaching, and more time to devote to this project. My stat tracker claims that if I keep going at this rate (whatever that means), I will finish on December 18, which is not good. Here’s to cracking the whip!

Day 14: 15,884 total. 1,469 added. (7,454 behind.)

So sleepy. Really going to need Thanksgiving to get caught up.

Day 15: 16,935 total. 1,051 added. (8,064 behind). So exhausted. Falling asleep at keyboard. Almost spelled falling “velling.” Story moving slowly.

Day 16: 19,273 total. 2,338 words added. (7,393 behind). Catch up time! A few slow bits, but mostly moved pretty fluidly. Main character mysteriously obtained a great grandmother in England along the way, but if it works, it works! And now, it’s definitely off to bed.

Day 17: 21,426 total. 2,153 words added. (6,907 behind). NaNoWriMo Word Sprints on Twitter = best resource ever (#NaNoWordSprints). They keep me going when I’m tired. 2,000 words in three hours with snack and internet breaks ain’t too shabby. Story’s going pretty well. Hitting a few rough spots, but I’m told that that is most likely just residual second-week slump since I’m still working on getting caught up. Only one class left to teach this week (Shakespeare, and we’re on Romeo and Juliet), and then I am officially on Thanksgiving Break. Yay! Close that gap!

For reference, here's a copy of my stats page after I logged my words for tonight:






Signing off,


A

NaNoWriMo Captain's Log, Issue 1

Hey guys! Just finished day 5. I'm keeping a Captain's Log of my progress and my thoughts about the whole process, and I thought I'd post updates on the weekends or whenever I'm trying to procrastinate.

So here is issue 1! For reference, the daily goal is to write 1,667 words.

Captain's Log, November 2011

Day one: 2436 total. (769 ahead of the minimum)

Yay! Fun project! Brand new novel! No prior planning! Flying by the seat of my pants! And I’m ahead of my daily minimum!

Day two: 4185 total. 1749 words added (851 ahead)

Yay! I like this still. I like my characters (except for the one you’re not supposed to like). And I like my premise. Still above the minimum (3334), riding the wave of week one success.

Day three: 6028 total. 1843 words added (1027 ahead)

The magic is wearing off a tiny bit, but I’m finding it surprisingly easy to just keep writing. One thing seems to just lead naturally into the next. It’s weirdly convenient, and not really what I was expecting. Hooray?

Day four: 7256 total. 1228 words added (588 ahead)

Herm. Super tired. Only made it a little over a thousand tonight. Still ahead, and really glad for my buffer. Ideas, plot, and character development still flowing freely, but my eyelids are too heavy to allow four hundred more words tonight. G’night!

Day five: 8988 total. 1732 added (653 ahead)

Hm. I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s amazing how much stuff you can get done when you are avoiding doing something else. For instance: washing all of the dirty dishes, hemming the curtains, checking all of the internet things, reading half of a short story, going to Trader Joe’s and Petco… I found it difficult to focus while being around my family as I was writing tonight, but the words got written. The characters seem to be developing nicely, though today was a slow plot day. When not typing, I’m mentally picking out the details of the main action, which is fun, but rather difficult. Looking forward to writing that bit when I come to it. Most of it right now is just setup, which is necessary, but not as exciting, I think.

That's all for now!

A

Happy November!

Wish me luck!


A

Today:

That moment when you are walking back up the stairs, but you have absolutely no memory whatsoever of actually going down the stairs in the first place...

Yeah, that moment.

Much Ado

Prepping simultaneously for The Great Divorce and Much Ado About Nothing. Was wondering why Much Ado ends the way it does, and thought that what I was reading with my students today in GD sheds some light on it.

Benedick: [...] And now tell me, how doth your cousin?

Beatrice: Very ill.

Benedick: And how do you?

Beatrice: Very ill, too.

Benedick: Serve God, love me, and mend.

(V.iii)

Prince:
How dost thou, Benedick, the married man?

Benedick: I'll tell thee what, prince: a college of wit-crackers cannot flout me out of my humor. Dost thou think I care for a satire or an epigram? [...] In brief, since I do purpose to marry, I will think nothing to any purpose that the world can say against it, and therefore never flout at me for what I have said against it. For man is a giddy thing, and this is my conclusion.

[...]

Messenger: [to Prince]
My Lord, your brother John is ta'en in flight,
And brought with armed men back to Messina.

Benedick: [to Prince] Think not on him till tomorrow. I'll devise thee brave punishments for him.--Strike up, pipers!

[Music plays. They dance.]
[They exit.]
Finis.

(V.iv)

"What some people say on Earth is that the final loss of one soul gives the lie to all the joy of those who are saved."

"Ye see it does not."

"I feel in a way that it ought to."

"That sounds very merciful: but see what lurks behind it."

"What?"

"The demand of the loveless and the self-imprisoned that they should be allowed to blackmail the universe: that till they consent to be happy (on their own terms) no one else shall taste joy: that theirs should be the final power; that Hell should be able to veto Heaven."

"I do not know what I want, Sir."

"Son, son, it must be one way or the other. Either the day must come when joy prevails and all the makers of misery are no longer able to infect it: or else for ever and ever the makers of misery can destroy in others the happiness the reject for themselves."

(Great Divorce, Chapter 13)


That's all. G'night!

A

Things that need to go away for a while:

In order of highest to lowest urgency:

1. Termites.

2. Insufferable heat.

3. Headaches.

4. Grading.

5. That twitchy and achy muscle in my left shoulder.

6. Bad vision.

7. Anxiety.

8. Birthdays.

9. Laundry.

10. Inability to drink alcohol.

11. That plumbing problem that has closed off our primary sidewalk for the last week.

12. Pedometers.

10 Things

10 things I learned this month:

1. Bears are pastoral, tragicomic catalysts, esp. in The Winter's Tale, That Hideous Strength, and Descent into Hell. I just gave a presentation on this topic to about 60 students/parents a few weeks ago. It went really well. No one fell asleep. Also, Charles Williams really is the bee's knees.

2. It is really really hard to watch people you love try to deal with losing loved ones. There's been a lot of loss among people I know this year. You can't really comfort them, and it's hard to know how to love them best.

3. If recent conversations count for anything, Josh and I will probably have very little trouble naming our future children. (No one jump to any conclusions here. No babies yet. Although I had this dream...)

4. CSA baskets are also the bee's knees.

4b. This is a really great way to eat kale.

5. When you are stressed out beyond belief, hug a kitten. If this doesn't work, cry into your kitten until your husband comes home. If your husband is as awesome as mine, he may even provide you with excellent dark chocolate to help you feel better.

6. I really love road trips with Josh. We have so much fun because we feel 100% free to be as weird as we like with each other. Minnesotan accents for half an hour talking about "bears and goosepoop"? Awkward droopy-handed guttural laughter? Yes please.

7. Weekend vacations are not ruined even if you have to leave over five hours later than you planned.

8. Just a day and a half in the mountains by the lake can almost make up for a summer full of stress. You'll still wish for more than a day-and-a-half in the mountains by the lake, but it might keep you sane.

9. Pageant of the Masters. Tableaux vivant. Kind of impressive. I was engaged the whole time. But I'm unsure about how I feel about the whole thing. Imitations of imitations? The theme this year was really cool, though.

10. I am really really grateful that my family appreciates art and seeks it out. My brother's co-worker/friend pointed out how unusual that actually is while Ben was making me a latte yesterday after church (he makes phenomenal lattes, by the way. With Latte Art.). I really like this about my family. The art thing and the lattes.


Over and out.

A