Winning time: around 11:08 pm on November 29th, 2009
Winning word count: 50,107
Word count according to NaNoWriMo Counter: 50,056

I DID IT!!!

I still have a little more plot to go, and then I want to go back and actually put my plot points in the order they are supposed to happen. WHEE! I WROTE A NOVEL IN 29 DAYS!

Random stat time!

Best day: November 11, 2009 with 6,289 words
Worst days (0 words written): November 5, 6, 13, 14, 20, 23, 26, 27
Write ins attended for my region: All of them, including the All-State at the Oregon Coast Aquarium
First word (Not including the title I put at the top): 'The' (Boring, eh?)
50,000th word written: 'driver's'
50,000th word in the document: 'hacker' (That's because I put my notes to myself at the very bottom under 'Notes')

I'm gonna keep going! WHOO!

Only 6,000 words to go!

I've only killed a few people, but I'm planning more. And I still have more torturing in mind. Moohaha. And I went back through my list of dares and just typed a few of them out, even though they have nothing to do with the plot.

Oh screw it, no one reads this thing anyway.

Thanksgiving was good, but I didn't get any writing done. Didn't get any done on Friday either because it was friend's birthday party. I just need 6,000 more and I WIN!

...with how my Veteran's Day Catch-Up Day went. Six thousand words today! WHOO HOO! So now I'm officially caught up, with 18,588 words. Next stop: 20k! *clap clap*

Now, that 6k wasn't all in one session. I had two or three (can't remember) Write or Die sessions in which I wrote 1000 words in around 15 minutes. If I can do that eight times a day, I'll be writing at the speed of light! (Or at the speed of something slower than light, considering how a few people that I know (and want to kill) are already at the 35k, 45k and 50k and beyond marks as of now. It's not even halfway through November! ARGH!) I took major huge breaks in between those, and then I just jotted down stuff as I was being distracted (mostly by Mythbusters blowing up cars. That's always fun).

Let's just say that I wrote six thousand words of AWESOME today. That is all.

Toaster Ninja loves you.

The beginning of week two is here! I almost caught up at the Write-In on Saturday, so that was fun. Lots to update!

Pages written: 17
Body Count: 10-12
Percentage done: 21%
Inner Editor: Trying to get through, and still does after a word war. He wants me to fix spelling and punctuation, but doesn't care so much about plot.
Favorite sentence: "The turtle found a little hole between a desk and another desk, and tried wedging himself inside. He got about an inch in, then decided it was time to go to sleep. So he did." (Okay, so it's a couple sentences. I like 'em, okay?!)
Dares used: Started on the "Rewrite a whole chapter with ninjas and/or pirates," but haven't finished the boring chapter to rewrite yet.
Cheating methods: I retold a bad joke told by the guy from the webcomic, Surviving the World, located here: Bad Jokes. It's a really bad joke, and I only listened to it once, so during a word war I spit it back out on paper as I remembered it. Then I went back and retyped it out, word for word, while listening to the audio. That took up about a page!
Stolen literature: Used the mutant/experimented-on kids idea from the Maximum Ride series.
Torture methods used on characters: I lead Katrina, Matt, and Phoebe through a room full of dead bodies and a robot trying to pull their skins over himself. That was created during a word war when I suddenly ran out of plot and had to think of something. Before that, I lead them through a room with mutated kids in cages. I'm so mean. >D
Homework I should be working on: Research essay! (still)
Write or Die Sessions: None so far...
Characters/plot points created: The turtle mentioned above, the crazy robot that was skinning people, and a few mutant kids. Also created a plot point that has something to do with Rae being captured and she encounters some nanobots, but I'm not sure if that'll go anywhere (if not, I'll MAKE it go somewhere. Muahaha.). Also added a little blurb about Rae visiting her parents' house, as well as going to a housewarming party (where that bad joke came into play).
Stickers received: A 'You Rock!' one for hitting 5k, a zebra for hitting 10k, a Tigger one for using the word on my card, and a happy monkey for coming to the second write-in. (Stickers from before that I haven't shared yet: A giant paw print for participating in a 'Sashion Show,' where we had to make sashes from crepe paper, and a little bug ant thing for posting to the forums.)

By the way, at the Write-ins, we got nametags with goals to accomplish written on them. Things like meeting 5k, 10k, etc., posting on the forums, coming to all the write-ins, winning a word war, things like that. Every time we accomplish one, we get a sticker. YAY STICKERS!!

Oh yes, and I found the physical incarnation of my NaNo muse. It's this little Beanie Baby dragon that I got in high school from a friend. I named him Draco. :D (Even though on his tag he's named Scorch, but that's lame.)

Next goal: 15k by Monday night! (Oh wow... that... might not happen.)

Yeaah, this will probably turn into a weekly thing. I totally forgot to post yesterday! And I'm too tired to fill out my little template thingie, and I haven't updated that much major stuff, so I'll just sum up.

Total word count: 5,956
Started new plot point about a kitty!
10 pages
Got a name for the Asian guy (with help from tirsden ): Aaron Takahara
Also got names for evil character and his daughter
Finished the car chase and shooting scene for the most part
Killed off two robots so far (one by explosion that hasn't been written yet, and one by drowning), and at least one human
Trying to explain the sinister plot lurking in the background is hard.
Aaron is a pansy, and Katrina is a crazy spaz (both of these were unintentional, but they work)
Homework I should be working on: researching for my paper
Trying to write when I first get up isn't working. At all.
Trying to write at school isn't working either.
It's midnight. Bed time.

Mondays are bad for noveling because I have class from 12:30 to 8:50. It also doesn't help that I was a week behind in math and there's a test tomorrow. I can squeeze in a mini writing session though before heading to bed.

November 2nd: Minor success. Mostly because I had such a huge buffer from the Write-In.
Word Count: 3,694 (but this will go up by the end of tonight whenever I go to bed)
Pages written: still 6
Body Count: 2
Percentage done: 7%
Inner Editor: doesn't care anymore. I can finally go and add in way more description than needed!
Favorite sentence: (I may kill this part. By the second week I'll hate them all.)
Wordiest sentence: (Same with this part. I'll just have to search around for the longest one, and I don't wanna do that way down the line.)
Dares used: none
Stolen literature: I stole the Improbability Drive (from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) because I realized that I may not have enough plot points to fill the whole month, so the Improbability Drive will introduce random points for me to play with. Muahaha.
Torture methods used on characters: None (yet)
Homework I should be working on: Research paper
Write or Die Sessions: None
Characters created: (New category!) 3: Hot Asian engineer who still needs a name (was created yesterday, but forgot to add him); Jason, random inventor of the Improbability drive (name will probably change); and Jasper, the GPS voice in Rae's car. He's British. :D

We started writing at exactly midnight, and wrote until 2 am. Then we got to watch the clock change from 1:59am back to 1:00am again! It was neat. :D

Anyway, stats for the first day of National Novel Writing Month!

November 1st: Success!
Word Count: 3,221
Pages written: 6
Body Count: at least 1 so far
Percentage done: 6%
Inner Editor: Successfully sealed away in an envelope (He's an evil cupcake with very pointy pencils sticking out of the top)
Favorite sentence: "He had eyes the exact color of crisp dollar bills, with crow's feet at the corners."
Wordiest sentence: "It beeped, and the giant screen with the US of A on it produced a square that zoomed in on the Northwest, then it zoomed it again on Washington, then again on Seattle, then again on the Northwestern part of Seattle, then again on the street J.D.’s office was located on, then even onto the exact room in the building she was currently standing in. " (at 66 words)
Dares used: One where my 42nd word has something to do with Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. My 42nd word is "Towel." It doesn't make any sense because I just stuck it in there as its own sentence, but I like it.
Stolen literature: Two. That sentence about the dollar bill-colored eyes, stolen from The Dresden Files, and this one from a PC game called Ripper: "It usually takes 10 minutes to cross that part of town. Raeda got there in three."
Torture methods used on characters: I dislocated the MC's shoulder, crashed the ambulance she was riding in, and (this will happen tomorrow or later tonight) she will be in a car chase. With guns!
Homework I should be working on: Catching up in math
Write or Die Sessions: None so far!

So far, so good!

Madness?

THIS! IS! NANO!

Ah yes, the end of October. A time of falling leaves, carving pumpkins, torrents of rain with breaks of blue sky, and, of course, last-minute planning for NaNoWriMo.

You know you're a NaNo if...

- You don't plan any part of your plot until the last week of October
- You don't plan any part of your plot at all
- You get to October 31st and realize, "Woah, it's Halloween too! Cool! Where's the leftover chocolate? Gimmegimmegimme."
- You can't wait until Thanksgiving because it's the only day of the month where you'll eat something other than tea/coffee, chocolate, frozen food items, chocolate, ramen, Pringles, chocolate, etc.

I've planned some much-needed mayhem for my characters in November. Betrayal, zombies, hallucinations, view point-switching, viruses, hot Asian engineers, explosions, and perhaps even some Doctors. Anything can happen in November.

With Halloween in October, NaNo and Thanksgiving in November, and Christmas in December, the beginning of the year seems so out of balance. There's your random thought of the day.

Busy weekend ahead! Tomorrow I get to work late at the coffee shop. Then I get to catch up in math. Then I get to take a poor deprived catholic girl trick or treating for the first time. Then we count down for NanananananananananNo, then typetypetype, then sleep. Then we make brownies! And type some more. And then Kick-Off Party! Whoo!

Ooh, Tom Hanks on Letterman. Gotta go!

I blame video games for a lot of things. Pasty white skin, for example. But never have I seen a game more addicting, more giggle-inducing, more outrageously mind-numbing and procrastination-inducing than Plants vs. Zombies.

Wow, that sounds like the beginning of a game review. Which it isn't. This is about NaNoWriMo.

A few weeks ago, I decided that I would spend October planning, planning, planning. I got out my outline and my old draft of my novel in the rough and stole some ideas and tweaked them a bit, added story plot events, and even made another character to add to my arsenal of awesome side characters. Until by some strange coincidence, I was reminded of a game that I hadn't checked out yet: Plants vs. Zombies.

Long story short: It's addictive as hell, and I haven't gotten a single bit of planning done since I downloaded it.

Crap.

Anyway, I beat adventure mode and did a little playing around with it, and now I think the Zombie virus has settled down enough that I can get back on track. At least I still have a week to plan, right?

I'm hoping that I'll have time this week to, like Chris Baty said a few times now, take a walk with a notebook and pen out in this awesome fall weather and see if I can get the ideas flowing. I also plan on making a vlog about my plot and see if I can get more ideas that way.

*snort* I'm reading LJ's spell-correction options for NaNoWriMo: Panorama, Noontime, Newsroom, Nunneries, Cinerama, and Nunnery's. I'll see if I can get those in my novel some how.

Another thing that's been keeping me from planning these past few weeks is the start of a D&D group I'm part of. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we abscond a study room in the library and playing 3.5 ed. for two hours. Intrigued by this, I've made about three other 3.5 characters as well as investigated 4th ed. a bit. I then met another guy (I'm the only girl in this group, by the way) who wanted to DM a 4th ed campaign, and we had our first meet last night at his house.

We didn't really get anywhere with the D&D part, but we did nerd-rage and watch strange videos and dance to techno music. We even tried watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but we only got as far as "Dentist on the Job." Then we had an idea to make a video of.... something, but that idea died. Anyway, I really want to finish making my 4th ed character, but the writer in my brain goes, "NO! NaNo planning! NAO!"

Another distraction: getting my Halloween costume together. I'm happy to say it's pretty much done, but I'm not sure I can find the one prop I need to tie it all together, but I think I'll manage with something else. A little bit of stress hit me yesterday because I wasn't sure where the goggles I ordered were. They just came a day late, and in the mailbox, not at my doorstep like usual. I've been wearing the costume all day so far. ^^;

Anyway, I'll have to force myself to actually do homework during the next week and then plan. I should be doing homework now. But I'm not. Because I don't want to. So there.

I'm excited for Halloween and the Kick-Off party after that. I have two friends who want to take another kid out trick-or-treating this year because they've never been. Poor, poor deprived kid. I didn't really want to trick or treat this year because I feel like I'm taking all the candy from the kids, but this kid needs to discover the wonder of getting free, questionably wrapped candy.

After that, we'll probably head back to the dorm, sort candy, do some candy trading, and wander around the dorm in our costumes. (It's a Christian college though... how do they feel about Halloween?) Then, at exactly midnight on November 1st, we will START TEH MADNESS!

Trying ever so hard to not click on Plants vs. Zombies.

What I need to do before November hits and I go "AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!"

- Write an outline/idea sheet!! Done for the most part
- Get plot in order (In progress)
- Think of the name of the girl part of the sinister plot, as well as Rae's family and the sinister plot girl's father
- Character sheets w/ drawings (maybe)
- Set up NaNo Report Card for 2009 - including calendar
- Finish 2009 calendar wallpaper and post to deviantART
- Plan potential write-ins for town? f0rk that.
- Make sign for school and/or print out one and ask coffee shops to post them That too.
- Draw my inner editor and make a box for him to go into (Drew him and sealed him in an envelope at the Kick-Off party)
- Print out another NaNo shield to go on my laptop (Got a sticker at the Kick-Off party, but I want another shield as well)
- Change wallpaper into book cover and post to DA

Edit: 11-1-09 - Started NaNoWriMo 2009!

Edit: 10-28-09 - Added more plot events to outline, started on Rae's character drawing.

Edit: 10-18-09 - Stole a huge amount of NaNo Icons from nano_icons .

Edit: 10-13-09 - Transferred accumulated dares from iPod notes to NaNo 09 Report Card.

Edit: 10-9-09 - Stole a bunch more dares from The Dare Thread. I no longer think I need a plot to completely my 50k words, just more dares.

Edit: 10-6-09 - Made Playing Human gallery icon for DA gallery.

Edit: 10-5-09 - Updated outline to reflect change in robot muscle movement and blood (help from SkidPuppet on the NaNo forums). Updated breathing. Added plot point. Stole a bunch of dares and lines from The Dare Thread 2009 and added them to my NaNo report card.

Edit: 10-3-09 - Updated story question/synopsis of Playing Human on my NaNoWriMo user page. Made Word automatically correct "andriod" to "android" because I can't seem to type that word without misspelling it. Created another scientist character - needs a name. Changed wallpaper into book cover and posted both to deviantART: Wallpaper here, book cover here. Also posted on forums regarding robot fuel, bleeding, and eating.

Edit: 10-2-09 - Updated Novel Info, years done NaNo, and icon on my NaNoWriMo user page.

Edit: 9-30-09 - Added section about perception/feeling/how robots run to outline. (With help from Aussie)

Edit: 9-27-09 - Added one section about the kitty to outline.

Edit: 9-20-09 - Edited last year's NaNo report card to reflect this year's dates and title. Changed font, color, and numbers on the calendar in the report card.

Edit: 9-15-09 - Finished Playing Human calendar for the most part - can't decide if it's totally finished or not.

I plan on using this journal as my personal journal someday, but for right now it's my NaNoWriMo 2009 blog. I'll be posting snippets of my NaNo as I write it, plus add in commentary about how my writing session was, how many words, what dares I used, ways I cheated, my wordiest sentence, things like that. Perhaps even character profiles and stuff like that will go here as well.

Let's see... I found all my icons at the nano_icons community page. I also made this one:

based on a Breaking News written by Chris Baty last year. I laughed so hard when I read "Eat the taco, my friend. Eat the taco." that I just had to make it into a cheap little icon.

That's all for now. Here's hoping for a great November this year!