When I awoke this morning, I moved my lapop back up onto my desk as I always do.

It turned off.

It's been doing this a lot lately. According to my sources, it has a broken pin that needs resoldering. Luckily, so long as I don't bump the cord, it's not a problem, so I just plugged it back in so I could turn it back on and all would be fine until I moved it again tonight.

Only, this time it decided it was really screwed for good. It won't stay powered for more than a few seconds. I have around two hours of battery time to use when I'm ready, and then it's gone until I disassemble, solder a pin on the motherboard (I've never soldered anything before), and reassmeble.

I sohuld point out that:
* Compaq notebooks have apparently been plagued with this problem since 2004 or before.
* The fuckers, as of 2005, had not yet said 'Hey, let's fix our goddamn soldering process'.
* Compaq is the devil.

So, anyway, my 500MHz Linux box is quite slow with anything graphical. Normally I wouldn't need anything graphical, but I do for Blogger. Or, Elinks wasn't working. No DOM. Makes for very limited JavaScript support.

Also, [almost] all my text versions of my NaNo were only on the laptop, so getting them to verify was a pain.

I got 49997 and had several contenders for hte last three words:
* 'The bloody end.'
* 'To be continued...'
* 'Compack bleeding sucks.'

I went with the second, but let me make this perfectly clear: Compaq bleeding sucks.

The Day's Text
Words today: 374
Words total: 50000
Target total: 46666.666 repeating

124.666 more per day or (more likely) 374 tomorrow. Plus a little bit over.

The volcano story was shorter than I anticipated. But it's cool. A short bit of Sylvia tomorrow, then perhaps some fiddling about. Hilfa's age is the only thing that I know needs fixing (beyond a few typos I've noticed), but I'd like to insert mentions of these nozzles being dragged around by the army.

The Day's Text
Words today: 728
Words total: 49626
Target total: 45000

Again, next to nothing before midnight. But enough after. This morning, I needed 411.2 words per day. Now I need 275.5. Gaining!

I discovered there's no Chapter XXXXIII. Nothing really fits in there. Maybe an additional Sylvia chapter, but at this point, I think the historic volcano will take more words than I need, so volcano+ending Sylvia+XXXXIII Sylvia = lots of words.

The Day's Text
Words today: 954
Words total: 48898
Target total: 43333.333 repeating

I believe I wrote under a hundred words before midnight, but then I stayed up really late, like, until now (4:20am here) writing. Got lots done. More than half.

In addition to getting a fair bit written, I now have a aside to write: The tale of the volcano. Lots of kissing and not enough swordfights. Turns out at the end that you can't stop a volcano with just toothpicks. (But maybe that you can with a trained military battalion.) Perhaps the volcano is Kukukillapacawowdomingobarajibjab. But probably not.

I only have two things left to write, though:
Volcano
Silvia

1 028 words each. Volcano will have to be long, because I don;t think Sylvia will be.

Also, I think the volcano aside will be inserted as Chapter XXXXVI, bumping up the other two.

The Day's Text
Words today: 2073
Words total: 47944
Target total: 41666.666 repeating

I realised that Chapter XXXXI ('Paths Cross') wasn't really finished, so I've continued from it today. Next, I think should be Leath before the final decision is made.

TODO:
* Leath decides mission should be abandoned
* They abandon missions and decided to visit the Isle of the Gods.
* Maybe Phil picks up the escaped prisoners.
* Sylvia heads north.

I'll probably also want another aside or two. You know, historic bits, fables, and whatnot.

Low wordcount again, but I'm gaining:
Words per day to finish on time, as of the beginning of the day: 721.142857
Words per day to finish on time, as of the end of the day: 688.16666...

Of course, if I did words per thread to tie up, I'm not doing quite so well. That's why I need to think up an aside or two.

The Day's Text
Words today: 919
Words total: 45871
Target total: 40000

Okay, so I didn't reach 1666.666... words for the day. I don't mind. I got some hard stuff done, tying up the Ravioli/Gar/Biscotti bit with a cliffhanger for Part II. I only need 793.5 words per day at this point and I got a fair bit more than that.

I now have about four things left to do. This makes for 1262 words for each, but I suspect the Fin-Dallywonk joint group will consume a disproportionate share of it.

A couple weeks ago, I started listing the various threads so I could look at it and pick one I could stand to write that day, and so I could see what had been ignored for the longest. Here are the threads as I see them now and what I intend to do with them (ordered by last written ascending order):

Tanenbaum Guards

FINISHED

Remember that stupid captain of the guard? He was fun, but mostly ignored. This will continue. I need not write any more about him.

Tanenbaum Region war preparations

FINISHED

Also no more needed for Part I. This is done.

Leath

He (or his superiors) should decide that Dallywonk's mission is a bad thing. This should occur after it's abandoned, though he doesn't know it's abandoned. Probably they assume it's failed

Silvia

Not much to do with this, but it's a good note to end on, perhaps. Just her continuing her journey north.

Phil

Maybe get in position to help Fin+Morris and/or to pick up the prisoners

Prisoners: Guenter and Warren

I may have Phil pick them up in Part I, but if they get ignored until Part II, that's fine too.

Fin, Hilfa, Snook, Meville Pennybrook, Sven Zoot / Morris Dallywonk, Filcher, Breck, Dudders

Abandon missions and decide to visit Isle of the Gods together. The Cheshire cat may prompt this. I don't know for certain. Zoot is opposed to exploding things, so he may also encourage it, despite not really having had zombie trouts preached to him as much as the rest of his group.

Delmer Ravioli

FINISHED

This is done. He met Biscotti and Gar in a cliffhanger. This had to be after Biscotti was accused so that Biscotti can be vindicated by the Fin-Dallywonk journey of discover in Part II.

Wartface

FINISHED

Captured by Biscotti

Gar

FINISHED

He and Biscotti met Delmer in a cliffhanger ending.

It's all coming together nicely, and with perfect timing. Shocking. (Okay, really, it's all coming together nicely because I'm being forced to split it into two parts, but the two parts split so nicely.)

The Day's Text
Words today: 1300
Words total: 44952
Target total: 38333.333 repeating

I wrote most of this in the last hour before midnight. It went nicely towards the end, though I hated writing earlier today. I HATES IT!

There was one problem: I introduced Dudders and then promptly forgot he even existed until morning. I had to go back and add a bit about him. But it's all good now.

Also, I realised about half an hour ago that BattleJesus had been right in telling me to hurry the plot along a day or two ago. I'm only just finishing up the set-up right now. I have half the plot to go and only 6 348 words until victory.

Oh well. Maybe aliens will put an abrupt end to these events when they tire of watching and drop nukes on the planet. (Oh, dang! I just realised that my stock cutshort ending won't work because no one dies in this war.)

The Day's Text
Words today: 1731
Words total: 43652
Target total: 36666.666 repeating

Gah, I /SO/ should have ended the day with 42k.

Okay, this crate should be picked up by the Phil or the pirates who joined the organisation.

That's all.

The Day's Text
Words today: 1672
Words total: 41921
Target total: 35000

Damn it.

I'll write some more, post-midnight.


The Day's Text
Words today: 1697
Words total: 40249
Target total: 33333.333 repeating

Okay, done. Not much, but enough to counter Day 18's low count.

The Day's Text
Words today: 176
Words total: 38552
Target total: 31666.666 repeating

Okay, I didn't make up for it, but I will. I'm not totally tired, so I'm going to finish this chapter before bed and post it as day 19.5.

The Day's Text
Words today: 2034
Words total: 38376
Target total: 31666.666 repeating

Caffeine is bad for you. Drugs bad, kids.

Only around 1800 words today, but I finally have a chance to fix my sleeping patterns (maybe), so I'm going to bed early. Very tired. Didn't sleep last night. Got a few hours this afternoon.

I'll write extra tomorrow. I promise.

The Day's Text
Words today: 1826
Words total: 36342
Target total: 30000

I wrote over 300 words after midnight last night because I'll not be writing much/any tonight, most likely. I'll be up all night, so I may be super!tired tomorrow as well. Hopefully I'll get it done, though.

Today's stuff didn't get much plotwork, but the Fin Co. is moving along.

The Day's Text
Words today: 2063
Words total: 34516
Target total: 28333.333 repeating

I don't know what to do with Fin and Co. now. They're just walking. Seems kind of boring to write about.

Once the two covert ops groups meet up, I'm thinking thy might take a secret ancient underground subway like thing to the coast. You know, to save time, writing, and whatever. But I don't know.

I did finally get something done with the prisoners Gar talked to. Nothing with Gar, but this is a start. However, I must remember to review 'An Explosive Turn of Events'. Guenter and Warren's personalities and speech are probably completely different there.

The Day's Text
Words today: 2279
Words total: 32453
Target total: 26666.666 repeating

Okay, so I was checking around for some reference regarding how far these northern dweebs have to walk. And, well, Germany has 1480 miles of coastline. Did you know that? That's a lot of coastline. It looks closer to three hundred miles, but coastline is all wrinkly, making it actually really, really long.

Luckily, Fin and Co. don't follow the coastline. And Sawbill isn't at the top of the nation. And the border isn't at the bottom of Halley's old realm. I figure they only have to travel about 400 miles to reach the border. Various things seem to suggest that these people can maybe get 50 miles per day (or a lot more or a lot less) on horseback, and I have a friend who's walked over thirty miles in a single day, so surely! (Of course, that was with very few supplies. Thirty-six miles took her three days when heavily loaded. Horses, though, can carry the load.)

The last chapter, starring Biscotti is valuable. I wrote it, gaining a lot of fast wordcount, and then fixed it up some more. It's not super!excellent, but it solves plot paradoxes (Biscotti must have known Delmer's name if he hired and betrayed him, so why the trip for Gar?) and tells the reader (and finally me!) what's going on with Gar and Ravioli and Biscotti. I needed that. They've been much ignored due to me having now idea what to write.

The Day's Text
Words today: 2350
Words total: 30174
Target total: 25000

I set Dallywonk and Co. up to get lost, giving Fin and co time to get down to the border. I think they'll need horses, though. And a timeshift. I MUST REMEMBER: They get horses in THIS chapter. Not the next one. Maybe horses just happen to turn up along the trail. Maybe Fin steals them from some other travellers. Maybe they go into a town. But /before the chapter ends/. I named it to have horses. LEt's finally get something right with the chapter naming thing.

Oh, and I forgot to make the Pesce be polite and formal with each other for a bit. I had to go back and repair their dialogue. Added 107 easy words. Then I wrote some where they weren't so long-winded. But they were all panicked, sort of, having just fled a bear. So maybe it's okay.

But why, oh why do the Pesce sometimes speak almost like Middle English people and sometimes like 'normal' people? I suck.

Note: at some point, I need to mention Snook saying 'Fate!' from the Tan's perspective.

The Day's Text
Words today: 2123
Words total: 27824
Target total: 23333.333 repeating

A single chapter, for the first time ever. I got a late start and it was going very slowly. I tried having the waitress recite the menu for some quick wordcount, but that wasn't working well at all, so I was forced to bring back the Cheshire cat. From that point on I thought it didn't totally suck, and it went much faster.

Today I realised that trout live in the ocean. They're also river fish, but not only river fish. This was really an 'oh !$@%' moment for me. But I handled it acceptably. Maybe. It's a shame they're not southern ocean only. That would allow for the folks in the Tanenbaum Region not knowing about ocean trout. But alas, I don't think that's the case.

Time is messed up slightly. These people are trying to travel hundreds of miles to meet up with the other covert ops group (though they don't know it), but the other covert ops group is already heading out to strike. Maybe these people will buy a cart with their wealth, which will help, but I think this must be a day or two before the Pesce stuff. I guess the Tanenbaum army is still on the march, just a day or two ahead of the covert ops group.

The Day's Text
Words today: 2107
Words total: 25701
Target total: 21666.666 repeating

'For Real This Time' refers to the fact that I titled an earlier chapter 'A Noisy Arrival in a Noisy Town' and they didn't. Actually, I briefly forgot to make their arrival noise this time, but I went back and reinserted a mention of thunder.

Also, the cat, it seems, did have some bearing on the plot! I didn't know it until today, but it is the four travellers who will join Dallywonk in a journey of discovery to the Isle of the Gods, where they will learn the true nature of our fishy dead friends. At least, they'll probably be there. One of them must, since they too have heard that the gods are zombie trout. And now they're going to collide with Dallywonk's team. Fantastic!

The first chapter just kept going on and on because I really didn't know what I would do next. Probably my longest chapter yet. (No, wait. It looks like yesterday's cat chapter was longer. Well, that chapter has this chapter's name. Of course, these chapters tend to look longer than they are because dialogue makes for short lines.)

Oh, and you know how I've been mis-punctuating my quotations? Yeah, I didn't really have much of a reason to do that, so I think I'll just do it correctly from now on.

The Day's Text
Words today: 2079
Words total: 23594
Target total: 20000

Okay, Delmer was good. I liked that first bit. All the rest...

I ind of liked the bit with the cat. I was some easy wordcount, and fun, but really, nothing today besides Delmer's short scene really helped with the plot. Wordcount is nice, but if I'm only a quarter of the way through the plot when I hit 50 000, what then? Yes, I can always cut it short with a nuclear war from space aliens, but I'd rather not. There's a lot coming for the plot, and I need to work to get it all in.

#NaNoWriMo was part of my my inspiration for the cat, by the way. I needed someone to say this, and the cat was it:
19:32 < b2> claudia, you saucy wench
19:32 < PurpleCar> I know, tia, I know
19:32 < claudia6913> *rawr*
19:32 < LKBM> Someone is now going to say 'saucy wench' in my nano. I don't know who yet, but it has to be said.

They also provided the names Biscotti and Ravioli.

(And, oh shit, I just noticed the title of the chapter with the cat is 'A Noisy Arival in a Noisy Town', but they don't get to town in that chapter. Maybe I should start naming chapters /after/ I write them. Maybe I'll write some more before midnight and rename the chapter. It's not even 11pm yet.)

The Day's Text
Words today: 2003
Words total: 21515
Target total: 18333.333 repeating

I was a little slow to start today and was worried I wouldn't reach 2000 words, but then my last two bits brought me right over it. A lot of short chapters early on, due to my inability to write. Wordcount comes when you're not expecting it.

I realise I should be writing about Gar, but I'm not sure what's supposed to happen there. How will it relate to the war? (Okay, yes, obviously the explosion is the casus bellum, and I believe the boss caused the explosion.) What's Delmer's relation to the boss? Who is Delmer? Were the three men just going to steel the royal yacht and sail down to the Pesce lands? Are they Pesce?

Maybe tomorrow I'll write it.

The Day's Text
Words today: 2156
Words total: 19512
Target total: 16666.666 repeating