After A Night Of Research I Return With Words

Another Saturday night and another missed day of writing here on Retentivewrimo. But that's o.k. With the time change to the Pacific Time Zone that blogspot does, it doesn't look like I missed a day. This unlike what it does on the NaNo site where I can't figure out exactly where it cuts off a day for the tracking chart. Then again, I don't think they know either since the little calendar graph I have on the right side of this page keeps changing colors.

Right now for today (yesterday) it's reading green so that's good. Though according to my calculations (which of course do not coincide at all with the site), the 2,265 words that I wrote today should probably be that bright green color.

I don't know where these words are being counted since I wrote them all between the hours of 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. It wasn't like I had a 2:00 a.m. writing session of anything.

Had I done that, I would have felt guilty since I told the Toronto captain that I wasn't going to write anymore after she went to sleep.

I now stand at 35,188 words which last year I didn't reach until November 24. It funny because by then my morale according to last year's chart was at a 3. Last year on the 17th, it was also at a 3 and I was in Michigan for my friend Wellman's wedding (where I was his best man). I wrote 0 words during that time even though the wedding was in the middle of nowhere.

This year since I actually like my story (to a point, though I'm not in love with it) I probably would have at least tried to write from my room at the little Bates Motel on the outskirts of the sticks where I was holed up.

According to the neat-o spreadsheet, I'm actually scheduled to finish the novel one week from today (or reach 50,000 at least). Not ironically since it's a common calendar trait, I'll be in Michigan when I finish the novel. Though not for a wedding (though there is one on Sunday that my sister and I are not going to even though we were both invited), just for Thanksgiving.

And the day I'm actually scheduled to finish is the 24th. The exact same day that I was at my lowest point last year.

Though maybe, just maybe, I'll actually finish earlier and push on to the 70,000 or so that I'm aiming for (though am now behind pace to achieve by quite a margin).

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So what was I doing tonight instead of writing?

I was doing research.

I didn't end up going to the old school punk concert (I think it was sold out) but reverted to my original plans to go to this dinner party just west of my apartment. The food was spectacular and the conversation was surprisingly good.

It was my friend Samantha's friend Teddie's party and he's one of those writers that writes 12 months a year. So at his party were actual writing students from Columbia College (which I make fun of in my NaNo but I didn't tell them that). And I ended up at a table with four of them. They asked, after talking about their professors in the Masters of Creative Writing program for a while, "so are you a writer too?"

I told them that I was but not a very good one.

"That's okay," one of them said pointing at the woman at the head of the table, "she's not a very good writer either."

The table temporarily fell silent before she said, "that's okay, I'm really not."

I also had a nice discussion with another one from a journalism background (like me) who has the same problem I do. That is, he writes endless dialog ("quotes") and then his characters exist in a vaccuum.

And he's getting his master's degree in creative writing so I don't feel too bad. I think it might just be a writing style.

I wanted it to be a bit more froofy there so I could get how the artsy half talk. But it was actually pretty down to Earth. I was invited out to this party in Pilsen (which is exactly the situation and place that the chapters I'm writing currently happens) but I just decided to go home instead.

Now that would have been exact research.

But I don't think I would have been able to stand it.

Instead, I got a text message from not-Kate that she was not enjoying the hipster bar in our neighborhood she was at (she actually lives a block away from where the dinner party was) and that I should stop by. So I did.

I guess that was enough hipster aggrevation to spur me on for the night. As was seeing not-Kate on the weekend. Since she's the only one who's said that she really wants to read it when I finish.

Which means I have to finish. Which means that I'm pushing past 50,000. Hopefully.

My sister and I are also giving her a ride back to Michigan on Wednesday (she lives about halfway so we're dropping her off at a Taco Bell off the expressway). So that will be a good way to make sure I write over Thanksgiving.

Maybe even edit it in December. Who knows.