Beautiful Books Novel Update

Another Beautiful Books questionnaire!

1. Overall, how is your mental state, and how is your novel going? Well, since it's only day 3 I'd say my mental state is perfectly fine right now. I intend for it to stay that way.
2. What’s your first sentence (or paragraph)? 
   Time dragged on. (OK, that sounds dull; but it's not the first sentence of my book, just the first sentence that I wrote for NaNo.)
3. Who’s your current favourite character in your novel? Alice. No, Gilbert. Or maybe Alice? Come on, don't make me choose.
4. What do you love about your novel so far? Umm, everything? OK, I love that I'm still interested in the story after outlining it twice and writing the first draft. That's sort of a new feeling for me; and an unexpected one after eschewing outlines as creativity-strangling devices.
5. Have you made any hilarious typos or other mistakes? No, not yet.
6. What is your favourite to write: beginning, middle, or end — and why? There are spots in all that are hard to write, and spots that are fun and exciting. It takes all three to make a good book, so I try not to play favorites.
7. What are your writing habits? Is there a specific snack you eat? Do you listen to music? What time of day do you write best? Feel free to show us a picture of your writing space! I try not to eat or drink around my computer, plus it distracts me. I do listen to music, as long as it doesn't have words that I can understand. I can and will write anywhere, at any time of the day (or night).
8. How private are you about your novel while you’re writing? Do you need a cheer squad or do you work alone (like, ahem, Batman)? I'm fairly private. I don't mind sharing excerpts and talking about it, but I don't let people read it until it's done.
9. What keeps you writing even when it’s hard? Nothing. Haha. I try to motivate myself by promising stuff. Like, you can't do any knitting until you've reached your word count for the day. Sometimes it helps, sometimes I end up procrastinating until its too late, and, well, what can you do then? Just keep on the next day!
10. What are your top 3 pieces of writing advice? Try to make your dialogue realistic. Be subtle. Don't try to please everyone.

NaNoWriMo 2016

Well, it's official. I failed my Octowrimo. I had the best intentions, but somehow I completely lost the momentum I gained in the early part of the month, and I hardly wrote any of the actual story (though I did get around 4000 words of outlining, so I'm glad of that at least).
Well, onwards and upwards! NaNoWriMo has arrived and I'll be updating my progress in the sidebar here on the blog, as well as on the NaNo site. I have 30 days to write 20,000 words. Shouldn't be hard, right?
Well, add two more weeks of studying the tax code (I'm hoping to get a job as a tax preparer), an obsession with knitting (especially as the weather gets cooler) and a natural inclination for procrastination, and you have a recipe for, well, un-success. But I'm determined to give it a shot at least.
Today I waited until the evening to start writing. I was feeling so unmotivated. So I set a timer for 15 minutes and got about half my goal (667 words), then I set it for another 15 minutes. By the end of that, I had a bit over my goal, but I had suddenly gotten in the swing and I ended up writing a thousand words.
I know better than to get all cocky now. I'm not going to slack off tomorrow just because I covered the word goal for that day. Losing momentum is the worst thing that can happen, so I am going to try my best to get in my minimum goal every day, no matter how far ahead I am.
Click here for my NaNo Profile


Are any of my readers doing NaNo this year? Tell me about it in the comments!