Camp NaNo Update Week One

My brain is shot because I've been doing NaNo all week, and I have nothing philosophical left in me. Therefore, I'm posting a NaNo update instead.

I'm working again on Awakened, hoping to get the second quarter of the book done. Things are going a bit slower than I hoped, but it's still going pretty well notwithstanding.

I've written 13/14 pages so far. As you can see, I'm right on my goal. And surprisingly, the cabin is ahead! This is the first time this has happened to me. Hopefully it lasts.

This week has actually been pretty laid back. We haven't been going much of anywhere, so I've been able to get a lot of things done at home, including having my first driving lesson, preparing a glass candle holder for staining, baking a coconut cream pie (in honor of Gilligan's Island), knitting my yarn remnants into a scarf, practicing piano, and, of course, writing. I'm not writing as many pages as I would like, but I'm happy with what I have so far, so the good outweighs the bad.

Le snippet:

   Peter's heart leaped. A presidential pardon. A free ride. He could stay out of jail.

   But it wasn't worth the lives of Katie and her family.

   "I...think I'd rather not."

   "Well," the man said. "I needn't waste my time with you any further. I've got a bit of a time crunch, and there are reams of doctors waiting to study your body to find out more about your genetic disease. I hope it won't inconvenience you if I just speed the process along a little."

   The nausea climbed up towards Peter's throat. Not only was he going to die by a needle, his body was going to go to the very doctors he had dreaded and fought all these years. In the end, they'd win.

   A strong hand gripped Peter's left arm. A pinch of pain spread through the crook of his elbow. The pinch of a needle.

   Bile rose in Peter's throat. He swallowed the burn down. The needle slid out.

   "Normally we'd offer you a last meal, but..." Another needle pinched Peter's skin. "I guess this is goodbye."

I'm off to write some more.

Camp NaNo Overview

In the last week of March, I decided to participate in Camp NaNo to give myself motivation to sit down and write, despite the fact that we were leaving for a vacation that very first week. Brilliant, that was. Somehow, I managed to stay mostly on top of my goal of 60 pages in a month until we got home. Then I fell behind and lowered my goal to 45 pages. I fell behind several times, but then managed to meet my goal a few days early. And I'm building up to the First Major Plot Point in my story. Success!

Week One: We left for a spring break vacation on one of the very first days, but I managed to stay on top of my goals and turn out scenes I was fairly pleased with. However, after we came back on Thursday, I took a break from writing on that day and Friday.

Week Two: I wrote six pages on Saturday, and then took a break that lasted almost the entire week. I read several books and gathered up my motivation to write two pages on Friday.

Week Three: I wrote five more pages on Saturday, wrote a couple more pages in the next few days, then lowered my goal from 60 pages to 45. All in all, I didn't write much this week.

Week Four: True to my pattern, I gained a lot of motivation with the end in sight and wrote 15 pages in the last few days. I hit 45 pages and validated my win on Thursday night while watching the NFL Draft.

And here's a snippet just for fun:

   Peter stilled. He stared up at the officer, barely breathing. The officer's face was hard, his eyes unreadable.

   The officer placed the barrel against Peter's forehead. Peter's muscles froze. Slowly, he forced his shaking hands into plain sight to lie flat on his desk. He stared at the top of his test paper.

   "Let me repeat my command." The officer's voice filled with steel. "Give me all the papers in your desk and reveal to us where your illegal terrorist textbooks are, or I shoot the boy with the service dog."

   Mutt! Possibly there was one way Peter could keep this from ending really badly. If he could get some command to him...

   "I'm sorry, I-" Mr. Larak started.

   "No, please!" Katie exclaimed at the same time.

   "Don't..." Mr. Larak continued.

   Peter's heart sank. This was it, then. Either he figured out what to command Mutt, or he got shot and killed. But what- "Sic him, Mutt!"

   Mutt dashed forward and latched onto the officer's leg with his teeth. The officer fell backward and fired.