Draft 2.5

   Got some excellent last minute feedback from Ms Jordan Gray, and made some changes for the better.  I'm really really really, more than just a little bit tired, and I work at 7:30...so I'm submitting it as is, and then I am going to lie on the flat rectangle and sleep.

   Good night.

Oh yeah

   I think the title is "Simon Says Sorry".

   Of course, that might be the sort of idea a person comes up when they're on, like three kinds of cold medication and 6000 calories of junk food.

   I'm actually looking forward to going back on my diet tomorrow.

   I guess my habits really have changed, because eating like this has not made me feel anything but full, and bad.

Done.

   I have just finished the revision.  Unless I receive some feedback that makes me feel differently, or someone catches a typo, I am done.

  It has all the 3 Day pacing problems, but I'm philosophically happy with the book, if that makes sense (It doesn't.  I know it doesn't.  Take mercy on me.)

  Thank you for support, both vocal and silent.

 After crapping out last year, finishing this year means everything to me.  This book could be a total piece of crap, and I'd still walk away feeling okay about it.

 Right now, I'm going to have a snack, and watch something dumb and decompress.

 I'll keep my eyes open for feedback, and make sure I have this thing formatted right for the contest so I can submit it around midnight.

 If anything else comes up, I'll let you know.

 Otherwise, that's it for another year.

Chapter 4

  I am revised up to Chapter 4.  That is where the book began to take on life, right after the whole, "Oh my godz, I must QUITZORR the c0ntest panic" of Saturday.

From that point on, the problems are, I'm sure, many but small.

It remains to be seen if I have improved the start of the book, but I suspect it's, at least, better than it was if not actually good.

Less lame is what I'm after. 

Harm reduction.

Gayleen tells me that it's solid once I fix the beginning, but she is my friend, and therefore nice to me.  Although she has, now that I think of it, probably told me when things sucked.  So I'll take it.

Yeah.  I'll take it.

My cold is much better now, as my stress has reduced.  I am super grateful to have this revision time.

The book is probably my shortest 3-Day, but from a plot standpoint, it's by far the tamest and the tightest.

And, as I say, it's a Scooby Doo story.

He'd have gotten away with it, too if it wasn't for you meddling mutes!

Finished Mark I

    I just now finished my first draft.  I am very very glad to have about six hours or so to revise.

    I think the book has a strong ending.  I may be wrong.

   The beginning needs some fixing and filling out.

   I could expand this book to 70 or 80 thousand words in the fullness of time, but I think it would end up being a little slack.

   I don't know.  I never know.  As with every 3 Day Novel ever written, the ending may be a bit rushed.

   If you are out there and can spare what will probably be less than an hour, I'd like some people to read it and tell me what they think needs fixing.

  I'm going to take half an hour, and rest my hands and mind, and then I'm going to get started on Draft 2.

Almost there

   I have three and a half scenes to write and then I am done draft one.  Then I need to back and fix the opening, and kind of zip through it for coherence.  I am reckoning it at about 31-32,000 words, probably.

  It is with mounting horror that I realize that my entire book is a depressing Scooby-Doo episode.

Stretch break

   It's time to put on real clothes and go get myself a walk for ten minutes.

   Progress continues apace.

I'm awake! I'm awake!

    My computer is acting six kinds of weird.  In a minute, I'm going to reboot it and go make myself some manner of breakfast.

    I feel and, I presume, look like a five gallon pail of horse manure.

    This is all I have to report at the moment.

Bed time

  I had wanted to hit 25 or 26 thousand words before bed, but my energy is flagging, and I can tell Im not going to get better, only worse.  I'll aim for an early start tomorrow and stay on target.  I just got to a convenient break point, anyhow.

  I'm in the home stretch now.  All that remains is for Will to lose his grip on reality, and go halfway insane.

And then kill someone.

So. that's not too bad is it.

See you in the am.

Ladies and Gentlemen

   If nothing gets you hotter than an obese man who is slathered in Vick's vapo-rub and writing in his pyjamas, then I am your sex symbol.

Heavily medicated.

   I am now ahead of schedule.  I am leaking, still, and my eyes are blurry, and my legs ache.  Gayleen and Dashiell, our poodle, have rendered me succour in the form of a box of Kleenex with lotion, which is helping to keep my nose attached, and a bewildering variety of lozenges, inhalers and vapourisers.

  I love my Gayleen.

  I am going to keep pushing on tonight for several more hours, I think.

  My plot keeps surprising me, by the way.  Considering I swore I'd never do this without an outline again, it's going quite well from a story persepctive, I think. 

 Normally, these things start strong, and get weaker as the weekend goes on and the writer starts to rush, and to get tired.  I think this book is actually becoming more focused.

  My usual writing style is multiple narrators and story threads that combine to form a larger narrative.  I actually don't know the last time I stayed this long in a particular character's head, or followed such a linear progression of plot.

  It's weird, and its different for me.

  Also, I tend to have a supernatural element in most of what I write, and there's one in this book, but it's questionable.  It might be genuinely supernatural, or someone might just be a liar, or a flake. 

  The ending of this book is ultimately the opposite of what my usual take would be, and I'm curious to see how it comes off.

  I'm taking a break now for forty-five minutes to walk around and rest my hands.

  Despite the cold, I am feeling like this might turn out, provided I get some time to revise tomorrow, to be my strongest 3 day novel.  Not the most fun, to be sure, or the most wildly creative, but the strongest as a novel.

  Cold fall apart on me yet, though. 

  Aand it's time for my Han Solo clip in iTunes, saying "Great, kid.  Don't get cocky."

  Also for another shower.  This time with no fish tank in the tub. 

Ok, for real now...

Does anyone know of a cold remedy that doesn't make one drowsy?  Sleep is a luxury I just can't afford right now.  My goal is another six thousand words before bed if that can be done.  I want some wiggle room to revise tomorrow.

FML

    I am still working hard, but I absolutely have a cold now.  I am leaking from the eyes and nose, and can barely breathe.  I hate getting sick during the contest, but I refuse to let it stop me this year.

    Anyone have a cure that they've been keeping a secret.  Please hit me up with it now.

Afternoon update

    After the sudden shocking departure from my outline last night, I went to bed early, and had troubled dreams.

    I wrote a few words this morning, and then went for a brunch with Gayleen to talk about the story.  She seems to think it's going well, and I'll have to take her word for it, because I have no idea.  I've been really weepy and emotional all morning, which is, of course, going to really help me in cementing my reputation as the manly-man Ernest Hemingway of my generation.

  What happened in my story shook me about as much as it did Will, I think, and that's the why.

  So, I've had a bit of a late start, and I expect to be pulling an all nighter tonight to catch up, especially because, with the ending now being so radically different, the opening chapters need to be completely re-written as well.  I will need part of the day tomorrow, without question, to revise.

  If there's anybody out there who is interested in reading what I've got so far, let me know.  I'd love another set of eyes and 90 percent of my peeps are at the nerd convention this weekend being nerdy nerdy nerds.

 Back to it.

Um....okay

   So, one of the characters in my book just did something that surprised me so completely that I am breathless.  My outline is done.  It's garbage.  My whole book just changed, and, I think, for the better.  I am not written into a corner here at all.

  To the contrary, the story now makes an entirely different kind of sense to me now.

  I know what needs to come next, but I think I need some time to digest it.

  I'm back on schedule, more or less.  I expect there to be a lot less staring at the page and screaming tomorrow, so I think I'm in a good place.

  I know it's a cliche for writers to say that the characters do all the work, and make their own decisions.  At moments like this, I really have to agree though.  This story just took a ninety degree turn, and I'm getting to have that weird experience that I sometimes get to have where I discover the story the way a reader would.

Yay!

Time for Supper

Well, I'm not going to lie to you, that was a close one.  I spent about a solid two hours staring at my novel, realizing that, despite my outline I was getting nowhere.

Dennis Dunlop was just not showing up for work.  I don't understand how that works.  Sometimes the people you're writing about just call in sick or something.

I announced to Gayleen, in fact, that I was quitting, giving up, failing for my second year in a row.

Thankfully, she was able to, simply by being calm, de-escalate me.

I'm still not sure I'm writing a book anyone will want to read, but Dennis showed up, and now that he's here, things are going back on course.  I'm a little behind, but I believe I will catch up now.  I think the worst of the head pounding is over.

To my surprise, by the way, I think that, instead of being annoyed with Dennis Dunlop, Will is getting very quickly attached to him.  That's remarkable, especially as he tends to dislike most men a great deal.  That's very interesting, especially as it will have an impact on the climax of the book.

So, in short, I think I'll finish this time.  I think.

And thank god for having a roommate around to talk me down.

I am starving.

That is ridiculous as I am undoing the last two weeks of dieting this weekend, I'm sure.

I'll get back on track Tuesday.  Right now I need to run on heavy fuel.

More later.

Afternoon break

   I am running slightly behind schedule.  The work is not going really well.  I know where I need to get, but I am having some issues getting there, despite my outline.

   I'm not sure what I'm writing is any good, and that's not good.  To push through this, you need to be in love with what you're doing.

   I am just trying to remember that his happens.  In an hour I might be fine.

   In any case, I need to move around a little.

Day 1

   Just woke up, did my ablutions and had breakfast.  I'm still waking up, but I expect to be back to work very soon.  Dreams complicate everything when you're writing.

Going to bed.

    I just finished the Prologue and half the first chapter.  Things are coming out the way I'd hoped they would so far.  Of course, I'm strung out and wired right now.  In the morning I might feel differently.  An hour and forty minutes has produced about 2200 words. 

   Beginnings are usually the easiest part on the 3-Day, because you rehearse them in your head.  Not so much this time.  The tone is a little different than I planned.   That's not a bad thing.

  As I say, I like there to be some surprises.

  It's a good start and a convenient end point.  My dog is about three feet behind me, fast asleep and adorable.  I've learned the importance of sleep for this contest, and I'll crawl in there beside him for about 8 hours.

  See you in the morning.