Achoo!

NaNo update: I didn't get any actual writing done on Friday because I had reached a point where I had no idea what would happen next, so I focused on brainstorming and plotting. It turned out that my problem was that I hadn't really developed character arcs, so that was why I was at a loss for the big, climactic scene. That's where the hero is supposed to complete his transformation, and if I hadn't figured out what transformation needed to take place, I couldn't very well come up with a scene where that happens. Once I got that worked out, I made up for the lapse with double the word count on Saturday. And then the sniffles that started on Friday blew up into an all-out cold Saturday night, and I spent Sunday huddled on the sofa in the Pink, Fuzzy Bathrobe of Imminent Death, eating chicken noodle soup and guzzling large quantities of hot liquids. However, my reading and viewing for the day sort of counted as research for the book, and it gave me some ideas. I don't know how productive I'll be today. If I had a "real job" I would probably have called in sick. The worst of the sniffling and sneezing seems to be past, but I'm just really tired and woozy (I haven't slept well during this) and have that generally cruddy sick feeling. If I feel better after doing some napping or resting, maybe I'll do a little work later in the day. Otherwise, the priority is getting well.

It may turn out to be a good thing that I didn't try to do NaNo "officially," as I suspect I will run out of story before I hit the word count. This is a middle-grade book, so 50K is in the ballpark of what the finished word count will be, and I already know I will end up adding a lot in revisions. It would be pointless to stretch it out just to meet an arbitrary goal, and I would prefer to let the book rest a while so I can be more objective when it comes to rewriting, so I don't want to go back and start adding stuff at the beginning just to meet the arbitrary goal. However, I will have accomplished my goal, which was to draft a novel in the month and establish some better working habits that I can carry forward.

Meanwhile, I met another goal for the year last week. I wanted to read a hundred books this year, and last week I read #100. Granted, some of them were children's books, but others were big, fat fantasies, classics and reference books for which I took a lot of notes as I read, so I think it evens out. Plus, I didn't count partially read books, like references where I only needed to read a part or books I started and didn't finish or just skimmed.

Now I think I'm going to finish a movie I started watching yesterday on HBO OnDemand, and we'll see if I can get through it. It was The Seeker:The Dark is Rising, which I believe some of you warned me about, but hey, it was free and I was bored. I had to quit at the scene where the villain shows up at the boy's house, pretending to be a doctor. I could deal with Christopher Eccleston as the villain when he was all black-cloaked and ominous, but then his doctor guise was so goofy in a remarkably familiar way, and then when he introduced himself as, "Hello! I'm the Doctor!" I pretty much lost it and couldn't see the scene as ominous, the way I'm sure it was supposed to be, with the boy knowing it was the bad guy in his home but not able to do anything about it. I was waiting for the moment when we'd find the blue phone box in the front yard. Hmm, I just read some of the IMDB reviews, and it seems like I should spare myself the misery, or else this may be the only time I can watch it because the misery of the movie may make me forget the misery of my cold -- or a cold-addled brain may be the only way to watch it. Too bad Nanny McPhee isn't currently on HBO rotation. I think I need to get that DVD because it's perfect sick-day viewing. Maybe I'll dig into the Pushing Daisies DVDs instead.

And now, my final word for the day is "Achoo!"