After I get home from work in the morning, I will change clothes and help Cowboy pack the car, and then we will drive to the airport and fly HOME!!!!! Because I have 9 days of vacation! This will be the first time I have spent Thanksgiving with my parents since I was 17, and the first time I've spent it with my Grandma O. since I was probably 3. I can't wait! We're gonna have a blast too--we're going to Myrtle Beach over the weekend, I get to see Freestargirl and Jewels again...I

I haven't been home since July of 2004. That is way too long.

Everyone join me in a Dance of Joy! I've finished NaNoWriMo!!!!!!! I passed 50,000 words tonight, can you believe it?

And the novel's only about half done. Oh goody. And after I get the rough draft out, then I can edit it. Oh rapture.

But back to the Dance of Joy. Numfar couldn't make it, so I've got the Beatles here instead. Come on, join us! I did it!

Holy cabooses! I only have 2,201 words left to write to get to 50K! I could very possibly hit my goal tomorrow night!

And guess what...my favorite character just now arrived. Rather Boromir-like of him to wait this long to show up, wouldn't you say? Silly boy. Of course, if I eventually rewrite it starting with that other character's death, then this darling boy will show up in chapter 5, not chapter 15. But mustn't think much about rewriting yet, must concentrate on initial draft.

Good thing I'm done with my writing for the night, cuz now I'm all distracted with thoughts of Boromir.

I only have to write 2,000 words a night for the next three nights, and I'm done done done done! Well, no, my novel's not done. But I'll be at 50,000 words and done with the NaNoWriMo madness. And still have one night off to pack before flying home!

Then when I get back from vacation, I think I'll try to write 1,000 words a day until I get the rest of this novel's rough draft finished. That oughtta push me to go fast enough that I won't be auto-editing and I might get the dern thing done in less than three years. But I'll still have time for things like washing dishes and editing my latest C! fanfic story, which I've promised my fans (I have fans!) I'll have done and posted online by Christmas...

I killed one of my four main characters tonight. I've known it was coming since I first envisioned this story. In fact, when I rewrite it, I think I'll start here. It's really the pivitol point in the other characters' lives, and the part of the story that really interests me is the aftermath of this death, not the stuff that leads up to it.

It was tough to write. I didn't think it would be, because in the piece of Combat! fanfic that I just finished a rough draft of, I killed off four characters in much messier ways, and I thought that would be good practice for me, get me all hardened up. Nope. Never gets any easier to kill off a character I like. Killing characters I loathe and despise, on the other hand, is loads of fun.

My wordcount is 42,098...only 7,902 words left to go.

Hmm. I'm having second thoughts about buying Scott Stapp's new album. I just remembered that artists that go solo after their bands break up tend to not so much thrill me.

Artists that do a solo album while their bands are still together, on the other hand, I often like. Rob Thomas from Matchbox Twenty, for instance. And Gwen Stefani of No Doubt. And I adore Jon Bon Jovi's "Blaze of Glory" album...

Today's word count: 2600 exactly
Total word count: 38,992

Scott Stapp is releasing a solo album! Scott Stapp is releasing a solo album! Scott Stapp is releasing a solo album! Wooooooooooohooooooooo!

As you can tell, I've mostly forgiven him (and the other guys, who went and formed a new band called Alter Bridge) for the breakup of Creed. I think. I'm listening to clips of Scott's new songs at his website, and they're pretty groovy. But not as good as Creed--at least, not the ones I've heard so far. Which I expected, because half of what I love about Creed is Scott's voice and lyrics. The other half is Mark Tremonti's music and guitar abilities. But I'll probably get Scott's cd ("The Great Divide") eventually anyway...

Oh yeah, got 3,049 words in on the novel yesterday, and 2,807 tonight...

I loved my night off from writing last night, and I guess it kinda rejuiced me, cuz I got in 2,829 words tonight. That puts me over 30,000! Woohoo!

I think I'm beginning to realize I started my NaNoWriMo novel at the wrong place. Originally I'd planned to start at the wedding, and show the previous year in flashbacks throughout the wedding ceremony. Then I decided I don't like doing flashbacks and, instead I started it where the main character meets her husband-to-be. Now I'm thinking I should actually start the tale after they've been married about 2 years, right when all the real drama starts up, and show the previous three years in flashbacks. Hmph.

Oh well, I will just keep writing from here, and then when I've got the rough draft done, I'll mess with starting points and flashbacks and junk like that. Got in 2,528 words last night, huzzah. Which means tonight Cowboy can take me out to eat and go shopping. I'm hoping to find a new nice shirt to wear to the Thanksgiving Eve service at home, and he needs new shoes. Fun fun fun! I'm really looking forward to taking a break from the writing, actually...

Ohmygiddyaunt! I hit 25,000 words tonight! I am half-way to the goal! Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoa! This is sooooooooooooooo amazing!

This puts me a day ahead of my schedule, which I wanted, because Cowboy offered to take me dining and shopping on Friday before I go to work. And who wouldn't work extra hard to gain that kind of excursion?

I'm past the 20,000-word mark! Monday night I only wrote 2,115 words, but tonight I wrote 2,648. I'm still several hundred words ahead of where I should be. Huzzah!

The thing is, I'm 2/5 of the way to the word-count goal, but my story is only maybe 1/5 told. Yikes! Looks like I won't be actually finishing it before my v-a-c-a-t-i-o-n after all...but I'm fairly confident I'll reach the NaNoWriMo goal. Lord willin' and the creek don't rise...

Now this is revisionist history I can get behind!

The author Logan Pearsall Smith said: "Every author, however modest, keeps a most outrageous vanity chained like a madman in the padded cell of his breast." I love that.

As a person, I have pretty healthy self-esteem, self-confidence, self-respect, etc. I can do a lot of neat stuff, I'm intelligent, and so on. It takes a lot to shake that for me--I tend to live on a pretty even keel of self-acceptance.

As a writer, however, I tend to vascillate between three points. One one end is my "padded cell", the times I'm convinced I'm Ernest Hemingway, Raymond Chandler, and Patrick O'Brian all in one. The literary equivalant of combining Joss Whedon, Peter Jackson, Baz Luhrman, and M. Night Shyamalan.

On the other end of the spectrum lie the "doldrums". I can get stuck for days there, convinced I'm the worst writer in the history of mankind. This usually happens when I'm out of ideas--I drift along, slack-sailed, until another idea eventually wafts my way.

In the middle is reality. I'm there most of the time--I know I'm better than some writers, but not spectacular, by any means.

Oh, and I got in 2,728 words last night...I'm up to 16,235 now!

I am amused. The theater here in Ruralburg obviously employs someone who needs to work on their spelling skills...according to the marquee, they're showing "The History of Vilolence" right now. What makes it really funny is that they actually have two marquees on opposite sides of the building...and both of them have the same error...

In NanoNews, got in 2,726 words tonight. It was more of a struggle than it has been the last couple nights though. Could this be the the beginning of a new phase, one full of agonized staring at the screen while my fingers find no words? Or might it just be caused by too little sleep, having to drive Cowboy to work in the rain, and then taking a shower, rather than heading straight to the keyboard like I have on previous nights? Hmm. Guess we shall see, eh?

I think I'll definitely try NaNoWriMo next year, and not go on vacation the last week in November. Doing this in four weeks must be so nice, instead of three like I'm trying.

I'm one-fifth of the way to my goal! I hit 10,781 words today. Wowie zowie, huh?

In non-nano-news, I watched Play Misty for Me on one of my days off this week. Which is a 70's movie starring Clint Eastwood, for anyone still living in a bomb shelter. Anyway, you know how I have always thought that Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine looks a lot like Clint Eastwood? I am now convinced that the people doing his hair and makeup for the X-Men movies are trying to deliberately make him look like Eastwood. Because Eastwood in Play Misty for Me looks unbeliveably like Jackman in X-Men and X2. This is the best I can do by way of comparison shots of the two of them...I'm having a really hard time finding photos of Clint from that movie for some reason...and this isn't a terribly good comparison, but maybe you can kind of get the idea.

Still going strong! Got in 2,599 words today, so still banking up extra words in case I need to go easy some day soon. Today was the scariest, actually, because I've had the last two nights off, so I could take my time if I needed to. Tonight I had to get it done in three hours, tops, so I can go to work. Got it done in about two, so hooray! I even have time to do email and blog a bit :-)

I'm a little afraid that after the first week or so, I'll run out of steam and the words will start dwindling away. Sure hope not, though.

Wrote 2,856 words tonight, for a grand total so far of 5,457. I'm on page 11 and chapter two!

The Legend of Zorro rocks! It's a smidge less magnificent than The Mask of Zorro, but only a smidge. Really, the only thing it was missing was a fiery dance between Alejandro and Elena. And on the plus side, their little kid, Joaquin, is adorable!

Hey, didja notice that when they got married, Alejandro took Elena's last name? Yup, they're the de la Vega family! Guess you can't have anyone wearing the mask and cape but a de la Vega. It would just be wrong, you know?

Had the theater to myself again. Hooray! I could giggle and hurrah and boo to my heart's content. There were so many good lines, too, but of course I can't remember any of them now. Guess I'll just have to see it again, right?

All in all, I liked it nearly as well as the original. I'll definitely be adding it to my collection!

Oh, and speaking of people named 'Joaquin', I got to see a preview for Walk the Line, the movie about Johnny Cash that stars Joaquin Phoenix. Gonna make an admission here: I'm something of a Johnny Cash fan. Not a huge fan that collects his cds, but I like his voice, I liked his guest spots on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and...I think he's kinda sexy. And well, we all know how smokin' Joaquin Phoenix is...I'm definitely gonna hafta see that movie. He did his own singing for it, like Kevin Spacey as Bobby Darin in Beyond the Sea, but I think JP sounds a lot more like Johnny Cash than KS sounded like Bobby. I do remember a quotation from the preview for Walk the Line: somebody asked Johnny Cash why he's wearing all black, and said he looked stupid, like he was going to a funeral. Johnny said, "Maybe I am." It was just coooooooool.

NaNoWriMo has begun! And I'm already 2601 words into my novel! How groovycool is that? I'm excited...my narrator's voice is pretty clear in my head and is coming through better than I'd hoped. I guess maybe I did learn some stuff from writing my first novel, like how to get my own voice out of the way and let the characters speak for themselves. It took me about three chapters to get that during the first novel.