6th November

DONEDONEDONE!
Phew!
I wrote 13.5k today to catch up for being lazy and only writing 5.5k yesterday, and hit 50,000 words at 8:22 this evening! I'm so pleased. 6 days! That beats last years by like, a day and two hours. I'm proud. =D I also started a new novel yesterday, which is so much better than the first one. Shh. That explains the 13.5k day without death. >_>

Now I can settle back to a nice 3k a day and do some work for uni. I really need to do some work for uni. >_o Haha

50,000th word: "You're". How dull.
51,000th: "a". Not much better. XD
Sentence: "You're a young man!" Even worse =P

Ah well.

Sleep now. And uni work. And sleep. I have a poorly back. xD

*dies*

4th November

Today has been a day full of ups and downs, that's for sure. More servere homesickness, but since today has been my day off (well, strictly speaking I should have been doing reading, but oh well) I managed to hit my goal of 10k. :]

That puts me at 1k ahead of last year's schedule, even with that bad start. Maybe I will be able to do it in 6 days. Then I can feel better by doing lots of work for university. : )

Anyway. I'm super tired, so here's an excerpt:

“Goddamnit! Lockdown!” Her panic was contagious, and my heart began to thump so loudly it almost drowned out the alarm.

“What the hell set it off?” I demanded, facing each of the others in turn before finally resting my gaze on the locked and bolted window in front of us. “And how the hell are we going to get out?”

“Front door,” Lyn breathed. “We have to get out there - it’ll be the only one not yet closed.”

Before I had the chance to question her queer logic, or even demand a further explanation of our trouble, she had grabbed me by the arm and was pulling me out towards the main staircase. Above us we heard the scraping of chairs and a shout of dismay in the voice of a man, but this only made us move quicker.

We reached the front door in what seemed like seconds, the thudding out of feet the only way I had of keeping time. We flew down the staircase, manuscript carefully tucked away under Kysin’s arm, and found that Lyn had been right in her assertion. The front door was wrenched open with visible relief from all of us, and we fled out into the darkness of the night gladly.

We ran until we reached the cars, out of breath and exhausted. Panting I doubled over, resting my hands on my knees as I fought to regain my breath. Lyn beside me coughed. I began to laugh, uncontrollably, with the feeling of pure pleasure rippling through my body. We had done it! This was the first step, and we had won. Things could only get better from here, and then those other government oafs would simply have to believe me.

“What’s so funny?” Lyn asked angrily, tossing her head like a displeased horse. Leaf dropped to the floor beside his car and shook his head. “What’s with the damn cackle?”

“I never thought myself of a thief,” I spoke through my laughter, hiccuping until my chest hurt. “And I don’t think I’ve ever seen Leaf move so quickly in my life!”
Tomorrow is going to be a busy day too. I just hope my back stops hurting so bad. Damn this silly unversity chairs! > : (

Words written today: 9986
Total word count: 31,014

3rd November

So, last night was something of a disappointment, because I was attacked by severe homesickness. Luckily I managed to catch up today, which is good because it means I'm on target for hitting 50k on day 6 - one day earlier than last year! I just have to keep it up.

I don't know how much of this my poor back can take (it's seizing up like crazy), but I'm determined to give it my all. I also put an excerpt up on the NaNo author page of mine, if anybody cares, or is even reading this. I think I'm talking to myself... >_>

Anyway. Except:

It was almost midnight when I finally heard the doorbell ring. Lyn had been gone for almost eight hours - not that I had been counting - yet when I let her in she didn’t seem at all tired. If anything, in fact, she seemed more lively than she had earlier, and bounded into the foyer with a grin on her face.

“Morbid, much,” I commented, but she ignored me. Already I was fond of the dynamic that was growing between us, and found myself hoping desperately that she wouldn’t disappoint. I imagined she would make a fantastic questioner.

“Job done.” She jumped through to the sitting room and sat herself down on the same sofa she had occupied earlier. I watched her for a moment, allowing her to catch her breath, and then descended on the arm of the chair, like a wolf on its prey.

“Do tell me how it went,” I pleaded. It had been my intention to assert my authority here, claim importance and show my desire for knowledge, but I was so riled by the thought of just revenge that I couldn’t help myself. “Tell me. Did she cry?”

“Not much,” Lyn admitted, picking at something in her teeth. “She didn’t believe me at first, and we argued for a bit. Then I hit her and tied her to a chair, and she seemed more willing to listen. She said she was sorry, and she wouldn’t tell anybody about your dad - I assume that’s something you don’t want to talk about? And then, well, I just gave her a good last moment by making her watch me dance naked.”

“What?”

“I’m joking.” Lyn rolled her eyes. “I just shot her, okay? Is that good enough?” She huffed loudly and folded her arms across her chest in a childish manner.

“I’m beginning to think this was a bad idea,” I ventured, but Lyn stopped me.

“I did what you asked, and cleaned it up nicely. Nobody will even know she tried to go home. She’s buried out in a nice patch of cemetry outside one of those early little villages in East Side. They’ll never know.”

Word count for yesterday: 6,290
Word count for today: 9,486
Total word count: 21,028

1st November

NANONANONANONANO! =D

So, of course, NaNo started yesterday, and while I'm not up for a long update, I'll say that I didn't get as much done as planned, but am enjoying myself. I had a lovely time at the Notts NaNo meet, and now have my own pet rock - and then spent the evening with Tom and friends, doing Halloween things and then writing. It was great :)

Now I'm back in Norwich and should WRITEWRITEWRITE!

Here's a small exerpt of what's happening so far:

Outside I tried to hold my breath, panic rising at the thought that I had drunk enough to make myself sick. I hadn’t had that much! I could count on one hand the amount of drinks I’d allowed myself tonight, and they hadn’t even been strong ones. I gagged, body doubled over as I hovered in the gutter, trying my best to keep from vomiting.

“Shit,” I swore, my stomach lurching again. “Not good, not good...” I took a deep breath; feeling my ribcage rise and fall was enough to make me feel violently ill again. Head spinning, I struggled to keep myself upright, a sharp piece of brick biting into the tender skin on my palm. I clutched the hem of my dress, focus drawn from my stomach, but to no avail.

I didn’t even get the chance to ask for help before I felt my legs go inexplicably weak and I collapsed to the floor in a heap. My head hit the concrete hard, stars whooshing into vision against the black of the night sky. The music of the party was too loud, my body too tired to move. I lay on my back, arms sprawled out, and let my vision go black. The sickness subsided slowly, and I was left empty and cold, my body fixed in a half-state of levitation. I brought my knees to my chest and closed my eyes.

The only thought that was tangible enough to grasp, was how much I hoped I hadn’t ruined my dress. Little did I know, that was going to be the least of my worries.

Words written yesterday: 5,234
Wordcount overall so far: 8,743