Tuesday, December 06, 2005

TGIO Party: Dec. 2, 2005

We had our Thank Goodness It's Over party for all the Springs Wrimos at a private home last Friday. I carpooled with a friend of mine who was also doing NaNo--I found out a week or so in that she was doing it and that was very cool. There were about eight or nine of us there all told. A nice sized group for a gathering of people who mostly don't know each other except from the NaNo forums. It was really funny, we were introducing each other by our user names. I can't tell you how fun it was to say, "Hi, I'm MangyCat."

Laurie, the hosting ML, served a delicious spiral ham and the rest of us brought sides and desserts. I made some outragous brownies that, if I may say so, totally rocked. ;o)

We shared stories of our NaNo journeys and read excerpts. It was really cool to hear what everyone else had been struggling through during the last 30 days. We were all in it together, but we each had our own muses we tried to wrangle.

My friend Sara read my Chapter 1 from Imaginary and at the end, everyone's mouths were hanging open, like..."Is that IT? Where's the rest?!" In fact, someone actually said that. I had them so pinned, they forgot to clap. Ah, the sweet taste of victory.

Anyway, that party was very good for me. I've been feeling this sort of letdown all week. You know, the letdown that happens after some major events or holidays have passed. That's what I've been feeling. Sort of draggy and depressed. But it was good to connect with other Wrimos and feel like all that time spent sweating words in November actually meant something.

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Sunday, November 27, 2005

And the beat goes on...

I just had to share this... One of the gals on my teen writing forum started a topic to "Congratulate MangyCat." After role playing the set up of a virtual party, she actually made me a banner to "hang" in the room.



Thanks, MightiMidget! I feel so honored!

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I did it!

This afternoon, I finished my NaNoWriMo novel and have verified my word count at 50,110 words--including "the" and "end"! Hooray! After verifying my count on the NaNo site, I was taken to the winners' page where I was able to download this lovely winner's icon as well as a nifty certificate that I can print out, hang on the wall, and smile at with my plump and happy ego. ;o)

What a wonderful experience this has been! Such a challenge but worth every ridiculously insane moment.

And by the way, I did actually finish the novel, if you didn't get the hint above. My last two words were THE END.

Thank you to everyone for their support, especially the ladies at the CleanPlace teen writers' forum! And many huge hugs and thanks to my husband for his sacrifice of time so that I could go and write like a madwoman. Oh yeah, and finally thanks to the folks at Einstein Bros. Cafe for letting me occupy their booths for inordinate amounts of time.

Final Stats from my NaNoWriMo Report Card:
Total Words Written 50,110
Total Hours Spent Writing 34.21

Avg Words Written Per Day 1855
Avg Hours Writing Per Day 1.27
Avg Words Per Hour 1464
Avg Morale Per Day 6

Number of Words Remaining 0
Number of Days Remaining 3


Hooray! I wrote a 50,110 word novel in 27 days!

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Saturday, November 26, 2005

Almost there

This will just be a quick post. I am so close, I can taste it! I wrote for 2 hours this afternoon and finished my climax point in the storyline. Nothing left but the wrap up.

Wrote 3,557 words, and I have roughly 1,700 remaining. I plan to write again. With 1 to 1-1/2 good hours, I may actually complete NaNoWriMo tonight!

Wish me luck...

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Late night frenzy

Okay, so it's officially after midnight from November 25, so I must truthfully count the writing I just did for Saturday's count. That would be 1,670 words and two supernatural deaths later. Whew--what a night.

Layne still has four demons to destroy, and we must reunite her with Jesse before time runs out. And the clock keeps on ticking...

Words to date: 44,686
Words to go: 5,314
Days left: 4

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