All Night Write-In

   All Wrimos know about the Night of Writing Dangerously, but many of us can't afford the money to get all the way to the Night of Writing Dangerously. So the Cleveland WriMo group started their All Night Write. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it. But here I am, in my room, staying up all night and writing to be with my fellow Wrimos in spirit.

   It's 2:30 AM here and I'm almost at 70k. I have to hit 70k before I can go to bed. That's the deal I made with myself. Also, my room mate keeps mocking me because I write my daily word count goal on my hand and she says it looks like a serial number. I end up chasing after her, yelling "EXTERMINATE" like a Dalek.

   I've given up on coffee trying to keep me awake. I switched to grape kool-aid~ Cold, sweet, and full of purple goodness~ <3 

   But now I'm just procrastinating. I have to return to my writing. And kool-aid.

Keep writing Wrimos!  And go Cleveland WriMo group!

- Siddy

NaNo Updates

I know. I'm feeling pretty uncreative with my blog post title. I've even given up on naming my chapters or even dividing the book up into chapters. I'll go back and divide it up after NaNo. I've hit 60k at last. I'm finally getting back into my groove and slowly bringing my word count up higher and higher each day.
   At the moment, I'm sitting at my writing desk, with my music paused, cold coffee sitting beside my desk lamp, and my cat sitting on my lap. I'm just a few moments from taking a break to stretch out stiff muscles, reheat my coffee and pet my poor cat who has been sleeping on my lap the whole time I've been writing, silently encouraging me-- or begging for attention. I still can't decide which one it is.
   I was thrilled by the Holly Black pep-talk NaNo sent out. My three favorite authors, Tamora Pierce, Holly Black, and Naomi Novik, have all done pep-talks now, so I'm thrilled. Also, I got the email that my NaNoWriMo hoodie has been shipped so I should be getting that soon too!
   But for now I'm off to stretch my muscles, give my birds fresh food and water, and give my cat and dog some attention before I eat dinner and return to writing.

   Keep up the good work, fellow Wrimos!

- Siddy


P.S.
Don't forget that it's donation day for NaNoWriMo, so if you enjoy NaNo and can afford to give a bit, please help them out! NaNoWriMo depends on us to keep going!

*NaNo Happy Dance of 50k Goodness*

I am proud to announce that last night I hit the 50k mark in my NaNo Novel! This is the earliest I have ever hit it and I'm extremely pleased with myself.

But I'm not done yet! Now it's onward to 75k and then who knows from there. Of course, I had to reward myself. So I went out fishing for Lake Erie Steelheads with my grandpa. Sadly, we didn't catch any. In fact, the only thing we caught was the poor minnow that was attacked by my lure and ended up tangled-- not hooked but tangled-- in my lure's hook. I'm happy to say that it was released unharmed (physically, at least. I can't speak for his mental state. I mean, it's probably thinking "I was just attacked by a plastic-looking fish that's more than twice my size with hooks sprouting from it! Of course I'm not okay!") and will continue to swim for another day.

But now I'm off to get into my pjs and snuggle up with a blanket to write a little bit before I go to bed. I have a horrible OCD issue with the blue progress bars on my NaNo profile and I can't stand them being too close together.

Good luck to all my fellow Wrimos! Keep writing!

- Siddy

Halfway to 50k, One-Third to 75k

Somehow I managed to write over 7,000 words today and hit not only 20k but 25k too. Tomorrow I want to hit 30k. Maybe I can retreat to the library or a cafe and write with a bit of scenery. I can hope.
My story is going good. It definitely needs work, but I'm fairly content with it currently. And I love the one character. He's become one of my favorites.
Well, after the 7k+ I am tired, so it's time for me to turn in and claim an extra hour of sleep. Good night, world.

Write on, Wrimos.

NaNoWriMo is Here!!

   Well, it's been here. And where have my blogging post been? Neglected. We're into the fourth day and I hit 15,000 words. I think it's my best record so far! These last two days I've written 5,000 words or just under that.  I might not hold to that tomorrow because some laundry has to be done but we'll see what happens. Write or Die has been extremely helpful, along with @NaNoWordSprints on Twitter. And as always write ins are useful.
   My story is going good so far and kept pretty close to my outline-- which I think is a miracle in itself. I'll hopefully post a synopsis soon and maybe even an excerpt. When I do, I'll post a link and a post letting everyone know that I posted them.
   But for now I'm going to head off to bed and get some sleep as a reward.

Good night. And keep writing, Wrimos!

Outlining Madness

   So these last ten days or so have been filled with me doing almost nothing other than outlining. It's gotten to the point where my friends are bribing me with good role-plays if I reach a specific word count or point in my outline, but now I'm on the ball and writing like crazy. I was also a little worried about outlining my story too but I finally (FINALLY) found a way to outline that works for me.
   My parents gave me a new laptop for my birthday so my goal of 75,000 stands strong. And I mean out-of-the-box-exactly-the-model-I-wanted-brand-new new. Of course, silly (or crazy) me has named it and is drawing up what it looks like as a human. Hee~ It helps to do that when I end up working with it for hours on end. Either way, I want to give a quick shout out to them and tell everybody about how awesomely amazing my parents are and how they are the greatest and best parents in the world. I couldn't have parents any better than them.
   I'm already used to the keyboard and I've been putting the battery life to the rest and such. It's perfect. If it wasn't for my parents, I wouldn't be able to get this close to my dream. Thank you both for supporting me. Without you guys, my dreams would be hopelessly out of my reach.

   Either way, I hit the middle point of my outline, so once I finish eating, do a little bit more cleaning and take a shower to wake myself back up (I was up early after a late night so staying awake is proving difficult) it will be back to outlining.
   NaNoWriMo, ready or not, here I come!

- Siddy

Growing Eager...

   Well, it's almost that time again, folks... That time where madness ensues and insanity grips millions of scrambling writers for an entire month. That's right. I'm talking about NaNoWriMo. The weather is beginning to change here in Ohio, telling me that I need to prepare for that month-long scramble by stashing away sweets and stocking up on coffee. Like a squirrel stocking up for winter, I am stashing things away for November.
   My goal this year is at least 75,000 words by the end of the month. That means at least 2500 words a day must be written. I plan to stick with fantasy for this NaNo-- I tried my attempt at horror/fantasy last year and worked on that most of this year. It'll be nice to get back to writing what I write best.
   If you're joining NaNo, leave a comment, or friend me on NaNoWriMo.org... My author name is Dragon_Master or you can find me here.

   Every year since joining NaNo, I've done the same thing... I always remember NaNoWriMo the moment the weather starts to get cold, and then usually after that is Halloween... I live for NaNo and Halloween (Halloween's my favorite holiday)... And then, last I remember my birthday-- which is sad because it's before NaNo and Halloween.
   On the 17th of October, I hope to get a new laptop as one of my birthday gifts. A ten inch screen laptop, just over three pounds and a comfortable keyboard once I adjust to it. Perfect for me to put in my bag and take with me when I'm out and about so I can write every free chance I get.  My dad keeps reassuring me that he has every intention of getting it for me, so I believe him.
   As for Halloween, I still haven't decided upon a costume (me? Too old for costumes? Never!) and I should probably decide on one soon... We'll see what happens, I guess.

   As for the months of October and November, you can expect plenty of updates. Especially on Twitter. I know I neglect my blog, but at least my Twitter remains updated pretty often!