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/