NaNoWriMo 2012: Day 18

Another low count today for Sunday so no more catching up. But I'm lucky to even get 1k done and I maintained my two day lead. I'll try to hit it harder tomorrow and Tuesday.

Words written today: 1,075
Total words written: 33,625

Excerpt:

"But you think your father will believe and help us?"

"Yes. He's enough of a believer to go out on limb for any chance to contact aliens even if there isn't much evidence. And the prospect of there being an alien homeworld at certain coordinates will be like the proverbial carrot dangling in front of a donkey. Nothing short of death will stop him from trying to confirm it."

"I hope so. He's going to have to pull out a miracle in order for the message to reach that far. But I have a back-up plan which might help if we can't send the message fast enough."

"A back-up plan?"

"Who says I’ve only met two alien races in my travels?"

I pressed the button to close the lift doors and we traveled down, heading for the airlocks to try to catch (kitty's father) before he and the others left.

NaNoWriMo 2012: Day 17

The villains have finally shown themselves and the pace of the story has accelerated into a gallop. That and the desire to get ahead for Thanksgiving is drove me onward to my highest words written in one day this month. My MC basically spent the whole time spilling her secrets so it was nice to finally get all that out on the page where the readers can see it.

Words written today: 4,180
Total words written: 32,550

Excerpt:

"Good afternoon, (scientist #4). Everything running smoothly?"

He jumped slightly and his gaze traveled up until he saw my face. "Ah, good afternoon, Dr. Oglethorpe. Um, yes. It is going well.” He pushed his glasses up. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yes, you can pull up that recording of the transmission that just came in and let me listen to it. (signal scientist) wants me to listen to it.

"Oh, alright." He tapped on the console to reach the file folder with the recording. He clicked on the wrong one at first and had to backtrack to the right recording. "Here you are." He handed me a pair of headphones.

"Thanks." I slipped them over my ears. Static, then a soft half beep before the message began. "This is (alien freighter #2). Virus confirmed." Static. "Measures are being taken to prevent spread of virus, but the ship is beyond rescue. We are evacuating." Garbled static voice and which faded into normal background static.

The ice that had frozen my hands was now spreading up my arms to the rest of my body. Ship beyond rescue? Evacuating? That sounds like a very late stage 2 infestation. This is not good at all. I tapped (scientist #4) on the shoulder and asked him to replay it. I wasn't able to divine any more information, but the words were now memorized in my head.

Until next time!

NaNoWriMo 2012: Day 16

And my motivation streak continues! I scored my fourth day this month of 3k or more and I'm finally back to a one day ahead lead. I'm going to do my best to increase that even further tomorrow. My goal is 32k tomorrow or bust (and I wouldn't say no to somehow ending up near 34k).

Words written today: 3,066
Total words written: 28,370

Excerpt:

"Mhmm, isn't that perfect? Why else would they have chosen orchids to grow up here? They don't use that much water and are easy to grow. All they had to do was make a new color and then the colony had a steady export other than moon rocks."

"And rocks aren't as pretty." Kitty scrunched her face up. "Daddy brought me back a rock which he thought was pretty, but it isn't."

"Well maybe you just need to polish it. Sometimes rocks look really dirty and yucky until you cut them in half or polish them until they're smooth. How would you like to take your rock to someone who could polish it today?"

"Will it really make it pretty?" Her tone was skeptical.

"I promise that polishing makes any rock pretty. It makes it smooth and shiny too."

She hummed and rocked from side to side before standing up. "Okay. Can we do it now?"

"Sure. Let's go get your rock."

I proffered my hand again and led her out of the room. The air outside felt dry and stale after breathing in the rich, moist air in the hydroponics room for so long. I could almost feel my skin drying into flakes. An application of lotion when I returned to my quarters would stop that feeling. Maybe a bath too, I thought before remembering that I'd used my bath quota for the month. Blast it all to Saturn and beyond. I hate having only one bath a month.  

Until next time!

NaNoWriMo 2012: Day 15

I'm back on track and I crossed the halfway mark! Today I managed to recover my motivation for writing. I could have probably written even more if I'd had people to war with. And, the big question, am I half way through the novel? Not even close. I'm nearing the end of the first arc, but I'm only at the very beginning of the rise to the climax. I might get close to or past 40k with this arc.

Next goal? Catch up to the 2k per day pace. (On a side note, this is only the 3rd day this month that I've crossed the 3k in a day line.)

Words written today: 3,028
Total words written: 25,304

Excerpt:

I slid my card in the access panel and the door whooshed open. The air smelled of earth and greenery with the sweet smells of flowers mingled in. I loved coming to this room because it helped keep me grounded. The smells and greenery reminded me that the sterilized chamber of a colony we lived in wasn't the only existence out there and that there was a whole planet of humans for whose sake I was working. I came close to forgetting the reason for which I was working often, but a trip to this room always brought back why I was up here. And reminded me that I was within a shuttle ride of home.

NaNoWriMo 2012: Day 13 and 14

These past two days have been pathetic! I'm at a very low point motivation wise and my word count reflects it. I wrote zero words on Tuesday and only a little bit today. The write-in went great tonight, but, no words written during it. And today marks my first day of being officially behind the daily word count goal. Eeep!

Words written today: 268
Total words written: 22,276
Words behind: 1,057

NaNoWriMo 2012: Day 12

Barely anything written today. My word count is quite pathetic. But, I wrote something and my MC finally finished that story which I've now realized is going to require some major editing and splitting up across the novel to work. Bah. The editing comes later. Now onto the main plot again.

Words written today: 337
Total words written: 22,008

Excerpt:

I wasn't able to sleep until four in the morning that night. And even then I couldn't stay asleep for more than an hour. The nightmares were back in full force with louder and louder swarms of clicking. I shrugged it off best I could in the morning though the dark bags under my eyes told of how tired I was.

NaNoWriMo 2012: Day 11

Well, at least I was expecting not to get much written today. But I'm still proud of myself for getting this much done. My MC is still telling her story, but I think it will finish tomorrow.

Word written today: 1,118
Total words written: 21,671

Excerpt:

"But, it was time to go back before the sun came up. They were almost back to the colony when the human girl noticed something that hadn't been there before. There was a long, glowing green line from the mines to the colony. She told the aliens and they were surprised. So the alien boy flew closer, and what do you think it was?

"It was a long, slithering line of the glowing creatures from the cave! And they were walking towards the colony. The alien boys were horrified that the creatures were out of the cave. The creatures were almost at the colony and none of them knew what would happen when the creatures reached it. Everyone was scared."

NaNoWriMo 2012: Day 10

I'm on a roll! For some reason, my MC just started telling a story (which is actually from her past) and she didn't stop for the whole time today. I end today with the end of the story within sight, but still not very close.

Words written today: 3,205
Total words written: 20,553

Excerpt:

"Are you ready? I've got the perfect funny story for you."

She nodded and started shoveling her last few bites into her mouth.

I could barely keep from laughing. She looked like a chipmunk with her bulging cheeks.

"Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away-"

She rolled her eyes. "I know that story."

"No, you don't. Now hush. Unless you don't want this story anymore?"

"No! I want one!"

"Then let me tell it." I leaned back and settled myself in my chair. "As I was saying; once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away there lived a girl. She loved to travel and see new things and was very talented at getting into trouble.

"One day she found herself in a spaceship that traveled between the stars and the people on it weren't human."

Kitty's eyes widened. "Did they hurt her?"

"No, not at all. They were nice people who liked talking to her to find out about humans. They were the good type of aliens who like to form alliances with humans instead of attacking them. But they were disappointed when she didn't know where her home was. She had traveled and ended up on their ship by accident. So, instead, they just had to talk. But they became very good friends.