Meme and Progress

Word count: 64,921/100K

Had a little shakeup today. I have this ... thing... where I am suddenly unsatisfied with something, and everything must stop until I have put this thing to rest. The current dis-satisfaction? My writing setup. Everything is the wrong size. Card table is too deep, not wide enough. Little desk I've had since sixth grade is too narrow across the top and too tall to type at comfortably. I can't write in my journals on the card table without moving everything. I have no room to write in my journals on the desk if the computer is on it, so I try and use the two, juxtaposed in some manner. I tried to change it today, to shut up my interior dis-satisfaction.

Sigh.

Chalk another one up to "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

And I am going to do this meme, cuz everyone is doing this meme. It looked fun.

Your Cell Phone? Pink
Your Hair? Brown
Your Mother? Missing
Your Father? Retired
Your Favorite Food? Pizza
Your Dream Last Night? Disturbing
Your Favorite Drink? Coffee
Your Dream/Goal? Writer
What Room Are You In? All
Your Hobby? Reading
Your Fear? Homelessness
Where Do You See Yourself In Six Years? Published
Where Were You Last Night? Writing
Something That You Aren't? Thin
Muffins? Wish!
Wish List Item? Peace
Where Did You Grow Up? Oklahoma
Last Thing You Did? Write
What Are You Wearing? Sweats
Your TV? Obsessed
Your Pets? Cricket
Friends? Meh
Your Life? Satisfactory
Your Mood? Chipper
Missing Someone? Rarely
Vehicle? Red
Something You Aren't Wearing? Socks
Your Favorite Store? Borders
Your Favorite Color? Pink
When Was The Last Time You Laughed? Today
Last Time You Cried? Yesterday
Your Best Friend? Where?!
Facebook? bleh
Favorite Place To Eat? TGIF's
Favorite Character you've written about? Jale

Why Do I Write? Good Question.

Word Count: 56,148/100K

One of mah buddies, the soon-to-be-published Adam Slade over at Editing Hat posed the question How did you get started? and I answered it. Now he has asked Why do you write? Now I'm answering that. I guess, if Adam asks a question, it seems that I will answer it.

Hmm....

I find my answer is near to his, in that I don't write to ponder some great moral dichotomy or political agenda. When I find themes and symbolism in my writing, I assure you, I'm as surprised as the next person. I've always written what I wanted to read. I love to escape. I'm always looking for the door out of reality. If one opened to Narnia, right now, I'd jump through that fu#@%r with nary a backwards glance, White Witch, Big Scary Minotaur thing or no.

You know what would be really awesome? If there were others that wanted to follow.

Arm yourselves, Fearless Readers! I think I felt a cold draft from the direction of my chest of drawers!!

50K in 23 Days!

Current Word Count: 52,134/100K

Well, I got to 50K late late Saturday night! That means this bad boy is halfway done!

I took a look at my calendar for last year, to see where I was during NaNo at this time. It took 23 days to win then, also. Then I went to my sister's for Thanksgiving. I came back and got back to work... then flipped over to December. And was horrified.

I was a lazy ass bum in December. I missed out on a smattering of 6 days in the first few weeks! In short, I totally lost my mojo! I have written myself a little warning note in my calendar for February, warning myself to DON'T LET DECEMBER HAPPEN AGAIN! I've got a 500 page manuscript to edit in March, and I think I need a few extra weeks! I hope to carve them out in February! If I write every day at 2K a day, I should be done by Feb 16. That is, if the story agrees to be 100K. This is my hope! I'm also entering the most unplanned part of my outline... so I need to think about that, too. And my birthday is Feb 12th... so I'm sure I'll take that day off since it's going to be my last birthday!... so let's say the goal is the 17th.

How about you and your goals? Is January going the way you hoped?

Cruisin' to 40K

Current Word Count 41,136/100K

Currently: trying to keep Cricket from destroying my desk

Have you seen that commercial? The McDonald's one where the guy doesn't want to talk to anyone until he's had his coffee? That's me. Except he's a guy. He's an actor, not a writer. And he is on TV. I am in my apartment.

I'm going to go out on a limb here. You know of bloggers who post irresponsible things about their work on their blogs and get fired? I am going to walk that line. At my work, they have substituted caffeinated for decaffeinated. I was never included in this secret meeting, this now infamous meeting where it was decided that decaf would rule the day. Or as I see it: rue the day. My days are rued. I don't know if that is a word. But weeks with decaff coffee four days a week are taking their toll. Thus, this rambling post.

Regardless of this four day a week "rue-ing" I have achieved 40K! whoooooo! Had a great night, where unexpected things happened. Had my characters sitting around a campfire. I wanted a little getting to know you banter and BAM! BOOM! They know things about each other, things they haven't told each other. I guess it's some sort of psychic link.

In honor of all this, I am posting a picture of Cricket. This makes no sense, but your dealing with someone who had decaff coffee today!

Checkin' in on 30K

Current Word Count: Endways of the Gods

31,056/100K

Listening to: Sleater Kinney - Dig Me Out

Greetings, Fearless Readers! I've reached the 30K mark, and surprise, surprise! I'm right where I want to be! There are three "acts" to this book: The Gathering of all the Favored (note the capital, it's important!), The Exodus, and The Quest. The Quest will have the lion's share of the glory, of course, but I'm right where I wanted to be at this part.

I'm getting a little OCD with the record keeping. It's nice seeing all those pink boxes that signify a writing day add up on the calendar page! I'm trying to keep it to only one day off a week! I've discovered: the more I goof off, the more I goof off. The more I write, the more I write! Daily goals and consistency is the way to go for me.

And I had a realization on Tuesday. In exactly one month, I will be 39. This will be my last birthday. I refuse to turn 40 - I've decided I'll be $39.95 plus shipping and handling for the rest of my life!

A Visual Break

Thought I would give you all a bit of a break from my blather, and instead, give you some visuals. First of all, I don't know how my little bloggy got 39 followers, but the above kitty (my chorus, if you will) and I, thank you for all the kind comments and what have you. Especially for the encouragement! It's so important writers encourage each other. I will try and continue to do the same for you!

and again... encouragement. Anywhere we can look for a little hope, you know? :)

Have a awesome Sunday.

Goals and Accountability

NaNo was a huge breakthrough for me. Way way back when I started writing an actual novel, I wrote 2k a day, because Stephen King said I was supposed to. Then I quit writing for a long time and lost sight of my goals. The Dragongar books took 9 months to write, each. Shudder! For NaNo, I decided it was time to get serious. Please note the serious bold face type! And I wanted that sucker out to agents in 2010. I put myself on a 2k a day regimen and got 'er done! For myself, the way to finish books is to set goals and be held accountable.

A lot of writers post their weekly goals on their blogs. I, however, have only the mental where-withal to work on one project at a time. Not that I don't make goals, I do! Bare minimum is 2k a day on the novel in progress. My other goal is to write EVERYDAY! If I take a day off, I increase my goal the next day or couple of days to catch up. I have also taken the challenge to increase my goals on the weekend and Fridays to 3k. The result? It's the first week of January, and I've got more than 20K!

As for being accountable, I have several ways of doing this. On AW, I've got the JaNoWriMo, Anyone thread. The point is to go on everyday, talk about your word count, problems, epic fails or epic wins. There is also the 2010 Weekend Progress Report Thread. You can get shinies for reporting your doin's for the week! :) There is the JaNoWriMo board. I also use a calendar where I write my daily progress: total word count, word count for the day and what page I'm at. This seems like a lot - I tend to go all out when I get somethin' in my little noggin. I find it keeps me excited and I have to be accountable, to myself. I also update my signature with my word count. I love watchin' that thing as it goes up.

What about you? How do you get novels done? Do you set goals? Do you have somewhere (a board or blog) or something (a calendar, a word ticker) you use to hold yourself accountable?