The last few days have been a little hectic, what with Thanksgiving, dealing with the last of my San Francisco head cold, and the like...

...but nevertheless, Ramparts has continued apace (despite losing a day of writing to a reading splurge and relatives - bah!), and I just... um... finally got through one of the major plot points that was supposed to kick off the main plot.

At about 67,000 words and counting. ^^;

I just remind myself that the same thing happened with the first book - and that, at this point, that "major plot point" is actually kicking off the main crisis - hence all the time devoted to setting it up...

WORD TALLY:
TOTAL
Official: 67,751 words [Ramparts: Barbican] 2,258 words/day
Unofficial: 16,901 words (14,570 words [Journal], 1,331 words [Grad school applications])

Well, for a day spent reading from when I got up until I went to bed - a little early, thankfully - I'd say I didn't do too badly. And yikes, what a scene...

The reading... one of my usual 'splurge all day reading old favorites after not reading for too long' events. ^^;

WORD TALLY:
TODAY
Official: 2,572 words [Ramparts: Barbican]
Unofficial: 0 [Journal]

TOTAL
Official: 58,701 words [Ramparts: Barbican] 2,257 words/day
Unofficial: 16,901 words (14,570 words [Journal], 1,331 words [Grad school applications])

WORD TALLY:
TODAY
Official: 2,913 words [Ramparts: Barbican]
Unofficial: 415 [Journal]

TOTAL
Official: 56,129 words [Ramparts: Barbican] 2,245 words/day
Unofficial: 16,901 words (14,570 words [Journal], 1,331 words [Grad school applications])

...not that this is any great surprise, considering that I had less than 200 words left to go. Still!


WORD TALLY:
TODAY
Official: 3,409 words [Ramparts: Barbican]
Unofficial: 804 [Journal]

TOTAL
Official: 53,216 words [Ramparts: Barbican] 2,217 words/day
Unofficial: 16,486 words (14,155 words [Journal], 1,331 words [Grad school applications])

50,000 WORD GOAL REACHED!

Oh, so close - but my brain is flatlining, and tomorrow will be a long day anyway.

Why do I always get sick midway through NaNo? Well, "always" - two out of two at the moment.


WORD TALLY:
TODAY
Official: 6,583 words [Ramparts: Barbican] Including the Night of Writing Dangerously - although I deleted 1,400-odd of what I wrote there the next morning.
Unofficial: 3,248 [Journal]

TOTAL
Official: 49,807 words [Ramparts: Barbican] 2,165 words/day
Unofficial: 15,682 words (14,351 words [Journal], 1,331 words [Grad school applications])n

WORD TALLY:
TODAY
Official: 1,972 words [Ramparts: Barbican]
Unofficial: 0 [Journal]

TOTAL
Official: 41,368 words [Ramparts: Barbican] 1,969 words/day
Unofficial: 12,434 words (11,103 words [Journal], 1,331 words [Grad school applications])

...and about 13 miles and several hours of walking and talking over story ideas recent, new and old with pa_morningstar!

WORD TALLY:
TODAY
Official: 4,463 words [Ramparts: Barbican] Plus some handwritten bits.
Unofficial: 2,306 [Journal]

TOTAL
Official: 39,396 words [Ramparts: Barbican] 1,969 words/day
Unofficial: 12,434 words (11,103 words [Journal], 1,331 words [Grad school applications]) So I could claim 50,000 words now, if I had to!


Not bad at all, considering I only spent a few hours with my computer on. Sitting in a plane rather limits your power supply...

Oh, man. New ideas, plot twists, things that I've known about the world for years but are only now getting to come into play...

Today was a very, very good day.



WORD TALLY:
TODAY
Official: 5,271 words [Ramparts: Barbican] @_@
Unofficial: 873 [Journal]

TOTAL
Official: 34,933 words [Ramparts: Barbican] 1,838 words/day! I did it! \^o^/
Unofficial: 10,128 words (8,797 words [Journal], 1,331 words [Grad school applications])

Which is a good thing, because I'm actually not anticipating accomplishing much during my trip to San Francisco - outside the Night of Writing Dangerously, of course!

Not a huge writing day - but considering I spent most of it being in class (or sick), I think I did pretty well...


WORD TALLY:
TODAY
Official: 2,130 words [Ramparts: Barbican]
Unofficial: 1,070 [Journal]

TOTAL
Official: 29,662 words [Ramparts: Barbican] 1,647 words/day
Unofficial: 9,255 words (7,924 words [Journal], 1,331 words [Grad school applications])

Hear my keyboard smoking under the intensity of my typing. (What can I say? When I tell myself I'm going to do something, I prefer to do it!)

And to top it off, I managed a brainstorming flash or two that I think managed to put a few things into focus, and flesh out a number of how-things-happen areas. My goodness... I actually have a plot here!


WORD TALLY:
TODAY
Official: 4,324 words [Ramparts: Barbican]
Unofficial: 1,785 [Journal]

TOTAL
Official: 27,532 words [Ramparts: Barbican] 1,619 words/day - oh, so close! Just about 1,500 short of catching up. If I can just pull off another day or two like this...
Unofficial: 8,185 words (6,854 words [Journal], 1,331 words [Grad school applications])

...all right. Four thousand, one hundred twenty words. YARRR. I be badass writer!

*laughs* No, not really. Mostly I was throwing words at a few of my plot problems, waiting for someone to say the words that would break me through a few blocks, or at least give me material to work with. All things considered, though, I think it all turned out quite well.

I think my fifteen-minute timer really helps. First of all, it means that I have breaks for the story to percolate. But more importantly... I know I only have fifteen minutes to write, and I want to get as many words as possible. So I don't let myself get distracted - no telling myself, "Oh, I have half an hour..." and playing card games, for example. Just fifteen minutes of focus. And it really makes a difference...


WORD TALLY:
YESTERDAY
Official: 4,120 words [Ramparts: Barbican]
Unofficial: 829 [Journal]

TOTAL
Official: 23,208 words [Ramparts: Barbican] 1,450 words/day
Unofficial: 6,400 words (5,069 words [Journal], 1,331 words [Grad school applications])

ME: *playing World of Warcraft* *does a doubletake* Wha...? There's a level 27 character running around in Dalaran! For those who don't play: Dalaran is the hub zone for the level 80 crowd.

MOM: LOST!

ME: You don't get that lost by accident...


And my brain found this bit of dialogue utterly hilarious and wants to turn it into a potential scene:
PERSON-CAUGHT-SOMEWHERE-HE-REALLY-SHOULDN'T-HAVE-BEEN: Um. I got lost? ^^
GUARD-WHO-AIN'T-BUYIN'-IT: *raises eyebrow* You don't get that lost, not by accident...

Well... I'm not quite to the halfway mark on the halfway day - a far, far cry from last year, where I was on the finishing stretch by this point! On the other hand, I am making progress. Considering all the other things I'm dealing with this year - coming back to the States, grad school applications, class reading assignments, papers - I think I'm doing pretty well!


WORD TALLY:
YESTERDAY
Official: 2,267 words [Ramparts: Barbican]
Unofficial: 0 [Journal] Too busy filling out applications!

TOTAL
Official: 19,088 words [Ramparts: Barbican] 1,272 words/day
Unofficial: 5,571 words (4,240 words [Journal], 1,331 words [Grad school applications])

Progress for yesterday:

WORD TALLY:
TODAY
Official: 1,792 words [Ramparts: Barbican]
Unofficial: 568 [Journal]

TOTAL
Official: 16,821 words [Ramparts: Barbican] 1,201 words/day
Unofficial: 5,571 words (4,240 words [Journal], 1,331 words [Grad school applications])

*makes a face* This story is significantly more bumpy than the first version - the overall plot feels a lot more attenuated. Mostly, it's a case of having multiple things that I know need to happen, and not really knowing how to get them all to work together.

Frankly, I'm wondering if I shouldn't have switched to a different story for a while - left Ramparts on simmer while I worked on, oh, Bartender or Fathoms or We All Fall Down...

Quick summary: Long week, several class assignments, and I got my application to Stanford finished and sent.

I'll do a proper update later - I've had several fun dreams this past week - but for now...


WORD TALLY:
THIS WEEK
Official: 9,218 words [Ramparts: Barbican]
Unofficial: 3,466 words [Journal], 110 words [Grad school applications]

TOTAL
Official: 14,809 words [Ramparts: Barbican] 1,139 words/day
Unofficial: 8,579 words (7,138 words [Journal], 1,441 words [Grad school applications])

( About the family. )

In other news...

Yep, it's November! Which means NaNoWriMo.

Mind you, I'm not really counting on completing it - not when I have a twenty-page paper to write this November, to say nothing of eight graduate school applications. But I'm going to try. The sequel to Ramparts has been waiting more than long enough - and better yet, I think I have a sense of where it's going, now...


RESULTS FOR TODAY: 2,231 words.

For those few people who keep track of me here:

My paternal grandmother's going to die. We guessed she had congestive heart failure when we visited last week; since then, she fell down, and we learned that her kidneys were also going. Then she was sedated and put on a respirator early Friday morning for what we thought was simply a reaction to insulin they gave her when she came in.

Turns out it was more serious than that, and my Dad is kicking himself for not letting her just go in her sleep; they'd discussed it and she'd specifically asked for no drastic measures. On the other hand, it might have bought enough time for the family to gather.

She might actually have died over the night; Dad thought she would, but he was too exhausted to stay any longer. Nevertheless, even in the most ideal world, she's not going to last long; her kidneys don't work any more, and she's too old and her heart is too weak for dialysis. The best we can hope for is that she lasts long enough to take her off the respirator and wake up from the sedative, so that we can actually talk to her. I hope she lives long enough for Charlie (a cousin) to come; the minute she heard she was absolutely desperate to get here, but there were logistical barriers.

...I'm still in "...huh" mode, even after going to see her last night. Although it wasn't really her; the one time she woke up, she clearly wasn't conscious, and she just... well, wasn't the person I know.

I will post something other than dreams, one of these days; I have several potential posts flitting around in my head. But I'm depressingly skilled at procrastination, and right now, job and university searches probably should take priority in the "when I get my tail moving" category...

With that said, I had a crazy dream this morning.

( Crazy and CONVOLUTED. And vaguely steam-magic. )

Like I said. Long. Convoluted. Bizarre. But kinda cool!

I really should be going and pre-reading the Goshen articles I'll be recording this morning, but as it happens I had another crazy dream last night and I want to get it down before I start forgetting. And this one was crazy, because while the setting remained overall consistent, the stuff that was going on inside it...!

( Well. As usual, it started with a cave. )

Like I said. Crazy dream. Kinda cool, though. ...no pun intended, despite the ice.