I did mention this in my update post, but I thought the news deserved its own post.

I won NaNoWriMo! Yes, after two less-than-stellar efforts (perhaps effort isn’t the right word), I have managed to write 50,000 words in the month of November.

Go me!

I reached the 50,000 word goal on Monday night, with plenty of time to spare and just in time for the official validation engine to start up and have my victory officially recognised. I thought I still had about 10,000 words left of the story to go, but as I was writing last night I realised I was much closer than I thought. So now, not only have I reached the artificial (though still somewhat challenging) target of 50K, I also have a complete first draft of “Conspiracy of Resonance”.

If anyone is interested in having a read and doesn’t mind a story with a certain amount of blood in it, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or contact me in the usual ways and request a copy. Be prepared to wield your red pen a lot in the process.

I’ll post a bit later about how I think I managed to get through this year where I didn’t in ’06 and ’07, but for now I just want to share a post I put up in our regional forum:

What are you looking forward to?

Don’t get me wrong. I have loved (and am still loving) every minute of this sleep-deprived month, but there are a few things that I am looking forward to doing come December. How about you?

• Going to bed later on the same day that I woke up rather than early the next morning. (As Waldo Butters once said to Harry Dresden: “Sleep is God. Go worship.”)
• Reading a book. Specifically, I received in the mail a week or two ago the entire Hal Spacejock series by Simon Haynes (wrimo HalSpacejock). I’ve also got the latest Genghis Khan book by Conn Iggulen and The Children of Hurin by (sort of) Tolkien burning holes in my bookshelf.
• Finishing Neverwinter Nights 2 (once I have recovered from this lot of sleep deprivation and can afford another round.
• Detoxing from caffeine overload. Fruit juice and herbal tea, here I come!
• Waiting to order and receive my Nano 2008 Winner’s T-shirt which have been rumoured about!

While I will no doubt be daydreaming about what Nano 2009 will bring, I’m not certain I’m convinced that I will be reading and editing this year’s effort before the end of the month (Jaye’s prediction). I might send it off, warts and all, to a few interested readers who will no doubt love it madly and have nothing bad to say about it.

I have had my copy of [NWN2][1] pretty much since it was released.

After a couple of false starts over the last two years, I have finally managed to play more than once or twice with a character and really get moving. I am almost at the end of Act I, and at 10th level.

This is not a review (it is a bit late for that), but I just wanted to share a mistake I found in the text.

At the Neverwinter Archive you find a series of books that you need to answer questions on. One of these books is [*"To Counter the Assumption of a Flat Faerûn"*][2], with ideas much like the old belief in a Flat Earth.

Now this is all well and good, but the name of the planet is **not** *Faerûn*, it is [*Abeir-Toril*][3]. This is like saying Flat Europe instead of Flat Earth.

Yes, I’m pathetic. No need to tell me.

[1]: http://www.nwn2.com
[2]: http://www.gamebanshee.com/neverwinternights2/walkthrough/neverwinterarchives.php
[3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abeir-Toril