There are only a few hours left before NaNoWriMo begins and the author can finally put fingers to keyboard. There are not too many things worse than a writer who cannot write … okay, except maybe Susan singing Kumbaya. I still have nightmares about that. But anyway, Hallow’s Eve becomes NaNo Eve, and we’re not sure whether to be excited, supportive, or run for the frickin’ hills.

Right before dropping to her knees to pathetically beg, she gave us the mother of all lectures on how this wasn’t simply her attempting a literary stunt. She, in fact, believes … or wants to believe … or desperately needs to believe that there are 11 of us about to bungie jump off a wordy cliff. She has asked us to step up and let our weekend play out in a linear and coherent manner. We have been warned about tangents. (Tangents? Us?) We have been instructed to stay with this book and not jump into any others. She says we can be our obnoxious selves as long as it pertains to Lore Mongers. Then, she bribes us with cookies and ice cream. That worked rather well, but then I think she wondered how we’d be after the sugar buzz wore off, and, yes, that was when she dropped to knees.

So, it would seem that at this moment in time, we hold enormous sway. That elicits temptations galore, but we’ll let that sway swell for a bit and prepare to jump with her. (I hate heights, did you know that?)

Cross your fingers—for her and us. Wish her a good night’s sleep, and, Jesus, somebody hide the candy. When she awakens tomorrow morning, we shall once again be the center of attention. Let the LAC weekend begin.

Oh, and keep an eye on that NaNo counter over there. It had damn well better move each night, or we will be running for the hills. Oh, and the cool mil… If she keeps up with the daily minimum of 1,667 words, she should be reaching that big milestone on Sunday or Monday.

There we were: having fallen off the face of the earth. Scary prospect. But, alas, we are still kickin’ in our usual obnoxious style. I’m sure you consider yourselves blessed. 🙂

Anyway, the author has been very busy with her own life lately and not just ours. However, she has been working on LAC 16 research and plotting, and odds are good she will grab that accumulation of work to land prepared on this first day of NaNoWriMo, November 1st. Last year she didn’t decide/commit until the mid-morning of and then spent the rest of the month scrambling, starving, and screaming. She even had to accept “rebel status” because she used a project she had already begun work on (Sutures), and when she finished that one, she jumped onto the fresh page of a new story she hadn’t even had time to think of. Oh yes, the author was very ill-prepared, and saved, if I remember correctly, by a tangent of Laura’s and mine … something to do with a moron in a barrel. She did reach the goal of 50,000 words.

With that 20/20 hindsight stuff, she’s planning on being thoroughly prepared this time and on starting LAC 16 from word one. We’re placing bets in here on whether or not that preparation will actually prevent the scrambling, starving, and screaming. I haven’t yet decided where I’m placing my coffee money. She can be very quiet and disciplined on some occasions, but I think maybe at her core she has that “hurts-so-good” kind of process. We shall see. Regardless, somewhere in there she will reach her own goal of 1,000,000 words.

So… LAC 16 is a Kris and Ginny weekend. God help us all. We’re traveling out of town, but I won’t say where, but, no, it’s not Crappie Cabin. Oh, and its title gets an L-Word+1.

Things to look forward to … like a parachute opening at the very last second.

Okay, with Smooched officially finished, her word count is 993,314 and 6,686 to go. The screeching halt continues.

A warm birthday wish goes out to Scooter … and a little sympathy for her not having reached the goal on his birthday. If he’s declawed, we’d give him birthday high-fives. Well, except for Laura, who’d probably do so anyway, catty being that she is.

She’s crept up to 99%, leaving her with 12,908 to go!

At the moment, she’s on the last chapter of LAC 15. Even if we got horribly windy and sidetracked, which we have been known to do on occasion, I don’t think she’ll hit the million mark with this book. 😥

Then, once she finishes 15, there will be a major lull with her numbers while she edits the first draft. She’s close, but it could be a long while yet, and Scooter’s birthday (August 13) is still within the realm of possibilities.

Sympathies to those whose predicted dates have passed. Good luck to those whose dates still hang in the balance. And, DWD high fives all the way around.

A little less than 20,000 to go!

Two percent of a million, how hard could that be?

(Please do not tell the author I just said that!)