And then we came to the end… Of the book, that is, not NaNoWriMo.
As with book 1 in this series, the end rushed up at me. I’d left my protagonist Maisie Frobisher in rather a sticky situation the day before, and I knew I needed some careful plotting to get her out of it again. And yes, I had an outline, but things didn’t go quite as I’d envisaged. So I sat down with Romilly the Huguenot plotting squirrel and a blank piece of paper, and figured it out. Having done that, I thought I might as well plot the next chapter too, which was the climax of the book. That sorted, off I went for a walk with my phone to get the actual words in.
Getting Maisie out of her sticky situation was now plain sailing. I came back and edited my words, and had a quick lunch, but the lure of the next chapter was too strong and off I went again with my trusty portable phone charger (I now have no idea how I lived without it).
This walk was longer, as was the chapter, but I was on a mission now. Unfortunately so was the approaching darkness! Just the resolution chapter to go now, and the end was very much in sight, even on a gloomy November day. I popped home for a drink of water as my voice was going a bit (a combination of constant nattering into the phone and a persistent cold), welcomed the kids back from school, told them I was heading out again (‘More words, Mummy?’ – see, I have them well-trained) and sallied forth for the final time.
I battled against the growing darkness, a patchy signal, and a flooded path (see how dangerous writing is), but I came away victorious with another 1200 words. And the first draft of my NaNoWriMo book was done. As were my calves.
One of the things I wanted to use this NaNoWriMo for was increasing my productivity. I kept a log of words written per day, distance covered, and mood, which is now quite interesting to look back on. I only missed one day of writing, the 4th, and having to enter that 0 wasn’t a good feeling. I logged each walk separately, and my mood was quite variable – positive, determined, excited, frustrated, cross and rushed are all in there. Sometimes I was annoyed at having to cram a walk in, or frustrated because other commitments meant I had to break a session into two, or three. But I guess it shows that I got the words in anyway, and it’ll be interesting to see how the draft has turned out when I get to the edit.
Speaking of editing, as I finished book 2 on Thursday I spent Friday reading Maisie Frobisher book 1, All At Sea, and making notes on it. I was a little apprehensive as to what I might find, but I actually enjoyed it. Thanks to the detailed outline I did first, the plot hangs together pretty well, so most of my work will be fact-checking, continuity and adding in some more description. As I want to have All At Sea ready to publish by Christmas, that’s a big relief! So the rest of my NaNoWriMo words, all 6300 of them, will probably be additions to book 1. Unless, of course, I get ambushed by book 3. Could happen…
Final stats:
- Days: 21
- Days when writing has taken place: 20
- Average per day: 2080
- Chapters: 19 (some may well be split in the edit)
- Words: 43678
- Miles travelled (me): 74.7
- Miles travelled (Maisie): about 1400. Most are by train, but some are by carriage, rickshaw, and also elephant
- Viscounts eaten: 3 (1 celebratory)
- Dresses ruined: 1 (Maisie, not me)
And there you have it. Watch out for more Maisie updates as we get to the end of the year, but I might be sneaking something else in first…. 😉
Liz Hedgecock 