Finally!

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Yes. Yes. YES!!!

This is my fourth year of joining NaNoWriMo, and this is the only year that I've won! Wooooo! I am over the roof! I am over the top! I DID IT!!!

Needless to say, I couldn't have done it alone without the help of the PinoyWrimos and the useful tips I picked up from the wonderful people there. My thanks to you all! Winning this year is definitely the best there is!

Prior to the word count validation, I encountered what seemed to be the biggest, most stupid mistake ever. Right when I was combining all the chapters into one master documents, I realized that there were some parts of the novel that went missing. Then I realized that I must've left some of the documents at my PC at work, which means that the flash drive that I've always considered to be the master container for the entire novel was actually incomplete. And that means that the word count that I validated up the the NaNo website is not the complete word count at all. *headdesk*

It's a good thing that some of the parts still make up for the 50k mark, so I was still able to get that purple bar, and that shiny web banner badge. And yes, I am still in shock.

On another note, my novel is still incomplete. When I hit the 50k cut, I was still in the middle of writing the conflict part of the story (which is turning blah every time I check up on it), and I still have to finish the resolution/ending part. So in essence, I'm still not done with the writing. I feel as if my work is half baked. Hahaha!

I think I'm going to give myself the time off my novel for next week. I want to look at the storyl with new eyes the next time I open MS Word. By then, I hope I already have a good ending for it.

I'm just glad it's over. Time to get back to real life and responsibilities. Hehehe.

P.S.: If ever I'm joining next year, I swear to God I'm writing a different genre and I'm really going to prepare for it.

NaNo OSTs

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Good morning world!

Hahaha. I'm up early today (as early as 6am). I barely slept, and my back hurts like crap, but still, I'm miraculously awake! I'm half contemplating on getting an early start on writing today and catching up on sleep again, but for some reason, I don't want to do those two just yet. I'd prefer to play online games right now, but my PC at home is not built for such things, so I'm just surfing the Net for the meantime and racking up my brains for a good intro on the next chapter.

Wow. I can't believe I'm starting Chapter 2 of my novel now. It's finally coming together.

I'm still waiting for Idge, my trust iPod Nano, to charge up her batteries so I can get started on writing. Apart from the 2 consecutive days of Word Wars with the PinoyWrimos, listening to loud music helps me push the daily word count limits. I really prefer to have the music blasting on my ears so as to drown out my Inner Editor, and the urge to re-read what I've written. Trust me, it's a lot easier to sprint your way to your daily word quotas without that critical voice telling you to go back and rewrite.

And speaking of music, I ought to revamp my music list to more writing conducive tracks (read: loud and fast music). Here's what I've been currently playing on repeat on my iPod:

Britney Spears - Womanizer (helped me A LOT on those 2 days of Word Wars!)
Jason Mraz - I'm Yours
Jordin Sparks - One Step at a Time
Git Fresh - Booty Music
Pink - So What
David Archuleta - Crush
The Script - The Man Who Can't Be Moved

I'm going to add a bit more to that by tomorrow and hopefully, I'd be more inspired to write and hit those daily quotas!

[edit]

This just in...

Another Word War rampage tonight!

*does a quick back flip*

Wooohooo!!! Thanks, Tina! ^_^

Daily Word Wars?

Saturday, November 1, 2008

I'm beginning to think that I'll be needing daily doses of Word Wars.

I just joined yet another Word War with my fellow PinoyWrimos. It's unofficial by the way, but I've got to admit that the pressure is doing good for me to go beyond the usyal 1,667 daily word quotas. If it weren't for the Word Wars, I'd probably be stuck on page 2 with less than a thousand words by now.

I can always wage personal word wars by myself, but I guess the thrill of competing pushes me beyond my limits (that and constant repeats of Britney Spear's Womanizer single on my iPod). Blame it on the fact that it's a weekend too and I have a lot of time to work on my novel. It kinda makes me wonder if I can still carry on once work begins again next week.

For now, I'm thrilled that my word count's easing up. 4,252 words FTW!

First word count wooot!

1,762 words.

Not bad for my first attempt in joining the Word Wars, eh? ^^

But Mitch, one of the Wrimos, keyed in around 2k+ for the 1 hour word sprint! Insane, I say. Definitely insane (in a good way :P).

I'm just happy that I'm already seeing my characters take shape! Wooot!

Okay, I'm hitting the sack now. Got another batch of words to type later today. *cracks fingers*

Waiting for 10:30PM

Friday, October 31, 2008

Never have I felt so anxious in my entire life just by looking at the clock. In a few hours or so, the official PinoyWrimo Chat and Word Wars will commence, and I'm going to pieces just by thinking about the pressure of chasing after the word count thingamajig. I really don't have any plans of winning tonight's person-with-the-most-number-of-word-counts award. I just want to give this novel a steady jump start, that's what.

Hmm..so what do I have here? I got my notes: character sketches, chapter outlines, quotable quotes and a chick lit book I've been recently reading (the story sucks, btw). I was supposed to buy an energy drink to keep me from falling asleep, but to my excitement in buying chips & sweets at the grocery a while ago, I forgot to include those drinks. So here I am with a tall glass of water to keep me awake (I just hope I stay that way).

A few of my close friends will be joining the chat tonight (I hope they won't forget!), so it's going to be a good experience for me. God, I'm just about ready to pee in my pants now, but I do hope I make good on my word count tonight! *crosses fingers*