That’s right! I beat the NaNoWriMo, MassaPuggaFoMoDingo!

After dragging my ass out of bed at 6AM on the weekend and 4:30AM today, I managed to hit 50, 063 a few minutes ago. I am struggling with a mixture of emotions, foremost of which is exhaustion, but also involved are relief, gratitude, pride and – oddly enough – a craving for coconut shrimp.

Now I take the rest of today off to recuperate, then get down to the much more diffcult task of carving out the excessive amounts of padding included to get to 50K words in 30 days. Then I still have about 1/4 of the story left to write.  My one true and passionate goal is to finish a first draft by New Year.

I just wanted to boast, brag, indulge myself momentarily… and now thank the people who showed me support and understanding during the past 30 days (28 really, I did start late.). So thanks everybody who showed an interest and gave words of encouragement. Thanks to my magnificent boyos who were patient and understanding when Daddy needed just 20 more minutes to write on Sunday morning before watching Super Hero Squad. Most of all, thanks to my lovely missus, who whups my ass when necessary, bandages my wounds and my ego when required, and always tells me that she thinks I’m brilliant, even when I know I’m just taking up space.

Love you all, and see ya next November suckas!

So here we are pushing into the 24th of November, 6 days left in the NoMoMuGuGaiPan and I’m sitting at a meager 30K for word count. Chances of writing another 20K in 6 days are pretty close to ‘Biblical Miracle’… meaning nil, zip, zero, nada… Luckily for me, I guess, I’m not terribly worried about it.

There’s been a shitheap of other things weighing on my time, and almost all of them have been more important than hitting an arbitrary goal of 50,000 words in 30 days. I started 2 days late and I may end up in the 40K range, which makes me feel pretty damn good. If I don’t make it, maybe I’ll try next year. As of right now, my main goal with this whole schlamozzle is to finish a first draft of my novel before the new year. Then I can go back to working on my ‘crappy job’ story for Scotty’s anthology and polish up a couple of others for submission. I’ll be honest here; aside from the birth of my magnificent #2 son, 2009 has been a total soul-shaking clusterfuck for my entire family and I can’t say goodbye to it soon enough. I’m hoping that by finishing this first draft and moving into the next decade fresh and (in the most minor of ways) accomplished, 2010 and beyond will be a whole new ballgame.

Check in on November 30 and see if I somehow managed to pull 20,000 words out of my ass…

Until then… let your souls be saved by Rock N’ Roll…

I know, I know… where the hell have I been since Friday? Well, between getting the car fixed up on Saturday, spending a full day with me boyos on Sunday and then back to work with the Cro-Magnon manager on Monday, I haven’t had time for much.

Other than HOT SINATRA, of course.

My word count, as of this very minute is 15981 – just over the goal for today (15000). I’m skipping out tomorrow, so as long as I can make myself focus at 5:30 AM and power through a couple G’s before the kids wake up, I’m golden.

New to the story is a smex-mantic subplot including graphic groping and rated M in-yo-end-o, a ballsy landlady with rough bedside manner and I am about to delve into ‘The Unsung Ballad of Moe Rossi’…

More tomorrow. And don’t any of you DARE forget to remember. I’ll repost my column from last year and you can bet I’ll be reflecting on the ancestors I have who’ve given their lives for our freedom and security, as well as the friends and strangers who still lay their lives on the line for all the little people like you and me, safe in our blogs and homes.

Today was mostly putrid. Yep. Putrid. Woke up late, drug my fat ass all over the place before finally getting to where I’d have an opportunity to work on the story, then proceeded to waste that time on Twitter and hating my doucheswoggle of a boss.

Morning sucked. Lunch sucked (and came and went without a word laid down). Afternoon sucked. Then round about 3PM I decided to listen to my inner Flav and fight the powers that be. I somehow managed to kick it in the lovebumps and hammer my way to 10,009 before it was time for cross-town traffic, grocery store mayhem and time with la famiglia… speaking of which…

The last two chapters have seen the introduction of four colorful characters. First, two street thugs/homosexual bondage performers who go by the names ‘Kickerdick’ and ‘Manlove’ (thanks to the Scotts Phillips for those unbeatable monikers), along with Vegas mafiosa Tomaso DeFrancesco and his mildly deranged pal Joey Thumbs. There was much use of horrific Italian profanity and a knock down, drag em’ out fight ending with our hero – Mossimo Cole – mostly broken, but ensconced on his sofa in the company of the redheaded vixen.

Fino domani,

-A