I can’t believe we’re just about halfway through April, let alone Camp NaNoWriMo. Since the start of 2017 I haven’t been writing or editing as much as I would have liked. I’ve either been busy with other things or I just couldn’t decide what to work on.
Then I had the idea for Unwritten and decided to save it for Camp. I honestly wasn’t sure how well it was going to go because I got stuck on my outline before April even started.
However, the novel is going pretty well, if I say so myself. It’s probably one of the better first drafts I’ve written. The characters are true to themselves as I originally pictures them and the pace (something that’s always too fast whenever I write) is steady. Everything is making sense and the plot points are in a decent order.
As of right now, there’s one character I may have to “fix up” a bit, but that’s about it. Everything else is going smoothly.
I’ve been able to keep up with my 2,000 words a day goal easily. I’m not getting tired of the story and I’m not burning myself. I always know exactly what to write next and how to pick it back up from where I left off the previous day.
So, with that being said, here are my stats:
Day 1: 2,182 Day 2: 2,170 Day 3: 2,185 Day 4: 2,090 Day 5: 2,577 Day 6: 2,100 Day 7: 2,396 Day 8: 4,329 Day 9: 2,858 Day 10: 2,120 Day 11: 2,003
Day 12: 2,208
I’m not including today’s word count because I haven’t written anything yet. I believe I’ll be able to keep up this trend for the rest of the month, though. I’m quite happy with my progress in keeping the novel going as well as keeping my routine going.
I still haven’t decided what to do with this novel yet (post it on Wattpad, self-publish it, or traditionally publish it), so for now I’ll leave you with an excerpt.
This is from chapter two when the male protagonist and the female protagonist meet for the first time. It’s unedited, but I hope you enjoy.
He felt a tap on his shoulder and he looked over to his right. A young woman stood beside him staring down with curiosity in her eyes. He stared at her waiting for her to say something.
“I said hello.” She said.
“Oh, uh… hi,” Scott muttered. He hadn’t even noticed her enter the bus stop. He looked the other way to his left willing the bus to come now.
“Do you mind?” she asked.
Scott looked back up at her. “Huh?
She pointed to his briefcase, taking up the rest of the bench. Scott picked it up and put it on his lap. She smiled and sat down next to him.
“How are you?” she asked cheerfully.
“Fine,” Scott replied looking away again.
She furrowed her brows in confusion. “You’re not much a conversationalist, are you?”
“I’ve had a rough day.” Scott said quickly.
“It’s only eight in the morning…” she said quietly. “I’m sorry to hear that you’re day is already ruined.”
Scott ignored her comment and continued to search for the bus. Couldn’t this young lady take the hint that he didn’t want to talk to anyone?
“The good thing about it being so early is that you have time to improve your day.” She said with a smile again. “When the day starts going downhill, just lift your chin up and look towards the sun. Things can’t get any worse.”
“Oh, but they can.” Scott replied. Then he immediately regretted talking to her. Good thing the bus had just come around the corner.
“Well, with that attitude they can…” She replied somberly.
“That’s nice,” Scott said barely hearing her. He stood up and walked over to the edge of the curb.
When the bus stopped and opened its doors, Scott and the driver greeted each other with slight nods of the head. Scott found a seat in the way back. He put his briefcase down on the seat by the window and sat next to the aisle. But just as the bus pulled away from the curb, the women stood next to Scott again.
“Do you mind? There are no other seats.”
Scott sighed. He couldn’t very well tell her to stand when there was a perfectly good seat. He didn’t want the other passengers to get mad at him again like they had that morning. He picked up his briefcase putting it in his lap again and scooted towards the window.
She sat down and immediately began a conversation again. “The weather is lovely today, isn’t it?”
Scott gazed out the window and rolled his eyes to himself. He was stuck next to a typical chatty-kathy who couldn’t help but talk. The weather was always a go-to conversation when people didn’t know what to talk about.
“I mean, I don’t mind the rain, but it is nice to see the sun again. That vitamin D feels really good on the skin, am I right?” she elbowed him playfully and giggled.
Scott slowly turned to look at her with a disgusted face. Why wasn’t she getting the hint that he didn’t want to talk to her.
The ride was long as she continued to speak of random tidbits of Scott didn’t even know what. He was so grateful when the bus stopped in front of his apartment that he practically jumped out of his seat.
“This is my stop.” He picked up his briefcase and waved his other hand as though shooing her out of the way.
“Oh, sure.” She stood up and stepped into the aisle. She pointed for him to lead the way.
“Thank you,” Scott said hastily and made his way down the narrow aisle.
As the bus drove away, Scott fished for his key in his suit pocket. When he found it, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around and narrowed his eyes.
“Are you following me?” he demanded.
The young lady put her hands on her hips. “Um, I live here?”
Scott let his arms drop by his side as she took out her own key. Since he wasn’t moving, she took it upon herself to open the main door. “I’ve never seen you around the building before.”
“I didn’t realize I had to report to you.” She chuckled.
“That’s not what I meant…”
She turned away from the door and walked back down the stairs and stood in front of Scott on the sidewalk. “Let’s start over. I’m Lily Bloom.” She stretched out her hand to be shook.
“Lily Bloom?” Scott said slowly shaking her hand.
“Yeah, I know. The name is pretty interesting. I heard all about it in my three years of high school.” Lily rolled her eyes.
“You mean four years of high school.” Scott corrected.
“Oh, we’re good at math.” Lily smirked. “And here I thought you were an English buff.”
“It’s not really math…” Scott muttered and then paused. “Wait, what?”
Lily pointed to the small logo on the corner of his briefcase. “Coffee Stains Literary Magazine. It’s cool to know where you work, but I still don’t know your name.”
Scott looked down at his briefcase forgetting it had the company logo on it. Then he cleared his throat straightening up again. “Oh, I’m Scott. Scott O’Malley.”
“Nice to meet you, Scott O’Malley,” Lily said with a smile walking backwards. She walked back up the steps and opened the door. She looked over her shoulder one last time. “Maybe you’ll notice me around the building more often.”
Without waiting for a response, she disappeared into the building. The front door closed behind her leaving Scott standing in the middle of the sidewalk dumbfounded.
How is your novel going? Let me know in the comments below!
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