amazingly, I did it.

I can hardly believe it, but I did it. One of only 3680, if you can believe the statistics.

My novel isn’t actually finished though. I just have 50,000 words on it. I think there are maybe another 3K to 10K words left. It’s possible there are more than that even.

I have a nice list of things I want to “fix” when I do go back for editing, and one of them is to make the novel more “literary”. I’ve been up a full two hours just goofing around after the deadline, reading the forums, ordering the nano t-shirt, checking email, and now this entry, (but I’d wanted to do this before I went to bed from the beginning), so my eyes are starting to get all blurry and I really need to get some sleep. I’ve been sniffling and blowing my nose almost since I got home. I hope I’m not coming down with anything.

So the novel is set around mercury, right? In the first few days, I took a lot of inspiration from that. Reading up on mercury, getting all the facts and figures straight… but then I sort of forgot about it. Then tonight I was reading the nano forums, and found some guy who was asking a question about sci-fi books based in the courtrooms… (I know I’ve read a few, but I’m horrible about remembering names and things.) …anyway, it occurred to me to check my copy of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, which is one of the most amazing books I own.

Nothing. Not an entry for law, lawyers, courtrooms, courtroom drama, judges, judicial system or any of the few others I tried. I may be missing a term, but I definitely couldn’t find anything.

Long story short, after I hit zero on that one, I looked up mercury. Now I’ve got some reading to do… I’d like to read William Wallace Cook’s Adrift in the Unknown, and re-read David Brin’s Sundiver in the relatively near future. And if I can find copies, I’ll read the short stories “Masquerade” (by Clifford Simak) and Asimov’s “Runaround”.

Plus, I’d like to put a buttload more imagery into the thing. I’ve been writing some dry ass shit, I think. Fast paced, but very little descriptive details. I’m not sure why, really. I get more into the ideas of the setting than the description of the setting. It may not be a bad thing… but I would like more visual imagery.

I’m going to aim for at least 1000 words per day till I’m done with this thing. Definitely not as harrowing as the 3.5K I had to hit today to finish on time. And now I can say I did it. Not, yet, that I’ve finished a novel in my lifetime… but that I’ve written 50K in one month, which I think of as no small accomplishment. *finishes patting self on back*

Now I’m off to climb in bed with Laura, to sleep for a good hour before she gets up for work.