3-day 2007: Day 1

Last Update: 12:11am

Seven People, a Dog, and a Child who May or May Not be God

13,139 / 10,000 (131.4%)

12:11am (13139 words; 131.4%)

Well I can't say I'm not pleased with my progress. 3000 words is nothing to get too excited about, but I do like the wiggle room it promises me for later on. Last year I hit 15,000 at 6:00 on day two. I'm almost there at the end of day one. I just might need that.

As I can see, this can go a few ways:

1. I dry up soon-ish and need this time to figure out what to do about it

2. It keeps up at this pace and I end up with the longest 3-day novel I've ever written, longer too than most submissions end up being

3. I keep this up and it draws to its expected close of around 30,000 at what? Maybe noon on Monday.

Lol, I really doubt it will be that last one, and am rather better on option number one. I have two more long(ish) scenes planned, and at least one other that is required but I'm not sure of yet. There can be a number of shorter scenes as well.

I'm coming to be quite fond of my characters. I think that's a good thing.

I had thought I would stay up later than this, but the word count is good and I'm kinda sleepy. I'll think about the next couple of scenes as I drift off. Good night!

Lol, and maybe I'll actually speak to Susan at some point tomorrow!

7:30pm (10360 words; 103%)

Woot! Day one goal is met! This is a good thing, because I'm not done for the day, which means I will certainly exceed the day's goal. The reason this is important is because I can sense some struggle on the horizon. I know I probably have enough for another 10,000, but another 20,000? Hmm. Maybe. I might need to come up with some more plot points though, and that could take time. Last year, I had 400 words more than this when I went to bed on day one, around 1 in the morning. I'll probably stay up just as late, but I'll hopefully get more than 400 words done in that time!

(though keep in mind I do have to stop for dinner, which tends to be my longest break of the day. Oh, and when I say "short break" I kind of fail. Both lunch, and the other break ended up being just over an hour each. Sigh. Oh well. I really can't bitch about my productivity today.)

I'm on decemberists album Picaresque. Soon I'm going to whack something if I here these people sing any more. Actually... I sense a break on the horizon, so I think I'll turn them off right now.

Wha ha ha. I win. (the decemberists are gone now)

Oh, my chair randomly fell apart during a fit of productivity. That was fantastic. I fixed it. It's all good now. But dude -- that was annoying.

By this point last year I was experiencing some severe writers block (have I mentioned that I love this blog???) and I don't have that scheduled until tomorrow, at least. ; ) Yeah, I figure I'll hit that eventually, but so far it's been like a freely flowing tap. It's kind of a beautiful thing.

4:31pm (8425 words; 84.3%)

I have to say, I'm feel pretty good about this. I was at about this many words at 6:30 on day one last year, so I'm about operating about two hours ahead of last year's precedent. That's got to be a good thing. I think I can definately say I'm going to make 10,000 for the day.

I still haven't needed a power ballad.

I am getting a little bit sick of this decemberists album though... I wonder if their other one will work too.

Yepp things are coming along nicely. I can't say that I'm not still a little worried about running out of plot, but so far things are working all right for me. I think I'm going to take another short break right now.

1:35pm (5836 words; 58.4%):

I guess I'll take on the same format as Susan for the three day updates. I think I'm doing alright. I might look like I'm doing really well, but I would like to get a bit beyond the 10,000 mark today. Historically, I slow down on day two quite considerably. That's where Susan caught up to me last year. She ended up seriously surpassing my word count, even though I started higher than her then too.

Right now is lunch break.

Things are coming along nicely. Do I have another 25,000 words worth of plot? I don't know. That could get a little rough later on, but for now I'm okay. Physically I'm not in pain yet, which truthfully surprises me. That will only last so long. The music all morning has been the Decemberists album "The Crane Wife". It's working nicely, because it has a little bit of a nautical tone. It's tone matches nicely the story I'm writing. I haven't broken into the power ballads yet, so I must be doing okay.