Saturday, November 26, 2011

NaNoWriMo Update

I have decided, after much consideration, not to post the remainder of my NaNoWriMo project here on my blog, given it is getting more mysterious foreign traffic than that of friends and family who actually knew I was doing it.  I have written over 61k words currently and still have not reached where they pick up one of my favorite characters (Andur), which is a good sign.  I hope to have him with them by the end of the month (personal goal) or get to 70k words, whichever comes first.  The novel is sitting at 105 pages!  Very exciting.
Once NaNoWriMo is over, I have to give the computer I'm borrowing back to its owner.  That means my writing will probably slow to a crawl again, but I hope not.  I'm going to see if my laptop will plug into an old monitor so I can check to see if the screen is just dead or if there's a bigger problem.  My beloved Alienware has been a trooper all these years, so it may just be time to put it to rest and attempt to save for a new one (after my emergency car purchase is paid for).
This year's NaNoWriMo worked out far differently than last year.  Last year I struggled all month with inspiration and talking to the characters, as I started a 100% brand new story.  This year I wrote the "prequel" story to one I've been working on since elementary school.  I've known the characters a long time and most of this story in my head, but realized I needed to write it down so people would understand the interactions and relationships in the part I've written more recently (Jemspur: Firstborn).  My writing style was stronger since I was already familiar with everyone and the setting, and I wasn't scrambling for ideas since I've known the generalities most of my life.  It was almost pathetically easy to reach the 50k site goal with Dragon-Child.
It was also nice to get a large chunk of something I fully intend for publication done.  It eases the anxiety about ever getting anything finished a little.