The Final Reckoning.

214,677.

I probably took overall high score, but Chicago's still got another forty minutes, those lucky Morganformens.

There's more I want to say, but I'll say it late. I'm starving, and FISH AND CHIPS and a DEEP FRIED SNICKERS BAR await.

jules

The Final Hour And Twenty.

I'm done with the story folks.

It's TYPE LIKE THE DEVIL time, after a short break.

Go, Go, Go!

jules

Homestretch.

Alright, kids.

Here we go.

I'm just getting rid of a massive headache.

I finally validated, and Nano gave me a few extra words: 200,277. Thank you, Nano.

And I've figured out my reward: I'm going at midnight to get fish and chips, and a deep fried snickers bar. Perfect reward for an Anglophile.

Settling in with a cup of coffee. I'm not coming up for air until I've done the do. At least another 8K. More likely that I'll try for 10K. I like nice, round numbers.

Let's do it.

jules

My Current Wordcount Is...

200,214.

Still a ways to go to finish the story. But we're in Part IV. You could call it an epilogue.

tired, but happy,

jules

Another Good One.

Wow, the 1am was another productive one: 3,666 words in about an hour and six minutes.

I was thinking I'd take an hour, do another huge section, but it's nearly 3am and I'm beat.

I've passed over the hump in my novel. One more scene and it's Part IV, the epilogue.

Wow. I'm kinda sad.

jules

Woah. That Was Exhilarating.

The Eleven O'Clock Word Cyclone yielded me 3,723 words. Wow. That's probably the most focused I've been since Day 1.

The next two scenes aren't going to go nearly as fast, because there is a LOT of dialogue. Dialogue can cut my word count per sprint in half. Still though, one more scene, and I'm ONTO THE LAST PAGE OF THE OUTLINE!!!

THE END IS NEAR!!!

Write hard,
jules

Five Minutes Before The Eleven O'Clock Word Cyclone.

Okay. I'm on track for a big word storm for the next hour. I just logged an additional 11K for the day, but I want to amp it up. I'm three scenes from completing Part III of my outline, where all my action is, which means there's only another half page to go. The Epilogue, basically.

The next three scenes are *huge* though. They will take me all night, if i choose to work that long.

And I might.

Here we go...

jules

Taking a Short Break.

I've been writing on and off all day. I haven't been going at the pace I wanted, but I've clocked a nice few thousands of words. I'm wondering if I should wait until end of day to post.

Hm.

Just found out Chicago is doing a lockdown tomorrow. Shoot. I'm going to have to type like a wizard to keep my lead, I know it.

Whew.

Time for lunch. Then back to the words.

jules

Competition Heating Up.

It's disturbing, how competition-driven I am.

Some Chicago Morganformen tried to jump my lead yesterday.

I was extremely lazy with the writing yesterday. Went to a write-in, got relatively little done - The conversations being had all over the room can be a little distracting, because they're *so* funny. After seeing a show at a club on the Lower East Side, I parked myself in a late night diner, got through another couple of scenes, then got home to discover that there was a chicagoan at 171K (when I was at 170K). After I entered my word count for the day, I was only ahead by 2K or 3K.

I'm feeling the heat now. Even though my forearms and wrists are sore, it's the home stretch and it's time to pull out the gatorade and write, write WRITE!

I've decided that I'm not going to the Desperation Libation on Friday. I've only got two days and I need to work. I really feel the need to show Chicago who's boss..

jules

Struggling Up Over The Top.

It's 2:33am.

I just got my goal done, I'm at 170K, approximately. Went to the write-in tonight, did an obscene amount of socializing (which is why I'm up until 2:30am).

I'm seeing the end of this, one and a half pages of outline left. Fourteen scenes, thirty thousand words.

Quality has gone completely out the window. I putting down whatever comes into my head. There's an action scene, and I didn't put as much thought into it as I would have liked. I know that's what revisions are for.

Just got a book shipment: John Cage. Oulipo novelsts. A CD of the Gymnopedie that will make me cry, if I'm not careful.

Right now, I'm going to bed.

jules

Howdy. Only Days to Go Now.

Hi there. It's Tuesday noon and I figured I'd write in and say...something.

Home stretch time. I have about two pages to go on my outline, and my goal is to whittle that down to one an a half by day's end. I may make it to the write-in at the Tea Lounge tonight, but I'm trying to write as much as I can before that as well. I've logged about 4K this morning so far. Want to get an extra 2K in before I take a break and deal with some other life stuff going on today.

The other parts of my life are calling me, SCREAMING at me now. December is going to be crazy busy with music stuff, just trying to do the setup work now so I can hit the ground running this weekend.

Wish me luck. And best of luck in the home stretch to all you novelists out there...

jules

My New Wordcount.

I've been writing for the last three hours, and I feel like I'm walking through molasses. Probably because I was up so late last night, and it's the end of a work day. But, I finished a couple more scenes, and wanted to update you on my current wordcount:

151,222.

198 pages.

Cool, no?

Story isn't even closed to finished. I have one more major scene in Part II, and then Part III happens. *That's* where all the action is.

I LOVE THE MIGHTY BOOSH! They're my guilty pleasure for the week.

More later.

jules

Woah.

I was up until about 3:15am, writing. Got through a cool 7.3K. Clocked another 1.3K on the subway ride in to work.

I'm at work, and there's work to do. But it won't take me all day. Should leave me enough time to clock the extra 4K I need to hit a very important goal...before anyone else has a chance to do it.

Woot!

I think my cats are sick. Lexi and Tina threw up yesterday, like, more than usual. Neither one of them would touch their food or water this morning.

I may have to use Monday to take them to the vet.

jules

On A Saturday Night.

It's 10:42pm on Saturday night.

This is totally unplanned, but I'm settling in for a late night write.

I've got 12K to go until I hit 150K, and I happen to know that someone from another team attempted a WriDay today. Hm. This competition is suddenly making everything exciting. I have to stay on my toes. My goal is to get to 12K by tomorrow.

Toronto is having an ALL NIGHT WRITE tonight...in a CHURCH! That's amazing. I wish we were having something like that here in town. I could so grab some jammies and a blankie and go somewhere and just write my fingers down to the bone.

Which is what I'm about to do. Gotta make a cup of coffee...

jules

Back From Holiday.

It's Saturday. I'm at work, back from Holiday.

I usually do a quick trip once a year at Thanksgiving, back to Virginia where I'm from. The rides down and back were painless. Mom did a great job with dinner (like she does every year). I'm a chronic dieter, but I had lots and lots of pie.

Woot.

My mom has a slow, slow dialup connection, so I couldn't shout on the forums as usual. Have to go around now and wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.

Chicago and Toronto mean business with the word war. Right now I've got top score, but I know there are a couple of people vying for the title. I'm going to have to type like mad to keep my lead.

Nothing like a little competition to heat things up, eh?

Hope you had a good holiday!

jules

There Is So Much Greatness In The World.

I am heading off into the holiday. I spent *no* time today on the novel. I was too busy listening/reading great stuff other people have done. It's really great too. I'm jealous.

Canada surprised us all in the word war today and pulled ahead of both Chicago and New York. Good for them, eh? I don't know where the word war is going to end up, but I'm going to try to come top out of everyone. Wish me luck.

I'm halfway through my novel. I need another 75,000 words before I'm satisfied. Think I can do it in a week and a half? I'm sure as heck going to try.

Happy Thanksgiving. Hope you celebrate well, however you celebrate.

cheers,

jul

This Is The Cutest Thing I've Seen All Day.

Chris Baty said that Saturday write fest felt like this.


http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/03/01/mn_indonesia_jak110.jpg


Gosh, I'm sad I missed it!

j

A Few Random Thoughts.

I am engaging in the most peculiar form of self-torture right now.

Neil Gaiman's pep talk has just come through. And I'm letting it sit in my inbox, unread, for the moment.

Ah, okay, I'll go on and tell you: Neil Gaiman is the author I'm totally ripping off for NaNo this year. I don't feel so bad about it. There are a lot worse authors one could rip off. I adore Neil. I adore his writing, I adore him as a person, I love to hear him talk on just about anything. And I realized, I'm not just ripping off one of his works, I'm ripping off pretty much all of them.

I'm listening to Arthur Smith Sings Leonard Cohen. It is a most peculiar comedy. I knew nothing of Arthur Smith before I saw him on QI. Now I'm really curious to hear more. He's very good. Smart comedy. Snappy one liners.

Neil's email is still sitting there. Hm... Nice.

Goshdarnit, Chicago is 80K ahead of us now. I don't know if I believe it. I'm going to have to not care so much about this now so I can get through my day without getting angry.

I am digging Arthur Smith so much that I'm sending him an email. He rocks.

The email is *still* there.

I'm a masochist, me.

jules

I Am Feeling Very Writerly...

...in these first few moments of Saturday.

I just got home from a long write tonight. Went to the same diner that I went to after the lovely write-in on Wednesday night. I did four thousand words this morning, another five this evening. This evening, I wrote through a scene and added some depths to it that surprised me, filled a few plot holes without even trying. I will enjoy writing this novel again, fleshing out the story even more, trying to make these characters' relationships and true feelings about each other complete from the beginning.

Chicago is still 60K ahead of us. It's pissing me off by the day, let me tell you. Don't make me pull out a long writing day on you guys.

Lilián asked me what my story is about. Hm. Okay. How can I tell you and not tell you at the same time?

My story is about a group of unusual relatives. Ones who were once thick as thieves, but who fell apart when one, let's say, died. Except, he didn't die. He's stuck, let's say, in another land, one far far away. And they've all got to work together to get him back. Except, the other siblings all have their reasons to bring him back...or not. Do they get him back? How? Can they get him back without killing each other?

The setup isn't at all original. It was done much better, by a master. One of my favorite authors. A kick ass author. I'm going to have to work really hard to mask my characters so they don't appear, instantly, like the characters of my favorite author.

It's a fitting challenge, though.

My friend Jodi did a show tonight at the Bitter End. She was *fabulous*. You *go*, Jodes.

jules

Woah. At Kinko's.

I am at Kinko's. I felt compelled to come here and PAY to print out my outline before beginning my torrent of words for Part II (even though my new printer should arrive tomorrow).

I copied a PDF of my outline to disk, and just threw the first version of my story, the one I did on November 1st, on the same disk for the hell of it.

There's a little ticker on these machines, these machines that tell you exactly how much you're spending per minute of Internet access. I am paying an obscene amount to sit here and tell you that I AM REALLY LIKING MY STORY!!!

I just opened the first version looking for something specific, but I'm reading little bits of dialog here and there, shocking the hell out of myself because IT'S NOT HORRIBLE!!!

Okay, I'm almost at $8.00 I'm logging out before I get to $10.00. I have a fresh copy of my outline and a new will to carry on because THIS COULD ACTUALLY BE GOOD!!!

It's dreary outside. Maybe I shouldn't spend the day on the LES, just because I feel like I could be more effective if I went to the library, or something. Hm.

Decisions, decisions.

Whatever I do, I'm hitting 100K TODAY.

Just watch me.

jules

(this note may not make any sense. I'm not spending any time proofreading it because the little box on the machine tells me I owe $7.82! I'll write more from home or from the library where it's FREE!)