writing challenge

atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout and Camp NaNoWriMo Update

I didn’t get to all my workout apps today but I was strapped for time and recovering from a weekend dealing with a horrid upset stomach. I’m fine now; food is staying down and I don’t feel dizzy and sick anymore.
wp-1658799574197

Of course I didn’t get my word count up there and there’s no way I’m going to hit 50k words. And that’s mostly because I only have two story beats left to go: the climactic battle and conclusion. That’s just not going to be 30k words. Even if I stuffed it with fluff and that’s just a waste since I’ll have to cut it out later. I have enough to fix with all the typos and parts where I literally forgot a character’s name. I’ll have to take the general victory of finishing a book in a month without considering the word count.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

Camp NaNoWriMo Day 18 and Workouts

As you can see, I am still behind and I’m ok with that. See, over the weekend, I went to have dinner with friends and people kept asking me if I was ok. Earlier last week, I had a coworker ask me if they’d done something to make me mad since I was so quiet. When I looked at myself closely in the mirror, I looked dead on my feet; just tired and sullen.

I need to take better care of myself. I’ve been up very late and not getting enough sleep. I haven’t even been cooking much because cooking takes writing time.

I did manage to make a few things but mostly, I’ve been living on snacks and leftovers. I look angry all the time and yeeeaaahhh, that’s not good.

So, this week I’m writing at a leisurely pace and stopping at a decent hour to get some sleep. I don’t even think I’ll hit 50k words just because the story doesn’t need it. I’m gonna chill the hell out and enjoy this process.

I took a walk to get some broccoli to make a real dinner and did my desk peddler. Once I got home, I used all my workout apps; including the sleepytime stretching to wind down and sleep soundly. Today I feel more normal but breaking the grindset mode is gonna take a while.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

Camp NaNoWriMo Day 14 (a late update)

IMG_20220715_093636809

At a certain point every night, I try to put my phone down and leave it alone so I can track my sleep and not be tempted to play around or doom scroll. This was my word count from yesterday.

I need to somehow get to 25,000 words today to get caught up and be on track for the possible 50k words. I say ‘possible’ because I’m not going to force it if I finish the story and I’m under. That’s not the point of this whole thing.

I’m a little stressed (meaning a LOT stressed) about how far I am from the right track but I’m not giving up. I was able to do this in November, I should be able to do it again.

I’ll try to update again today. It depends on how tired I am.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workouts and Camp NaNoWriMo Day 12

I did my desk peddler at work and some body weight workouts after I got in my word count for the day. I’m noticing I can do way more arm reps now. With no hand weights, I can do 50-100 lifts and I can feel my muscles working. I have noticed a bit of toning up but nothing major. I’m not lifting heavy weights after all.

As for my word count, I am still behind but not so much that I feel I won’t be able to catch up. I just need one good say where I can log over 3k words and I’ll be in the clear.

The worst part of this is not being able to do anything else. I keep getting shows recommended to me and cool books I wanna read but I have to use all my spare time writing. Not that I don’t enjoy writing. I love it, that’s why I keep doing it even if I don’t make a living from it. But every once in awhile, I wanna sit and watch some anime or type up reviews for cool books I’ve been reading. Those will come if I can catch up with my word count.

However, I am having a blast working on this world. I wrote Gods in the Grey City a decade or so ago and I’ve always wanted to expand it. The characters are fun to write, the setting is interesting, and coming up with new villains has been awesome. If you liked the first one, I think you’ll enjoy the next entry.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

Camp NaNoWriMo Day 5

wp-1657074571381

I am behind in my word count but today flowed so well towards the end. I’m gonna be tired in the morning but so worth it.

Tomorrow, I’ll try to get 2k words in over the course of the day instead of trying to squeeze it all in before I go to sleep. Work was busy so, I did have to wait till I get home.

Honestly, I should be doing 2k a day normally so I can get stories published faster. There’s a book I got about finishing a book in a week. I don’t have time to sit and read it now but I’ll share my thoughts in it when I get the chance.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

Camp NaNoWriMo Day 2

While not as many words as I’d hoped, I think this was good progress! Especially since I managed to wash, dry, fold, and put away all the clothes and make the bed. Sunday will be totally free to write, other than making dinner. I will need to remember to get up and move around more instead of being hunched over the Freewrite for hours at a time. I stayed up too late to do my body weight workouts so I’ll have to make up for that tomorrow.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

NaNoWriMo Day 22

I am behind. And, I don’t really feel bad about it because over the weekend, I was doing chores and writing until almost 3 am. Last night, I decided getting some halfway decent sleep was more important.

Only to be woken at 3 am because my nose decided breathing wasn’t important anymore but, whatever. I need to whip out the humidifier…

As as I’ve stated before, I think this story is going to be under 50k words overall. I have the one big fight scene and the conflict resolution and I’m done. As, I’ve said, I may end up adding more words in the editing process (since I have been reading back over what I’ve written and a TON of descriptions need to be filled in and/or fleshed out) and I’m looking forward to that process! I want what I’m picturing in my head to be clear to others when they read it.

I think what I look forward to most about all this is when it’s done, I can start working out again. I sneak in words all day, I go home for a really fast dinner, fast shower, then I’m back at it for a few hours.  This has consumed my brain and time. It’ll be nice to take 30 minutes for a quick run to clear the stress of the day, then go write some more. Or maybe do some reading; since I’m behind on my reading goal for the year. I also need to keep doing needlework so I can use up all the yarn I bought. I guess December will be as busy as November even without this challenge.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

NaNoWriMo Day 19

It is so adorable that in October I thought I would be doing daily updates like it would totally fit into my day while I try to furiously write, work full time, function as a mom, and also a human being all at the same time. Ah, how young and foolish I was a few weeks ago…

Anyway, I beat my word goal today! If you’ve been following me on Instagram, Twitter, or Tumblr, you’ve probably seen me express my prediction that I won’t meet my word goal; not because I won’t hit the 50k word goal on time, but because the way my story is playing out in this rough draft, I may reach the conclusion before I hit that word count. Does that count as a win? Because I think that counts as a win. It’s just how I planned for the story to turn out and I am not going to pad the story with extra words to hit this goal. After editing, it may be longer (because I’ve been reading through my Freewrite drafts to make suure I keep character names straight and things like that) since I know there are places where descriptions can be expanded so the reader knows what the fucking hell is going on. I want this to be a good story, not a 50k word manuscript that will be a good story if I bash my head against it enough.

I am enjoying this story. I like working in this world and it’s characters. I think I may have something pretty cool here and I don’t want to fuck it up with restrictions. So, as I sit here at almost 11:30pm, I think I have a good thing going. This is harder and easier than I thought it would be. I suppose coherent thoughts about all this will have to come together around December 1st.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

NaNoWriNo Day 10: Yes I should still be working out but I’m not

I love how in October I had these grand notions of writng and working out and husting to post every day and how ten days in, I’m blearly throwing up an update that I’m praying will make any sense when I look at it in the morning.

I’ve seen some impressive stats from other authors I follow and I’m tying not to feel bad about myself since I am literally writing whatever words around a full time job and a teenager that “helps” me with chores… So, I’m on a string of late nights, there’s dirty dishes in the sink, and I’d bet money (that I don’t make on book sales) that when I asked for the garbage to be taken out, I will see it wasn’t done in the morning.

At least the words are in the bag!

Follow me on BlogLovin.