Robyn’s Writing

I did.

Over 50,000 words.

I stayed up til  after midnight.  But I did it. Yeah.

I am staying up till midnight, so I can validate my word count. Only problem, I’m not done yet.  I’m currently at 47,052 words and I have 30 minutes till midnight.

I don’t care how long it takes, I will get to 50,000 words tonight.

Silly of me, I know, but last night all of a sudden I was hit with a fierce fear that I wouldn’t finish NaNo.

For the most part the first draft of my novel is all-done, which is a wonderful feeling. Really.  Of course I still have plot details to add, characters to flesh out, setting to describe.  But the basic story line is there.

I’ve been getting wonderful input from my co-writers at OWW on plot suggestions pertaining to Tasmania, which is where the novel is set, and why alien spacecrafts either do or do not need to suck power up from Earth-bound power plants.  Because of this input I’m planning on adding a little conservationist twist, and moving some of the action possibly to the rugged and desolate South Western regions.

Then I panicked.  I have written, to date, a total of 45,704 words to date, meaning I have only 4,296 more words left to write.  I don’t know why I was struck with sudden fear and trepidation, especially since everything is moving along so well.

The mind plays odd tricks sometimes.  I feel fine about it now, confidence that I will finish is back, and I have a story to finalize.  So, I’m off to write. Wish me luck!

Yup. I wrote and wrote and wrote. My goal was to be over the 40,000 mark by the end of our three days off, and I made it with still hours off to go.  So, I thought I’d take a break and update my blog for a while.

Thursday: Wrote 3,383 words, taking me to a total of 30,011words.

Friday: Wrote 6,556 words, taking me to a total of 36,567 words.

Saturday (so far):  Wrote 4,413 words, taking me to a total of 40,980 words.

The best thing about it though is that I’m concluding my story, tying off lose ends and generally seeing everything fall into place.  It hasn’t been without some very surprise twists and turns, and I really didn’t know the entire conclusion till this morning.  Well, I might go type a bit more now while I’m waiting for the train that will take me back to Taipei.

Oh, also had some very good hot-spa soaks too, maybe that’s what helped me get so inspired to write.

I probably won’t be posting. We’re taking off for a few days, but YES I will be writing.  This is actually the ‘make or break’ days for me. Daily life doesn’t give me too many opportunities for really churning out the word count, so I’m hoping to get close to finishing over the next three days.

Think positive thoughts…pray for me…believe I will do it!

And I shall.

I will check in, in three days time.  We will see what I’ve been able to do.

I’m halfway there, with another 13 days left to finish the remaining 25,000 words. That’s a lot of writing, but from here on in there’ll be less to write than I’ve already written. Yeah!

If I can write at least an average of 1,915 words each day I’ll make it across the finish line. I have a three day mini-vacation coming up, and I intend on spending a good deal of that writing. Plus two more weekends (which are prime writing time.)  It’s looking better all the time.

I read a post tonight, well a group chat actually, regarding contractions in fiction.  It was interesting. I’ve done my best to apply what I considered were writing techniques, including ‘no contractions’; ‘no …ly words’; no ‘he uttered’… only ‘he said’ was all right.

I abided by that for a while, but then, in listening to some favorite authors I found they did all the things I was warned not to do, and they got away with them.

Re-think.  My  conclusion is that it has done my writing plenty good to abolish the “ly’s”, anything other than “he/she said”, and the contractions. But…  That’s the important word. Now that I have learned to do without them, and now that I have unequivocally banished them from all writing, it’s okay to allow them.

I think, with writing, that sometimes you have to banish something, and be very religious about it. Then, once you’ve learned how to do without it, you can let it back in.  But see.  You know what you’re doing. It’s not a random thing, it’s a “I have decided that I want this contraction.”

That makes all the difference.  I hope.

Slowly, but surely, I am catching up. NaNo writing is a bit behind, well, a fair bit. But I’m planning on a couple days of focussed writing, plus I have three days off coming up which, being in November, will also be dedicated in part to NaNo catch-up.

At this point I’m still fairly confident that I’ll make it.

Chris and Claire aren’t at their half-way mark yet, so we’ll all have to make a concerted effort these next two weeks, to churn out the words. Thankfully NaNo ends on the weekend, which means extra time to make that sprint to the finish line.

Jim and I have conversations from time to time.  He berates me when I don’t listen to him, and he advises me when I don’t know what to do. Most of the time he’s just there, egging me on.  If I ever need motivating, Jim’s right there, standing unseen before me.

Today he talked with me about NaNo.

In your case [participating in NaNo] is useful because it’s taking you away from perfection and editing, and getting you back into the mode of setting your imagination free and letting the story tell itself. That’s wonderful. You needed that, and it’s only just beginning. Sit back, let your fingers fly, and enjoy the ride.

He is right, wise old man that he is.  I got off to a shaky start but now I’m starting to really enjoy the story. That’s something I’ve missed lately, with all my editing first-draft Whispers, and critiquing and having my writing critiqued.  I need a balance, I need to do both things simultaneously.  Otherwise I feel stifled and dull around the edges.  Creativity and story-telling inspire me.  When I’m inspired, I’m happy and content. When I’m happy and content everyone around me sighs, and enjoys life.  When I’m crabby people run for cover.

So, if nothing else, I have seen clearly the need in my life for both creating and story-telling from scratch, something new, something fresh, something fun AND at the same time I can’t lose sight of editing what I have already written.

And I am most proud of my daughters.  I’m struggling…I think I will make it, but I’ll need days of concerted effort.  I will do it. I’m insistent.

Jeez, but my kids.  Chris has written  4,275 out of 10,000.  Almost half-way there. Claire’s total word count is 1,900 out of 5,000. They are awesome people.

If you have kids you realize it’s more than words.  It’s commitment. it’s determination. It’s all about self-worth. I’m proud of my guys.  Finish or not–hey I may not finish either–but they have worked hard to get where they’re at.

I’m proud of them.