omg omg omg... you all have NO idea how good i feel right now... as of right now, i've written 3,934 words... the FIRST 3,934 words of my novel for NaNoWriMo... it took me weeks to get this far with my other novel... i guess this one's just easier because it's a more present day focused book, not one taking place in a fantasy land... i just want to keept going and going and going, but i'm so tired and a little cold and i need sleep
with any luck i'll be back in about 9 hours writing another 3,900 words... i'm aiming for about that many each day... it's about 16 pages, double spaced... and if i can do that with everything that's happened today, then i can do it for the next 29 days
now, i know i promised some people an excerpt... and here it is... and i'll forego the song and book recommendation for today
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When I was younger, things happened quickly, quicker than I thought things would happen, which felt a little strange when I was growing up. Of course, everything about my life is strange, so who am I to complain? My childhood was short, to the point, and very, very boring, so I’m not about to go into it and bore you completely.
I swear to you, it was a completely normal childhood, with the normal parents, normal siblings, normal house, and normal pets. Completely normal everything.
I could say more about the normalness of it, but why would I when I’ve got a lot more interesting things to talk about, like, how I became a werewolf. Well, it was the normal way, of course.
Some stupid wolf bit me.
That sure did teach me to carry around a knife or two instead of pepper spray. Pepper spray does not work on wolves that tackle you to the ground and bite you in the shoulder. Trust me on this.
I was in college, my junior year, and I was taking a shortcut through a back alley towards my apartment. I’d been taking the alley for years, and I knew what kind of disgusting things lived back there under the dumpsters and trash cans. Walking through the alley, I turned the corner, and the next thing I knew I found myself flat on my back, with this snarling, growling animal on me.
The first thought that went through my mind was, “Oh, shit.”
The second thought that went through my mind was, “Damn, this guy’s heavy.” And I could tell it was a male wolf.
He slowly lowered his head towards me, then bent further and sniffed at my neck, and then at my hair, pressing his nose into the dark red mass of curls. I started trembling, shaking under the weight of this huge animal. Well, shaking as much as I could; his weight was really pressing down on me. I could almost feel the bruises forming on my chest and shoulders as he pressed down hard.
I was almost afraid to touch him, but I knew I had to push him off of me if I was going to get up and run up into my apartment away from this stupid dog, so I slowly raised my arms and pressed my hands to his chest, trying to push him off of me. I pushed as hard as I could, barely moving him, and he chose that moment to growl at me in warning.
So, I dropped my arms. “Look, buddy, you might want to get off of me before I completely freak out and have a panic attack and faint right here.”
The wolf’s head slowly rose from sniffing at my hair and looked down at me, the bright blue eyes a little disconcerting in such a furry, and oddly intelligent looking, face. I squirmed under the intense stare, wondering if he was even going to get off sometime in the next year, then stopped when he growled again, even deeper and rougher than the last time.
“Hey!”
Someone called out from the other end of the alley, which distracted the wolf and forced him to look at the man who’d called out. I took the opportunity to push the wolf off of me again, using as much force as I could. It was enough to push him away, causing him to fall back into piled up trash bags.
I quickly got to my feet and started running down the alley to my building, and was soon tackled and pressed down hard into the pavement. I could feel hot breathing against my neck, a low growl, and then that wolf bit down on my neck, tearing away my jacket and sweater before puncturing the skin of my shoulder.
Screaming in pain, I tried to roll over and get him off of me, but he wouldn’t budge or let go, and bit down harder. I screamed again, and raised my hand up to the wolf’s head, trying to pull him off as I struggled underneath him. He stilled for a second, and I saw the edges of my vision turn red, then black, and fainted, my hand falling down onto the pavement.
The next thing I knew, I was in my apartment, lying naked on my living room floor, in the middle of the day, covered in sweat and shaking uncontrollably.
I know, it sounds like something out of a fiction novel, but when I saw the bleeding bite mark on my neck and the bruises on my chest and back, I fainted again, almost hitting my head on the edge of the tub and giving myself a serious concussion.
When I woke up, a few hours had passed, and I slowly stood up. All I could see when I looked in the mirror was a nasty looking scar on my neck and shoulder, and fading bruises on my back.
The first thing I did was take a hot shower that probably peeled off the top layer of skin.
The second thing was order a large pepperoni and sausage pizza, because I was starving.
The third thing I did was spend the next four days in my apartment because I was freaking out over what had happened, what diseases that stupid wolf might’ve given me, and what I might’ve done in those twelve hours when I wasn’t aware of anything but the colour black.
The next few weeks completely changed the course of my life, or what I thought my life would be. I thought I’d settle my life into place after college and be normal, you know. Have a career, meet someone nice, get married, have a family, and do all the other boring normal living… stuff.
But, no, not for me.
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copyright me 2006
