Thursday, July 30, 2015

The End of Camp NaNo



I know Camp doesn't technically end until tomorrow, but that doesn't matter to me. I won today! I'm so ridiculously excited. My first NaNo! And I'm done with the book! This book that has been waiting around inside my mind for almost two years is finally down on paper!

I love this book so much. You probably already know that. It's just so different and unique. And my characters. I already knew I liked them. But with that climax. Wow. I love these characters SOOO much. They're just so real now. I know them so well, and yet they, particularly Luke, surprise me so much. I don't think I've shared pictures of my "casting" choices off my Pinterest board on here yet, so here they are.
Cassie Owen
Garen Owen
Luke Winston

(I tried to put them all next to each other, but they won't exactly fit. Anyway.)

They've been on such a journey. And so have I. They have caused me to think deeply about what Christianity is, from the perspective of someone who hasn't a clue. They caused me to see ordinary things for the first time. They caused me to wonder over the simple mysteries of Creation. They caused me to search what it means personally to stand up for one's faith and how hard it is to withstand emotional torture. And it isn't over yet.

Through NaNo, I learned that life is always crazy. I've been learning that slowly this whole year, but I think I finally get it. Life isn't really going to slow down. So what if I have to be busy every spare minute to get everything done? I can still make time for down time if I really want to. I wrote 28,771 words (somehow the NaNo validator came out as 28,773), helped to do A LOT of framing and drywall hanging in the basement, wrote a blog series, explored a crazy idea with some friends, wrote several reviews, kept up with violin...It was a crazy month. But it was worth it. Hopefully August won't be as crazy, but if it is, that's okay.

 
During NaNo, I wrote a total of 28,771 words. That's essentially writing Across the Stars in a month. And since I started NaNo with half the book written, the total wordcount comes to 60,296. My longest book by far. I...don't think I can think of any other kinds of stats like my friend did last year, but I can tell you my writing places.
 
My desk
My bed
The kitchen table
The front porch
A local radio station
My mom's car
Our minivan in the church parking lot
Church (it was before, I swear)
The library
I can't remember if I wrote at the dining room table and the back porch before or during NaNo
 
So, it's done. And this is probably one of the most rambly posts I've written. But if you've survived this long, you get to hear this: I have an important announcement regarding The Crossways coming next week! Stay tuned! 

6 comments:

  1. Awesome! I didn't make it this month, but in April I did 50,000 words for my first NaNo. Congrats!

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    1. Thanks! Your April NaNo sounds great. I don't know if I even could do 50,000 in a month, at this time, anyway. This is my first book to even get past 50,000 at all.

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  2. Whoooop! Congrats! Your stats page looks better than mine. lol!! And this book sounds awesome! You can't ever go wrong casting Bradley James as a character. :P <3

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    1. You still made it at the end, and that's what counts. :) Yep, Bradley James is pretty awesome. I have another story where I cast Colin Morgan...alongside Matt Smith and Brenton Thwaites, with Hugo Weaving as the bad guy.

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  3. Yay! Congrats! * EXTREMELY HAPPY FOR MORGAN ELIZABETH HUNEKE!* I have 4,500 words left to go and I'm going to be away from home all day tomorrow >_< Yay. *sarcasm, because apparently Eliza is sarcastic a lot more than she even thinks about*

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    1. Thanks! Well, maybe you can still get some, and 4,500 away isn't too bad, is it? Hey, sarcasm can be fun. :)

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