NaNoWriMo, Days 1 & 2

It's now the morning of Day 3 of National Novel Writing Month in 2010 and I am already tired but also excited with the prospect of writing. After two days of writing, I have 6,521 words, which is about 100 words MORE than I had last year at this point. And last year, as you may recalled, I reached 50,000 words in two weeks.

I was walking Pluto at midnight on Sunday/Monday and still working out in my head how the first scene should go. Then, as I was walking and noticed the blinking security light in a neighbor's car, it hit me. After setting up a folder in my memory stick and formatting my pages, I started writing, using my wife's laptop, at around 1 in the morning, though I was already tired and should have been in bed. I wrote until 3 and finished 1,100 words. Not a great pace but I was just getting settled in.

Now much opportunity to write again until 10 at night, again using my wife's computer. My pace improved some but not nearly what I needed, given that I don't have reliable access to a reliable computer. By midnight, I had 2,404 words for the day, which was 50 percent more than I needed as a daily goal but also 50 percent less than on Day 1 last year.

I was satisified with what I wrote but a little discouraged, nevertheless. I wished I had written more.

Tuesday morning saw me venture to the public library. First, I cleaned out my e-mail account at Yahoo, updated Facebook and then settled into writing as little children sang "Ittsy-Bitsy spider" in the background. Good totals after two hours of work.

The afternoon saw me at my brother's house to use his computer but I won't do that again. Too many distractions. Home again on Angie's laptop in the evening after dinner, finishing up at 11:30. (I tried using the borrowed laptop of a friend but it is slow and it re-formatted my pages. Took my an hour to correct it all.)

Pace was very good and I had more than 4,000 words, which was more than I ever expected. I was hoping for at least another 2,400-word day but I went well beyond that. (Also wish I could have got to a NaNo writing session at a local coffee store.)

Plus, there are hills and valleys in writing a book, moments of heightened drama and then the build-up to the next dramatic moment. I finished at the conclusion of my first big dramatic moment where I surprise the reader. I loved it.

I wasn't sure what scene should follow next. What I had in my outline seemed insufficient. I got a little worried. But Pluto -- or walking Pluto, which is more to the point -- provided the answer. I would add another scene with the antagonist to start ramping up the tension again.

So this morning, I have a good place to start and I am looking forward to some interesting action.

I will probably just rely on a computer in the library during the day, when I have the time, and on my wife's laptop in the evening. Not sure if that will be enough for me to reach more than 2,000 words a day but I will try. And if I want to keep pace with last year, I will have to do 3,500 words today.

Not sure that's going to happen, either.

But we are off and running. It's fun. Not totally sure about the story yet but we will see.

That's where I'm at. You undoubtedly find all this boring but I wanted to get it all down mostly as a reminder to myself. I will try to be more interesting next time. I promise not to constantly only go on about NaNoWriMo.

But for now, thanks for reading and keep writing. It really is worth it, even if you are the only one who thinks so.