Right on track with 18,574 words

Poseidon, look at me! I'm up to 18,574 words which, if I look at my MantoWriMo schedule ...means I am exactly where I need to be by Day 11 (in fact, 237 words ahead). Huzzah! Seriously, though: today was a slog. I was already a day behind since this week was the tail end of the family visiting, and work Monday through Wednesday, where I've also been doing things of the writing variety, except with the emphasis on less words, not more. But Wednesday is where things kinda fell apart.

The story of Wednesday: basically, on Wednesday, rather than writing in the morning before heading off to the the Zoo, I watched "Life in Cold Blood" the David Attenborough reptiles and amphibians doc series, which was awesome! I learned so many fun facts! Like how when a python is swallowing a big prey item, it actually extends its wind-pipe out of its mouth because otherwise it would suffocate! So cool! Then at work, I didn't have time for a long lunch break (and BRAINSTORMING) because I was running around interviewing animals! Then after work, I saw Shannon! We had Menchie's! It was magical! And then I went to dinner! By the time I got home, I was exhausted but determined to at least write something. What I wrote was this:

Just as quickly as she'd agreed, Olivia was suddenly annoyed at herself for complying so easily with their demands. She was the one sitting cold in a cave, in her pajamas, with a bunch of complete strangers, when she could have been at home, watching reruns of "Gilligan's Island" with Moby.

And then, I fell asleep! And then I woke up at 2:00 in the morning when my laptop fell off my knees, where it had been precariously perched! And I wonder why my laptop is clearly on its last legs (come on baby, let's just get through June.)

So long story short, is that I didn't actually get my 1,667 words written on Wednesday.

But today, I had no work, no obligations, and I had two days' worth of words to write and for some reason, I just couldn't get into my novel. Maybe I was distracted or something, maybe it was because I knew I had this big explainy scene to write, maybe I just wanted to watch "Life in Cold Blood" instead of looking fun sea creature facts up on wikipedia, but today just wasn't happening.

Also, I've been having a debate with myself about writing with music or without--as I just wrote to Tessa, I haven't found the write soundtrack (then had to correct it to *right). Also, sometimes music helps me get into a zone, and sometimes it just prevents me from hearing my characters' voices. It's tricky, this writing stuff. If I bought into that whole "muse" thing, I'd say mine's pretty finicky--everything has to be juuust right. But like I said, I don't buy that whole muse business. Anyways, supposedly, Week 2 is supposed to be the hardest week, so I'm right on track for that, too.

So eventually, after feeding the parrots, and taking a bath, and making multiple cups of tea, and laying on the floor, and having my mom buy me one of those pretty cookies from gelson's, and re-watching an episode of "Chuck," I was finally able to hole up in my room, in bed (which apparently is the only place I can get writing done), and actually, you know, write. And at first it was like eking out one word at a time, and I couldn't get anyone's voices down, and I'm still not sure that the conversations I wrote actually flow or sound like real people, but 3,462 words later (give or take) I at last came to a natural stopping place.

Things are actually FINALLY going to start happening in my book. Also, at my dad's suggestion, there will be a volcano (funnily enough, he suggested this without knowing anything about my book, and I was like "VOLCANO!" and whipped out my notebook to write it down).

So, sorry for the long post, dear readers. If you want some actually entertaining posts, head over to Katie's blog. The scene at the Boo!-bie Mansion is hilarious and includes Martha Stewart craft references! Tim O'Shea is ridiculous, what with his foghorn noises and filming up girls' skirts. Also, Olgando is breaking my heart.