Nano Day 6: Over the First Hump

Dear Diary,

Today's stack of books divined after every 131,313th word that "a quiet mind is worth hiding the cucumber." Needless to say, I took this as an omen and flew into a panic. (Because, obviously, I am the cucumber.)

After hitting my head on the ceiling, my shoulder against the bars, and stubbing my toe on the bed due to a lack of flight experience, the tranquilizer dart my captors shot into my derriere (with surprising accuracy) took leave of my consciousness and rudely left me with nary a penlight to think by.

When I awoke, the offending books were gone, and in their place waited a copy of Who Stole My Cheese? I greatly fear its divination, so have incorporated it straight into the scale Empire State Building.

I used the empty tranquilizer dart as the spire.


Yours unmoved by Swiss,
Inner Editor

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nano, Day 6

After I posted last night, I spread out on the couch and wrote over 2K, taking me past 10K a day early! XD

This also took me past today's word count, which was a blessing because my health was not very nice to me this afternoon and I only got in about 800 words, leaving me just short of tomorrow's count - and leaving it to most likely be written at work (not always possible).

But I will give it the ol' college try tonight.

Unless someone just turned on the television.

Never mind.

Nano Day 5: Writing Out

Dear Diary,

When my captors brought my evening meal I requested a whole new stack of New York Times [so-called ] Best-sellers, along with a picture book of scenic New York.

According to my calculations - although I am quite horrid at math, as words are my forte - if they bring me a new stack of books each day, in under a week I should be able to create a scale model of downtown Manhattan, the residence of them that cursed me with such horrid books.

And then once that is finished, I shall request Newberry Award winners and recreate Paris. Perhaps if I build the Eiffel Tower tall enough, I will alert the media of my location and they will rescue me.

Yours to scale,
Inner Editor


 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nano, Day 5

Today was my first 2011 Write-Out! I'm very happy how well it went - lots of old faces, but quite a few new ones too. It was great to see them all! XD

And I got a shocking amount of words written - I never get much typed up outside of sitting all by myself in the living room without music, noise, or distraction of any kind. Even if ASAU is giving me trouble, at least it has been easy to write.

I'm hoping to get in another 500 words at least tonight, so I keep this short. I hope your weekend is filled with many, many words as well!

Nano, Day 4: Mad Typing - Typing Mad

Dear Diary,

After I was unable to decipher the chicken scratch the last captive called writing scrawled on the walls of my cell, I returned to perusing the horrid books allotted me yesterday. But after several hours I could no longer stomach any more and began playing word games with them instead.

I have discovered that if you string together every two-hundred and twelfth word from each book, it says: "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like coleslaw?" Most intriguing.

I requested a random number from the captor who brought me dinner, and he has offered seven-hundred and six. I am most eager to see what intriguing new insight it will bring me.

I also requested coleslaw, but he was not as forthcoming with the side dish.

Hot like coleslaw,
Inner Editor

P.S. It turned out that the last captive of my cell was, in fact, a chicken. And therefore the writing on the wall is, in fact, chicken scratch.

~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~

Nano, Day 4

Woke this morning feeling like Nano had been going on forever already and was it ever going to end? This is a normal feeling for me in the first week though, since as an ML my Nano cycle begins in mid-August, scheduling locations and preparing activities. But I think some of it can also be attributed to my unease with my story. Third-person is being so difficult!

But I hand-wrote a few more pages at lunch, and although I'm now sporting a major headache for my troubles I got it all typed up and counted all nice and proper. And despite its difficulty, my story she is relatively a-flowing.

Not quite at word count - better get to it!

Nano, Day 3: Handwriting Analysis

Dear Diary,

I awoke this morning to discover it had not, in fact, all been a horrible dream brought on by a bad piece of fish. I had awoken yesterday to this same fact, but decided to set the matter aside for a later date.

That date proved to be today when I also discovered that the endless pile of freshly edited manuscripts awaiting my perusal was, in fact, a dream, and I, in fact, had nothing to entertain myself in this improper establishment.

After threatening to contact my attorney - if they would so kindly lend me the use of a phone - my captors brought me a large stack of New York Times Best-sellers to read. At last, sustenance! But alas I have since found no less than three mistakes in each one, and have subsequently abandoned them for the ingredients lists on the backs of my packaged rations.

Yours without sorbitol,
Inner Editor

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nano, Day 3

ASAU is coming along, although not in an easy way to determine - and not as easily as I had imagined.

While I have had full access to no less than three computing devices, I have found myself choosing to write my novel by hand - a low-tech method that does not include an instant word counting feature. So instead of getting any extra words in tonight, I will have to instead type up all the words I have already written if I wish to determine today's count. But at least I saved my eyes some screen fry-time.

And while the story is coming along, it is not exactly what I had imagined. I found myself thinking, on more than one occasion, that the story writes more like a screenplay than a novel - more blow-by-blow action and dialogue and less description and emotion. I can only hope that it's simply first scene jitters, but I am writing third person past-tense, which after at least an entire year of first-person present-tense I may be discovering myself a bit third-person rusty.

But I shall prevail! XD

Nano, Day 2: Spies Be Among Us!

Dear Diary,

To curb my boredom, I determined I should write a novel of my own. A proper novel, without my host and her pesky imagination to get in the way.

I decided to open with the classic: "It was a dark and stormy night," but alas I had to quickly shelve this adage. I mean really, it being "night" makes "dark" redundant. Also, if it is "stormy," it would obviously be "dark" - yet another redundancy. So I edited it down to a proper "It was a stormy night."

By that time, however, I was too exhausted to continue, and have therefore shelved my story for another time.

Perhaps next June.

Yours affectionately,
Inner Editor

~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~

Nano, Day 2

I think I may have possibly settled on a story! And a day early! XD It was in the 10/31 short pile and got dismissed, but I pulled it out again last night and now I am past the prologue and into the first chapter - almost 800 words in all. It's greatest appeal was I already had it mostly plotted out in a really bad outline. How could I say no to a pre-plotted book? I rarely ever have those to work with! 

It is tentatively titled A Spy Among Us, and follows a spy's assistant, son, and ex-cop brother-in-law after his wife dies and the trio finds themselves on the run from bad people. Really, the spy barely makes an appearance, but there are lots of spy-like things to otherwise entertain. ;)

With my overflow from yesterday I made over word count at work today, but plan to continue some more tonight if possible. Wednesday nights make for horribly boring television options at my house, so once my web duties are done I'm free to write until my fingers cramp! I really need to hide my reading material though...

Nano, Day 1: Not So Surprising Changes

Dear Diary,

While popping out for a quick scone, two figures in black tossed me in a trunk and drove away. I now find myself locked in some sort of cell, in an unknown location, with no way to get out.

After screaming for several minutes, my captors informed me I will only be held for 30 days, and then I will be free to leave. I fear the worst at home, but have contented myself to my plight. They were kind enough to give me this diary, a fuzzy pink little book with the words "Spoiled Princess" emblazoned across the front in glitter.

I would have rather had my scone.

Yours affectionately,
Inner Editor

~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~     ~

Nano, Day 1

Choosing a story to write for November is my hardest decision. I will go through several changes during October, only to discover on November 1st that the story I finally chose does not feel like being written now.

This is what happened to me today. My planned story (NGGU) wouldn’t come out even with a shoehorn, so I finally started looking elsewhere found my original plan (Plant Life) felt like speaking up. It’s boring and a lot like last year’s (which is why I ditched it), but I made word count so I’m not complaining. But I know for a fact that this is not the story I want to write this month, so the search is once more on.

I am considering going rogue (or rebel, as it is known) and tackling the rest of Project V and some of Project V: Book 2 (it's going to be a trilogy). But I want to exhaust all other options first. Will keep you posted.

November is NaNoWriMo!

It's official: I'm doing Nanowrimo this year! It was touch-and-go for a few weeks - being sick, not being able to choose a story - but I'm just too excited not to. And now, with a story nicely unfolding in my head without any effort, how can I say no? 

My sixth year is a GO!

I plan to blog my progress every day (or almost every day, at least), so check in regular-like for all the trials, tribulations, and exaltations of my word-crammed month.

And I will also be doing a daily special feature entitled "Diary of an Incarcerated Inner Editor" - journal entries of my jailed inner editor, who I am secretly locking away November 1st. Please don't say anything in front of her - she doesn't know yet. I'm being very careful not to tip her off, lest she mess up any writing I do pre-November 1st - like this blog post, or more important NanoML emails...

Better start brainstorming. See you in Nanoland! XD