NaNo Week #3 - I Watched Six Movies, Became A NaNo Winner, And Wrote 10k In One Day.

Saturday, November 21, 2015
Week three of NaNo is just about to end, which means we're moving into our LAST WEEK OF NANOWRIMO! 

I'm kind of shocked. This month has simultaneously gone by so fast and so slow that it seems like I'm living in some sort of alternate time universe. 

But so far NaNo has been a blast. I've been tired all month and roughly pantsing, but the words are coming. One by one. :P (Certainly sounds like a blast, yeah? Freaking out about words and acting like a zombie? Only writers would understand...)

Throughout these next posts as my writing friends make 50k, I'll be briefly mentioning/congratulating them. Their names lead to their blogs or their NaNo profile if they don't have a blog. :)


day fourteen // 10,007

10,000 word day = SUCCESS! I wrote all morning (and even woke up early for it. On a Saturday. Ohhh, the horror and dedication.), all afternoon, and all evening up to midnight.

AND ALSO: 
I like how it says "so far" like they're challenging me to write more.

*celebrates* 

It's a teensy bit discouraging when I think about that I could only be halfway done. Maybe even less if my novel turns out to be more than 100,000. (I don't think so, but I'm a horrible estimator and who knows where my plot will take me.) So, I won't really count myself as a winner until I complete my novel, but 50k is still an awesome milestone to reach. :D 
*hugs to all you encouraging people*

Huuuuuuge thank you to Aimee for warring with me all day, and congratulations to her for succeeding in 10k as well! We're kinda insane and will probably never do it again. Kidding. We never learn from our mistakes. Next NaNo we'll do it again. :P

2010_Nanotoons_14:
I was very tempted to do this for the last hundred words of the 10k day. xD 

Congrats to Anna Holden for making it to 50k! And for succeeding in a 10k day, too.

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day fifteen // 141

141 words.
Oops. *blushes*

I needed to recover from the crazy insane 10k day. So, obviously I did very, very productive things instead. Like watching The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and starting the TV show Lost. (!!) All in one day. Yeah, I needed the break. :P My mind was quite satisfied to watch stories instead of creating stories. 
Especially amazing stories that get me all inspired to write something epic. 

But.. NaNo... is officially... half-way... done... *freaks out*

Yay for Christine for completing the 50k!

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day sixteen // 2,338

I'm still recovering from the 10k. Just... 
*collapses* 
Words. Why do words give me so much trouble? *shakes head*

My mom and I  watched Pride and Prejudice this evening. I'm reading the book this year for school and wanted to watch the movie before the book because I'm a rebel like that. Ha. :P 

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day seventeen // 4,774

I REACHED 60k!!! 

I need all the chocolate and pizza, now, because my brain is slowly dyinggg. Maybe that's the secret plot of the creators of NaNoWriMo. Slowly kill the minds of all the creative "geniuses." Then we don't have the strength to plan world domination. 

No? 
Oh. 

Told you my brain's dying. Or maybe it's the fact that I went to bed after midnight again. Or both. Yeah, both. *nods*

Eeep! Hannah, one of my awesome word war buddies, made it to 50k today!

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day eighteen // 1,086

Something very, very bad happened today. 

*whisper* I lost my plot again. 

It's like trying to catch a minnow in the water of a bar of soap in the shower. Just -- poof! It suddenly disappeared. So now I'm sitting here at the computer, shaking, unable to type, watching my cursor blink. 

(speaking of blinking cursors, why do they blink? To get our attention? To annoy us? Remind us that we're supposed to be writing? Hypnotize us?)

I'm counting on tomorrow going better. *nods*

Super proud of my aunt Heather completing NaNo for the first time!

this is my fuzzy blanket that keeps me warm in the colddd mornings. 
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day nineteen // 3,014

So, my plot's not completely back. I think I found an intern plot. Or an intern plot line for the moment. I half-know what I'm doing and am half-throwing words on the page hoping that they'll come out coherent. :P

I watched Mockinjay Part One today! (I know I'm behind on the movie watching trends. But after watching it I'm glad I waited, because that cliffhanger! O.O I'm not quite sure how to react to it. My heart definitely hurts.)

Back to writing:
I think I'm starting to notice a trend. Every other day is a good/bad day. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT? I'm going to defeat that trend. Tomorrow's going to be an epic day of writing.

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day twenty // 0

Ahahah. 
"I'm going to defeat that trend. Tomorrow's going to be an epic day of writing." 

Or not. 

Do you see that word count? It's a big, fat zero. Looks ugly, yeah? *sigh* I'll make up for it by writing 7k tomorrow on my weekly writing marathon day. :P

(Okay, and here's a technical problem. Technically I didn't write any words today, but I did verify my novel on NaNo and it gave me an extra 600 words. So it LOOKS like I wrote 611 words today, but... lies. So... Just ignore it?)

So what did I do instead of writing today? (Aww, I'm so glad you were wondering.) 

I continued my movie watching/Hunger Games week by seeing Mockingjay Part Two with awesome friends in the theater, (much sadness and feels and epicness and despairing that the series ended) and then going over to my grandparents to watch part one again. 

Now it's after midnight and I'm working on this blog post because I was a bad blogger and put off writing days in advance this week. Procrastinator is my middle name. 
(actually it isn't my middle name. It'd be horrible to have procrastinator as your middle name, wouldn't it?)
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days I went to bed before midnight: 4/7. 

highest word count in a day: 10,007. (AHHHHH.)

lowest word count in a day: 0. (MORE AHHHH.)

snippet: *shoves snippet (kindly) in your face*


obstacle of the week: Watching six movies and a gazillion episodes of LOST. I mean, that sure sucked away a lot of my writing time. But do I regret it? 
No. xD

best part of the week: Aaack, there were so many good parts of this week! 10k in one day, receiving super encouraging emails/messages from my writing buddies (you know who you are), reading a surprise chapter from a writing friend, watching lots of movies... xD

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*whisper* Accurate besides the fact that I did not write 611 words today. :P

Whether you have 10,000 words or 100,000, you are doing awesome at NaNo. You signed up. You wrote words. You STARTED A NOVEL. Seriously. Be proud of yourself. :D 

And there's still over a week left! Get those words in while you can. I'm always open for wars or if you need a pep-talk I can do that, too. Though I'll probably get distracted and end up talking about pizza. But, you know. I'll try.

- Katie Grace

EIGHT DAYS LEFT! Seems like just yesterday I was counting down for it to begin... 
How is NaNoWriMo going? Did you see Mockingjay Part Two? Have you had a day where you wrote zero words? :P (You're not alone...)

54 comments :

  1. CONGRATULATIONS!
    I'm going to hit 50K today, probably. (Ok, not probably. Definitely. My wordcount crawl is back online and I'm not going to fall behind, which means I'll probably write much more than the 1.5K I need to win.)
    I did not see any movies this week . . . but I did have two partial days off yesterday and the day before because the maker of my WC crawl forgot to post challenges. So I started rereading Resistance. And also finally wrote some other stuff I'd been meaning to get to for a while.

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    1. THANK YOUUU!
      AND YOU MADE IT! *throws confetti all around* That's soooo awesome, and I'm so excited for you! :D How much more do you think you'll write/have left?

      Ahh, Resistance. *happy feelings* I can't wait until Samara's Peril comes out. :D

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  2. You are a writing machine, Katie! You go, girl! :D I am definitely not going to hit 50k. Maybe 15k? This month has been insanely crazy.

    *Hides face* I have only watched The Hunger games. It was a little too intense for me so I haven't watched any more of them yet. I might just so I won't kick myself later for never seeing a Hunger Games movie in theaters.

    YOU CAN DO IT, KATIE! Keep writing!

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    1. Aww. Maybe next year or for one of the camps you'll be able to hit 50k. :D

      *shrug* They are intense, so I understand. :P It's not for everyone.
      THANK YOU! You keep writing, too! :)

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  3. Good for you having tried to do Nano twice and failed. I know the struggle.
    Congrats!

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    1. You'll be able to succeed eventually! Just keep plugging away. :)

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  4. Thanks for the little shout-out, Katie ^_^ Due to me not sleeping and life in general, I've had to call it quits on NaNo-writing this month because I work too hard at it. Which is a little unfortunate, but at the same time, it now means I can get back to writing one of my favorite novels so it all works out.

    You have 10 days left to write, including today. YOU GOT THIS. YOU CAN REACH YOUR WORD GOAL. Also, I loved that snippet. Keeping it realistic xD

    I HAVE YET TO SEE MOCKINGJAY PART 2 BUT I AM REALLY DESPERATE TO GO SEE IT. Because that's kinda one of my favorite book-series ever and I just REALLY WANT TO SEE THAT MOVIE. However, I am not prepared for the emotional trauma it will most likely cause.

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    1. Of course! I can't wait until you have a blog (if you decide on creating one) so I can shout it out. :P
      Yeah, that makes sense. You've kept up at a crazy pace this month. (and have inspired me to keep up with the crazy pace, hehe.)

      Oh, ten days? Now nine days. *headdesk* I thought it was eight. NaNo is ruining my mind. xD

      ACKK YOU HAVE TO GO SEE IT BUT IT IS VERY EMOTIONAL AND FEELSY BUT YOU WILL LOVE ITTT. Go see it. Then we can flail about it. *cries*

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    2. My plan is, hopefully, to start it up on December 5th. Because Saturdays are a good day for me to post and I really want to start it up this year. At this point I'm just fiddling around with the layout and stuff.

      NaNo really does kill your brain xD

      I KNOW I NEED TO GO SEE IT. O.O Hopefully next weekend. I know I will cry. And yes, flailing about it is always great. It's a good way to cope.

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    3. AHH oh my goodness I didn't realize you were starting it up so soon! *dances around in circles* This makes me really, really happen. And then we can be Saturday posting buddies! :P

      GO. GO AND CRY. AND FLAIL. xD

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    4. If I don't just jump into it and get started then I'll never get around to doing it xD Yes, posting buddies yay!

      I SHALL.

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  5. I've written 0 a lot of times. Just not during a NaNo...but then I've only done Camp last summer.

    MOCKINGJAY 2! I WANT TO SEE IT SO BAD. It will be so horrible, but I can't wait. So many feels.

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    1. Yeah. :P
      IT IS HORRIBLE IN THE BEST KIND OF WAY. Have you seen it yet/planned on seeing it? Ackk, you must tell me what you think of it when you do.

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    2. Hopefully I'll get to see it Tuesday or Wednesday. I've read the book about 1 1/2 and bits and pieces times though, so I know what I'm getting into. But the visuals will make it all ten times worse, I'm sure. (And yet I'm sure I'll love it, just like I do the others. How does that work?)

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    3. (I'm not sure how it works. Must be some fangirl feeling? xD)

      Well, since I've never read the books, I don't really know how true it stuck, but apparently I've heard from other people that it follows the book very closely and evens uses quotes for the characters and such. *shrug* It'll be fun reading the book eventually. "Hey... this is just like the movie!" xD

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    4. I saw MJ!...before Thanksgiving, but anyway, I forgot to come back here. It was so good, and it really was close to the book. I loved it, even though it was hard. I wrote a review of it: http://shirereviews.blogspot.com/2015/12/movie-review-mockingjay-part-2.html

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  6. YAY FOR YOU, KATIE!!! Can't believe you hit 50k!!!
    Ugh, the horribleness of losing your plot. It's always awful.
    LOL, that snippet was funny :D. Jaap sounds like a kid I want to meet!
    Keep up the great writing work! *hands you box of motivational sweets*

    ~Savannah Perran

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    1. Aww, thanks! xD
      *oooh, sweets...* *takes them all*
      :)

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  7. WOO-HOO go you! I'll bet it will feel so good to get a novel finished!

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    1. THANKS! Yes, I am so excited to finish this book. Writing it is exhausting. :P

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  8. I want to see Mockingjay Part 2!!! Great job! Woo hoo! I'm just doing two thousand words a day (then I spend the rest of the day doing "other" stuff when I could be writing). ;-D

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  9. HA that snippet is great. I was thinking as I was reading it that it sounded like something I would write. Or do. xD
    My NaNo-ing is going better than it was last week... sort of... I'm at around 27k now, so I'm definitely less behind than I was before, but I still have some work to do. And it's getting kind of hard to write anything of any value because I realized a while back that my plot was progressing way too quickly and so now I'm building up to the climax (a second time... hehe, this story isn't going the way I was expecting) and facing the fact that I'm going to have to eventually go back and write more earlier on so there's actually a middle. xD

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    1. Ahah. xD
      Ooh, nice! Are you planning to do the full 50k or go a little less?
      Ha. :P Yeah, I'm going to have to do so much for editing. (*blames NaNo*) My plot is lacking in the middle so I'll need to go back and make it more exciting. We'll have to push through editing together. xD

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    2. I'm still HOPING to get 50k. It's not been too hard reaching my daily goal, so maybe I won't lose my motivation. xD
      Yesss, I know what you mean! There's a certain aspect of my story that's supposed to be kind of scary and eerie, and I realized yesterday that right now it's just kind of coming across lame. xD

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    3. You totally got thisss. If my math is correct, that's just a little under 3k a day. Challenging, but doable if you put your mind to it and get those fingers flying. ;)

      *pat pat* I hate it when that happens. But what is awesome, is when you think something is lame, and then when you read it over a month later you realize "hey... this isn't actually all too bad." I had that happen once while editing the first book in this duology, and it made me so happy. xD

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  10. You are amazing Miss Katie Grace!
    What curriculum do you use for schoolwork? I have to read P & P this year, too. I'm super happy about it :D I've actually read it once before and loved it. I tend to accidentally read book s I'm required to read later on quite often :) And, I watched the movies a few times before I read it too...

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    1. Well, you're pretty amazing yourself, Miss Eliza Noel. ;)

      I don't use one curriculum. I use a smattering of different books and programs that suit me best. :)
      Yay! I'm glad you liked it a lot -- I'm not usually a huge fan of classics but I've heard lots of good things about this one. And my mom has a SUPER pretty edition so I'll have to take pictures of it. :D

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    2. Aw, thanks!
      That's cool that you use a bunch of different books. I use My Father's World and I really really love it! It's centered around the Bible and the plans are setup so that I can basically do everything on my own.
      That's cool that your mom has a pretty edition :) I admit, I take a little pride in my pretty 7 stories in one hardcover book Jane Austen collection :D Although, it's a huge book to carry around places. It's nice that my curriculum came with a little paperback edition, even if itt isn't pretty.

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    3. I've heard of that! I don't think I've ever done anything from curriculum, though...

      Ooh, that sounds awesome! :D And big. o.O How many pages is it?

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    4. I've often thought about whether I'll use a curriculum for my future children or not. It sounds kinda cool to do it without a curriculum but I don't know yet. I have a long time until I have to decide lol :D
      *goes to check* 1220 :)

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    5. Ahaha, yeah. :P

      Wow. o.O That's... huge. And epic.

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  11. That is awesome! 10,007 words in one day! Wahoo!!! Keep it up!! My NaNo is going pretty good!
    No, I have not seen that movie.
    Yep, every Sunday I have zero words. I don't write on Sundays.
    -Mikayla-

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    1. Thank you! :D And I'm glad your novel is going well. Weren't you doing two different books? *might be totally wrong about that...*

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    2. Nope, your right. Though now I'm writing three. I finished the first two and started on a third. =) I write such short books. =P I do like getting a lot done though. =)

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    3. Woooow. That's super impressive! Which one do you like the most from the one's you've written so far for NaNo?

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    4. Probably a supper short story (five thousand words) called Heartless. Its about a seventeen year old girl named Jackie who looses her heart. Its hard to explain but its my favorite so far because it has the strongest message I've ever done in a story.

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    5. Oh, my. That sounds intense. Hopefully someday I'll be able to read it! :)

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  12. Congrats on winning Nano!! I've been drafting my book, and the other day I was completely surprised to see that I've gotten a litte over 20k in the first five chapters! Wasn't expecting that at all!

    I've been dying to see Mockingjay all year, so I'm going tomorrow with some friends and am so excited! The Hunger Games was really the first YA series I ever got into, and it's sad to think that now the movies are coming to an end. :(

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    1. Oh my goodness, Michal, that's AWESOME! *throws confetti* That's soooo exciting! I'm glad to hear of all the progress that you're making. )

      I know... *tear* Which one was your favorite movie so far? It's hard for me to choose a favorite, but I think my least favorite is actually the first... Which is weird, because it's not that it wasn't bad in the slightest. It just wasn't as good. :P
      YOU MUST TELL ME HOW YOU ENJOY IT! :D

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  13. Congratulations, Katie! *hands you pizza* It's so fun seeing all the Nano-ers hit 50k or more. ^_^

    (And oh my goodness, I have got to watch Mockingjay Part 2. Like NOW. O.O)

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    1. Pizza... o.O Thank you! :D

      YES. YOU DO. O.O SO AMAZING. Let me know how you like it!!

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  14. Wow 10K in one day again?! I don't think I can do that. XD My max was 8K and I about died. MOCKINGJAY PART 2 IS SO AWESOME I SAW IT TWICE!!!!!! I looooooooooooooved it. I've been long time fan of the books and the movies. It was so perfect! I'm currently finished with writing for the month and now I'm reading over another book in preparation for rewriting next month. XD

    storitorigrace.blogspot.com

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    1. But 8k is still AMAZING! It's so hard to keep up the momentum throughout the day so I have to make sure I have everything planned out the day before and wake up early. :P

      AHHHH YOU GOT TO SEE IT TWICE I'M A LITTLE BIT JEALOUS. But it was so amazing. o.O It's definitely going to be one I'm going to see over and over again. :P

      A writing book? Or a fun book? Or your own book? xD

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  15. *high fives* That 10k day was glorious. xD

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    1. Gloriously PAINFUL and HIDEOUS.
      But also glorious. xD
      *high fives*

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  16. Congratulations!!! :) Are you going to get that free copy provided by NaNoWriMo for winning?

    Yes, I did watch Mockingjay Part 2 the day it came out here. I guess it was nice enough, but I was expecting a bit more at the end, especially with the death of that someone (not spoiling in case someone here hasn't watched or read THG yet).

    I wanted to scream though in the moviehouse the entire time they were underground. And Finnick... *sobs*

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    1. Thank you! And probably not -- unless I have a different book or a friend's book I'll want to print instead. I don't really want to print out my unedited version. Unless to burn it and sprinkle its ashes while laughing manically.
      ... That's actually not a bad idea. xD

      *sigh* I was wished that they'd spend more time on the death. Both deaths, actually. They deserved more of a spotlight...

      FINNICKKKK. Nuuuu.

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  17. Congratulations!!!! 10,000 words in one day is totally amazing and it's awesome that you've hit 50,000. Good luck for the rest of November!

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    1. THANK YOU!
      Yes... I'll need the luck. NaNo is disappearing fast and I still need to write ALLL the words. *hyperventilates*

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  18. I am only just now seeing this post! Ack. I am SO behind on blogs. NaNo took allll my time and I'm slooowly working on catching back up with things.

    But GIRL. YOUR WROTE 10K IN A DAY. AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!! I have never, ever managed that. Every NaNo I always hope ONE day I could do it, but it hasn't happened. My record in a day thus far is 8k. One day I'll do it...one day... BUT OH MY WORD YOU ARE AMAZING.

    Thank you for the mention and congrats on my winning. You are so precious!!! <333

    You are doing sooooo well. I've just been sitting in awe watching your progress. I know it's hard and you're exhausted, but you're almost there! SO CLOSE. You can do this, I know you can. Just keep writing. I'm cheering you on all the way!

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  19. I haven't had any zero word days in NaNoWriMo (the 100 word day was the least I've ever done), but there were days when it was pretty much sheer self-torture that kept me going.

    BUT I'M SO HAPPY YOU HAD A TEN THOUSAND WORD DAY. alkfjasdfklasdf *happy dance* And don't be too hard on yourself for having a slow day after. I've found that most times after I've by far broken a daily word count record, I do need to take a slower day to reset my wrists and my brains. Last year I actually worked up the best sort of method of optimizing scheduled rest days and scheduled binge-writing days, and it would have worked pretty well this year but my other obligations interfered a lot. Oh well. *shrugs* And I think you'll find that, having stretched your brain to be able to do a 10K day, next year you may find 15K a little more reachable. Every NaNoWriMo I've managed to break my previous top word count days, and I think that's mostly because your brain is cumulatively learning endurance over the years.

    Also, the blinking cursor is totally there to taunt you. Like, for no other reason. (Actually, though, I'm pretty sure it's blinking because it's easier to see motion than stillness, so you can find the cursor much more easily in a page of text because it's the only thing moving on the page--but that's a lame explanation, and boring, so we'll just stick with the one where the cursor is trying to guilt you into writing by repeatedly announcing its presence).

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