Nanowrimo 2011 Week Three

If you've read yesterday's post, you will know that this week, I spent five nights in Bali.  Let me tell you a little something about writing while on Holiday.  (It's a capital H because it's not just "oh, school's out, cool, let's have a Buffy marathon" it's, "hey, leave your mobile phone in a safe place because we're leaving the country.")  Writing on Holiday is HARD.  Here's why:

1) My beloved laptop Cedric has decided to chuck a few tantrums lately.  I switch him on.  He works for about 90 seconds and then switches himself off, swallowing any progress that I made.  Cedric was therefore NOT invited on Holiday.  I am currently working on my Dad's laptop, seeing as he now has an iPad and barely ever uses it.  Hooray for family!
2) When you go on Holiday with someone, you are expected to pay attention to them.
3) If you DON'T pay attention to said person, and instead write in the huge king size bed while said person is forced to watch Man vs. Wild repeats on a couch made of stone,  you feel a tad guilty.
4) You are a bit busy seeing the country you have paid to go to.

I actually did pack my compendium with THREE legal pads, and my journal.  I spent the days leading up to the trip catching up on words I didn't write while studying for my exam.  And I made a promise to myself that I would come home with enough new material to take me to 36000 words.

I did not do that.  Considering one of my characters hates it when people say they are going to do things and then don't, I'd say she's pretty mad at me.  My word count looks a little something like this now:

Bad, Elimy. BAD.

Now, No Plot? No Problem! by Nanowrimo creator Chris Baty says that you should never ever ever neglect your novel for more than a day, or you will lose momentum/ get addicted to a TV show/ pick up a bad habit that prevents you from getting near computers/ get a new hobby/ boyfriend/ pet or something else disastrous.  I thought that was silly.  I thought; No, if I don't write for a few days, I'll just pick up where I left off.  Now I'm back, I'm wondering where I left off.  I don't keep comprehensive notes, so I am wondering what I named my protagonist's father in law, what my protagonist's son's middle name is and I don't even really feel strongly about what characters to kill off anymore!  Plus, I am addicted to Castle.

To be fair, watching Castle does inspire me to write.  Watching other writers, even fictional ones, is always inspiring for me.  Another thing that inspires me is to find a book I hate by an author I think is ridiculous and then I get so mad that this person can be published and not me that I write for DAYS.  I won't name names. 

But seriously, I should have forced myself to write everyday.

Sorry novel!

That's all from me today; I'm only about a day and a half behind now, so I am off to rectify that.