NaNoWriMo Progress for Solitaire Rose

Last weekend is done.

I wrote Friday night, and then yesterday, I spent the day either relaxing or writing. I watched a couple of movies, caught up on some TV, and then wrote. And wrote and wrote and wrote. The story flowed for some of the time, and other times it wasn't easy. I finally got to the end of the Second Act last night, broke 38,000 words, and although I had planned to hit 40k by the end of the day, in the end, I was too tired, too drained and completely out of story.

I went to bed and tried to work out the problems I had set up for myself, and thought about how I had spent a Saturday night at my keyboard, pounding away. Today, I woke up, had breakfast, watched a little more TV and, around noon, started writing again.

My current word count is 43,050. I got my 5K for today, and I only have to write 7,000 words to meet the NaNoWriMo deadline. For the first time since the beginning of the month, I am ahead. Of course, I didn't get anything eaten, don't have anything made for lunch, and have two big loads of laundry to do, but I Am Ahead.

Story-wise, I have hit the Really Bad Scene, and it was where I had to stop. In previous zombie novels, characters have died. A lot of them. When I started working on editing the first one, I was surprised at who died...characters who had a lot of story left in them, but then, that's how life is. In this novel, there has been a grand total of one death, and because of that, I think it is all the more horrific. It MEANS more. I used the exact words I had in my head when I first imagined the scene a couple of years ago.

I have no idea how my characters are going to get out of the situation I have put them in. There are a few seeds planted, but I have no idea if any of them will work. I have 7000 words to go in order to meet the NaNo deadline, but the books will end up being longer. I have three “flashbacks” that I decided not to write because they will need a research I don't have time for. I have a couple of sequences I will go back and add because I know there are a few scenes that were in my head, I was sure I wrote them, but they never made it onto the page.

In terms of pure writing VOLUME, I'm pretty amazed. Over 12,000 words over the last three days. I am 86.1% done. It wasn't easy. It never is. Anyone who says writing is easy, isn't really pulling it from a place inside themselves, and the last three days, I have been pulling this story from my darkest fears.

Now, when I go back and want to know what I was going through as I wrote this novel, I have a record.

When I hit 50k, I'll set up a place on my website so people can see the rough draft. I'll probably take a break before finishing the novel, but I want to finish it up by the end of the year. Right now, though, it's all about those last 6950 words and wherte they are going to come from.