Do a little dance, make a little noise, come out and celebrate your word count.

I've reached the 10% mark which is right on target. I have one child home 3 days a week (he goes to kindy Mondays and Tuesdays) plus I work plus manuscript assessments, so I'm happy to be on target.

Yesterday I was well behind, but in the end I stepped away from Mafia Wars, grabbed my Eee and went down to Dome for an hour and a half. That gave me 1400 words. Then Lee went out for the evening on a tutoring job and I managed another 1100 words while he was gone, so I was able to well and truly get back on track.

I have to say that living alone really works for me, and explains how I am able to write the amount I can. Though admittedly I'm nowhere near 20k at the moment :D

I'll settle for my just-below-13k though :)

yoghurt elf say wheeee!
..........................................................................................
2002 - ANJIE DAYS (c)
2004 - SOMANA STARED AT THE GHOST (ic)
2007 - SQUEAKY MCLEAN (c)
2008 - TURKEY BOURKE (ic)
2009 - SUNDOWN...

You're a hero just attempting this with a little one. More power to you i say. It's hard enough with adult sons lurking about the place. Well done!

as for myself I am in brain power drain today. not getting too far, but I stoping every so often to do the washing hasn't helped, nor has flicking back and forth to Evony (online game) :P

keep at it everyone. you can do it!

---------------------------------
Just hand over the chocolate and no one gets hurt............

the trouble with having a brain is, its obvious when you don't use it.

2844 today bringing my total to 10008. I have a full day at work tomorrow and won't get home until 6, so probably won't write until Saturday now.

Mafia Wars is my weakness. Although I swore off Facebook for the entirety of November, the reality is that I just have to go in every now and then and pick up my rackets, perform the odd job and bank my money. Plus I played (and won) and hand of Zynga poker today.

My son is being babysat by Cartoon Network at the moment. No mother of the year awards for me this year :)

ok, just have to brag about my 30k word count! and to think my characters are only living out day tour of a months-long tour! haha.

of course i won't be going into detail for the entire festival... :P still!

yoghurt elf say wheeee!
..........................................................................................
2002 - ANJIE DAYS (c)
2004 - SOMANA STARED AT THE GHOST (ic)
2007 - SQUEAKY MCLEAN (c)
2008 - TURKEY BOURKE (ic)
2009 - SUNDOWN...

Reached 10k last night. Very pleased.

~TheIncredibleRamblingElimy~

Excellent, congratulations!!! :)

Jomiki you are doing so well too - you are nearly done!!! keep it up!!

yoghurt elf say wheeee!
..........................................................................................
2002 - ANJIE DAYS (c)
2004 - SOMANA STARED AT THE GHOST (ic)
2007 - SQUEAKY MCLEAN (c)
2008 - TURKEY BOURKE (ic)
2009 - SUNDOWN...

just those few more words..... tomorrow i'll be there.

and well done yourself. youghurtelf. you're word count is going great guns.

---------------------------------
Just hand over the chocolate and no one gets hurt............

the trouble with having a brain is, its obvious when you don't use it.

Yeah I've been very excited and inspired this year :) I love my story.

yoghurt elf say wheeee!
..........................................................................................
2002 - ANJIE DAYS (c)
2004 - SOMANA STARED AT THE GHOST (ic)
2007 - SQUEAKY MCLEAN (c)
2008 - TURKEY BOURKE (ic)
2009 - SUNDOWN...

Sorry but i have to do this: WOOOOOOT I've done it! I've hit 50k
*dancing around the room like a lunatic!*

come on guys if I can do it you all can.

---------------------------------
Just hand over the chocolate and no one gets hurt............

the trouble with having a brain is, its obvious when you don't use it.

just crossed 13,000 - yay! not too bad, i think, since i started six day in. though this might be a sign i'e been neglecting my revision...

I guess I don't have too much to brag about, but after a week of solid assignments and a wedding and what-not, I've laboured through my first chapter of my first NaNo. Got lots more free time now to write, so hopefully my word count will shoot skywards.

Congratulations on finishing already/being close to finishing. It is motivating to know there's people out there writing with ease.

Haha motivating in the sense that I'm very competitive and I want to beat you people, yes, I agree with that part.

I thought your uni had finished now and only mine was still flogging the dead horse so to speak? I thought I was the only one who could pull the assignment excuse. Damn. Now I have to try harder. I'm on my fifth chapter but I guess mine are a lot shorter than yours. I'm a bit stuck today. I just read The Time Traveler's Wife. Nothing I could write will ever be as beautiful as that.

So, I leave you feeling inspired, yet incompetent

~TheIncredibleRamblingElimy~

Yeah, I wrote about 10,000 words in assignments last week and I've been away from my computer for the past two days. So naturally, I'm allowed to defend my being behind schedule. That and I take a lot of time to think about what I want to write. I'm used to having good first drafts not horribly rushed novel-length first drafts. Personally, I don't expect to match the speed of some of these writers here, reaching 40-50,000 words in a couple of weeks, but with a clear schedule, I should be able to to chip away at the 50k, with the occasional short sprint.

My chapters are split up into smaller parts, so while my first chapter is about 10 pages long, it's split into smaller parts each about a page long. Makes things easier to work through, for me. I'm more used to the shorter stories, not often more than 5 or 6,000 words.

I know what you mean about reading some top notch literature. I finished reading Tim Winton's "Breath" on the weekend away from the computer, and I just feel my character development lacks the flair that he captures so effortlessly. But I'm writing Fantasy, it's got lots of plot distractions to hide the stuff that I'm lacking. ;)

Argh, I don't envy you guys at all with the assignment thing!!! but I have been there in the past so I know how it is :) still, it's good you can get cracking now and write for fUN instead of for assignments!

I am thrilled to say I have won this year but will continue to write throughout Nov (and no doubt beyond) since the story isn't nearly finished. then again last year i did win but still haven't finished that story...

yoghurt elf say wheeee!
..........................................................................................
2002 - ANJIE DAYS (c)
2004 - SOMANA STARED AT THE GHOST (ic)
2007 - SQUEAKY MCLEAN (c)
2008 - TURKEY BOURKE (ic)
2009 - SUNDOWN...

ha, oh, that Tim Winton. I went to see him speak about that book in Fremantle when it came out. He really lit up when he read it. You could hear how proud he was of what he had created, and it was obvious how much effort had gone in. After seeing that, I don't think I will ever be able to call something finished until i am so emotionally invested in it that it breaks my heart every time someone doesn't get it. Did you like Breath??

I'm on a study break this week, and then i have two exams with eight days between them, so my word count will grow in irregular bursts i think. I'm kind of killing two birds with one stone here though by making the historical content of my novel part of the syllabus for my history unit....sort of.

Is your novel the same as the pieces you have posted on your blog? I'm not an expert on fantasy but I did enjoy those very much.

good luck.
~TheIncredibleRamblingElimy~

~TheIncredibleRamblingElimy~

I really did. I read it in about a week I got so caught up in it.

Ugh, exams, I'm not a fan of them and I'm glad I won't have to deal with them over the next few years. Good luck with the study, I know that's usually the part that hinders me the most. Ah, procrastination. Historical content sounds like an interesting factor to base your novel around, your particular idea sounds like a great shape for a novel, if 'shape' is the right word, but the excerpt on your page is very intriguing, with a good slice of humour.

Yeah, the excerpts on my blog are direct copy/pastes from my novel as I write it. I'm glad you like it.

I passed 10k words today and the words are starting to flow a lot better now. Time to pick up the pace, methinks.

I'm still going strong, another 6 k tonight! Just got to write a part of the story I was looking forward to for ages, but of course the best bit won't be till the last chapter . booo! hehe

yoghurt elf say wheeee!
..........................................................................................
2002 - ANJIE DAYS (c)
2004 - SOMANA STARED AT THE GHOST (ic)
2007 - SQUEAKY MCLEAN (c)
2008 - TURKEY BOURKE (ic)
2009 - SUNDOWN...

That's awesome. I've been sticking to 2-3,000 word days lately, so I should catch up to the minimum 1,667 words per day average soon. If I hit 50k early (as in before 30/11) I'd like to think I could stretch my novel further. The way I'm going, I should hopefully squeeze a few extra thousand on the end.

I reached 13,000 and end of chapter two today, so naturally, I'm pleased as punch. First NaNo, and it's not yet a complete disaster. :)

That's a lot further than a lot of people get, so congratulations on your progress so far! Just keep chipping away at it and you'll get there :)

It's definitely good not to worry too much about perfect writing at this stage, no matter if you're a perfectionist or not :D That's what NaNoEdMo is for, editing your novel!

yoghurt elf say wheeee!
..........................................................................................
2002 - ANJIE DAYS (c)
2004 - SOMANA STARED AT THE GHOST (ic)
2007 - SQUEAKY MCLEAN (c)
2008 - TURKEY BOURKE (ic)
2009 - SUNDOWN...

I've reached a wall. I would love to reach 20k today but I don't know how to continue it. Anyone have msn and want to throw ideas around with me? You can send me your email address in a Nano mail and I'll definitely be up for some help.

~TheIncredibleRamblingElimy~

80 k!! i'm stoked! woot!

the end is in sight, too :) but still quite far off...

yoghurt elf say wheeee!
..........................................................................................
2002 - ANJIE DAYS (c)
2004 - SOMANA STARED AT THE GHOST (ic)
2007 - SQUEAKY MCLEAN (c)
2008 - TURKEY BOURKE (ic)
2009 - SUNDOWN...

Haha, that's epic. Congratulations.

I passed 20,000 today. Got the house to myself tonight and I've got tomorrow off work, might try writing into the night. Well, more than usual. I''d love to reach the halfway mark by tomorrow.

lucky you. i have an exam tomorrow. :( plus i'm still blocked.

oh my god, yoghurtelf youre making us all look lazy :O

~TheIncredibleRamblingElimy~

Well I don't have homework hanging over my head so it's pretty easy!! of course i do work full time, but that just gets me all the more motivated to write when I get home :)

yoghurt elf say wheeee!
..........................................................................................
2002 - ANJIE DAYS (c)
2004 - SOMANA STARED AT THE GHOST (ic)
2007 - SQUEAKY MCLEAN (c)
2008 - TURKEY BOURKE (ic)
2009 - SUNDOWN...

Good luck with your exam. Just think... once it's done you can power through it. Just keep writing.

thank you :) I revised a bit this morning and i'm pretty much ready. The next exam is a history one and thats the content of my nano this year so ill just call it research. Hope your night of writing was nice and productive.

Hey everyone, what do you do to cure writer's block?

~TheIncredibleRamblingElimy~

Two birds, one stone. Always efficient.

Yeah last night was not too bad. I should definitely end up no less than a day behind come tonight.

As for your writer's block. Personally, I don't recognise the fact that I've got it. If I write I write, if I don't I don't, and that's natural. Break up writing with other things that you enjoy doing, see if something else can inspire you. For NaNo I've been dedicating targets for myself, time periods where I'll write no matter what, often I'll gorge on snacks while I work, make myself comfortable in my workspace. :) Another thing I've found that's helped me this month was the trusty pen and paper. I've kept it with me at all times since mid October. If I get an idea, I write it down there, characters, plots locations, that sort of thing. That way, I've got a rough idea as to how I've got to pace the novel. I planned to about half way through chapter three, and I often rearranged and added a lot of stuff that I hadn't planned, but I've done that when I've set myself down with the notepad and just written what I needed to to get my story from point A to point B to point C. Sounds a lot like a connect the dots story, and in a way, it kind of is. But as a person who's never gotten further than 16,000 words in a novel (over the course of almost two years now), that's helped me a lot. So now, while I'm in chapter four and without extensive notes, I've settled down into my novel and I know that it's going to work.

Keep writing away at it, baby steps until you find your footings again, and just let yourself write and enjoy the process.

During NaNo I very rarely have writer's block, because I don't pressure myself to write the perfect next sentence...but sometimes I tend to just edit my novel if I can't write. :P However, my main cure for writer's block is just to write something, ANYTHING...and I can delete it later if necessary.

yoghurt elf say wheeee!
..........................................................................................
2002 - ANJIE DAYS (c)
2004 - SOMANA STARED AT THE GHOST (ic)
2007 - SQUEAKY MCLEAN (c)
2008 - TURKEY BOURKE (ic)
2009 - SUNDOWN...

Ok, i'll give that a try. Thanks. judging by your word count its an effective technique.

~TheIncredibleRamblingElimy~