Monday, November 20, 2006

Heavy Lifting

With the month of November chugging along, and my lack of writing for NaNoWriMo, things were looking a little bleak. But as I kept saying to my mate All-Star "if I make it to 25k by the end of this week, I'm looking good". Unfortunately All-Star kept asking "how many words have you written now?" and the answer was "13,339" on Wednesday, Thursday, and also Friday. I had always thought that I could probably write 5k apiece on Saturday and Sunday, so if I slightly over-achieved I would make the mark.

Of course I was also planning on going up to Baltimore on Friday night to help celebrate a mate of mine's birthday. That probably meant staying up Friday night, and then doing the long train ride of shame back to DC on Saturday... not known as optimal writing conditions. Still, I was optomistic.

I actually made it back to DC on Friday night, thanks to a couple of friends of mine who stayed up in B-Vegas later than they expected, so I got a good night's sleep, which was important after the last few days of alcohol abuse. Things were primed for a NaNoWriMo run.

Except for the old Ohio State/Michigan game. Probably was going to be the College Football game of the year. I mean, I have to watch that, right? And I had a friend who was throwing a party for the occasion. Twist my arm, I'm there. But I'll make sure to head back to my place straight afterwards.

The game was a good one, and I didn't drink too many beers, but as I took the bus home I felt pretty knackered. Once home I sat down on the couch and considered trying to write, trying to play poker, or even trying to go out. At 9pm I threw in the towel and actually went to bed... a ridiculously early hour for a Saturday night.

This meant an early start for me on Sunday, as I got up at the crack of 11am. I briefly flirted with the idea of giving up, but I decided that I would make an assault on NaNoWriMo this Sunday, try and complete what I refer to as a "heavy lifting day", and see how it looked once it was all said and done.

At 11:40am I sat down at my MacBook with a Vitamin Water and a coffee, and started typing like a madman. A while later I stopped, and checked my word count, and the gains were impressive. At that point I took a quick break, putting a load of washing on etc., before heading back to the Mac.

That was pretty much how I spent my day, pausing for an hour or so at 4pm, but basically writing up until 9pm-ish. By the end of the day I had written 11.7k, getting me to 25,104 words in total. I was content to finish at 24,300+, but a final push from Gracie made me hit my goal and taste the sweetness that is over-the-halfway-mark.

I now feel I clearly in striking distance, especially considering I have the four day Thanksgiving break. I am hoping to be able to get some words down today and tomorrow, but Wednesday and Thursday are probably going to be write-offs. Friday, Saturday and Sunday should be clear, however, so I should be able to get some more heavy lifting done then.

I would probably be happy with 40k by the end of Sunday, leaving me 10k to complete in the final four days. However, heady from my weekend success, I am going to shoot for 45k by week's end, hopefully while avoiding another Sunday NaNoWriMoAThon. I think that's doable (and hopefully pressures me to make sure I get some done today and tomorrow), and should make it a snap to stumble over the finish line by the 30th.

For right now, I am just riding the buzz.

2 Comments:

  • Good thing you aren't here, the Ashes would definately slow down the word production :)

    By Blogger Jules, at 1:40 AM  

  • congratulations Garthski!

    By Blogger katitude, at 2:16 AM  

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