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UPDATE: Final Tally, as of 6:58 PM, 30 November
2001: 59,083 words.
* * *
Before
November 2001 is National Novel Writing Month. The home
site for this effort describes it in more detail.
The goal is simple. In the course of one month, from 1 through 30
November, write a 50,000 word story.
There are 30 web pages attached
to this one, per the menu to the left. Each day I need to fill one
up. Each day, I need to be adding 1,700
words or so to the story -- 2,300 if I only write on weekdays. Looked at
another way, the average book page is about 250 words. I only need to be
writing 7-9 pages a day. Piece of cake, right? My "support
group" is at "Writing
in the Dark". Can't imagine why I need one. More commentary
on the writing can be found there. *
* *
Done. Finished. Back in the barn. I'm actually amazed. I
honestly didn't know I had it in me. Not that I couldn't write that much
-- I've done it before -- but I didn't know I could knuckle down and crank out
that much on an on-going, dedicated, disciplined basis. I tend toward
laziness. Obviously there are some exceptions to the tendency. And now
for the dedications, because I'm not going to take the credit (only the blame)
all to myself:
 | To Doyce, who
convinced me I should Do This Thing, and then managed to keep me going by
cranking out a kick-ass story himself. Doyce also deserves credit for
thinking up and hosting the Writing
in the Dark support blog. |
| To the others in Writing
in the Dark, who, even as they were faltering, were urging the rest of
us on. |
| To Dr. Joe, our CEO -- whose hardware and software (and a few of whose
labor hours) were, ah, dedicated to the cause. |
| To Chris Claremont, Alan Moore, Peter David, Phil Foglio, and others in my
Jungian comics pantheon, for giving me unconscious grist for the mill. |
| To the folks I've gamed with, particularly the erstwhile members of the
Justice Squad, for whom I had to create a world -- and as long as one was
lying about, unused, why not write a story there? Things will come
full circle in January. Promise. The past is prolog. |
| To Sutherland, who once ran a game with characters compelling enough that
I wrote a novel about it -- which in turn gave me the confidence to write
this one. And, yeah, I really need to finish up that first novel some
day. |
| To the architects of St. Dorothy's in Glendora, who I fear I have maligned
unfairly. Or not. But they deserve mention, as do my folks for
lending their house. |
| And, now that I've nattered a bit, to Margie. The amount of
time and effort I put into this definitely interfered with the rest of my
life over past month, especially the last week or two. That meant
Margie had to pick up the slack, and, where she couldn't, she did not nag me
about it. She encouraged me, made it quite clear she thought (in a
straightforward fashion) this all well within my abilities, and then backed
that up with classic enabling behavior to make it so. Not to mention
she's just an all-around swell person to spend the rest of my life with (a
dedicated, on-going commitment which I guess is another exception to the
tendency -- but one which she makes easy). |
Thank you one and all. If you're a stranger, a friend, or both, enter and
enjoy. If you do, I've done my job. And if not ... well, November 2002
is coming ... *
* *
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