Talyesin's Tales

50,021 words of Jack Bastard - In the Balance of Twilight.

6001 words of The Complete Annotated Squirrelman.

4,866 words of Truthseekers.

749 words of All Roads.

That's 61,637 words written in total in the month of November. Not half bad, really, in terms of quantity.

Worst NaNo ever, however, in terms of how many carrots I earned. Or is it experienced? How does one qualify writing by carrots, anyway? Most of the carrots came from CASQ and Truthseekers. Even All Roads. There were a few carrots in the beginning of Jack Bastard, but they rapidly became few and far between. I greatly fear I did far more harm to my writer's psyche than good.

Still, I learned that I can output more than a thousand words daily, even on a bad day (on a good day, an inspired day, when my Muse is riding me hard, I can output 6500 words in a morning, but that's another story entirely). It's a good measure, and knowledge of my output potential will be useful in the future.

Okay, it's done. Put it behind you. Move along.

Done.

I'm running on fumes here. Totally out of steam. Nothing's left.

345 words to go.

Ironically, I really like the last sentence I wrote: "Sunlight is streaming in through the slats of the horizontal blinds, striping the room in blinding headache and blessed shadow."

49,132. I'm hitting 50K tonight or die trying.

Shithead be damned.

47004 words.

"Heard you was dead, there, Bastard."
"Yeah, I get that a lot."

Recurring jokes. Not even good recurring jokes. Recurring jokes I got from a substandard sequel to a franchise that should have left it off at the second film.

Argh. Hack.

3K to freedom.

45000 words. And now to bed.

43,373 words. Which puts me ahead of the minimum daily quota for the 26th of November, in order to reach 50,000 words by the 30th.

Now I just need to do 1667 words a day to make it to the finish line.

*phew*

Found a new strategy: Write a thousand words, reward myself with an episode of Avatar.

Word count: 42,666 of Jack Bastard. I'm giving myself a break until after supper, too.

And miles to go before I sleep.

Best typo ever: "you sin of a bitch"

Word count: 40,173 of Jack Bastard. Brain fried. Going to watch some Avatar the Last Airbender now.

Word count: 50,024 words written in the month of November. 38,385 words of Jack Bastard. Edit: Interesting. According to the NaNoWriMo word counter I just tested out, my total word count file clocks in at 50,342 words, not the 50,024 words WordPerfect counts out for me.

Why I love this job: (which I was oh so wise and so very happy to begin posting, because it reminds me of why I'm doing this) "Jack," she says, turning that million watt smile on me full force, big dark eyes so alien, so warm, you could almost fall in, like drowning in the darkest, richest chocolate you could ever hope to drown in, completely not anything like drowning in the silty white Salt Swamps, warm and sweet and wonderful, not lukewarm and stinging bitter, like a hundred million tears all in one desolate spot.

Word Count: Jack Bastard: 27,387; total words written in November: 34,466.

Because I'm including it all. Now that I've abandoned the 90,000 word goal and allowed myself to bend the rules of NaNoWriMo by including everything I write in November toward my word count, the stress is off and I'm actually producing word count. Also sitting down and actually figuring out a writing schedule that makes sense (ie, beyond "whenever you can wherever you can") helps. A LOT. It also limits the amount of time I can write, too, leaving me wanting more, instead of forcing me to produce when I don't want to. And I'm still hoping to hit 50,000 words of Jack Bastard, plus everything else I'm writing.

Why I love this job: "I figure they're just looking for a reason to haul me in and give me a light bulb sunburn and maybe add in a phone book massage free of charge."

I've abandoned 90,000 words as a goal.

Updates as events warrant.

Word count: 25,112.

Why I love this job: "The third one comes up behind me then, grabbing my arms and pining them to my sides. I thrust back hard with my head, feeling skull slam into nose and lips and teeth, feel his blood splash out hot and his bones crunch. But he's got a grip like a grizzly bear, not letting go even though his whole head must be ringing like a church bell on a wedding day. The second one plants one on my chin that just about takes my head off, and the third one sinks one into my gut that closes up shop in my lungs."

So I've decided that 90,000 words as a goal is what was killing it for me. 50,000 words is very possible to accomplish. Hell, I've done it four times now. But stressing myself out because I wasn't producing 3000 words a day was killing all the joy of it for me. So I'm willing to accept 50,000 words as a minimum, keep writing once I've reached that minimum, write until November 30th and see how far I get. It won't be all the story - gods know I've got more than enough story to fill 90,000 words - but it will be a hell of a lot of the story, enough that I'll want to finish it.

The other thing that was stressing me out was the idea that it's sort of needlessly complex. Instead of being actual angels and demons and vampires and whatever, I've come up with all kinds of pseudo-science to explain it all, which sort of takes it out of 'urban fantasy' and puts it squarely into 'what the fuck?' - and means I spend a lot of time explaining what these demons or angels or vampires really are, which is fine for word count but shit for plot. Exposition is a nightmare, especially when you're writing first person present tense.

So, less stress all around.

Who knows? I may actually reach the point where I'm enjoying myself again.

I'm actively contemplating not doing NaNoWriMo next year.

Word count: 17,608. Maybe more before I go to bed, but I've other things to do tonight.

Why I love this job: "I suppose that's why I always forget about killing her – it wasn't personal, like it was with the others, like it was with Mulrayne."

So thus far a QUARTER OF A BILLION words have been written by NaNoWriMo participants.

Unbounded creativity. Regardless of their inner Shitheads, these brilliant beautiful wonderful people are creating.

Go us!

Word Count: 16019. Still ahead of 50K, still behind 90K. Hopefully this weekend I can catch up.

Why I love this job: "Just about everyone I knew is dead. I'm too young to be saying that sort of thing, even if life expectancy in the business isn't exactly what you might expect for pencil pushing nine to fivers and house wives."

Word count: 14120, which I've started waking up at five in the morning to catch up on my writing, since the majority of my evenings are utterly screwed writing wise.

Why I love this job: "He takes the hundred and checks it against the light from the single overhead bulb shining down from the ceiling like the accusing glare of an angry cop"

and

"my two best friends in the world - a pair of Canadian made nine millimeter Browning High Power semi autos, thirteen rounds in each clip and one in the chamber for luck."

and

"Listen flunky, I don't have time to dance with you. Now flunk off and tell your boss, Nick said I could drop by."

Still not on target for 90K, but 50K well under way:

Word Count: 10,084 words. Still... six thousand words in a day. Not bad.

Why I love this job: "When people say something cost an arm and a leg in Trinity, they really mean an arm and a leg - but they never specify whose arm or whose leg."

and

"Maybe I wasn't looking for trouble and maybe I was, but whichever it might have been, trouble found me."