WRITING JOURNAL NOVEMBER 2017

WEEK ONE

NOV 1-5

Patreon backers get to read posts first and their generosity makes it possible for me to almost afford NJ car insurance! There’s an index of all NaNoWriMo2017 posts accumulated.

November 1

I took Gus out for his morning walk while it was still dark outside. This time of year, that’s not all that early in the morning. We were outside by 7AM. I noticed the blazing red from where the sunrise would be coming. Gus was busy stalking something at the entrance of a trail and since I did not want to miss the sunrise, I scooped him up. I carried him all the way to the end where there are things he can enjoy like getting dirty, climbing on the rock wall, and spying on the neighbor who was also watching the sunrise. We got some fantastic shots of it.

After an hour hiking along the trails, I said, “It’s time for breakfast.” I couldn’t believe it when he understood me. He trotted quickly from the trail down the slope, down the driveway, through the parking pad, and right to the back door. I was efficient today and had the coffee pot set up so all I had to do was push the button when we got inside. Gus got “second breakfast” which is his spoonful of canned food. Once the coffee was ready, I was upstairs at my desk and writing by 8:56AM.

I reached my word count in two hours. That’s “fast” for me. Thirty minutes in, my brain was bored because “I” knew what chapter one was about. My brain didn’t feel like taking the time to push the words out so that someone else who might read it someday would know what chapter one was about. Thankfully, my outline saved me and I realized how to wrap up that scene.

November 2

I decided to get a late start to my day because Gus was not bothering me in the morning for food or his walk. Eventually I had to get up and realized how warm it was outside despite being gloomy and damp. I took him outside for an hour which consisted of chipmunk stalking and a brief walk through the woods.

When we came back in, I switched the coffee on, fed the boy his second breakfast and he was bonkersville for hours. Each time he tried to curl up in his box for a nap, someone or something would disturb him. Normally he’s curled up by 11:30. Today it wasn’t until after 12. He had already knocked three things off my tall book case, whacked my little statue of Kwan Yin at the base of the fountain, and attacked my yoga mat like it was a monster. That part was actually hilarious.

A post shared by Amber Love (@amberunmasked) on Nov 2, 2017 at 7:46am PDT

I checked my outline notes and realized I failed to mention something in chapter one. I tend to “slow build” in my books and this time I wanted to push some of the drama to the beginning. I went back and filled that in and have a small start one chapter two.

November 3:

So very tired. I got to my desk at 9AM and working on writing-related things until 6PM. I took a break to walk Gus for the 2nd time today. He got his first walk by 7AM. I wrote for 4 hours which were interrupted quote a bit. Nonetheless, I kicked butt and got a respectable amount of words in.

Then I spent the afternoon working on the first video of my Yoga for Writer series. It took forever do the voiceover and final editing. This was the third day I worked on it. Reached 7,000 words this morning though; I’d like to say that feels great, but my body is pretty much crapped out and can’t feel much.

November 4: (Saturday)

I ended up having pain management issues this day so my writing session was broken into two sessions. I met the minimum for the day. I got to introduce the character who is a huge asshole — surprisingly easy to write with a lifetime of relatable references. It was also official Double Up Day where people try to double their word count target, but that simply was not going to happen with the condition I was in physically.

November 5: (Sunday)

Another night of such vivid and loud dreams that I felt like I hadn’t slept at all. The time change has no effect when you don’t feel rested anyway. It’s normal.

I didn’t do great today. I didn’t meet 1,667, but came close. My day went from quiet to chaos and I still felt exhausted. I was satisfied though that I got the words in that I did, because I am still on track.

Amber Unmasked

NaNoWriMo 2017: week one