Day 14

I’ve just finished the second of a planned three character threads—three sections. Of course, the section as a whole is not complete, but of the 13 chapters in the thread, I’ve written eight brand-new ones this past few days. The other five (the first five, as it happens) are what was written previous to NaNoWriMo and which I will be editing into shape once NaNoWriMo is over. Those five chapters are obviously not counted in the overall word count for the event.

That overall count is creeping up on 30,000 as you can see below. This will mean 3/5ths of the grand total will be done. I may continue writing later tonight and hit it, otherwise it will be tomorrow. Probably will be tomorrow, because I need to start outlining the third section-thread first. Also need to bread some mozzarella sticks for tomorrow night.

Over the past few days, I’ve also toyed with the idea of returning two additional sections to the novel, meaning there would be five sections, what the original plan of the novel had. Earlier this year I reduced it to four, then to the current three. I don’t think I’ll be making any final decisions on whether or not to add one or both back in until after finishing section three. (Each section/thread functions as a standalone story, so the existing material would not have to change drastically, apart from continuity issues.)

The jump start I was hoping for has been transformed into a doctor yelling “Clear!” and zapping the novel into new life. The writing really isn’t about NaNoWriMo now, and probably wasn’t all along, it was about finally finishing something I started ten years ago. I used to think I stopped writing the novel back then because I wasn’t ready to write it yet. With all the revelations and epiphanies and reality-shifts in the story of the past few weeks, I think it was actually a case of not knowing what the book wanted to be yet. :)

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still be celebrating hitting 50K. ;) But there are larger issues afoot.

Thanks to my family for allowing me space as necessary for this book—I couldn’t have done it without them.

• Days: 14
• Days Left: 16
• New Words: 2122
• Total Words: 28815
• Cooking: More yummy leftovers. Also breading mozzarella sticks.
• Fluids: Coffee. It is our friend and boon companion.
• Exercise: A little walking and pushing of grocery carts. Hope to bike-commute a couple of days this week.
• Reading: Buttermilk pancake recipes.
• Listening: Dead Kennedys and Freezepop.
• Obsessing on: Meals for this upcoming week.