I Have Reached, And Passed The Forty Thousand Words Milestone For NaNoWriMo

Today,  I wanted to reach the 40 ,000 words milestone , and I did! In fact, I'm at 41, 115 words, which is 87 pages at the moment but maybe more once I edit and modify the spacing and paragraphs. I am so proud of what  I have done . Today I read my latest email from the NaNoWriMo team, which suggested everyone printing off what they'd done so far, to motivate themselves more.  I think I will when I'm finished . Only a little more than 8,000 words left to go and then I will be! I have more of my story to tell though, so I'll see how it goes tomorrow. 

Progress For The Day, Feeling Happy

Since yesterday, I've made a lot of progress, I'm now on more than 36,00

 Words , and 77 pages . Now I've got this far, I'm determined to finish. Today, after waking up and all the usual morning routine, I decided to read www.nanawrimo.org again, to see what I'd missed reading . I read some Pep Talks from various authors , which were useful, and posted in the 50 000 words forum, as I know that's the word limit, but I'm not sure how much I can go over that . I also posted on NaNoWriMo's Facebook and twitter  pages about this .I found an email message from a Writing Buddy, basically , someone who cheers you on during the challenge-she told me I was doing great , which made me feel great , too. I sent one back cheering her on. 

I've developed some strategies to help: I won't look at the word count or page number, just dictate , and, at Midnight, I'll dictate some words before going to bed, to up my word count for the next day, as after all  after  Midnight. Is another day , then , I'll sleep. I'll be doing that again in about ten minutes, so I'll say goodnight and update again tomorrow. 

I Reached, And Passed, The Thirty Thousand Words Milestone For NaNoWriMo

Today , I promised myself I'd pass the 30,000  word milestone for NaNoWriMo - and I did! I have now dictated 68 pages of my book, and still enjoying it as much as ever. Alfredo is still being really supportive, and encouraging, and tells me I can do it, although the effort is giving me headaches, dizziness, and muscle spasms,  but also  making me feel happy, and exited but sometimes at a loss for the best way to put my point across. When my mind goes blank, I'll go and do something else for awhile . Then, I'll put myself in the character's position , and start again, to try and move forward with my story. Every day, I go forward, not back, and make sure I get enough rest , and eat healthily as always . Whenever I doubt myself, I'll think back to the 'big ' writing projects I've done so far in my 31, almost 32 years of life, my dissertation for my degree in Human Geography at the university of Reading , which I've kept since graduating in 2004 . and , way before that, in secondary school, when I was about 14 or 15, I wrote a Creative Writing piece about my memories of a holiday to the USA with my family , and staying at my aunty's mother's Summer redsidence, Great Oaks Camp in Oxford, Maine  . I got a grade A for this from my English Language and English Literature teacher Mrs Pollock , who was also my Form Tutor, at Didcot Girls' School in Oxfordshire . As soon as she read it , she told me I had a vivid imagination , and my parents said I have the  "best memory in the family" . I like to think I'm observant beyond my visual difficulties . So , all the way through the National Novel Writing Month challenge so far, I have tried to make use of all these skills. 

I can't wait until tomorrow to do more . 

My Progress After A Good Rest

I had a good rest last night , and did a lot of dictating today , over 4,000 words. I have now done  57 pages out of the 175 , and I'm really pleased with what I've done so far. I'm going to do a little more and then get some sleep . 

Feeling Tired But Happy With My Attempt At NaNoWriMo 2013

Today,  I spent the day  working on my book and dictated a couple more thousand words , so now my word count is up to 22, 690 which is 48 pages. I think that's good considering I didn't start dictating my book til day 4 of NaNoWriMo, as I was behind in planning . I'll make a mental note to plan in September and October next year , as the NaNoWriMo team recommends. 

   I got a little stuck on some parts today, so just made some notes and I'm back on track. I won't let this challenge beat me! :) 

I'm feeling tired tonight so I'll read before bed . Goodnight! More updates tomorrow. 

Almost At Twenty Thousand Words :)

I  started dictating at about 12 noon today , and have  doing so off and on until 10 PM this evening.  We watched   some TV today and I'm now about 900 words away from 20,000 words, and am on the 40th page of my book. I'm amazed at my progress and so happy with the way this project is going. 

More tomorrow ! 

Another Productive Day ; On My Way To 15,000 Words (30 Pages Done)

Today,  I reached my daily target early in the day again. Today is the Writing Marathon, but I feel I've done enough for today. I've dictated over 3,000 words. Alfredo and I watched some tv, I updated my Goodreads account, and was thinking about what music I could listen to whilst writing, although I get distracted if the songs have lyrics, as I'm tempted to sing along! My songs to listen to when writing will be in another blog post . I'm really proud of being within 900 words of reaching the 15,000 word milestone , and still enjoying this challenge!!!

An Enjoyable And Productive Day

Today started off with Alfredo and I not wanting to get up , but we did at 10AM. I was determined to continue with my dictation but we had computer problems we had to sort out. I'm using my iPad and an app I found called Textilus for my book. I'm liking the app so far , and it's good as it has a word count, lots of different fonts, font sizes and folder covers. After we sorted the computer problems, It was time to eat, but I managed to grab some dictation time before eating , and then have been working on my book for a few hours this evening, since the challenge started, I've been constantly looking at my word count , but today I decided not to , and just dictated, next thing I knew, bingo! the  bar  next to my daily word count was green :) I felt a real rush at this and am actually now really into the story . So now I know it's true what authors say, and advise, the best way to write is just WRITE , and edit later.  Sometimes, I'll edit a little as I go along , but Textilus also goes with the "write first , edit later" approach, so I'll stick with that. 

For now, I'm going to say goodnight as it's almost Midnight, and I'll finish by saying today was my most productive day, as I dictated over 3,000 words,  and have dictated 5,207 since the beginning of November. I'm really trying not to think of the 44,000 and a bit more words I still have left to go,  but the important thing is that 50,000 word target that was there at the beginning is counting down, and I'm doing my best. 

My First Day Writing My Novel (Using Dragon Dictation)

Since the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)  challenge started on 1 November, I've been planning , but today I decided I'd get my book going . I was very nervous at the start and couldn't get into it , but then just took a do breath, looked through my notes and started dictating using my Dragon Dictation. ipad app. I also have it on my computer, who knows maybe I'll use that one tomorrow. I have now devised  a system, I dictate what I want into Dragon , then copy it to Textilus, an iPad word-processing app I downloaded. I paste it there and it has a word count tool. It took me awhile today , between breaks and reading my notes, and I didn't think I'd do it, but ..,, I have now reached my word limit for today.  I was very pleased when the status bar turned green ! - I can't tell you how much !!!! . 

My NaNoWriMo account states that if I want to meet the deadline on November 30, I have to write just over 1,700 words per day . I'm so into the story and proud of what I've done so far that I feel like doing more today :) 

I also have to prepare for tomorrow as I'll be out at the wheelchair shop. 

You must be thinking : what do I do to stay focused? Well, I remember how I felt when I was at University and had finished my dissertation (thesis). I remember feeling really stuck at the beginning, but spoke to a lecturer I trusted who gave me a topic to focus on. I felt much better once I started planning , and I thought of finishing it , and I did. That was a struggle, I used Dragon Dictation then too, and my dad helped me , but I finished it. 

At the moment, I'm imagining finishing this , and I'll work as hard as I can until I do. It'll be great if it actually gets published . I'm not thinking about winning NaNoWriMo, along with others, just participating at the moment. 

A Busy Day Planning My First Novel

Today, I woke up with the conviction I'd work as hard as I could on my novel, and I did do what I could. The day has been filled with planning , and in glad I have my notebook. Out of all the plot lines, I decided I'm going to write a fantasy story about a girl called Casey who has Cerebral Palsy and wished one day to own  a horse. She gets a horse for her birthday. The horse, it turns out, has magic powers and leads her on a whirlwind adventure in a magical land in her quest to get what she has always wanted: to be accepted . 

That's just a rough synopsis. In between thinking of, and planning, my story, I found free word processor software on my iPad , watched a film and had a pizza for dinner. Now, I'll be reading a little before doing more work on my book tomorrow. I have written a few words so far, not the ideal, but I wanted to get a good plan sorted first. I know I should have planned this maybe last month , but I feel like I'm on track now and almost ready to start writing properly. 

I'm VERY excited about this project . 

More tomorrow :) 

NaNoWriMo: A Step Closer To A Dream?

So far, this year has been quite a year for me  in relation to books, what with the GoodReads Reading Challenge (which , luckily lasts all year) going on since January, and the Dewey's Read--A-Thons in April and October. 

Yesterday, it was the first of November , which means the first of the  month, - not long til my birthday now -  and .....the start of National Novel Writing Month- also known as NaNoWriMo - which I had heard of , but never participated in. I Googled it and immediately found the website. I signed up straightaway. I'm glad I saw the mention of it in a friend's status on Facebook or else I've never have known. The goal  is to basically write a total of 50,000 words, and about 175 pages, throughout November.  

As I only signed up yesterday, I've spent a lot of today reading the NaNoWriMo  website , and familiarising myself with the challenge , as well as dipping into articles on www.ehow.com (some of which were promptly pinned to my "Writing" board on Pinterest as I think they'll come in handy. I've found some word- processing apps on the AppStore which have now been downloaded to my iPad. I've always wanted to write a novel and feel like this challenge may be the kick- start I need .  My absolute dream would be to get one published . I've begun planning , and I'm using my leopard-print notebook I was given last Christmas . That reminds me- I'll have to ask for more notebooks this Christmas/ birthday. I'm aware that the childhood hobby of writing I had has always stayed with me , and I want to make real use of it. 

As I write this, I'm aware of how tired I feel- it's been a busy day . I did get to see some movies on TV though, one of which was The Invisible , as Halloween film season continues. 

I'm off to bed now . 

I feel very excited about this challenge! 

Here's the website and sign-up link http://nanowrimo.org/

Dewey's Read-a-thon October 2013: End of Readathon Post

So, as we say goodbye to another read-a- thon, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I'll answer these questions I found on twitter today : 

I feel exhausted but exhilarated and am so proud and pleased I managed to read and blog for 14 hours ! 

Here goes.....

Which hour was most daunting for you?

It would have to be hour 13 when I was tired , and just had to give into sleep  no matter how much I wanted to keep reading ! 

Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?

One Day by David Nicholls 

The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans  

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo 

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis

The Smoke Jumper by Nicholas Evans  

Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?

I'd definitely get ready earlier and use audiobooks as well as ebooks . 

What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?

The fact I prepared a few days before and had a timetable 

How many books did you read?

1 

What were the names of the books you read?

One Day by David Nicholls 

Which book did you enjoy most?

One day by David  Nicholls 

Which did you enjoy least?

None

 If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?

I was a Reader 

How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?

Extremely likely. I'll de finitely participate . Maybe a reader or Mini Challenge leader

Dewey's Read- a- thon October 2013 hour 14

Just a quick update on my last post

The final statistics for my Dewey's Read- a - thon  October 2013 are: 

Readathon Summary : hours reading : 14 

Pages Read : 1,026 

Blogs Posted : WordPress : 14 Blogger : Katherine Hayward my life with cerebral Palsy: 14 Blogger : Authour in a wheelchair : 14 

Tweets: 55 

Blog Comments Received: WordPress : 11 Blogger Katherine Hayward my life with cerebral Palsy: Blogger : 2 Authour in a wheelchair :1

Blog Comments I Made: WordPress : 10 Blogger Katherine Hayward my life with cerebral Palsy: 4 Blogger : Authour in a wheelchair : 0

Twitter followers gained : 9 

Really enjoyed myself and can't wait til the April 2014 Readathon .

Dewey's Read-a-Thon October 2013 hour 13

It's 12 noon for me now, but I'm still reading. I'm on page 928 now , and Dex has got over yet another hangover and gone to see his parents at their house in Oxfordshire. Fueled by energy from my breakfast, I'm determined to read more.

Readathon Summary : hours reading : 13

Pages Read : 928

Blogs Posted : WordPress : 13 , Blogger : Katherine Hayward my life with cerebral Palsy: 13 Blogger : Authour in a wheelchair : 13

Tweets: 51

Blog Comments Received: WordPress : 10 Blogger Katherine Hayward my life with cerebral Palsy: Blogger : 2 Authour in a wheelchair :1

Blog Comments I Made: WordPress : 10 Blogger Katherine Hayward my life with cerebral Palsy: 4 Blogger : Authour in a wheelchair : 0

Dewey's Read-a-Thon October 2013 hour 12

1:00  

writing this now as I was too tired last night to write it. Last night before going to bed, I checked twitter and Facebook again. For updates, posted a few of my own , and put my iPad away for the night. I'm really proud of he reading I've done so far , and plan to continue.

Dewey's Read-a - Thon October 2013 hour 11

I've been checking Facebook and Twitter plus updating my Facebook pages. It's been a great day so far. I wonder how much more I can read, I'm on page 867 now. Keep going everyone!!!

Dewey's Read-a-Thon October 2013 hour 9

I've been writing a blog entry in Spanish on my Spanish blog, as today is the Spanish National Day. I don't think there's a read a thon in Spain yet , so I wanted to tell them about it. I drank my herbal tea too . Ok now, back to my reading .....

Dewey's Read-a-Thon 2013 hour 10

I'm now on oage 853 ,and still really enjoying One Day. I've just read some background about how Dex met some of his ex girlfriends and friends , and his social life as a London club - goer. Now I'm reading about Emma's life. I'm feeling a little tired now but pleasantly relaxed , and am sipping a hot chocolate.  At  this stage in the story, emma has matured and got rid of her velour hair scrunchies and lives in her own flat which sounds nicely furnished.  I'm planning to read for another hour or so.hope you're still enjoying the Readathon!

Dewey's Read-a- Thon October 2013 hour 8

20:00 

I'm now  on page 798 , and have started Part 2 of One Day. This part starts off with Dexter's story., and covers the years 1993-1995. I like the way each part of the book covers different years of Emma and Dexter's  lives. I've just had some chocolate and cookies. Those snacks  seem fitting  comfort food for a good book. Now I think about it, I think I prefer the book to the film, although they're both very good and similar. It's interesting to know Dex loved in various parts of London and Oxfordshire, as both these places are familiar to me as I grew up in both those areas . The book has some very romantic parts , and I can see the closeness between Em and Dex.

Dewey's Read- a- Thon October 2013 hour 7

19:00 

As the hours go by, I'm feeling proud of all the reading, and blogging ,  I've done today. I've just eaten and was watching a bit of TV and I'm now reading again. I wish in some ways that the read-a- thon was longer, but I'm really enjoying it. Ive got a system going where I'll use the apps of my blogs to blog as they load quicker, and my blogs are actually looking quite cool. Thanks again for all the comments I've got on all my blogs today. Keep going everyone who's reading!!!!

Dewey's Read- a- thon October 2013 hour 6

18:00

It's time for me to tear myself away from my reading to eat . I'm not keeping to my timetable as far as mealtimes are concerned, but I'm not surprised , as reading always relaxes me so much I lose my sense of time ! :) what I didn't expect was for this book to have me so hooked. The film was good , tut I didn't know what to think of the book , but so far it's great too .

Back soon

Dewey's Read- a- thon October 2013 hour 5

17:00

Hour 5 went by in a flash and  now I really can't put this book down! One Day also has it's funny parts- Dex and Em ending up on a beach that turns out to be a nudist beach , and trying to find a place to stay on the island. It seems they really do have feelings for each other, and the atmosphere is described really well: I as the reader can almost feel the heat as the sun beats down and smell the suncream and the barbecue on the beach.

Dewey's Read- a- thon October 2013 hour 4

16:00

I'm now on page 579. It's 1992 and Em and Dex are on a cruise holiday round the Greek Islands. A year ago, they had a chat where it turned out Dex had been seeing various other women besides Naomi. He confessed he still had feelings for Em and wanted her to leave her job at a Mexican restaurant . Back then he was into drugs and had one hangover after another . She had had a brief relationship with another guy and got on well with a work colleague . They've decided on a set of rules if they are to get on again . I like the way this book is written and it's easy and relaxing to read. I'm finding this read a thon relaxing , as were all the others I participated in. I've commented on some other participants' blogs too. I can see there's a great atmosphere! Wonder how much I'll read by the end if the challenge?

Dewey's Read-a- Thon October 2013 hour 3

15:00

Page  502. It now turns out Dex knows someone who's called Naomi, who he works with on a TV show. At this point in the book, I cans really sympathise with Em about her disappointment over how he's changed since he's been away, and  her suspicion as to whether or not there's something between Dex and Naomi.  I actually have the same sinking feeling in my stomach as her.  That ,means this book is good if I'm feeling the same as a lead character . I'm glad I have my iPad , as reading ebooks is faster and easier for me than reading paperbacks . I've just checked the lottery results (no luck) , and am just about to have a healthy banana as a snack . 

Determined to read on, I'll be back in an hour

Dewey's Read- a- thon 0ctober 2013: hour 1

 13:00 

The day is finally here , 12 October 2013 , the first day of the October Read-a- Thon. I'm very excited and determined to read as much as I can . I always find the Read-a- thon very relaxing. I wasn't sure if I'd make the beginning on time, as I overslept (due to reading late last night ) but I did. I guess it doesn't matter what time I started, the important thing is  I'm participating . How's your first hour going? My plan is to update every hour. So far, I've done well at my plan to be more social , as I followed so,e blogs on both Blogger and Wordpress as well as youtube channels. It took me ages to work through the list of participants but it was well worth it. I'm now on page 460 of One Day by David Nicholls , and it's kept me riveted since I started it a few days ago. Thanks so much to everyone who commented on my Wordpress blog yesterday. I've had no snacks so far , just breakfast, given I don't snack much during the day.