Camp NaNo Chronicles 2016: First Week Thoughts

With every NaNoWriMo, I participate in, I always ask myself: What is it about this story that excites me? Every year it surprises me how much or how little I care about my story. Sometimes I get into NaNo with a great idea, but as I keep writing, I feel less and less enthused about the project. Other times, I have so much fun writing and putting my MC in outrageous situations then the next thing I

know I've hit 50,000 words. Granted, I've only won twice. Once in November 2012 and again in July 2014.
As I continue to write this year, I keep asking myself, what made those two years different? Will I burn bright and fast, only to fizzle out after hitting 10k, or will I push through and get to the 50k and have another completed manuscript. Every year, I thought I was in love with a project, only to disappoint myself at the end.
Honestly, if I get in my head too much, it would affect my performance. I have to remind myself why I love to write and why I choose to participate in such a challenge as NaNoWriMo. That's seems like to only way to keep the doubts at bay.
I'm a very busy person, but I have been fortunate enough to find time to write this new story. And I'm happy to report that I have passed the 10k mark. I know for me, it's not much of an accomplishment, because that's where I start fizzing out and losing momentum. But as long as I know where I want the story to go, and I remain excited every time I open the word document, I know I will be fine.
Who knows what's in store for me over the next month. I'm just excited to see where this project takes me.

Teaser Tuesday Time! I present to you, Damsels! (Please remember that this is a very very rough NaNo Draft)

The trapdoor creaked slowly, I jumped into my bed and shut my eyes. This was it, my moment of truth. “Princess Cordelia?” My prince said, gently tapping my. My eyes fluttered open, to see the face of my one true love.

Meh.

He wasn’t unattractive, I guess, just sweaty. He did kill a dragon after all. His black hair was either sweaty or greasy, I couldn’t tell. His teeth were far too big for his mouth, but other than that, he was okay I guess. He was a prince after all.

“My prince,” I smiled. He leaned in close, this was it, true love’s kiss, well a sweaty, gross true loves kiss, but my happily ever after was sealed.

Before his lip could touch mine, he coughed. Blood sprayed from his mouth onto my face, a hand grabbed his shoulder, pulled him back and impaled him with a sword. My prince dropped to his knees, revealing a tall masked figure in black, pulling their sword from his chest.

“Your tower is a bitch to climb, no wonder he walked up. Thanks for the rope.” 

Busy Week: NaNoWriMo Chronicled pt. 4

So basically I have six zillion things to do this week so my post about what happened last week will be on Friday. What I can tell you now is that I reached 50,000 words and I have no ending.

Here is a teaser:

            I arrive at Grayson’s at seven on the dot. I knocked. There was no answer. I knocked again. Still no answer. I press my ear against the door, I could hear pots and pans rattling and the faint beep of a smoke detector. Without hesitation I pushed open the door using my powers. Grayson was trying to put out a small fire on the stove with a fire extinguisher. He was a mess. His hair was sticking up and flour was all over his face and apron. Once the fire was out he sighed in relief.

            I started laughing, he looked up and finally noticed me. “Susan,” he walked over to me, but slipped on something and landed right on his back. I kept laughing. He groaned. “I am so sorry. I tried to make chicken parmesan and everything turned out to be a disaster. And this day was going so well.”

            I went over to him and helped him up, being careful not to get flour on Darcy’s dress. “Grayson, you just made my day a thousand times better.”

            “How so?”

            “Do not get me wrong,” I said. “I really liked your whole romancing me throughout the day thing, but what I love is seeing you fall apart. You tired so hard to be Mr. Perfect for months. Nobody is that perfect. It is great to know that my boyfriend can make mistakes.”

Good luck to everyone finishing up NaNoWriMo. :D

Happy Writing!

Keeping the Pace: NaNo Chronicles pt 3

Week three is upon us. Last week as predicted I fell behind. Not by a lot, but I was behind on the word count for a few days. Honestly it was school. I had papers and test and all that jazz. I knew it was going to happen. On Friday I left for Thanksgiving break. I spent the entire car ride home typing. In the end in about three and a half hours I got 2,500 words written. I was completely caught up. Saturday was my first free day in a while. I reached 30k which is amazing in itself. So I set a goal for the weekend to be at 32k and by Sunday night I made my goal.
Monday I set my goal a little higher. My plan was to reach 35k. I got to 37k. 37,000 words. That's the farthest I have gotten in years. Yep. I really want to finish early because I know next week will be hectic. If I keep up this pace I will be there in no time. The key for me this week is to keep going. If there is a muse just go with it. Even when I reached my goal I still had the urge to keep going.
Also if you are on twitter there are a lot of ways you could connect with other NaNoers and bump up your word count.@NaNoWordSprints constantly has different challenges and sprints to participate in. A sprint is when you write as much as you can nonstop until the time  runs out. Usually to keep your juices flowing they give you a prompt or a challenge to add to your novel like "Include something about mirrors, glass, and/or reflections" or "write a scene in a graveyard!".  It is optional but it is a lot of fun. Also authors Susan Dennerd (Something Strange and Deadly) and Sarah J. Maas (The Throne of Glass) Host a NaNoWriMoBattle everyday on twitter around 3pm. Three thirty minute rounds of continuous writing. It's tons of fun and it's awesome to know published authors are going through the same thing as you and are very supportive. I love NaNoWriMo.
All right it's teaser time.

            

            The Gray Eagle and the Vine Vixen were on the front page of every newspaper in Caperville the next day. This kiss was worse than the first. Now everyone knew we were dating. Susan and Grayson and the Gray Eagle and the Vine Vixen. Lovely.

            Darcy was in a very good mood the next day. Her outfit was mentioned in the article.

            “The Vine Vixen, wearing a fabulous new black suit…”

            That was all it said. But Darcy was ecstatic. “I can start a business you know. Making superhero costumes I mean. Not just for you, but anyone who wants to dress like a superhero. I have been thinking about this for a while. The fashion industry is so hard to get into I need a gimmick. Superhero couture, genius right?”

            “Genius,” I said halfheartedly. Other things were on my mind.

            “What is wrong?”

            “Nothing,” I lied.

            “You are lying. Tell me what’s up?”

            “I ducked out of the house this morning before I saw Aunt Lexie. She still does not know about Grayson. Well I guess she knows now.”

            “You two have been dating for over three months and you still have not told her?”

            “Aunt Lexie is not a fan of the Gray Eagle. Ever since the first kiss. Now that this happened, now that we are in the newspaper. I do not even know.”

            “Invite him over to dinner,” she said. “Let the two meet. Remember you were not a Gray Eagle fan when you first met. Grayson is a great guy. I am sure she will like him.”

So how is everybody else's writing going? What is your typical pacing? Have you participated in any sprints?

Happy Writing

NaNo Chronicles pt. 2

This week has defiantly been very slow. I stayed a day ahead up until Sunday. Everything is hectic. I'm making sure I get my 1,667 words in everyday, but I wish I could strive for more. I fear as if I'm going to fall behind this week. School stuff. I have a couple papers due this week. But after this Thanksgiving Break is coming up. I'll most likely finish up during that week if I keep pushing. My plan was to be finish before I start tech rehearsals for the show I'm working on. That's not going to happen.
One thing I can take away from this week though is writing everyday. Even when I was ahead and I felt like I could slack I didn't. Thank goodness or else I will be playing catch up until the end of the month. Keeping my head in the story is what helps me write everyday. Planning this out was a great decision. I fell in love with my story before I even wrote it and that passion is what drives me to finish it.

I still got a ways to go

Something that helps a lot is the Write-Ins it's so nice to actually meet and talk with other writers going through the same thing I am. My ML (Municipal Liaison) has beads for a charm bracelet for our region. With each different accomplishment/milestone we get a new bead. I won't be at any write ins for a while because of Thanksgiving break, but I'm grateful to be a part of a wonderful writing community.
As promised a teaser from "Suspension of Disbelief"

The ground shook furiously as the emotions poured out. I was sobbing. The robots were violently shaken off of me. The building began to crumble. I continued to sob as I fell to the ground. The building was falling apart, but I couldn’t will myself to get up.

            “Susan,” Grayson shouted. He was still in the cage. I was paralyzed on the floor. I couldn’t move. “Susan!” The bricks of the building started falling in chunks. I continued to sob. I hand grabbed my shoulder. It was Grayson. He picked me up and walked me out of the crumbling building. Once we were far enough from the building, he sat me down. “Calm down, calm down,” he stroked my hair with the side of his hands. I took several deep breaths. The earthquake had settled, along with my nerves. I sat there for a moment taking in the damage I had done.

How's NaNoWriMo going for you?

Happy Writing!

P.S. what else has been going on in my life? Well one the plays I wrote was selected for The Student Play Festival at my school. It went up on Sunday. Check it out!

Daring to Suck: NaNo Chronicles Pt 1

So I've decide to keep a log of my progress on the blog to go a long with Teaser Tuesday. Kind of like a NaNo journal only shorter.

Day 1: I started writing at midnight in a Google Hangout with a few people from my region. I clocked off after an hour into it to get ready for bed. After my nightly preparations I continued to write until I reached 2k words. I wrote more in-between classes and during free time. By the end of the day I reached 3,775 words. Good First day.

Day 2: I only write a little after midnight. After class I wrote a little more. Later I went out to see a show a other things then I headed to a Write-In. This was my first Write-In ever. It was so much fun. I got a nice chunk of words done and chatted with other writers. It's nice to actually talk to a NaNoer in person rather than online. It makes everything so much more real. By the end of the night I reached 6,667 words. Great second day.

Day 3: Saturday! I slept good. But I have work in the afternoon. No writing done before then. I get back to writing around 9:30 pm. It took a long time to get back into it but in the end I got out 1,667 words before midnight. I ended the third day with 8,333 words Monday's word count. Still a day ahead. Homework time.

Day 4: Daylight savings time. I got an extra hour of sleep. However my phone didn't change time zones automatically like I thought. So my 8:30 am alarm wakes me up at 7:30 am. I write a couple hundred words before I get ready for rehearsal. After rehearsal I go to a Write-In. by the end of it I reached 10k. This is a personal milestone for me because my last NaNo novel didn't quite make it there. I only hope to keep moving forward from there.

Day 5: Monday. It was defiantly slower getting into things. I wrote myself in a pickle the day before and I hadn't quite thought of a way to solve it. That's what I love about NaNoWriMo, I can be completely stuck at a scene and BS my way though it. All I'm really focused on is getting to the end. Since today was super busy I didn't get many words in. By the end of the day I reach 11,136 words.

Now it's Tuesday, as of right now I haven't written anything yet but I've been wanting to post this for a while along with my teaser. While I have some funny lines and nice parts to share. I think this is one of my funnier snippets. Remember this is just a rough draft. it still sucks.

           “So Grayson, right, or do you prefer to be called the Gray Eagle when we are alone.”

            “Grayson is fine,” he said.

            “What the hell are you doing here?”

            “I was just as surprised as you,” he began to chuckle. “I figured since I would be here longer than expected I should enroll for the rest of the semester.” His laugh grew louder.

            “What’s so funny?” I asked.

            “I’m sorry, but this is hilarious. Really, do you know how funny you are?”

            “Explain,” I said, not finding his tone amusing.

            “Come on, the glasses, the hat, the baggy clothes, oh this is just too rich.”

            “Are you making fun of my alter ego?”

            “You don’t find this the least bit cliché?” he continued to laugh.

“It is called suspension of disbelief.” I said. He continued to laugh. Annoyed that this conversation was going nowhere, I brought up roots from under the ground. They wrapped around Grayson’s feet. When he tried to break free I would tighten them.

            “Think I’m funny still?”

            “I thought you only threw rocks,” he said.

            “I’m multitalented,” I smirked. “I am called the Vine Vixen.”

            “I thought that was just a sexy alliteration. I be completely honest, your name sounds like a name for a villain.”

            “This is coming from the ‘Gray Eagle.’ Your real name is literally in your superhero persona’s name.”

            “Do not judge me,” he said.

There you have it. I still have a long way to go but at least I'm making progress. I know this school week is going to be slower than before because I have to work on papers and projects. But as long as I get my 1,667 words in I'll be fine.

How is NaNo going for you?

Happy Writing!