NaNoWriMo Progress for Solitaire Rose

NaNoWriMo Progress for Solitaire Rose

35,178

That means that while I am still behind, I only need to write 15,000 words in the next seven days.

I got very little writing done on Thursday, and none on Wednesday. Wednesday I visit with friends for Role Playing Games...the one social constant in my lif e for the past four years or so. The guy who runs the game is someone I met through NaNoWriMo, and even though he doesn't do it any more, it's still the thing that brought us together, oddly enough.

Yesterday, my son and I were invited to his house, and we had our meal with his family and friends, and it was a lot of fun. For the last 15 years, I worked on holidays, and now having them off leaves me a bit confused. I'm used to thinking of holidays are these horrible things I have to guide the residents through, because their issues explode around the holidays. Now, it's a day off of work, and I need to start creating some traditions.

It was a bit easier for me to write about a world with a tiny number of human beings because work was almost empty. Out of about 40 people, there were seven, and because my work computer hasn't been set up yet (we moved everyone on Tuesday, and I'm still waiting for a working computer), I was in an office far away from the people who were working with me.

I had to drive in today, since the buses don't go as far as they do on normal business days, and mine would have dropped me off about 5 miles from work. I drove in, and when I got done, I decided that I'd stop at my favorite coffee house and write. I drink Earl Gray tea, which is $2.75 a cup...and you get a free refill, so with my generous tip, I can stay here for about three hours and write for $5. It's social, as I can watch people to get ideas, and I dont' feel as isolated as I do at home (or at work today).

I am still trying to get the story to go to the third act I envisioned, but at 35,000 words, I'm going to have to FORCE a second act ending soon. The character interplay is fascinating to me, and I am really working with the idea of what it would be like to travel long distances in w world with no cars where you are simply prey.

I wrote a scene on Tuesday night that illustrated just how Helen deals with her panic attacks, and then the last 5,000 words are showing how they affect her perceptions of the people around her. She's connecting with our little band of travelers in a healthy way. Which is good for her, but...

Well, it IS a horror novel, and nothing particularly horrible has happened in a while. And they have been very lucky for the last week or so. Bad things are coming, and they are coming soon.

My plan is to write 5000 words tomorrow and 5000 Sunday. That will bring me to 45000 words with five days left. An EASY last week, especially if I get to the third act. The last past of a novel is always the easiest part. All of the pieces are in place, and all you need to do is just write what happens. As with any of the novels I have written and LIKED, I have planted all kinds of little ideas and plot seeds through the story that I start to magically pull together without really trying. It's almost organic how it all ties together.

It's the 23rd, and I love my novel again, am only 3000 words behind, and think that I am going to come out of this with a publishable novel. Just need to clean it (and the three that come before it) up and make them presentable.

But that's for December. November is writing, and November is good.