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[nicksgal]

I have an ad blocker on my computer, so none usually LOL.  I also don't use Facebook often on my computer anymore, and I use different Google accounts on my phone vs. computer.  I notice it more on the computer with the recommended videos that pop up on YouTube after I've been using it to research LOL.

Ooh, ad blocker. The best way to avoid ads for black market organs, lol. I'm guessing your computer is your RokofAges75 stuff and your phone is not, lol, but that makes sense. Ooh, yeah, recommended videos is probably weird for sure. I mostly get ads for stores, so I guess my weird writing-related googling hasn't caught on yet, lol.

Thanks!  I haven't checked out the Nano forums before, but that sounds like a great resource.

It's good sometimes! There's a wealth of personal experience/expertise on various things since it's a worldwide community.

Very true!  And yes, I have hacked and slashed and even deleted first drafts on occasion, but that's not how I normally operate.  The beauty of publishing it for free on the internet is that as long as I like it, it's fine... and hopefully someone else out there will like it, too.

Exactly! I agree, as long as you like what you're writing, then write away! And if you don't like it, well... that's what those hack and slash times are for, lol.

I did!  Still didn't finish my chapter, but I wrote like 500 words today, which is not bad for a weeknight and is close to what I'm supposed to be writing each day to make my goal.

Yay! You're so close! I believe in you! I continued on my chapter I was stuck on and finished my edit for this week's update today so far, so I'm pretty excited about that. We've got this!

Hm... maybe somewhere in Transylvania or Forks, WA?  But yes, I could see that being problematic if the vampire children never age.  Would they just keep repeating the same classes for eternity, like Edward Cullen?  That would get boring.  Why even go to school?  This was not a very well thought out career change.

Maybe get training in something vocational? There's always new things to learn there, lol. I mean, you could realistically pass as a high schooler/college student for eight years or so even if you never age. Elementary, I think the line is smaller. Maybe teach werewolf children at night? They age at least.

[RokofAges75]

Yay! You're so close! I believe in you! I continued on my chapter I was stuck on and finished my edit for this week's update today so far, so I'm pretty excited about that. We've got this!

Thanks!  I'm glad you were able to continue your chapter and finish your edit!  Go you!

I am feeling better about my goal after tonight's writing.  I wrote almost 1000 words and finished Chapter 14!  It was a long, hot day at school today, and when I got home, I was like, "I need a drink."  So I had a drink.  And damn, it put me in such a better mood, and I was productive!  Usually I prefer caffeine to alcohol, but apparently beer did the trick tonight LOL.  Except I accidentally posted my total word count as my word count for this session, which tricked Nano into thinking I made my goal and gave me a badge I didn't deserve.  I deleted and fixed it, but the badge is still showing up... so damn, I really better make that goal, or I will be living a lie LOL.  1,588 words to go!  But now I have to start a new chapter tomorrow, and of course I have no idea how, so... wish me luck!


Edited to add:  In tonight's edition of "random things I found while researching," here is an article from CNN's website in 1996 about Keiko, the whale from Free Willy, being moved to a new home. http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9601/keiko_willy_moves/index.html  Aww, RIP Keiko.

[nicksgal]

Thanks!  I'm glad you were able to continue your chapter and finish your edit!  Go you!

Now I'm stuck on the chapter again, lol. But the other one is going well, so at least the streak continues! I've enjoyed the past couple of days heading in to school later since it's given me time to write in the morning. We'll see how the rest of today, tomorrow, and Friday go! We've got this, two-ish days left!

I am feeling better about my goal after tonight's writing.  I wrote almost 1000 words and finished Chapter 14!  It was a long, hot day at school today, and when I got home, I was like, "I need a drink."  So I had a drink.  And damn, it put me in such a better mood, and I was productive!  Usually I prefer caffeine to alcohol, but apparently beer did the trick tonight LOL.  Except I accidentally posted my total word count as my word count for this session, which tricked Nano into thinking I made my goal and gave me a badge I didn't deserve.  I deleted and fixed it, but the badge is still showing up... so damn, I really better make that goal, or I will be living a lie LOL.  1,588 words to go!  But now I have to start a new chapter tomorrow, and of course I have no idea how, so... wish me luck!

Go you! That's awesome! I feel you on those days, sometimes you get to the end and go "ugh, I need a beverage." Glad it was productive for you! Oh no! Technology strikes again! I believe in you though and think you can get through without living a lie. Only 500ish words each day! You've got this! Hope your new chapter is going great!

Edited to add:  In tonight's edition of "random things I found while researching," here is an article from CNN's website in 1996 about Keiko, the whale from Free Willy, being moved to a new home. http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9601/keiko_willy_moves/index.html  Aww, RIP Keiko.

Aww, Keiko. I remember that move to Oregon. Now I want to know what Keiko the whale has to do with Nick and Kevin drama, lol.

[RokofAges75]

Now I'm stuck on the chapter again, lol. But the other one is going well, so at least the streak continues! I've enjoyed the past couple of days heading in to school later since it's given me time to write in the morning. We'll see how the rest of today, tomorrow, and Friday go! We've got this, two-ish days left!

Oh noes, sorry you're stuck on one chapter, but glad the other one is going well.  Perks of writing two things at a time!  I had a hard time getting Chapter 15 started, but I did finally come up with a beginning tonight, so at least I made it over that hurdle.

Go you! That's awesome! I feel you on those days, sometimes you get to the end and go "ugh, I need a beverage." Glad it was productive for you! Oh no! Technology strikes again! I believe in you though and think you can get through without living a lie. Only 500ish words each day! You've got this! Hope your new chapter is going great!

Thanks!  It's not going great, but at least it's going.  I probably will not hit my 500 words tonight, but now that the chapter is started, hoping I'll get more into it tomorrow and finish strong on Friday.  I hope you finish strong too!

Aww, Keiko. I remember that move to Oregon. Now I want to know what Keiko the whale has to do with Nick and Kevin drama, lol.

LOL It's like six degrees of separation... can you make the connection between the plot of my story and the seemingly random things I google while writing it?

[nicksgal]

Oh noes, sorry you're stuck on one chapter, but glad the other one is going well.  Perks of writing two things at a time!  I had a hard time getting Chapter 15 started, but I did finally come up with a beginning tonight, so at least I made it over that hurdle.

It's my fault. I finished a scene and realized I didn't know quite what else I wanted to write for the rest of the chapter... I'm trying to give Nick a break from being the POV character by letting him out of a few chapters, but he's around and I think he has to at least participate in the plot for the chapter to continue for the other characters in the direction it needs to go, lol. The chapter that is going well feels like the finale at the end of the first act of a musical, lol. I say it's going well now. Two scenes of it are going well so far.

Thanks!  It's not going great, but at least it's going.  I probably will not hit my 500 words tonight, but now that the chapter is started, hoping I'll get more into it tomorrow and finish strong on Friday.  I hope you finish strong too!

I'm glad you found a beginning! The start is what you need to get inspired! So now the hard part is all done; now you just have to get words to the page. I believe!

LOL It's like six degrees of separation... can you make the connection between the plot of my story and the seemingly random things I google while writing it?

LOL! We need a new six degrees of separation, the youths don't know who Kevin Bacon is anyway.

Kevin bought Nick a therapy whale! No, the line "You're my free willy" is in there somewhere! They're parodying the Michael Jackson song from the movie!

I've run out of ideas, but those are the funniest ones I can think of, lol.

Edited to add: I popped back in originally because google docs corrected my Brian to Brain again, so I backspaced to fix it... and it turned it right back to Brain. I do not use "brain" google docs. If I did, it would be harder to find Brian typos!

[nicksgal]

I love how unrealisticall y NaNo believes in me reaching my goal. In the little stats center, it's like "if you only write 11,000 words today and tomorrow, you'll reach 60,000 words! You can do it!" You know, NaNo... I have never written 11,000 words in one day that I can recall. Not even in the earliest days of PBox. That would be like me sitting down and thinking I could write three to four chapters in a day. In a weekend? Maybe... depends on the four chapters. In a day? There's no way. In a day when I have nothing else to do? There's still no way. I would need you all to do like 7 hours worth of 15-minute word sprints with me. I don't think I've got that in me even on my best day, lol.

Today's NaNo Care package made me curious about everybody else's fantastic elements in their stories. Not me, obviously, because "It was magic" is a fairly simple explanation for 98% of the things I write. The other 2% is probably "It was a dream (and/or 'dream,' depending on the story... and if it was a 'dream,' well then it was probably magic, so... here we are at that 98% again)." Put those two things together in some form and you get... well PBox among other things, lol. Anyway, today's NaNo Care Package:

"As speculative fiction becomes more mainstream, fantastic elements are infiltrating every genre—even nonfiction and memoir. The trick is to find what feels (almost) possible to you. Whether it’s as subtle as the smoke alarm going off every time the MC fights with their husband or as wild as a slumber party ritual that conjures a pair of ancient beings, finding places to use even slightly fantastical elements can add depth and complexity, allowing you to express deeper themes and tell a more nuanced story."

Today's Writing Challenge:

Take Michelle's advice and write a scene where something fantastical or unexplained happens—whether it's as small as a surprising coincidence, or overtly magical.

Do you tend to write stories with magic in them? Or, back to the prompt, what's a small way you include the fantastic in your works if magic is not your "bread and butter"?

Well, on that note, I have an hour and a half to get cracking on this 11,000 words... wish me luck!

[RokofAges75]

It's my fault. I finished a scene and realized I didn't know quite what else I wanted to write for the rest of the chapter... I'm trying to give Nick a break from being the POV character by letting him out of a few chapters, but he's around and I think he has to at least participate in the plot for the chapter to continue for the other characters in the direction it needs to go, lol. The chapter that is going well feels like the finale at the end of the first act of a musical, lol. I say it's going well now. Two scenes of it are going well so far.

If Nick is demanding to be written, then keep writing him.  He must not need a break LOL.  He doesn't like to be out of the spotlight.  I'm glad the other chapter is still going well so far.  Finale at the end of the first act sounds exciting!

I'm glad you found a beginning! The start is what you need to get inspired! So now the hard part is all done; now you just have to get words to the page. I believe!

Hopefully!  I did have a decent little writing session this morning while I was getting ready for work and wrote a couple solid paragraphs, so I'm hoping to be able to continue tonight.

LOL! We need a new six degrees of separation, the youths don't know who Kevin Bacon is anyway.

Kevin bought Nick a therapy whale! No, the line "You're my free willy" is in there somewhere! They're parodying the Michael Jackson song from the movie!

I've run out of ideas, but those are the funniest ones I can think of, lol.

Edited to add: I popped back in originally because google docs corrected my Brian to Brain again, so I backspaced to fix it... and it turned it right back to Brain. I do not use "brain" google docs. If I did, it would be harder to find Brian typos!

I love all those ideas! LOL  And now that song is stuck in my head.  "Hold me... like the river Jordan..."   I love that song!

Damn you, Google Docs!  That is so weird.  I don't think it has ever autocorrected Brian into brain for me... unless it has and I have stories full of "Brains" I've never noticed?? LOL

[RokofAges75]

I love how unrealisticall y NaNo believes in me reaching my goal. In the little stats center, it's like "if you only write 11,000 words today and tomorrow, you'll reach 60,000 words! You can do it!" You know, NaNo... I have never written 11,000 words in one day that I can recall. Not even in the earliest days of PBox. That would be like me sitting down and thinking I could write three to four chapters in a day. In a weekend? Maybe... depends on the four chapters. In a day? There's no way. In a day when I have nothing else to do? There's still no way. I would need you all to do like 7 hours worth of 15-minute word sprints with me. I don't think I've got that in me even on my best day, lol.

LOL Oh Nano... at some point, it's okay to lower your expectations and just say, "Well, at least you tried.  Set a new goal and try again next month!"  There's no way I could ever write 11,000 words in a day either.  I think the most I've ever written in a day was like 7000-8000 words, but that would have been one of those times where I stayed up all night feverishly typing in a caffeine-fueled frenzy of inspiration.  I don't think I could do that now, but back in the Broken/BMS era, maybe.

Today's NaNo Care package made me curious about everybody else's fantastic elements in their stories. Not me, obviously, because "It was magic" is a fairly simple explanation for 98% of the things I write. The other 2% is probably "It was a dream (and/or 'dream,' depending on the story... and if it was a 'dream,' well then it was probably magic, so... here we are at that 98% again)." Put those two things together in some form and you get... well PBox among other things, lol. Anyway, today's NaNo Care Package:

"As speculative fiction becomes more mainstream, fantastic elements are infiltrating every genre—even nonfiction and memoir. The trick is to find what feels (almost) possible to you. Whether it’s as subtle as the smoke alarm going off every time the MC fights with their husband or as wild as a slumber party ritual that conjures a pair of ancient beings, finding places to use even slightly fantastical elements can add depth and complexity, allowing you to express deeper themes and tell a more nuanced story."

Today's Writing Challenge:

Take Michelle's advice and write a scene where something fantastical or unexplained happens—whether it's as small as a surprising coincidence, or overtly magical.

Do you tend to write stories with magic in them? Or, back to the prompt, what's a small way you include the fantastic in your works if magic is not your "bread and butter"?

Well, on that note, I have an hour and a half to get cracking on this 11,000 words... wish me luck!

This was an interesting prompt, something I've never really thought about before.  I write mostly realistic fiction, so magic is not an element I use often.  But now that I think about it, I have incorporated some of those small fantastical elements into otherwise realistic stories through dreams and/or hallucinations that have some kind of symbolic purpose.  I've used both in MBK, and AHTIM had a whole subplot that played out in a series of near-death experience "dreams."  Those work for me because, while fantastical, they can still be explained as figments of the sleeping/unconscious/drug-addled brain.

LOL Good luck with that!

[RokofAges75]

So here's what I get for succumbing to the temptation to take a nap at 6 p.m.  I woke up at 7:20 in a total panic, thinking it was 7:20 in the morning and I'd overslept.  That is literally the latest I can leave my house and still make it to work on time.  Thankfully, I only made it as far as the bathroom before I realized it was still evening and I'd only slept for an hour LOL.

Here's hoping my nap will help me get some writing done in the next hour or so.

[nicksgal]

If Nick is demanding to be written, then keep writing him.  He must not need a break LOL.  He doesn't like to be out of the spotlight.  I'm glad the other chapter is still going well so far.  Finale at the end of the first act sounds exciting!

I don't know that he's demanding to be written necessarily, but I guess he was just bored because he popped into the chapter and then took it a completely different direction from what I'd brought him in for even though he's still not the POV character. AJ and Howie got their directives back on track somewhat, but spotlight stealing squad Nick does it again, lol! And now I think this scene that I didn't know he wanted to happen has to be from his POV because he's probably the one that needs the lesson the most out of him, Howie, and AJ. Maybe I'm just lying to myself and Nick really did want to be the POV character again. I'm sorry AJ and Howie, I really tried to give you some POV chapters where things were focused on you two!

That was actually my original intent in leaving Nick out for a bit: half giving him a break from his drama and half giving Howie, AJ, Brian, and Kevin some love and space to talk out what they have going on. But you're right, he has never let me forget that most of this magnum opus is his story, so I think he was just reminding me (and Brian -- this is really Brian's fault for telling Nick to go away from his stuff in the first place) that he's not going anywhere, but he's happy to give his friends some time in the spotlight if they need it and that he'll hang out in their narratives in the meantime.

Maybe it is a little exciting, but in a mundane way, not a "One Day More" kind of way even though that's what I've been humming to myself as I keep typing the phrase "starting tomorrow."

Hopefully!  I did have a decent little writing session this morning while I was getting ready for work and wrote a couple solid paragraphs, so I'm hoping to be able to continue tonight.

Good for your morning session! I think you've got this! I wrote about 375 words this morning and 275 words this afternoon before my last Thursday night training (finally), and the chapter still seems ready to write so I'm hoping that I can continue my mojo and maybe finish it out, or at least get a good chunk out of it (I was just bored at the end of the training and saw that you had posted, lol).

I love all those ideas! LOL  And now that song is stuck in my head.  "Hold me... like the river Jordan..."   I love that song!

You know I'm always good for ridiculous jokes. I love that song too. I want to listen to it, but it has nothing to do with what I'm writing, lol.

Only sort of on topic, but... I was once at a young professional's event at our museum where they do a science talk (with a panel or an expert) about a temporary/traveling exhibit. Then they open the museum up afterward and you can wander around with drinks and such, see the new exhibit and some old favorites. It was really fun! Anyway, at the end of the night there's a big dance party in the atrium and near the end of it, they played that song and seeing an entire room of Millennials (mostly) all doing the arms wide open while singing was one of the greatest things I've ever seen. I laughed so hard after realizing it wasn't just me and my friends doing it.

Damn you, Google Docs!  That is so weird.  I don't think it has ever autocorrected Brian into brain for me... unless it has and I have stories full of "Brains" I've never noticed?? LOL

I told you, I literally watch it do it and hate it every time. I always wonder if google reads back the sentence and goes "Oh, my bad, 'Brain' doesn't make sense, you must have actually meant 'Brian.' Carry on." Run a quick "find and replace" for "Brain" and see what pops up, maybe you do.

[nicksgal]

LOL Oh Nano... at some point, it's okay to lower your expectations and just say, "Well, at least you tried.  Set a new goal and try again next month!"  There's no way I could ever write 11,000 words in a day either.  I think the most I've ever written in a day was like 7000-8000 words, but that would have been one of those times where I stayed up all night feverishly typing in a caffeine-fueled frenzy of inspiration.  I don't think I could do that now, but back in the Broken/BMS era, maybe.

It does after the NaNo events end, or it used to message you and say, "want to add a new goal?" at least. I can't recall what the new servers do. But that's what I've been telling myself. "If I can finish these two chapters I wanted to finish, then I will feel great about Camp NaNo even if I didn't finish PNecklace."

I think in my PBox "feverish typing" days, I would go a long time without updating and then end up writing two chapters in a night near the end, so those would have been around 6,000-8,000 words. Now that I'm a little more consistent, those multi-chapter from start to finish days don't really happen anymore. I'm much more likely to finish a chapter and start a new one, but end up finishing that second one on a different day. I think I had one weekend back in the November NaNo where I wrote most of the chapters I just finished posting. I finished chapter fourteen on Saturday and then chunked through to chapter eighteen by the end of Sunday and may have even started chapter nineteen that Sunday too. And they all ended up being some of my favorites in PNecklace overall and still are, except for chapter sixteen -- it's not bad or anything, just less fun than the awesome chapters surrounding it.

This was an interesting prompt, something I've never really thought about before.  I write mostly realistic fiction, so magic is not an element I use often.  But now that I think about it, I have incorporated some of those small fantastical elements into otherwise realistic stories through dreams and/or hallucinations that have some kind of symbolic purpose.  I've used both in MBK, and AHTIM had a whole subplot that played out in a series of near-death experience "dreams."  Those work for me because, while fantastical, they can still be explained as figments of the sleeping/unconscious/drug-addled brain.

I thought it was interesting too! Fantastic elements and speculative fiction are obviously things I think about a lot, but I thought it was true: sometimes there's magic in the mundane even if it doesn't seem like magic at first glance. So I was curious on everyone else's thoughts.

I think it's fitting that dreams and/or hallucinations would be your fantastic element, because you're right, it's this crazy part of the brain that we don't really have a lot of research on the "why" of it, so it's in this gray area. And how much we really remember about our dreams is fuzzy at best. It's usually a picture or a word or two, but not prolonged details. I think dreams are really interesting.

LOL Good luck with that!

10,186 words to go today! lol

So here's what I get for succumbing to the temptation to take a nap at 6 p.m.  I woke up at 7:20 in a total panic, thinking it was 7:20 in the morning and I'd overslept.  That is literally the latest I can leave my house and still make it to work on time.  Thankfully, I only made it as far as the bathroom before I realized it was still evening and I'd only slept for an hour LOL.

Here's hoping my nap will help me get some writing done in the next hour or so.

Oh no!!!! That was my greatest fear when I worked at a bakery and it happened to me a lot, lol. So I made the switch the 24-hour clock and never looked back. Then there's no question of whether you slept for an hour (18 to 19:20) or did in fact sleep straight through to the morning. I once got in the shower and found new clothes while frantically brushing my teeth before I looked outside and saw that it was night time, lol.

I believe in you! You'll make your goal!

[RokofAges75]

It does after the NaNo events end, or it used to message you and say, "want to add a new goal?" at least. I can't recall what the new servers do. But that's what I've been telling myself. "If I can finish these two chapters I wanted to finish, then I will feel great about Camp NaNo even if I didn't finish PNecklace."

Good for you!  You should feel great!  You've written almost double what I have, and your goal was three times mine LOL.

I was ready to give up for the night an hour ago, but I kept pushing myself to write another sentence, and I ended up with 449 words instead of the 67 I was on when I wanted to stop LOL.  I'm now within 1,000 words of my goal, so wish me luck that tomorrow night's writing session goes well!  Even if I don't make it, I've written more this month than I probably would have without Nano, especially the past two weeks.  On nights like this, I would have quit much sooner if I didn't have a goal beyond writing at least one word a day LOL.

I think in my PBox "feverish typing" days, I would go a long time without updating and then end up writing two chapters in a night near the end, so those would have been around 6,000-8,000 words. Now that I'm a little more consistent, those multi-chapter from start to finish days don't really happen anymore. I'm much more likely to finish a chapter and start a new one, but end up finishing that second one on a different day. I think I had one weekend back in the November NaNo where I wrote most of the chapters I just finished posting. I finished chapter fourteen on Saturday and then chunked through to chapter eighteen by the end of Sunday and may have even started chapter nineteen that Sunday too. And they all ended up being some of my favorites in PNecklace overall and still are, except for chapter sixteen -- it's not bad or anything, just less fun than the awesome chapters surrounding it.

Wow, 4-5 chapters in a weekend!  That's impressive!  I haven't had a two-chapter day in a long, long time.  These days if I can finish one whole chapter in a day, that is a rare feat.  But as long as I'm writing consistently, it doesn't matter.  Like you said, we're still more productive that way than when we would have bursts of inspiration followed by weeks without writing anything.

Sometimes those chapters I write all at once do end up being my favorites because they're usually emotional and exciting, or I wouldn't be as inspired to keep writing and writing.  But usually the day after one of those late night marathon writing sessions, I wake up and am like, "WTF did I even write last night?"  Then I'm afraid to read it, in case it's nothing but a series of delirious ramblings LOL.

I think it's fitting that dreams and/or hallucinations would be your fantastic element, because you're right, it's this crazy part of the brain that we don't really have a lot of research on the "why" of it, so it's in this gray area. And how much we really remember about our dreams is fuzzy at best. It's usually a picture or a word or two, but not prolonged details. I think dreams are really interesting.

Absolutely!  It is interesting, and even if we don't usually remember our dreams in great detail when we wake up, they can still be described in great detail in a story.  And then sometimes we do have those really vivid dreams that linger even after we wake up.

Oh no!!!! That was my greatest fear when I worked at a bakery and it happened to me a lot, lol. So I made the switch the 24-hour clock and never looked back. Then there's no question of whether you slept for an hour (18 to 19:20) or did in fact sleep straight through to the morning. I once got in the shower and found new clothes while frantically brushing my teeth before I looked outside and saw that it was night time, lol.

I used to do that a lot, wake up in the middle of the night thinking it was morning and start getting ready, only to realize it was like 2 a.m.  Sometimes I didn't realize it until after I'd already showered and had to go back to bed with wet hair LOL.  It was probably stress-related.

Once of my Facebook friends, a girl I went to college with who's also a teacher, posted about doing the same thing, except she went as far as packing her lunch and driving halfway to work before she realized it was only one in the morning LOL.

[nicksgal]

Good for you!  You should feel great!  You've written almost double what I have, and your goal was three times mine LOL.

I just really wanted to finish, haha. I wish all of those words were for new chapters and not whatever I felt like writing or editing. I did finish up four chapters so far though, plus one and a half OF PBox chapters. I probably also have about 1,000 words left to write (I read everything and then respond, lol), so let's cheer each other on tomorrow!

I was ready to give up for the night an hour ago, but I kept pushing myself to write another sentence, and I ended up with 449 words instead of the 67 I was on when I wanted to stop LOL.  I'm now within 1,000 words of my goal, so wish me luck that tomorrow night's writing session goes well!  Even if I don't make it, I've written more this month than I probably would have without Nano, especially the past two weeks.  On nights like this, I would have quit much sooner if I didn't have a goal beyond writing at least one word a day LOL.

I'm glad the push was worth it! Sometimes I do that too and sometimes, I just let myself stop. That's a lot of my 100 or less word days in the middle of the week. I'm glad you found it productive and sustainable. That's what I like about the camp months, setting my own goal. It makes it a little more writer focused and less "first draft of a novel feeling." Don't get me wrong, I was super happy about my almost 52,000 words in November, but this is nice too, though I probably should have been more realistic and picked 40,000, lol. Next month's goal is a little less than 42,000 words. I will finish this novel. The end is near, lol.

Wow, 4-5 chapters in a weekend!  That's impressive!  I haven't had a two-chapter day in a long, long time.  These days if I can finish one whole chapter in a day, that is a rare feat.  But as long as I'm writing consistently, it doesn't matter.  Like you said, we're still more productive that way than when we would have bursts of inspiration followed by weeks without writing anything.

Sometimes those chapters I write all at once do end up being my favorites because they're usually emotional and exciting, or I wouldn't be as inspired to keep writing and writing.  But usually the day after one of those late night marathon writing sessions, I wake up and am like, "WTF did I even write last night?"  Then I'm afraid to read it, in case it's nothing but a series of delirious ramblings LOL.

I'm a little bummed it hasn't happened again, but it was an accomplishment! I'm the same as you, finishing one chapter in a day start to finish would be awesome. I think I average four to seven days per chapter?  During NaNo I was doing two or three days per chapter depending on how much of it was already written from random bursts of inspiration, but it was very tiring. I'm not sure how I thought I could do it again, lol. I agree, the consistency is what's key now. We're consistent and ahead of ourselves, that makes the product we put out much more reliable.

Yes! They're the author excitement ones for sure! I usually fear the same and end up rereading everything I wrote in the last writing session for that reason, but I didn't let myself do it that weekend or any of the other times I've written chapters back-to-back because I worry it would destroy my groove. But, then after the groove is gone, I typically go back and hack and slash a lot of it.

Absolutely!  It is interesting, and even if we don't usually remember our dreams in great detail when we wake up, they can still be described in great detail in a story.  And then sometimes we do have those really vivid dreams that linger even after we wake up.

Those are my favorites when they happen. Though most of them these days are the anxiety fueled ones, unfortunately.

I used to do that a lot, wake up in the middle of the night thinking it was morning and start getting ready, only to realize it was like 2 a.m.  Sometimes I didn't realize it until after I'd already showered and had to go back to bed with wet hair LOL.  It was probably stress-related.

Once of my Facebook friends, a girl I went to college with who's also a teacher, posted about doing the same thing, except she went as far as packing her lunch and driving halfway to work before she realized it was only one in the morning LOL.

Oh I'm sure. After my bakery stint, I always look at my phone and nine times out of ten, I do not have to panic. When it's time to panic though, I definitely panic.

Oh no!!!!! That poor friend! That's even worse than getting in the shower! Thankfully, I have never gotten as far as my car, let alone my coffee when that has happened.

[nicksgal]

Alright, today NaNo says I need 20,238 words to make my goal from the beginning of the month. Wish me luck.

In reality, I'm calling it a win if I finish two scenes I have in progress and write four more short ones to finish the two chapters I wanted to complete. I'm around and writing if anyone feels a word sprint calling them, so just holler.

[nicksgal]

Alright, 1,400 words down and one chapter finished! I think I may be able to finish my other in progress chapter as well. Back to the grind. Hope everyone's having a great writing night on this last day of Camp NaNo.