NaNoWriMo Day 1

So, today was a good writing day.  I started the day out with one goal: Hit 2k words.  I ended the day hitting 4,003 words. *phew* talk about writing!  The crazy thing is, I only wrote for maybe a total of 2 hours today, and a lot of that wasn't constant writing.  So I essentially wrote 4k words in less than 2 hours.  That's pretty much insane.  But I guess that's what you have be to be successful in NaNo, be crazy.  I probably won't keep this pace up throughout the month, but writing this much today has really made me feel good about my novel.  I was feeling kind of skeptical about my novel, wondering if I would be able to even get 50k out of my outline. Well, 4k in, and I'm feeling very confident that I'll have no problem hitting that coveted finish line.  I'm going to share a snippet of what I wrote today, and then step away from my computer, since I've been looking at it for way too long.  Here is my favorite thing I've written today:

“We can drive up to it and just take pictures of it.  See it up close.”

“Nah, that’s okay. I would rather just keep driving.  I want to actually get to the campground while the light is still out.”

Bernadette struggled to hold back the tears forming in her eyes.  They were threatening to spill, but she refused to cry in the first three hours of the road trip.  Just refused.  They were going on this trip, and they were going to have fun.  End of story.

“Okay, I guess that makes sense.  So, just to be clear, we aren’t going to be stopping at all?” she asked, keeping her eyes focused on the road.

“Well, obviously we have to stop, and get gas and lunch, but other than that, I don’t think we should do any extra stopping.”

“Even if we see something super awesome and cool?” Bernadette asked.

“Even then.  We have a lot of driving to do.  We need to keep on schedule.  I don’t want to have to pitch the tent in the dark.  Besides, didn’t you say something about the campground closing at a certain time?”

“I think so.  All of the information is in the folder in your door.” Bernadette was struggling to keep her positive outlook on the vacation.  This was just getting ridiculous.  Not stopping? Concerned with a time table?  They were on vacation, where was the spontaneity? Where was the fun?  If this was how he was going to be the whole trip, they might as well turn around and drive back home while it was still possible.

Declan opened the folder and pulled out the first piece of paper inside. Bernadette had printed out all of the reservation confirmations and written any pertinent information on them, then filed them in order into the folder.

“You have written on here that the place closes at five, but we can knock on the door of an RV and the camp director will get us all checked in.” Declan put the paper back, and replaced the folder in the door. “What time does the GPS say we’re going to get there?”

Bernadette looked up at the GPS. “It’s estimating the arrival around eight, but you know how this thing over estimates everything.”

“That’s true.  How many miles does it say we have?”

Bernadette read him the miles.

“Hmmm, yeah, we should get there pretty close to five.  If we don’t stop too often and we’re able to go seventy the whole time.”

Bernadette took a deep breath.  “Are you going to be like this the whole time?”

“Be like what?” Declan asked.

“So concerned about the time?  Obsessed with how long it takes us to get to our next destination?”

“I’m not obsessed.  I’m just making sure we get to the site before it gets dark.”

“Newsflash, Declan.  It’s SUMMER! It gets dark later now.  We have at least until eight until it becomes too dark to pitch our tent,” Bernadette almost shouted.

“Wow, where’s this coming from? I thought we wanted to get to the site before they closed at five? Isn’t that the goal?” Declan answered, trying to keep his temper in tact.

“No, the goal is to have fun.  Isn’t that the point of this vacation? To have fun together?” Bernadette asked, fighting to hold back tears.

“No, I thought the goal was to fix our marriage, wasn’t that your grand plan?” Declan shouted back at her.

Bernadette snapped her mouth shut.  Tears rolling freely down her cheeks. 

They drove in silence.