The National Novel Writing Month -
November 2009
For NaNoWriMo 2009, I have decided to write a story called "Hard Taffy." It is a story about a young girl, a street urchin based in the not-so-distant future.
You can read about any updates on Hard Taffy by going to HardTaffy.html
The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. That comes out to about 1,667 words a day. Or if you want to look at it another way, it's about 200 pages, double-spaced. This page is my diary of my NaNoWriMo progress for this year.
November 30, 2009 — 52,780 words total
November 29, 2009 — 52,780 words total
November 28, 2009 — 50,774 words total
November 27, 2009 — 48,808 words total
November 26, 2009 (Thanksgiving) — 45,135 words total
November 25, 2009 — 42,304 words total
November 24, 2009 — 42,031 words total
November 23, 2009 — 40,223 words total
November 22, 2009 — 36,815 words total
November 21, 2009 — 35,012 words total
November 20, 2009 — 33,088 words total
November 19, 2009 — 31,256 words total
November 18, 2009 — 29,587 words total
November 17, 2009 — 28,341 words total
November 16, 2009 — 25,791 words total
November 15, 2009 — 25,214 words total
November 14, 2009 — 21,105 words total
November 13, 2009 — 20,445 words total
November 12, 2009 — 20,445 words total
November 11, 2009 — 18,202 words total
November 10, 2009 — 16,477 words total
November 9, 2009 — 14,676 words total
November 8, 2009 — 11,670 words total
November 7, 2009 — 9,151 words total
November 6, 2009 — 5,866 words total
November 5, 2009 — 5,866 words total
November 4, 2009 — 5,866 words total
November 3, 2009 — 5,178 words total
November 2, 2009 — 4,150 words total
November 1, 2009 — 3,106 words total
Sunday, November 1, 2009 — 3,106 words total
This morning started with the alarm going off at 5:00 am so we could take our daughter to the school. She had to catch a bus to go to the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure that was happening today in Austin. Her dance team was going to cheer and her bus was leaving at 5:30.
Now, I know what you're thinking; what a great time to start writing...NOT. It was 5:30 in the freakin' morning. All I wanted to do was go back to bed, extra hour from Daylight Savings Time or not. So, that's what we did. My wife and I crawled back in bed and went to sleep.
By the time I did get up, I thought I was all set to start writing. I had my story all planned out but when it came time to write today, I wasn't sure if that was what I really wanted to write about. I spent nearly an hour trying to figure it out before I finally just started writing.
After all of my procrastination today, I finally hammered out 3,106 words. Not a bad start, but I was hoping for something a little more stellar. Still, it's a start and there is certainly more to come.
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Monday, November 2, 2009 — 4,150 words total
I met with my writing group tonight at Freda's Seafood Grille for our first write-in. Kaye, Mary Ann and Shennandoah were there. It seems like we didn't get as much writing done as we should have, but I'm not the only one struggling with my words. After I got home, I continued to write for a while.
Not as much as I planned, but I got 1,044 words for the day. I'm still ahead of my goal of 3,334 words for Day 2.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 — 5,178 words total
I didn't write as much as I wanted, but I did get 1,028 words down on paper today (well, in the computer), for a total of 5,178 words. My goal is 5,001 words.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 — 5,866 words total
Not a strong writing day, but I did manage to crank out 688 words. But that wasn't enough to keep me ahead of my goal, which is 6,668 words. I need to get on the ball if I'm going to make it to my goal.
Thursday, November 5, 2009 — 5,866 words total
I didn't do any writing today. Bad Doug. And I'm behind. The goal today is to have 8,335 words total. I'm about 2,500 words behind.
Friday, November 6, 2009 — 5,866 words total
I didn't write again for a second day. I've got to quit doing this if I'm going to get caught up. I should be at 10,002 words today. Luckily, I have a lot of time set aside to write.
Saturday, November 7, 2009 — 9,151 words total
I woke way too early this morning, but from a writing perspective, that was good. And I continued to write frequently throughout the day, except for a short pause to watch Transformers 2 and a birthday party in the evening. I wrote a total of 3,285 words today, my best day so far for this year's NaNoWrimo. Another day like today and I'll be caught back up. My goal for today is 11,669.
And I realized one other thing today. I fell into the NaNoWriMo trap. You see, when you set out to write a novel, there's this inner voice that tends to nag at you, telling you that your story is crap. Yep, that happened. My story was crap and I didn't want to write it, even though I had several chapters already lined out. I realized that crap or not, I just have to write it, so I sat down at the keyboard and started pounding out words. It was pretty had at first, but before long I was in the rhythm of it, and it turned into a pretty good day.
Sunday, November 8, 2009 — 11,670 words total
My goal today is 13,336 words. I was behind by about 4,200 words at the start of day, but I got up early and cranked out about 1,200 words before my wife got up. That put me only 3,000 words behind. I also had a write-in with my writing group at Barnes and Noble, then Red Lobster, then Logan's Road House, then TGI Fridays in La Frontera this afternoon from 1:00-3:00pm. All that said, that meant that we didn't have tables, or outlets, or alcohol, or whatever until we finally all settled on TGI Fridays. That also meant that we didn't get started writing until almost 2:00pm. My goal today was to get caught up, but I didn't quite do that (though I am much closer). I will say that there is one thing that makes it easier and that is that my story is developing nicely. It's so much easier to write when you like your story. And I wouldn't like my story if I hadn't forced myself to write yesterday.
Monday, November 9, 2009 — 14,676 words total
I've had a very good writing day today. I started off by writing at lunchtime. I knocked out 750 words, which put a good start on the day. Then tonight my writing group met for a write-in at Freda's Seafood Grille. We were missing a couple of members. Kaye and I were the only ones in attendance, but I was able to write another 1,100 words or so. And then, after I got home, I put in a little more time and took my word count for the day up to 3,006, for a total of 14,676 words. I'm still a little behind my goal of 15,003 words, but not by much anymore.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 — 16,477 words total
Not a bad day of writing. I'm not quite caught up to my goal, but I wrote 1,801 words today, a little over my 1,667-word daily goal. I should be at 16, 670 words today, but I'm less than 200 words away, so I'm feeling good about it.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 — 18,202 words total
It was a tough day to write, but I still finally made my word count. I had to take a car to Car Max to sell it. I got there just after 6:00pm, but it was a pretty quick process and I left just after 7:00pm. But I didn't have a single word on paper (computer) for the day, except for a mere 138 words I wrote at Car Max while I was waiting for the quote on my car.
And then when I got home, I had to call to get the car off of my TxTag account and off of my insurance. But in between all of that, I managed to crank out a total of 1,725 words for the day. I had to stay up until 11:20pm to do it, but sacrifice is what NaNoWriMo's all about. I'm still a little behind my goal of 18,337 words, but I'm close enough that I'm not sweating it.
Thursday, November 12, 2009 — 20,445 words total
Three great things happened today. First of all, I am caught up to my goal, and even ahead! I've been behind for over a week and it feels good to be caught up. Second, I'm over 20,000 words. Considering that I'm trying to reach a 50,000 word goal, that means I'm over 40%. Go me! And third, my story took a direction I didn't expect today and it has some real potential. I'm excited to explore where I think it's going.
The drive-in movie totals are that I wrote 2,243 words today, for a total of 20,445. My goal today was to be over 20,004 words. And I am!
Friday, November 13, 2009 — 20,445 words total
Friday the 13th, and I didn't write. I know, I just got caught up, and even a little ahead. Proud day that it was, but now, I'm behind again. My goal was to be at 21,671 words. Truth be told, I kind of wrote myself into a corner and I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to get out of it. Hopefully I'll figure it out tomorrow.
Saturday, November 14, 2009 — 21,105 words total
Like I said yesterday, I wrote myself into a corner. I tried to keep writing, but there was just no where to go. So late this evening, I scraped, that's right, scraped five chapters. Now, this being November, the National Novel Writing Month, I know better than to delete. But the rules don't say anything about strikethrough. So that's what I did. I left the words, and I'm going to replace them. I kind of had to. I ended up scrapping 2,268 words total. That's a lot.
So now tomorrow is time to catch up again, or at least work toward it. For today, I wrote a total of 660 words. My goal for today was to be at 23,338 words.
Sunday, November 15, 2009 — 25,214 words total
Today marks the half-way point of NaNoWriMo and the goal is to be 25,005 words. At the start of the day, I was about 3,900 words short, so that became my goal for the day. I knew I would need to write like the wind.
And I did it! I wrote like the wind, or at least a stiff breeze. And it took a good share of the day, but when it was over, my word count for the day was 4,109! It's been my best writing day for NaNoWriMo 2009 so far. It turns out that scrapping five chapters to get back on track was the best thing I could have done!
Monday, November 16, 2009 — 25,791 words total
Not such a great writing day. I only wrote 577 words, not even close to the 1,667 I needed to stay up with my word count. I met up with my writing group at Freda's Seafood Grille to write, but we ended up talking more than writing. Bad writing group! My goal for the day was 26,672 words.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 — 28,341 words total
Had a great writing day, even though I didn't get started until late in the day. My goal was 28,339 words and I wrote a total of 2,550 words to finish the day a mere 2 words ahead of my goal.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 — 29,587 words total
Not a bad day of writing, but not a 1,667 word day either. I wasn't far off. I made 1,246 words for the day, just 421 words short. My goal for the day was 30,006 words. I'll be able to make it up. Unfortunately, this has been more of a norm this year than I like. I'm more likely to be right at my word count, or just a hair behind, when on other years, I've always been a couple of thousand words ahead. I'll have to work on it to see if I can get that lead again. Maybe for Thanksgiving weekend.
Thursday, November 19, 2009 — 31,256 words total
I had a good writing day today. After work, I stopped at Freda's Seafood Grille and wrote until my wife came from work to meet me. I wrote a little during lunch, and then by the time my wife met me, I had over 1,400 words. I ended the day with 1,669 words, just two over goal, so I'm still just over 400 words short. My goal today was 31,673 words.
Friday, November 20, 2009 — 33,088 words total
We're on our way to Dallas today to see our son, Xavier, at one of the few University of Texas at Permian Basin (UTPB) swim meets we can attend this year. We were planning on driving all the way to Dallas tonight, but after rain and traffic, my wife suggested that we stop in Waco and drive the rest of the way in the morning. Being the driver, I agreed and we pulled over.
I have to admit that I wasn't really looking forward to writing for some reason — maybe because I've been doing it nearly every day incessantly for the last twenty days — but I finally settled into it, after installing a new operating system on my wife's computer I might add.
But once I got started, I had a hard time quitting. In fact, my wife and daughter were both begging me to stop. By the end of the day, I'd written 1,832 words. I'm still a little behind on my goal of 33,340, but I'm within spitting range at less than 300, so I'm happy.
Saturday, November 21, 2009 — 35,012 words total
Made it to Dallas and went to my son's swim meet. There weren't many opportunities to write until late in the day. We took him back to his swim meet after the afternoon intermission. He had to be back by 3:30pm. We got him there just after 4:00 (yeah, I know). But he didn't have to swim until later so we went to a local McDonald's and I had a chance to write for a little bit.
Then, when we got back to the hotel after the swim meet, I was able to finally crank out some words. I ended the day with 1,803 words. Not only did I make my word count, I'm back ahead of my overall goal again, which was 35,007 today!
Sunday, November 22, 2009 — 36,815 words total
The good news is that I woke up today and for the first time, I knew how my story is going to end! There are a lot of things I'm going to need to fix to make it work, and I will have to change several plot points, but I've figured out how to make it all work! I'm thrilled.
That being said, I got up this morning and started writing, getting nearly 1,000 words before we even left the hotel headed back to Austin. But then I realized that I didn't have my cell phone. Long story short, I lost it in the hotel. They found it yesterday but couldn't find it today. We were going to take Sarah to see New Moon today anyway, so we decided to do it in Dallas so we could hang in the area while they looked for it.
But before we could get to the theater, they called and said they found my phone. So we went back to the hotel and picked it up and headed for home. But things worked out for us to stop in Waco and watch the movie. It was over half way home and it was a nice break from the driving, which is in no way an indication of the quality of the movie.
When we got home, I wrote what I needed to for my word count. I ended the day with 1,803 words. My goal for today was to be over 36,674 words total.
Monday, November 23, 2009 — 40,223 words total
An outstanding writing day! It was my second best writing day for this year's NaNoWriMo. I met with Mary Ann, my writing partner, and we both just started cranking the words out. Maybe it was the synergy. Maybe it was the Mexican Martini. Maybe it was none of that. All I know was that at the end of her writing day, she was at 40,219 words. I told her that I was coming home to write. And when I did, I ended the day with four words more than she did. Competitive? You betcha!
Nah, seriously, I'm just kidding. The numbers are true, but it just worked out that way. Anyway, my goal for today was 38,341 words. I'm a full day ahead of my goal. AND IT FEELS GOOD! I've been fighting my word count this year and I think this is the first time I've been a full day ahead. And I'm over 40,000. It's all downhill from here. And on top of all that, it's been my second best writing day of NaNoWriMo this year. So there it is. See you tomorrow.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 — 42,031 words total
Off to a slow start today. My family and I went out to Buffalo Wild Wings tonight, something we often do on Tuesdays. I took my notebook with me but I didn't get much written while I was there, perhaps 200 or 300 words was all. But when I got back home, I settled into my rhythm and was able to crank it up. I wrote 1,808 words today and my goal was 40,008. The good news is that I'm still a day ahead, and then a little. It's a good feeling to finally be ahead as I'm coming up on the deadline to have 50,000 words completed by midnight, November 30!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009 — 42,304 words total
Not much writing today. My wife got home early from work and we just sat around and enjoyed each other's company. We watched a couple of movies with our daughter and basically had a lazy day. I finally did do a little writing just before bedtime, but it was hardly enough to count; a mere 273 words. Luckily I was already a day ahead. My goal for today was to be at 41,675 words.
Thursday, November 26, 2009 (Thanksgiving) — 45,135 words total
My goal for today is 43,342 words. At the start of the day, I'm about a thousand words behind that goal. By the end of the day, I was a full day ahead. I wrote 2,831 words. And I'm coming up on the end of the story. I only hope that I have 5,000 words left before I reach the end. I think I do, and hopefully a few more. Stay tuned to find out.
Friday, November 27, 2009 — 48,808 words total
Today I need to be at 45,009 word. It's Black Friday and I have to go shopping. Luckily it's only to the grocery store. We're going to do Thanksgiving on Saturday this year, waiting for my son to get home from college. And luckily I'm also already over my goal for today. That means that everything I write is gravy. With any luck, I'll write 5,000 words and I'll put this novel, and this year's NaNoWriMo to bed. We'll see.
As it turned out, I didn't make 5,000 words, but I had a pretty darn good day. It was my second-best day this NaNoWriMo. I cranked out 3,673 words. I'm only 1,200 words away from my 50,000 word goal this month. Hopefully tomorrow I should see that many.
Saturday, November 28, 2009 — 50,774 words total
I should be at 46,676 words today. I'm already over that, and only have 1,200 words to go to reach 50,000. But, and this is a big but, we're celebrating Thanksgiving today. Our son got home from college yesterday and we're doing Turkey Day. So, we'll see how much writing I can crank out. Hopefully it's at least 1,200 words.
I did get some writing done early, but then I had to quit so I could shower and cook. I managed to write 815 words before I had to quit. Not sure if I'll be able to write tonight or not.
I did get a chance to write! And what's more, I won! Before 10:00pm, I wrote 1,231 words and reached a total word count of 50,039! The novel isn't finished, but it's close. I'm still going to write over the next couple of days to finish it, but I'm just thrilled to be over 50,000 words! Of the four years that I've done it, this has been the hardest year so far!
By the end of the night, I settled on 1,966 words for the day, 50,774 words total. It was a good day, and I only have a 2,000 or 3,000 words to finish the novel.
Sunday, November 29, 2009 — 52,780 words total
I'm calling my NaNoWriMo novel complete at 52,780 words! I wrote 2,006 words today to finish it up.
Monday, November 30, 2009 — 52,780 words total
This is it; the last writing day for NaNoWriMo 2009. I made it to 50,000 words a couple of days ago. I finished my novel yesterday. And today, after a month of writing, I feel like I should be writing. But I'm not. All I can say is that I'm happy it's over; this year more than most. And for those of you still writing, write like the wind! You still have until midnight! You can make it!