58,236, And Still Not Finished

My final word count of November, was 58,236.  I wrote about 2,000 words on Friday, determined to have a last "hurrah" of writing, for the month of November.

As you can see, by looking at my stats, for most of November, I was far ahead of the daily word goal, and going up at a steady pace.

But then I wrote 4,000 words in one day, hit 50,000 exactly, and I got, well, a little bit lazy.

But I'm okay with that.  Sure, if I had written every single day afterword, my novel might have ended up longer than it is now, I might even be finished with it.  But I'm okay with not having written every day.  Sometimes, you need a break from NaNoWriMo... and taking that break after you've won is always considerably more beneficial to your word count, then taking it in the middle of the month.

I'm happy with my word count, and, unlike last year, I don't completely hate my story, either.  In fact, I quite like it.  It's not finished yet, and there is certainly still "tweaking" to be done to everything, but all in all, I like it.  It's not terrible like last year's (which I will not go into detail about, but really, it was terrible,) which makes me happy.

This is the first year that I haven't finished my novel in November.  It's also the year where I wrote the most, beating 2011's NaNo out of the top spot for "The Most I Have Ever Written on Anything.  Ever." list.

And I mean, I'm sure there's a lot that I can cut.  But when I was around 30,000 words, I was wondering if I could fit everything into 50k.  Turns out, that I could, and more.

So yes.  NaNoWriMo 2012 was a very productive month for me.  It makes me happy that I won so soon, and I love the fact that I was able to push myself to do so.

The Dandy Lioness

Sailing and Writing Thoughts

{Via}

Hello again!  I realize I've been gone for far too long, once again, but I'm back!  I was sailing over the weekend, so I couldn't post, and I had a lot of homework due to the fact that I wasn't here two weeks ago, to make up for at school.  So that's my excuse.

In other news, I spent my weekend working to memorize "Big Bang Two" by Chameleon Circuit.  Yay for being a Whovian!  I have eleven of the fourteen stanzas memorized, and I can sing them pretty fast.  And now I'll probably be singing it for the next week or so.  Not that that's a problem.  I can't sing it fast enough to keep up with Charlie McDonnell (who sings it for Chameleon Circuit).  I also read a ton, and finished the books "Evil Genius" by Catherine Jinks, which was much more interesting and intelligent than I had expected, and "The Wizard, the Witch and Two Girls from Jersey" by Lisa Papedemitriou, which was just as silly as I had expected-- though quite good, too.

Sailing was fun.  We went to a few nearby towns, and anchored each night.  Twice we put up the hammock, which was fun, and on the last night, apparently there were a lot of parties in the marina (we were anchored in the harbor) and we kept having dinghys zipping past our boat, with engines fast enough to make the whole sailboat rock.  Very loud dinghys, too.  You could hear them from way across the harbor.  Also, some crazy person was water skiing.  To some, this may not seem strange, in May.  But here, it's ridiculous, as the water is about 45 degrees Fahrenheit, which is just so cold.  You can get hypothermia within minutes, in this water.

In writing news, I have decided I'm not going to do Camp NaNoWriMo... at least, not in June.  August, maybe, but for June, I just don't have the time.  School is finishing up, and I have exams to do, and things to wrap up, and my teachers are trying to cram as much as possible in right now, so sadly, I won't be able to do it.  If my school ended in early June, I might have been able to, however my school doesn't-- it ends the 22nd of June.  *sigh*  So I've decided not to do it this time.  Also, I don't have an idea.  Hehe.  But I'm doing a two week long writing camp over the summer, so there's that.

I've found I've stopped writing as much.  I went on a kick where I wrote constantly... and then it just sort of died.  My writing amount daily dwindled, until I find that there are days when I don't even think to open up my word document and keep on writing.  I actually quite enjoy the story I'm currently writing, and I've gotten some good advice on how to adjust it, I just... haven't started writing on it.

On the twenty-eighth of March, I posted this post:  Time to Write.  I talked about all the things I wanted to do, all the writing related things I wanted to complete, and get done.  And I haven't done that.  Once again, I pushed it off.  Since then, I have started a new story.  But I'm still hovering around 9k.  Why haven't I added more in the last few weeks?  Why haven't I gotten back to writing?  I don't know.  At some point, I'm going to come up with a way of making myself do the things I outlined in that post.  Maybe I'll make a checklist, and once I've gotten something done, I'll check it off, or put it in a prominent spot, or something.  I don't know.

Anyways, I'm rambling again.  I don't have much more to say, other than that everyone should watch this speech of Neil Gaiman's, which made me think about all these writing related things.

The Dandy Lioness

Time To Write

{Via}

Sometimes, you just have to sit yourself down, and write.  Maybe your story isn’t seeming too interesting right now, or your characters are fighting.  Maybe you’re not sure how you want to continue.

But you have to.

You have to just settle down, avoid distractions, and start writing.  Let the characters take hold, and see where they’ll take you.

And even as I type this, I realize that I haven’t been doing this.  I’ve been pushing away the thought of starting a new novel.  I’ve been pushing away the thought of continuing work on a novel I was working on over the summer.  And I don’t know why.  Maybe I’m just unsure of my writing abilities at the moment.  Maybe I’m scared.  I don’t really know.  But what I do know, is that I have to sit myself down, and start to write.  I have to start that new story I’ve been working on—sure, I’ve been saying I’m almost ready to start, but have I been pushing myself to finish the final stages of planning?  No.  I’ve been letting myself get distracted, letting my attention wander.  And I can’t do that.  I want to write.  No.  I need to write.  But have I been writing? 

No.

And how is this possible?  In November, I had words flowing from my fingers.  I was happy, and writing away.  But right now?  Nothing.  The occasionally story idea hits me, but it soon fizzles out.  And because of that, I’ve gotten scared.

What if this new idea doesn’t do anything?  What if it fizzles out, like all those other ideas I had?  What if… What if… What if…

And I know it’s cheesy, and people say it all the time, but I have to stop thinking about the what-if’s, and just start writing.  Because I can’t just keep doing this, pushing away my writing.  Because writing is something that I feel lost without. 

So, I’m going to make myself start writing again.  Writing is something I love, and I need.  And I need to teach myself to write every day.  Writing every day is part of why I love NaNoWriMo.  It gets you to just sit down, and write, even if you aren’t really sure if your story makes sense, or if you like it, or whatever.  It gives you motivation to write.

And I need motivation.  I have to start writing again.  I use school as an excuse to not write, saying, “Oh, I had a lot of homework.”  But you know what?  If I can spend hours lollygagging on the internet on school nights, I can most certainly put away half an hour, or an hour, and just write.  And sure, there will be some nights when I can’t do that. But that's okay, because most nights I can.  

So, I’m going to start writing again.  I’m going to either do a rewrite, or just a revision, I’m not sure, of my NaNo10.  I’m going to do a read-through of a novel I started over the summer, that I abandoned about 20,000 words in, and perhaps start writing on it again, after having read through it.  And I’m going to start a new novel idea I’ve had filed away in my brain for a few weeks. 

So I’m pushing away this writer’s block that has settled over me like a blanket, since November.  I’m pushing it away, and I’m going to start writing again.

The Dandy Lioness

P.S.  Sorry if this post is kind of ramble-y and repetitive.  I just needed to get this out of my system, and write it down.