Final Day

I'm not done yet.

But I'm going to win. If it KILLS me.

The final run! 35k in 7 days

So I'm sure you've noticed. I'm behind. WAY behind. I've hit a wall of depression (unrelated to NaNo) and lack of motivation, but today is the day that I'm going to break through it and write anyway.

So who's with me? Who is going to race to the finish?

Will you beat me there? ARe you behind? So behind you don't think you can recover?

You can. I've done 50k in 10 days. Sure, couldn't use a keyboard for a month. But I DID it. And I'm going to do this.

Even if I have to start a war to do it.

Let the games begin.

Day 10: Music and a Video (and not dead yet)

I haven't fallen off the planet yet, I promise. I've been behind, as I'm sure you've noticed by my word count, but I'm working on it. Tonight, I've been listening to music. Articology, mostly. Then someone from the ML chat room (Thanks, Aquadeo) linked me to this beautiful video. I wanted to share it with you, because I found it soothing and inspiring at the same time.

I've skipped ahead a bit in my novel, since the part I was in was dragging, and it's moving smoothly again. In spite of myself, I think there's a romance blooming between Senator Eric Nathan Mason (yes, that's his full name, and I don't know why I know that, only that I do. I usually don't bother with middle names). I didn't want there to be a romance - while the merfolk society is bisexual, I didn't want that to be even of peripheral importance. I sense a possible love triangle here. ITt seems that the relationships will be more important than I meant them to be.

I'm pleased, though, it means the characters are coming alive, moreso than they have been previously. The week two slump may yet be defeated before the week is over. :)

Day 7: Even more behind, but a NEW COMPUTER

Well, I didn't catch up today like I'd planned. But I have a good excuse; I know own a new computer. NOt only a new computer, but a whole new operating system!

That's right, I've purchased a new iMac. And it is wonderful on a scale I can't quite describe. It's taking a lot of getting used to, though, so it's delayed my writing. I've installed scrivener, although I plan to run a virtual machine so I can continue with liquid story binder, scrivener's giving a free trial, so I'll see which I like better.

I've done so much running around today between setting up the new computer, church, and doing laundry that I've run out of hours in the day. But now I'm feeling motivated, so I want to write, write, write!

Only problem is, I'm not sure where to go. I've got my girls in a hotel room, where Elisande will get a little more acclimated with the human world, but after that? Just how DO you go from the Atlantic to the Capitol Building?

I'm inclined to have her fortuitously discover a congressman in the park. But that would be a bit too easy. I dunno. I need to do something.

Day 6: Soooo behind

So I'm behind. Part of it is a boring bit in the story, but mostly... life has interfered like whoah. Between the site issues and struggling to get caught up on moderation duties on the site, my part time job, being sick, the kids, and just plain being distracted.

But no excuses.

I'm still ahead of Chris, at least:

My goal for this weekend, though, is to be caught up on my word count. I'll be joining Chris, and many others, in this race. I'll need 11,669 words to be caught up. That's a one-day deficit of 4,933.

I can do that!

I think I can do it if I manage my time better. I'm bad about checking the forums AFTER I'm caught up on immediate tasks, and getting distracted by things that Must Be Done (translation, they can wait.) I'm going to set aside some designated writing times. I've gotten my favorite playlist re-created (I lost it when I switched from my Colby MP3 player to my iPod) and I think I'm ready to go. I can do this... Want to join me? Let's go for a 5k Sunday!

Day 3: Making progress

It's slow, and slowed by the fact that I'm having to work on the site more hours than normal because of load times, but it's moving along. I've spent the morning working on site-related things, and running @NaNoWordSprints.

Unfortunately, though, I'm feeling terribly unmotivated to write. I'm going to catch up tomorrow, I think. I got a few hundred words, but I'm not feeling this scene. I might skip ahead to the Dramatic Stuff.

Day 2: The society evolves

Okay, so before now, I've had this very vague idea of the merfolk society. I knew that males weren't fully humanoid, and were more like sea lions than fish or humans. I also knew they were "inferior" to the females. I swear this wasn't some repressed thing. It's just how the dream was. ;)

Well, apparently without a lack of opposite-sex intellectual equals, mermaids have essentially become bisexual. They mate with the males for procreation, but often form romantic relationships with their "sisters." Family bonds are not strong; mothers are called "matria" but most young, male or female, are raised in a communal creche.

The society lives in magically-shielded cities under the ocean. In the past, this has been fine, but as humanity's technology improves, it's getting harder to keep them away. The breaking point is coming; eventually they won't be able to hide anymore. There are cities worldwide, but it looks like the one off the American eastern coast is going to be the first to break the silence. When a pod of males is captured and taken aboard a commercial research vessel, the MC is sent to free them.

She does - spectacularly. So the silence is broken.

She and another mer will be sent to the mainland to try and broker peace, or else. The queen is pissed off, and not really interested in peace, only retribution, so time is limited.

And that's all I've got. I do know that negotiations will be unsuccessful, and war will result. After that... who knows? Maybe the merfolk will take over the US. ;) Maybe there'll be a rebel alliance.

Oh, and I have a Senator from somewhere named Mason. And the MC's best friend/sometimes lover is Aria, the land-spy.

Day 1 - Trials and tribulations

Well, any of you who are frequent visitors to the NaNoWriMo website know it's down. Down something *fierce*. This wasn't as much of a problem last year, but we are experiencing record-breaking totals... at one point, we had over 16,000 people online at once.

It's just as frustrating for us as it is for you. The good news is, the tech team is on it,and working hard to get things back on track. Specialists have been called in, and things will work. We promise! In the mean time, write your novels, and hit that word count goal! I did a 15 minute word war with NaNoLanta and got 687 - I think I can manage to get 1667 today. It's funny, you'd think I'd write when the sites are down, but I worry so much about catching up on modding I don't. I write better when I don't have 50-something posts in the abuse queue. ;)

I did get a rousing good first page or so on my novel. An impressive opening scene with water knocking over secret service agents. I think we've got something here. :)

I got on the site long enough to post an excerpt. I also have it on very good authority that Liquid Story Binder will again be offered at a discount this November. Check it out from my sidebar over there... it's what I use to write my novels, and I can't sing its praises enough. Super flexible, bit of a learning curve, but worth taking the time for. It'll adjust itself to how YOU work - it doesn't require you to change how you do things.