End of Week 3

So we have about 1 1/2 weeks of NaNo left. Once Sunday passes, everyone that is meeting the 1,667 WPD goal should be at or above 33,340. I'm about 10k behind that right now. I'm not panicking. I know I will be able to catch up. Yesterday's writing count was awesome and I can do that again. I just have to stop letting myself get to wrapped up in everything else going on around me. Those of you that have families and jobs while doing this, I do not envy your commitments right now.

I've gotten incredible encouragement to continue writing, even if I haven't managed it every day. My little sisters ask me how I am doing on my novel every day. As much of a pain in the ass they have been the past couple weeks (with school, not just in general... they are wonderful little girls if they would just do their freaking school work!), they want to stay up to date and involved with my noveling. It is quite sweet when I'm not trying to figure out how to legally bind one of them to their desk and muzzle the other one during the school day. :D

My parents, brother, and grandmother have also been supportive in their own ways. Some of them are supportive by just leaving me alone during November. That sound worse than I mean it to be, and they know what I mean. And they know that I appreciate every inch of space they give me while I'm being a crazy bitch. Others are just asking how its going, if I think I'll be able to reach the finish line, and asking about if I'm still having fun. Those answers btw are: Going great, yes, and yes.

My friends are also very supportive and have kept me very motivated. Raven and Steven are my biggest cheerleaders. Knowing that they are waiting for the finished first draft of Immo2 gets me working when I think about it. I love them for that.Their significant others have also cheered me on and checked in with me from time to time and I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart (Wolfie and Rene, you both rock). Other friends have cheered me on too and they know who they are and how much I appreciate their words and encouragement.

It has come to my attention that I will certainly NOT be finished with Immo2 by the end of November. This 2nd novel is going to end up being waaaaaay too long. But, I'd rather have to cut stuff out than have to add more to it once it is over. Last year, I got the prologue and 2 characters's stories written up. I had hoped to get the other 3 character stories written. I knew that I would need to finish the last 3 chapters when they all got back together after November, but those chapters are already very clear in my mind and shouldn't take more than a week to write. I have this issue when I'm writing where I have to write in a sequential order that probably only makes sense to me. I can't do the whole skipping from chapter to chapter thing. I suppose that is because I am a pantser and the story works its way out as I write.

There is a point to this long rambling post, I swear. The point is that you have to find and accept support from those around you in whatever form it appears. Even if no one is doing back flips every time you update your word count, little things count too. If you are doing NaNo this year, take a moment to thank your support team. Without a support network (that includes your regional writers fyi), I highly doubt many folks could reach 50k.

If you missed Back Up Your Novel Day (on November 7th) and Back Up Your Novel Again Day (on November 14th), take the time to do so NOW. The 3rd BUYND rolls around on Monday, but just think about how much you could lose if you decided to put it off again. Thousands of words. 5 figures of words. Half of your noveling progress! Back your damn novel up already. I have mine on a jump drive, in an email, on my hard drive, and saved to another computer. I back up the jump drive and hard drive at the end of every writing session. I send a new email and download the file on the other computer at least twice a week. Yes, I'm that anal retentive about this. My computer crashed two nights ago and when I got it all back up, Liquid Story Binder had lost the last 300 words I had written. I was livid. It wasn't LSB's fault... another program I was running stalled and jacked up my PC. But still, 300 words were gone! It sucked.

Happy noveling folks! Stay tuned for a blog announcement after Thanksgiving. Lots of things happening in the background here at home base and I'll update you after Turkey Day. Take care.

Love is love, no matter the back story. <3 DS