So, Did I Win or Not???

Sunday was a day of great pain. I sat in front of the computer for hours. HOURS! Trying to write 4100 measly words. Words that, the day before, came SO easily. By Saturday's standards, this should have taken me less than 2 hours.

Sunday's job was to write the 2nd to last chapter, and try to squeeze in part or all of the last chapter, too. I managed to write about half, or less, of the penultimate chapter, and couldn't even think about the last one. I also filled in a few hundred words on a chapter in the middle that was blank. It felt good to add some meat to it, but I don't think it moved the story along very well.

Before I tell my final word count, how about an excerpt taken directly from the last day of NaNo.
Warning: Spoiler Alert!!!

**Gareth**

I blink, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness around me. Darkness is my home, so it doesn’t take long. There’s a heavy weight on my chest, and I shift my weight underneath it until I hear a moan.

I turn my head to the source of the moan. Aureylia's head is on my chest, blood from an open neck wound seeping into my fur. I groan as I realize we’ve laid here so long that I’ve gone through the change in my sleep. "How in Hades did I sleep through that?"

Her voice is soft and sleepy when she answers. "I was just wondering the same thing. We both did." She pushes herself to a sitting position and stares at me. I can’t read the expression on her face, but the blood dripping over her naked breasts glows in my green tinted vision. She stands, bringing a hand to her neck. "Does your bite hurt as much as mine?"

I frown as I get to my feet -- which, in this form, means standing like the animal I am, on all four paws. "Maybe that’s why I slept so much. I’ve never been bitten by a vampyrus before. And yes, it hurt. But it felt amazing." I wiggly my hairy eyebrows at her, and she chuckles.

"I know." She looks around the cave with a frown. "The sun will be up soon. We both slept through the rest of the day and the whole night. Hades! The ceremony’s tonight and I haven’t caught the killer." She looks down at me through narrowed eyes.

I can’t read her mind at the moment, but her expression says she’s not sure if that statement is correct or not. She still doesn’t trust me. Good; she shouldn’t. A hunger pain rips through my stomach and I growl, baring my teeth in surprise.

She jumps back with wide eyes.

I walk toward her hungrily, unable to stop myself. After being so satisfied last night, the animal in me wants more. And I want it from her. I tilt my head to the side and grin, which I'm sure looks pretty scary coming from an extra large wolf.

In a flash, Aureylia disappears. I sniff the air, only to catch her scent trailing off as she flies out of the cave.

**Aureylia**

I sneak into the vampyre compound invisibly, since all my clothes are ripped beyond the ability to wear them home. Thoughts and memories swirl in my head. Pinning Gareth to the ground, able but not willing to kill him right then. The feel of his hands squeezing my arms. His scent when I found him in the cave, which was a mixture of appetite and anger. He could have killed me, yet I succumbed to him like a helpless human -- if he is the killer, I can understand the power he has over his victims, and it's going to be tough to destroy him finally. The look of hunger in his eyes when I trapped him on the ceiling and his lips grazed my neck. I'm such a fool! How he tasted like salt, but so sweet at the same time. The sound of his heart pounding wildly while he was beneath me, or above me, or beside me; erratic and dangerously quick, yet strangely in rhythm with my own. Oh, Coven, what have I done?

Keep in mind, this IS a very rough first draft. As Anne Lamott says, in Bird by Bird, it's a "shitty first draft."

Anyhow, back to my main point. Yesterday was a painful, painful day. I wrote for hours, yelling at the screen, mapping out the chapter with no luck of writing it, and being all around in a really bad mood.

BUT... I managed to reach 50,302 words!!! I won NaNo 2008!!!



So, now the big question is.... what happens now??

My December writing plans entail:

Finish Isaac's Eyes (first draft)
Finish Vaampr (which is STILL what I'm calling my untitled NaNo novel)

That's it. I REALLY want to add a few more things in there so I can say I accomplished certain things from my 2008 writing goals, but I won't. I'll save them for 2009.

Speaking of 2008 goals, I have a month to do all the things I said I'd do but never did. I'll have to find my list and see what all those things are. It might be difficult to do them without a job... but I'll see what I can do!

I'm off now to reward myself for writing over 50,000 words in 30 days. Until next time...