Wednesday, November 30, 2005

NaNoWriMo Follow Up

So here is the message where I include everything I want here for posterity's sake. I've put up an excerpt from National Drunk Writing Night in my NaNoWriMo writer's profile. Until I have time to put up my whole novel, you can get a taste of it there. (Note: that link requires that you have flash. If you don't you can try this non-flash version of my profile.)

First, my graph of progress:

My NaNoWriMo Progress


Next, the myriad of icons:
Image hosted by Photobucket.com Image hosted by Photobucket.com Image hosted by Photobucket.com


And for the final thing to put up I also wanted a copy of the winner's certificate that I received, but it's in PDF and if I scan it the lettering would be too small to read. Instead, I'll just type it out here:


National Novel Writing Month hereby certifies that the author:
Lorianne Earl
Has completed the astounding feat of producing:
The Modern Fairy Tale
between November 1 and November 30, 2005. By accomplishing the heroic deed of drafting
an entire 50,000-word novel in one ridiculously busy month, the writer has achieved the rank of
Winner
As the bearer of this title, the author shall be entitled to an array of adoration and praise from fans, and envious glares from less prolific novelists.
The author shall also be officially logged in the National Novel Writing Month Gallery of Heroes,
where his or her name shall stand as an inspiring testament to the unforgettable month when one lone writer battled a ferocious deadline and emerged victorious.
We congratulate you, writer, and record the contents of this certificate into the NaNoWriMo Winners archive with all statutes and bylaws withstanding.


So I guess that's it for now. Now what am I going to blog about? ;-)

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

NaNo - Day 29

I know that if you look at the graph above it looks like I wrote like a mofo today, but that's not the truth. It would seem that I won the NaNoWriMo Word Count Validator Lottery! Here's a posting I made in the forum that describes what happened:

I have had quite a lot to celebrate tonight! First off, I finally won NaNoWriMo for the first time, this being the fourth year I've participated. Yay me for coming back from 'failing' for three years and doing what I didn't think was possible!

Then, when I finished writing tonight, WordPerfect 9 told me I had 50133 words. Yay! I was finished! Part of me had been hoping for 51000 words or 53000 words, but I decided to be happy with the word count I had. Eager to prove my win, I converted it to text and uploaded it into the word count validator. I just took it for granted that the validator would tell me I had the 50133 words or so that I figured there was! It was so exciting afterwards to see Winner! written on the page after it accepted my document.

I spent a minute or so looking over the winners info page, then opened a new window to see if I could find the information again. I wanted to be able to get everything another time. Instead of clicking on 'edit profile' I accidentally clicked 'view profile.' I said yay as I looked at the little 2005 winner banner around my picture. Then I noticed that my blue line was way above the 50k line. I thought it was weird. Why would they put it way over? Then my eye caught the number it said for my word count - 62874!!! That's an extra 12741 words that the validator added to my word count! A full week's writing! I don't know if it was all the French I had thrown into my novel or what, but wow! What a fabulous surprise!!!

Yay! I finished! And a day early even! And if you'd like to see my NaNoWriMo profile you can check it out here. Tomorrow I'll show off the goodies I get for winning.

Word Count Goal: 48343
Actual Word Count: 62874 or 50133

NaNo - Day 28

Not a bad day of writing. I'm not quite caught up, but I'm pretty much close enough that I'm not concerned. My personal training client cancelled on me this morning, so I had a fabulous nap instead. That meant that I was able to write fairly well tonight - yay! I even finished the chapter with a funny line, but I can't remember exactly how it went now.

My main character had a really great day today. Two things happened to her that I have been looking forward to all month. I'm not exactly sure how to get from here to the end. I was thinking of maybe writing an epilogue. Maybe I'll write that first and see how many words I still need to write. Then I can fill in the plot hole after.

I'm hoping to make tomorrow my last day!!! 3879 words left minimum. Yay!

Word count goal: 46676
Actual word count: 46121

Sunday, November 27, 2005

NaNo - Day 27

Too busy doing stuff with/for people. Sigh. Oh well, I guess this adds some drama as to whether or not I will finish...

Word count goal: 45009
Actual word count: 42781

Saturday, November 26, 2005

NaNo - Day 26

I didn't write much today, but I did study, work, find $10 in a library book, ate pizza, and helped Tanya and Mike cart some things over to their new place. I was basically too tired tonight to write much when I got home at 9 pm (left home at 10:45 am). My main character has returned to school for Term 2, and I copied some stuff from her text on the next author they're taking in her French lit. class - Chateaubriand. Good times.

Now I'm behind again. Most people seem to make use of the weekends to catch up. Not me, apparently! Enh, I might be able to catch up again tomorrow. I'm busy for most of the day after 2pm, though, so I guess we shall see.

Oh, and my brother has written over 90000 words. He's only 3/4 of the way to his goal. He has to write about 30000 more words in the next 4 days. Luckily he took those days off work...

Word count goal: 43342
Actual word count: 42781

Friday, November 25, 2005

NaNo - Day 25

Yay! One month until Christmas! Three months until my birthday!

Okay, now that I've gotten that out of the way. I didn't write super lots today, but I also didn't spend much time at it. Gwen and I got together and wrote at Louis' for a while today. We wrote for about 35 minutes, and I wrote about 1000 words in that time! That's quite fast for me! I feel like I'm just getting the ending set up at this point. There's a chance that I might run out of story before 50,000 words, but I think it's pretty slim. Also, I can go back and add in a bunch of description, so I'm not worried about having to come up with a bunch of stuff spontaneously at the last minute.

I'm set for a sort of busy weekend, so we'll see how much I get written, but I would really, really love to finish on Sunday. I guess we shall see....

Today's word count goal: 41675
Actual word count: 42347

Thursday, November 24, 2005

NaNo - Day 24

Yes!!! Another productive writing day. I wrote another three thousand words, but have hardly advanced the plot at all. I guess that means I may have to rush things a little, or put what I thought could be a climax as an epilogue if I want to only write approximately 50000 words.

I really hope I can finish writing this on the weekend. I want time back!!!

Word Count Goal: 40008
Actual Word Count: 40134 . . . slightly ahead again!

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

NaNo - Day 23

Whew! Thank god for a day like today. I had my best day of writing for a week or so. Apparently that jerk my main character was dating was holding me back. I wrote about 2900 words today and it was fairly easy and even fun at times. I can see a new relationship developing and I'm excited because this guy is nice, caring, and French!

So now I'm almost caught up again. I'm about 2/3 of a day behind in my word count, but I'm not too worried about that. In an absolutely ideal world situation I'd finish this weekend, so that I could start studying for finals with everyone else in my class. On Friday I'm meeting another WriMo to work on our novels at Louis' for a while. Looking at her word count, there's a chance she could finish her novel that day! I'm hoping that will keep me focused on getting a lot written then. Another good day tomorrow and I could cross 40k! Wow! That's so hard to imagine.

It also feel really good to see the number of words left to write shrinking. Now it's to the point where it's fairly small when compared to the words I've already written. Less than 13k to go! It's almost like "Wow, that's not too much!" It's nice to have some enthusiasm back for this project.

Today I was also pleased to find a graph that I could put up here on my blog. Now you can quickly see where my word count is in relation to where it should be if I kept a steady pace through the month. When I first got it today my estimated finish date was Dec. 4. It's nice to see that come closer to the end of Novelber. Here is a link to the profile of the awesomely nice guy who designed the graph and shared it with the NaNoWriMo world (note: requires Flash): Rick, AKA knowbuddy Now here is a guy with some good karma coming his way!

Word Count Goal: 38341
Actual Word Count: 37100

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

NaNo - Day 22

Man, writing is sure feeling like pulling out fingernails lately. I wrote for a while today, but not for very long. I decided that today was the day that I would follow through with another word padding technique: going back and replacing contractions with their two-word forms, and changing hyphens to spaces. That added over 700 words for my word count today.

So yeah, I was writing and the love interest guy who had been so promising just a couple days ago turned into a total dink, so my main character broke up with him. The main problem with that is that now I have to write that they get back together so that they can break up at the novel's climax. It's been a tough relationship to write, because I just want her to be with a different guy. She will be, but she's not allowed to yet.

Word count goal: 36674
Actual word count: 34206

Monday, November 21, 2005

NaNo - Day 21

I wrote for a while this evening, but I was tired and it was fairly hard. Luckily I'm done school at 10:30 tomorrow morning, and don't have dancing until 7:00 in the evening. I'll have to see if I can get caught up.

My main character is just getting ready for a big date tonight, but she can't decide what shirt to wear. She just finished a week where I half-assedly wrote about what she did. I don't want to focus too much right now on stuff that won't advance development of the story very much.


Word count goal: 35007
Actual word count: 32190

Sunday, November 20, 2005

NaNo - Day 20

Whoah! Two thirds of the way through the month, but not quite two thirds of the way through my novel. At least today was a better writing day. Today my main character got drunk on halloween (last year), then slept in the day after. Not such a big deal until she realized that it was Monday and had missed two classes. I've left off at my main character talking on the phone with her love interest about their relationship. Maybe things can start progressing with them better now.

Well, the last few days have put me behind. I'm not sure when I'll catch up again, but as long as I can write 1667 words a day I won't get any further behind.

Word Count Goal: 33340
Actual Word Count: 31111

Saturday, November 19, 2005

NaNo - Day 19

Gone dancing. Won't be home enough to write today.


Word Count Goal: 31673
Actual Word Count: 27911

Friday, November 18, 2005

NaNo - Day 18

Didn't feel like writing in the afternoon. In the evening I had a dance event that started 2 hours late - bleh. That ate up my whole night - bleh.

Word Count Goal: 30006
Actual Word Count: 27911

Canada's 100 Most Important Books

The Literary Review of Canada has released a list of Canada's 100 most important books . I looked through the list to see which ones I've read:

English
11. Anne of Green Gables (1908) Lucy Maud Montgomery (don't remember reading for sure)
39. The Stone Angel (1964) Margaret Laurence
58. Red Lights on the Prairies (1971) James H. Gray
66. Alligator Pie (1974) Dennis Lee (don't remember reading for sure)
79. The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) Margaret Atwood

French
14. Maria Chapdelaine (1914) Louis Hémon
22. Bonheur d’occasion (The Tin Flute) (1945) Gabrielle Roy
25. Les Plouffe (The Plouffe Family) (1948) Roger Lemelin
48. Les belles-sœurs (1968) Michel Tremblay

And of course my favourite from this list was Red Lights on the Prairies. I'm a bit of a local history buff, and it was interesting to read about the early history of prostitution in various cities in the prairie provinces. I like the section on Calgary in particular: there were some very interesting characters in the brothel business there, I tell you!

Thursday, November 17, 2005

NaNo - Day 17

Bleh, another tired day. At least I was ahead yesterday, and have all of tomorrow afternoon to write. Yesterday I ended in the middle of a sentence that I could not figure out how to finish today. That meant that today's writing began with a really lame conversation, and just maintained it's lame-itude until I quit. Bleh. Oh well, I can make up for it tomorrow.

Word Count Goal: 28339
Actual Word Count: 27911

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

NaNo - Day 16

Well, didn't write until after my dance classes tonight. I don't really feel like I'm advancing the story too much, but I realized my main character (MC) was spending more time with her study partner than with her love interest. I thought it might be hard to believe that she even really had a relationship with him! So they're hanging out right now. He showed up at her place, and was waiting for her there when she got off work. They kissed some, and now she's eating supper and trying to get him to tell her something interesting so that he's not just watching her eat. Actually, it's more like I'm trying to get him to tell her something interesting so that he's not just watching her eat! These characters, they are putty in my hands to do what with as I will! Bwahahahahahahaha!

So anyway, when I finished up writing tonight I was tied for 3635th place. Go me.

Word count goal: 26672
Actual word count: 27022

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

NaNo - Day 15

Yeehaw! Halfway there!

Today I wrote for a while before I had to go to dancing, then wrote again for a while after I got home. I really, really, really wanted to make it to 25000 words today, so I stayed up until 12:45 writing. I made it! That means that I am now on pace with people who are writing 1667 words/day. I'm contemplating changing my goals to match this pace, since I reached it early and have been ahead of my goals for a while.

I did fluff up my word count tonight quite a bit. I had my main character study for a French test by reading the ending of Tristan et Iseut, which is a tragic love story. That fluffing up added 890 words. Oh well, it says in the book (No Plot, No Problem) that it's okay to do that.

Word count goal: 23000
Actual word count: 25083



New Goals:

Nov. 16 26672 Nov. 17 28339 Nov. 18 30,006 Nov. 19 31673
Nov. 20 33340 Nov. 21 35007 Nov. 22 36674 Nov. 23 38341
Nov. 24 40008 Nov. 25 41675 Nov. 26 43342
Nov. 27 45009 Nov. 28 46676 Nov. 29 48343 Nov. 30 50000!

Monday, November 14, 2005

NaNo - Day 14

I was pretty wiped out today, so I didn't write too much. But my main character got to make out with her love interest, so that was sort of fun. She's about to study for a French midterm with a guy from her class. Not really too much else to say I guess. I should go do some studying myself or something!

Word count goal: 21000
Actual wordcount: 22514

Intellidating

Man, I could go for some of this: How do you say "What's your sign?" in Latin?

At least you'd be doing/watching something interesting if the date wasn't going well. My main concern would be that maybe you wouldn't have time to actually talk and get to know each other. But then, I guess it's probably just supposed to be a way to meet someone who you want to learn more about later, set up your own dates, etc.

Sunday, November 13, 2005

NaNo - Day 13

Whew! I've done not a lot this weekend, except work on my novel. I wrote quite a bit again today, pretty much all during word wars. Last I checked I was in 3939th place. Today some of us WriMos (i.e. people participating in NaNoWriMo) got together for coffee. We try to get together every Sunday. There was even 2 new people there today! Yay! Newbies!

Also, in the "I Hate Myself and Want to Die" forum in NaNoWriMo, somebody started up a NO QUIT club. Today I made up a file with the names of everyone who posted there and what their wordcount is. In a couple days I will go back, check the wordcounts of those people, then list everyone there who has not yet quit (i.e. they updated their word count since Friday). Right now there is 66 people. Probably a pretty big job, but I'm feeling like things are going pretty well, so I'd like to be able to congratulate the other people who keep trucking along.

I had my second cameo in my novel today, and Lynette you're mentioned there too. Unfortunately I can't quote it here because my novel is on a laptop without a CD burner, and my desktop computer has no floppy drive. You'll just have to wait until I get around to that, I guess.


Today's word goal: 18000
Actual word count: 21201

Saturday, November 12, 2005

NaNo - Day 12

Another good day of writing. Did some more word wars. I hardly even notice having to think very much about what I'm going to write when I participate in a word war. After I finished writing today I searched for my word count in the big list of people and I'm in 4965th place out of about 60000 people who signed up (or out of approximately26000 who have submitted word counts). Yay me! I'm only a couple thousand words away from where I should be if I was writing the same amount of words everyday.

So my main character and her friend got drunk at Amigo's: main character because she was getting mad about the guy she was supposed to meet not being there, her friend because she was weirded out by her English prof being in the band she was watching. They both really liked the band's music though, and went up and danced. I went up and danced too! In the story, that is. I'm pretty sure I did in real life last year, too! ;-) Heh, it was kind of fun to write my characters into something I experienced in my own life.

Word count goal: 15000
Actual word count: 18047 (over 36% done!)

Friday, November 11, 2005

NaNo - Day 11

Had a good writing day. I'm still a full day ahead of my plan, and only a few thousand words behind where I should be if I was writing 1667 words a day. I tried some word wars today, and that was kind of cool. NaNoWriMo has an online chat area, and people can set it up to have timed writing sessions called word wars. It tells you when to begin and when to end, then you tell it how many words you wrote. It keeps track of the total for you, and today I wrote over 2000 words while engaging in word wars.

My main character went to Amigo's but her date wasn't there yet, so she's sitting with a couple of friends chatting while a weird band finishes their set on stage. My main character's best friend is all weirded out because Joel, her English prof, is there. Just wait until she finds out he's in the next band that performs!

Today's word goal: 12000
Actual word count: 15048

Thursday, November 10, 2005

NaNo - Day 10

Had a decent day of writing. Lots of procrastinating again, but came through in the end. I am far enough ahead that I have already attained tomorrow's word count goal. However, I scheduled two heavy days of writing on Saturday and Sunday, so the more I can eat into that now the easier that will be.

My main character has a date tomorrow! How cool! And they're gonna go see my friends' now defunct band play at Amigo's last year. And I get to have a cameo of myself there in the audience! How fun is that!

Word Count goal: 11000
Actual word count: 12283

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Which of the X-Men are you?

You scored as Rogue. Rogue is a strong but tragic personality. She loves Gambit. Because of her mutant powers, she cannot touch anyone without hurting them. Therefore, she longs for human contact. However, this southern gal's strong personality has allowed her to deal with this. Powers: Absorbs lifeforce and powers by touch, Super strength, and flight

Rogue

75%

Storm

70%

Jean Grey

70%

Cyclops

60%

Wolverine

60%

Nightcrawler

50%

Beast

50%

Iceman

35%

Colossus

35%

Gambit

35%

Emma Frost

30%

Most Comprehensive X-Men Personality Quiz 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com

NaNo - Day 9, part 2

Woohoo! Crossed the 10000 word mark, which means I'm 20% done. My 10000th word is "it." Not the most exciting word, but it still feels good anyway. I still might do some more writing later, after my dance classes tonight. We shall see.

Today's word count goal: 9500
Actual word count: 10065

Edit: I did indeed write after class. Word count is now 10368. Well on my way to tomorrow's goal.

NaNo - Day 9

I wrote for a while this morning since I didn't have to go to work or school. Now I'm ahead again, and I'll get even more ahead if I write tonight too. I hope to crack 10000 words tonight! Wheee!

My main character finished talking on the phone, did some reading for school, and is now getting ready to go out. It sure feels like it takes a long time to get her to do anything exciting! She's supposed to be going out - how long is it going to take for me to write her to get there! Probably not for another 1000 words or so at the detailed pace I'm going at!

Today's word count goal: 9500
Actaul word count: 9619

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

NaNo - Day 8

I wrote for about an hour, an hour and a half tonight, but also watched TV at the same time. My main character walked home from work, talked on the phone a bit (including a conversation in French about her class that day and upcoming homework), and is currently making supper. I've been trying to get her to Bud's on Broadway, but I'm writing too much detail! I'm thinking that in another 500 words or so she'll end up there. It will be nice and loud so they'll have trouble trying to hear each other when they talk. Not only is that realistic, but it gives me an opportunity to pump up my word count by getting people to repeat the things that they say!

I have all morning tomorrow to do whatever I like, and no school until 1:30. I plan to sleep in, then spend some time writing. Woohoo!

Word count goal: 8500
Actual word count: 8574

Mouse River, Souris River

Tomato, tomate. According to this story from CBC News, some counties in North Dakota have opted to call the Souris River by its English translation: Mouse River. "We don't speak French here" a guy was quoted as saying.

What if other American place names were translated into English?

Des Moines, Iowa --> Some Monks, Iowa
Des Lacs, North Dakota --> Some Lakes, North Dakota
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho --> Alene's Heart, Idaho
Lac qui Parle, Minnesota --> Lake that Talks, Minnesota
La Salle, Minnesota --> The Room, Minnesota
La Grange, Wyoming --> The Barn, Wyoming

It just doesn't have the same ring, does it?

I really like some of the French names we have in Saskatchewan (where few people speak French). Bienfait (pronounced like 'bean fate') translates to 'well done' in English. My favourite would have to be the Qu'appelle Valley (and river). It's such a beautiful place, and the name is sort of mysterious ('what's calling?'): it's a romantic combination and I just can't imagine ever wanting to change it.

Monday, November 07, 2005

NaNo - Day 7

I wrote a bit over lunch - about 500 words or so. I thought I'd write more later, but I was too tired after work. I decided to go to bed early.

So my main character is currently devising a way to get closer to her love interest. He told her about a good band playing at a club, and so she's going to see if her best friend will go with her.

Word count goal: 7500
Actual word count: 7537

The roadsign of my life


Hurleyanne Highway
Bankruptcity3
Loony-Bin Lane13
Childbirth Hospital66
Confusion Lane135
Family Farm392
Please Drive Carefully
Username:

Where are you on the highway of life?

From Go-Quiz.com



Personally, I thought I'd be a lot closer to Confusion Lane than Childbirth Hospital. But yeah, drive carefully

Sunday, November 06, 2005

NaNo - Day 6

Had another decent writing day today. I wrote a few hundred words this morning. Then I went and played ultimate frisbee for a bit (I made a really awesome interception today, we almost scored after too), came home, showered, ate, went to work, cleaned, talked to a guy I went to high school with, cleaned some more, read my neuro lab for tomorrow, cleaned some more, picked up my paycheque, went home, ate halloween candy and played a game on my computer, ate supper, and had a nap. Then I wrote for a couple hours. I'm still ahead of the game - at least my own goals. Technically if I was writing the 1667 words/day that it averages out to be, then I should have hit 10,002 words today. I'm just happy that I'm writing pretty much everyday, and that I'm a little bit ahead of the goal I set for myself. I think tomorrow's goal isn't very high, either, so maybe I'll be able to get even further ahead. I'm not expecting too much, however, because I have a fairly long school day and have to work for a couple hours in the evening. I guess we shall see.

Today my main character went to work at her job as a customer service attendent at a bank near the university. She talked to a co-worker, piddled around, then she ate an apple fritter and bought some raffle tickets from another co-worker. At the end a guy who she'd been flirting with all summer came in. This is going to be the love interest guy. Now I should be getting the story going along! I'm not exactly sure how yet, but she's going to give him her phone number before he leaves. Maybe on an appointment card, or something.

Today's word goal: 6500
Actual word count: 7040

Saturday, November 05, 2005

NaNo - Day 5

Well, I worked this morning, went shopping with Tanya in the afternoon, then spent most of the rest of the day procrastinating. I felt pretty tired tonight and decided I didn't feel like driving for45 minutes to go to a superhero-themed birthday party. Instead I had a couple of drinks so that I could participate in National Drunk Writing Night with other writers from around the world. (It's not drinking alone if I know that there are also at least two other drunk writers out there at the same time as me, right? There was even a girl from South Dakota who started drinking later than I did.) It was a pretty productive writing night. I decided to go past my goal for today, because I wanted my wordcount to pass that of more Saskatchewan writers.

I think I've experienced my first plot bunny. My understanding is that a plot bunny is a story element that pops out of nowhere and places itself in your novel. Joel, if you're reading this, it involves you. My main character's best friend is in your first year English class and has something of a crush on you. She's not about to pursue anything, but my main character (Kaylea) was trying to push her into it. I'll keep you posted!

Word goal for today: 4500
Actual word count: 5359

Friday, November 04, 2005

NaNo - Day 4

Well, I did a fair amount of writing this afternoon. I'm back on track and hit today's goal around 3:45 this afternoon. I'll probably write for another half hour, and then maybe again tonight after teaching my dance class. It would be kind of nice to get ahead so I don't have to write so much tomorrow. Tomorrow I work 10-noon, then I'll hang out with Tanya in the afternoon, and finish my day at a superhero-themed party. Good times.

Today my character wandered around the university some, bought some textbooks, ran into a French guy from her French class, then walked home. When she was at the bookstore she browsed through the physical therapy section and picked up a textbook. I copied one paragraph from one of my textbooks while she 'read' it. Ah the things we do to attain our daily wordcount goals! And no this novel will never be published, so I have no worries about plagiarism. I'd be more worried about boring people to tears...


Todays goal: 2500
Actual wordcount: 2520

Thursday, November 03, 2005

NaNo - Day 3

I have a midterm tomorrow, so I don't think I'll write today.

Instead, here's a link to weird lines that people have written and later gone back to shake their heads over - Nanoisms.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

NaNo - Day 2

After I blogged last night I attempted to get the laptop working again, and I did! I wrote a few hundred more words, then went to bed. I wrote a little bit before supper tonight too. I don't plan to write any more tonight, because I should go study for my neuro midterm on Friday. Today I got to write a really bad sex scene. Last year I wrote down some dares I might use, and I included one of them today:
And then, as they both lay drowning in the golden warmth of the afterglow, he rolled over and farted. The paint rolled down the walls, and she covered her face with a pillow.

Today's goal: 1000 words
Actual word count: 1014 words

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

NaNo - Day 1

I stayed up to start writing at midnight, and wrote for a half hour. I wrote 477 words, which is only 23 shy of my goal for today. I've borrowed a laptop to write the novel on so that I am not distracted by the internet. Unfortunately the power cord is very touchy, and now I can't get it to turn on. I wanted to write for at least another half hour. Booooo!

So far my novel is pretty lame. I can't wait until it gets more interesting. I have to make sure that I make my main character likable, so that I'll want to find out what she's up to.

Today's word goal: 500 words
Actual writing: 477 words