The Marci Rating System

Thank you, communal_creators! That sure was A Week on the personal health and work stuff fronts, and it was really nice to have a low-stress creative goal to think about when everything else was too much.

Final results: mostly crochet, a little writing. Reached skein #5 (of a probably 8) on my current crochet project, had some thoughts about future projects.

I haven't actually written anything since... ::checks notes:: last November, which now feels approximately 800 years ago.

But yeah, this process seems familiar:

STEP 1: write a sentence
STEP 2: this is going great! 1000 words? I've got this
STEP 3: get distracted
STEP 4: it's been three hours and I still only have one sentence, this is going terribly
STEP 5: maybe I should come back to it tomorrow?
STEP 6: okay, focus, I can do this, right? maybe just try to write ONE SENTENCE

And then repeat from the beginning!

I'm currently stalled out at 650ish words. ::tempts myself back towards the fic tab with cookies:: Maybe just ONE SENTENCE?

November feels like a loooooooong time ago now, even though it's been less than three weeks since it ended. But way back in yesteryear (three weeks ago or so), I finished my half-nano fic, and now it's posted!

********
Title: Sanctuary Code

Author: marcicat

Fandom: Murderbot (TV), The Murderbot Diaries (Martha Wells)

Characters: SecUnit | Murderbot, ART | Perihelion, Pin-Lee, Arada, Ratthi, Palisade Combat SecUnit, Gurathin, Iris, Dr. Mensah, Lutran

Tags: AU, Found Family, IN SPACE, mutual administrative assistance-ship, avoiding talking about feelings, or anything else, SecUnit to the rescue

Summary: A series of awkward conversations.

Authors note: This started as an AU look at one way 'Exit Strategy' might go in a Murderbot (TV) universe, then gradually went off the rails, as stories sometimes do.

on Dreamwidth
on AO3

*total goal word count: 25,000

*total current word count: 24,500ish (SO. CLOSE.)

*I am every-so-slowly slogging through the last few chapters to connect the bits and pieces I've already written and (ever hopeful!) bring the story to some sort of conclusion.

*will it make sense? I have no idea

*will it have 25,000 words? oh, it's GONNA have 25,000 words!

*last sentence written: Then I did what I kept thinking about doing, and walked out of the room.

(*REMEMBER: repeating something twice means you forgot you already did it once, but repeating something three or more times makes it a THEME)

*I'M TAKING THIS LOOP OFF

*THE ONE SENTENCE I WROTE, WHICH IS ALL I'M ASKING MYSELF TO WRITE TODAY: "You think I have it with me all the time?"

*total goal word count: 25,000

*total current word count: 20,500ish (ooh, just gotta rearrange those digits a bit!)

*words count up to the first 'come back and fill in this gap' space: about 12,100, which isn't ideal, but that was a tricky chapter, and there are a few largely complete chapters later, so... probably fine!

*the "planned plot points" and my progress so far:
1. go to place #1: achieved!
2. leave place #1: achieved!
3. go to place #2: achieved!
4. leave place #2: achieved!
5. go to place #3: hahahaha let's call it 'in progress'
6. some sort of conclusion: not really? idk, conclusions are hard

*last sentence written: What's your point?

*total goal word count: 25,000

*total current word count: honestly, who even knows at this point? certainly not me! I'm hoping to hit 20,000 by the end of the weekend

*last sentence written: That was true, at least.

*current writing strategy: TALK AMONGST YOURSELVES, NO PLOT JUST CHAT

*best thing about having a big writing goal: it makes all the other things I want to do seem WAY more fun -- holiday decorating? yes please! chores? sure!

*total goal word count: 25,000

*current total words: 16,000(ish?)

*still only three files, thank goodness

*there's always a shift around this time when I stop thinking 'oh no what if there's not enough words?!?' to 'oh no what if I can't wrap it up in time!?!'

*and then it usually shifts back again a few thousand words from the finish line

*non-writing note: time to wear my Thanksgiving 5K sweatshirt to the office, since it's the last office day before the holiday, woohoo!

*last sentence written: You are meant to be drawing attention.

*total goal word count: 25,000

*in classic nanowrimo tradition, the goal feels both closer and muuuuuuuch further away now that the halfway point has passed

*current total word count: somewhere around 14,200

*I'm hoping to reach 25,000 by the 28th, to give me two days (over the weekend, even!) to 1) write any more words that are needed at that point, and 2) read through it to make sure I didn't leave any sentences unfinished (would I do that??? yes, absolutely)

*then again, every year I hope to reach the goal a few days early to give myself time to wrap it up tidily, and it basically never happens, so who knows?

*getting meta today with the last sentence written: That didn't make any sense.

*total goal word count: 25,000

*total word count so far: 12,500ish (heck yeah, halfway!)

*total words that are pretty much a consecutive block: 7617

*victories: resolved the day 8 problem, hooray

*new problems I've found since then: too numerous to count, really

*random sentence I wrote at some point that seems appropriate for today: Ugh, this question again.

*the "planned plot points" and my progress so far:
1. go to place #1: achieved!
2. leave place #1: achieved!
3. go to place #2: kind of?
4. leave place #2: see: new problems
5. go to place #3: very shaky
6. some sort of conclusion: nonexistent

*yeah, seems about right for day 15