4414 so far on TDW.1429.7; "The Dragon".

How are you all doing?

3,476 words for me in my WWI novel.

Yay! WWI is a seriously under served era.

<jumps on this bandwagon> I am already down with this story idea!

At the moment I am not doing NaNo formally because of school and a ghostwriting project, but I'm still making an effort to participate in local write-ins, spend time with people, and work on neglected projects like Peter's Angel. I encourage people that are on the "fringes" of NaNo to do the same--even if you can't go for 50k, still use this as a time to make friends and progress!

Interestingly, this NaNo let me set my own word count goal. The Camps have allowed that for a while, I think.

So I keep hearing. Depending on how the book turns out, I may even try for traditional publishing using a statement similar to yours as a selling point for my pitch to them.

A ready market: http://www.greatwarassociation.com/get_ ... /index.htm

As long as you're entranced with the era, I'd say go for it! A big selling point in any product is the enthusiasm of the seller.

Thanks for the info!

17,695 as of this morning. I pause Saturday sundown to Sunday sundown, and try to get two scenes of 1,000 each day. Saturdays and holidays I get an extra scene in. That pace gives me at least five "off" days to rest, and if something comes up I have some wiggle room.

The scene I just wrote may be hard on the reader, there is no setting or overt indication of who is speaking. Just dialogue. Not even "She said". The last line of the entire scene is Irene opening her eyes and calling for a nurse. Every thing else is a telepathic conversation between her and Marco. Things said in the dialogue indicate who is talking, and there are line breaks between each person's conversation. We'll see how it goes.

I have just over 12,000 words right now. I've been trying to get 2,000 words per day, too, but some days have been really slow.

26,533 and ended the morning scene on a major turning point. Gray's dad used a starship torpedo to rescue the team in Book Two. This is Book Seven, Al and Gray are almost sixteen. Al is legally an adult and her dad has been taken prisoner; he is held on the enemy's flagship. Al is going to likely die trying to rescue him. With a torpedo Gray has worked on.

####
Her boots kept a solid grip on the deck as Al went back to the cargo bay. She grabbed a large carafe of qana for her and Gray. As she approached the tube she saw Gray's head resting on the torpedo.

"You okay?" Al said. She set down a cup and poured for both of them.

"Thanks." Gray said as she took the cup. She sipped. "No, not okay at all. Hard enough thinking about using this with you, it's not tested nearly as much as I'd like. We've only used with with mannequins twice, never with a person."

"I'm touched." Al said. She grinned. "Jo said it was Option Twenty, Shooting Removal of Al."

Gray chuckled. "No. Of course not." She looked up. "Spatial Relocation of Al. Much more academically approvable."

Al grinned. "Well, at least you know it will work for that!"

"Undoubtedly." Gray said. Her voice fell. She rested one hand on the tube.

"What's up?"

"This is an upgraded model of the one my dad used to rescue us." Gray said. "I kept meaning to ride in it myself. To see what it was like. To see what he did for us. Never got the courage to. I kept letting other things take priority and used them as excuses. One more modification here. An improvement there. Now..."

"Now your genius is going to save a life." Al put her hand on Gray's shoulder. "My dad's life. That means a lot to me. Thank you."

Gray stared at the tube. "You have a lot more courage than I'll ever have." She whispered.

"No." Al said quietly. "I'm just crazier than you are."

"No...no..." Gray said. She turned to Al. "Courage. You're brave beyond measure. I can't be nearly as brave as you. Ever."

"But...but maybe I can be a little brave." Gray looked at Al. "I need to tell you something."

Good job, Domici!

My total is 22,870 so far.

I'm not doing NaNo, but I've been doing a semester practicum project that's composed of writing short stories. I've begun to work on revisions and editing now.

Have you seen this?

I hadn't. Hopefully it will come out on DVD. The US showings are too far away from where I live.

Done and validated. While I'm still tired, my mix of semi-structure and organic visualization worked.

Brilliant! Very well done!

WOW! And early, too!

Good job, Domici! I finally reached 40,000 yesterday!

Yay! Keep it up! You've got this! Think of the celebration snacks at the end!

Thanks, Domici! I'm going to a Write-in tonight, so that will help me out a bit.

"Fast and Furious!" tonight. "Fantastic" comes later.

Almost there!

Sooo? What's the report, adventurers?

Lots of people from earlier books, and the TDW.1416 series, play a part.
Dede is in charge of what is left of Firster Academy.
In a communications mix up, a private message from Al to Wilbur is broadcast across the entire Birach star system.
The Team sacrifices their lives to give Al a chance.
Al dies.
There's a hospital scene.
Someone gets married in the epilogue.

I made it! And surpassed the goal by almost 100 words.

YAY!

I imagined you reading that in a deadpan voice, especially the part about the marriage, and the result was hilarious. How many words was your final total?

CONGRATS, guys! I am so proud of you for all the hard work you put in this month. <3

50,252 words, with some chapter headings in there.
#####
Chapter 28

The bridge of the Slaver's Folly was absolutely quiet. Wilbur could hear his breath. He could feel his heart pound. His eyes darted between the back of Jo's head and the back of Erk's head.

Jo looked at Erk. "Play that again, I'm still pinching myself."

"Uh..." Erk looked pale. He started to hyperventilate. "Uh..."

"Comms, relax." Wilbur said. He closed his eyes for a moment, his face grew tight. Then he smiled. "It was an accident, right?"

"Not quite, sir." Erk said. He swiveled in his chair and faced Wilbur. "I set up a relay to the ship's comms so we could help Al, uh, Captain Domici, if she needed anything. It seemed like a good idea to get the entire crew involved because time was so short."

Wilbur's heart sank. He didn't want to look at his console. "So everyone aboard heard that?"

"Yes...sir." Erk said. He took a deep breath and then lifted his chin. "Sir, there is another problem. My fault. It's worse than you think."

Wilbur sat up. Erk struggled to meet his gaze yet he did. Erk hadn't been with the crew for a real mission. He hadn't faced real fear. He hadn't made mistakes when lives were at stake.

"Mister Swenson, speak freely." Wilbur said. "No matter how bad it seems, it is infinitely worse if your crew mates do not know the threats or the risks. This is a difficult time, but this crew has faced battle. We have failed each other and we have made things right."

Erk nodded and his voice dropped. "Thank you sir. I had been in tight beam communication with Deep Space Fleet Alpha command, they were riding our sensor data. The comm was still open."

Jo grinned. "The entire Birach fleet knows Al's in love with Wilbur? I think my face is going to break if I don't die laughing."

Wilbur blushed. "Thank..." He looked at Erk, who still looked scared. "Is that all, Comms?"

Erk seemed to deflate. He shook his head. "Protocol requires comm to the Domici ship coordination facility in the asteroid belt. Usually a formality, but I was talking to them at the time."

Jo fell out of her seat laughing. Wilbur closed his eyes and sat back.

"Hate to break the mood." Mon's voice came over the comms. It was his agent voice. "Comms, internal only, ship wide. Confirm."

Erk spun in his seat and worked the console. "Confirmed. Ship wide, internal only."

"We have a problem. Scanners from her fleet are locking on us, and in our general area. That means Al is at risk, they may find her accidentally." Mon said. Jo scrambled into her seat and strapped down.

"Recommendation?" Wilbur said.

Silence reigned. Wilbur could hear his breathe again. Then Mon's voice came through. "She needs a distraction. Something aggressive enough to get them to lock on and consider the primary threat."

Wilbur nodded. "Her ship is almost ten times our size, and she has a fleet."

"I didn't say win, just distract." Mon said. "We'd only last a few minutes, but it might be the minutes Al needs."

Wilbur shook his head. "No. We cannot. I will not ask you to do this. I love you all too much. Think of something else."

Jo turned her seat to face him. A tear ran down her cheek. "That's the problem; we all love each other so madly that we're as much of a family as our family. There's nothing we wouldn't do for each other. We want to protect our family, but there's no time for a Plan B. Al needs us."

Wilbur looked at her. "But..."

Jo turned to back to station. She faced space, her hands rested on the console. She took a deep breath. "Helm, standing by."

"Turret One, standing by." Mon's voice said. "Acquiring targets."

"Comms, standing by." Erk said quietly.

Wilbur looked at them. His chest tightened.

"Engineering, standing by." Gray's voice broke through. "We voted, it was unanimous."

Wilbur bowed his head. His hands slowly brought the crash straps together and gently buckled him in. He pulled the straps tight.

"Thank you. All. I'm sorry it has come to this, but their is no one else I would choose to be here with me right now." He chuckled. "That sounded bad, sorry."

Wilbur's captain voice settled in. "Battle stations. Engineering, remove the safety margins. Helm maintain evasive maneuvers but intercept the Vengence. Comms.."

Wilbur smiled. "Hail the Vengence. We have an ultimatum of our own."

Finished Tinny as a part of Camp NaNo.