DAY 1
Morning: I wrote for 30 min. of my planning period. Started a dinner conversation between my main characters. I wrote some scraps when I had free moments throughout my day.
Afternoon: I worked for about an hour after school. Put a lot of work in on the dinner conversation between my two of my main characters. Tried to change one of my character's names. But kept typing his original name, so I changed it back.
Evening: I wrote for about an hour and half before I hit my word count limit, and I stopped mid story so I have a place to pick up. I finished the dinner part and started the father son encounter. They are going to eat to, so I have to tweak what they're doing tomorrow. Don't want everything to happen around food.
Thoughts about day 1: I'm honestly pretty pumped about actually doing something that I've thought about doing for about 4 or 5 years. Before the last couple of days, I haven't been brave enough to even start. I'm trying to tell as many people as possible as some sort of accountability. If I talk about it, I will shame myself into doing it. Don't want to wuss out.
On the practical side, I have to write in a few burst through the day. I cannot work effectively after about two hours of straight writing. Breaks are the key for me. I did very little editing, which was awesome for me. Reaching the goal was easy today (I know it's only day 1). But I'm having trouble figuring out the different situations I want to use to start some new plot points.
On the practical side, I have to write in a few burst through the day. I cannot work effectively after about two hours of straight writing. Breaks are the key for me. I did very little editing, which was awesome for me. Reaching the goal was easy today (I know it's only day 1). But I'm having trouble figuring out the different situations I want to use to start some new plot points.
Soundtrack for the day: Pandora station "Battles"
Total Words: 4,672
DAY 2
Day two is in the books. I finished writing around 3:30 in the afternoon. I got a lot of spare time to write during my work day, which was awesome because I have my folks coming into town tonight and I have small group meeting. I'm still feeling pretty good about my work, but I haven't read over much of anything yet. So it could all suck, but right now I'm not too worried about that because I eventually always come to the conclusion that my writing sucks.
Morning: I spent most of my planning period writing. I only graded one paper. I've got about sixteen more to go, but that's life. I picked up on my father and son dinner and found a way to connect it to my main narrative, and dinner was a small part of the bigger piece. I got about 700 words done before 10:00, which was nice.
Afternoon: I had creative writing with my student's today, so I just worked on my novel while they did the prompts that I set up. So I got some awesome time to write with my classes, and it was in line with my lesson plans. I finished up at the end of the day. I don't have dismissal duties this year, so I just finished my word count while my class slowly departed.
Thoughts about day 2: Narrative flowed pretty strongly for most of the day. I have a lot of dialogue, but I feel like my characters lack movement and action. They seem like talking heads at times. I also messed with doing some history/flashback pieces today. At the end of my word count, I started one from the secondary character's perspective. I like it. I think the high school flash back pieces my be good ways to divide up the novel.
Soundtrack for the day: Pandora Station "My Dad Vs. Yours" and I listen to The Generationals "Con Law" for a bit, but the lyrics kept me from finding a groove.
Total Words: 6,338
DAY 3
Day three was completed way earlier than I thought. I worked on one of the previously almost complete part, and I finished up a high school flash back from the secondary character's perspective.
Afternoon: I wrote all of my words today in about an hour and half. Asher was napping and Angela had an appointment. So I just sat down and hammered it out. Nothing really big today.
Thoughts about day 3: Today was the easiest day thus far. I was worried about the weekend, but I found time to write and used it well. I also took Asher to his first movie theater movie Wreak-It-Ralph. It was a good experience. Asher really enjoyed the movie and he was good.
Soundtrack for the day: Pandora station "Childs"
Total Words: 8,002
DAY 4
Day four has been the hardest day. I just didn't have a ton of time to write. I had a few hours after church, but I needed to grade papers for my 092 class, which took about an hour and a half. And the Bucs game was on at three and that took a good three and a half hours out of my day. Then I had The Walking Dead and Dexter to watch with Chris. I skipped Homeland to write the last chunk of today's words. In short, I had an awesome day, but it didn't have much to do with my novel writing.
Afternoon: I wrote for about an hour before the Bucs game. I got thought about 900 of my words. I didn't feel like it was good words, but I wrote them, so I'll worry about how good or bad they are later.
Evening: I wrote in bed and finished my word count a little after eleven. I wrote a great humanizing moment when my main character realizes that his dad is more than a annoying father. He sees him as a human--who happens to be extremely lonely.
Thoughts about day 4: It's eleven twenty as a write this, so my thoughts are all about going to sleep. Today was the hardest day to write because I had so much fun stuff to do, but I did it. I'm tired...elbow, knees, dreams, goodnight.
Soundtrack for the day: Pandora station "Maserati"
Total Words: 9, 683
DAY 5
Day five started like a normal Monday. I was really tired. My sleepiness kind of hung on me all day like a twenty pound weight on my back, not stopping me but making everything a little bit harder than normal. I tried to finish as much of my school work as possible before writing today, and I got some major lesson planning done. Writing was harder today because I just wasn't feeling it. I was pounding out words with the sneaking suspicion that none of this will make it past the first editing cut. But I pushed through and wrote. I'm doing my best to not edit or judge anything now.
Afternoon: I wrote during my lunch. I got a good couple of hundred words done. I also wrote after school but hit a wall where I didn't like how things were going and I was tired so... I wasn't productive to say the least.
Evening: I finished my word count sitting on the couch will my kid slept in his bed and my wife sat next to me. Like earlier today, I didn't feel great about what I was writing, but near the end of my word count, I found a narrative line of thought that felt inspired. I left it open so I would have an easy start tomorrow.
Thoughts about day 5: I listened to David Sedaris when I exercised and I wish I could write humor, but it's the hardest thing to write. Oh, I also put my novel into a novel program called Scrivener. It helps to divide up your scenes and sections and organize them into a visual storyboard. While it didn't make writing easier, it did help me to start to piece together an order for the scenes that I do have.
Soundtrack for the day: Dosh's "The Lost Take"
Total Words: 11, 468
DAY 6
My writing started strong, but I limped to the finish line. I'm feeling a little stretched.
Afternoon: Wrote about 800 words during lunch. But I'm reaching the end of a subplot and I'm having trouble knowing where to go next. I need a fresh narrative line of thought.
Evening: Took me about an hour and a half to write the last 800 words. It was rough. I'm going to be short here because I need a break from staring at the computer.
Thoughts about day 6: New hardest day. I'm finishing up a section, which feels pretty stinkin' good, but I'm also not sure where to go next.
Soundtrack for the day: Pandora station "Couch"
Total Words: 13,022
DAY 7
If day 6 was my hardest day, then day 7 has been swing back to happier times (I'm thinking of you, Day 3). I started my much needed new narrative arc. I brought in my first female characters (before this there were 2 dudes and a dad). And the new arc really got me back into the story. I've also devised how I plan to break my chapters up: day. So I've mostly written Saturday, but I jumped into Sunday today and it's going well so far.
Morning: Same as normal. I got about 600 words done during my planning period, which was putting some of the final touches on the father arc.
Afternoon: I jumped into the old girlfriend arc and got about 500 words into before I had to go teach at Calhoun.
Evening: Finished up my word count at home around 7:00. Feeling good. I got done early.
Thoughts about day 7: Week 1 is done! I'm 1/4 through, and I'm really glad that I committed to doing this. I feel pretty, pretty, pretty good.
Soundtrack for the day: Pandora station "B. Fleischmann"
Total Words: 14,762
I have only one question for you, Mr. Isley: Who are you on the Nano site so I can track you from there?
ReplyDeleteI honestly don't really ever go to the NaNoWriMo site. But my profile if Geekcore. Why should I go there?
ReplyDeleteYou don't have to go there, really, besides to validate your novel and whatever. It just lets you keep track of your words and there's a forum and stuff. But that really isn't your kind of thing, huh?
ReplyDelete