If you don't know me here's a brief intro:
- I'm a writer
- Some would call me a prolific writer for the sheer amount of words I write but others have written more in a month than I do in 8 months. So there. ;)
- That said: I've written 3.6 million words in three years, won three NaNos by at least double the goal needed, and won four camps with double my goal for the month.
- I've written 34 books and tons of short stories
- I've been writing for about 20 years
- I'm insane, generally
- I'm doing a Kickstarter campaign to get one of my novels published: check it if interested
I also decided I'd do something different for this year's NaNo since it falls on a Saturday. I will be honest and say I'm writing this part of the post on October 6. The rest of this post will be written throughout the day today (November 1) as we journey through Day One of NaNo together.
That's right. I'm going to be giving an hour (or two hour) play by play on how many words I've written and how I'm doing, mentally. You'll get to virtually hang out with me live all day, more so if you follow my Twitter account.
So you know: I'm planning to write a trilogy this NaNo, or at least a good portion of one. At least the first two books. Because again: I'm freaking nuts. The basics:
Blair is an 18 year old bi-gender biological male who isn't accepted by xer family for wanting to remain physically male and thinking of xerself as both male and female. Blair also only has one friend who's moved away for university and (s)he works in a minimum wage job and has no idea what to do in life. Oh and there isn't a LGBTQ friendly place within bussing distance. In short: Blair has problems.
Blair gains more problems as when (s)he turns 18, xer father either wants xer to pay rent or move out. As if that's not enough Blair starts seeing things that no one else can see. Because a non-accepted LGBTQ person isn't enough for a novel on its own for me. I gotta give it steroids, you know?
Anyway, Blair seeing thing isn't mentally related. Nope. (S)He's magical in today's world but (s)he just doesn't know it. (S)He's also The Hero of the story so yeah, there's going to be a "Baddie" (s)he's got to beat up to save the world. And if you re-read if you haven't noticed: Blair uses BOTH pronouns to describe xerself so it'll be interesting to work that shift into a series well.
We'll get to learn about Blair, well you will anyway. I probably know a lot but characters change, especially Blair. It'll be awesome either way. That's probably a funny sentence if you re-read it. Let's move on, shall we? And let's remember that all the below is written AFTER I've worked on Blair's story for an hour (or so).
The Novel: Mists of Time Book One: Discovery
Hour One: Saturday November 1, 2014, 7:30AM-7:50AM and 10AM-11AM
Starting Word Count for the month: 2023
Word Count: 6044 which means 2616 written from 10-11. :)
Pros: We got to meet Blair and get a glimpse of what he deals with on a regular bases. And yes, he's a he right now for these two chapters at least. That might change when tomorrow comes for him.
Cons: His dad's an ass and people miss-gender Blair a lot...
Issues: I think I had a few too many "that's" but I'll catch 'em in editing.
Plot Fun: Blair's seeing things, just flashes of shadows and what not which is exactly what's supposed to happen. Oh, two college kids couldn't pay for their groceries so Blair had to work through them panicking.
Best Line: Minor Character: "Listen lady, I've got things to do," Blair: "First: we all do. Second: I'm not a lady."
Last Sentence Wrote: He really did need more sleep.
Hour Two: 11:09AM-11:58AM
Word count: 8,430. Words written: 2,359
Pros: Blair's going crazy nicely. ;)
Cons: Blair's family life sucks.
Issues: I think I made Blair's family life suck too much without explanation.
Plot fun: Eh, not much fun this time around, sorry.
Best Line: "Oh yeah, I'm so scared of being grounded. I don't have a life outside of working and cleaning up after the rest of you. What's dad going to do? Tell me I can't go out till 9PM anymore? I don't do that anyway. You can't threaten me but there are lots of things I can do to make your life miserable. So again: stop taking my shit." Blair to his younger sister Natalie who took one of his shirts and ruined it. She does this lots. Blair's also the house-slave of sorts because of reasons that will be revealed later.
Last Sentence Wrote: He was sleep deprived not insane.
Hour Three: 1:00PM-1:20PM, 2:10PM-2:50PM
So I had to take a break because my furnace stopped working and I had to call them in. They came, they fixed and I have heat in my house again. Anyway:
Word Count: 10,949. Words Written: 2518
Pros: Blair decided she felt like a girl this chapter. It was fun.
Cons: Blair is gentler and less expressive as a girl. It's going to get confusing I'm sure.
Issues: Blair's boss is an ass.
Plot fun: Blair telling her sister off for going through Blair's things. Mwahaha.
Best line: Natalie: "Fine. You're such a bitch." Blair: "You've learned from the best."
Last Sentence Wrote: Natalie's eyes went wide before she slinked off, obviously not liking the potential topic of conversation.
Hour Four: 3PM- 4PM
I'm all ready on chapter four. I forgot how much fun it was to write this quick. :D
Word Count: 12,881. Words Written: 1932. I had to do some research. It took ten minutes. Oops.
Pros: Blair (as a girl) talked back to her dad which she's never done before as a female. It's normally her "male" half that speaks up more.
Cons: Blair's sister is trying to understand her more. This is potentially bad because the whole world is supposed to be against Blair. If Blair's sister is trying to understand her then Blair has an ally outside of her BFF and I might accidently kill the sister. Oops? We'll see where it goes.
Issues: I keep feeling like I'm using "that" too often. :(
Plot fun: Blair dressing in denim short shorts with mesh at the hem and a crop top because she can.
Best line: "I'm not changing. This is who I am." Blair to her father when her father says he's waiting for Blair to grow out of this phase. Yeah, not going to happen.
Last Sentence Wrote: Thanks.
Hour Five: 4:15PM - 5PM
Word Count: 14,427. Word Written: 1546 not bad for under an hour.
Pros: Blair deciding to move out.
Cons: This line: "The family doctor hadn't wanted to talk to Blair since Blair started dressing as he felt (either male or female) when he woke up. It was going on five years now and Blair was sure no doctor would touch him unless he was dying."
Issues: I was getting distracted. Oops?
Plot fun: Blair being attracted to his potentially new landlord
Best line: "He wasn't about to conform so he could be treated like a real person. It wasn't fair he had to conform to make other people feel comfortable.
Last Sentence Wrote: Blair nodded in thanks and they got off the elevator at the third floor. (Kinda boring...)
Now I'm off to have dinner, go to the gym, then check on my friend's cat. I'll be writing come 7PM or so. See you then my pretties...mwahaha!
Hour Six: 7:30PM-8:30PM
Yes it did take me two and a half hours to eat, wash dishes, work out, check on my friend's cat, get into my pj's and settle in front of the computer. So sue me. ;)
Word Count: 17,130. Words Written: 2,703
Pros: Blair finding a place to live quickly.
Cons: Blair seeing more corporal visions that no one else sees.
Issues: Blair's mom regrets Blair leaving which wasn't supposed to happen. Actually, I think his whole family regrets it even though his dad is forcing him out so Blair will stop "playing dress up"...dad's words.
Plot fun: Anne, one of Blair's co-workers is being friendly. She might betray Blair later. We'll see. ;)
Best line: "I'm not playing dress-up and I'm done being your slave." Blair to his dad after his dad says he only pushed Blair so hard so Blair will stop playing dress up. Um, no, your son is bi-gender which means sometimes Blair feels like a girl and will dress accordingly.
Last Sentence Wrote: "Hey, non-taxable money, free pizza, and I get to piss off someone's parents. It's an all around win." Anne to Blair when Blair asks why Anne is helping Blair move out.
And now: a short break to fix a few things (yes I edit during NaNo so there :P) then back to writing.
Hour Seven: 8:50PM -9:50PM
Word Count: 20,243. Word Written: 3113 BOO-YEAH! OVER 3K and a palindrome!
Pros: Blair and Tim connecting.
Cons: Rob touching Blair's ass when Blair doesn't want it.
Issues: OMFG MY WRISTS HURT! This is what happens when I go from not-writing for a month to writing over 10K in a day.
Plot fun: Blair expressing her emotions so nicely and now hearing things that aren't there.
Best Line: Blair: "I'm physically a guy." Tim (new neighbour/friend/crush): "I'm bisexual." WIN!
Last sentence Wrote: "I should probably get back to the house before my parents start rooting through my stuff."
Also: I'M HAVING SO MUCH FUN AND DYING AT THE SAME TIME! WOOOOOT!
Hour Eight AKA The FINAL HOUR: 10PM-10:45PM
Yeah, you read that right: the FINAL HOUR. I'm tired, giddy and I'm sure I'm going to be correcting all the words for at least an hour tomorrow, perhaps more but I don't care. I just wrote 20K in eight hours which is something I've NEVER done before. It's always taken me at least 10 hours to get to 20K, sometimes more so happy? RIGHT HERE! Anyway, the summary:
Word Count: 22,160. Words Written: 1,920
Pros: I, it went too quick. Ahaha.
Cons: Blair meeting the other MC without realizing she was meeting him. Wait. I think this is a pro because it becomes a really cool subplot. I can't think I'm too giddy.
Issues: Me wrists. I is issues.
Plot Fun: the new subplot about Blair seeing the other MC before actually meeting him. :D
Best Line: Blair: "Well right now I'm your other daughter and until you can accept that I don't want the keys (to her parent's house which she's moving out of)." Dad: "If you walk out that door Friday then don't expect to be able to walk back in until you've grown out of this phase (being bi-gender is so not a phase, jerk.)" Blair: "Then don't expect me to ever walk through that door again after I leave Friday." GO BLAIR!
Last Sentence wrote: Help, please?
Okay, so, I added two chapters because my chapter by chapter planning was more paragraphs instead of sentences like it normally is so I had to split a bunch of things. This worked out great because I only had thirteen chapters planned and now I have fifteen. I also modified a bunch of subplots in ways I can't remember right now (snort) and added a few subplots and potential subplots for later books which is awesome.
My brain hurts, my wrists and fingers hurts, but I'm still wide awake and oddly I want to keep writing. I'm not because it's getting late and I'd like to get at least 6.5 hours for my attempt at 30K before 10PM tomorrow night. At 10PM I will watch the Walking Dead as a treat, assuming I hit the 50K before then. I also have to run at least an hours worth of errands as well as cook dinner and go to the gym so instead of the planned 12 hours of writing I'm down to like 10. Again.
Oh, also, final word count for the day: 20,137. Why is it different from the WC of the story? Cuz I started with 2,023 words of planning I'm not counting towards my NaNo goal but happen to be in the same document my WIP is in. Oops? Sorry but I work better this way. ;)
Thanks for hanging out and joining me in the craziness. I'm not the only one who did something like this, just go hit up the Over-Achievers thread in the NaNo forums and you'll be surprised to see people might actually have completed the 50K goal right now.
I'm going to watch some House MD (maybe), update my word count (obviously) and back up the WIP (MOST DEFINITELY). Rants, rage, questions, comments, and everything in between can be directed to the comments. Thank you and good night.
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