Hey everyone!
I thought I’d do something fun for today’s NaNo Diaries post. I want to “show and tell” my typical day and how I squeeze writing into my schedule haha. Tell me about how you fit writing into your day!!
5:45AM. The alarm rings. I press snooze several times until it is 6AM when I know I can’t snooze the alarm any longer! I need to drag my butt to the cafe before work! This is when an internal dialogue ensues:
Future me: Do you want to achieve your dreams Sophie?
CURRENT ME: NOOO I want to sleeeeeeeep.
FUTURE ME: What’s more important- sleep or achieving your dream of writing this damn novel and getting it out there into the world?
CURRENT ME: …….. sleeep?
FUTURE ME: WRONG
CURRENT ME: Dang it.
So I tumble out of bed, cook breakfast, feed the dogs and get ready for work.
7AM. I get on my bike to go to the cafe. There is a HUGE hill on my way to work (and I have a really crappy bike) so it snaps me right out of my sleepiness. I huff and puff up the hill and (eventually, after blood, sweat, and tears) get to the top.
7:20AM. I arrive at the cafe! The cafe people know my order so they will get my tea ready for me. In case you guys are curious: I love genmaicha and earl grey!! Then I settle down in my usual spot and get out my notebook and favourite fountain pen and start writing.
This is actually one of my favourite parts of the day. I love this protected hour of writing early in the morning, before any stressful thoughts clutter up my brain. Particularly during this month, work is very stressful for me, so after work it is hard to wind down. HOWEVER, early in the morning I am fresh and bright and ready to be creative.
Also some of you might know already that I love writing by hand! This is great for me for two reasons: Firstly, I don’t want to drag my personal laptop to work everyday; Secondly, my scenes come out smoother when I write it out by hand, because I can better resist the urge to edit as I go (there is only so much room in the margins of the page!)
8:20AM. It’s time to go to work (big sigh!!) I wrap up my last sentences and pack up my things. This part is always really hard because, well, writing moods don’t start and stop themselves depending on my work schedule haha. A lot of the times I am on a roll when the end of the hour comes around and… I have to force myself to stop!! However by the time I arrive at work, I am feeling happy, refreshed and accomplished because of the writing I did in the morning.
Then I work work work work work. I bang my head on my laptop, flip tables, shout swear words at the dang computer system that just needs to work properly. (By the way, the stuff that I’ve described in this previous sentence all happens in my head. Because on the exterior, I maintain the facade of a calm and very sane employee.)
Sometime between 6 to 8PM... I finish work and bike home. By then I am super exhausted and just want to collapse on the couch. After eating dinner with hubby, I open my laptop and type up what I’ve written in the morning (usually between 600-800 words.) The transcription process is usually pretty fast since I am only limited by my typing speed- although occasionally I have trouble deciphering what I’ve handwritten 12 hours ago. Then I will open my paper notebook and continue to write to make up my 1667 words for the day. Depending on my mood, this can go pretty smoothly (or not!!)
This is also when I write my NaNo Diaries posts. (Yes for November I’ve been writing these the night before rather than pre-writing and scheduling a bunch each week!)
10:30PM. It’s time for bed, and to start the chaos all over again!
About My NaNo Project, “Fog”
No one knows where the Fog comes from. All they know is that those who enter the Fog never return.
Luna and her twin sister Treya live in a town on the coast of Suni. Luna is the quiet one, while Treya is charismatic, powerful and the pride of the Delphinus Clan. Treya has already decided to be a Sorcerer and join the Queen’s Army, just like their mother and father. But Luna doesn’t know what she wants to be; also, joining the Queen’s Army seems like a lot of work.
On the day of their graduation. Luna rescues a boy from the edge of the Fog. His name is Caio Amadeus Vladimir and he looks nothing like anyone in the country. Caio wants to go into the Fog and map out the lost regions of Suni, and he asks Luna to be his bodyguard. Luna thinks he is delusional.
Until Treya disappears on a misty day. Luna will do anything to bring her back.
My NaNoWriMo Progress: 28129 words / 50000 words
A Snippet from “Fog”
They borrow sticks from the earth to support their descent to the riverbank. Their dirt-encrusted boots sink and slide through the mud. As they near the river, a shape comes to view. She resembles a human body, bent and contorted over a rock, her limbs submerged in the water. Her long white hair spills out of her braid and becomes one with the stream. Her face is placid, inert, her lips a deep blue. The river has embraced her. Sea moss entwines with her silver locks, small baby koi play hide and seek in the folds of her clothing.
What strikes Ru is the girl’s robe. It is soaked and muddied, but she recognizes the colour anywhere. It is the robe of a trainee in the Warrior’s Academy, a robe that she had kept as a souvenir, folded neatly underneath her sleeping mat back at camp.
Ru takes slow, deliberate steps towards the girl. She stoops down in front of her, her one knee on a mossy pebble. She touches the girl’s face, turning it to the side. The skin of her cheek is smooth, unmarked. She is not yet a warrior, so what is she doing here? Ru’s fingers find the girl’s neck. Beneath the cold skin is a tiny pulse.
“She’s still alive,” Ru says.
“Leave her be, Ru.” The commander’s voice startles her. Mao is closer than Ru has expected her to be. Mao has a way of sneaking up silently behind people.
SOPHIE LI 
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