NaNoWriMo Update
I am happy to announce that I have completed half of my novel. That's right folks, over 25,000 words have been typed by my ten fingers (25,839 to be exact).
In case you're like me, and have no idea how long a 50,000 novel is, I'll try to give you a better way to visualize it. I'm typing my novel in OpenOffice (just like Microsoft Word except it's free). I am typing in a 12 point font, single spaced. I do add a line of space between my paragraphs. I'll probably change that later to make it more book-like, but I like it for now. Right now I am about halfway through page 51. So, my novel will probably be about one hundred 8 and 1/2 by 11 pages long when I'm done.
This is by far the longest thing I've ever written in my life. It generally takes me two hours of typing every night to hit my daily goal. If I get distracted or fall asleep it takes me longer. Mike and I also take turns having writing nights where we get out of the house and write. We even had a date night writing night.
I am having so much fun with my novel. I had no idea I'd be having such a good time. I especially like that there's no expectation for it to be good. The only goal is to hit 50,000 words. If you do that you win.
In celebration of my half way mark, I'm going to post part of my novel. It's not my favorite scene in the novel, but I think I'll save that for those of you who are brave enough to read it when I'm done. And I think I will post my entire novel, although I'll probably take a week or so to clean it up a little. (the majority of the novel I've not had a chance to even re-read).
So here it is, a glimpse of my novel, but keep in mind that it's unfinished first draft.
.................
Lexi knew that she should get back to her work. She looked at Everett while she debated in her mind, and he flashed her a smile complete with dimples. She was putty in his hands. Of course she'd go. That's not what she said though. What she said was, “Well, I guess my program can wait another few minutes. I'm intrigued. What more could possibly be hidden in this building?”
As the entered the hallway Everett said, “Not hidden inside the building. Hidden on top.” And with that he opened the stairwell door and they climbed the stairs two levels up to the door leading outside.
The Computer Science building was built into the side of a hill. The top of the building was level with the top of the hill. The building was a shaped like a 'U' with a courtyard in the middle of the lower level. Sidewalks ran up the hill connecting the courtyard at the bottom of the hill with the parking lot at the top. They had exited the building at the top of the hill by the parking lot.
There was about 10 feet difference between the top of the hill and the top of the building. By climbing on a hand rail and jumping a little, it was a fairly easy to climb on top of the building. Everett went first, showing the way, and Zach encouraged Lexi to go next. Lexi took a little longer than Everett, but made her way up.
There were two things that Lexi noticed when she stood up after climbing onto the roof. One was that the view was incredible. There were no buildings, trees, or lights standing in her way. She had a perfect view of the city. There was a cool breeze blowing, and the night felt fresh and inviting. All of the twinkling lights below seemed magical in the quiet night air.
The second thing she noticed was that there was a couch on the roof.
“Um, did you guys put this up here?” she asked.
“Nope,” Everett answered, “I noticed it one day when I was walking to class. It's hardly visible from the ground. You have to look up at the roof at just the right angle to see it. Once I saw it I had to get up here and explore. I've never seen anyone up here, but it's a nice place to come and relax when I need a break from the programming.”
“Well the couch seems to be in pretty good shape, considering it's outside, so it couldn't have been up here too long.” Lexi said.
Everett sat down on the couch, and having learned her lesson from lunch the other day, Lexi quickly sat down next to him in the middle spot. Zach sat down on the other side of her, and they all looked out in silence at the city below. Lexi wanted nothing more than to snuggle up to Everett, and imagined his arm wrapping around her and pulling her close. Since that didn't seem likely to happen, she brought her knees up instead, wrapped her arms around them, and rested her chin on top. She sat that way, snuggling herself with Everett close by, and felt content.
In case you're like me, and have no idea how long a 50,000 novel is, I'll try to give you a better way to visualize it. I'm typing my novel in OpenOffice (just like Microsoft Word except it's free). I am typing in a 12 point font, single spaced. I do add a line of space between my paragraphs. I'll probably change that later to make it more book-like, but I like it for now. Right now I am about halfway through page 51. So, my novel will probably be about one hundred 8 and 1/2 by 11 pages long when I'm done.
This is by far the longest thing I've ever written in my life. It generally takes me two hours of typing every night to hit my daily goal. If I get distracted or fall asleep it takes me longer. Mike and I also take turns having writing nights where we get out of the house and write. We even had a date night writing night.
I am having so much fun with my novel. I had no idea I'd be having such a good time. I especially like that there's no expectation for it to be good. The only goal is to hit 50,000 words. If you do that you win.
In celebration of my half way mark, I'm going to post part of my novel. It's not my favorite scene in the novel, but I think I'll save that for those of you who are brave enough to read it when I'm done. And I think I will post my entire novel, although I'll probably take a week or so to clean it up a little. (the majority of the novel I've not had a chance to even re-read).
So here it is, a glimpse of my novel, but keep in mind that it's unfinished first draft.
.................
Lexi knew that she should get back to her work. She looked at Everett while she debated in her mind, and he flashed her a smile complete with dimples. She was putty in his hands. Of course she'd go. That's not what she said though. What she said was, “Well, I guess my program can wait another few minutes. I'm intrigued. What more could possibly be hidden in this building?”
As the entered the hallway Everett said, “Not hidden inside the building. Hidden on top.” And with that he opened the stairwell door and they climbed the stairs two levels up to the door leading outside.
The Computer Science building was built into the side of a hill. The top of the building was level with the top of the hill. The building was a shaped like a 'U' with a courtyard in the middle of the lower level. Sidewalks ran up the hill connecting the courtyard at the bottom of the hill with the parking lot at the top. They had exited the building at the top of the hill by the parking lot.
There was about 10 feet difference between the top of the hill and the top of the building. By climbing on a hand rail and jumping a little, it was a fairly easy to climb on top of the building. Everett went first, showing the way, and Zach encouraged Lexi to go next. Lexi took a little longer than Everett, but made her way up.
There were two things that Lexi noticed when she stood up after climbing onto the roof. One was that the view was incredible. There were no buildings, trees, or lights standing in her way. She had a perfect view of the city. There was a cool breeze blowing, and the night felt fresh and inviting. All of the twinkling lights below seemed magical in the quiet night air.
The second thing she noticed was that there was a couch on the roof.
“Um, did you guys put this up here?” she asked.
“Nope,” Everett answered, “I noticed it one day when I was walking to class. It's hardly visible from the ground. You have to look up at the roof at just the right angle to see it. Once I saw it I had to get up here and explore. I've never seen anyone up here, but it's a nice place to come and relax when I need a break from the programming.”
“Well the couch seems to be in pretty good shape, considering it's outside, so it couldn't have been up here too long.” Lexi said.
Everett sat down on the couch, and having learned her lesson from lunch the other day, Lexi quickly sat down next to him in the middle spot. Zach sat down on the other side of her, and they all looked out in silence at the city below. Lexi wanted nothing more than to snuggle up to Everett, and imagined his arm wrapping around her and pulling her close. Since that didn't seem likely to happen, she brought her knees up instead, wrapped her arms around them, and rested her chin on top. She sat that way, snuggling herself with Everett close by, and felt content.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 9:12 PM.
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well Kristen, that story seems rather familiar... How did you find out about the couch on the roof??? I'll have to take a look at the rest to see how much you lifted from your real life :)
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