Tag: NaNoWriMo2017

And again, started at a decent time.  After taking a brief nap.  Maybe I’m starting a new pattern, writing earlier in the evening after a nap.  That can work for me.  For now.

Today’s output: 2569 words. That brings me to 60030 words total for the month .  Average words per day: 2001 .  This is how I’ll finish.  I’m grateful.  For the record, I wrote another part of the ongoing essay about my first days in acting and theatre.

What helped today:

Continuing where I’d left off yesterday.

What I discovered today:

Just how bad things really were back then.  I hadn’t thought much about it in the way that I’m thinking about it now.

What else was good:

Thinking about tomorrow.  Writing the next part of this essay.  Beginning to edit the others I wrote during the month.  And looking forward to writing my post-mortem about this year’s NaNoWriMo.

Almost unbelievably so, I started writing at a reasonable time.  That was after eating and falling asleep right next to my notebook and laptop.  I didn’t sleep too well last night and during the day at the office, we were moving network cables from one cage to another.  It only took a couple of hours at most, but it was deceptively strenuous.  At least we got it done.  There are many stories from when we put those cables in there 10 years ago.  I wrote about that one of the days during the month.  I’m grateful that I get to carry so many good stories with me.  When it’s all said and done, when we’ve moved on and we’re looking back, that’s what we’ll have.  As a writer, it’s my stock, it’s my gold.  I’m grateful for that.

Today’s output: 1648 words. That brings me to 57461 words total .  Average words per day: 1981.  Today’s writing was part 4 of an essay I started a few days ago about my first forays into acting.  More stories that I’m glad I carried with me.

What helped today:

Taking a nap before I wrote.  It meant I finished later, but it was worth the time.  And I still started at a good, earlier time.

What I discovered today:

How much my new morning routine is really helping me stay in good spirits all day and readiness to create, later in the day.

What else was good:

Talking to my mentor about the future.  We both have great projects ahead.

And another late night writing adventure.  I was going to be hitting the road in the late evening, so the plan was to write in the early evening.  That didn’t happen.  I only got around to transcribing a journal entry I’d written in my paper notebook.  That, obviously didn’t count.  So, after I got to my destination after a 2 ½ hour drive, I took out ye olde Chromebook and put fingers to keys, keystrokes to word processor.

Today’s output: 1895 words. That brings me to 55813 words total .  Average words per day: 1993.

What helped today:

Feeling better by late afternoon.  I woke up feeling pretty awful.  

What I discovered today:

More like rediscovered more of my passion for writing and art-making.

What else was good:

Great podcast listening while driving up the road.  Inspirational.  Not all spiritual, but inspirational just the same.

Another late night.  I started writing as soon as the football game went off.  I wish I’d been able to go down to the ballpark.  I haven’t been to a Monday night game since 2011 vs. the Jets.  That was a fun game and a wonderful night.  I still had fun reading and writing tonight, though.  That’s always fun.

Today’s output: 1560 words. That brings me to 53918 words total .  Average words per day: 1996.

What helped today:

Taking cat naps during the football game.  I thought our offense might have been doing the same.

What I discovered today:

Rediscovered how I used to deal with hiding and vulnerability when I was first learning acting.  Also, discovered some of how I lost what I’d learned and how that has affected me since then.

What else was good:

Newly brewed tea.

The plan was to work on one of my other works in progress currently in need of words.  I keep notes and printed copies of all the essays comprising that project in a binder.  I was flipping through those notes and all the many questions I asked of each essay, when I got the idea of writing about my first times ever being on stage.  I’d written around those times in Intro to Theatre in a couple of the other essays I wrote this month, so I figured it might be a good idea to write directly about them.  And so I did.  I’ll be continuing tomorrow as I didn’t get as far into the story as I wanted to before I needed to quit so I could get some sleep.  

Today’s output: 1401 words. That brings me to 52358 words total .  Average words per day: 2013.  That’s it.  And the totals from the spreadsheet didn’t match either the NaNoWriMo site or my own calculations.  This page does contain the most accurate count, which I’ve taken from the spreadsheet.

What helped today:

Yesterday’s writing.

What I discovered today:

Didn’t discover how much I loved acting by writing about it.  I just remembered it.

What else was good:

Sleeping late again.

Not nearly as late as last night, or in fact, most of the more recent nights.  Plus, given what time I got up today, I wrote quite early.

Today’s output: 1856 words. That brings me to 50957 words total (I finally created a spreadsheet and retabulated the word count. Soon I’ll do a full document and get the count from there).  Average words per day: 2038.  That’s it.  I won NaNoWriMo this year.  I need to update my word totals on the site, but I’m there.  I made it.  For the first time in years, I’ve made it.

What helped today:

Peanut butter cookies.

What I discovered today:

Not a thing.

What else was good:

Sleeping late.

Also, planning to continue another work in progress for the next few days of NaNoWriMo.  I’ll keep adding to my word total, but I’m putting an asterisk next to those totals, as I won’t be working on this collection of essays.  I can now also begin outlining my NaNoWriMo 2017 Postmortem, which I’ll probably post here and on Medium.  I wasn’t sure in the beginning of the month whether I wanted to post these word totals to Medium, but I did decide to put the postmortem there for sure.It feels good.

Late.  Late.  Late.

Today’s output: 678 words.  I think this might be my lowest output of the month.  That brings me to 48201 words total.  Average words per day: 2008.  1799 words to go.  Average words per day needed to reach 50000: 299.  

What helped today:

Stamina.  Seeing likes on yesterday’s post.  Thank you for those.

What I discovered today:

I’m glad I don’t have to purchase a new screen for my Chromebook.  Things were looking kind of dicey there for almost an hour.

What else was good:

I’m glad I don’t have to purchase a new screen for my Chromebook.  Things were looking kind of dicey there for almost an hour.  But re-seating the cable between.

Okay, so I’m fully into the habit of writing late.  Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrated.  I celebrated by writing.

Today’s output: 2101 words.  That brings me to 47523 words total.  Average words per day: 2066.  2477 words to go.  Average words per day needed to reach 50000: 353.  

What helped today:

Sleeping very late.  Again.  And knowing I’m close to the finish line.  At least  the first finish line.

What I discovered today:

So many things that are tough to write.  I’m working through them, but these have been really tough.

What else was good:

I ended up making a pan of mac & cheese.  It was good.

I think tonight’s writing might have been the latest that I’ve done all month.  That contributed to the lower word count.  Plus the fact that the topic, a continuation of the one from the previous two nights, got into some more difficult territory, so to say.  Tomorrow might be bumpy, but it’s going to still be.  And I’m still on track.  

Today’s output: 1261 words.  That brings me to 45422 words total.  Average words per day: 2064.  4578 words to go.  Average words per day needed to reach 50000: 575.  

What helped today:

Taking a couple of naps early.

What I discovered today:

I might have be seeing the undoing of a formerly great city.  A front row seat.

What else was good:

I got good sleep last night.

Wrote late, again.  I made an honest effort to write earlier, but I ended up having to make some trips around town and then rest some before I could even try to sit down and bang some words out.  But, bang I did.  

Today’s output: 2287 words.  That brings me to 44161 words total.  Average words per day: 2102.  5839 words to go.  Average words per day needed to reach 50000: 648.  I might be done by the end of the work week.  Not that I’m going to stop writing that day.  I do plan to continue writing through November 30, even if I’m not working on this specific project.

What helped today:

Somehow getting a burst of energy from sitting down here at my Chromebook and working.  That, and I was working on a continuation of the essay from Day 20.  I didn’t have to think about where to start.  That’s often a tough thing.

What I discovered today:

I started hiding very young.

What else was good:

My morning reading was good, as was my journaling.  And I ended up listening to a really good spiritual lesson on podcast while driving.  It helped immensely with keeping my mood up and in some ways, helped to set the stage for this evening’s writing.