For The Win!

I did it!

That’s right! This girl made goal three days early!

28 days, 50,409 words (50,387 words according to NaNo after validating), 103 pages, and 7 chapters later, I have hit my dream goal of 50k.

And you know what?

I am damn proud of myself. I should be, too. I hadn’t thought I was going to make this dream goal of 50k, but I did. And I did it three days early instead of a few hours early like last Camp in April. I don’t even want to think on that low goal from that session either.

This…

I blew myself away, literally blew myself away.

With Camp, I have literally gotten so far into my novel and I’m realizing this might end up being much longer than I anticipated. For the whole novel of Darkness Becomes Her, I am sitting at 146 pages and just under 70k words now. Camp NaNo this month had added an IMMENSE amount to it. I doubled my original word and page count from when I started at the beginning of the month.

This mad streak of writing has given me a lot of motivation and I really hope to continue on with it through the coming months and keep up with the 1k-A-Day Challenge. I mean, c’mon, if I just did 50k, I can do 30 or 31k for a month. If I was just doing 31k for the month of July, I hit that goal on the 12th.

The 12th, people. A little over two weeks ago.

I’m so ecstatic right now that I’m grinning from ear to ear. I feel like a kid in a candy store!

This whole month has been a lot of ups and only some downs, surprisingly. I had gotten a little discouraged at one point, feeling like I had been slowing down and couldn’t get myself motivated again, but I got back up there and kept steamrolling. I’ve started to learn my characters more and I’ve gotten so many ideas on for this book.

Although, I think I might be permanently stuck in my character’s heads for awhile now. *Shrugs* Oh well. It’s not like they ever leave me alone anyways.

While I have had a few curveballs, they seemed to have worked out and made things even better, creating a basis for things in the books down the line. (Yes, I do know I’m getting ahead of myself now. I need to finish Book 1 first.) At one point I did get the brain spark of the idea for how to start Book 2 already. (Yes, I did learn to jot that down so I wouldn’t forget it.) I also threw myself off course a few times and then found a way to get myself back on track with the rough outline I have written up. That provided a few interesting things.

You know what’s funny though?

At the start of this, I think I had planned out four and a half chapters or so. That four and a half chapters turned into six. Coincidentally, the same number of chapters I planned out, was the exact number I needed to make it to 50k. And I thought I’d have to plan out a few more, guess not since I just finished the final chapter I had planned out.

Hooray for perfect planning! It’ll never happen again probably.

I also realized I have a minor plot hole that I didn’t explain at one point, but it will be worked out in the edit. I’ve started leaving myself notes in the story to remind myself for the edits of certain things. (Something a friend does that must have rubbed off on me, since it does work.)

I even managed to starve off a new plot bunny that my dad dropped into my head! I did write it down and it’s still kicking up a storm up in my head because I think it’s a rather brilliant idea, but I haven’t started writing it yet. There’s just tooooo many plot bunnies running loose up there.

Way too many. Too many plot bunnies, not enough time to give them all the attention they’re screaming for.

Go figure. It’s every author’s dreaded realization.

Now I have three days to plan out more chapters on where this is going and do a once over through the story — hopefully while keeping myself from editing it (it’s not as easy as it sounds for a writer to not edit while just reading through, trust me) — while I draw up the rest of the notes that I need to and get them sorted into the binder I have. Three days to do it that way I can be ready to roll again for the 1k-A-Day in August.

I really wish NaNo never ended. The cabins and progress charts really helped me to keep on track. Though I’m checking out some apps that will hopefully keep me motivated as well. I’d really hate to lose this motivation streak now that I’ve hit goal and Camp is about to end.

Somehow, I swear I will keep myself going for 1k-A-Day and already, I’m planning ahead and excited for November NaNo. I am definitely doing it this year. Morgana is not chickening out this year!

Now I guess it’s a bittersweet goodbye to July’s Camp. A wave farewell, until next time do we meet again for the madness.

*Sigh*

I always hate the end of Camp. I’m excited to finish, and also feel lost now that I don’t have to worry about goals or word count or staying on par. Well, except for the 1k-A-Day.

Now if I could just find some app to track my progress for that, I’d be set!