Medium Dawn Felagund of the Fountain

I officially reached the 50K mark on Tamlin last night, just in time to claim an official NaNoWriMo win today. The novel itself is not finished, but it actually is getting close. I am in the part of the story that I think of as the Let's All Go to the Underworld! part. It has maybe 10K left in it? (Which probably means more like 15-20K because it's me and I am a champ at underestimating things.)

What is really amazing to me is that I still want to write this story. I think about it all the time. I wish I was writing it now! (I need to decide if I want to go there when I still have Thanksgiving preparation chores to do. Sometimes writing spoils me for anything productive!) When I finish this, it will be the first NaNovel that I actually do finish, sadly enough. The Midhavens novel I was writing needs a complete rewrite (much like Tamlin did) because I've changed my mind so much, and I was writing another fantasy novel that I need to decide if I want to finish or not.

But next up is the prequel to AMC, which was going to be my NaNo project until Tamlin spiraled beyond being a Haunted October story and into firm novel-length territory and demanded two months to write.

I'm going to keep entering my word count till the end of the month so that I can have the data and will ramble at some point in the near future about what I learned from this experience. Because that's what NaNo is to me: a reason to prioritize working on a big project for one full month and the opportunity to learn what works for me and doesn't as a writer. Interestingly, based on word count data, my habits as a writer have changed since the last time I did NaNo, which I suspect is the result of disciplining myself through a humanities MA and Master's thesis. But more on that later.

This is cool too: A couple of weeks ago, I posted offhand to Twitter about doing NaNo and mentioned the writer's club I was starting at my school. A few days later, I was contacted by a journalist from the education website The 74, wanting to interview me for an article she was writing about teachers using NaNoWriMo with students. I checked in with my principal to make sure it was okay to talk to her, and he was thrilled and gave me the green light. Well, the article is online! I'm about halfway through, rambling about tea and the culture of persistence and the importance of giving opportunities to write to kids in disadvantaged communities.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words ...



( Blah Blah Blah )

As of this afternoon, I was content with the thought that I was going to do another unofficial* NaNoWriMo this year and work on the prequel to AMC. Since this is one of the few stories I'm working on that is completely outlined (versus letting the story write itself, to varying degrees; AMC being the most extreme example of this, as I didn't even know how it would end until it ended), I figured that I could mostly finish it and maybe start posting in the new year.

* "Unofficial" because I have a few chapters written already, so it's not technically a fresh story and not technically eligible for the competition. Last year, I also worked on a work-in-progress for NaNoWriMo, and I got my fair share of encouragement to cheat. But it's not worth it--to me--to violate the spirit of the contest just to get a banner. So I aim to write 50K words like the rest of the NaNuts, but I just don't enter on the site. It's all about the stories anyway, isn't it?

Then, this afternoon, Bobby and I went to see the new fantasy movie The Seeker ... and a plotrabbit straight out of Monty Python and the Holy Grail sunk its big, nasty, pointed teeth right into my upper thigh. For no good reason. (Do you ever see a tiny detail and, suddenly, a whole story explodes forth from it? I'm not even sure that I remember the trigger.) To the degree that I only half paid attention to the first hour of the movie. (It's a family movie, so the plot's not that hard to follow.) Now, it looks like this will be my 2007 NaNoWriMo story.

And yes, just when I swore, "No new novels!" since I have three already in various stages of completion, and just when I swore to finish my Midhavens novel and concentrate on short fiction when writing original stuff, I get an idea for an original novel that I can't even imagine how long it is going to be based on all the ideas whirling in my head right now. Nrgh. And despite all this, I'm damned excited because I haven't had this sort of enthusiasm for a story ... well, since embarking on the Midhavens novel for NaNoWriMo two years ago.

Of course, it could fade, and I could go back to the AMC prequel. I'd be happy with either, but right now, I can't imagine doing that. This story is begging to be written. If it wasn't for Haunted October taking all my time, I'd be fighting not to start it now.

In other NaNews, Bobby will also be scribbling along with me this year. I think he's up to it. In a lot of ways, when the whole family (save the dogs, of course) is doing NaNoWriMo, that makes it easier for all of us. We'll just be eating a lot of mac 'n' cheese and wearing outfits a few times more than usual!

So who else is taking on NaNoWriMo this year? Any clue what you're writing yet? Excited, scared, meh about it? Inquiring minds want to know! :)

I have come to the conclusion that my body hates me. It's sole object in life is to make me as miserable as possible. I suppose that I should not complain. My mind seems to like me a good deal and is fine with letting a dozen or so muses camp out there on a permanent basis. But my body hates me.

( Cut for Really Gross (Vomit-Related) TMI and General Griping )

But on a positive note, yesterday was my big day, and the spirits were smiling upon me. Bobby was supposed to have class, then hockey. He opted out of hockey so that we could spend part of the evening together. Then he got word that class was cancelled, so we got to spend all of the evening together.

We have certain Halloween traditions. We always rent a cheesy horror movie (Friday the 13th Part III was this year's pick) and take a walk in the historic district. Ellicott City is one of the most haunted places on the east coast, so what could be better than that? We've never seen anything paranormal, but one day...Bobby even took the camera.

In the Halloween spirit, I wore my Elf-ears and cloak, and for the first time ever, did not get odd looks. It always feels good to know that my wardrobe is most appropriately worn on Halloween!

( Bobby's Pumpkin and Dawn's Elf Ears )

Soooo...today was the first day of NaNoWriMo. I went to bed last night, giddy to begin working on my novel again. Which, in the world of State guv'ment work, means one thing: I would be incredibly busy today. I was. I spent the morning running warrants and scanning paperwork into existing files. Then we got an emergency warrant on a sex offender, so I took care of that. Then I ate lunch. Then Johnny moped into my office with an MS Excel dilemma.

( Stoopid State! )

Eventually, I did finish my work and get to break out my NaNo story. I have to do 1667 words per day to make the 50,000 goal. Today, I did 2268, so that's 601 over my target--and with only an hour-and-a-half to work!

Tomorrow's another day, and I hope to increase that lead even further.

In big news, it looks like Bobby and I will be getting a golden retriever puppy. One of Bobby's coworkers has two boys he needs to get rid of; they're seven weeks old now, so he's looking for homes for them. He asked Bobby if he wants one. We're discussing it, and we're leaning towards "yes"....

We've even picked out a name for him: Alex. Yes, after Alex Ovechkin. But it's a cute name for a boy-puppy besides (and Bobby flat-out refused my suggestions of "Maglor" or "Elladan." Boo.) I'm trying to remain neutral and logical but gah...a golden retriever puppy. I'm so excited!

Sorry to subject everyone to another tired post. I feel like Eeyore, moping around, going, "Oh, bother...." (Did I spell Eeyore correctly? I've never been much of a Pooh person, despite enduring the mock-nickname "Pooh Bear" for most of my ten years with Bobby.)

( Randomness )

I had jury duty today. (For those of you who don't live in the good ol' USA and therefore have no need to have knowledge of our judicial process--if anything that slow can be called a "process"--jury duty involves random selection from a list of registered voters and drivers. It is basically considered to be one of the banes of life: a pleasing combination of boring and inconvenient. Oh! But they pay you $10 a day, which makes it very worthwhile to miss a day of work, especially if you don't get paid time off.

(Which, believe me, if I didn't get paid for the day I took for jury duty, I would have been out of the state this week.)

But, I do, so alas, I did my civic duty and went.

It was...interesting.

They kicked things off by showing us a video about jury duty. It was all grand-sounding and called "Your Turn to Serve" and included personal testimonials from jurors, beginning with how inconvenienced they felt and ending with--literally--testaments along the lines of, "This was such a wonderful experience! I can't wait to do it again!" (Seriously, one woman said that.)

I laughed through the whole thing.

I felt really bad about that. Well, not really bad; I felt a miniscule amount of badness because some underpaid bureaucrat (like myself) is probably so freakin' proud of that thing. I was thinking, "Do people actually buy this?" Yes, well, I suppose they do. They've bought worse.

After that, we sat. I finished a Joyce Carol Oates collection of horror stories called The Collector of Hearts (highly recommended to those of you out there who like darkfic), started the Chronicles of Narnia (which I want finished before the movie comes out), and wrote my brainstorm list for Nelyo's first official staff meeting (which means Bobby and me sitting on the couch in our PJs and probably eating some evol snack with a hockey game in the background, chatting about the imminent candy biz.) After two hours went by, the head guy (don't know what his position is actually called) came in and told us that no jury trials were going to be held today, and so we would be excused.

(Likely, I would have been excused anyway. The one trial that might have been a jury trial was a criminal case. I work for a law enforcement agency devoted to locking up parole violators. Really, I don't have much of a "cop mentality"--I'm just a statistician after all--but they don't need to know that this is one matter on which I am fairly unbiased. They see "Warrant Unit" and goodbye....)

So for two-and-a-half hours of work, I made ten dollars (four dollars an hour, yay! less than the legal minimum!) and got to go home early and work on my NaNo story.

Which because I know everyone is waiting with bated breath, is up to *exactly* 34,500 words. You don't need to tell me that I'm a sick person. I know I am.

( Mini Rant (cut for verbal badness) )

*crawls out from under rock*

Yes, she lives!

NaNoWriMo is going...well, better than expected. Of course, mad-busy-craziness had to descend on work in honor of the fact that I have a pretty fat non-work-related commitment to do at work. October was unbelievably dead at Ye Olde Warrant Apprehension Unit; November was ushered in with a chunky stack of warrants for Dawn to run, as well as all of the warrant officers deciding to turn in the crap that's been moldering under the seats of their State cars since July.

Yesterday, I hunkered down to work with NaNoWriMo in mind. (Normally, like any good State employee, I am happy to take my time, peppered with frequent breaks, but lately, I'm motivated to work at breakneck speed.) Johnny came in at one to say that he was surprised that I wasn't complaining, and I said, "About what?" to which he replied, "All of the work that was waiting for you."

"Oh, that? I finished that two hours ago."

At noon yesterday, I opened a fresh Word document, poised my hands ASDF-JKL;-perfect on the keyboard (my dad was a nut who insisted that my sister and I learn how to properly type at a young age and used to chide us for looking at the keys), and got really nervous. What if the story didn't work? Normally, I wait for a story to burst out on its own. AMC was began on a day when I had no idea, going into work, that I would be starting a novel-length story that day.

But I got busy on the task and found, after the initial anxiety over making those first words *perfect* that it was just another story. Right now, I am at the heroin-stage of Felak's writing cycle. I think about the story constantly; I have to force myself to do normal things like laundry and skating and work. Even now, I need my fix, and I know that it's in my email, and it's very tempting to stay up half the night working on it. (That's not going to happen, though.)

If anything, NaNoWriMo has been a bit disappointing just because I was expecting it to be...well, a lot harder than it's been. Not that I'm trying to sound cocky or like a braggart, but I should be over 10K by this time tomorrow.

(I'm tempted, actually, to set myself a 100K goal but then think, "Why ruin this relaxing month of novel-writing and nothing else to do?")

To my co-crazywriters, I have loved reading the details of your stories and apologize for not posting more on my own. I cannot share writing with anyone--I don't even show or tell my husband about my stories while they're being written--until it is finished and cleaned and made suitable for the public. I can tell you that it's based on original characters from my RPG; that it's a fantasy story and, like most of my stories, psychology- and character-centric. Which is weird and probably unpublishable but fun as heck to write.

Also, I am reading everyone's LJ and emails but am cutting myself back on commenting. Normally, I have a tendency to get a bit crazy with LJ posting and comments. This month, I'm slowing down a bit, but I am reading your stories and your posts, even if I don't appear very often.

To all my fellow NaNos, good luck in the days to come! To the rest of you, enjoy your relatively sane November. You're much smarter than me. ;)