Yep. NaNo's been done for a little bit now. Kind of miss it, but I've gone back to editing my other story. I see I've got a nice amount to fix. I'm putting aside my NaNo until this project and 2 others are done. I want this one story I'm editing to get to the point where I can let others read it and critique it. And I'm hoping to get that done by sometime in early January - which means I have a lot of work to do. It's going to be a well-edited version of the novel. I don't want someone commenting on something I was intending to fix. What's the point of that?

Anyways, holidays are coming up. Got some shopping done. Maybe I'll get more done than I think I can.

That is, if I don't procrastinate. :D

I just want to say, YUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

I just crossed the 50k finish line a few minutes ago. It feels great. :D

To reach there, I finished chapter 20something (yes, that's what it's really called) and then went back to do chapters 19 and 20 (because I felt bad for leaving them out...sort of). Yeah, I got a pretty decent amount over 50k (but nothing amazing), but what I mean by maybe finished is that I haven't actually finished the story. I finished the 20 chapters I planned out, but I did not finish the whole story. I did an extra chapter, one that I really wanted to do, but it was not the ending chapter. I introduced a new character in chapter 15, and he still needs some more character-building within the story. So I will finish this story...I might try to get a few more chapters written out tomorrow, but I feel pretty good that I actually met the deadline. Will I finish the story by the end of November? No. It's just not possible, and I don't feel like trying. But I may get a few more chapters in before November is over.

I wanted to finish yesterday, but what happened was that I ended being way too busy. But yesterday was good. No writing, but good. So I got to 50k today. Congrats to everyone who has made it past the crazy word count! Crazy month, eh?

Word Count as of Nov. 29: 50,183

Yes. It needed three exclamation marks.

I've got only 5k left to write. Actually, I've got less than 5k left to write. And I'm not even close to being halfway done with the story. So I've decided to skip around after chapter 18 (the last chapter I finished today). I'm not sure what chapter number I'm actually working on right now...chapters 19 and 20 I had planned out...but they were not signficant enough that I wanted to write them. Sure, all chapters in a story ought to be significant, but not all of them have the same significance as some others. So I'm writing chapter twenty-something. I"m sure there's going to be another chapter twenty-something. The ending two chapters plus the epilogue may end up being chapters I-have-no-idea-1 and I-have-no-idea-2. And then epilogue. I plan on getting the last two chapters and the epilogue done tomorrow. That will get me to the 50k mark, and then after that it's going to be all filling in. I know most of what happens in between. It would just take a long time to type up, and I don't think I have the time or patience to do that.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving (those of you who celebrate it) and hopefully many of you NaNo participants are crossing the 50k mark. What a great feeling, huh? Hopefully Day 28 will get me across the finish line.

Word Count as of Nov. 27: 45,218

I made it past 40k today. I'm hoping to get done some time by Friday. I was able to get chapters 15-17 written today. I don't think I'll be able to write most of the middle chapters by the end of the month if I want to finish the actual story. So they'll be little sketches after chapter 18 (which is an important chapter). That'll make them about 500-1000 words each. That's if I want to finish them. I guess it was a bit of a long story to start out with. As long as I get to write the ending scene...and reach 50k. Everything can be filled in from there.

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I doubt I'll get more than 5k done. But that makes me 5k closer to the finish! And that will leave me with less than 5k to go.

Word Count as of Nov. 26: 40,650

Nope. I didn't try quitting. I was busy...uh...and lazy. I did not take the time last week to really write any for NaNoWriMo. Therefore, I am behind. Not by too much. Well...I need to have 50k on Sunday. But I'm making progress. I'm hoping to get to at least 40k by tomorrow. Not bad, I still plan on getting 50k by the end of Friday. And then I'll be adding more to the story once I nab the win. I managed to write chapters 13 and 14 today. 14 was a rather short chapter - the word count came out less than the minimum word count requirement per day. But seeing that most of my chapters average 2.5k, it's fine. The story is moving along.

One thing I learned: don't stop writing for over a week. It hurts the flow of the story. I got the flow starting again today, but it took a little while. It's coming out a bit different than I thought it would. Had I kept writing and not stopped for about ten days or so, the story would have stayed on target. It has a dark mood right now. It'll get better...and maybe darker.

November is almost over. Kinda scary. And Thanksgiving is coming up...could be a good time to get those last few thousands in. (In my case, I have to go for a little over 16k within the next few days. No sweat, huh? Heheh...urgh...)

Word Count as of Nov. 25: 33,961

Yep. I'm ahead of the minimum word count goal for today...and for the next couple of days. It won't be like that for long... I at least broke 30k...barely. Although I am more than halfway done with the word count, I am NOT halfway through the story. I think I'm getting awfully close, though. I believe in maybe a few more chapters I will be at the halfway chapter. I got chapters 10-12 done today. I think six more chapters AT THE MOST will mark the halfway point. The story gets really hectic after that. I will be able to reach 50k. That's not a problem. But I need to get the actual story done before November's over.

Ch. 10 marks the point at which really important things begin to happen. They happened. Ch 11 describes the consequences, but only partly. Up to ch 14 should really explain what is going on. Afterwards, the story is going to get more intense. I've actually introduced some new characters. The larger scale action will start after 20. I've got it pretty well planned out up until that point. (Yes, I've been doing planning in 10 chapter portions, but I do have other information written down. I've got an ending in mind, and I hope I get it in sight by the end of next weekend.)

We're more than halfway through. Whoa.

Word Count as of Nov. 16: 30,267

I'm a bit behind. I haven't made today's word count, and I've stopped for the night. Hopefully tomorrow I can catch up. I had a bit of a time trying to get into the story. I guess I shouldn't have stopped for the few days I did. It really plugged up the flow I was having. I guess my heart wasn't really into it today. I finished ch 9 and I'm on my way into ch 10. Chapter 10 is supposed to be a turning point in the story - well, when the real action begins. It's going to get exciting. I just have to make it there.

Week 3 is here. Hopefully everyone is well on their way to finishing. The good part is coming up soon.

Word Count as of Nov. 15: 23,115

After very little progress, I managed to press ahead today. I racked up a lot of word count - almost 7k. That brings me even closer to the halfway mark, which I hope to reach by the end of next Friday. I ended up being quite busy this weekend, which left me with little time to type. I got a few chapters done, though, and the main villain has been introduced. I'm on the verge of getting the main plot set in motion. It's about to get very interesting.

Word Count as of Nov. 10: 21,808

So, by today, we ought to have a word count right between 11k and 12k. I managed to push this over almost until the end of the weekend's required word count. However, I decided to stop at a little short of 15k. Hopefully I can manage to get to 25k this weekend - that'll be halfway towards the requirement. Hopefully I'll be getting close to the exciting part of the story. My chapters are averaging 2.5k or so. Which means ch 10 will earn me the 25k, hopefully. And that won't be nearly halfway through the story...at least, I don't think.

Hopefully everyone's had a great, successful first week. For those of you who haven't, there's still plenty of time to make it up. This feat is totally possible. If you have good days, keep writing; don't just get the required word count. That can help support you for bad days. Here comes week two.

Word Count as of Nov. 4: 14,823

As I thought, days 3 and 4 were days off from NaNo. WAY too busy. And tonight I was able to write up a few more words. I managed to push myself over 11k (hardly), not much of a leap at all. At least it's some progress after a few days of nothing. Hopefully I can boost my word count closer to 50k this weekend. I hope for some progress on Friday and some massive amounts of words added Saturday and Sunday.

Word Count as of Nov. 5: 11,040

Ah, today was much less busy. Actually, I've spent a huge chunk of it trying to get my word count as boosted as I can before I get on a slump. I managed to get over 7k today. Not my record, but it does cover a few days in case I can't get to my novel for a short period of time. This puts me at over 10k total - 1/5 of the way through. I'm sure there are plenty of people who have gone much farther. I wouldn't be suprised if some of them have finished already. (You've gotta have a lot of time to do that, not to mention crazy typing skills.) So far my novel has gotten past the ye olde introductions (not that there were many to make in the first place) and into the realm of being launched into the full plot. We haven't even met the bad guy himself, though. I made it into some of chapter 5 when I decided it was time for me to stop for the day. Is the story going to be 25 chapters long? I don't know. I may end up going past the necessary 50k. Hopefully that's true. I barely made it last year (story-wise - I finished on the 25th). The story already looks like it's going to make it past the 20k mark. Almost easily. As far as I can see, it's developing a bit slowly. I figure it's going to be much more epic this time around. Once I get the main villain introduced in person, there's going to be a whole lot to work with. I just have to decide what I want to put in.

As for the planning, I got up to chapter 10 sort of worked out. Already some things have deviated from what I planned. The chapter plans are very vague, some not more than three bullet points long, but at least I have a basic idea of what I ought to put before the real fun begins. This may turn out to be a much more enjoyable NaNo this year. No struggle for plot ideas. I just have to figure out the ending and how everything has to fall in place...That's another kind of adventure.

For the other NaNo people, keep up the good work. This is going to be an epic month.

Word count as of Nov. 2: 10,435

All right. I didn't get to write a whole lot today. Actually, I just started tonight since I've been so busy. I have already started the second chapter - I'm well on my way into it, as a matter of fact. With chapter one already out of the way, I hope my story will continue forward at a good pace. I haven't actually gotten into the meat of my story yet. What it is is mostly background information about what happened between the first book and the sequel, and what the main character's situation is. She has no idea what is going on, what is supposed to be the actual plot of the book. I'm going to mention it in chapter two. It'll unfold pretty quickly once chapter 3 is done. Hopefully I can keep up the momentum so that I'm not stuck during weeks two and three.

Ah, the first day of NaNoWriMo. One of the hardest, I have to say, to start your story. But once you've started, just keep going and it's great. The best part? The plot epiphanies you get.

Word Count as of Nov. 1: 3,013

Some of you may have already started on your NaNo. I'm waiting until the morning for mine, but I'm psyched! Because of my switch, I'm doing some really last-minute planning before I launch into my story come dawn...well, sometime after dawn, but it will be epic. I'm planning on getting a large chunk of my story done this weekend so that I don't have to worry about losing a few days. (Well, Thanksgiving is great on getting a humongous chunk out of the way - I got about 10k out of the way in one day last year during that time.)

Every minute counts! Every word counts! Every really random plot idea counts! It's a momentous time of the year. Holiday shopping. Novel writing. And everything in between. And more novel writing. It's great.

Good luck and good writing to all!

Well, it's probably happened to some people already. I know it happened to me.

Let me say that I wasn't doing too much planning - way busy - and that after doing the little planning I did, I realized that the story was not right for this NaNo. Some people do tons of planning and then realize they want to do something totally different for NaNoWriMo. Since I'm so busy right now, I have decided that I will fall back on something that ought to keep me in the competition all the way to the end - the sequel to last year's NaNo. That story came in my head not too long after last year's NaNo idea came to me (which was a few years ago, as was this one). So I think it deserves to be written.

Ha, I haven't even edited last year's novel! I just started looking over it again, writing down what goes on in each chapter. When I finally find the time to edit it, I hope it's a lot better. It's definitely a rough draft now. But it does have the basis for what I'm going to use for the sequel. The story did not drift so far off target - and it won't during editing - than it could have. The sequel also has new characters. And unlike the story idea I was going to use this year, I can actually plan this one in my head and still have a good idea of at least half the story. Let's say that the other one I had in mind needed way more planning than I could possibly give it this year.

So sequel it is.

Many people are writing sequels and sequels to sequels this year, too. Some of them are finishing up trilogies - even series, if I'm not mistaken. I have to say "Rock on!" to those of you who are doing that. (I highly doubt there will be a sequel to my sequel. I think I'm finishing up this two-book series with this one.)

NaNo starts this Saturday. Good luck to all!

Whoops. I've been a little too busy to update recently. I really need to start planning for NaNo soon (it's coming way fast). Hopefully I can find the time to participate this year. It seems like I may really have to squeeze in writing time. That means all editing on the other story (which I've been doing all right on - it's making progress) is going to stop in November. Hopefully today I can start planning some for NaNo... mostly a list of character names, a few character bios, and perhaps a map within the next week. And maybe an outline of the first few chapters. I'll really try to make updates throughout November, but things may come up where I have to suspend writing NaNo for a few days... Doesn't sound fun.

Until then, we shall see. Good luck to the rest of you!

Many people already seem to know how their story is going to go for NaNo '08. As for me, I haven't planned yet. But I've got a plan to plan.

Some people like having their whole story planned out before they jump into the 50k sprint. And then some of those people end up abadoning their outlines completely because something turns up in the story that takes it in a totally new direction. Some people, too, jump right into NaNo without a clue about what they want to write. I don't want to plan completely, but I do want an idea of where I'm going, what I'm aiming for in the long run. Sure, that may change because I could scrap that part of the story and find one that suits it much better. But I do want an idea about the beginning so that I don't stare at my computer screen with no idea what I'm supposed to be writing about. It'll be easier for me to reach 50k that way.

I'm planning on, uh, planning in the middle of October. That way the idea won't feel stale to me once I write it, but I will have mulled over it enough so that by the time November comes I have a pretty good feel for the story. As for the actual time I'll spend planning, I think I'll give myself anywhere from three days to a week to come up with a rough beginning idea. That way I can also work on planning out a rough cast of characters. I definitely expect it to grow by the time I get into the story probably early in November, but if I have about five characters to work with at the beginning, that'll be just fine for me.

In some of the other stories I've done/am working on, the cast of characters easily exceeds 20 people. Some of them right now have about 15 characters, quite a few of them minor enough not to deserve their own chapters but still major enough to have names; some of them earn a section in a chapter, but I never devote an entire chapter to one minor character. That wouldn't make them minor, now, would it?

October is definitely going to be an interesting month. As is November.

All right! They've actually gotten the NaNo page back up. The October madness is just about to start. The forums are already getting a little busy.

I'm quite excited.

I haven't started outlining the story yet, nor have I come up with a title yet, but I'm starting to get an idea about where it's going to go, like how it's going to start. I do plan to be a little more active on the forums this year (my post count last year was like...6. I can almost count that on one hand...ha, ha). That is, only if I've got something to say... I'm excited about seeing what other people plan to do, the extent their going to go to to get their novels done. Some people can barely make 50k. Some people can make well over 100k on their word count. With it being the tenth anniversary of NaNoWriMo, it's going to be an exciting year. Pep talks, all that...I can't wait.

I've still got a lot to work on for my outside stories, though. NaNo's going to be a break from all that. Well, not your typical break. It'll be a mad-dash-to-get-to-50k-words-in-30-days kind of break.

Nothing's better than a little incentive to get you writing.

Less than a month before the pre-NaNo madness begins. I've pretty much settled on one story idea, and I can't wait to start typing it out. However, I have to get some kind of intro outline before November, like a gist of the first five chapters. I have to see where the story may go otherwise I may end up getting stuck. And, unlike last year, I don't really know much about my characters or how many I have. Coming up with names off the top of my head is not always easy. Sure, if the need calls for it, I can try to come up with a name, especially if one part of the story requires a character I haven't created. And a kind of plot idea would be nice. Some people say NaNoWriMo is exciting if you start off with no plot. I can see that. But I get frustrated if I'm stuck with nowhere to go. Just the gist of the first five chapters. We'll see how it ends.

Here's what I know. This story is most definitely NOT a sequel to last year's NaNo. (I may end up writing that sequel next NaNo or whenever I feel like it ought to be done. Not this NaNo, though. I have to edit that story first. And that doesn't sound like fun.) I know some about the main character, like where she stands in her society and all that, but I don't know her name yet, nor exactly how she looks like, nor her relationships with everyone. But she ought to be a fun character to write about.

I also don't know the title of the story yet. I kind of have to get a glimpse at where my plot is going before I can come up with a tentative title for it. I don't know who or what the villain is or what problem is presented in the story. I just have a smidgen of background information. But it ought to be an exciting story once it gets off the ground.

The best part about NaNo this year is that it starts on a Saturday. I hope I can get somewhere around 10k of the story done that weekend. Hey, if I can get more than that done, I'll be happy. I won't have to worry about week 2's slump on the first weekend. If the story's doing well, I may be able to finish the 50k part of the competition before half of November's done. But, seeing how my schedule's like, that looks...nigh impossible. So much typing...Hopefully I won't be preoccupied with the story I'm currently editing. I want to get that out of the way by the end of December, and right now progress on that is going just okay. For the type-up part (yes, I wrote the whole story longhand on paper...that's why it took me so long) I've gotten chapters 1-16 typed up. Out of 41 (excluding the epilogue, although that ought to take no more than 5-10 min MAX to type up). That's just typing up. I want to get it edited (or at least half of it edited) by the end of the year. I've got a little more than half of September, all of October, and all of December (almost all...that's a busy time of year) to get it nice and shiny. SUPER EDITING, FOR THE WIN.

The closer NaNo gets, the more I'll post. Until then.

Holy crud. Michael Phelps has gotten his 8 gold medals. (Congratulations!) And there have been many other amazing events, from what I've been able to catch on ye olde TV. I find the gymastics to be very impressive, and the speed of the runners for the marathon and track events...it's just incredible. Everything about the Olympics is incredible. I definitely would like to see some more of the beach volleyball and some of the other events (I have seen the rowing, and I'm like "WOAH THEY'RE FAST"). But that was amazing what Phelps was able to pull off. He's amazing. EIGHT GOLD MEDALS AT ONE OLYMPICS?!?

I do have to say I'm kind of excited to watch the opening ceremonies this year for the Beijing Olympics. I remember some of what they did for the Olympics when it was in Athens back in '04, and I thought it was great. It's always fun watching the teams from the different countries walking out. It's fun to see how well you know your geography...and boy, have I made some stupid mistakes, just watching the opening ceremonies. Ha, ha.