NaNoWriMo - Week 2 is Over

DAY 8

Morning: I kept up with my normal 500-600 words during my planing period. I do some of my best writing in the morning. I wish I had more time to write before school. I'm developing my first female character which is nice. I find that writing as fast as possible is the best way to find out how a character really thinks. It's funny how sometimes my own characters surprise me. I had one of those, "Okay, so that's how she's going to be. I can work with that" moments.

Afternoon: I wrote a good 500 words after school today. But my mind was else where. That's not to say that it was a waste. The current situation is really compelling to my characters, so I feel a lot of what's happen is natural.

Evening: I finished up my daily word count while my wife was at a baby shower and Asher was in bed. I added a "We ended up at Denny's" moment tonight. It was funny to me and at least one other person.

Thoughts about day 8: I've started to add more of my own humor and self into the book. I have some references to The Dark Tower, Rambo First Blood Part 2, and Saved by the Bell in there. I don't know if the humor resonates. I have to take it to an outside source. I'm afraid that it may fall flat. I think I want to redesign my blog. I'm going to do that now.

Soundtrack for the day: Kaki King's "Dreaming of Revenge"

Total Words: 16,373


DAY 9

Morning: I worked on one scene all morning. It wrote my normal 500 words during my break.

Afternoon: I got to write with my middle schoolers during their creative writing time. I normally don't do back to back weeks of creative writing, but I wanted to finish my novel word count before I go on the men's retreat this weekend. Don't worry, reader, I did.

Thoughts about day 9: Nothing really big happened today. It wasn't hard or easy. It was just writing. I feel like I'm getting to the meat of my novel, which is kind of cool.

Soundtrack for the day: The Album Leaf's "In a Safe Place"

Total Words: 18,016

DAY 10

I wasn't home all day. I wrote about 1,100 words. Day 10 was the first day that I didn't reach my word goal. I'm still ahead overall, but I still didn't carve out enough time to write. Failure.

Word Count: 19, 101

DAY 11

Afternoon: I typed about 1,000 words with the Tampa Bay Bucs game on mute. I actually really liked what I wrote about in this two and half hour sitting. Writing on and off isn't the best idea for time effectiveness, but my kid was napping and at the same time the game was on. If I wanted to write this afternoon, then I had to do it then. I didn't work on anything plot based, I just free wrote and it turned into something that I'm going to fit into the book somewhere.

Evening: After I came back from watching the Bond movie: Skyfall, I sat down and finished the free writing that I started earlier in the day. It turned into three memory sections that all seem to fit within the character structures that I have been trying to build.

Thoughts about day 11: I'm just glad to be back on track with my word count. Also, Casino Royale > Skyfall > Quantum of Solace.

Soundtrack for the day: NA

Total Words: 20,681


DAY 12

Thoughts about day 12: I hit my word count today. I was up late writing.  It's 11:52 as I write this. So I'm going to bed. I may add more tomorrow, but I'm starting to feel stretched by the amount of writing that I'm doing.

Soundtrack for the day: Pandora Station The Decoder Ring

Total Words: 22,334


DAY 13

Morning: I worked my normal forty minutes during my planning period this morning and got about 600 words. It seems like a pretty consistant time for me. On the weekends, I miss that time I get to just start writing. It's nice to have time to put head phones in and type. I thought that I would get behind on my planning, but I've found times here and there to pick up the slack. Plus, I'm teaching classes where the reading list is extremely familiar, and I can get by not re-reading everything single thing that my class reads.

Afternoon: I finished my word count before I went home from school. It's always my goal to not have to write at home. Especially on Tuesdays because Sons of Anarchy and Parenthood come on. I'm surprised how easy it is to get about 1,000 words, but those last 667 are much harder. I think it's because I constantly check my word count progress. And when I start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, I want the words to just happen.

Thoughts about day 13: I'm glad to be back at work (for my writing's sake) because I write better on a schedule. Plus, I don't have to worry about Asher wanting to press buttons on my keyboard. Today wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Writing this novel has been a series of ups and downs. But today was a good day.

Soundtrack for the day: Radiohead's "The King of Limbs"

Total Words: 24,076


DAY 14

Morning: Standard morning: 600 words.

Evening: I didn't get to write after my break at all today. I'd let all my grading stack up, so I took care of 90% of it today. But after I finished teaching my Calhoun class, I came home to an empty house and pounded out a good 1,000 words before Angela got home with Asher. I feel like I'm started to have some meaningful character moments/realizations. I still don't know if I'm going to throw some tragedy into my novel. Right now it's all emotional drama, which can be boring. I don't know if I should have an "event" to shake things up. The most my characters have had are encounters that help them self actualize. We'll see.

Thoughts about day 14: I'm halfway done. And it this month hasn't been anything but rewarding. I still have no idea how I will feel about everything when it come to editing, and I know I have quite a few continuity issues that I'm going to have to fix, but I'm still feeling pumped about the whole thing. It's been awesome.

Soundtrack for the day: This Will Destroy You's album "This Will Destroy You"

Total Words: 25,675