“You have no power over me.” – Labyrinth, 1986
Monday, 17
November
Still a way to go
to the 50,000-word mark.
to the 50,000-word mark.
9am: Child at school, with play date afterwards. I have until 5.30pm to push up my NaNoWriMo total. Today is the day. A jug of iced tea is in the fridge, I have no commitments, no excuses.
Limit time to check email, social media, and undertake research before writing to one hour. Set timer on phone accordingly.
10am: Turn
off desktop, turn on laptop, which is set up in bedroom. Make coffee. Current
words: 7214. Average needed per day to reach 50,000 words: 3096.
10.20am: First 20-minute sprint nets 596 words.
10.33am:
Laptop decides to run update and restart, as time obviously set to ‘whatever is
most inconvenient to user’. Thankfully managed to save work – this time.
10.43am: Laptop
still updating. Pour glass of iced tea, accept sympathetic nudges from cat.
10.49am: Laptop
still updating. Bugger the tea, I’m back onto the coffee. Desktop PC switched
on, time used to research police procedure to investigate the disappearance of
a teenager.
10.53am:
Paranoia regarding previous search sets in. Caffeine overload suspected as
contributing factor. Decide against emailing cop friend with further questions.
For the time being.
10.55am: Cat
sits on keyboard. His supportive sympathy has clearly run out.
11.08am: Back
on freshly updated laptop. Desktop remains on due to shaky nature of laptop
updates. Cat attempts to control keyboard, and is shut out of bedroom.
11.28am: Second
20-minute sprint (plus time before update) brings word count to 1478 for the
day.
11.29am: Cat
begins meowing outside bedroom door. I ignore him.
11.30am: Cat
begins yowling outside bedroom door. I ignore him.
11.32am: Cat
appears to have crafted an amplification device out of household objects. I
ignore him, but cats start working their way into my story. I don’t want cats
in my story.
11.35am: Cat
has built a battering ram. Bedroom door becoming unstable.
11.37am:
Silence, sweet silence.
11.38am: Cat
seems to have raided cutlery drawer and is dragging forks down outside of
bedroom door. Word count has not increased at the same rate of cat-related
frustration.
11.40am:
Silence. Need more iced tea. Open door, cat sitting innocently outside door,
having secreted amplifier, battering ram and door-scratcher in unknown place. I
close door behind me, not allowing cat to enter. I have won.
11.45am: Back
at laptop. Cat now outside, yowling at bedroom window. Ignore cat. Ignore cat. IGNORE
CAT.
12 noon: Lunch
break. Word count for day: 1730. Cat back inside. Has decided to take out
frustration on other cat.
12.30pm:
Re-enter bedroom to work, then leave to collect CD I forgot to bring from
lounge room.
12.31pm: Cat
curled up asleep on bed, taking advantage of unattended, open bedroom door.
12.32pm:
Notice bathmat lying in the middle of the bedroom. Not where I left it. Notice
laptop is no longer hibernating. Cat has again attempted hostile takeover of
keyboard.
12.33pm:
Take cat to lounge room. Shut lounge room door. Shut bedroom door.
Turn on CD. Write.
1pm: Still
writing.
1.30pm: Still
writing. Moral argument with self about whether including a passage made up
entirely of rearranged song lyrics is plagiarism. Decide to deal with that later.
2.15pm: Drink
break. Cat sits on kitchen table with back to me. I ignore him.
2.17pm: More
writing. Get on a run with a major scene, until...
3.40pm: Minor
panic as child has not arrived home from school. Remember play date. Celebrate extending
writing time with more writing.
5.10pm: After
several blissfully uninterrupted hours of writing, I’ve cracked 10,000 words in
total, and 5000 for the day – just. Total word count: 12,272. Average daily word
count required: About 2700.
5.15pm: Drive
to collect child, return home, and cook dinner, satisfied with the day's results.
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