NOT KEEPING SCORE

Ok. I am SO sorry. There is no way I am going to get this year’s NaNo done. I’ve come down with that circulating cold, and shamelessly using it as an excuse to fail on this whole project. I’m quite disappointed in myself.

But I’m doing my best to put _something_ down so as not to completely embarrass myself… although, I’m beginning to worry that that is precisely what I’m doing by putting words down on paper.

At this point I’m just freewriting this whole story as it comes. No spellcheck, no plot, not even stopping to look behind me. Take it for what it’s worth:

PICASSO, THE STORY, installment #2: Read more…

Shoot!

NaNoWriMo 2009 has begun and I’m already 5 days behind!

The past days a blur and hardly taking note that the 11th month of the year has already started, I woke up in the middle of the night audibly crying, “Oh, crap! It’s November! NANOWRIMO noooooooooooo!”

Now, without the faintest idea of a novel concept, already 8,000 words behind, and with the knowledge that I’m on vacation for two weeks this month, the smart thing to do would be to surrender and forgo a NaNo novel this year… but we all know I’m not all that bright.

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The sun, ferns, salt and dark lager have bleached my brain. I am now sitting by myself at the (mahogany? kaori wood?) bar at a place called “Schnappa Rock” and enjoying a very tall pint while I write and look at the ocean:

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Tēnā koutou ! I’m in Aukland, New Zealand!

But don’t have much time to write, because I am jetlagged and have to go… write. Behind quite a bit on my NaNoWriMo novel and have calculated that I need to hit about 4000 words/day to make it happen. (You thought I quit? Oh, come on- you should know me better than that. Don’t you know sarcasm when you read it?)

Aside from zoning out to Ugly Betty episodes and trying to sleep in uncomfortable no-legroom positions during my 12 hour flight, I did manage to eek out another 1000 words or so — so off I go for the remaining 3 tonight, before I pass out in a jet-lag-gin-and-tonic stupor and wake again tomorrow to head off for the North Island’s Bay of Islands.

Hei konā ~

…ok, team–

It’s time for a serious heart-to-heart. I know I’m infamous for my abundant pep talks (asked for or not) and Can Do attitude; for my always cheery “cheer up, Slugger!” encouragement and optimistic outlooks.

Wow. How annoying.

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Despite being on the road, I’m still NaNo-ing! I’ve made my way back to Taos, New Mexico, sagebrush of my heart, and am snuggling down into 7 (burrr!) degree nights, the cold air like a blanket of quiet.

Good thing I’m being well taken care of; some friends I met last time have put me up, and are supplying me with plenty of hot chai tea. Then I move on to Mabel Dodge for a week-long writing retreat with Natalie Goldberg. It’s a silent week of meditation, walking, and writing practice, a perfect time to accumulate words as week two of NaNoWriMo is upon us.

See you in a week, when we’ll have another NaNo wordcount update, with all the usual suspects.

We’re not even through the first week, and already our wordcounts are piling up. Gadzooks! The NaNoWriMo site is so busy that they’ve disabled some of the features, so I can’t install a geeky-neato wordtracker widget. Guess I’ll have to track by hand.

Our writers (in no particular order):

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I’m a bad girl, I know (I should be getting my 8 hours, or at the very least out having some Halloween fun like a normal 27-year-old) but I just couldn’t help myself– It’s just past midnight on November first, and it’s officially time to start writing! NaNoWriMo is upon us!

I have to say, it feels really good to be back at the keys in a fast-n-furious novel showdown, to feel the wind whipping through my fingers as they fly in focused frenzy — and, as I give myself permission to put quantity over quality for the next 30 days. Ye-Ha!

Word count as of 12:45am: 426 words. 

It’s almost November, and you know what that means! No, not the election (something even BIGGER than that!)

Start sharpening your pencils, changing the ribbons on your typewriter, or (if you must) booting up your hard drives, because it’s… National Novel Writing Month!

I’m gearing up to crank out 50,000 words in 30 days, and I’m not alone! I have at least 4 others with whom I will be in good company for the grand ole word-churn. Let me know if anyone else out there is inspired to do the same, and I’ll be happy to track your progress here on NKS.

Novels away!