The Brain Dump

Well, I added another 937 words to my total and now it's time for some bed. That brings the total to 2,830. Guh, that leaves a little over 5,000 for tomorrow. I can do it. I can do it. Just one more day of intensity and then I can relax a little. Just one more day, just one more day . . .

So today was not quite as glorious as I wanted it to be, though the day is not finished. I managed 1,893 words--and this while fending off my father and his new PS3. I'm still working away here but I thought I would give everybody an update.

I still have a normal day's writing to do before reaching this day's goal. Back to the salt mines.

OK. So I've fallen out of the blogosphere for the past week or so, but the good news is I was not completely idle. I have been writing (most) every day and clawing my way closer and closer to the 31,000 total. The bad news is I'm not nearly as close as I want to be. I can't tell you on what day I did what, but I can tell you that I have a grand total of 23,111 words.

So. That's not 31,000. But I have two more days. Two more days to write 7,889 words. 3,944.5 words a day. 328.70833333 . . . words an hour (if I only write for twelve hours). That's . . . doable . . .

OK. So. The lesson is: meeting up with old friends and spending time playing video games with my mother (that's right--my mother!) takes time. This is doable. This is totally doable. No one's putting me on the Altar of Shame!

I will post my word count tomorrow probably around the same time as tonight. Then Sunday, the 31st, I will give continuous word count updates until what I am assuming will be my Moment of Glory--as I stand triumphant above the month of August and laugh and cry and scroll through my 31,000 words.

See you tomorrow.

How many people in the world do you think know that today is Bilbo's (and Frodo's) birthday?

Shine on Hobbit-dudes.

Well, today was one of those days where I just had to put my head down slug through the words. The good news: I did. Ended up with 1,001 words, which, right now, is another day I don't have to make up. In other words: a good day. The total stands at 9,094.

I've started jumping around in the narrative, just trying to find words to write. I still firmly believe that as much writing as I can get done is a good thing, so I don't mind that it's out of chronological order. We'll see how long I can keep it up . . .

Hello Readers!

I write to you from beautiful Austin, Minnesota, home of Shelley and Lloyd Brandon, Christina's rambunctious parents.

Yes, I've been here since Tuesday, till Tuesday, breaking up the monotony of the Texas life. Christina's parents are fun, and, of course, it's wonderful to finally be close to her once again. Sigh, and only after twelve days being apart. I flew in to Minneapolis and Christina and her mother were there to pick me up. We drove past the Mall of America, Cabela's store of everything outdoorsy, and 5 of 10,000 lakes. So I've seen most of Minnesota's sights. One more awaits me: the ever-fabulous SPAM Museum! Complete with all the SPAM paraphernalia I could ever want.

Christina has also made sure to keep me writing. I have not been as disciplined as I need to be over the past few days. I visited with my friends Travis and Laura over the weekend . . . ensuring a zero word count over those two days. I tried to make up for it on Monday, writing 1,542 words, but then I was traveling much of Tuesday and so that was another zero day.

Wednesday, however, was better. 2,087, making up for the previous day. That brings the grand total to . . . *drum roll* . . . 8,093. Sigh . . . only 5 more days to make up for.

I haven't done any writing yet today, so I'll be back to let you know how I do.

This is me keeping the faith!

This week's Pic o' the Week happened only yesterday at the Beijing Olympics. Spoiler Alert if you Tivo-ed it or anything.

The American men's 4 x 100 freestyle relay team upset the heavily favored French team . . . by eight hundreths of a second. Eight one hundreths . . . of a second. That's not even long enough to say "eight hundreths of a second." That's not even long enough to say "phrase." It was pretty incredible.

I admit it. I'm getting caught up in all the Olympics craziness. I never think I'm gonna and then I do. But people coming to one place from all over the world and competing is pretty awesome. I could do without the announcers doing everything they can to make every moment as melodramatic as possible (Really, Bob Costas--this is the most important moment in the history of modern China . . . really? The Cultural Revolution begs to differ). But them aside, it's exciting and incredible and just awesome. Anywho, here's the pic:

Well, the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics has sufficiently caught my attention to stop me from writing for the day. It got harder to concentrate when my parents turned it on, but I was able to get 1,002 words, bringing the grand total to 4,464. Almost a third of what I had written up to today. That's a better start than I had on August 1st . . .

I still have some catching up to do. But I'm gaining confidence.

Hello, once again, dear Readers, and how are you this day? I'm doing alright, trying to keep busy, and it is on that subject that I write to you today. As well you know, I'm living back with my parents in Texas until the middle of September, waiting for my visa papers from China. I'm also trying to finish the first draft of my first novel, the first part of which you can find on the right sidebar under Duncan and the Heart of Aria. Much of that first part I finished while taking the National Novel Writing Month challenge in January--to write fifty thousand words in thirty-one days. I undertook this challenge along with my writing group, and Christina and I (being awesome) were the sole members to emerge triumphant.

However. I'm not near done with my novel, and so I have decided that, since I don't have much else to do, I will take up a slightly less crazy version of the NaNoWriMo challenge once again, this time in August. I will be trying to write one thousand words per day, thirty-one thousand in total. That's nineteen thousand less than the normal NaNoWriMo challenge, but hopefully that only means it'll be that much easier to achieve.

Christina and I found that much of the drive to succeed in January was socially driven--we didn't want to fail while the other succeeded and we didn't want any of the shame associated with failure. And that made us try much harder. Thus, why I am telling all of you about this now and, by doing so, throwing myself upon the Altar of Public Opinion. Will it be an altar of shame, or will it be the first of many pedestals I'll be sure to put myself on top of when I finish (oh that's right: when)? We shall see come August 31st.

I have a feeling this month will be more difficult that January. In January, I had a very clear idea (and a reassuringly detailed outline) of what I wanted to write, what I wanted it to be about, and how I wanted to execute it. I have nothing like that now. I have a few very bright plot points that shine in the darkness of the unwritten, shiny beacons for me to write towards, but I'm not nearly as sure what the story will be about along the way. But . . . that's half the fun . . . right?

It's already August 8th, so I should have somewhere around 8,000 words. I do not. Not even close. I have 3,462. I can make all sorts of excuses, but I'm fairly sure the sudden spike in my time used to play video games has the most to do with it. But no more. Time to get my head in the game!

I haven't done any writing today, so that seems like a good place to start. I'll post again later tonight with my daily tally.

August don't know what's 'bout hit it! 'oorah!

Well . . . time at least, though by extension of the theory of relativity that includes space as well . . .

Mwa ha haaaaaaa!

"How so?" you ask. I call upon you to look in wonder (and horror!) at August the 3rd. Has that blog entry always been there? Or is some strange ninja magic afoot?

Mwa h-h-haaaaaa!

When did I write this post? You cannot knooooow . . . though . . . I did just post this one right away.

Or did I?

Oogidee-boogidee-boooooooooo!