How's that for a post title for the first time I'm blogging in oh nigh unto forever.
Yes, I've been busy. Super busy. But then again who isn't?
Yes, I'm juggling multiple chainsaws. But then again who isn't?*
The truth is, I've let my voice get stolen by all the "things" going on. The old paying the bills, trying to get the training to move to a career I will love, spending time with the important people in my life, make sure I stay current on all my favorite tv shows thing. And all of those things are important. And all of them need to get done (okay, so the tv thing doesn't need to get done.... but that's another post altogether).
And little by little in the last two years or so I've just let all these things eat away at this part of me that I didn't even think I would really miss. This little thing called writing. I've been writing papers and essay prompts and exams and e-mails and even managed to post over at our Booksellers Without Borders NY blog.
But it really isn't enough and I had NO idea it wouldn't be enough until this past week.
Last year I wrote a NaNoWriMo rough draft. And I was obsessed with the story. I fell in love with the story and the premise and the characters and I had absolutely no idea where on earth it was going. So I shelved it.
And then I decided that I couldn't write it until I had worked out the plot so I read Save the Cat which blew my mind and I sketched out a beat sheet and I did all this great worldbuilding in my head and I didn't write a single word.
I kept making excuses and it kept haunting me.
And this year I had this "great idea" for NaNoWriMo and I couldn't write anything. I think I bashed out about 2,000 words which was actually just rewriting the first scene about six times.
So I threw in the towel and said I'm just too busy with grad school. I'll get around to writing more one of these days.
Then last week I happened to be online when Miss Snark's First Victim put up the submission details for the Talkin' Heads critique. I was in the middle of a homework assignment and I felt absolutely compelled to drop everything and enter something.
I opened my WIP document and almost almost closed it up and went back to doing what I was "supposed" to be doing. But I couldn't. I couldn't do it. So I dug around and I found a passage and I tweaked and trimmed and revised to get it to fit the word limit and I entered it and I got in.
And then I went back to my homework.
And then Monday I almost forgot about it, until I got the e-mail and I started doing some critiquing - the whole give-and-take if you entered you needed to comment and it was fun and I skipped around and read a lot and commented some and I was absolutely terrified to see what people had said about mine.
But you know what? People liked it. The phrases and dialogue that I loved they loved too. And the turn of phrase that gave me chills gave someone else chills too.
And they offered constructive criticism that made me roll my eyes at my own ridiculousness because of course they were right about this thing I always forget to do.
And I opened up the document and I wrote the first scene and for the first time in over a year I felt completely alive.
And the next night I wrote the next scene.
And the next night I wrote the first scene from the other character's perspective.
Yes because I felt validated that this is something I can do, that this is something I am good at.
But mostly because I HAD to write. I HAVE to get Evva's and Devvon's story on paper (metaphorically speaking of course).
I have always been one of those people that liked to write, but wasn't really driven. If I didn't write for a month or so it didn't bother me. But I don't think I can ignore it anymore. Maybe I'll only write 100 words a day. Maybe it will take me 5 years to finish this flooding** book. But it doesn't matter. What matters is I have to write it.
And somehow, I managed to get all those other things in too. And turn my homework in on time. So there.
*Actually, if you are really juggling actual chainsaws I think I'd like to see that. Or not.
**btw this is Devvon invading my brain
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
And Then I Went All Darth Vader
I've been working on my first round of revisions for my NaNo novel. You know, the really broad strokes of plot and character arcs and all that fun stuff. Filling in the holes that are large enough to lose a rather large dragon in. I've been reading through the rough draft in hard copy so I can make notes and comments to myself and it has been absolutely hilarious. I frequently find myself laughing out loud at my ludicrous sentences that must have been written when I had no sleep (oh NaNo you bring so much sleep writing). One of my favorite comments to write is: Really?! As I ask myself what on earth I could have been thinking.
And I've been figuring out how to fix minor problems like:
And I've been figuring out how to fix minor problems like:
- Characters showing up for one chapter and then vanishing as though they never existed.
- Someone dying and then three chapters later the main character having a conversation with them. (and there are no ghosts) (or zombies)
- Contradicting myself in the same paragraph.
- Ridiculously long passages of exposition that I lamely explain away.
- Secondary characters that show up so infrequently you forget their name, but the main character keeps saying she knows them really well.
You know. Nothing major.
 |
| HAHAHAHAHAHA |
But I am actually loving it. This is really the first manuscript I have been so excited about and so sure that I can make it into something great with a lot of work.
And I've been doing a LOT of thinking trying to figure out the motivation of the two main characters - what drives them and what arc is going to carry them through the story - what their purpose is.
So yesterday when I was at work I was on the register (which isn't my favorite thing ever, but it is what it is) and it was slow, so I was thinking hard on why Devvon behaves the way he does. And suddenly it hit me.
He has a sister that I didn't know about and she is super important to everything that he does (yes, I am being really vague).
But what happened (and I am not joking) was that I got what had to be this really creepy smile on my face and I said softly (and aloud because I was so amazed and I am that much of a dork)
Sister... You have a sister.
And then I started laughing at myself because it sounded so Darth Vader-y and I was super glad that no customers or co-workers were around.
But it made me very happy to figure out such a major plot point!
Don't you love when our characters start to take on a life of their own? Have any of yours revealed anything shocking or surprising lately?
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Contradictions, or Sleeping Beauty Attacks My Brain
Recently I have been dying to write something. Anything. I've been in a kind of gloomy mood, which is perfect for my 2011 NaNo novel. But there have been 2 major problems. The first is my schedule. Now I know that I could find time to write if I really wanted to, but I haven't. And that is closely related to the second problem. Both WIPs are in the now-I-need-to-figure-out-what's-going-on-here-so-I-can-actually-do-this-rewrite stage. I have the bones of the story, but I really can't write anything until I do some character development, figure out world-building stuff, and other such things. I ponder them in the car. In fact, I had a giant AHA moment just last night. But overall, it's a different kind of creative from the actual writing part and my brain just can't do it at the moment. I think it's too close to the stuff I'm doing for school and teaching.
So I came up with this great first line for a short story, but I couldn't think of anything else, so I shelved that to work on later.
And then I had to read Anne Sexton's Transformations for one of my classes. It's a book of poetry where she retells a bunch of Grimm's fairy tales. And they were pretty interesting, even though I'm generally not a big poetry fan. (I know, an English major that doesn't like poetry OR Jane Austen?! How can this be?!)
Well a tiny little thing in her retelling of Sleeping Beauty got me thinking and the other night I sat down when I should have been doing research and pounded out a rough opening paragraph to a short story.
And you know what? It was exactly what I needed to write. It made me feel better about a lot of things. And, I'm just realising, it came right before my revelation about Solo. Whether that's a coincidence or not, I don't know, but I felt all inspired and writer-y again after typing it.
So my advice, which you can take or leave considering I have never published a book and currently have 3 rough drafts waiting for rewrites, is to have fun. Go where your imagination takes you. Sometimes it will provide exactly the break you need to allow you to see something else more clearly.
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
Anyhoo. So I've been all gloomy and mopey inside myself. For no reason, just a little blah. Maybe because of the weird weather. But, to quote Polonius, let me be brief. And to quote Clue, TOO LATE.So I came up with this great first line for a short story, but I couldn't think of anything else, so I shelved that to work on later.
And then I had to read Anne Sexton's Transformations for one of my classes. It's a book of poetry where she retells a bunch of Grimm's fairy tales. And they were pretty interesting, even though I'm generally not a big poetry fan. (I know, an English major that doesn't like poetry OR Jane Austen?! How can this be?!)
Well a tiny little thing in her retelling of Sleeping Beauty got me thinking and the other night I sat down when I should have been doing research and pounded out a rough opening paragraph to a short story.
see more dog and puppy pictures
I thought the story would match my emotional tone of gloom and sadness, but instead, Miss Sleeping Beauty attacked the page with this saucy, snappy attitude. Guys, she even said "horse poo" right there in the first section. |
| I'm just as shocked as you guys are. Just. As. Shocked. see more Lolcats and funny pictures |
So my advice, which you can take or leave considering I have never published a book and currently have 3 rough drafts waiting for rewrites, is to have fun. Go where your imagination takes you. Sometimes it will provide exactly the break you need to allow you to see something else more clearly.
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
Ahem. I may have gone a little overboard with the animal pictures, but really. Aren't they adorable?!
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Holy Smokes, or NaNo Day 30, or VICTORY IS MIIIIIIIINE!
Here we go! My last day to spam you with my NaNo progress.
About day 24 I was seriously starting to wonder if I would make the deadline. I got more and more behind and school got busier and busier. But then, on day 26 as I posted, I did some word wars and challenges that gave me a 4,000 word day. I followed that up with a 2,000 word day, which gave me a lot of incentive to finish. How lame to come so close and not cross the finish line. I am by no means disparaging anyone who did not finish by any margin. I am talking about my own peptalk to my own self. Yes, I do embarrass myself into doing things. All the time. Hey, it works, right!?
Anyways, by the time I sat down to write yesterday I only needed 1,200 words to finish it. I exported my Scrivener document to Word to double check my word count. As I scrolled down to the end of the document so I could smash out my last words I stumbled across a conversation I had forgotten about. It's one of the many info dumps that occurred in this novel so I could work through my world building while still adding onto my word count. So I know that it won't end up in the next draft in its entirety, but as I passed it I had to stop and reread it. As I did I got all giddy and happy. It reignited my love for this world and these characters and reminded me what is at stake.
Taking that enthusiasm I jumped down to where I had left off and zipped through my last scene. Is it good? No, not really. The ending is way too preachy and sappy. But is this draft basically done? YES! Do I have a world that has come together and developed in ways I never anticipated? Absolutely. Do I have a main character that has grown throughout the progression of the novel? Shockingly, YES! Do I have great secondary characters that I'm dying to develop further in my next draft? Oh my goodness yes. Devvon, I will discover your secrets. And Virra? Let's just say the little twist in your character surprised me.
This is only my 3rd NaNo year and it's my 2nd win, but it is definitely my most satisfying experience. I felt like I was better prepared going in, that I have a better and more cohesive (though all over the place and completely convoluted) rough draft than any rough draft I've ever written. There is a TON of stuff that needs to be fixed and rearranged and taken out and added in and I am giddy over the prospect of all the plotting and outlining and rewriting I get to do now (As soon as I write these 2 massive research papers).
I understand that NaNo doesn't work for everybody, but it has always been a fantastic experience for me and, whether I end up with a few random scenes, a random idea for a story that doesn't end up going anywhere, or a workable rough draft, the point is that I wrote. That I made time in my schedule to get my thoughts down on paper. That I created a world that didn't exist before. Made friends with other WriMos. These are the things that make NaNo worth it and I most highly recommend it to anyone who wants a challenge or just wants to try something new. It's the experience, not the "perfect product" that matters.
Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now and celebrate my win by allowing myself to watch a couple episodes of Friends. And by leaving you with a cute kitty.
happy December everyone! And happy writing!
About day 24 I was seriously starting to wonder if I would make the deadline. I got more and more behind and school got busier and busier. But then, on day 26 as I posted, I did some word wars and challenges that gave me a 4,000 word day. I followed that up with a 2,000 word day, which gave me a lot of incentive to finish. How lame to come so close and not cross the finish line. I am by no means disparaging anyone who did not finish by any margin. I am talking about my own peptalk to my own self. Yes, I do embarrass myself into doing things. All the time. Hey, it works, right!?
Anyways, by the time I sat down to write yesterday I only needed 1,200 words to finish it. I exported my Scrivener document to Word to double check my word count. As I scrolled down to the end of the document so I could smash out my last words I stumbled across a conversation I had forgotten about. It's one of the many info dumps that occurred in this novel so I could work through my world building while still adding onto my word count. So I know that it won't end up in the next draft in its entirety, but as I passed it I had to stop and reread it. As I did I got all giddy and happy. It reignited my love for this world and these characters and reminded me what is at stake.
Taking that enthusiasm I jumped down to where I had left off and zipped through my last scene. Is it good? No, not really. The ending is way too preachy and sappy. But is this draft basically done? YES! Do I have a world that has come together and developed in ways I never anticipated? Absolutely. Do I have a main character that has grown throughout the progression of the novel? Shockingly, YES! Do I have great secondary characters that I'm dying to develop further in my next draft? Oh my goodness yes. Devvon, I will discover your secrets. And Virra? Let's just say the little twist in your character surprised me.
This is only my 3rd NaNo year and it's my 2nd win, but it is definitely my most satisfying experience. I felt like I was better prepared going in, that I have a better and more cohesive (though all over the place and completely convoluted) rough draft than any rough draft I've ever written. There is a TON of stuff that needs to be fixed and rearranged and taken out and added in and I am giddy over the prospect of all the plotting and outlining and rewriting I get to do now (As soon as I write these 2 massive research papers).
I understand that NaNo doesn't work for everybody, but it has always been a fantastic experience for me and, whether I end up with a few random scenes, a random idea for a story that doesn't end up going anywhere, or a workable rough draft, the point is that I wrote. That I made time in my schedule to get my thoughts down on paper. That I created a world that didn't exist before. Made friends with other WriMos. These are the things that make NaNo worth it and I most highly recommend it to anyone who wants a challenge or just wants to try something new. It's the experience, not the "perfect product" that matters.
Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now and celebrate my win by allowing myself to watch a couple episodes of Friends. And by leaving you with a cute kitty.
happy December everyone! And happy writing!
see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!
Sunday, November 27, 2011
I Shall Prevail! Or NaNo Day 26
Word Count: 44,122 CAUGHT UP!
Mood: FEELING FANTASTIC! Did 1k in half an hour on a challenge from a fellow WriMo and then a 2K hour a little later, which got me majorly caught up. I'm also hitting the climax of the story, so it's all actiony and things are happening and this weird guy named Ulrrick just showed up and I snicker every time I type his name. This is where I'm pretty solid with what is happening and what is going to happen, though the details, of course, are coming as I write. But it's a good place to hit at this point in the month, because I'm really feeling like it won't be a problem to actually win this year! I've been holding steady at various levels of being behind all month, but never let myself get to the point where I was ready to despair. I think 4 days behind was the worst that it got and 2 days of burst writing got me back into the game.
The absolute best thing is that I'm kind of in love with this WIP even though the middle is SO rough and I've been writing out of order and I think I have people alive when they should be dead and dead when they should be alive, but I don't care, because the scenes are getting written and after November is over I can go back and outline and rewrite and figure out what the hay bale is missing and I am SO EXCITED ABOUT THAT. More than I've ever ever been before.
How is your NaNo journey? Are you despairing? Excited? Already done?! (you overachiever you)
Mood: FEELING FANTASTIC! Did 1k in half an hour on a challenge from a fellow WriMo and then a 2K hour a little later, which got me majorly caught up. I'm also hitting the climax of the story, so it's all actiony and things are happening and this weird guy named Ulrrick just showed up and I snicker every time I type his name. This is where I'm pretty solid with what is happening and what is going to happen, though the details, of course, are coming as I write. But it's a good place to hit at this point in the month, because I'm really feeling like it won't be a problem to actually win this year! I've been holding steady at various levels of being behind all month, but never let myself get to the point where I was ready to despair. I think 4 days behind was the worst that it got and 2 days of burst writing got me back into the game.
The absolute best thing is that I'm kind of in love with this WIP even though the middle is SO rough and I've been writing out of order and I think I have people alive when they should be dead and dead when they should be alive, but I don't care, because the scenes are getting written and after November is over I can go back and outline and rewrite and figure out what the hay bale is missing and I am SO EXCITED ABOUT THAT. More than I've ever ever been before.
How is your NaNo journey? Are you despairing? Excited? Already done?! (you overachiever you)
Saturday, November 12, 2011
It's Been a Loooong Week, or NaNo Day 11
Word Count: 17,050... made up some wordage tonight. Only about 1300 words behind now!
Mood: wiped out.
Surprises: Named a new character Larra and then realised that Evva's best friend's name is Lirra. Now I have to figure out which one to change, but I don't want to change EITHER :(
Also ended up with this horrific scene unfolding that I never intended. Holy cow. Intense and really terrible and rather emotionally draining. Taking this novel to darker places than I thought it would go. But it's so ... right. In a writing sense that is. It's what needed to happen at this point and this one event does a better job of showing the corruption I've been trying to figure out how to express than pretty much anything I had planned.
How about you. Any twists you hadn't seen coming? Does writing wipe you out sometimes? I'm telling you that exhausted me!
Mood: wiped out.
Surprises: Named a new character Larra and then realised that Evva's best friend's name is Lirra. Now I have to figure out which one to change, but I don't want to change EITHER :(
Also ended up with this horrific scene unfolding that I never intended. Holy cow. Intense and really terrible and rather emotionally draining. Taking this novel to darker places than I thought it would go. But it's so ... right. In a writing sense that is. It's what needed to happen at this point and this one event does a better job of showing the corruption I've been trying to figure out how to express than pretty much anything I had planned.
How about you. Any twists you hadn't seen coming? Does writing wipe you out sometimes? I'm telling you that exhausted me!
Friday, November 4, 2011
How Did That Happen? Or NaNo Day 3
Word Count: 6062 On Track!
Mood: Weird. I was trying to keep a day ahead, but had an abysmal word count from two nights ago. Wanted to at least make it up last night and ended up picking up an extra 1,000 words, which totally shocked me.
Surprises: It is incredibly hard to write a novel that is set in a fantasy world, but is also a rather Earth-like society. It's a tree based society (e.g. they have Branches instead of Streets, count time in Seasons and Rings instead of months and years) and I'm having such a hard time making that work without info dumps (bad in a stream of consciousness type style) or just leaving it up to my audience to figure out. And I can't change ALL the terms because then it's like deciphering another language, which is bad. And it's hard to find the balance between what should be the same, what should be slightly different, and what should be totally different.
Also, things are definitely taking a LOOOOOOONG time to tell, which is good for my word count, but frustrating for pacing, because I know tons of this is going to have to be cut and I'm not entirely sure how much to have happen now and how much to bring in later. My character is changing too fast, but I don't want her to be too mopey for too long, because that is boring.
Oh the fun of NaNo writing!
Any weird world building things you've come across? How's your pacing?
Mood: Weird. I was trying to keep a day ahead, but had an abysmal word count from two nights ago. Wanted to at least make it up last night and ended up picking up an extra 1,000 words, which totally shocked me.
Surprises: It is incredibly hard to write a novel that is set in a fantasy world, but is also a rather Earth-like society. It's a tree based society (e.g. they have Branches instead of Streets, count time in Seasons and Rings instead of months and years) and I'm having such a hard time making that work without info dumps (bad in a stream of consciousness type style) or just leaving it up to my audience to figure out. And I can't change ALL the terms because then it's like deciphering another language, which is bad. And it's hard to find the balance between what should be the same, what should be slightly different, and what should be totally different.
Also, things are definitely taking a LOOOOOOONG time to tell, which is good for my word count, but frustrating for pacing, because I know tons of this is going to have to be cut and I'm not entirely sure how much to have happen now and how much to bring in later. My character is changing too fast, but I don't want her to be too mopey for too long, because that is boring.
Oh the fun of NaNo writing!
Any weird world building things you've come across? How's your pacing?
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Surprise Support, or What happened on NaNo Day 2
Word Count: 4,345, but the day isn't over and I don't have class today. Just research and grading, so I'm hoping to squeak out the rest of my daily goal - which is only about 700 words. Easy peasy.
Current Mood: Strangely blah. I've been so excited and psyched. Maybe I'm just tired because of my long school day yesterday. Had to force myself to write last night, even though I'd been looking forward to it ALL DAY LONG.
Surprises: I stuck an "Ask me about my novel" sticker on my office door and one of my fellow TAs saw it and exclaimed over it, wanted to know everything about what I was doing, insisted on reading my opening paragraphs and demanded to read more. Said when it got published she'd be all, yeah, I read the first draft. She also promised to ask me about it regularly over the month. Her enthusiasm was so fantastic. Thinking about it is making me want to write again, so here I go!
Any happy supporters that have inspired you already?
P.S. I'm presetting these posts at night to post the next day. It's weird to talk about tonight as yesterday when it's really today... weird.
Current Mood: Strangely blah. I've been so excited and psyched. Maybe I'm just tired because of my long school day yesterday. Had to force myself to write last night, even though I'd been looking forward to it ALL DAY LONG.
Surprises: I stuck an "Ask me about my novel" sticker on my office door and one of my fellow TAs saw it and exclaimed over it, wanted to know everything about what I was doing, insisted on reading my opening paragraphs and demanded to read more. Said when it got published she'd be all, yeah, I read the first draft. She also promised to ask me about it regularly over the month. Her enthusiasm was so fantastic. Thinking about it is making me want to write again, so here I go!
Any happy supporters that have inspired you already?
P.S. I'm presetting these posts at night to post the next day. It's weird to talk about tonight as yesterday when it's really today... weird.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Insanity has begun aka NaNoWriMo or WHAT ON EARTH WAS I THINKING
Day: 2
Word Count so far: 3545! Woot!
Mood: Optimistic. Off to a good start. So glad I don't have morning classes on Tuesday so I was able to stay up until midnight Monday night and get my first day's word count done before I even went to bed. Couldn't do that last night, having to get up at 4:30ish, but allowed myself an hour before crashing. Which of course turned into an hour and 20 minutes, but I got myself on track for today, so even if I don't get back today (since this is my insanely long school day) I will not be behind tomorrow! Also, the story is flowing so well right now. The characters are popping out of everywhere, the story is unfolding and I'm starting to get some interesting glimpses of my MC's personality. Can't wait to see where it goes!
Surprises: Oh boy. Don't even get me started! I am writing a fantasy YA novel. I was going to write it in third person limited with flashbacks that would weave into the present to help unfold the mystery. Exciting right? Yeah. So when I sat down and started writing it came out in first person. It was working really well, so I just went with it. But THEN about 1,000 words in, I suddenly realised that I had randomly switched to PRESENT TENSE. Oh. My. Werd. I'd written a couple of paragraphs, but could see where I had switched. So I went back to fix it. It didn't work. I literally COULD NOT change it back and the story, the voice, the rawness of Evva's situation was perfect in present tense.
But how do you do flashbacks in present tense?! Well, it turns into a sort of stream of consciousness thing where the flashbacks are ending up woven into her thoughts about the present. It has such potential for disaster, but so far, I think it's really working.
So I'm doing the one thing I have always told myself I would never ever do: writing in first person present tense. AND writing stream of consciousness. Another giant no-no for me. What?
How about you? Are you doing NaNo? Any crazy surprises for you yet? Anything like that happen to you in the past? Am I crazy? Wait. Don't answer that :)
Word Count so far: 3545! Woot!
Mood: Optimistic. Off to a good start. So glad I don't have morning classes on Tuesday so I was able to stay up until midnight Monday night and get my first day's word count done before I even went to bed. Couldn't do that last night, having to get up at 4:30ish, but allowed myself an hour before crashing. Which of course turned into an hour and 20 minutes, but I got myself on track for today, so even if I don't get back today (since this is my insanely long school day) I will not be behind tomorrow! Also, the story is flowing so well right now. The characters are popping out of everywhere, the story is unfolding and I'm starting to get some interesting glimpses of my MC's personality. Can't wait to see where it goes!
Surprises: Oh boy. Don't even get me started! I am writing a fantasy YA novel. I was going to write it in third person limited with flashbacks that would weave into the present to help unfold the mystery. Exciting right? Yeah. So when I sat down and started writing it came out in first person. It was working really well, so I just went with it. But THEN about 1,000 words in, I suddenly realised that I had randomly switched to PRESENT TENSE. Oh. My. Werd. I'd written a couple of paragraphs, but could see where I had switched. So I went back to fix it. It didn't work. I literally COULD NOT change it back and the story, the voice, the rawness of Evva's situation was perfect in present tense.
But how do you do flashbacks in present tense?! Well, it turns into a sort of stream of consciousness thing where the flashbacks are ending up woven into her thoughts about the present. It has such potential for disaster, but so far, I think it's really working.
So I'm doing the one thing I have always told myself I would never ever do: writing in first person present tense. AND writing stream of consciousness. Another giant no-no for me. What?
How about you? Are you doing NaNo? Any crazy surprises for you yet? Anything like that happen to you in the past? Am I crazy? Wait. Don't answer that :)
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
And the NaNo Comes in the NIIIIIIIIGHHHHT!
I may have spent the last couple of weeks watching old StrongBad e-mails with my brother. And if you haven't watched them go to HomeStarRunner.com RIGHT NOW and become addicted.
Anyhoo.... I have a couple of things to say, and since today is still technically Tuesday, this will be my Two for Tuesday post too!
1. As much as I absolutely adore blogging and love all of you wonderful people that lurk around and read my ramblings and comment and everything, I just can't keep up with posting regularly. So I've decided just to make the announcement that I will try to post once a week, but that is the most I can say. I've kept my schedule up on the side (because I don't want to have to remember all that when I get back to a place where I CAN post regularly), but it's just not gonna happen right now.
So I will be here, just not as often, which I haven't been anyways, but I feel better making it all official like.
2. My life is chaos. I'm doing research for my thesis (SO EXCITED I CAN'T EVEN HANDLE IT) and working on two other lengthy papers - 1 for my PostColonial class and 1 for my Age of Romanticism class, and teaching English Comp where we are about to start the dun dun dun Research Paper.
So of course, the most logical thing for me to do is obviously to add another writing project onto my life! NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month for anyone who doesn't know) starts in like 6 days. SIX FREAKIN DAYS! I am so psyched about this year. So very very psyched. I am starting something completely new and I've been plotting it in my head and in scribbly notes for a couple of weeks now and I think this is the most I've ever planned something out before giving in to writing a scene or two. It's a YA fantasy and there are magic powers and evil scientists and PEOPLE DIE HORRIBLE DEATHS which is something completely new to me and my writing. I usually go out of my way to keep people alive. It's kind of ridiculous. But this project is much darker and I'm so excited about it.
I was sitting in class today and I suddenly broke into this huge goofy grin thinking about it and the professor actually asked if I was okay. Which was kind of embarrassing, but I really didn't care, because I'm SO EXCITED.
But here is the bad thing. Three times a week I have to get up at 4:30 in order to get to campus a little early before I teach. Which means that I need sleep and I need to fall asleep before midnight. Preferably no later than 11, but whatever.
This novel has decided I don't need sleep as much as I need to figure out why the hay bale Gavvet died in the first place. And WHY Devvon is acting like such a jerk. And what exactly is Evva's deal?! And why there are trees EVERYWHERE in the novel. And so my writer's brain goes in circles like a hyper-active little puppy while my logical brain tells it to shut up or it's going to have to lock it outside and for Pete's sake be quiet the neighbors are trying to sleep.
But I can't even get too upset about my writer's brain being so hyper because I'm SO SO EXCITED about this novel!
What about you? Are you doing NaNo? Is your story idea haunting you like Nearly-Headless Nick? Does your writer brain keep you up at night?
Anyhoo.... I have a couple of things to say, and since today is still technically Tuesday, this will be my Two for Tuesday post too!
1. As much as I absolutely adore blogging and love all of you wonderful people that lurk around and read my ramblings and comment and everything, I just can't keep up with posting regularly. So I've decided just to make the announcement that I will try to post once a week, but that is the most I can say. I've kept my schedule up on the side (because I don't want to have to remember all that when I get back to a place where I CAN post regularly), but it's just not gonna happen right now.
So I will be here, just not as often, which I haven't been anyways, but I feel better making it all official like.
2. My life is chaos. I'm doing research for my thesis (SO EXCITED I CAN'T EVEN HANDLE IT) and working on two other lengthy papers - 1 for my PostColonial class and 1 for my Age of Romanticism class, and teaching English Comp where we are about to start the dun dun dun Research Paper.
So of course, the most logical thing for me to do is obviously to add another writing project onto my life! NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month for anyone who doesn't know) starts in like 6 days. SIX FREAKIN DAYS! I am so psyched about this year. So very very psyched. I am starting something completely new and I've been plotting it in my head and in scribbly notes for a couple of weeks now and I think this is the most I've ever planned something out before giving in to writing a scene or two. It's a YA fantasy and there are magic powers and evil scientists and PEOPLE DIE HORRIBLE DEATHS which is something completely new to me and my writing. I usually go out of my way to keep people alive. It's kind of ridiculous. But this project is much darker and I'm so excited about it.
I was sitting in class today and I suddenly broke into this huge goofy grin thinking about it and the professor actually asked if I was okay. Which was kind of embarrassing, but I really didn't care, because I'm SO EXCITED.
But here is the bad thing. Three times a week I have to get up at 4:30 in order to get to campus a little early before I teach. Which means that I need sleep and I need to fall asleep before midnight. Preferably no later than 11, but whatever.
This novel has decided I don't need sleep as much as I need to figure out why the hay bale Gavvet died in the first place. And WHY Devvon is acting like such a jerk. And what exactly is Evva's deal?! And why there are trees EVERYWHERE in the novel. And so my writer's brain goes in circles like a hyper-active little puppy while my logical brain tells it to shut up or it's going to have to lock it outside and for Pete's sake be quiet the neighbors are trying to sleep.
But I can't even get too upset about my writer's brain being so hyper because I'm SO SO EXCITED about this novel!
What about you? Are you doing NaNo? Is your story idea haunting you like Nearly-Headless Nick? Does your writer brain keep you up at night?
Monday, October 10, 2011
Pictured Inspiration
I know October barely started, but I am getting totally psyched about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November.
I've had a massive writing dry spell. Mass. Ive. As in I haven't written pretty much anything since like May. I had all these grand plans for the summer and they didn't happen.
so.
NaNo is going to get me writing something again. And I've been trying to figure out what to write, because last year I had my Layla story and was really excited to do that and this year I've been drawing a total blank.
Until yesterday. And I remembered this scene from a dream. It was one of those dreams where the emotions of the dream sticks with you creating a sort of dream hangover. So it's always been vividly in my mind emotionwise, but the visual was really sketchy. And then the first words of my novel came to me. I've rewritten them in my head about a billion times already, but it's a start.
So I spent a good chunk of the afternoon yesterday getting lost on DeviantArt which is pretty much THE coolest website ever and I'm trying to figure out why I haven't spent time on it before. Since I don't really have anything except the opening scene planned I was hoping to find some inspiration.
I already know that this story is going to be much darker than anything I've ever written before. In fact, *gasp* people die. Shocking, I know.
But here are some of the pictures that were giving me wondrous inspiration (I've linked the picture to its original place in all cases and referenced the artist). I also did my best not to use any where the artist asked they not be shared. Even though those were fantastic! Like THIS one (this artist is beyond amazing. Check out some of her other stuff. A TON of it was super inspiring). Or THIS one.
So I mean no harm by posting any of these - I am merely grateful for the talent of these amazing artists and if, by chance, you want me to take your picture down, I will be more than happy to do it.
INSPIRATION:
Don't you just love pictures!? I'm so inspired now!
I've had a massive writing dry spell. Mass. Ive. As in I haven't written pretty much anything since like May. I had all these grand plans for the summer and they didn't happen.
so.
NaNo is going to get me writing something again. And I've been trying to figure out what to write, because last year I had my Layla story and was really excited to do that and this year I've been drawing a total blank.
Until yesterday. And I remembered this scene from a dream. It was one of those dreams where the emotions of the dream sticks with you creating a sort of dream hangover. So it's always been vividly in my mind emotionwise, but the visual was really sketchy. And then the first words of my novel came to me. I've rewritten them in my head about a billion times already, but it's a start.
So I spent a good chunk of the afternoon yesterday getting lost on DeviantArt which is pretty much THE coolest website ever and I'm trying to figure out why I haven't spent time on it before. Since I don't really have anything except the opening scene planned I was hoping to find some inspiration.
I already know that this story is going to be much darker than anything I've ever written before. In fact, *gasp* people die. Shocking, I know.
But here are some of the pictures that were giving me wondrous inspiration (I've linked the picture to its original place in all cases and referenced the artist). I also did my best not to use any where the artist asked they not be shared. Even though those were fantastic! Like THIS one (this artist is beyond amazing. Check out some of her other stuff. A TON of it was super inspiring). Or THIS one.
So I mean no harm by posting any of these - I am merely grateful for the talent of these amazing artists and if, by chance, you want me to take your picture down, I will be more than happy to do it.
INSPIRATION:
 |
| "Miss Mourning" from Burning-Shark |
 |
| "I Miss You" by Mitsumi-Mishitori |
 |
| Drowned Catacomb by lyno3ghe |
 |
| Mourning Air by inflexible |
 |
| trees by loose665 |
 |
| Into the death by your-rain |
Monday, August 15, 2011
Finish It
I swear I AM going to do a real post on the writing workshops at Polaris with Brandon Sanderson and the other authors. They were amazing and I have a lot I want to say. I will do it within the next week. There, now I've put it out there, so there's pressure to deliver.
Today I want to offer the one piece of advice that Brandon emphasized over and over again.
Finish.
It doesn't matter how good/bad/unique/original/terrible/cliche/whatever your book is if you never finish it. You can't edit it or do anything real with it if you never finish it.
He said, if you aren't being able to finish, you need to find out what it is that is keeping you from finishing it and get rid of it. FINISH.
This is the thing I am terrible at. I start a bunch of projects and then I get lost halfway through them and feel overwhelmed and don't know what to do. So I go back the beginning and try to rework it, but then I never get past where I've already written. Okay, not never, but it's a consistent problem in my writing life.
One of the panelists (I have this written down somewhere, but I'm too lazy to look it up now) told of a person in their critique group that turned in their first chapter something like 30 times. They'd take the feedback and rework and resubmit it. Over and over. But at the end of the day, they didn't actually have anything real to work with. One chapter and an idea in their head, which, I imagine, became so twisted from trying to incorporate everyone else's ideas, that it wasn't really their idea anymore.
Critique groups are fantastic. Reading partners are the bomb (waves at Lindsey). But if you allow that to keep you from finishing what you've started, you will never write a novel. If you keep rereading and trying to fix the beginning before you have an end, you will never write a novel. If you sit and blog and tweeter and play on Facebook and ignore your WIP, you will never write a novel.
Today I want to offer the one piece of advice that Brandon emphasized over and over again.
Finish.
It doesn't matter how good/bad/unique/original/terrible/cliche/whatever your book is if you never finish it. You can't edit it or do anything real with it if you never finish it.
He said, if you aren't being able to finish, you need to find out what it is that is keeping you from finishing it and get rid of it. FINISH.
This is the thing I am terrible at. I start a bunch of projects and then I get lost halfway through them and feel overwhelmed and don't know what to do. So I go back the beginning and try to rework it, but then I never get past where I've already written. Okay, not never, but it's a consistent problem in my writing life.
One of the panelists (I have this written down somewhere, but I'm too lazy to look it up now) told of a person in their critique group that turned in their first chapter something like 30 times. They'd take the feedback and rework and resubmit it. Over and over. But at the end of the day, they didn't actually have anything real to work with. One chapter and an idea in their head, which, I imagine, became so twisted from trying to incorporate everyone else's ideas, that it wasn't really their idea anymore.
Critique groups are fantastic. Reading partners are the bomb (waves at Lindsey). But if you allow that to keep you from finishing what you've started, you will never write a novel. If you keep rereading and trying to fix the beginning before you have an end, you will never write a novel. If you sit and blog and tweeter and play on Facebook and ignore your WIP, you will never write a novel.
see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!
Sheesh. Talk about convicting. Um, I'm just gonna go work on my book now. I'll catch you guys later.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
New and Improved! Resolve!
sounds like a cleaner or something ... oh wait, it is.
Um, moving on...
Soooo the most amazing and spifferiffic Lindsey over at Dangerous with a Pen posted that she had made a resolution to write 100 words a day.
And I realized that this was possibly the most brilliant idea I had ever heard.*
because even when you're dead tired and you've taught 32 ungrateful little freshmen** and have literary theory oozing out of your ear and your pretty sure your contacts are now fused to your corneas from staring at the computer screen for so long, you can still write 100 words. Like totes easy. It's what, a paragraph? pshht. Anyone can write a paragraph.
I wanted to do some major work on my NaNo novel over break, but I hadn't written a single word. I started doing this, each night it's easy to say, oh, yeah. Just 100 words before I go to sleep. And I've managed to work out the back stories and background information I was needing to do before I could officially start the re-write. I've written more in the last 3 days than I had in the last 2 weeks! (which isn't really saying much. Because I really didn't write ANYTHING in the last 2 weeks. Which is my point.)
Sometimes the 100 words turns into like 200 or 500 or 1,000 words. But even if it doesn't, at least I've written SOMETHING. Which is kind of the point of this whole writer thing, right?
So we have an official badge and everything and we're going to encourage each other, because 100 words is totally DOABLE.
Feel free to snag our button if you want a little motivation and you're like us with crazy busy lives that too often zombinize your brains and you think it just might be doable too.
Here's to a year of writing 100 words a day, which, if you think about it, would be 36,500 words over the year, even if you never wrote more and that's like half a novel! Just from 100 tiny little words a day! Crazy talk.
*except for all of those other brilliant ideas I've heard that I say that about.
**well, not all 32 of them are ungrateful
Um, moving on...
Soooo the most amazing and spifferiffic Lindsey over at Dangerous with a Pen posted that she had made a resolution to write 100 words a day.
And I realized that this was possibly the most brilliant idea I had ever heard.*
because even when you're dead tired and you've taught 32 ungrateful little freshmen** and have literary theory oozing out of your ear and your pretty sure your contacts are now fused to your corneas from staring at the computer screen for so long, you can still write 100 words. Like totes easy. It's what, a paragraph? pshht. Anyone can write a paragraph.
I wanted to do some major work on my NaNo novel over break, but I hadn't written a single word. I started doing this, each night it's easy to say, oh, yeah. Just 100 words before I go to sleep. And I've managed to work out the back stories and background information I was needing to do before I could officially start the re-write. I've written more in the last 3 days than I had in the last 2 weeks! (which isn't really saying much. Because I really didn't write ANYTHING in the last 2 weeks. Which is my point.)
Sometimes the 100 words turns into like 200 or 500 or 1,000 words. But even if it doesn't, at least I've written SOMETHING. Which is kind of the point of this whole writer thing, right?
So we have an official badge and everything and we're going to encourage each other, because 100 words is totally DOABLE.
Feel free to snag our button if you want a little motivation and you're like us with crazy busy lives that too often zombinize your brains and you think it just might be doable too.
Here's to a year of writing 100 words a day, which, if you think about it, would be 36,500 words over the year, even if you never wrote more and that's like half a novel! Just from 100 tiny little words a day! Crazy talk.
*except for all of those other brilliant ideas I've heard that I say that about.
**well, not all 32 of them are ungrateful
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Some Stuff I Learned :)
So today I actually took time to bounce around and catch up a little bit on y'all's blogs. If I haven't made it to you yet, well, let's just say that I spent all day reading and I still have 848 unread posts in Google Reader.
Anyhoodles.
One thing that I have noticed all around is that people are posting lists of things they learned this year and I had so much fun reading yours, that I decided to make one of my own. So here goes - my witty and wise lessons of 2010:
1) Pantsing can be totally good for me. Sometimes I need to shut up my internal editor and just get some words on the page. Because really awesomesauce things can happen that way that I KNOW would never happen otherwise.
2) "Research" and "Plotting" can = "Procrastination." I am NOT saying that I shouldn't research or plot, but when I sit down to write and spend the whole time doodling about things that might possibly happen in the sequel to the book I haven't even finished yet, it is NOT GOOD.
3) It is possible to write a WHOLE lot more than I do now. If there was one thing I learned from NaNo, it's that when I make myself find the time, I find it. Even in the middle of the rest of life there IS time for writing.
4) There are really awesome authors out there. Okay, so I already knew that, but with the chance to meet some of my writing heroes as well as some authors I had never really heard of or read, I have come to one conclusion. We authors are pretty much the coolest people ever.
5) You meet the right people at the right time. I met a lot of new people this year, both in person and online and each one of them has come into my life for a specific reason. Some of them it was only for a season - maybe even just that one encounter. Some of them are friendships that could last me a lifetime. I am incredibly grateful for every single one of them.
6) There is NO substitute for a good book. Okay, I knew that already, too, but having lost a lot of my leisure reading time, I can tell you that I adore those moments when I can curl up and lose myself in a book I'm reading just because I want to. Each book I read becomes a part of who I am and reminds me that it is still possible to write something good and fun and worthwhile, no matter how much has been written before.
7) TV shows can sometimes feel like a good book. You know, when the writing and the casting and the acting all gels and you get that really special show that pulls you in and makes you believe that it's real and you cry and laugh and want to LIVE with the characters. It doesn't happen that often, but I've discovered a few shows like that this year. Some are fluffier than others, but each one of them has impacted my story-telling abilities. It's still the written word, even if we're receiving it through a different medium.
8) Sometimes you need a break from the internet. I am blessed in that I have easy and ready access to the web pretty much any time I want it. We have WiFi at home and it's at school too. Then we left on Christmas day and visited my Grandma and Papa who have no computer much less interwebs. It was a much needed and surprisingly refreshing break. I'm glad to be back, but I think I will definitely need to take a week off here or there to keep myself alive.
9) You learn something SO much better when you teach it to someone else. I spent 30 years of my life trying to figure out how on earth to use commas. Then I taught college freshmen and we went over it and now I remember almost all of the rules and I'm actually able to give the reason as to why a comma should or should not be used. Does that mean I always do it right? No, I screw up that no comma before a coordinating conjunction that's followed by a dependent phrase rule ALL the time. But now I can go back and see that it's wrong.
10) Never say Never. I told myself I would NEVER in a million years write a novel featuring a vampire. Cue SNI with the faeries and the vampires and the gnomes and everything. And cue me loving every minute of it. It's not like most vampire novels and they're not really normal vampires either. I mean they are, but don't go thinking Sookie Stackhouse or Twilight or anything. It's more about the faeries and the faerie tales. But what I'm trying to say is, if I'd stuck to that vow this WIP would be a LOT less interesting and I'd be having a lot less fun right now. Keep your mind open to the possibilities or else you might miss something!
And I'll stop it there. A lot of these are writing related, but I think I've done the most growing in how I approach my writing this year so there you have it. Thank you to everyone who has helped to to learn and grow and realize that I'm not alone on this crazy journey whether it's writing or reading or grading a thousand papers - you all rock socks.
Anyhoodles.
One thing that I have noticed all around is that people are posting lists of things they learned this year and I had so much fun reading yours, that I decided to make one of my own. So here goes - my witty and wise lessons of 2010:
1) Pantsing can be totally good for me. Sometimes I need to shut up my internal editor and just get some words on the page. Because really awesomesauce things can happen that way that I KNOW would never happen otherwise.2) "Research" and "Plotting" can = "Procrastination." I am NOT saying that I shouldn't research or plot, but when I sit down to write and spend the whole time doodling about things that might possibly happen in the sequel to the book I haven't even finished yet, it is NOT GOOD.
3) It is possible to write a WHOLE lot more than I do now. If there was one thing I learned from NaNo, it's that when I make myself find the time, I find it. Even in the middle of the rest of life there IS time for writing.
4) There are really awesome authors out there. Okay, so I already knew that, but with the chance to meet some of my writing heroes as well as some authors I had never really heard of or read, I have come to one conclusion. We authors are pretty much the coolest people ever.
 |
| Crazy people tend to gravitate to each other :D |
5) You meet the right people at the right time. I met a lot of new people this year, both in person and online and each one of them has come into my life for a specific reason. Some of them it was only for a season - maybe even just that one encounter. Some of them are friendships that could last me a lifetime. I am incredibly grateful for every single one of them.
6) There is NO substitute for a good book. Okay, I knew that already, too, but having lost a lot of my leisure reading time, I can tell you that I adore those moments when I can curl up and lose myself in a book I'm reading just because I want to. Each book I read becomes a part of who I am and reminds me that it is still possible to write something good and fun and worthwhile, no matter how much has been written before.
7) TV shows can sometimes feel like a good book. You know, when the writing and the casting and the acting all gels and you get that really special show that pulls you in and makes you believe that it's real and you cry and laugh and want to LIVE with the characters. It doesn't happen that often, but I've discovered a few shows like that this year. Some are fluffier than others, but each one of them has impacted my story-telling abilities. It's still the written word, even if we're receiving it through a different medium.
8) Sometimes you need a break from the internet. I am blessed in that I have easy and ready access to the web pretty much any time I want it. We have WiFi at home and it's at school too. Then we left on Christmas day and visited my Grandma and Papa who have no computer much less interwebs. It was a much needed and surprisingly refreshing break. I'm glad to be back, but I think I will definitely need to take a week off here or there to keep myself alive.
9) You learn something SO much better when you teach it to someone else. I spent 30 years of my life trying to figure out how on earth to use commas. Then I taught college freshmen and we went over it and now I remember almost all of the rules and I'm actually able to give the reason as to why a comma should or should not be used. Does that mean I always do it right? No, I screw up that no comma before a coordinating conjunction that's followed by a dependent phrase rule ALL the time. But now I can go back and see that it's wrong.
10) Never say Never. I told myself I would NEVER in a million years write a novel featuring a vampire. Cue SNI with the faeries and the vampires and the gnomes and everything. And cue me loving every minute of it. It's not like most vampire novels and they're not really normal vampires either. I mean they are, but don't go thinking Sookie Stackhouse or Twilight or anything. It's more about the faeries and the faerie tales. But what I'm trying to say is, if I'd stuck to that vow this WIP would be a LOT less interesting and I'd be having a lot less fun right now. Keep your mind open to the possibilities or else you might miss something!And I'll stop it there. A lot of these are writing related, but I think I've done the most growing in how I approach my writing this year so there you have it. Thank you to everyone who has helped to to learn and grow and realize that I'm not alone on this crazy journey whether it's writing or reading or grading a thousand papers - you all rock socks.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
And There was Great Joy and Rejoicing (and a lot of sleep)
I have a grand total of
51,356
words and a full rough draft. Of course there are GAPING plot holes and a number of things that have to change completely because I discovered things (like the fairy godmother's role) as I went along.
But I have a story arc and I discovered SO many things about this story that wouldn't have happened the same way if I hadn't had to just push through and keep writing. A lot of good things.
You bloggy and Twitter people are totally what kept me going.
A random conversation on Twitter led me to a MAJOR plot change, that turned into the catalyst for the climax of the story. Gnomes FTW!
I would like to give a giant thanks to Lindsey aka Dangerous with a Pen and Darby Karchut for being what felt like my own personal cheerleaders. You two commented on pretty much every random post I threw up over this crazy month and I do believe that it is time to reveal the NaNo cheerleader costume, Lindsey *wink wink* Thank you so much for believing that I could do it!
That goes for all of you *group hug!*
Um, yes, my main characters are Layla, Tavares and Erandell. How did you guess?
I like how this one kind of looks like a tree!
And that's a wrap! Now I put my novel aside for a few weeks so I can do real life stuff and survive the end of the semester. At least, that's the plan. I have a feeling it's going to keep whispering at me until I play with it :D
Congrats to all of you that finished! And to all of you that attempted! I didn't even come close last year, but I felt so proud of the work I did, knowing it was more than I would have written without NaNo!
See you in December!
Friday, November 19, 2010
NaNoWriMo Update: Day 15-17
I haven't been avoiding you because I haven't been writing. I've actually been avoiding you because I HAVE been writing. Night continues to be pretty much the only time that I can fit my NaNoWriMo time in and usually by the time I write as much as I can, my eyes are crossing and my brain has ceased to function and if I came over here to update you would probably get sentences like:
Tuesday Layla gnomed a magic chimney wing and kiwi up the secret asparagus cook.
So you can see why I haven't posted. But I wanted to let you know that it's going.
I passed the half way mark, which completely shocked me. I almost caught up (only 800 words away) and then I flamed out again (stupid research paper). I've introduced the villain, though he hasn't really done anything yet... that we know of. And am now in the middle of a gnome invasion, which is adding a lot of tension, hero development and word count. So all good things.
Quick look at my standings and then I'm off to tap out 100 words or so before my brain falls out.
OH! I also discovered that I can actually TYPE IN MY SLEEP! Isn't that amazing?! The only thing is, that everything I write, though it is real words, makes no sense whatsoever. I was also too out of it to realize that those words needed to be saved for posterity so I could show you all how ridiculous my subconscious is and I deleted the sections before saving and closing - most of which I think I did in my sleep too.
anyhoo.
I am at: 27,968
Should be: 30,006
2,038 words behind
BUT!
17 STRAIGHT DAYS OF WRITING SOMETHING
That is pretty cool people. Pretty. Cool.
Tuesday Layla gnomed a magic chimney wing and kiwi up the secret asparagus cook.
So you can see why I haven't posted. But I wanted to let you know that it's going.
I passed the half way mark, which completely shocked me. I almost caught up (only 800 words away) and then I flamed out again (stupid research paper). I've introduced the villain, though he hasn't really done anything yet... that we know of. And am now in the middle of a gnome invasion, which is adding a lot of tension, hero development and word count. So all good things.
Quick look at my standings and then I'm off to tap out 100 words or so before my brain falls out.
OH! I also discovered that I can actually TYPE IN MY SLEEP! Isn't that amazing?! The only thing is, that everything I write, though it is real words, makes no sense whatsoever. I was also too out of it to realize that those words needed to be saved for posterity so I could show you all how ridiculous my subconscious is and I deleted the sections before saving and closing - most of which I think I did in my sleep too.
anyhoo.
I am at: 27,968
Should be: 30,006
2,038 words behind
BUT!
17 STRAIGHT DAYS OF WRITING SOMETHING
That is pretty cool people. Pretty. Cool.
Monday, November 15, 2010
NaNoWriMo Update: Day 14
Great day today, even though a cold decided to move in and settle in my nasal passages.
Grrr...
Recap so I can sleep :)
Words today: 3,961 WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
Words Total: 23,120
Word Goal: 23,338
Words Behind: 218 SWEET MUFFINS!!!!!!
And I would totally make those up right now, but I need to be healthy for the rest of the month! So sleep is calling!
Thanks for being here and cheering me on! It means more than you will ever know so hugs and kisses to you all! (the chocolate ones of course) :D
Grrr...
Recap so I can sleep :)
Words today: 3,961 WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
Words Total: 23,120
Word Goal: 23,338
Words Behind: 218 SWEET MUFFINS!!!!!!
And I would totally make those up right now, but I need to be healthy for the rest of the month! So sleep is calling!
Thanks for being here and cheering me on! It means more than you will ever know so hugs and kisses to you all! (the chocolate ones of course) :D
Sunday, November 14, 2010
NaNoWriMo Update: Day 12 & 13
I didn't update yesterday, not because I didn't write, but because my eyes were literally burning and I just saved and slept.
This novel is most probably the WORST thing I have ever written in my entire life. There is way too much telling. The characters are wandering around aimlessly, I have new characters bursting in in very strange places and ways. But it is ridiculously fun to write. Will anything come out of it? Maybe, maybe not. As they're rambling I'm getting to know their stories and their personalities and after November is over, maybe next month, maybe next year, maybe a couple of years from now, I really think I'll come back and see if I can make something decent out of it. For now I'm just enjoying the flow of consciousness thing that's happening and the delight of actually being writing again.
Quick recap:
Words today: 1973
Words total: 19159
Word goal: 21671
Words behind: 2512
Really not as bad as it should be considering everything else I have going on. Tomorrow is another day, as they say! Yeah NaNo!
This novel is most probably the WORST thing I have ever written in my entire life. There is way too much telling. The characters are wandering around aimlessly, I have new characters bursting in in very strange places and ways. But it is ridiculously fun to write. Will anything come out of it? Maybe, maybe not. As they're rambling I'm getting to know their stories and their personalities and after November is over, maybe next month, maybe next year, maybe a couple of years from now, I really think I'll come back and see if I can make something decent out of it. For now I'm just enjoying the flow of consciousness thing that's happening and the delight of actually being writing again.
Quick recap:
Words today: 1973
Words total: 19159
Word goal: 21671
Words behind: 2512
Really not as bad as it should be considering everything else I have going on. Tomorrow is another day, as they say! Yeah NaNo!
Friday, November 12, 2010
NaNoWriMo Update: Day 11
Happy 11/11 and I hope you had a great Veterans' Day. I would like to take a moment and thank all of those who have served and are serving their country in the armed forces. You have a special place in my heart and I am extremely grateful for all of you that have and continue to put your lives on the line so that we can enjoy the great freedoms we have.
Special remembrance to my grandfather and a dear gentleman from our church, both who have passed away. Also thoughts to my brother-in-law, his brother and many other people that I know who serve in many different ways.
Is that enough space? I feel almost flippant talking about word count after that.
But things are looking up in my WiP! I only had about an hour, but I managed to get some juices flowing again. woo hoo!
Quick stats -
Goal: 18337
Mine: 16035
Behind: 2302
Words TODAY: 2112 *happy dance*
How's everyone else holding up? Need chocolate? Caffeine? Plot bunnies?
Special remembrance to my grandfather and a dear gentleman from our church, both who have passed away. Also thoughts to my brother-in-law, his brother and many other people that I know who serve in many different ways.
Is that enough space? I feel almost flippant talking about word count after that.
But things are looking up in my WiP! I only had about an hour, but I managed to get some juices flowing again. woo hoo!
Quick stats -
Goal: 18337
Mine: 16035
Behind: 2302
Words TODAY: 2112 *happy dance*
How's everyone else holding up? Need chocolate? Caffeine? Plot bunnies?
Thursday, November 11, 2010
NaNoWriMo Update: Day 10
1/3 of the way through the month already, but not quite 1/3 of the way through my word count.
Just hit 13,923 words. I should be at 16,570 to be on track, but this week has been a killer for lack of writing time and motivation.
In more EXCITING news! I figured out a giant PLOT HOLE! So that should help to move things along. I just need an extra hour or so...
Anyone have a spare time-turner I can borrow?
Just hit 13,923 words. I should be at 16,570 to be on track, but this week has been a killer for lack of writing time and motivation.
In more EXCITING news! I figured out a giant PLOT HOLE! So that should help to move things along. I just need an extra hour or so...
Anyone have a spare time-turner I can borrow?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)