And So Ends Day One

 Day one of NaNoWriMo is drawing to a close.

I stayed up for the midnight online Launch some people in my region threw together. It was awesome to feed off of their energy as we awaited the "permission" to begin out novels. I swear, it felt like we should have yelled out Happy New Year...or more appropriately: Happy Wrimo!

I totally intended to stay up just long enough to welcome it in, then hit the sack. But the energy was too intoxicating. I ended up staying up half an hour longer and busting out a little over 1000 words; the start of my NaNovel!

As soon as my day actually began, I had to jet off for a dentist appointment. Three fillings later I was home...and in pain. I hate fillings...but they are better than a root canal at least. I am sure happy I got those words written at midnight. It let me relax a bit as my mouth protested against the drilling I had just put it through.

This evening I was able to sit back down and plunk out more words. It truly is sad how excited I was to begin this novel...and already I glance over what I have written and convince myself how sucky it is. No Jenni...no. It is supposed to suck. Its the first draft! Keep going...

Meeting up with my friend Kimmel online, we decided to use Word Wars to help us get writing out. What is a word war you ask? Well...you pick a time, set a time limit...and then BANG, off you go, typing like mad. At the end, whoever has the largest word-count wins. Yes, it may seem a bit dorky, but hey, who ever said that we writers aren't dorks? Kimmel and I have a deal: Come mid-month we are going on a double date to see the newest Harry Potter, and who ever had lost the most Word Wars has to buy the popcorn. Oh Kimmel, it is ON! (And how sad is it that I am SO excited to go see Harry Potter? Oh yes, I love those movies and books. And yes, my netbook will be coming along as well. Waiting in line is prime time to bust out some wordage!)

Well, after three fifteen minute word wars (luck was on my side tonight...I won all three. Tee-hee) and some slower paced writing, I am glad to say I very much so got the aimed for 1667. In fact, day one now ends with a total word count of:

4,223

Yay me. *Does happy dance*

How awesome would it be to get at least 3000 a day? The novel would be done mid-month. I know. I know sucky days lay ahead. And exhausted days. And "my novel won't talk to me" days. But hey..hoping isn't bad!

I will try to update on here as often as my brain allows. I have added a widget to the left that will update as I update my word count online. I know already that I will not be able to do a blog post daily as I write daily for the next month...I am thinking it will be a weekly or bi-weekly update. But we shall see!

On a side note, I have been thinking alot about whether I want to post my writing on here. Here is why I am sketchy: I have always been paranoid about my work being stolen. Along with that, I read that once you post more than three chapters on any non-password protected site, agents and publishers claim you as "published" and you become less likely to be picked up. Now, this novel may never see the light of publishing day. But I need to live with the hope that maybe, just maybe, it might... Maybe.

As of right now, I will occasionally post blips. Small ones. Just to keep you wondering. Maybe if you beg enough I will post a tiny bit more. Maybe. My mind may change, it may not. But I am hoping that you at least read the small blips I post and convince me to keep going.

Here is the first one, very tiny. It is how the book opens. Tell me if you crave more, at all.
Enjoy!

My name is Millie 942B.
Next week is my eighteenth birthday. And I dread it with every fiber in my body.
But I am already getting ahead of myself.
I guess I should start at something close to a beginning. My name seems pretty strange to someone who doesn’t know the world I live in. It is a symbol of my existence. ‘942’ is the cell number I was born and raised in. ‘B’ is the floor level of which my little cubicle resides. I have no brothers. No sisters. Only a silent father and a state-proclaimed unstable mother. And it is because of them that I live in this cell.