I talked big Friday about what I needed to do this weekend. I was going to write 10 thousand words and crack 40k.

I didn’t do that. What I did do was this:

I hosted a play date for my son with his favorite playmates. I went to an amazing Thanksgiving potluck with my literary family. I laughed my ass off and I wasn’t even drinking. Go ahead ask me about Duck genitalia. I know way more than I wanted to. I beat my husband at ticket to ride, BAD. I taught my son to play 5/10 dominoes and he won his first game ever. I made it home in time for movie night with my family. And I put my son to bed when he needed me.

It was an amazing weekend. One I would do the exact same way all over again if I had the chance. (Maybe I would skip the duck video.)

Time spent writing this weekend: Impossible to quantify. I wrote all over the place.

Words written this weekend: 8554

Cumulative Words: 38441 or 76.9% Oh and I am no longer behind. In fact I’m 100 words to the good.

Scene for the day:

Elizabeth had left the room for a moment when we were ready to change reels. I had no idea how to work the projector so Cooper went over to handle things. I was staring at my notes when I heard the reel clang onto the floor and Cooper emitted a curse word. I rushed to where he was and picked up the reel from the floor, opening the canister and handing him the spool.

Cooper looked embarrassed and sending a dirty look to his missing right arm, gruffly said, “Damn inconvenient.”

I smiled gently. “I suspect it is. Would you like to tell me how you parted ways with rightie?” I hoped a little humor would soothe the situation.

Cooper smiled and his answer was as humorous as my question. “An army doctor came between us.”

I cocked my head, “I hadn’t known you served.”

Cooper nodded seemingly unwilling to share further details.

“I was a QA but I suppose you sussed that out already from my scripts.”

Character of the day: Henry Northrup aka Cooper

The time has come to meet Cooper. He is directing Molly’s second script after rejecting her first one. He is talent, charming, and attractive if missing one appendage. Who needs a right arm when you’re already left handed.

ok it’s really Saturday morning but if I am going to make it to 10K this weekend I need that extra bit of impetus.

I am at the morning write in and starting the clock right this minute with a word sprint.

The time is 1237 and my word count is 29922.

While you are tuning in to check my progress, think about what I should call this novel…I’m taking suggestions til the end of the month.

233PM check in.

Today’s first write in is over. My word count is 30812. I am wrapping things up here and getting ready to move locations to our next venue. That will be half Thanksgiving potluck (I’m bringing my child and a cheesecake-both homemade) and half write in. I’ll update you all later. Keep thinking about that title.

6PM at the second write in. I’ve been picking away at the words all afternoon in between talking to my writing family and nibbling on an amazing thanksgiving feast. Current word count 31459.

745P check in. I’m heading out from the second write it. I plan to add some more words when I get home.

Current count 32012

Ok so I am finally home. And totally wiped out. I wrote 2125 today. I am currently at 64%. (4662 words behind)

ok the reality is, my kiddo is sick, I am fighting this thing off, and still getting words into my computer. I am doing ok.

Are they as many words as I would like? No. Will I win Nano this year? You bet your ass I will.

I have a double write in day tomorrow, a write in Sunday, one Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday – extra long write in.

And really I have one of those amazing supportive husbands who will let me write all next Saturday and Sunday if I need to.

So I will win this year. Have no doubt about that. It’s just a little ugly right now.

Time writing today: 90 minutes at write in, minus 15 to go buy Christmas Train tickets, minus eating time as I didn’t get breakfast before I left the house, minus intriguing discussions about where my characters are heading with Alex and Vicki. Whatever that adds up to…

Words written today: 389

Cumulative total: 29887 or 59.8% (5120 behind)

No scenes today. Nothing got finished enough to post. But looking at this, I know what I need to do.

I will break 40K by the end of the weekend. Who’s with me.

I don’t know what it is about Thursday but I never get more than a few words written. Seriously, the first Thursday of Nano, zero words. The only day I haven’t written FYI. The next one, 6 words. This one was only marginally better and I am not sure it should count since I feel it was total crud and I will probably delete it all in the editing phase, otherwise known as December and January.

Thursday. Bah.

Time Writing today: 30 minutes (at the car dealership again, maintenance on the other car)

Words Written: 607 (more than I thought)

Cumulative Total: 29498 or 59% (3842 behind)

Scene:

I rang the bell and Wadsworth answered with a smile I knew was for me. “Lady Margaret” he paused, “and guest.”

“Good afternoon Wadsworth. This is Patrick Dumount, my friend.”

Wadsworth inclined his head to Patrick in greeting. “Your parents are in the lounge. Shall I announce you?”

“No thank you Wadsworth.” I handed him my coat, gloves, and scarf. Patrick handed over his coat and hat with a slight expression of distaste.

As we walked away he leaned in, “You are terribly friendly with your servants.”

I was briefly puzzled by his attitude. “Wadsworth has been a friend for as long as I can remember.”

My answer clearly puzzled Patrick. Perhaps it was his upbringing, the lower middle class liked the class distinction to be maintain rigidly.

Character of the day: You still aren’t ready for Cooper. You must suffer with Patrick a bit longer. Cooper this weekend I promise. Remind of what Patrick looks like in my mind.

Today was one of those days where nothing goes as planned and yet it all turns out better than you planned.

It started with this morning when I awoke to the sound of my son coughing up a lung and sniffling next to me in bed. Not a good sign. The three of us discussed the situation and decided he would stay home sick from school. This meant I had to cancel his afternoon play date. But I had an appointment to get the oil changed in my husband’s car, or so I thought.

So I pack up a back pack of dvds and the player, and my kindle, and my laptop, and a small metric ton of snacks and off we go to the car place. The next unexpected, the car is due for it’s 60K maintenance. Um ok, let’s do that. Since I don’t have to be back home in time to meet the bus, sick kid is with me, I have the time. We pick a nice little bunch of chairs with a table and ,my kiddo starts a dvd and is happily snacking. I start writing.

Out comes the customer service guy. The rear brakes on my husband’s car are down to 2mm. Um, yeah, let’s replace those.

Two hours at the car dealership. I write like the wind.

We come home, kiddo and I nap together. The fireplace guy shows up and fixes the fireplace. I am half an hour later to the write in but avoid all traffic by being so. And because I had that nap, again I write like the wind.

The way my day was originally planned, I had to rush to the car place, rush back to get kiddo and little friend. Host play date all afternoon. The drive my tired ass to the write in. The unexpected was way better.

Writing time: 90 minutes at the car dealership. 90 minutes give or take a lot of chatting at the write in.

Words today: 2503

Cumulative Total: 28891 or 57.8% (2782 behind)

Scene for the day:

“Lady Margaret, can I be frank with you?”

“Of course.”

“I have no interest in marrying you. I am already wedded to my work.”

I smiled. “Then why did you come this weekend?”

“You aren’t the only one beholden to an overbearing mother.”

I laughed.

“What if we joined forces to make this weekend a little less boring for both of us.”

“Why, your lordship, what are you proposing to a young innocent such as myself.”

this of course relieves me from the running the worst wife ever contest. Is that worth a cold? Um, not during nano.

Given my exhausted and verging on ill state I will stick to the facts, just the facts.

Writing time: Hour and fifteen at the Tuesday morning write in. (they were late opening.)

Words today: 1242

Cumulative total: 26388 or 52.8% (3618 behind)

Scene for the day: A little background, Molly is at the weekend shooting party and her mother is forcing her to be sociable, so Molly decided to have some fun. She picks out the method most likely to scare off a bachelor and then employs it. None of them have names yet and I need to do a little research so bear with me.

The attractive “Name later” was sitting at the piano picking out a tune. I slid onto the bench next to him.

“What are you playing?”

“More playing at than actual playing I think but it could have been Take the A Train, Duke Ellington.”

“Has it been some time since you tickled the ivories?” I added as much lilt and giggle as I could to my speech.

Giving me a long look, Name Later closed the lid to the keys. “It’s been some years yes.”

For a moment we locked eyes and I felt a bit of a fool playing games with this man. I decided for now he could keep his real name. “What stopped your playing?” I asked in earnest.

“The war.”

“You served? In what manner?” I was instantly curious to know him better.

“Intelligence.”

His answer gave me a chill. I did not want to play games with this man. I was outclassed, outmanned, and outgunned. The gong for dinner rang before I had to plan an escape.

Character of the day: Attractive Name Later

He’s smarter than Molly and has better skills which he will use to help her make mince meat of the other eligible bachelors. He is the only one worth noting in this crop of over moneyed, over bred, under charming men.

(You couldn’t possibly be surprised at this picture. It was the only choice.)

I try to be clever with my titles. I do. I actually spend quite some time thinking about attention grabbing or funny or entertaining things I can say to get readers. But today there was a void in that section of my brain.

I might be a terrible wife. Yesterday my son wanted sushi so I told my hubby where I usually take him and they went. Hubby came home very happy with sushi place. Then this morning he woke up sick as a dog. oops. Then I compounded it by suggesting since he was home anyway maybe I could go to the mid day write in. But because I have the  most amazing husband ever, he said sure honey, I can handle it. sigh. swoon.

So I made it to the Monday Mid Day Muse. Woohoo! It was me and one other Nanowrimo. laughing. Oh well. I wrote like it was a full on crowded table of dedicated writers. In fact I was ssad to leave because I had this scene and it was rolling out so beautifully, I hated to abandon it. So when I got home I found my son watching Star Wars and I joined him on the couch cross legged. My son on one leg and my laptop balanced on the other. I got the scene done and another one that developed in my head while I was driving. Guess the Force was with me. (hehe)

Time writing: One hour 15 at the write in, 30 minutes at home.

Words written today: 1941

Cumulative total: 25146 or 50.3% (3193 behind)

Scene of the day:

Late that evening Nicholas came to my room, creeping quietly, with a robe up over his head. “I am the ghost of Christmas present, come to bring gifts to my lady fair.”

I laughed and then shushed him. “I take it this means you found something.”

“Oh I found something indeed.” From under his robe he produced a packet of letters tied in cliché form with a pink ribbon.

“Love letters?” I asked hopeful.

Nicholas nodded. “From dear old mum to Lord Galwish.”

“Lord Galwish.” I made a face. “I always found him a little obsequious for my taste.”

Nicholas assumed a puzzled look, “I always found him a little male for my taste but I’ll take your word that he isn’t every woman’s cup of tea.”

“He isn’t. There’s something unappetizing about him.”

“You would be right.” Nicholas flipped through the pile. “Read this letter.”

“Ick. Do I have to?”

“I think so.”

I took the letter and skimmed it with distaste. As I neared the end, I inhaled quickly. “Oh my.”

Nicholas nodded.

“Am I reading this correctly? They’re not only having an affair but they are indulging in,” I stopped myself.

Nicholas nodded again, “That’s what I got out of that mess of filth.”

I sat silent for a moment or two while my brain processed this shock. And then I realized this was the answer to both our problems in terms of our parents. “Oh Nicholas. This is wonderful.”

Nicholas gaped at me for a moment. “I think you’ll need to explain this one to me.”

“All you need to do is tell our mother you know about her affair, that you have the letters as proof, and if she doesn’t back your marriage to Lila you will not only tell our father but you will publish the more licentious portions.”

“Molly, are you suggesting I blackmail our own mother?” Nicholas’s horror was just a tad overdone.

“Don’t pretend dear brother you are shocked or offended. You’re just hurt I thought of it first.”

“Touche.” Nicholas smiled.

I have to stop this song thing I have going. Maybe it’s time to move on to cheesy movie lines. “Somebody stop me.”

It was a bit of a busy day around the home. Which always translates into little writing time. I seem to have done the preponderance of my writing at write ins. Which makes me think that might be a fun challenge for next year. No writing what so ever outside of write ins or meet ups. I’ll give that some thought. I still need to make it through this year’s nano before I start making it harder on myself next year.

This reminds me of this woman I met during my first nano. I was struggling with word count and finding time to write and she was writing three 50K novels at the same time because she needed more of a challenge. laughing. We all have our own crosses to bear I guess.

Time today: 45 minutes

words today: 689

Cumulative total: 23205 or 46.4% (3467 behind)

Scene to share:

“Ms. O’Rourke has not yet risen.” Her house maid informed me.

“Then wake her. It is imperative I speak with her this morning.”

The house maid hesitated.

“Now.”

“One moment.”

It was closer to three minutes before I heard Lila. “Do you have any idea what time it is? Or how foul morning sickness is?”

“Oh, Lila. I am so sorry. But it’s desperate here.”

“It better be, given you got me out of bed before I ate my crackers. And if I were you I would make it quick. Things are precarious.”

The need to explain and get advice before Lila rang off to be sick, forced me to be more blunt than my sensibilities would have liked. “Patrick doesn’t remember me. How do I get his attention?”

“He doesn’t remember you? The cad. Drop him immediately.”

“No, No, Lila. Please. Help me.”

Lila sighed deeply. “Fine but know I think this is a bad idea. Some men prefer the chase. Ignore him. Be cold. Make him want to find out why you don’t want him.”

“I can do that. Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. Wait til I fill Nicholas in on this little call. Ta.”

Character of the day: With held. There is really only one important character left and you’re not ready to meet him yet. Patience young padawan.

Yeah I’m keeping on with the cheesy song lyrics. I dont know why (I swallowed that fly)….

I am stinking tired today. I don’t know if it was the mega push of words last night left a big hole in my brain that has not yet been filled in my creative plot twists or if my five year old is actively sucking every bit of energy out of my body. Maybe I should take a vote on that one. LOL

This morning was the monthly Sno Valley Writes meeting. Our intrepid leader discussed the process around getting published. I am not ready. That is what I learned today. LOL. Not really. I already knew I wasn’t ready. Lack of a completed novel was sort of a give away. We wrote after that with a quick venue change to the Black Dog. I had a hard time staying on task though. The conversation was just too good. So was the Turkey Reuben hold the bread.

Time spent writing today: 90 minutes maybe. If I’m being generous and I ignore all the time we spent looking for a picture of Cooper for the blog. You’ll see him soon I promise.

Words written today: 828

Cumulative total: 22516 or  45% (2489 behind or 5%)

Section to share: full disclosure I didn’t actually write this today but I did my read through last night to look for where I need to buff things out and add more, change more, fix more, etc and this passage amused me. It’s from the screen play Molly is writing in the novel.

Lead comes through the ward checking on patients, taking vitals, joking with some, lighting cigarettes for others. She stops at his bed.

Lead: “Good morning. Good to see you up and about.”

Soldier: “There’s not much up and a about to it.” Angry tone.

Lead: “No need to be dour. You’ll be up striding about in no time.”

Soldier: “Bloody good that will do me.”

Lead: “So you lost your arm, many a soldier has given much more. And you’ll learn to use your left hand in no time at all.”

Soldier snorts: “I’m already left handed.”

Lead laughs uproariously and it rings through the tent, soldiers joining in because they like to see her happy. After a moment the soldier in front of her chuckles weakly.

Character of the Day: Elizabeth Barlow

Assists Molly in getting her screen play in front of a director. Elizabeth gets a promotion to assistant director for her troubles and subsequently looks very fondly on Molly and tries to help her where she can despite judging Molly for her uppercrust upbringing.

By now some of you might have caught on to my little nod to the song Blue Monday. My fave version is from the Jeff Healy Band in the movie Roadhouse. Why a Roadhouse nod you ask? Because that’s where the Sno Valley region held the night of writing dangerously. Fall City Roadhouse. It’s a fun write in with lots of games and a little torture. Not to mention amazing food. Seriously amazing food. Some people get to stay over night and turn it in to a pajama party. Sadly my five year old thinks mommy should sleep at home. LOL.

It was a good writing night for me I think. I won all the word wars and word sprints as well as the most words written. Go me.

It was a costume event, go as a superhero. But since we are writers, really no one showed up as Ironman or Batman or well you get the picture. The winner was Ketchup girl, who needed to catch up on her word count. She wore a fabulous red cape and a necklace made out of ketchup packets. It was a truly clever costume.

And once again my amazing friend Krista took my son for a couple of hours so I could get to the event only a little late rather than going after my husband got home. Krista, if I ever get a publisher, you are so being immortalized in the thanks page.

Time writing today: A little hard to calculate, 545 til 1030 at the write in venue but between dinner and all the games, not all of that was writing time.

Words written: 2403

Cumulative total: 21688 or 43.4% (I am 1650 behind)

Scene for the day: . I was peppered with questions about my film scripts and the occasional suggestion on who should be cast in the leading roles. Nicholas of course started this conversation. He was incapable of not starting trouble when the opportunity presented itself and if the opportunity didn’t present itself he often created it. I kept my mouth shut and gave Nicholas the evil eye often enough to remind him that I could bring up uncomfortable subjects too.

Character of the day: Lady Richmond

Molly’s mother. All she wants is for her daughter to make a good marriage to an appropriate peer of the realm so that she can focus on what really matters. Fashion. And those secretive letters she writes and hides when anyone comes into the room. Is mom up to no good? Can Molly and Nicholas figure it out and use the knowledge to their advantage.