NaNo week 3 // recap

It is November 21 and we have passed the halfway mark!! Who's relieved?

Chapters completed: I'm partway through chapter 6!
Word count: 35, 009
Week 3 Quote:

...there were tiny beads of moisture on the grass in the ditch beside. I’d slowed to point one of these out, both of our sneakers squeaking against the damp pavement as Mike matched his pace to mine. It’s funny now to think of that moment and not know what was to follow after. If I’d known that in only five minutes my hearing would be gone forever, would I have paid more attention? Would I have listened for a thousand words to describe the sound of raindrops falling? Would I have paid more attention to the gravel of my brother’s morning words, the way he clears his throat as though his voice is locked somewhere deep inside his chest?

Or would I simply have asked him to say my name? Or the words “I love you”?

So, writing. I love it, but it can be tooootally exhausting, too.

me on day 1 of NaNoWriMo

 

me on day 21

I could write you a gloriously long paragraph about word counts and chapters and the agony that is writing about real people, but 

A) eugh! more words! No!

just kidding! I love words.

and B) I've stopped being able to actually communicate verbally. at all. Most of the time I'll open my mouth and "nawikjgha;iugh;aswubngs;kjng" comes out. So, the obvious solution is to use gifs!

(also, I just really wanted a chance to bring out my collection of beautiful gifs. hooray!)

 

Writing is one of those things that continually takes me by surprise. I plot and I plan and I am soooo organized that I always imagine that this book will be as easy as sitting in front of the computer and elaborating on ideas that I've already nailed down. And then... Aunt Kay decides to get married and move to Africa, Skylar suddenly becomes sassy and hilarious, Cam's nameless siblings develop personalities and stories of their own, and to top it all off, in the middle of chapter 5 he decides to be homeschooled!! 

(Did I decide to write a book with a homeschooled character?? No! Is it throwing me off? YOU BET. But do I love it? Completely.)

I'm at the point in the story now where I feel like my hands are barely even touching the keys anymore, that's how much this story has taken on a life of its' own. The first few chapters were me sitting there ordering little robot-characters around, and now I feel like I'm sitting in the drivers' seat of a tiny little car with about eight people crammed into the backseat, all trying to give me different directions. 

I was away from my house (and by extension, my computer! ahh!) for the whole of Saturday last week, and I missed it. Not just writing, not just the word count, I actually missed spending time with my characters, missed being surprised by their uniqueness, missed watching each of their stories unfurl a little more. And I was totally thrilled to realize that I'd stopped thinking about my characters as puppets made to do my bidding ... somewhere around day 13, they became like real people to me. Which is SO. COOL.

And... that's been week 3, everybody! Whew! 

xx

Olivia

general recap of my NaNo

week 1

week 2