I can’t believe it’s the last week of NaNo! I know that the last day of November is next week, but this wrap-up will come on Thursday because I’m going to visit my best friend on Friday (don’t worry, it’s a private residence, and we don’t go anywhere but her couch) and won’t get back until Monday afternoon, so I won’t have any writing time after Thursday. Which means, given that I’m at 55k words, I only need 15k to hit my 70k goal, SO LET’S GOOOOOOO!

Monday

Y’all! I was in the middle of the first godsdamn sex scene in the ENTIRE BOOK, and I had to walk away, I AM FURIOUS. I eventually got to come back and finish it, but I was so in the zone, and it was taken away from me! Ughhhhh, it was good, though. It was exactly the way I wanted to return to the romance of this book, and it’s going to be pretty fluffy from here on out. I have to do one more sad plot point before I really get to dive into the goods, but I think I’m going to tackle that in the next chapter, and then it’s time for act four and the end!

Daily word count: 3,399
Total word count: 58,510

Tuesday

I have had quite the morning. I added 96 words to yesterday’s chapter, and that should have been exciting enough, but today’s chapter is going to be the end of act three, and it’s going to be fairly epic given that Freddie basically calls in the calvary to come to the Joanina and make a final stand against the Vatican. And I got to thinking, well, I’ve very subtly hinted that Freddie studied under Tolkien at Oxford, and how fun would it be if Tolkien came to support him? I was just going to stick him subtly in the background, not even give him lines, but then I was trying to find a song for Freddie to play on the piano–that’s how the chapter begins, because it’s just so the entire aesthetic of this book wrapped up into one image, Freddie playing something daunting on a grand piano beneath a gold gilded larger than life portrait of John V in a massive library before he essentially goes to war–and I discovered??? I WAS TODAY YEARS OLD????

THERE IS AN ENTIRE OPERATIC SYMPHONY DEDICATED TO THE DIVINE COMEDY? I have lost so much time just drowning in this so far because it was improvised “on the organ of the empty Marseille Cathedral at midnight”, and there’s a movement for Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, and I just feel like I have to reread this immediately while listening to this symphony? I am dyinggggg. And he also did a Faust symphony? MY FRIENDS, I FOUND ONE OF MY PREVIOUS LIVES. I would have had so much fun in the late 1800s/early 1900s, I would have just been friends with everyone.

So now Freddie is definitely going to be playing a piano arrangement of this symphony while Tolkien does his cute little baritone, mumble singing with the Comedy in its original Italian, FIGHT ME.

Also, in case you thought I was being dramatic, sim, that is the piano that Freddie frequently plays throughout this duology.

Did I listen to that symphony for the last three hours on repeat? YOU BETCHA. Which, it’s an hour long, so that’s not too crazy, but wow, that was such good background music to this particular chapter, and I can’t wait to listen to the Faust one now.

I’m starving, so I’m going to wrap this up quickly! My brain said, yesterday, that it wanted to take a break after I finished this chapter because the final act has a bit of a time jump, and it’s a good place for it (I’ve been just so tired lately), but I’m all riled up with the possibilities of what’s to come, so uhhhh, yeah, might just keep on keeping on!

Daily word count: 3,966
Total word count: 62,476

OH MY GODS I’M SO CLOSE! 7,524 words left, so I kind of have to keep writing, right? That’s easily two days. Damn, tudo bem.

Wednesday

I AM AN IDIOT. I forgot a whole character in the last chapter, so I just ended up adding 624 damn words to yesterday’s chapter because I had to thread him through the whole thing. Whyyyyyy. I included a character I wasn’t supposed to, but forgot one of the more important ones. I wish I could say I’m surprised, but I’m NOT because this is so like me.

Well, that’s done, now it’s time to begin act four.

Okay, I know this is insane, and this post is going to be way shorter than I intended it to be, but we all knew this was going to happen. I was starting to feel this vibe on Monday, and even though yesterday was exciting as all hell, that exhaustion is starting to creep back up, and I’m done. I really don’t want to keep writing right now. I’ve been burning at a very high speed for months now working on this duology, and though I literally only have four or something chapters left, I’m going to call it a day on NaNo. I already hit 50k, and though I’m so close to my goal of 70k, I don’t want to keep pushing myself. It’s a holiday in the US, and I’m going to see Erin on Friday, so ya girl is feeling the vacation vibes now.

And honestly? After doing some math & revisiting the last few chapters I’ve written, I don’t think I’m done with act three. That would be a fast ending, and I’d like to give them more space to settle after what just happened, let them talk it out a bit, so I think I need to add a chapter or two to the ending of act three.

Ugh, I’m just talking myself in circles. I’m not posting this today no matter what, so I think I’m just going to take today off and then see how I feel tomorrow.

Daily word count: 624
Total word count: 63,100

Thursday

Yeah, nope, we’re done for now. I’d say it was a pretty successful NaNoWriMo, and I’m really pleased with how far I got into the story. I’ve still got about 20-25k words left to write before the novel is finished, but I made some serious progress this month, and I’m in the homestretch now.

I’d love to hear about how your month went! Did you meet your goals? Are you excited about what you wrote? Do you feel inspired now to keep pushing next month, too?