NaNoWriMo Day 21: A Good Saturday or Better Than Nothing

As promised, I got a great night's sleep last night. I spent my morning reading a very compelling book called, School Wounds by Kirsten Olson (more about this another time), then I walked down to get my hair cut this afternoon, and went to see the movie Precious this evening, all worthwhile activities. Here's what I wrote in between:

“The first rule of kitchen duty is don’t get hurt,” she told them in a pronounced drawl. “The kitchen can be a dangerous place, full of things that are hot and sharp. It is also a place where you prepare and serve the food that others will eat, so the second rule is to be careful and clean.”

It all made sense to Hannah. These were very close to her parents’ rules when she helped in the kitchen at home.

“Our lunch today will be hamburgers, grilled cheese, and French fries. Of course we’ll need some griddlers, and fryers, and servers, but some of you will need to chop vegetables for the salad bar and prep the chicken and biscuits for dinner.”

Word Count: 13480

NaNoWriMo Day 20: 102 is Plenty

I had some free time tonight, and a friend asked if I was going to spend it writing. "Nope," I told her, "I'm going to go to bed early so I can write a lot tomorrow."

Hannah enjoyed a leisurely breakfast that had only been improved by the sight of Leslie and Cheryl screeching and jumping at every pop of the bacon grease on the huge griddle where they working when she made her way through the food line. That duo was dejectedly eating a late breakfast in the back corner of the dining hall, when, at nine am sharp, Hannah and the rest of the kitchen crew presented themselves to Miss Jean, the camp cook.

Jean was a solid woman of about her mother’s age, and Hannah liked her immediately, despite her gruff, matter of fact manner.

Word count: 13358

NaNoWriMo Day 19: Fingers Crossed

Today was a busy day-- teaching, parent meetings, a basketball game, and my writing group. It was my night to cook, too. Our meeting was as fun and congenial as ever, there was some good writing all around, and it was close to eleven by the time we got to my piece, which was the latest installment of the novel. I had about 800 words that I'd slammed out between basketball and hurrying home to start dinner. I could have written more if I'd had more time, too. That hasn't happened too often, but I'm hoping that there's a little momentum building on day 19.

She held her breath and lay as still as she could. Her mind raced and she fought the urge to jump screaming from the bed. The shadowy figure pushed out from between the bags under her bed and waddled across the cabin. In the moonlight it looked like a giant rat, bristly with a hairless tail, and it was moving toward the bunk where Dana slept. Hannah could see her over there lying on her stomach, one arm hanging over the side of her bed, oblivious to the menacing creature that was scraping toward her...

...“What are we going to do then?” Kelly asked.

Word count: 13256

NaNoWriMo Day 18: Oops

For a brief shining moment last night, I was done with my novel. I accidentally typed an extra '1' on my NaNoWriMo page, and didn't notice it until my counters declared me a 100% finished NaNoWriMo Winner! It felt pretty good until I fixed it. I didn't realize until then how much I really would like to be a "winner".

Claire left, and the four girls prepared for bed. “You could have told her we were in the bathroom, or something” Leslie said with exasperation.

“But you weren’t,” said Lori. “That would have been against the rules to lie.”...

...She lifted her head ever so slightly from the pillow and looked toward her feet. She froze when she saw a dark shape trundle heavily across her blanket toward the wall. Before she could do anything, it slithered into the narrow crack and disappeared under her bed.

Word Count: 12620

NaNoWriMo Day 17: The Inmates Are Running the Asylum

They always say that once you get started writing fiction, your characters will take over. It seems almost mystical when it happens, but it is welcome. Today, my characters actually told me that I need to spend more time with them-- 300 words is just lame. Sorry guys. I'm doing my best.

The fire was just a pile of smoldering embers when Hannah and Dana left to turn in for the night. It had been a fun evening. They listened to Hunter and Graham make fools of themselves singing Born to Run with Hank, and they had participated in a marshmallow roasting contest— Hannah won in the perfectly-golden-brown category, and Rhett won in the too-charred-to-eat-but-I’ll-go-for-it-anyway category...

...“Seven!” sputtered Cheryl. “I thought duty started at 9!”

“Not for you,” Claire told them. “You’ll be the breakfast crew.”

Word Count: 12085

NaNoWriMo Day 16: Get Off Your Butt

One of the blogs I like to read is Mad Woman in the Forest by the author Laurie Halse Anderson. Today she posted her tips for young writers who are attempting the NaNoWriMo challenge this year. According to her, writers block is caused by three main things:

1. You are trying to be perfect.
2. You are under pressure to produce the finished product too fast.
3. You have been sitting down too much.

She provides three solid suggestions for coping with such blockage. It's worth a read.

The rest of the afternoon passed without incident, and Hannah was able to take a long, hot shower before dinner. It gave her some time to think, and the water washed away some of her anxiety and anger. She realized that she kind of liked camp so far. She and Greg had met some pretty cool kids, and the activities had been fun so far. She was also beginning to appreciate that she was too busy to dwell on her parents and everything that was riding on whether they would be able to work things out. There’s nothing I can do about it, she thought...

...A screen door slammed, Mary's dress waved. Greg came out to join them. “I have hiking and canoeing tomorrow, but kitchen duty wasn’t too bad,” he reported.

Word Count: 11787

NaNo WriMo Day 15: Where the Run Meets the River

It was a treat having Josh here this weekend; he was a captive audience for my novel. We spent some time talking about it at dinner on Friday, and he came up with an ingenious plot development. It fits neatly into what I already had in mind, and I plan to use it. The seeds of it have been planted in this weekend's installments.

This morning we took advantage of the first sunny day since Tuesday and went for a hike along the Potomac. We walked the ridge until the trail dropped down to the confluence of Difficult Run and the river; after that we went upstream back to the parking lot. It was unseasonably warm, 72 in November, and the water was high because of all the rain.

Dana, Greg, and Rhett were already eating when Hannah got to lunch. “Where’s Graham?” Greg asked as Hannah put her tray down on the table...

...“Later Brace Face,” said Leslie.

Word Count: 11035