Nano Week 1. "Cause I've seen it before-"

• Words I should be at: 11,669
• Words I am at: 7,519
• Stories within Stories: 3
• Characters who don't have names yet, despite being featured prominently: 2

This has been- hard. Despite what I've been accused of, I do NOT have words on tap. I'm pretty much dry, this year. :P And the fact that I never have any idea where my story is going is also- fun.

Basically I've been motivating myself for a week with the hope of getting to this one line.

The prince stretched out again. “Stone, we’re having air conservation issues. I really must insist on informality. Call me Highness!”

Now what do I write? o.O

---

P.S. I'll update later today with a Character Call and excerpt.

Quick post before I run back to work!

Here is the Wordle of Karma Police, which I think broke 120k last night. (I'm so worried about the fact that "like" made it into the wordle. I AM ENTIRELY COVERED IN SHAME.)

No, that word count is not a good thing, but at least I'm not breaking 200k yet, which is where I was with Expendables. Yay Epics?

I have now reached the happy place where I both hate and love this book with a kind of weary passion. We've been together for almost two years, and it keeps trying to get away. But I am still too stubborn for that. ^_^

Have an excerpt. Sorry about the language, Ewan is, just that way.

Adam had left the lamp on. It shone away in the corner of the room, right in the corner of his eye. Ewan considered throwing a pillow at it to stop the stupid hateful light, but decided burning to death in the inevitable fire wasn’t worth it. He got up and turned the thing off, and then someone knocked on the door. He yanked it open. “What now?!” He growled at the person on the other side.

The person on the other side was not Adam. Ethan and a short, curly haired girl were standing there arm in arm, a little wide-eyed. He cleared his throat. “H-hi, Ewan. Up for a stroll?”

Ewan reflected that maybe he should have kept his shirt on before he went to sleep, but how was he supposed to know Ethan was gonna take his girls calling? “No.” He said shortly, crossing his arms. “Who’s your new lady friend?” He looked her over, taking stock of the mittens on strings, the scarf striped and pompomed in five colours, and the knitted hat with a pattern of happy sheep. “What is she, twelve?”

She glared at him under her eyebrows. “I’m fifteen.”

“Good job.” Ewan nodded, then looked at Ethan. “She’s fifteen. Is that even legal?”

“This is Islay.” Ethan said tightly. “Islay, Ewan, Ewan, Islay. We’re all friends here, and we’re all legal. Right?”

Ewan looked at him, eyes half-closed. “Why are you here?”

“To visit my only friends in town, and to take a walk.” Ethan was somewhat standing in front of his girl now. He grinned. A very believable grin, as usual. “Islay knows all the nice places, and last time we talked, it looked like you weren’t getting out enough. Coming out? We can wait.”

And now the fifteen year old semi-nerd was telling him what to do- again. Ewan flipped him the finger. “Like hell.”

Oh, the glory that is writing death scenes for Lent

3193 words written today. I guess it wasn't as much fail as I thought!

Best quote of the day;

STUPID PACING IS STUPID ‘SCUSE ME PLEASE WHILE I KILL MYSELF MESSILY WITH THIS PAPERCLIP.

"I remember black skies, the lightening all around me..."

Song of the day!

Also this one. *cough*

In terms of writing, my little sisters today both realized that they had improperly backed up their YWP novels. So they were both down to about a thousand words apiece, and had until tomorrow midnight to get their handwritten pages up to a word count of 8k. Tears were shed, especially since they are both at the hunt-and-peck stage. So myself, my mom and my 18 year old sister stepped in to type for them. Which is my excuse for my wordcount. :D Isn't family jolly?

Wordcount;

• Daily: 2,129
• Overall: 65,682

Today I broke Nanami- again. Poor girl doesn't know how much she still has to lose. ^_^

ALSO, Stephanie Perkins gave me *63,588 GIANT GOLD GLITTERY STARS.* I am awesome. I'm so awesome.

"...they were going to the church to be married, he was pressed and sent on sea..."

Yes, I'm still listening to The Once.

I listen to traditional music, and I'm PROUD.

*cough*

Also, my brain LEFT me today, so my objective is to make it to 70k. Since today was a fail. *nods*

Wordcount:

• Daily: 1,942
• Overall: 63,558

ONLY TWO DAYS LEFT OH MY HYPERVENTILATION.

"GOT IT?" "Yes Sir!" "I"M A WOMAN." "Yes MISTRESS!" "That'll do."

Today, I turned off my internet for six hours. No one I wanted to talk to was online anyhow, so I'd only be distracting myself with bad reasons. And in four hours of "writing" I'd managed 147 words. So hey, what did I have to loose?

This is what it looked like.

*I turn off wireless and promptly hyperventilate*

*drinks tea, feels better*

*writes*

*And writes*

*drinks coffee*

*and writes*

*drinks grape and tonic*

*wonders why she is drinking something that tastes like cough syrup*

*writes instead*

Exciting, I know. But i'd forgotten what that feels like, and now I'm a bit blurry around the edges. YAY??? (Also, I watched what I was writing go steadily more and more sketchy. BUT IS STILL YA!)

The final damage done was; *drumroll please*

Wordcount;

• Daily: 5,498
• Overall: 61,623

WHICH MEANS I GET TO MAKE A NEW WORDLE.

Have an Adam Excerpt!

On the whole, he really did not mind this mode of travel. True, it was strange, and you never knew when you would be expected to wear a mask to dinner, (thank goodness the Duke had mentioned that to him,) or get stuck in a washroom where all the doors looked like walls. These things notwithstanding, though, he kind of liked it. If only he had someone to share it with, that was the only real issue. And, to be honest, that was hardly the the fault of the Zeppelin. He smiled ruefully out the window, and looked down to find a new plate featuring spiced pork loin, garlic mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. The good points about this assignment really did outweigh the bad points.

“Hello, buddy!” Adam nearly choked on a bite of pork as the Duke’s hand descended on his back. “Have you met Melinda?”

Adam swallowed as quickly as possible as he stood up. He cleared his throat. “No, I have not had that honour.” Which one was Melinda? The Duke had two quite beautiful black women accompanying him. They smiled behind gloves of coloured satin as he bowed.

The Duke grinned. “You need to get out more, Hewitt!” He kissed the cheek of the woman in blue and silver next to him. She raised her eyebrows at him, then rippled a small laughed. Adam did a quick ring-check, and relaxed internally. Both she and the Duke were wearing single bands on their left ring fingers, so that was all right. With the high heeled shoes that showed off her toes, and hair pinned artfully high on her head, she was taller than the Duke. The Duke blinked one eye, then the other, and grinned at Adam again. “Mind if we join you?”

“No, not at all.” The waiters had already brought over another table, and were adding a second place setting. Adam held out a chair for the other woman, who was also over six feet tall in her shoes, and dressed in green and copper, sans ring. She sat down gracefully, and smiled at him. It was a rather wonderful smile, to be honest. Adam sat down and sipped his soda water with lime as the Duke, Melinda and her nameless friend ate their soup and salad.

“Katie hasn’t been feeling well, sadly.” Melinda grinned across the table, then covered her smile with a hand and a cough. She looked seriously at Adam. “My sister catches flus with shocking regularity, it’s quite sad. Almost monthly.”

So they were sisters? “I’m, sorry. That sounds unfortunate.” The Duke found this funny, judging by the grin directed at his sorbet. Adam wondered why. Monthly sickness sounded terrible- oh. Oh. He turned red, which made everyone laugh, not unkindly.

“Is is unfortunate.” Katie twinkled. “But I’m over it now, and ready to meet these fascinating new people my sister has told me so much about.”

But, the duke and Melinda obviously knew each other, and they were wearing rings, which had to mean- she was talking about him. Adam cleared his throat. “The feeling is mutual, Miss.” He turned red again. “I mean, without the monthly sickness, but maybe...” He gave up and joined in the round of laughter. “I’m pleased to meet you, Miss, how is that?” He offered her his hand.

Katie smiled as she shook it. “Better. And call me Katie.”

“Adam.” He found he was still holding her hand, unexpectedly, so he kissed it. She smiled slowly and covered the expression with her other hand.

Kthnxbai.

"And kids, always remember to write safe."

Wordcount;

• Daily: 1,258
• Overall: 56,146

I seem to be marvellously on track to enjoy a wonderful 25k-in-three-days weekend if I want to hit my goal. Yay?

Also, I had to ask a lot of questions about making out. (Thank you, you know who you are) Srysly, where do people put their arms? Arms are LONG, people, and they bend in limited places. And don't you get neck cramps? Teenagers are silly. ^_^

"I have a book!" "Wait? What do you mean! Explain!" "well Jen, when a writer and a story love each other very much....."

So I was rummaging around to find my plot-bunny file, and I found the original one that I wrote down for Karma Police. This amused me greatly, so I decided to share. I'm generous like that.

-Karma Police

-unpleasant teenagers

-betrayal?

-fantasy/dark green

-Honour belief-lost-fight-do they stick together?

-Everybody dies?

-Fog

AND as you may have noticed from my rummaging, writing was a little- not so much. (I'm so glad no one expects coherency from me on this blog. It makes me smile)

Wordcount:

• Daily: 1,221
• Overall: 54,712

Srysly, that is the level of my fail. ^_^ IN OTHER NEWS, Adam is trying to be a prat. He's trying HARD. And Ewan makes me happy. Here, have a Ewan-Excerpt.

Some whiny kid at the front of the car kept whining, and whining, and whining. Ewan tried to pull his hat over his eyes. It fell off onto the floor, He got off his chair to reach for it. It had rolled under the seat. Ewan reached for it, and stabbed his finger on a tack sticking out of the seat. “Mage.” Ewan made this sound so angry that the small girl two seats back decided to shock her friends with her horrible new curse word as soon as she got home.

Ewan sat back in his seat and stared out the window, sucking his bleeding finger. This day could end at any time, and that would be fine with him. He checked the clock at the front of the car and groaned. Only mid-afternoon? A whole day on the train, and a whole night- with a freakishly loud snoring man next to him- and now this day. Was there no mercy in the world? Clearly not. At least they were in city limits now. He decided to go get a drink. Ewan unfolded himself from the seat and made his way to the front of the car, where there was a machine that dispensed canned drinks. He braced himself against the door and the wall and fished some coins out of his pocket. The beer was bound to be warm, but it’d be better than nothing.

The machine rumbled internally and stuck. Ewan fell against it as the train went around the corner. The machine made an ominous clunking noise and vomited forth two beers. Score! He scooped them up and turned around with a grin.

The grin froze in place when presented with his new arch-enemy, the steward. The skinny bitch’s expression was faintly gloating. “You can’t drink those here.”

“Say What?” He glared.

He held out his hand. “You can’t drink those in a public space. There are kids here.”

Ewan stared at him. “Why are they for sale in a damn public space then?”

The man shrugged. “I don’t make the rules, sorry.” He snapped his fingers. Ewan hadn’t seen someone so clearly not-sorry for quite a long time. He knew the type, though. The censored steward wanted him to beg- acknowledge his position. And then if he did, it was about fifty-fifty if the moron with pin stripes on his soul would give the drinks back. Ewan handed him the beers wordlessly and started back towards his seat.

Behind his back, there was a popping noise as the steward cracked one of the beers. Ewan’s shoulders went up, but he kept walking, If the gentleman wanted a fight so much, he’d be damned if he was gonna give him one.

The kid was still whining as he passed. What did he want this time, a hat? Yeah, a hat. Ewan paused in the aisle and glared at the kid till the squirt made eye contact. “How’s it feel to want?” He growled in his most don’t-even-not-today tone.

The boy hiccuped and hid behind his mom. Ewan could feel the steward approach him from behind, radiating disapproval. “Is this boy bothering you, Miss’ess?”

The woman in question, comfortably into middle age and clearly weary of traveling, smiled crookedly. “Why yes, but he seems to have calmed down now, thanks to this young man.” She directed a smile at Ewan, who touched his forehead in return and retreated to his seat, Behind him, he heard the woman continue talking. “Are you allowed to drink on the job?”

Heh. So not everyone on a train was out to get him. Porters, yes. Moms, maybe not. ThereWasTheSignForTheStationHellYes. Ewan was already on his feet and pulling his coat out of the overhead rack. He lined up by the door. The steward was yapping about safety rules- like he cared. Like anyone cared. Ewan was off the train as soon as it was within jumping range of the platform.

"And you wonder/ wonder/ can you last much longer/ this cloud you are under/ will it cover you/ desert rose..."

First of all, I LOVE Desert Rose, by White Heart. So much. Oh wow, how I love that song. It's one of the few desperate songs I clung to as a teenager, which still translates now that I'm, y'know, a grown up. You should hunt it down and buy it. :D

Wordcount:

• Daily: 2,613
• Overall: 53,622

I, kinda kinda only kinda got inspired again. A little bit? *smiles*

"Wether tis nobler in the mind to eat arrows- No. Wait."

Wordcount:

• Daily: 853
• Overall: 52,021

The day was a fail- BUT

I FINALLY BROKE FIFTY KAY.

WHOOOOO!!!!!

*big, smily face*

You know what that means? That's right, a WORDLE. *happy happy sunshines*

Oh, and word count is *mutters*

• Daily: 1,327
• AND OVERALL IS NOW: 50,181

Now I only have to write 30 k in eight days to win my self-appointed nano goal. Easy, right? :D

Word count:

• Daily: 3.672
• Overall: 48,851

Tired now,

"What WAS that?" "I was on fire, that is all you need to know."

[rambling]

So every writer has three inhabitants of her (or his) mind; Muse, Inner Editor, and Burnout. You know it's true!

Anyhow, in talking to my friendlies today, we had a little too much fun describing parts of our inner unholy trinities.

• Neldor said her Burnout was kinda pathetic and shy but smart, a bad kisser (he says he knows how to french kiss, just let him show you!) but cuddly, and looks rather like Mr. Universe, from Serenity. (Later updates prove that he's only shy and or pathetic to get you in his arms (and not writing). Clever boy.)
• Kemendraugh said her Muse was a clean, bright, shiny poster boy with great teeth (even when he's hungover,) and Burnout was a bad boy, with leather, leather, chains, tongue piercing, leather, spiked hair, studs, and leather.
• My Inner Editor is a snarky teenage boy who keeps laughing sooo sarcastically at my writing, but secretly adores it and wants to play with it, (he's cute too, and clever) and my Burnout is a quick-tempered bad boy with many piercings and messy dyed hair, who tends to be abusive but thinks I'm hot (and a bad kisser and too bony to cuddle but we can work on that) and spends WAY too much time writing, when I should be learning how to kiss, or fight, or make him a pie, or JUST PUT DOWN THE LAPTOP AND GET OVER HERE. Sorta thing.

*cough*

So, yes. I need to fully describe these gorgeous boys, sometime. My Muse is still hiding, the silly. If you do write up a description of your unholy trinity- (and please, do!)- tell me about it in the comments, or something. :D

In terms of writing, here's my wordcount;

• Daily: 3,143
• Overall: 44,939

YEAH, that's right, I finally hit my word count for the day! GO SNAZEL YOU ARE AWESOME. *cough*

I forgot to post this, but here's the wordle of my 40k mark! WHOOOOOOOO!!!!

(Why yes, I motivate myself with wordles. Why, is it that obvious?)

[/rambling]

"Shoulda turned around and left before the sun came up again..."

My nano playlist is eighteen hours long. I impress myself. ANYWAYS.

Burnout continues to trundle along. Someone who shall remain nameless came up with the idea of making out with burnout, to distract and placate it. Perhaps I shall try that tomorrow. But today, my word count is;

• Daily: 937
• Overall: 41,612

And have an excerpt that- again- had nothing to do with anything! Whee for tradition!

After throwing that fit, now she was calmly eating her fries and walking sideways out of the store. Ewan stayed a few steps behind Nanami, in case she went nutcase again. The others would already be at the car...

“I’m not crazy, you know.”

Ewan kept his flinch contained inside his jacket. It wasn’t even noticeable, he was sure. “I wasn’t thinking that.” He half-lied.

“Ah-huh.” Nanami grinned at him over her shoulder as they crossed the mall parking lot. “I’m sure. It worked, though!” She frowned down at the fries in her hand. “I don’t want these, you want them?”

“It did work.” Ewan took a few long longer steps to catch up. He took the fries from her hand and scarfed them down. “Thanks. Why’d you think it would?”

Nanami had her hands stuffed in her pockets now. She shrugged. “I had a cousin, have, who has mental issues. She liked to try and get at least one person to quit every time she went out.”

“Ah-huh.” Ewan considered this. “So you knew that would-?” He trailed off, unsure how to phrase the question.

“If she hadn’t quit then, the next step was to start kissing random people or stripping.”

Ewan choked on a fry. “You, uh.” He was even less sure of how to phrase THAT question. Did both girls he was working with have no aversion to kissing random people, then? And if so, why hadn’t he gotten some of that yet?

Nanami smiled slightly, with her eyes half-shut. “I said there was a family tradition, didn’t I?”

“You, uh, like tradition?” Ewan spotted Adam’s car and headed down the next aisle in the parking lot. He was having to re-arrange a lot of boxes in his mind, especially around Nanami.

“For work.” She said calmly, almost as though she knew what he was thinking about. This made the boxes shuffle again, out of the more pleasant patterns they were forming into. Damn.

Ewan finished the fries all at once and slid into the backseat of Adam’s stupidly expensive, yuppie car. Ethan was in the passenger seat reading a map, Adam was propped up behind the wheel- (idiot,) Laura was sitting behind Adam, and- Mr. Theyneker was sitting next to him. Ewan stiffened and turned to look at him.

“I thought that went well.” The man in the suit wasn’t perturbed by the situation, or the fact that he was taking up Nanami’s seat, so she had to stand outside the car and peer into it. “Efficient imagination, and very fast. What were all of your roles in this?” He looked expectantly at Adam. Adam opened up his mouth and started to prattle stupidly.

Ewan crossed his arms and leaned back on the seat. So Mr. Fucking Theyneker thought the preppy bastard was in charge too? That was just, brilliant. Fucking Brilliant.

Also. You should all listen to the new John Mayer cd. :D I like Assasin, and I'm On Fire, and Half Of My Heart. A lot. *dances off*

Not as good as I was hoping, but not too bad.

Wordcount;

• Daily: 4,703
• Overall: 38,292

I also watched Water Of Mars, which was slightly unwise as I'm now going to sleep alone. I really hope it doesn't rain.

Catching up for yesterday's fail.

Word Count:

• Daily: 690
• Overall: 33,616

Huh. That means, to be caught up by the end of today, I need to write over six thousand words. Huh. Imma go buy some black eyed peas, and get back to you, kay?

Oh, you want a reason why I failed? End of year party at work. I spent five hours on a bus and my laptop battery died after two hours, and then there was the party, meal and being social (gasp) and my roommate not wanting to be kept up by my halting typing at night. Well, I didn't ask her, but it would be kinda rude to do so. Also I'm a lightweight. Scratch that, featherweight. And sleeping seemed like a really good idea at the time. LOOK AT ALL MY EXCUSES AREN"T THEY PRETTY? (Yes, I live so far into the back of beyond that it requires a day on the bus and a night in a hotel to attend my work end of year party.)

Okay I'll go write now.

*shuffles off*

"Pour me a heady dose of atmosphere..."

Word Count;

• Daily: 1,334
• Overall: 32,917

Yes it was fail. Yes I'm out of town and internet and computer range for the weekend. Moving on. Fire is pretty. True story.

Have an excerpt that doesn't have to do with anything. YAY LAMENESS.

“I’m back!” Adam headed up the stairs to his room and started unpacking.

There was knock on his door. “Adam?”

“Come in, Mom.” He looked up from the backpack and smiled patiently at his mom. She finished wiping her hands on her apron and hugged him. She smelled of dish soap and whole wheat flour, as always.

“You have the best timing! I just put a pie in the oven!” She smiled at him as she took the bag away from him and started unpacking.

“No, mom, I can do that.” He tried to take the bag back.

“No, I’ve got to make sure you don’t have anything immoral in here.” She commenced busily unpacked clothing and laid it out on the bed. “How was your trip, dear?”

Adam flinched and went to hang up his jacket. He’d gotten rid of anything she wouldn’t approve of, he was pretty sure. Had he checked all the inner pockets? “Uh, great. I got the job? The travel was a bit long, but we made all our connections okay. “ Good thing he’d had the idea to check through the bag that had been packed for him. Mom would not have been happy to find the contraceptives.

“Where did you go?” She frowned at a band t-shirt. Darn, he hadn’t thought to check the clothes for content.

“Uh, I can’t tell you.”

She paused and looked at him. “What was that, Adam?”

Her son scratched at his hair and smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry, mom. We had to sign a non-disclosure agreement.”

She stared at him. “Well, I never!”

Adam looked down. “Sorry, Mom. They deal in a lot of confidential information.”

His mother snatched the bag off the bed, along with the clothes he had already unpacked. “Well, I’m going to wash this. “ She left the room in a huff. “Dinner is in half an hour, and youth group is tonight, if you’re still interested!”

“Great! I am, Mom.” Adam called down the stairs, and then flopped onto his bed and groaned. “That went well,” he muttered under his breath.
....

"For I am a Mystery, For I am a locked room.."

Word Count;

• Daily: 2,051
• Overall: 31,395

Not up to count. DO I CARE? NO. NO I DO NOT.

Though I do need to learn how to get inspired earlier in the day. Work tomorrow, and travel on the weekend. Yeeha!

In other news, I broke 30 k. *shy* So I get to put up a new wordle! *dances* Oh my, simple minds, simple pleasures. It's so true.

Laura is almost up to size with the others! That's cause Adam is trying so hard to ignore the hussy over there. *smirks* Ahem.

Does anyone want excerpts any more?

Ouch...

Wordcount:

• Daily: 965
• Overall: 25,817

I don't really think I want to talk about it. In other news, Glee is entertaining. And sleep is good. MMmm, sleep.

Pay Attention To The Bumper Stickers

Wordcount;

• Daily: 2,840
• Overall: 23,411

Wait, what? I thought I didn't hit word count. I guess, I did. Huh. Yay? HURRAH FOR WORDY WALKING UP STAIRCASES. *throws confetti*

Song of the day.

Have a pretty wordle!

Laura doesn't get much face time, does she? Also I wrote a torture scene today which makes me loathe to sleep. Just, yeah. *pokes Ethan* Sorry, man. You're just smart and know things.

Going to go sleep now kthnxbai.