Monday, November 29, 2010

Conquered the NaNo!!!!!

I am captain of the world!

Not to be confused with king of the world – that’s from Titanic.

No, I am Captain Alex of the Starship NaNoWriMo!!!

That’s right – after twenty eight days of hunt and peck typing, I managed to complete the NaNo challenge. I ended yesterday with 50,975 words, well over the target – and with more of the story to write. (And probably a lot to re-write as well!)

Several of my NaNo buddies are also big winners – congratulations to Hart, Falen, Jen, Lola, Clarissa, Lynda, Jemi, Emily, Golden, Charity, Pk, Melissa, Brad, and Anna.

And a couple are so close! Go Ellie and Ted!!! You can do it.

Thanks to everyone who’s stuck with me during November while I devoted several hours a day to writing instead of blogging. (And of course a big thanks to my wife whom I intend to lavish with attention after ignoring her for a month.)

Ninja Alex is back! Captain Ninja Alex…

And one last round of my Twitter Stardate NaNo updates. Live long and prosper!!

Stardate #nanowrimo 19.6 Caught Riker & Troi naked. Said she sensed danger. In Riker's pants? Not buying it... 31551

Stardate #nanowrimo 19.9 A bunch of the ship just fell off and nobody likes me... word count 32276

Stardate #nanowrimo 20.8 The Borg tried to assimilate Justin Bieber. Their ship exploded. I call that a win-win! 34232 words

Stardate #nanowrimo 22.7 Kicking Ferengi butt and taking names! Nog went first. He's small - easy to punt! 38085 words

Stardate #nanowrimo 23.9 Why does everyone on the bridge giggle when I give the orders for saucer separation? 40451 words

Stardate #nanowrimo 24.6 The allure of an evening pass off-world is too great! You have the Bridge, Number One. 41320 words

Stardate #nanowrimo 27.3 Must've been a wild party. Discovered Odo & Kira in my closet and Morn under my bed. Creepy. 44466 words

Stardate #nanowrimo 27.8 Warp 9 through a wormhole! Scotty, the engines can't take it no more!! 48,596 words as my hands falls off into space

Stardate #nanowrimo 28.6 Kirk and Picard were but amateurs. I am Captain Alex of the Starship NaNo! 50,975 words - I win!!

101 comments:

Ezmirelda said...

Congratulations!!! That's amazing! I still have a bit left of the story to write as well and who knows how many rewrites.

Jessica Bell said...

Congrats, Alex! I hope you feel proud of yourself. You better give your wife some love now ... go on! Get off the computer! :o)

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

Congratulations Alex, on your great ahcievement.
What are you waiting for go and take your wife off for a meal.

Have a lovely day.

Yvonne.

Ted Cross said...

Way to go, Alex! I hope you can go on and turn it into a great book.

Jemi Fraser said...

Yay!!! Congrats all around - it's a kind of giddy feeling, isn't it?

I'd REALLY worry if I found Morn under my bed too!

Christine Danek said...

Congratulations! You rocked it. You should be proud.

Liz P said...

Congrats! Now go reward yourself. :)

Gail said...

Amazing! Congratulations.

Now, to the wife...

Vicki Rocho said...

19.6 cracked me up. And 27.3. LMAO.

DEZMOND said...

Mrs. Cavanaugh should get something expensive from her husband for this maltreatment. Now who's with me?

Summer Frey said...

Morn under the bed--ha! That IS creepy. Also, I feel slightly worried that I might be the only one to get all of those references? Not too many DS9 fans, even among Trekkers.

Either way, congrats!

Unknown said...

Woohoo!!! Congratulations!!! I need to grab my winners button as well! How fun!

Jan Morrison said...

Yay! good going Capt'n! I'm a winner too only not officially - I shamelessly used the nano form to get through the toughest part of my revision and then quit. I still have my unwieldly plot from last year sitting in its que waiting for my ministrations. yikes!
So have fun - it is (if I remember correctly from last year) a wondrous feeling of freedom - as if you had an elastic too tight on your ponytail and then released it - free and painful both!

baygirl32 said...

way to go Captain Ninja Alex

Sarah Ahiers said...

Yay! Congrats to you on your fledgling NaNo win! I never doubted you for a moment!
(BTW, i'm reading cassastar right now. So far so good!)
And i agree that Rker's pants are dangerous. Sexy, but dangerous.

Univarn said...

Congratulations Alex, from all of us in the film blogging realm - we knew you could do it! (Crap there goes my five bucks... :P)

Tara said...

Congrats, Alex.

For the first time ever, I'm sorry I don't Twitter. Those updates are great!

vic caswell said...

WHOO HOO!!!
excellent job, captain!

Charity Bradford said...

Yay! Congratulations Alex. BTW, I've loved your star date themed updates. I've laughed so much over them.

Sugar said...

sugar likes it..kissy kissy..;)

M.J. Fifield said...

Congratulations on your success. I am personally 6800 words from sharing in that success but have vowed not to sleep until I have written each and every one of them.

The updates were a lot of fun to read...

Anne Gallagher said...

Congratulations Alex! I'm so glad you finally figured out what will kill the Borg.

Carol Kilgore said...

Yea! Doing cartwheels and back flips to celebrate for you. Well... mentally. Actually I'm hoisting my coffee cup in a toast to your success.

Way to go, Alex!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Ezmirelda, I'll be writing for a few more weeks as well.

Jessica and Yvonne, I promise to lavish her with love tonight.

Jemi, I have no idea how Morn got there, either!

Vicki, it gets pretty wild in space sometimes!

Summer, as long as one other person gets it, I'm okay with that! DS9 will always be my favorite.

Jen, yes you do!!

Jan, congratulations on getting through the revisions!

Falen, glad you're enjoying it!

Univarn, never bet against the Ninja Captain!

Tara and Charity, I might have to continue those updates...

Haleine, you can do it!

Anne, and we're less one annoying teenager in the process, too!

Thanks, everyone! Anyone else conquer NaNo that I missed?

Liza said...

Awesome accomplishment. Kudos to you! Maybe I'll try next year!

Michelle Gregory said...

congrats and i'll miss the star date updates.

Kelly Polark said...

Congrats, Alex! That is a big accomplishment in one month! I enjoyed your Stardate updates!

Laura Eno said...

Congrats!
Don't worry, Summer. DS9 is my favorite!
I will miss the ST updates...maybe you'll find another reason for them, Alex?

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Congratulations, Alex! Whew! Maybe next year it'll be time for me to start a new project and I can participate, too. :)

Lydia Kang said...

Congrats on your nano goal! Hooray!

Notes Along the Way with Mary Montague Sikes said...

Congratulations on conquering NaNo. Yeah! That takes dedication and you were helping others along the way!

Monti
NotesAlongTheWay

N. R. Williams said...

As always, those trekki updates are hilarious. Congratulations on winning NaNo. I am in awe. I'm not done with my edits yet, but I am plugging away. I don't have them all back from my editor.
Nancy
N. R. Williams, fantasy author

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Laura, you're one cool chick!

Thanks, everyone! And maybe those Stardate updates will resurface. Perhaps the crew will do a Christmas countdown.

notesfromnadir said...

Congratulations on conquering NaNo before the deadline! Yes, the title of Captain is well deserved.

Charles Gramlich said...

Good job. Congrats. I don't know if I've ever known anyone who actually completed it

Mason Canyon said...

Congratulations on reaching (and passing) your goal. Knew you could do it.

Mason
Thoughts in Progress

Budd said...

congrats, when can we look for this one in print?

Jai Joshi said...

Well done and Congratulations!

It's so good to see how many people are winners this year. There's a real buzz of energy and achievement around. It's wonderful.

Jai

Colene Murphy said...

Hurray! Congratulations Captain Ninja Alex!

Old Kitty said...

Congratulations!! You are a nano Winner and worthy of your Captainship!! YAY!!!!! Well done you!!!!! Yay again!!

I may be ancient but who is this Beiber fellow and how could the beautiful and ever so deadly Borg be mixed up with him?!?!?! They deserve better!!! Like Lady GaGa!!! :-)

Take care
x

Arlee Bird said...

Congrats to you, Alex, and to all of us who finished the challenge. Now for the challenges still to come!

Lee
Tossing It Out

Cherie Reich said...

Congrats, Alex! :D

Southpaw said...

Wow, congratulations with a day to spare!

CA Heaven said...

Goodygood. Congratulations >:)

Cold As Heaven

Jane Kennedy Sutton said...

Congratulations, Alex! You and the other nanoers are awesome! I admire you all.

I also enjoyed the twitter updates.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

Great accomplishment and with hours and hours to spare. Hope you take your wife out to a nice dinner.

Eric said...

Awesome dude. Congratulations big time. You finished with a couple days to spare, which is not bad at all. Ahoy Captain, there be a space port ahead. Shall we stop for a bit of R & R?

Shallee said...

Congrats on finishing! I think it's awesome how many NaNoers have hit the mark!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Charles, now you do!

Budd, first I must finish it, then edit, then test readers, then more editing, then professional editing, and then submitting it to my publisher!

Jai, I was happy to see so many of my buddies succeed!

Kitty, if you don't know, then that's probably a good thing.

Eric, a three day pass for everyone!

Thanks, everyone!! Whew!

Lindsay said...

Yay! Congrats on winning NaNo. :)

Golden Eagle said...

Congratulations, Captain Alex! :D

Sandra Ulbrich Almazan said...

Congrats! I have less than 1100 words to go.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Congrats, Alex!

Copyboy said...

Congrats Nanite!!! I don't think my entire blog archive has that many words. Well ok, that many good words.

Julie Musil said...

Yay Captain Alex! And I loved the tweets, those are so funny. Justin Beiber? I should have tossed his hair in my novel. That would have spiced things up (or grossed me out. whatever)

Congratulations on crossing that finish line. I crossed this morning. Yay! Like you, I still have more story to write. But wow, what a feeling! (bring out the Flashdance shirt)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

CONGRATULATIONS CAPTAIN ALEX!
You Rock!!!!
btw, stardate 20.8 was a good day... ;)

Karen M. Peterson said...

Congrats on finishing! I feel so bad about skipping it this year that I kind of want to go for double next year!

M Pax said...

Way to go, Captain! :) I will do my own personal NaNo in a few months.

Raquel Byrnes said...

I really enjoyed your tweets...very funny to keep posted on your progress. Congrats on winning! You are truly a die hard.
Edge of Your Seat Romance

Hart Johnson said...

Huge congratulations, Alex! Way to go! And YAY for naked updates! *cough*

Thanks for the shout out too--I was totally impressed with the percentage of my friends already done this time. I have 52 friends and i think half have already finished. I'm pretty sure last time I did this, it was between a quarter and a third... maybe I am finally in with the cool kids. *shifty*

February Grace said...

OMG somehow I was so sick I missed your trek tweets. I will have to go back and purposely look all those up, too cool!

Congratulations on finishing NaNo!!!

:~)

(that's my decade-plus old, patented Bajoran smiley face, by the by...just in honor of those Tweets! Peldor Joi!)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Go Sandra!

Copyboy, neither does my NaNo project at the moment!

All right, Julie! And I'd say grossed out.

Lynda, wasn't it????

Karen, you write 100,000 next year and I will accuse you of skipping showers!

Hart, we ARE the cool kids!

February, I like it! And I think I posted all of the other updates on the first three Fridays of this month.

Thanks everybody!

Nicki Elson said...

Hooray!!! Congratulations and welcome back to your life. ;)

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Woo-hoo! As a children's writer, 50,000 words seems like an impossible feat to me. Congratulations!!! :-)

Unknown said...

Congrats! I loved reading your twitter updates as you progressed.

Anonymous said...

Congrats, Captain Nano!!

Loved the Justin B Tweet. ;)

Anonymous said...

Glad to see there's a wormhole in your story! Congrats! on the 50,000 word milestone. I won't come close. Great Twitter comments too.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Nicki, life is good!

Shannon, I can imagine!

LB, I think that one was my finest work.

Yes, the wormhole is where NaNo sucked out my brain...

The Words Crafter said...

Yaaaaay! Congratulations! I passed the yardline, too, and I still have a bit more to write.

I'm not looking forward to the editing, though. I've never taken on anything this big....gulp!

I can't wait to read the next installment of CassaStar!

Anonymous said...

Grats! Hope you write tons more!

Bossy Betty said...

You da' Bomb, Alex!

dolorah said...

GO ALEX !! whoop, whoop.

......dhole

Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com said...

Congratulations, Captain! xo

Pat Tillett said...

Congrats Alex!
I'm going to have to do this on my own...mybe rent a hotel room and fall off the planet for a while...
I'm sure my wife would say that she will go to the hotel and I have to stay home...

Sangu Mandanna said...

Congratulations! Well done!

There's no greater feeling for the writerly mind than having a new project to work on and accomplishing various goals related to it, so you might be on a high!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Words Crafter, the editing doesn't scare me! Just hope I can create a worthy follow up to the first book.

Pat, I'm sure she wouldn't stay gone for long though.

Thanks eveyone!

ediFanoB said...

Congratulations Alex! That's amazing.

Cheeseboy said...

Borg tried to assimilate Justin Bieber. Holy crap that is funny!

Talli Roland said...

Massive congrats, Alex! I'm with Jess - get off the computer and go hunt down your wife!

ali cross said...

Congratulations Alex! I'm a NaNo Ninja too! Woot!

*Loved* the stardate updates, lol.

Patricia Stoltey said...

Congratulations, Alex! Well done.

Ellie Garratt said...

You seperate that saucer section anytime you like, Captain Alex. Congratulations!!!

I've done it, too. 50,432 words. Phew. Need a lie down now. Hang on, sleep is illegal in my novel. Oh, what the heck. Snore.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Thanks, Edi! Now to spend the next six months turning into a sequel you'll want to read.

If you think it's funny, Cheeseboy, then I have arrived!

Talli, that sounds kinky!

You crash, Ellie!

Carolina M. Valdez Schneider said...

You did it, Captain Alex!! You conquered the NaNo universe! Well done, mate! Now on to finishing that story!

Sheila Deeth said...

Woohoo! Congratulations!

Abby Minard said...

Congrats Alex! (btw, how'd you write a whole book doing the hunt and peck style? ;p)

WritingNut said...

Yay! Congratulations Alex! It IS a wonderful feeling, isn't it? Just knowing you can do it!

Natasha said...

FANTASTIC!

Unknown said...

maybe some day I can do it.. congrats that is a BIG deal

Unknown said...

"The Borg tried to assimilate Justin Bieber"????
Come on lets be realistic here, Bieber is a HO, they know better than to assimilate a HO into the collective. Once the do that the entire collective is about nothing but HO Business.
Now, if Laforge, O'brien and Data came up with a virus with some nanotechnology and infected them with this virus its entirely feasible that the collectives' judgment maybe compromised and as a result, exposed for the possibility of HO Business :)

Unknown said...

Yah! I'm not done my novel either but at least I got a lot written on it. Congrats everyone!

CD

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Carolina, I'm working on it!

Abby, very slowly. I averaged 1000 words every 2 - 2 & 1/2 hours.

Mack, the Borg were distracted at the time.

Thanks everyone - now to keep writing!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the NaNo win, good sir! I bow to your superior time-organizing skills. *bows*

Cheers! :)

Nicole Zoltack said...

Congrats! I wrote 50K in November too, just reached it yesterday. Now I need to flesh out a lot of scenes to complete it. It'll probably be around 90-100k when the story is completely finished.

Jamie Gibbs said...

Congratulations on finishing NaNo, Alex, I salute you, Cassan style :)

Dempsey Sanders said...

well done on the Nano contest!

Ella said...

Congrats! Now, come back to Earth, after the party, lol~

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Simon, it wasn't really organizing. More like ignoring.

Yeah, Nicole!

Thank you, Jamie!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on making it through NaNo! And a winner, at that!

Time to celebrate!

Hannah said...

I'm late but CONGRATULATIONS!!! We did it!! Huzzah! Did you finish the first draft or do you have more to go??

Regina said...

Like there was any doubt...I knew you could do it. Congrats!! *Throws confetti*