![\"Print\"](\"http:\/\/www.dresan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/NaNo-2015-Winner-Banner.jpg\")
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At last, I\u2019ve completed my 15th National Novel Writing Month challenge successfully! Victory, for the thirteenth time!<\/p>\n
![\"Nanowrimo](\"http:\/\/www.dresan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Nanowrimo-2015-11-23a.png\")
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The graph says \u201cHEX CODE\u201d, but as I\u2019ve said before, I discovered in July\u2019s Nano that the manuscript I was working on was actually a trilogy – I already knew that Cinnamon appeared in a trilogy of books called HEX CODE, BOT NET and ROOT USER, but I was puzzled as to why the HEX CODE manuscript seemed both so cramped and so overstuffed. The reason? I was already writing the trilogy, with a discernible \u201chex code\u201d appearing first, followed by a \u201cbot net\u201d then a \u201croot user\u201d. So I split the manuscript up \u2026 and just kept writing, until, earlier this month, I rolled over the end of HEX CODE.<\/p>\n
\n![\"Nanowrimo](\"http:\/\/www.dresan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Nanowrimo-2015-11-23b.png\")
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Perhaps that\u2019s why I was doing so well this year, or perhaps it\u2019s because I\u2019ve written almost seven hundred thousand words in National Novel Writing months at this point. But regardless, I had some real bursts of creativity in there. But even then, I have to tell you: it was always hard. The hardest words on this one were the last 8 \u2026 when I thought I was done. But you have to keep going! And the scene that popped out after that is beautiful.<\/p>\n
![\"Nanowrimo](\"http:\/\/www.dresan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Nanowrimo-2015-11-23c.png\")
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Regardless, National Novel Writing Month is a joy to participate in, and I\u2019m glad to have done it. The people and the connections I\u2019ve made, the friendships I\u2019ve built, the fantastic events like the Night of Writing Dangerously, the great writing programs that Nano supports, and the worldwide outbursts of creativity have made it all so worthwhile I plan to do it again and again.<\/p>\n
![\"20141116_214055.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/www.dresan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/20141116_214055.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
So, for now, I leave you with one last excerpt, from BOT NET \u2026 containing something I learned about my world of werekindred tonight, when I had to write \u2026 and let my creativity take over. As always, excerpts from Nano are first draft material, so, consider yourself advised \u2026 but I love what I discovered about Cinnamon\u2019s warehouse tonight.<\/p>\n
\nI looks down at them. All their eyes are glowin. The moon\u2019s gotten into them. It will be up soon. I gots to go take them runnin\u2019 now, or they\u2019ll go crazy. I stands before them, rearin\u2019 up a little, puffin\u2019 my tiger cheeks, lookin\u2019 down at them, and they gets the hint, and steps back from the wall, towards me, towards me, the tiger<\/i>.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlrright,\u201d I snarls. \u201cNone of ya get killed, or, as Mom would say, you\u2019re grrrounded. \u201d<\/p>\n
They all laughs, and I grins and stamps a paw.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou feel the moon?\u201d I says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel the moon!\u201d they all shouts back. Whoa. Better response then I expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, do you feel the moon!\u201d I roars.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel the moon!\u201d the hunt screams.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen show me your beasts!\u201d I snarls.<\/p>\n
The lawyer strips off his jacket, his shirt, snarling, his head poppin\u2019 out wolf so fast even Tully would have been proud of it. Hanser is a lynx before I\u2019ve gotten a chance to look over at her, and the rest are poppin\u2019 and changing. One buck is havin\u2019 trouble, horns comin\u2019 out of his head, fur crawlin\u2019 over his body, but still no quad form, and I nods to Hanser, who pads over and licks at him playfully as he falls to the ground, crosseyed, eyes half pulled back like a buck\u2019s.<\/p>\n
But Willard, man, Willard\u2019s havin\u2019 real trouble. He\u2019s bulked up, six and a half feet tall now, a black fur rug rippling out of his back, and oh-my-bod, what delicious muscles. But the shag carpet, it\u2019s as far as he goes. He grunts, strains, then shakes his head.<\/p>\n
He ain\u2019t even taken his shorts off. He knows this is as far as he can go. Personally, I\u2019m glad to have a half-human in the pack\u2014easier to get feedback. He\u2019s obviously got control, or they wouldn\u2019t have given him to me, but is also obviously new to the Life. He needs help.<\/p>\n
I prowls up to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis your limit?\u201d I asks, starin\u2019 him in the eye. He nods, embarrassed, and looks away, but I raises a paw and catches him under the chin with the curved side of one of my claws, lookin\u2019 at his head. \u201cListen to me: there\u2019s no shame in our affliction. Repeat it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTherrre\u2019s no shame in ourrr aff\u2014affl\u2014affliction,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly prrride in our powerrr,\u201d I says. \u201cAll of ya. Repeat it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no shame in our affliction,\u201d the lawyer says, like, real articulate, even though he\u2019s on all fours now, and his head\u2019s all wolf. When\u2019s this lack of concentration supposed to kick in? He shakes that wolf head back and forth, then howls, \u201cOnly prrride in our powerrrr!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTherrre\u2019s no shame in ourrr affliction,\u201d I roars, \u201conly prrride in our powerrr!\u201d<\/p>\n
I prowls back and forth in front of them, listenin\u2019 to them repeat it, those that can. The rest yip and yap and bark \u2026 except for the buck, who\u2019s sittin\u2019 there, dazed. His eyes are stuck halfway between human and stag, and he looks winded and dazed.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut never rushin\u2019 the hardest job any human ever has to do: controllin\u2019 their own beast,\u201d I says, steppin\u2019 up to him. \u201cYou ain\u2019t ready. There\u2019s no shame; there\u2019s always next moon. But this one, you ain\u2019t ready. You relax, let the elders care for ya.\u201d<\/p>\n
The buck nods, still crosseyed, lickin\u2019 his lips.<\/p>\n
\u201cYyyouw waaant meeee,\u201d Hanser yips, then goes quiet.<\/p>\n
I looks back to see Fischer, standin\u2019 there, under his broadbrimmed hat. He\u2019s got the doc with him, black bag under his arm, I mean, seriously, clich\u00e9! But he nods to us, and they goes and sits with the buck as the rest of my hunt firms up before me.<\/p>\n
\u201cFour in front of you, Willard,\u201d I snarls. \u201cOr anyone else wanna sit this moon out?\u201d<\/p>\n
The pack howls and yips and brays, crowdin\u2019 forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cNnnever!\u201d Willard says, beatin\u2019 his chest.<\/p>\n
\u201cYall wanna run?\u201d I snarls.<\/p>\n
The pack makes a yippin\u2019. Weak.<\/p>\n
\u201cEye said, y\u2019all wanna run?\u201d I roars.<\/p>\n
And my whole hunt howls at the top of their lungs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen let\u2019s rrrun,\u201d I roars, and Hanser at my side, bolts off into the forest.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Enjoy. And onward!<\/p>\n
-the Centaur<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At last, I\u2019ve completed my 15th National Novel Writing Month challenge successfully! Victory, for the thirteenth time! The graph says \u201cHEX CODE\u201d, but as I\u2019ve said before, I discovered in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[204,1,202],"tags":[6,4,134,91],"class_list":["post-2854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-challenges","category-uncategorized","category-writing","tag-dakota-frost","tag-dragon-writers","tag-fearful-symmetry","tag-nanowrimo","ratio-2-1","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2854"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3663,"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2854\/revisions\/3663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dresan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}