NaNoWriMo Day 15 & 16
I didn’t feel like writing today. I was really tired and today was a long day. But since I didn’t write a whole lot yesterday, I couldn’t bail on myself today. So after I ate dinner and watched some YouTube videos to lighten my mood, I got to work.
It was hard at first. I was just going through the motions, writing what I thought should happen in the story. But as I wrote, I decided to stop overthinking it and let the characters speak for themselves. What would be on their minds? What did they want to say to each other? How did they feel?
It felt weird, like that movie Stranger Than Fiction, where Emma Thompson’s character is narrating Will Ferrell’s character’s life, only he can hear her. My characters can’t hear me and I’m not narrating out loud. Still, it just felt a little off base for me. I normally write as if I know what’s going to happen next. So stopping and asking my characters What’s up? feels a little odd for me. But hey, it worked. Maybe I should try it more often.
I was glad I pushed myself. I got to 1,119 words total between yesterday and today. I’m almost at the 10,000 work count with 9,932 words total. Yay!
As always, thanks for reading. Until next time . . .
Here’s an excerpt from what I wrote today. Enjoy.
DERRICK
I had until Sunday at one to ensure the most perfect date with Nadia. She had initially suggested Saturday but I did have a very important phone call with some investors that day. Business never slept and money talked above all else. But Sunday, I was free as a bird to spend the whole day with Nadia. We settled on one, since most places didn’t open until noon and that would give Nadia time to sleep in and not run late for anything.
“Sunday is my sleep day but I’ll make an exception for you,” she said when we arrived at the office.
I wondered why she needed any entire day to sleep but that was a question for another day. Nadia and I had gotten closer but we weren’t close enough yet to pry into the psyche of one another. Sure Nadia tried to peg why I worked so much, but I could easily dismiss the question with “I’m the boss.” Although, truth be told, I threw myself into work to avoid the whole dating scene.
After a near marriage after college, I was devastated and felt I could never allow myself to be that vulnerable again. Sure, I went out on dates, just to break up the dry spell every once in a while, yet none of those women came close to Nadia. They were vapid, shallow, daddy’s girl who believed the world revolved around them. The only way to make a relationship work with one of them was to max out my credit cards. And I certainly didn’t earn my money just to blow it all on a woman who didn’t love me.
But Nadia, she was different. I knew she cared about me and wanted me just for me and not my money. In fact, I knew it bothered her that I had as much money as I did. I could tell on our first date she wanted to pay her own way so badly but I refused to allow her. I would move heaven and earth for Nadia if she’d let me. I also wanted to respect her independence and allow her to be her own woman.
Now I just needed to plan the perfect date for her to be able to do that.
It was rare that I called my sister, but she was an independent woman in her own right (despite sleeping in my guest room, eating up all my food and running up my credit cards). Savannah never wanted to be told what to do by anyone, especially a man she was seeing. One time, she went on a date and the guy ordered for her. She feigned needing to use the restroom and immediately left the restaurant. While there’s nothing wrong with wanting to order for your date, the guy should have asked first. So I kind of saw her point. Although her worst date was when the guy took her to a bar. That one scared me the most because he claimed he was surprising her but he didn’t want to ruin it by telling her where they were going. To me, that kind of trust was reserved for married couples, not some guy you just met.
Oh Savannah had a million stories like that. No wonder women were so hell bent on gaining the upper hand in the relationship. It really could be the difference between being alive or dead the next minute for some women. Yes, Savannah would definitely know how to handle this situation with Nadia.
I pressed the icon that was my sister, a picture of her sticking her tongue out at me for something or another reason. I waited patiently for her to answer, but by the third ring, I figured she wasn’t going to pick up. Savannah was glued to her phone all the time and either she saw it was me and chose to ignore or she was still asleep. I chose to believe it was the latter of the two since it was before noon when I called.
