Day Seventeen: 50,011 of 50,000
So this happened…
It wasn’t pretty toward the end there, as you can tell by that snippet of my last line.
But I just wrote a novel in a week.
Now, I can have my iPad.
Three Down, Nine To Go! (also, I wrote a novel in a week!)
17 Mar 2012 7 Comments
in March Tags: Awesome, iPad, NaNoWriMo, Tired, Writing
In Which the Writer is Absurdly Excited
15 Mar 2012 5 Comments
in March Tags: Book Writing, iPad, Success, Word count, Writing
Day Fifteen: 31,617 of 50,000
I’m a little excited about getting my iPad when I finish this novel.
I’m also shocked and really proud of the word count I’ve been able to rack up with that particular carrot on a stick. And it’s made me wonder what it is that’s really so different about being excited. Surely there’s a limit to what’s humanly possible, right?
But if I’m able to crank out 3-6,000 words each day to get this far, then what has made that seem so difficult in the past? The only thing I can find is how I react to my inner editor, or the voice I affectionately call the Evil Critic.
This is what my usual conversation with the Evil Critic usually looks like:
Evil Critic: “What are you writing? Where is this going to go?”
Me: “Uh, I don’t know really. I’m just sort of… writing.”
Evil Critic: “Well that’s dumb. Stop it and find something actually good to write.”
Me: “I don’t want to stop – it’ll work out. I mean, I understand your point, but I really just need to keep going.”
Evil Critic: “It isn’t okay to suck you know. That’s a lie.”
Me: “ I can’t deal with this now. I’m trying to write.”
Evil Critic: “It isn’t like you’re ever going to write anything good anyway, I suppose. Maybe all you can do is suck. Why didn’t you go to college again?”
Me: “Now you’re just being mean.”
Evil Critic: “No, I really mean it. You should have a real career, since you’re so determined to keep writing stories that go nowhere. It’s a nice hobby, but you’ll never really get better.”
Me: “I’m ignoring you.”
Evil Critic: “Don’t make me sing.”
Me: “Writing now. For real.”
Evil Critic: “What do you want to hear? How about that song they always played when you were in High School. Remember high school? You sucked there too.”
Me: “Fine, I’ll go make some coffee before I write. Maybe you’ll be done then.”
Lately, the conversation goes more like this:
Evil Critic: “You know, what you’re writing is kinda stupid.”
Me: “ipad.”
Evil Critic: “No seriously. A guy finds a frozen fairy in the forest? How contrived can you get? You’re already running out of ideas and it’s only March!”
Me: “Don’t care. ipad.”
Evil Critic: “It isn’t like you’re ever going to write anything good anyway, I suppose. Maybe all you can do is suck. Why didn’t you go to college again?”
Me: “ iPad.”
Evil Critic: “No, I really mean it. You should have a real career, since you’re so determined to keep writing stories that go nowhere. It’s a nice hobby, but you’ll never really get better.”
Me: “The faster I finish, the sooner I get my iPad.”
Evil Critic: “You’re a loser.”
Me: “Busy writing. iPad. Go away.”
Now if only I could get as psyched about getting to eat some chocolate when I finish a novel.
But I suppose what I ought to take from this (besides an iPad) is that when other things fail, I’m not above being lured to greatness by incentives. And yeah, I know there is incentive in the whole getting-published-eventually thing, but it’s powerful to know how good I am at pushing past my own barriers when there’s a shiny waiting at the end too.
So now I’m curious if I can finish the novel by tomorrow night.
You know, when my darling Irowboat goes and picks up my reward.
From the Apple store.
Did I mention I’m getting an iPad?
Motivation to Catch Up and Awesomeness Abound
09 Mar 2012 4 Comments
in March Tags: Friends, Inspiration, iPad, Personal, Writing
Day Nine: 570 of 50,000 words (eek!)
Note: This blog post was going to be about a clever strategy to motivate me to catch up. But instead, it’s more about how my boyfriend is in the Awesome League of Awesome.*
Yes, I’m finally feeling better after a week of being as good as dead. I don’t think I’ve been that sick in a long time – not even my month of swine flu in ’08 was a match. But I’m finally ambulatory, upright, breathing, and unfevered. And watching hours of Buffy never did anyone any harm.
I’m back and ready for action.
And oh, so very behind.
I decided today that I need a strategy to get caught back up – something to push me forward and make me want it. And if you’re a Mac fan, you know that the new iPad release was announced on the seventh of this month.
My boyfriend is basically the tech genius who helps me make decisions on all things, well, tech. So my thinking was this: I’d just hand my money to him and let him buy whatever he thought I’d need and could afford. That way, I can write and he can purchase the iPad to meet my needs and then hold it over my head (or post pictures on facebook of him licking it or whatever) and keep me writing. Until this month’s word count is in, no iPad for me.
As a bit of back story, I’ve been wanting an iPad since maybe November last year. Mostly, I want it to write with so I don’t dislocate my shoulder humping my macbook around busy cafes hoping for an empty seat near a wall socket. And thanks to some really generous Christmas contributions, earlier this year I found myself in a position of being able to afford one. Of course, I had to wait until the new model was released, then I could buy an old one on the cheap – unless the new iPad is just too sweet.
And of course, the new iPad is pretty damn sweet. Decisions need to be made, research to be done.
I have no time.
So I asked my boyfriend to take over, make the decision, then use my pending new toy as ransom for words – 50,000 of them.
He agreed immediately. (This is where I should have become suspicious.)
Anyway, we hung out tonight at Barnes and Noble reading magazines and books and the like, then dropped by my house so he could fix my wi-fi (he’s my tech guy, remember) and I could hand over the iPad cash before I lost my resolve and ran off to buy whatever iPad I could get immediately.
Wi-fi handily reconfigured, I handed him an envelope with around $580 inside. And he showed me a receipt on his iPhone. From the seventh. For two matching 64 gig iPads. (For those who don’t know, that’s as good as they get.)
He anticipated that I’d probably come to him for advice, and he decided to beat me to the punch and buy me an upgrade. He knew I’d go for the cheaper option if left to my own devices.
It’s not the first time he’s given me a surprise so awesome that I cried. Probably won’t be the last.
And that’s how I’ve been upstaged by my boyfriend.
Without whom, I probably wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing. More on that this weekend though – a writing tool I have to talk about: find a friendly bully.
Goodnight, all. I have some serious writing to do.
*If you don’t get this reference, find your nearest geek, have them slap you upside the head, and then go watch Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog. You can thank me later.
