In-story Calendars are the Key

It's only been a week since the US mid-term elections? Wow. While this year has been flying by - wasn't it JUST summer!? - this week just craaaaaawled.

Makes you think I had time to write then, doesn't it?

HA!

ha....

Hacker Girl Facebook sticker
by Birdman, Inc.

I'm not even going to post my word-count NaNo calendar this week. Yes, I ended up writing about 900+ words during last Tuesday's writer group word-sprints, but since that night I only added 200 words.... yesterday....

We're nearly at the half-way mark, and I'm not even at 5000 words.

To be fair, my third-ever NaNo in 2014 just barely had over 3000 words written, so I've at least surpassed that. I don't know if I'm going to hit half-NaNo stats like I did with my other two non-wins, but I'm trying.

I'm still struggling to find my groove with this story. When I'm in my flow I can crank out words pretty quickly. I can tear through my daily word-count goal in an hour or two; three tops. I mean, Build Your Own Luck started off as a simple headcanon thought that Tom made The Bracelet to try to cheer up Marinette, and as I was writing up my fan theory about it the one-shot birthed from my head like a 2800-word Athena. Same with my "ah-ha moment" when it came to the characterization of Gabriel Agreste, and that "simple" headcanon turned into a three-part character study on Tumblr; the three parts combined being like 11pgs long or something....

When I'm not in the groove though? It takes me two hours to write 211 words.

In an attempt to become re-inspired, I spent the week doing something you're "not supposed" to do during NaNo; during any first draft, really: edit. Too many writers get stuck trying to make their first draft the FINAL draft that they never actually complete it.

There is a writer in my local group who has read us the FIRST CHAPTER of her story about half-a-dozen times. Keep in mind that we only meet every other week, and there were some sessions where she didn't read. She FINALLY moved onto the second chapter, barely, only a week or two ago. That's about six months just on the FIRST CHAPTER.

She wanted it perfect. She needed it to be perfect. She just couldn't move on until she got the exact word she needed in this sentence, or until that sentence had the perfect structure. Omnibladestrike is very much the same way. He wants his first draft to be perfection, so he edits and edits and edits before ever moving past the first chapter. It's a dangerous trap, because struggling to hit perfection in that first chapter, while you're still learning about your characters and world, tends to kill an author's inspiration and motivation. You don't see progress, so you feel that lack of development, and the story tends to die. Or at least goes into hibernation.

This is why, NaNo participant or no, you really shouldn't edit the first draft. Just get the crap on paper; polish later.

That all being said, sometimes editing what you have thus far is helpful. As you edit you discover things that helps you push forward in the story. As you figure out what you don't like about the chapter and why, you also see character or world development you didn't know before, and it helps you create more of your tale.

Omni did it with his one original story. He was stuck in the first chapter, and with all of his re-works he realized what wasn't working for him was the history and basic build of the culture he created. Since they are the backbone of his story, finally figuring out that's what he needed to fix - and figuring out what works better for him - rejuvenated his writing spirit. At least, for a little bit.

For my fellow writer at group, each edit brought out a bit more character development. Each pass made the characters more real to her, which made her more invested in her work, which helped her move past that intro. The environment became more solid to her as well.

And now with me? Well, as I went back and re-read the scenes I excitedly wrote in September, I felt the energy I once had for "One and the Same." I remembered why I want to write this story. I think I was too much in my head. I think I worried too much about "what if it's a flop? What if people don't think it's a decent sequel to PT? What if it ends up being self-indulgent crap?"

First of all, fanfiction readers LOVE self-indulgent crap because more often than not they want the same self-indulgence.

Story all about fluff with little plot to it? Just the couple having a pillow fight while watching a movie together? That's some of the most popular stuff on FFN and AO3!

Secondly, as ChibiSunnie, Ali Luke, Cyhyr, and Jowy's Pixie all pointed out to me: don't write for the audience; write for me. The audience will find it. If I enjoy it; they will.

I keep telling DFL this whenever she's concerned that her Babylonian-era story isn't as "flashy" as some of our other stories. How is it that I can hand out writing advice, but never seem to hear it myself?

I needed to re-find my story, and my love for it. My NEED to tell it, the same way I NEEDED to tell “Peeping Tomcat”. I'm still not sure the story grabs me the same way; pushing me to tell it. I am getting more excited though.

I went back through bits of PT to get some of my in-universe canonical timeline figured out - pre-established events such as the launch of Gabriel's newest fashion line, for instance - and then continued working on it for OatS. Getting a better feel for what's happening when in the world around Adrien and Marinette helps me figure out what they're doing. Despite the fact that they're characters and I can totally have everything revolve around their story, I like making the world feel more real by NOT having it revolve around them. I like having things happen in the world and having my characters react or have to organize their lives around it. So knowing dates to important things helps me plot overall.

The next bits are going to have minor spoilers, so just scroll pass quick if you want to avoid them.
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Okay, for those of you who don't care about spoilers.... here's a "for instance" of that world-events-help-me-plot concept, using the aforementioned Gabriel line launch as an example. Gabe has decided that he likes Marinette's portfolio and wants to meet with her, but he is too busy with his launch - and.... other... priorities - to be able to meet with her until the new line is on the market. I now know that this leaves Marinette in a sort of limbo for a week, which gives her more than enough time to overthink things. Which also means it is the perfect time for some MariChat goodness as Chat Noir tries to calm her down, and remind her that she's a fantastic designer.

And that's just one example.

I have two full notebook pages working out the timeframe of OatS, and I'm not even to the midpoint of my story yet.

Obviously don't read if you don't want spoilers, but this should
give you a rough idea of what my week looked like.

I also jotted down more on my PT and OatS calendar-stylized timeline. Problem is, the days in OatS are going to be a bit more eventful, and I'm having a hard time scribbling everything into the little squares I made for PT....

OatS events aren't in stone quite yet,
so they're written in pencil...

 Now that I have a more solidified timeline - or at least the makings of one - I'm starting to slot in those pre-written scenes. So while I was re-reading them to try to re-find my story I also tried to polish them so they had better continuity between them.

As of right now I have two tweaked scenes: the MariChat ones. I'm still not entirely sure the lead-in to them, but I'm loving the interactions between Marinette and Chat Noir, especially since one is told through Adrien's POV and the other is told through Marinette's. Watching Adrien's reaction to Marinette through his eyes, and then later through hers, was so much fun to play with. Trying to show Marinette's confusion while in Adrien's POV, and then trying to show Adrien's angst through Marinette's POV was also so much fun. These poor dense little beans have no clue what is going on with the other, and it's beautiful.

So I think I need to just stay here for a week or so. I need to focus on the MariChat goodness, and sprinkle in some Marinette confusion with Adrien acting more like Chat Noir. I actually thought of the opening to one of those scenes this morning. It's not terribly much, but it's something:

"Marinette! Hey, Marinette, wait up!" Adrien waved down to me from outside Miss Bustier's classroom on the second floor. He jogged to the top of the stairs, but about half way down he was blocked by the crowd of students descending to the school's courtyard.

While we were waiting for Adrien to catch up with us, Alya playfully elbowed me and stifled a chuckle.

"Whatever he wants seems pretty urgent," she teased.

I blushed. It sounded like she was implying that there was something romantic there, but I knew that couldn't be true. Adrien only saw me as a friend. He only ever saw me as a friend, and that's all he'll ever see me as.

The crowd was heading down the stairs too slow for Adrien apparently, because with about a quarter of the way to go he just hurdled the banister. With his legs dangling along the outside, he slid the rest of the way down, pushing off about a meter from the bottom. Landing gracefully on his feet, he jogged over to us.

"Did- did he just-" Alya wagged her head between me and Adrien.

It was fine that she couldn't finish her question, because I wouldn't have been able to register it anyway. Adrien. Adrien Agreste. The reserved and refined love of my life. He just slid down the stair's banister. At school. Who else have I seen do something like that? My mind was short circuiting.

It needs some polishing, but, hey, that's another 241 words I didn't have yesterday! And now I'm just 99 words shy of 5,000.

More importantly, though, is that it's the start - or rather middle - of another scene! This would be the chapter when we first see Adrien trying to act more like his Chat Noir half while he's in civilian form, and particularly around Marinette. A way of maybe getting a bead of how she feels about his more goofy and carefree self when Paris isn't in danger.

Writing Adrien with his Chat Noir personality is going to be so much fun. Having Marinette's brain implode as she's trying to connect the dots will be equally fun.

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OKAY! PEEPS WHO WANTED TO AVOID SPOILERS! IT'S SAFE TO READ AGAIN!

I think I need fun again. I'll go back to angst and akuma attacks later.

I also need to figure out a soundtrack for my story. That stuff really does help me. It drowns out the rest of the world - which has been majorly distracting me this past week - and gets me into the proper mindset. While I was working on the PT edits the first half of the year I frequently listened to songs on repeat to get me in the proper mood. I even stated which ones I was using here in my blog, if you wanted to go back and check that out.

I don't really have anything set up for OatS though, which could be a small part of the problem.

The writing sprints last week were the largest chunk of my writing thus far. In part that could be because I was in a distraction-free room for two hours with the sole purpose of writing. In part, it could be because I finally fell into a flow towards the end of the session. After threading together disjointed scenes from my "follow your muse" hopping the first few days, I was able to write a pretty steady stream of words; doubling the amount I had written thus far that day.

I know part of that final word dump was because I built off the energy of the music I was listening to. In particular, I absorbed a whole bunch of energy bouncing back and forth between two songs:

POP/STAR by K/DA

(sung by Miyeon and Soyeon from the Korean band (G)I-dle,

and American singers Madison Beer, and Jaira Burns)

I've been pretty much full-on obsessed with this video. This K-pop skin set for the League of Legends champions Ahri, Akali, Kai'Sa, and Evelynn has an amazing promotional video. The music has energy, great vocals, and is catchy as hell. But the skin designs are beautiful; my personal favorite is Akali, the one with the glow-in-the-dark spray paint who raps. And the animation is so gorgeously smooth with awesome choreography, intriguing visuals, and the exact feel of an actual K-Pop video. It's just such a high-energy piece that gets me pumped up every time.

The other video I had on loop?

Shatter Me by Lindsey Stirling, feat Lzzy Hale

Lindsey Stirling? Lzzy Hale from Halestorm? Tons of energy with an electric violin? I mean, yes!? It has a melancholy to it, and a push pass defeat. It is just the perfect "fighting an akuma" song for me. There's angst there, but there's also determination. Just like Ladybug and Chat Noir trying to win the day, just like the victimized villain being brainwashed by Hawk Moth's akuma, and just like me ignoring how few words I have written and instead focusing on how many I CAN write before the month is out. We all need that push.

Also... Lzzy Hale's voice has always been inspiring to me. I mean, there's also this song for one of My Girls...

I Get Off by Halestorm

Willow anyone? The girl's teenage hormones made her come up with some.... interesting illusions. I think in a much more literal sense the song also very much fits Jolene.

Both a bit of a far cry from what I'm doing right now with sweet and innocent Marinette and Adrien!

Oh, and who could forget this other Halestorm song... a bit of a dedication from Willow to Devon... whoops. Sorry, son.

It's Not You by Halestorm

Now part of me wants to make an AMV of this song using Ladybug to Chat Noir. The song is a bit mature and a bit more aggressive than the actual characterizations of these two, but it would be fun to go a little hard with their characters.

Especially with lines like "someone who has raise the bar" and "you've probably never been shot down before" both hinting at Chat Noir's Adrien side in opposing and ironic ways.

After a quick search on YouTube I did find one AMV done to this song, but it's just a bunch of quick shots of Marinette, Adrien, and Chloe... but done in such a way that I have no clue what's going on. Is Adrien singing the song to Chloe about Marinette? Is it to Marinette about Chloe? Is it Chloe to Adrien, suggesting a love for Marinette? Or vice versa? I mean with the shippers in this fandom any of the above could be accurate.... And to make things more confusing, Lila is randomly thrown in at the end???

Nope. I need to find an editing program and make one myself.

Buuut, that's for Future Me. Present Me has to stop being distracted by side projects, and answering emails, and trying to play catch-up on Tumblr.... which is a bit of a Sisyphean task since my drafts - i.e. read in more depth and/or reblog later - are now way over 700 posts deep, and I seem to add more than I empty out....

I need to lock myself down and just WRITE, DANG-IT!

So that's my goal this week. Not to catch up to the 21,666 words I should have by the close of the day today. Although, if I literally did nothing but sit and write all day today I could totally hit 16000+ words. My goal isn't even to write the 1667 words that make up the daily NaNo word goal. My goal isn't going to be to write the 11,669 words this week that is the standard weekly NaNo word goal.

Nope. None of that. My goal this week is to write SOMETHING. Something this week that makes me not embarrassed about my progress. My goal is to write enough that I'll proudly put that NaNo calendar up on this blog again.

I can't do that until I stop writing here though. Until next week then!

*Fangirl Squee*

The first week of NaNo is over. How did you fair, if you had joined in, that is? I've been doing fairly well, and kind of "meh" at the same time. Yesterday was my first zero-day of the month, so there's that.

Calendar designed by Dave Seah

If you pay attention to the end-of-the-week counts Dave has set up, you might notice that I was ahead of the game by the close of Sunday. Yay! I was over by about 700 words, which is a nice start. However, especially after neglecting yesterday, I definitely want to try to aim for only 5-days-per-week for my writing schedule. That way I don't stress over missing days like yesterday, and I don't struggle to make up the words lost. I already took them into account.

Thing there, though, is that if I were to write daily for all 30 days of November, I'd have to average about 1667 words per day in order to finish in time. Only writing five days a week means that each daily goal now needs to be 2272 words instead, and I should have been over 11,000 words by now. However, I only surpassed the 2272 words goal twice last week, which means, for that goal level, I'm a bit behind.

I have my word sprints tonight though, so I should be able to catch up.

A reminder for those who might not know off the top of your head what I'm talking about when I say "word sprints" or "writing sprints." The concept is based on running, obviously. It's basically the artistic equivalent of either going a short distance or only having a short allotment of time, so one has to move as fast as possible.

In regards to writing, you can allot yourself few words, say only 500 words or so, and stop as soon as you hit that word count. However, it's hard to keep track of that and still be creative. So most sprints are in reference to time. It kind of relates to Ali Luke's suggestion of scheduling at least 15 minutes a day for writing. Everyone can spare 15 minutes, right? The idea of sprinting is that the author writes for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 1/2-hour, or even something as short as the time to listen to a single song. Once the author's time is done, so is the writing. Now, this can be a one-time, once-a-day sort of thing. I kind of did unofficial sprints when I would write during my 15 minute long work breaks, and I now do semi-sprints while writing over my half-hour long lunch breaks. Maybe you sprint when you first wake up before getting started with your day. Maybe you do a sprint just before bed to unwind. Maybe you do sprints while commuting on a bus or train. Maybe you sprint while your kid is napping, or even while you have the kid in time-out!

The alternative to a once-a-day sprint, or a "whenever I can find the time" sprint, is what we're doing for NaNo: repetitive sprints. We write for 20 minutes, then we take a 20 minute break to just socialize and bond. We talk about our stories, or nothing at all. We ask questions about roadblocks we're running into, or we ask questions about elements of other people's stories. We read what we wrote, or we are adamant that the non-edited version will never see the light of day. We chat about how we're doing with NaNo, or we sit in our respective corners and impatiently wait for the timer to start up again. Some may even say "screw the timer" and "cheat" by continuing to write during our "break" time. Once that 20 minutes is done, we go back to writing for another 20 minutes, and then another 20 minute break. We keep going with this 20-on-20-off rhythm for three hours. That's 100 hours worth of writing, but sprinkled across three hours so we don't get burnt out.

I'm really hoping doing these sprints will help me get the traction I need. Although I have 9000+ words written, I know I was off my game over the weekend, which is one of the reasons I just didn't bother yesterday. I know that I was rambling, and that I'm probably going to have to redo the entirety of the second chapter once it's time to edit. It also pains me to not edit right now. I'm doing good at keeping my inner critic at bay, but that doesn't mean he's not nagging me to fix things. He's constantly reminding me that this is the worst first-draft of any story that I've ever written. I meander. I ramble. The story is mostly inner-dialog with very little action. It's KILLING ME that I'm doing so poorly.

Then I remind my critic: "Hey, buddy, ease up. It's friggen NaNo! This is supposed to be shit! I don't have time to think and properly craft any of this. Let me pour everything out on paper so my story can develop outside my head. You can have fun sorting through it all next month. Kay?"

That's usually enough to get him to shut up.

Ya know, I've been seeing more and more people naming their Muses - I'm fairly certain mine's a woman, as is Greek tradition - and I'm kind of wondering if I should do the same. I'll definitely have to name my cranky Inner Critic as well.... We'll see if I ever follow through with this.

Back on topic!

So, I'm working on a novel rework of "Peeping Tomcat" while also trying to shove the developing plot of its sequel "One and the Same" onto the back burner. LET ME FINISH ONE STORY AT A TIME, MUSE! Oooooh, yeah, she needs a name.

Anyway, as I mentioned, I had been struggling with getting my traction, but I'm still more-or-less on par with where I should be to finish the story on time. I have my sprints tonight, which should help. I just need to really get into the right head-space, and thinking of elements of the sequel story isn't helping.

What I thought could help was to watch the show again to help me get into Adrien's head. What I found instead is that Season 2 of "Miraculous" started airing the weekend before Halloween, and the first four episodes have already been translated, dubbed, and aired in the UK - at least, I'm assuming it's the UK, because the videos on YouTube had the Disney logo on them, and I'm pretty sure that's the channel that airs ML in the UK.

I tried to behave myself and wait until Netflix has the whole season next month or so - all the more reason I probably should have gone with Varekai this month - ya know, since I'm seeing it this month - and done "Peeping Tomcat" next month since I could binge the second season in December. Oh well, doing them in reverse!

The temptation was too great, though, so instead of watching Season 1 episodes as I planned, I watched the first episode of the second season. I fangirl squealed the whole time.

Basically me:

It only got worse with the second episode. It was like the writers got together and said, "Okay, the Adrienette fans need more love. How about a whole episode dedicated to that? What can we do?"

The end result was this:

Among two other adorable moments that I won't get into because they are semi-spoilers and not nearly as cute as this one, the main draw for the episode occurs when Marinette's best friend Alya oh so subtly pushes Marinette into Adrien during a slow song. Adrien's reaction is to not only instantly ask Mari for a dance, but to drag her onto the floor before she can even answer. He then places her hand on his shoulder, took her other hand in his, wrapped his spare hand around her waist, and then WALTZED around the room. I mean, seriously, who does that!?

Then, because the way she started this whole interaction wasn't subtle enough, Alya proceeded to do what every Shipper of the show has been dying to. Alya "discreetly" slow dances with Nino over to Adrienette, spins away from her partner, grabs Marinette's hand from Adrien's, drapes both of Marinette's hands around Adrien's neck, and then moves both of Adrien's hands to Marinette's waist before spinning back into Nino's awaiting arms. The faces on Marinette's and Adrien's faces are priceless!

So what does Adrien do after such an awkward and mildly intrusive encounter? He smiles at Marinette, shrugs, LEANS IN TO REST HIS HEAD BESIDE HERS, and continues slow dancing! I mean, COME ON! How has he not realized he likes her yet!? Also, the reaction from Marinette when Adrien just rolls with Alya's new dancing arrangement is too cute.

I've watched this episode probably every day since I saw it was translated. It's really helped me with those sweet "Adrien MUST like Marinette" moments. Best is that if I need more inspiration outside this episode, there's even more to choose from throughout the second season. Nearly every episode has SOMETHING to draw these two together.

The third episode was very heavy on the LadyNoir shipping, and I'm a little peeved about this one. Not because I'm not a LadyNoir fan, but because, and sorry for the spoilers by the way, Nadja Chamack ends up getting Akumatized. For those who don't recall, that's who I had as an Akuma Villain named Headliner. Pretty much the only Akuma villain I had figured out.

I was also having her be Akumatized for similar reasons as the actual episode. In the official episode, it's because Nadja's ratings aren't as high as her producer wanted to warrant a prime-time show. In my version she was berated for being out-scooped by Alya. So... being yelled at by a superior because she doesn't have the big scoops the network wants in both my and the official versions. At least I was on par with the basic reasoning she'd be Akumatized.... I also had the necklace that she always wears as the item the Akuma absorbs into, while the official episode has a sort of electronic bracelet that registers ratings. So, two for two in the fact that it's a piece of jewelry. Finally, Nadja's motives while Akumatized are fairly similar in the official and my versions: truth about Ladybug and Chat Noir. In my version it's simply who they truly are. In the episode Nadja was trying to prove that the superheroes were dating. Which is where all the LadyNoir shipping comes in.

Side note: I don't know if the creator had always planned to include this factoid, of if he threw it in because so many fans had speculated on the possibility, but Chat Noir totally purrs in this episode, and it's adorable.

Anyway, back on topic, the fourth episode had another really sweet "Come on, Adrien, confess already!" moment, but it's a bit of a spoiler, so I'll skim over that one.

The fifth episode of the season thus far introduces a new character Kagami. Supposedly, she's intended to be another potential love interest for Adrien, because, ya know, the kid loves anime, so now he has to live in his own G-rated harem anime? Anyway, regardless if Kagami actually does evolve into a new love rival for Marinette - along with Chloe, Lila, and even herself as Ladybug - the episode has Ladybug trying to keep Adrien out of harm's way from an Akuma. There are so many super cute moments since this episode means Marinette, as Ladybug, gets to spend time rescuing, staying close, and even holding her crush Adrien - the holding is whenever she needed to scoop him up to swing out of danger. Meanwhile, Adrien tries desperately not to showcase how smitten he is around Ladybug, but also tries to hide the fact that he's her partner. Obviously the Ladrien episode.

Which means we should get some more MariChat goodness coming up in the near future. Seriously, I think Tumblr wrote the second season.

While I can justify that I did get a great of deal of writing done after the episodes inspired me, I am also using the episodes as a way to distract me and procrastinate. I need to find more of a balance between watching an episode to be inspired and actually getting around to writing. I'm also unsure if I should include any new information I'm getting from the second season, or should I just go with what was shown in the first season only, in order to avoid spoilers..... At the same time, though, by the time I'll be done editing, the second season would have been out for long enough that it shouldn't really be much in the realm of spoilers.

I'll have to play it by ear, along with everything else, I guess. I just need to buckle down and actually get to writing. I want at least the second chapter done by the time I'm done with the sprints tonight.

OH! And one last thing! I haven't checked on my blog views in a while, and so when I did today I was surprised at how many of them they were.

I know, it's kind of hard to see with my screen grabs, but the word underlined is "Miraculous." Okay, it makes sense, it's a popular show and a large, active fandom. It's only natural that tagging my latest blog posts with "Miraculous" would bring in more readers. I wasn't sure how many actually stuck around to read my posts though, at least, until I scrolled down. I cut a bit of a time jump into the above picture. Anything below the arrow are posts before I even watched "Miraculous Ladybug." Yet those used to only have about 50 hits. There is no reference to the show in any of those posts, and yet they all have over 200 hits now, and some have over 400! What the heck!?

So, for any of you who might be going back and reading more of my blog after "Miraculous Ladybug" brought you to it in the first place, thank you. Feel free to leave comments. Love you all!

Hitting Ten-K!

I started off really well this month. In fact, I started off awesomely! And then, as per usual with me, I took a nose-dive. I'm hoping to pick up the pieces fast enough, though.

First of all, today is a very important day in history for the good ol' USA.

Also known as "Holy Crow! We're boned!" day...

I'm not going to get into my political views on this, but I did want to mention that this is a BIG DEAL this year. Bigger than most, or maybe even all, of the past elections. So, if you are reading this on Tuesday, and you live in the US, and you are registered to vote, but haven't yet, get out there!

It's also a big month due to NaNo. If you're joining me with NaNo, and want to include me as a buddy, I'm LycoRogue over there too. Just drop me a line to let me know who you are - a reader/friend/whomever - when you ask me to friend you.

I had found a really awesome NaNo-themed calendar last week while looking for my graphic to show off this year's NaNo theme. In fact, I found a lot of really awesome calendars. Go ahead, google them if you haven't tried it yet! Anyway, the reason I like this calendar in particular is that it has such a great visual aid for keeping track of how many words you've written thus far, it has little reminders such as "back up your story" and "quarter of the way done", and it also has a breakdown if you don't want to write every day. That's my favorite part.

Calendar by Dave Seah: Investigative Designer
You can find more productivity calendars like this here.

See, I never really thought before about the possibility of eliminating just two days, writing the remaining five, and then reconfiguring my daily word goal numbers. I don't know why; I just never did. I always figured out what my weekly goal was, how up or down I was based on daily count vs daily goal, and then played hectic catch-up on the weekends.

Well, I don't really HAVE weekends any longer, and the above calendar accounts for that! Dave counted up all those green-colored weekdays, and he divided 50,000 by them, and ended up with a new word count of roughly 2272 words every weekday. That gives me the weekends to join in on my D&D sessions, drop Hubby off at work, work myself, watch football, and generally try to catch up on sleep. All without the guilt or stress of not writing.

Weekends are my "down days" where I can work and get ahead if I wish, but I don't feel OBLIGATED to. It's really helping on my writing stress levels, as well as keeping my motivation high. I'm not falling into the same writing funk I have in the past as I stressed out about dropping the ball, or going a day without writing.

Best part is that I already DID drop the ball - November is SUPER hectic for me! - but I just chose a weekend day to play catch-up with. Just flipped my days off to pick up the slack. According to where I should be based on the above calendar, I ended the week about 1000 words over where I should have been.

Tuesday was the start of NaNo, and I was avoiding it all day. I never know how to start: with this blog, when I'm telling a story verbally, when I'm writing a story; those opening lines always snag me up. I usually stumble in chaotically, find my footing, and become a much more elegant storyteller about two or three paragraphs in.

Sure, it's a rough draft, and in NaNo no less, so I shouldn't have worried so much. It's supposed to be crappy the first go! Don't dwell on the proper wording or sentence structure; worry about getting the tale out of your head!

Well... easier said than done. So, there I was, late at night, trying to figure out how to start. I put in my headphones. I played the Jolene playlist I created slowly since the start of the gaming sessions. A new song is added roughly every game to best personify her feelings about that game's events, as well as her past. Anyway, I played the playlist to get myself in the mood, and it worked beautifully. I dove into the zone. I came out at about 1700 words; daily word goal if you're going for all 30 days is 1667. I was proud of my accomplishment, until I noticed the five-days-a-week option listed on the calendar.

I could ignore Saturdays and Sundays: the days I would struggle to write anything at all if I didn't write at work. This was a golden opportunity that I should have always known about, but I needed someone else to show me. It's like that quaint restaurant you drive by on your commute to and from work, the one you never notice as you drive by it, even if you've done so hundreds of times. Then your buddy takes you to it, and you go "Wow! I never realized this was here!" Yeah, this ah-ha moment about five days a week was like that.

It was only about 500 more words than what I already had thus far, I could do that. And I did. I actually wrote another 600 words, just about. I checked my count again once I surpassed 2300 words, but I had so few left to go to finish off the chapter. So I did. I finished my first day of NaNo - a task I was avoiding all day - with a completed first chapter I enjoy, as well as over 2500 words for the first day.

Day number two wasn't nearly as successful with all the running around I had to do, but I still had about 1500 words, if you count the excess I had the day before, I was still well on par with writing 1667 words every day.

Day three I actually had off, so I could join in on the NaNoWriMo write-ins at the library that my writing group organized. We do writing "sprints" while there. I'm sure I explained this before, but to go over it again.

A writing sprint is when you set a timer for a short period of time; five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen, twenty, etc. You then make sure to block out all distractions - no emails, no facebook or other time-suck webpages, no texting, no messenger, no communication with others around you, no TV pulling at your attention, no researching - it's just you and your writing for that brief moment you set your timer for. Then you write. That's all you do. You laser focus on writing, and push to not stop at all during that timed session. You don't pause to figure out the perfect phrasing or the perfect word. You don't hit the delete or back button in order to edit the same sentence multiple times. You just write; however crappy it turns out; just write. You can edit later. Once the bell goes off, you may THEN go back and edit, if you have the free time to do so before the world beckons again.

Well, in our write-ins, we do twenty-minute sprints. Then we have twenty minutes of discussion: how is everyone doing, what are their stories about, where are they stuck, do they need help with anything? That sort of stuff. Some people like to read what they wrote; most did not.

Once the buzzer goes off again, we stop our conversation dead - one poor woman was stopped mid-sentence - and we go back to writing for twenty minutes. Rinse and repeat. It was particularly helpful for me; to have those three hours to dedicate to writing, but to have those breaks to talk so it didn't seem so daunting to write for a solid 180minutes. Even if you just grouped together our writing sprints, that would still normally be over an hour and a half of straight writing. I mean, I've done it. I typically write in large chunks like that. But spreading it out over three hours with people I could talk to really energized me.

Hearing people ask me questions I needed to figure out. Having them wonder what would happen next to Jolene. Hearing how they felt about my general description of my characters, and getting feedback that let me know how to better make them well-rounded. And the ability to plug in my earphones and listen to the Jolene playlist during each sprint. It all energized me!

I didn't write as much as I did on day one, but I was close. I was over 2400 words. I was still technically three-hundred words behind where I should have been with the weekday writing goals, but that is easy enough to catch up with. That's like two or three paragraphs.

Then on Friday my writing came to its first crashing halt. I wasn't feeling well. I had customers. My boss's boss was in the store, so I couldn't use work down time to write. I got maybe eight words down before I had to stop. I then stayed late at work to finish up with a customer who didn't even buy. I raced home to get changed before heading out for a friend's birthday party. I nearly got lost on the way to said party. Stayed fairly late. Got home around midnight. Crashed.

Saturday I tried to make up for it. I did manage to get about 1300 words down at work, but then I crashed once I got home. Bear and Mouse still didn't have internet after moving back up north, so D&D was cancelled. I tried to add to my word count, but I was feeling so melancholy that I just snuggled Hubby on the couch, watched some movies on Netflix - the original definition of Netflix and Chill - and I installed a whole bunch of my computer games onto my laptop finally.

Sunday was my true catch-up day. I had it off. Hubby asked for it off to recover from a very active weekend for him. We had the extra hour due to daylight savings still being a thing for some reason. So, before football started, and then during games that weren't particularly entertaining for me, I wrote. It was a slow, chip-away process all day. My head was still in a haze from my illness from Friday. I was not feeling the writing of this fourth and fifth chapter of my story. Still, I wrote. I reminded myself that I'm just getting the basics down. I'll fix it later.

In the end, I walked away with another 2300 words down. Not where I wanted to be, but more than made up for the missed and under-written days this past week. It also got me to the 10,000 word total goal. Then I realized, that was the goal if I had written 1667 every day. My 2272 word goal was just for Tuesday through Friday - the week days - and so my goal before the start of Monday was only about 9000 words! I was about 1100 words up from where I was supposed to be!

So, I not only kept par with the daily writing goals, but I managed to surpass my weekday writing goals. Not too shabby for my first week. I might actually make it this year! I just need to stay focused.

Posting my word count every day on Facebook helps. It holds me accountable, because I want to share a good number with everyone. Having people like the status, as well as send me their praises on a job well done, has really helped me keep my writing self-esteem up, as well as my overall morale.

Being a "Plantser" - as NaNo describes it - has been a huge help as well.

Generally, I'm a "fly by the seat of my pants" - or a "pantser" - kind of writer. In the past, I've called it "channeling" or "medium" writing. It's like I don't come up with the stories. It's like I just mentally zone in on a person or event that is happening in a parallel universe, and I'm just transcribing what I see/hear. These truly are my characters' stories, and I'm just the medium used to relay them over to you fine folks.

There is no planning. You just figure out an inciting situation, and then give the characters free reign on getting from point A to point F.

It's fun, and I feel like people really enjoy my characterization when I write like that, but it doesn't get anything completed. I tend to lose sight of where everyone is going, or I lose characters that are crucial to the story.

The other main category of writer is typically known as a "Planner;" in the past, I've called them "director" type writers. These are the ones that have a strict guideline before committing anything to paper. Their characters have no free reign. They are given exact directions, and a completed script. If something doesn't work, this writer goes back to the drawing board and tweaks before moving on. These are the types of writers that tend to spend most of the writing in the pre-production stage, and barely need to do much editing once all is said and done.

This is the kind of writer I SHOULD aspire to. It would allow me to actually complete my stories, and do so in a fairly quick manner. It doesn't work for me, though. It feels like it takes the creativity out of the story. Plus, my characters don't feel as fleshed out if I'm forcing them to fit the mold I created for them, instead of letting their real-life qualities unfold before me; just like with any actual person.

So, I've snuggled into the gray space between "Pantser" and "Planner": the "Plantser."

By NaNo's definition, these are the people who create a basic plan of where they want to go, and how they want to get there, but still let the characters take the lead. If they meander, the Plantser writer gently brings them back to focus.

In truth, I guess I've always been a plantser. I've always had a basic skeleton of my stories and where I want them to go. It's rare that I'm a true Pantser in my writing.

It's just, I've never been SO detailed in my outline. I have the basic highlights of Jolene's life, especially within each relationship. I know how long each relationship lasted, how long before she got over it, and how she met/fell for the next person. It's been working out wonderfully.

So, there you have it. I'm a Plantser, but I need to be a bit more heavily sided on the Planner half in order for me to work the most diligently.

I have another hour-long write-in tonight leading into my writing group. I also have a few things to read now - about 10,000 words worth - so it will be a fun session tonight, I think.

Now, to just ignore Facebook and the backlash of whichever side of the election lost after today....