Writing

So tonight I finally crossed the halfway mark in NaNoWriMo, right on track for the month.  However, it took a valiant effort today because I was behind.  I didn’t write at all last Thursday because of work, Friday I didn’t quite hit my daily goal, and yesterday I only wrote a few words because I was being lazy.

All of that added up to a goal today of 5510 to stay on track.  Yeah, over five thousand words.  Today.  Holy crap it adds up in a hurry.

I made it.  It took most of the day, but I did it.  I demolished my goal.*  How did I do it?  Blood, sweat, and tears.  Or maybe just diligence.  One of the two, for sure.

Like the Nike ad, the best advice is Just Do It.  I didn’t really want to write five thousand words today.  I’m in the middle of the book.  My characters are dumb.  The plot is going nowhere.  All I’m writing is dialog, which I hate with a fiery passion.

None of that matters.  What matters is that I’m doing it.  I’m writing and I’m forcing myself–for the most part–to stay on track.  I will win this year, if I have to drag my novel, kicking and screaming, across the line.  It may come to that.

*Okay,  I wrote 5614.  Not exactly a huge jump over 5510 but I’ll take what I can get.

If you haven’t signed up for NaNoWriMo yet, there’s still time.  You have all of today to procrastinate, but tomorrow is time to buckle down and get started.  So far I have three different story ideas calling to me, but they are just that–ideas.  No plot, no outlines, no character sketches, just three different ideas knocking around in my head.

I made it!  Thirty days, thirty pieces of writing created from a prompt of three words.  Some I liked, some I didn’t, but I made it through and that was the goal.  I ended up creating more words than I would need. Here are the unused words:

ocean, woman, man, hatred, trails, mountain, shoelaces, tree, summer, Japan, lottery, gravy, plaza, duplicate, pants

I’m considering continuing with some sort of daily writing exercise, so let me know if you enjoyed this month-long peek inside my brain.

Now I’m gearing up for NaNo because November 1 is just two weeks from today.  I still don’t have any solid idea of what I’m going to write.  A couple of the story snippets I posted for the days of genius really appealed to me, so I might use them in the novel.  Or I could always write a sequel to last year’s novel.  Either way, I’m sure that on November 1, I’ll be writing something.

I’m thinking about posting my NaNo novel as I write it, but I’m not sure I’m that brave.   After all, the order of the day for NaNo is velocity, and the novel I wrote last year is in pretty bad shape.  A few hundred words a day with each day being unrelated is one thing, but nearly 2,000 words a day that are supposed to form a cohesive novel is something entirely different.

It was time.  The pontoon bridge had been deployed at 0300.  Now all we had to do was cross it, drive deep into enemy territory, find the exact location of the camp, take out the bad guys, rescue the hostages, and drive back out, all without the enemy finding out our position or intent.  Piece of cake. Like taking candy from a baby.  Easy as pie.  Add various other clichés here.

I may be sarcastic but I’m also realistic.  This was basically a suicide mission, which is why it was volunteer only.  The jungle made locating the base difficult, especially since they kept moving it.  Tonight’s mission was the hostages best chance for rescue–maybe their only chance.

Our team was small even though nearly two dozen had volunteered.  I had hand picked each member to give us the best possible chance.  We were going and we were coming home.  Simple as that.  I would do my best as CO to make sure every man came back safe.  We’d been over the plan enough times that each man knew exactly what his job was.  Now it was time to put the plan into action.

Writing prompts:  time, candy, pontoon

I led the last dog back to its crate.  While I loved my job at the veterinary hospital today had been especially trying.  We had four emergency cases in critical condition come in this afternoon so I had been going non-stop for close to six hours.

My phone rang from somewhere in the depths of my purse.  I almost let it go, glad to finally leave the office, but my conscience reminded me that it could be an emergency.  I flipped it open without bothering to check the caller ID.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Kate, where are you?  I’m standing out front but you didn’t answer the door.”  My best friend Jen’s voice came through the speaker.

Shit.  I was supposed to be going to the opera tonight with Jen.  That’s what my brain had been trying repeatedly to remind me about today.  I looked down at my blood stained clothes and cringed.  I needed a shower and a change.  It was twenty minutes home and a least twenty for the shower and wardrobe swap, then thirty or more to the event center.  I was pretty sure it started at eight thirty, so I was going to be at least thirty minutes late.

“Kate?  You there?”

“Yeah, sorry.  I’m just leaving work.”

“Kate!” The whine in her voice came through perfectly.

“I know, I know.  It’s been a crazy day.  You go on, I’ll catch up.  I should be less than half an hour late.”

Writing prompts:  dog, opera, hospital