NaNo Week #1 // Lots of Words, No Sleep, + I Think I Lost My Plot.

Saturday, November 7, 2015
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I started NaNoWriMo off with five hours of sleep two nights in a row, so there's nothing like getting in to the half-awake bandwagon of insanity.  

BUT IT HAS BEGUN. Like you haven't noticed from the overflow of Facebook and Twitter posts about it. But I'm going to say it again in big, bold letters because I'm that excited. 

NANOWRIMO HAS BEGUN.

((Also, if you want to track my progress, you can do that on my NaNo profile or with the widget in the footer of this blog.))

day one. // 6,070

i stayed up until 2:30 a.m but since it was daylight saving's time it was actually 1:30 a.m but then i didn't fall asleep until 2:00 a.m in the new daylight saving's time which felt like 3:00 in the "old" time but it actually wasn't. 
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That above didn't make sense, but it's NaNo so nothing I do makes sense anymore. I haven't put the milk in the cupboard yet like I did one time for Camp NaNo, though.

Sleep was minimal for day one. I woke up early for Church, went to bed "early," and yet I somehow wrote 6k? Maybe my secret is that I have to be tired in order to write. Or maybe it's just because I stay up super late. Yeah, that's probably it.

But after our Halloween harvest festival thingamajigy at Church (which went super awesome if you were wondering), my cousin came over and we had a fantastic time writing, drinking hot cocoa, eating candy, listening to Twenty One Pilots, and eating popcorn. And writing lots of words, of course.

We took this pic at 1:45 in the morning. How're we're actually functioning, I don't know. We were on the floor laughing over nothing at this point. xD (at least I was. :P)
Our writing set up with *cough* candy in the middle. (my computer is one the left and LOOK AT THE CUTE MOUSE THAT I GOT awhile back.)
So day one was a super-duper success.

day two // 1,060

i got a book I was insanely excited about in the mail and screamed when I saw it in the mailbox and alerted my whole neighborhood of my excitement so writing wasn't great.
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Well, er, yes. I did dance around in the street and scream and squeal. The above statement is entirely accurate because I got A TIME TO SPEAK IN THE MAIL!

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I'm excited. Really, really excited.

Before I started the book, I forced myself to write 1,000 words. It was painfully hard, but I think it was the fastest 1k I have ever written. I did it in around twenty minutes. :P

So it was an okay day, I guess? Writing wise. Reading wise it was epic. 

day three // 5,592

i went a little crazy to the point where I basically killed my wrists and stayed up really late.
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I actually feel REALLY good about today. I went a tad insane and wrote non-stop for 45 minutes which resulted in 2,300 words. My fingers and wrists got very sore so there was little writing for the rest of the day, but I stayed up late (*cough* 12:30. surprise, Mom. *cough*) and got another 3,000 done, so it was very successful. *nods*

Also, word crawls are insanely helpful if you can't find anyone to war you for motivation. There are a bunch of other challenges and prompts to work on in this thread.

day four // 3,168

i'm really starting to regret this "pantsing" thing because my plot ran away and I really have no idea what's happening with my story anymore.
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Today was a slow start. School took forever so it wasn't until three where I finally started writing, and even then, I only wrote 1,000 words in the afternoon because I HAVE NO PLOT SOMEONE SEND HELP.

I have a beginning and an end in my story... but that's basically it. I have no idea what I'm even doing or what order to put events in. The amount of editing that will have to go into this novel is seriously INSANE. So I'm stressing out while trying to remind myself just to write. Because that's what NaNoWriMo is about, just writing a rough (very rough, ha.) draft.

So this is me right now:

2006-11-01 Eliza Regrets Not Outlining First | Nanotoons.net:

Also Cait got 50k on day FOUR and so I'm sitting over here like this:

Wordcount envy, from the NaNoWriMo archives. For upcoming NaNoToons, please Like the NaNoToons Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/NaNoToons:

(But, no. I'm really happy for you. *showers you in confetti*)

So in the evening I started writing this rabbit trail in my story and now I'm writing everything out of order and IT'S SUCH A MESS. *deep breath*

To those who are feeling like I did today, you are definitely not alone. *group hug*

day five // 2,656

two more of my writing buddies made the 50k (WHAT EVEN.) and my plot is still hiding from me. (how rude.)
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I greeted day five bright and early at twelve in the morning. I wrote another 243 words to get started for the day, and then I collapsed in bed. :P

TWO more of my writing friends made their goal. A super big congratulations to Imogen and Raychel! So proud of all the writing you've done. <3

Also, I think I should stop staying up so late because I try to write "choking noises" and instead I wrote "choking noses." Oops.

So I didn't get as much writing done as I hoped for today, but honestly I was so exhausted and if I were to write any other words they'd be totally incoherent. Like all the other thousands of words I've already wrote this month, haha.
day six // 2,281.
i spent most of the day finishing this blog post because I PROCRASTINATED and also thank goodness the weekend is coming.
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I went into the day with high hopes. I told myself that I'd write 4,000 words, get ahead, and just feel generally accomplished with myself. 

Hahahah things did not work out that way but I'M STAYING OPTIMISTIC.

I ended up with 2,281. School took awhile, I had forgotten about this poor blog post, and in the evening my family went to see a play of Phantom of the Opera. (Which was super amazing and cooool. o.o) 

So tomorrow since it's a Saturday and I have nothing going on I'm going to write lots.
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number of days I went to bed before midnight: 0/6. (ooops.)

highest word count in a day: 6,070.

lowest word count in a day: 1,060.

snippet: SO HERE'S THE BEGINNING OF MY NOVEL: *hides*

biggest distraction: Um. Well, of course Twitter, and probably just talking about NaNo to all my lovely writer friends? I sometimes forget about the *writing* part of NaNo. Wait, I can't just talk about how awesome and stressful NaNo is to everyone? I actually have to write? *gasp*

obstacle of the week: Losing my plot. *tries not to freak out* 
best part of the week: STARTING NANO! And getting excited about all of the things to come in my story. So many feels. And also things to add in for my first book. *flails because excitement and writing* 
interesting NaNo related blog posts: Imogen's NaNoWriMo update blog post was super inspiring, and she also had a really neat way of tracking her word count that I'm totally stealing.
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- Katie Grace
Enough about me! HOW'S NANOWRIMO GOING FOR YOU!? Word count? Did you go to bed before midnight at all? xD 
And if you aren't doing NaNo -- how are you spending your time this month? 

56 comments :

  1. Your wordcount is lovely. And I agree; the last week seems like it's been a lot longer. >.<
    NaNoWrimo is going splendidly for me. I have 18K at the moment (and haven't written yet today, so I'm hoping to hit 20K by the time I go to bed). And also a cold. But, hey, fastest original 18K I've ever written. (I wrote a faster 18K in July '14's Camp NaNo, I think, but it was a Heartless fanfic and so I could borrow a lot of plot/dialogue from the book.)
    I've been doing the Dice Quest wordcount crawl, which is mostly why I'm going so fast . . . today's challenge looks like it'll be miserably difficult, but I will survive.

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    1. Whoaaaah. 18k is FANTASTIC. You're basically where I am right now. :D
      No, not a cold! So many of my writer friends are sick right now. And during NaNo... it's the worst. I hope you feel better soon!

      Whoah. o.O I just checked it out, and that looks intense. I love that it has a lot of roleplaying/story and such. It makes it a lot more fun that way. :)
      Good luck!

      Delete
  2. I think you're doing amazingly well with your wordcount. *standing ovation from me and my minions* And runaway plots. Yes. I can sympathize, in a way. Because I do have a plot for my WIP, but I'm executing it horribly. And I don't have a concrete plan for when everything is going to happen, so it's all just floating in a void in my brain right now instead of being nicely planned-out on a bulletin board. *sighs* But first drafts are just to write, and I'm trying not to worry about it.

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    1. *hides from your minions, unless they are kind minions*

      Gack, I'm kind of glad I'm not the only one, but also sad that you're struggling with it, too. :P But if you need a Word War, just shoot me a NaNo mail or an email or something and we'll work it out. :D

      Yeah. I have to keep reminding myself that. :P

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  3. You've got this! I will war you lots. xD

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    1. Yessss you've got this, too.
      Good. *nods* I will need the wars. xD

      Delete
  4. YOU'RE AMAZING!
    You're almost halfway done with the 50k and it's only the first week. Also...I NEED MORE CLIPS FROM YOUR STORY! You can't just leave us hanging there (says the author who tortures you all the time with bits and pieces.) Where are they going? Why are they prisoners? Will they survive? Escape? TOGETHER?! On a flying albino buffalo?!?! (please please please!)

    *ahem*

    Sorry about that. But...I really liked your snippet of story. :D

    I'm not doing NaNo. *starts new story* Really, I'm not. *writes first thing in the morning.* I'M NOT, OKAY?! *has already written 2,000 words...which is 2,000 more than she planned to write all month* Yeah. I'm not sure what's going on with me and writing and NaNo, but...I'll just keep typing away! :D

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    1. EEEEP THANK YOU NADINE! *hugs* Well, you never know about flying albino buffaloes... *wink*

      Haha. xD *rushes over to war you* BUT I'M SO EXCITED THAT YOU'RE WRITING AND IT'S GOING WELL! *dances around in circles for you* I can't wait to read it. This story sounds fantastic. :D

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  5. You're doing a fantastic job with your word count! Just keep going with it, and I bet your plot will come back to you:D You can do this!

    I also wanted to let you know that I tagged you for The Song Tag if you want to take a look: http://ingodswritinghands.blogspot.com/2015/11/songs.html

    Hope the rest of NaNo goes well for you!

    ~Maddie

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    1. Awww, thank you, Maddie! AND thank you for the tag! Glad to hear that you thought of me. :D
      You're doing NaNo, right? How's that going for you?

      Delete
  6. Staying up super late is a real issue during NaNo because ALL THE WRITING CAN GET DONE AT NIGHT and then suddenly you look at the time and just welp. I think my parents are starting to get annoyed with my NaNo sleep habits.

    You're doing great on your wordcount, though. ^_^ YOU GOT THIS. *hands chocolate because chocolate = motivation*

    (Oh, and byyyy the way, I'm 'Agent Mockingbird' on NaNo)

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I think all the NaNo parents will get very annoyed by the end of the month. xD

      AH THANK YOU! *eats chocolate* Part of my frenzied writing is me being motivated to catch up/get ahead to you. :P Must. Keep. Writing.

      (Ah-ha! I guess right! xD Your picture looked similar, but I wasn't *completely* sure. :P)

      Delete
  7. Wow... This is... I relate to this so very much right now. I have no clue where my plot went! I came into this month excited for this story, and optimistic about my plot... It completely ran out. o.o I know what's going to happen right near the end of the story, but for now... Just pantsing, which I'm not sure is a good idea, but... NANOWRIMO!
    Yesterday I wrote... Nothing. I tried with music, with different music, with silence, with darkness, and... Nothing. I even read myself the scene I was working on, and while I added a few words here and there, I didn't actually write.
    HOWEVER. Today is going a _lot_ better.
    *hugs* You can do it! Your plot can't hide forever.

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    1. I'm relieved that you can relate and my plot isn't the only stubborn one, but IT IS NOT GOOD THAT YOUR PLOT RAN AWAY. So I'm not happy for you. :P

      That's totally okay. You did an AMAZING job today, and the day still isn't over! (Though I'm not sure if you'll write more tonight...) And I'll be around for wars the WHOLE rest of the month. *grin*

      *hugs back* Together we shall find out plots, one way or another. xD

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  8. Great post! HOW DID YOU WRITE THAT MUCH IN 1 DAY?!!!! And so quickly?! I signed up for NaNoWriMo on the 4th and didn't get started until the fifth (I know, I make crazy late decisions). I have never written a book before (and I had wrote like maybe a paragraph for the book I'm writing now). I have the barest of outline and I'm just going with the flow. But I can hardly do 2,000 words in 6 HOURS! Ugh... I need to go faster.

    By the way, that snippet is amazing! I would love to be a beta reader for you!!!

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    1. Eeep, thank youuu! ^.^
      Well, I play music, take lots of tiny breaks, refuse to look at the internet, Word War with people, walk around every so often, switch where I'm sitting, and just type words, even if they're horrible. xD If we're buddies on the NaNo site -- shoot me a NaNo mail and we can war! :D :D

      Awww, thanks! *melts* I'll be looking for beta people in January, so be looking out for that. ;)

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    2. :-D Alright! You're welcome!!!

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  9. Great snippet, keep pressing on :D

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  10. I AM ALMOST TO 7K. WHICH MEANS I'M ALMOST ON TRACK. I JUST HAVE TO WRITE AN EXTRA 300 WORDS TOMORROW AND I'LL BE GOOD. *runs off screaming*
    (You're doing great at NaNo by the way. Like, seriously child. How are you so good.)

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    1. AHH BUT KRISSY THAT IS ACTUALLY SO AMAZINGGGG!
      (Katie child doesn't know. She just writes.)

      Delete
  11. Wow, you've certainly got a lot of words in so far! I wanted to join in NaNo this year, but stuff came up, and I wasn't able to :(. Oh well, I can still cheer people on :D.
    I loved your snippet! Made me want to read more! Keeping pressing on, you're doing great! ~Savannah Perran

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    1. Aww, too bad. Yes! NaNoers always appreciate the encouragement. :D
      Daw, thanks! I will be asking for beta readers soon(ish) for the first book... *wink*

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    2. Ooo, I think I know someone who would be very interested in being a beta reader for this book of yours ... :D ~Savannah Perran

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    3. Eeep! *happy dance*
      January. Be watching out for a post. :D

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    4. I definitely will be! :D ~Savannah Perran

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  12. I abolutely loved reading this update! I think your blog is one of my absolute favoritest and we must meet someday at a writer's conference or something because we have so much in common!!! :D
    *goes back to finish the blog post she's working on because that is why she got on the computer in the first place*

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    1. ACK THAT MAKES ME SO HAPPY! *melts*
      Oh my goodness we must! It would be so awesome. :D
      Heh, distracted much? Did you get it done?

      Delete
    2. No, I didn't get it done. It was an Awkward and Awesome post and I spent several hours on it but only barely got through the awkward part :/ That should tell you a little about my life lol :D
      Today I'm back to schoolwork and breadmaking ( Monday is bread day for me).
      How did you make must italicized in your reply to my comment? Just curious :) I have no idea how to do that...

      Delete
    3. Awww, too bad. :( Blogging is hard. Most posts usually take me 3+ hours, so I feel you. :P
      Oooh, you make bread every Monday? That's awesome. Send me some! ;)
      Oh! It's coding. So what you do...

      INSERT WORDS YOU WANT ITALICIZED HERE.

      Delete
    4. Oh, bother. It made my words italicized and deleted the code. :P *smacks head* Here - http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/WD/wds2p4.html

      Delete
    5. Haha! We'll that's cool :) I'll have to try coding sometime.
      As for the bread, do you want white bread, wheat bread, apple fritter bread or pumpkin bread? ;) I'm also trying gluten free bread and pumpkin bread with lots of stuff (chocolate chips, nuts, marshmallows, caramels) in it.

      Delete
    6. Oooooh. Maybe just plain white bread. It's always good. :P

      AND BREAD WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS IN IT! Um, yes please.

      Delete
  13. GIRL!!! Don't feel bad about your wordcount... 20K in a week is nothing to scoff at! (This girl just barely managed 12.5K! Hehe!) CONGRATS!!! *throws glitter* Cannot wait for more snippets of your story! :)

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    1. DON'T FEEL BAD ABOUT YOURS, TOO. IT'S AMAZING. *dances in glitter and pulls you in*
      Eep, thank you!

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    2. *dances in glitter with you* You're the best, Katie!! <3

      Delete
  14. How?? How are you already at like 25K? Everyday I see your word count increase and I'm like stop :P maybe it's because I have to go to bed at 9:30 every night lol. Wow what a huge difference that makes. I'm at 11,700 something. I need to hit 12.5 today but I don't have the time. And yes I'm not the only one with a beginning and end and no idea in between. I just made my character break her toes and that's totally gonna hinder the quest I wastl have her on..,so nano totally took control of me

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    1. I JUST TYPE MADLY I DON'T REALLY KNOW. O.O Aw, yeah. Staying up until midnight is when I get most of my writing done even though it's probably not the best for me... Heh.

      Oh. Ew, break her toes? o.O That's got to be super painful to walk on. Yikes. Good luck to your character.

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  15. PHANTOM!!!!! I want to see it live so bad.

    Sounds like you're doing pretty well at word count, even though your plot ran away. At least you have an end goal. I used to think a beginning and an end was all I needed, and maybe it was, but now I have a story I want to write, but I can't because I have a beginning and an end, but no way to get from the beginning TO the end. It can be frustrating.

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    1. YES! It was really awesome - you should see it if you have the chance. ;)

      Yeeaaaah. That's the hard part about writing. (Well, every part is hard, truthfully. :P) I forget -- are you doing NaNo?

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    2. I would...if I had the money. :P

      Writing is hard, but soooo rewarding in the end. I'm not doing NaNo. I did Camp last July, and still need to edit that novel...which really needs to be done before I can write the second book in the trilogy which is (most likely) my next project.

      Delete
  16. Wow, you're doing great! I stayed up until about midnight once last week, and I was, um, reading. I wrote more than 1,000 words on the first day, and since then I've been all over the place, but mostly under 900 words. But this is my first NaNo, and I'm still pretty happy with how it's going, despite the measly word count. Because I've managed to put new words on a page every single day in November so far. And to me, that's pretty cool. :)

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    1. Eep, thank you! <3

      And that's really the whole point of NaNo -- putting words on the page day after day without fail. So you're doing great. :D Do you like where your novel is going?

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    2. Um, yeah, about that... I'm not entirely sure where it's going. I wrote a flimsy outline before I started writing, but mostly I'm just along for the ride. So far, I like it, though!

      Delete
    3. Every time I try to pants a novel I HORRIBLY regret it.
      But do I learn?
      No.
      *sigh*
      But I'm glad you're enjoying it! I feel like their should be a NaNoPlotMo before November. :P

      Delete
  17. Congrats on reaching 20K in the first week! I reached 23K yesterday. ^ ^ It's the best I've ever done in NaNo. Word warring works wonders.

    storitorigrace.blogspot.com

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    1. Thank youuu! And fantastic job!
      (nice on the alliteration. xD) Word Warring is amazing. I've barely done any writing WITHOUT word wars this month, haha.

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  18. Wow, Katie! That is awesome how fast your going!
    NaNo is going well for me, I'm just barely able to scrape by with 1.667 words a day, but that's alright with me. =) My current word count is 15.000 words. My plot ran away from me as well, so I'm having trouble getting back on track, but am getting there. *Cough* I haven't stayed up to midnight at all. I think my body automatically falls asleep at 11:30, so there's no chance for late night writing. I think I'm the oddball of the writing community in that respect.
    Thanks for the update! I always love hearing about your writing!
    -Mikayla-

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    1. Thank you! I'm a bit surprised with the pace my fingers are moving. o.O

      But that's awesome. 15,000? Sweet, girl! *hands chocolate*
      Ugh, your plot, too? *sigh* Is it going better now? :P
      Ack, I'm a little jealous, there. My body starts WAKING UP at 11:30, so it doesn't work out that well. :P But I have respect for you! I wish I had the self-control to go to bed that early. xD

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    2. *Takes chocolate* Thank you. *Gives you half*
      No, unfortunately not. I've been staring at my document waiting for words to come and... nothing. My plot left, and now I have nothing. =P
      Haha, well, everybody's different. ;D Its not really self-control, its just how I work.

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    3. Oh no! :/ Set something on fire or kill someone. Usually that'll shake up the plot. ;) *is half-kidding but not really, haha*

      Delete
    4. Hum... setting something on fire. That sounds pretty good. Thanks!
      Have you watched Month of the Novel?
      -Mikayla-

      Delete
  19. You're doing great!! Definitely keep pushing through and you'll get there! :)
    I'm not doing Nano, but I love reading all the discussion about it and it's really inspired me to get a bunch of writing done lately! I'm horrible at trying to go back and edit and make every little detail perfect, but I'm really trying to break away from this habit and just get my first draft DONE!

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    1. THANK YOU! <3
      Isn't it awesome how everyone gets involved together? It makes me so happy to have a writing community that I'm a part of. :D
      YOU GOT IT! And then when it's finally TIME to edit that's when all you want to do is write. :P

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  20. Aww, I wish I'd visited your blog during November instead of taking a break from pretty much everything blog-related, because this was such a fun post. :) I remember trying to race Cait and she got 50K on the 4th and I got it on the 5th because I was packing and stuff, but grr, I wanted to beat her.

    Also, I didn't get to bed before midnight for the entire month, and most often I went to bed at around two o'clock, and that's really sad because I usually stopped writing at eleven and then just used all that time to unwind. *hangs head*

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