Ted Mahsun

Pfft. 50,000 words? Piece of cake. Hah! Actually though? It was torture. On hindsight, I don't know why I went through it and I wonder how I managed to. But I made it! I made it! Now to actually finish my novel. At 50k words, my story's only half told... I envy those who can call themselves novelists at 50k. Right. So now December is officially Novel Finishing Month. 31 days for another 50k words! I can't wait! My heartfelt thanks go to my wife, L, who was patient enough to tolerate my absences (and sometimes, even dogged me to reach my daily word count) as well as Chet and Shark who cheered for me to go on! Woot! Cartoon by Inkygirl nicked without permission.

40,000 words! I never knew I had it in me. I've never seen so many words that I wrote myself in one place at the same time. How did these words connect together to form a single coherent story * ? It's magic, I tell you! Right, only 10,000 words to go. Listen to me... only 10,000 words to go. Hah! Madness. A month ago, 10,000 words was like a gajillion bajillion words. Writing so much was nigh impossible. * a matter of one's opinion Also! Check out Chet's blog where she reflects on what lessons NaNoWriMo taught her this year .

So I hit 25k today! What a great feeling it is to reach halfway through the novel! It's true what they say: you begin to start hating the novel, you start to think that the novel is crap. I've been tempted many times to just give up the whole damned thing. Many a time I stared at the empty page, mocking me with my inability to go on. Many a time there was when I pulled my hair in despair when I wrote my characters into a corner. (Don't be surprised when next you see me, I have less hair!) I mean, seriously. My protagonist lands up in a hospital after he knocks into an elephant god by mistake when he gets lost in the city. He then proceeds to get the living daylights beaten out of him, but because he's the hero, he survives. But then no matter how many times I give him a chance to escape from the hospital (so that he can continue the damn plot), he just refuses and stays in the hospital! The nerve! I've finally got him out, but not without some coaxing and navel-ga...

Whoop! Past the 10,000 mark! I got distracted during the weekend (no thanks to pesky, meddling relatives, grr!) so I'm relieved I managed to catch up.

7578 words so far. Added 2501 words today. I couldn't keep up the pace I had yesterday because I think I zonked out my brain last night. I think it got quite a shock to write so much in so little time! I've had to take it more slowly today; my thought processes don't seem to be matching up or something. Or maybe I just need more exercise. Anyway! The story continues and so far it's good. A bit slower paced than yesterday, because the protagonist started reflecting on himself before he got on the train, and then the plot just started to drag slower than molasses stuck on turtles. But at least he got on the damn train to his destiny. Finally. And now to take this story to The City.

The stage is set, the green flag drops! I've just finished writing my quota of words for today. My mind seems so numb, and my eyes can't seem to focus on anything right now. I managed to finish one chapter of the novel and my word count so far is 5077 words. Yay me! *clap clap* I'm feeling good about myself right now but this year I don't want to brag about it too much like I did last year . The enthusiasm only lasts for a few days, then it's downhill all the way, until something good happens, which is not often, if ever. The outline idea seems to have worked for me... so far. Also, unlike last year when I used Google Docs to write my novel, this year my noveling software of choice is the awesome Scrivener . (However, I am using only the free, unsupported and outdated Scrivener Gold .) This particular software is like a project manager for novel writing. It keeps and sorts all your research and data you've collected while researching your novel in one place and ...

Okay... I'm almost ready! Still writing the outline for my novel and am hoping to finish it by today. I'm also hoping that by writing an outline first instead of simply winging it like I did in previous years might actually help. Perhaps. I have a good feeling about this year's effort... but that could be the stale vegetables from the mamak's I had for lunch.

Well, it's that crazy time of year again, my friends! Early mornings and late nights, typing and/or scribbling away like nobody's business. Checking incessantly the word processor's word count; despairing that the daily word target hasn't been reached; despairing that ideas have all but dried out. Yes, the month of November is nigh, and that means it's National Novel Writing Month once again! We all know the drill but here's the lowdown: A participant of NaNoWriMo should write a novel in a month, or at the very least, 50,000 words of prose. Within 30 days. I failed to complete last year's NaNoWriMo challenge (managed only about 15,000 words)... or even the previous year. I wonder if I'll be able to make it this year? No idea, but I'm giving it a shot anyway! Last year, I tried writing a fantasy (with sf elements) novel , but this year I'll be attempting a young adult book instead. My idea concerns a bookish, nerdish and completely anti-social bo...