NANOWRIMO 2020 WRAPUP (IN WHICH COVID HELPS ME WIN NANO)

IT'S OVER. 

NANOWRIMO 2020 IS DONE. 

how we all feel right now

YOU. GUYS. I can't BELIEVE NaNoWriMo is already over!! (Technically the last day's not over yet buuut... you get the idea.) I feel like I just spent a month in the quantum realm and then got ejected in the middle of the desert. Like... what just happened?? Am I still alive? What even is the real world?? 

But somewhere along in that mad craziness that is NaNo, I WROTE 50K. So, I guess it was a productive time in the quantum realm, anyway. ;P 

Partway through the month I kind of... gave up on keeping track of my day-to-day progress? I guess with my daily word count being so up-and-down, I just kind of lost my motivation to record them. It's not exactly a lot of fun to write update posts when I go days without writing. 

Which is fine! Sometimes you can't write every day, and that's absolutely okay. I had to keep reminding myself of that this month, and surprisingly, it wasn't that hard. I was actually pretty easy on myself this NaNo, because I knew I couldn't afford not to be. I also knew I couldn't afford not to write like a crazy person so hahaha that was a great balance

I also fell by the wayside with my vlogging. I don't think I've picked my camera up since the second week. I'm still trying to decide if I want to throw together the footage I got that week and go ahead and post it; and maybe film a wrapup video so I don't just leave it hanging. But we'll see what happens there. 

So I hear you asking: How did NaNo go? Well, funny you should ask. It was an interesting one, to be sure. 

I mean, look at my stats:

Definitely the most inconsistent NaNo I've ever had. xD

I hit the halfway point on the 19th, and then... stopped writing for like five days. Yeah. Not what you want to do when the month's coming to a close and you're only at 25k. But I kept telling myself, Thanksgiving break is coming up, x day's coming up, etc., and you'll have time to catch up then. 

Then I got COVID. 

Yep, the 'rona officially hit me. Actually, it hit over half of my family. (We're all doing fine!) And you can probably guess the frustration. My little introverted self has been longing for the extra time at home it seems the rest of the world has been getting this year, and when do I finally get it? RIGHT before Thanksgiving. Meaning- my family wasn't able to get together as planned. 

BUT. It actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Because I'm not gonna lie, if it weren't for the extra time off work, I may not have been able to crawl back out of my writing ditch. So, hey, a mild case of COVID in exchange for extra writing time? I guess I'll take it. xD 

So, with all that new free time, I hit a couple milestones during the last week! First of all, I HAD MY FIRST 10K DAY. 

I've been wanting to do a 10k day for a while. I mean, it's not on my bucket list or anything, but in the back of my mind I just always knew that eventually I wanted to do it. And I've come close, with my highest word count being around 8.5k, I think? But it just never happened. 

BUT. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving I COMMITTED and IT HAPPENED. I hit 10k!! And the weird thing? Was that I felt like I could have done more. Not like I felt let down or anything, and even though it was early in the evening when I hit 10k I stopped writing for the day and did some reading. But it just didn't feel like I'd written that much AT ALL, and I hadn't even spent every waking moment writing. I had taken plenty of breaks throughout the day. Basically, it just didn't leave me as drained of time and energy as I thought it would.

Guess that just leaves room for a 15k day. ;)

So, long story short, somehow I completed the last half of NaNo in the last week. 25k in 6 days. I hit 50k yesterday, on the 29th, winning my third NaNoWriMo in a row! :D This also means that I've now won as many NaNos as I haven't won. 2021, I'm coming for you to break the tie. ;)

(how perfect is this year's NaNo theme for my story???)

Oh, and I forgot to mention: COVID took my sense of smell. And taste. Which means... I couldn't burn candles to write by. And I COULDN'T. TASTE. MY. COFFEE. OR. CHOCOLATE. 

Yeeeeah. All that chocolate I stocked up on before NaNo? Oh, don't get me wrong, I ate a good bit of it. And I still had my share of coffee this month. But in the last week or so, there just wasn't any point because I couldn't TASTE any of it. Honestly, I don't know how I made it to 50k like that. xD but you can bet when my taste comes back I'll be hitting the rest of that chocolate stash HARD

So there it is- COVID helped me win NaNo AND set a personal daily word count record. In a weird twist of fate, 2020 actually did something good. xD And no, I haven't given you much information about my actual book in this post... but that's for next time. ;) 

As far my writing plans going forward? Well, as much as I'd like to, I most likely will NOT be attempting to finish my book this year. Chances are, I'll pick up the tail end of that project in April for Camp, as tends to be my pattern now. I might continue writing a bit just to get the scenes that are still in my head out, but we'll see. 

But I DO want to keep writing through December, because I'm in somewhat of a groove now and I don't want it to stop. Plus, with the semester (finallyyy) being almost over, I'll have some extra time there, too. Originally, I planned to try to bring Roots to Claim back out and finish the second draft of it. But I'm also wanting to kick back and write some flash fiction, so we'll see which wins out. Who knows, maybe I'll do both? All I know is, I'm so relieved for NaNo to be over. You guys know I LOVE NaNoWriMo every year, but if you've ever done it, you also know how great it is to be done with it, too. xD

Thank you all SO much for your support during this NaNo! You'll never know how much it means to me and inspires me to keep writing. (And Trentley and Jynnia think it's pretty cool to have fans before their book is even close to being in the condition to publish!) I truly appreciate you all so much. *chocolate and hugs* *especially if you made it to the end of this rambly post*

But enough about me!! Fellow Wrimos, how did your month go?? What's the current status of your story? Tell me everything in the comments!! And celebrate with me because NANO IS OVER!! *confetti*

TWICE UPON: KNOW THE NOVEL PART TWO!

WE'RE IN THE HOME STRETCH OF NANOWRIMO. WHAAAAAT. 

Somehow it's already November 23rd and??? I'm pretty sure I blinked and the entire month went by. Still not quite sure how that happened. But here we are, and it's time for part two of none another than Know the Novel! 

You may have noticed that I didn't post a week 3 update... that's because not enough happened to update you on. xD So, just enjoy me answering these questions and rambling about my story instead. 

And on to it we go!

1. How’s the writing going overall?

Pretty well! I've had minimal moments of "okay where in the world do I go from here" (which is a normal part of my writing routine). Things are flowing pretty well, and I'm liking the direction they're going in. Although of course, that could change tomorrow. xD

2. What’s been the most fun aspect about writing this novel so far?

Getting to know Trentley and Jynnia better and just being back with them in general has been so fun! I'm fangirled many a time over my characters, but it's true: I enjoy being with these characters SO much- I think more than any of my other characters, actually. They're just so adorable and fun. 

I'm also getting to explore some different fairy tales for this one! That's one of the things that excites me the most about this series- all the different fairy tales I have to choose from. There are so many aspects that I can play with. 

3. What do you think of your characters at this point? Who’s your favorite to write about?

Um... do you really have to ask? *gathers all my characters into a big, suffocating group hug*

*then remembers social distancing*

*oops*

So far I haven't had too many characters playing a huge part in this story. But of the ones I have, of COURSE my favorites are Trentley and Jynnia. MY BABIES.

4. Has your novel surprised you in any way?

Surprisingly, not yet. Last year I had a bunch of random sassy fairies showing up uninvited, so this year is pretty tame so far. xD

5. Have you come across any problem areas?

Just my usual "where do I go from here" problems. Also, I have run into a bit of a challenge differentiating this book from the first. There are parts where the characters are reminiscing events from the first book, and also revisiting some of the places they went; so I'm trying to not just make it a rehash of the first story. *cough*likethestarwarssequeltrilogy*cough*

6. What’s been your biggest victory with writing this novel at this point?

Honestly? Just making time to write. I don't want to keep talking about how busy I am with college and everything, but, well, you guys know what's going on. And it's hard. There have been some days when I haven't written at all, which usually just doesn't happen for me during NaNo. 

But, I guess you could say, my biggest victory is just proving to myself that I CAN write, work, and go to college. I was really worried I was going to have to sacrifice my writing, and while I still don't have enough time to write as much as I'd like, I now know that I can juggle it all if I work hard enough.

And actually, there has been minimal juggling as of late. Some weeks I end up a little more weighed down with assignments, but for the most part I've managed to create a system that allows me to get everything done and still have time to write. (Now if I can keep that up AFTER NaNo, I'll be really pleased with myself. xD)

7. If you were transported into your novel and became any one of the characters, which one do you think you’d be? Would you take any different actions than they have?

Well, given we're working with basically the same characters as I was last year, my answer would be the same as last year: if we're talking who would I WANT to be, it would be Jynnia so I could marry Trentley. But as for who I would actually be, it would definitely be Trentley. We have the most in common (other than the way me and Jynnia share the same fangirling skills). 

As for any different actions? I'm not sure about that one. He's very much a "stay quiet and let everybody else talk" person in new situations, which is basically me. 

8. Give us the first sentence or paragraph then 2 (or 3!) more favorite snippets!

I shared the beginning paragraphs in my first update post, but I'll gladly share it again!

Once upon a time, a warm breeze played with the dark strands of hair flowing just above a young girl's shoulders. She smiled and brushed the strands back into submission, letting her fingers linger at the ends for a moment. 

"What if I knocked the jailer unconscious?" Winlie said. 

All eyes turned to her. Jynnia could not help but burst out laughing, not at the idea itself but the visual in her head. If she was being honest, there was not much she would not give to see short little Winlie knock out a jailer. 

"I don't mean with brute force," Winlie said impatiently. "I mean with magic. I get him out of the way long enough for Deston to go in and do whatever it is he's doing, and Delga pretends to be the jailer."

"Excuse me?" Delga said for the second time in five minutes. 

"Um, it's a great plan and all, but how is Delga going to pass for a jailer?" Jynnia gestured toward her sister. "She's clearly a woman. And I don't think I've ever seen a lady jailer."

Winlie shrugged. "It'll do in a pinch, don't you think? Maybe she can say that the other jailer is sick, and she's his daughter and she's taking over for him for the day."

"Hm." Jynnia tilted her head to consider the idea. 

"If you don't like it, tough, because that's all we have," Winlie said. 

"I like it!" Jynnia grinned. 

"I don't like it!" Delga protested. 

"You!" 

Trentley's heart fell. He looked up, pretending to be surprised. "Uh, hi there. We met before, didn't we?" Might as well try to act the least suspicious he could. 

"Yes, and I met your girlfriend as well." Deston's voice was tense and irritated, surprising Trentley. Jynnia had said he was irritatingly polite when she had spoken to him. Maybe he only spoke that way to girls. 

Wait a minute. "My girlfriend?" He had never seen them together, and Trentley knew Jynnia had not mentioned him to him. The only time Trentley had ever even seen the guy was when he had walked by the sawmill whistling and eating a poisoned apple. Or least, what looked like a poisoned apple. 

"Yes, Miss Jynnia Trace," Deston said, speaking to Trentley as if he were a child and Deston were an adult who needed to explain a simple concept to him. Trentley immediately felt hate rise up in his chest for the guy. He tried to tamp it down, but as long as Trentley was looking at his face, he felt nothing but contempt. 

"I'm aware who my girlfriend is," Trentley said, surprising even himself. "But how do you know? I've never even met you before."

Deston sighed and put his hands on his hips, eyes darting back and forth between two points of focus Trentley did not know, in what he suspected to be a stalling tactic to hide the fact that he had nothing to say. "She told me about you," he finally said, looking up and trying to appear confident. At least that was what Trentley chose to see. 

Trentley lifted his chin and leaned a little closer to Deston. The other man did not flinch, but Trentley felt good knowing he had imposed on his space, anyway. "Listen, I don't know what I did to you, but I have to get back to work." He only wished he was a little taller so he could look down on Deston. "If you're stalking me, I would like to politely ask that you stop. And if you're stalking Jynnia, I would like to inform you that if you bother her one. Time. You will be making a visit to the town doctor." Without breaking eye contact, Trentley raised a hand and pointed down the street. "It's that direction."

(just to drive y'all crazy I want to say that I omitted a sentence from one of these snippets that would have been mad spoilerish so hahahahaha) (it's actually killing me having to hide it more than it's killing you)

9. Share an interesting tidbit about the writing process so far! (For example: Have you made any hilarious typos? Derailed from your outline? Killed off a character? Changed projects entirely? Anything you want to share!)

I don't recall any typos yet. At least, nothing like last year's napkin in the lapkin. I haven't killed anyone off. Outlines? 

So, well, I guess this has been a pretty chill NaNo so far. 

Oh, I guess I could mention the random daughter that I gave my villain and then completely abandoned?? Like, we haven't even met the girl "on screen". The guy just mentioned her and she was supposed to come into play, but then kind of... didn't? So I don't know how that's going to turn out. xD #pantserlife

10. Take us on a tour of what a normal writing day for this novel looks like. Where do you write? What time of day? Alone or with others? Is a lot of coffee (or some other drink) consumed? Do you light candles? Play music? Get distracted by social media (*cough, cough*)? Tell all!

Much of my writing this year has been completed late at night, although there has been surprisingly little irresponsibly late writing. This has nothing to do with my being responsible and everything to do with that fact that I'm getting old and apparently can't stay up past my bedtime anymore. maybeishouldstartdrinkingcoffeebeforebed justkiddingthatsterribleadvice

I usually alternate between my chair and my bed, though sometimes I end up downstairs at the kitchen table. And I think I pretty much always listen to my story playlist?

And thus concludes part 2 of Know the Novel! Whew. Can't believe we're already so close to part 3 and December!

As of the time I'm writing this, my word count is at 25,854. Yeah... not exactly what I want to see a week away from the end of NaNo. Will I close the gap between here and 50k? Who knows. But I have some extra free time right now, so we'll see what I can do!

Also- GUYS. It's almost Thanksgiving. What even is time anymore? 

So, I hope you all have a lovely Thanksgiving and find plenty to be thankful for! And also lots of pie because pie is fantastic. 

NaNo's almost over- how are y'all doing?? Is your story/characters behaving or running off in a completely different direction? Any special plans for Thanksgiving? And who's excited about the Christmas season?? So many exciting things!

NANOWRIMO WEEK 2

WE ARE HALFWAY THROUGH NANOWRIMO 2020. 

Whoa. o_o

How have two weeks passed already?? For real, wasn't it just Halloween?? I think this NaNo is going by more quickly than usual. I need it to slow down, please.

Today I bring you my week two update! Okay, let's face it, I'm not getting any awards this year for writing every day. xD I already knew the NaNo website wouldn't give it to me (see my last update for the annoying story of how I failed to update my word count one day because I was tired), but I thought I'd still be able to give myself an imaginary one. But, well, nope. I haven't been able to write every day, but I'm actually okay with it. I told myself from day one of this NaNo that things would be different this year, and I had to accept it if they didn't go quite the way they have in past NaNos. And surprisingly, I've managed to stay pretty positive about it so far.

BUT. I did still get a good bit of writing done. Here's the recap!

Nope. No writing these days. I'm not even sure why? Sunday I was mostly free, so I guess it was just laziness. xD I WAS working on finishing up my week 1 vlog, though, so I suppose that contributed. 

I made myself complete all my Adult responsibilities during the day so I could commit to writing that night. I had work and school in the morning, homework in the afternoon, and a couple other things I wanted to get done. But that evening, I sat down with a chai and WROTE. It was one of the better writing days I've had this month, I think. 

Word count: 3628

No class thanks to Veterans' Day, which should have meant more writing but really just meant more time doing useless things. xD Actually, I discovered a super fun podcast called Small Fry, created by Amanda Brown (editor of Oh Beloved One). As a fast food worker, a homeschooler, and an introvert, these lighthearted chats hit the spot. xD (And she was an American Girl kid, too! My CHILDHOOD.)

Anyway, I did get some writing done that night, although my big plans for staying up late and doing even more writing kind of fell through. Did I stay up late more last NaNo, when I wasn't in college? I don't remember, but the midnight oil has just not been burning for me lately. xD which let's be honest is probably a good thing

Word count: 855

If I haven't mentioned it before, my college is literally like 30 seconds away from a coffee shop. That, my friends, was the single most exciting thing about starting college this year. xD I only have to go to campus twice a week, and the coffee shop is closed on one of those days again probably a good thing, but I make it there pretty regularly nowadays and I kept telling myself I would stop in there sometime and write. And of course NaNoWriMo month seems like the best time to do that.

On this day I had every intention of taking my laptop with me and settling into a corner of the shop to write for a while. (I've actually never written at a coffee shop before!) But I decided I didn't want to go through the trouble and changed my mind. xD (You know how at college and coffee shops or whatever, whenever you see someone with a laptop it's one of those sleek little travel-friendly ones and there's no charging cord in sight? Well, my laptop's not that big but it's big compared to those and I can't use it unplugged for more than like 30 minutes anymore which means I have to carry the cord literally everywhere... so yeah, it just didn't sound like a good time. xD) BUT I did take my story notebook with the intention of doing some brainstorming (NaNo always finds me hitting a wall not knowing what to write next). 

So, I got my coffee (a caramel pumpkin spice latte, if you were wondering) and sat at a little table outside. (Have you ever sat outside a coffee shop by yourself? It's a very adult-y-feeling thing to do.) I put in my earbuds and started my story playlist and just started writing ideas in my notebook. 

While I was sitting there, I looked down next to me and THERE WAS THIS ADORABLE DOG. It just came out of nowhere and came up to me and when I pet it, it acted like it was going to lean on my leg like my own dog does.

But then its owner called for it and it left. :( Still, it made my day. xD (My camera also stopped working while I was trying to vlog. So that was fun.)

I didn't get very many words written that evening, but I got some good ideas. So I call the day a success!

Word count: 409

Apparently I wrote this day? I thought I didn't but the NaNo website says otherwise. Go me, I guess. xD

Word count: 179

No writing this day. Something came up that kind of threw everything off track so it just didn't happen (which is also why I didn't write much yesterday). Not the strongest end to the week. xD

"Wow, last time I left this house we were being attacked by a crazy dwarf." Jynnia grinned and looked around at the hills surrounding the cottage, imagining Barnen throwing little magic smoke bombs at them. She frowned. "We never did get our horses back."

"Oh, yes. Sorry about that." Winlie locked the door behind her and hid the key away in her little pouch. 

"What happened to the horses?" Delga asked. 

"We had to leave them when we flew away," Jynnia said. 

Delga's eyes went round. "You flew away?"

Oh, yeah. Jynnia had forgotten that flying was not common. Or, at least, that people did not commonly know that it could be done. "Yeah. Winlie carried us."

"And so I shall be doing again," Winlie said, shaking her wings out as if refreshing them. "I do hope you didn't think I meant I would be walking to your village."

Delga squealed in excitement, but Jynnia's shoulders slumped. "Winlie, we can't," she said, her responsible babysitter voice kicking in. "These horses don't belong to us. We have to return them or they'll make us pay for them."

Winlie threw her head back and groaned. "But horses are so slow," she said, holding her hands out toward the animals. "I can't fly slowly. I feel stifled."

"Well, then you'll have to fly circles around us as we go." Jynnia untied her horse and checked the saddle. "The horses go with us. That's non-negotiable."

Winlie groaned again but did not argue further. "Fine. But I'll hate every second of it."

"You could try riding," Delga suggested, offering the first input since she had arrived there. 

Winlie appeared shocked at even the possibility. "Fairies do not ride horses," she said, her lip curling. "If we do not utilize our wings, we are not fairies."

Jynnia smirked, but a tiny part of her grew sad at that declaration. She thought of one of Winlie's sisters, who had voluntarily given up her wings to be with a human. Winlie was less angry with her than she used to be, but Jynnia imagined she was still having a hard time coming to terms with it. 

"Well, fairy or no fairy, we have to get going," Jynnia said. "We'll still have to stop for the night, but if we go now we should be almost there by tonight."

Winlie sighed. "Very well. Just don't expect me to not complain about your speed." She fluttered into the air, the sparkly sound of her wings making Jynnia smile as she mounted her horse. As they got going, Winlie said, "Imagine. All those years cooped up in my cottage alone and now I'm headed out on my second adventure in five months."

      "You know how all the magic is hidden away somewhere?" Very stupid question. Winlie and her sisters had been the ones to take care of it last year, after parting ways with Trentley and Jynnia. 

"Of course."

It occurred to Jynnia that she still did not know where they had hidden the magic this time. She would ask about that later. "Well... I've been thinking. And I don't think it's right that it be hidden away like that."

Winlie lowered herself to flutter in front of Jynnia, turning to face her as she hovered backwards. 

"So... I want to revive it."

Delga turned to look at her sharply. This was the first she had heard of it, too. Before now, only Trentley had known of it. 

Winlie furrowed her brow as if trying to decipher Jynnia's meaning. 

"I mean... so what if some people don't want to deal with it? I get that some bad things happened, but it's not all bad." Jynnia felt the passion rising up within her, and as she got more worked up she began throwing her hands around. "After all, the magic was here before all the people who complained about it were."

A corner of Winlie's mouth hinted upward for just a moment. Jynnia gathered from her expression that she liked where this was going. 

"So, I want to bring it back. I want to bring the fairy tales to light and make the world stop hiding from its past." Wow. Sounds a lot more unrealistic when I put it like that. 

"Jynnia, you already almost got arrested once," Delga said, shaking her head. "Don't push it, or we'll never see you again without bars between us."

"Somebody's got to put an end to this, Delga," Jynnia said. "It's not right that fairies and wizards have to live isolated and hide their magic just because people want it outlawed. Besides, the plan is to make people accept magic again so that nobody will be put in jail just for talking about it." She grinned. 

"But you can't guarantee you can make that happen," Delga said. "That's a big job, Jynnia. Much bigger than just you."

"Well, it's not just her." Winlie's voice was determined, as if there had never even been a thought of it just being Jynnia. 

Jynnia turned to look at her sharply, feeling hope rising up within her. Winlie's arms were crossed, and Jynnia could tell by looking at her face that there was absolutely no amount of persuasion that could change her mind now. "You're with me?" Jynnia said, raising her eyebrows and dipping her chin toward her in question. 

"There's no way I could not be with you," Winlie said. "I was never for the magic going away. I just went along with it because there seemed to be nothing else we could do. But you..." She smiled, a genuine, content smile that was rare to see on her face. "You give me hope that that might not have to be the case."

"Afternoon."

Trentley jumped and turned to see a soldier walking toward him, hands behind his back. Trentley smiled uncomfortably, realizing how dumb he must have looked sitting there on his horse in the middle of the street, staring at a strange-looking apple. "Hi." He was just about to start his horse forward, but the man kept talking. 

"What's that you have there?" The man nodded toward the apple in Trentley's hand. 

Trentley frowned and turned slowly to look at it. Yes. It was indeed an easily identifiable apple. "Um... it's an apple."

"May I see it?"

Well, so much for eating it. If some stranger whose hands had been who-knows-where was going to handle it, Trentley was not interested. Bewildered, he handed the apple over. 

The soldier turned the apple over in his hand, observing all sides. "Interesting apple. Where'd you get it?"

"I... found it." That was very true. 

The reason why this soldier might be grilling him was beginning to come together in Trentley's head. 

"Son, what were you planning on doing with this apple?"

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. There's no law against eating an apple. "I was going to eat it," he said, gripping the reins a little too tightly. His fingernails digging into the soft skin of his palms made him realize how angry he was getting. "I was planning on eating it." He cut himself off from adding a sarcastic comment. Something like "Is that allowed in your town?" Jynnia's sass is really rubbing off on me. 

"Do you know what other apple looks this?" The soldier did not give Trentley time to answer. "Ever heard of Snow White?"

Trentley furrowed his brow, hoping to make the soldier feel silly. "Yes, I think it rings a bell."

"Well, the apple in that tale..." The soldier began slowly circling Trentley's horse, tossing the apple up and down like a ball. "...that tale of magic..." He hissed the word, leaning close to Trentley as if afraid his own fellow soldiers would hear him and arrest him. "...looked exactly like this one."

"Well, I suppose somebody thought it would be funny to paint one like it, then," Trentley said. "Sir, if you'll excuse me, I really have somewhere I need to be."

"Could have fooled me," the soldier said. "The way you were sitting there on that horse staring at this apple." His eyes narrowed. "Almost like you were... planning something." 

Trentley shook his head. "What do you think I was planning with an apple?" His voice was rising with his frustration. He did not have time to stand around and argue with a petty soldier. 

I realized that Trentley says the same thing twice in a paragraph in that last snippet, but hey, first drafts, am I right? Might as well let you read it in all its NaNoWriMo glory. xD

I screenshotted this a day late, but you get the idea.

Week 2 word count: 5,063

TOTAL WORD COUNT: 17,226

Though I didn't get as much writing done as I would have hoped, the week was still a success! I wrote words (always a victory, no matter how many words), got my week 1 vlog up (HERE if you want to watch!), and brainstormed at a coffee shop. So, overall, I'd say it was a lovely week. 

I've also found a nice balance between my writing and school. Of course, there's no telling how long this will last. xD But this week I've been able to keep up with everything and not drown, which has been really nice. Making small goals every day instead of trying to accomplish tons of things in a day or two seems to work better for me. 

And as far as my story itself, things are starting to pick up. YAY! Also, it was brought to my attention last week that I didn't post any snippets that had both Trentley and Jynnia in them! That was a total accident, but, well, bad news: you don't get any this week, either. xD See, it's tricky... and I'm just gonna leave it at that because Trentley and Jynnia don't know what's going on, either. xD

I have pretty high hopes for the next couple of weeks, because *ahem* quarantine has officially hit my house, so no classes to go to this week. And then next week is Thanksgiving (!!!!), and I took a couple of extra days off work to relax. So, I expect big things. xD

Anyway! I'll stop rambling about myself now. Let me know how you guys are doing! ONWARD TO THE SECOND HALF OF NANOWRIMO.

NaNo or not, how's November treating you? Have you watched any Christmas movies yet? (because I tragically have not and that is something that must be remedied ASAP) Fellow college students- we've almost made it to the end of the semester!! How are we doing?? 

NANOWRIMO WEEK 1

GUYS. NANOWRIMO IS HERE.

I can't believe it's NaNo season again! I remember earlier this year getting really excited thinking about NaNo, even though it was still months away. And, well, maybe I should have started mentally preparing myself then. xD But it's here now, and I think I love it more every year!

I kept track of my progress throughout the week- written AND filmed! YES, look for a NaNoWriMo Week 1 vlog soon. (Hopefully today or tomorrow!) :D So, here are all the details (well, most of them) of how my first week of NaNo went.  

(I'm sharing a few snippets, but a lot of parts in this book spoil something from the last one, so... you might not get very many. xD) (also the snippets don't necessarily line up with the day they're next to... but that first one is the opening of the book.)

This was a first for me: I stayed up until midnight on the 31st to start writing!! (I actually think I may have done this last year? But I'm pretty sure I only wrote a few words and then went to sleep. xD So it barely counts.) I made it to just over 1700 words before stopping at 1:30 or so. It was a lovely time. 

The next day (er... the same day, I guess xD) was gloriously free to just write. The only time I wasn't consumed with my story was when I was spending time with my family or finishing up some homework that needed done that day. (alas.) It was the first time I'd really written in months, and it. felt. so. good. Getting back to my characters was wonderful. (Have I mentioned how much I love them?) That first day had me really fired up about my story.

Also this day, I did some actual planning. xD I figured out who the antagonist is (woo-hoo!!) and some of what the heck is actually going on in this thing. Still not all of it, though. Soooo far from all of it. 

Word count: 5022

I worked, did homework, went to class, did homework... then sat down with my laptop and realized how tired I was because of the time change. -_- I wrote a few hundred words sitting in bed (never a good idea, guys... just don't do it), and decided to doze for a few minutes. Lol. "Few minutes". That never happens. I'm pretty sure it was like an hour later when I woke up and accepted that writing was done for the day. xD

Word count: 390

I was kind of discouraged this day about how little progress I had made the day before. (Literally three days in and I was already beating myself up. Don't do that, guys.) I had really wanted to spend a lot of time writing, but it just didn't happen.

I was finally able to get started around 7:30 that night, and wrote off and on for a few hours. I also did the same thing I'd done the night before and fell asleep in bed with my laptop. xD

Word count: 1910

School and homework cancelled out writing this day, for the most part. BUT I got the exciting news that one of my deadlines for school got extended by two weeks AND a whole paper got cancelled. So, less workload and MORE WRITING TIME.

Word count: 311

LET THE RECORDS SHOW THAT I INDEED WROTE ON THIS DAY. The NaNo website LIES. Just because I fell asleep (again) and didn't wake up to update my word count until after midnight... I WROTE. (not a lot. but I WROTE) (So now I won't get my 30-day-streak badge even if I make it all month. -_-) (there used to be an option to edit a word count for a certain day?? but it seems to be gone now?? if it's still an option and anybody knows how to do it, let me know!) 

Another school thing: I had to "present" a project in my psychology class. Which actually just consisted of me sitting in my seat while the teacher asked me questions about my project from the front of the classroom. (Oh, COVID.) But I'm so relieved to have it behind me, and now that I don't it to work on I'll have even more writing time!

Word count: 1052

I didn't write anything until like 11:45 PM... which is kind of pointless now since I already lost my 30-day streak badge anyway. xD

Word count: 16

This was my best writing day since day 1! I made a cup of coffee at 8 PM, sat down with my story and plenty of chocolate, and charged ahead until midnight. With lots of procrastination in between, of course. But I got back into a flow, and it felt so good! Also, Things are starting to happen, so it should be a little easier to keep the story going. she said, as if she had any idea what was going to happen

I also filmed what will hopefully become an aesthetic montage in my NaNoWriMo vlog. xD It was a good last day of the first week! 

Word count: 3151

Week 1 total word count: 12,163

And that's how my first week of NaNoWriMo 2020 went down! Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out, and I'm feeling pretty good about the rest of the month. I finally reached a point where I feel like I'm caught up enough on homework to take time for other things (that extended deadline and finished project really helped!) and not feel like I'm drowning. I can breathe better than I have since August. xD Please say a prayer that I'll be able to keep it that way (aka: not procrastinate) so that I can continue to make time for writing!

Also, though Saturday is my regular posting day, these weekly updates are going to be going up on Sundays so I can include a whole week in them. (Wasn't it nice of NaNo to conveniently start on a Sunday? #satisfying)

I hope all you fellow Wrimos had a productive first week, as well! Remember: It's not all about the word count! If your goal is 50k and you're not on par for that, it's okay. If you have a completely different goal altogether, it's okay! Go at your own pace, and at the end of the day you should be proud because you WROTE. *cheers you on*

Wrimos, how was week 1?? Are you going crazy yet? Drinking too much coffee? And if you're not doing NaNo, what ARE you up to (writing-related or not!)?