No NaNo

Hi everyone.  I know my last posts have been optimistic about trying to do the June version of NaNoWriMo.  The truth is, I haven't started it, and probably just won't do it.  I'm not going to go into any details, but something came up, and I have not been able to muster up whatever it is that I need to write since.  I'm just trying to figure stuff out.

I am not going to give up on this, though.  In fact, there will probably still be a good window of time for me to do the 50k words in 30 consecutive days.  It just may not fall neatly into one month.  I hope to do my own version of the challenge, then.

Sorry, I know this is vague.  I'm still going to keep writing.  I just need some time off first.

Writing in OBX

I have been in the outer banks in North Carolina for just a few days now.  Although I decided not to write anything on my travel day, I am proud to say that on my first full day that I did, in fact, meet my 1,000 words goal.  I slipped on my second day because I kept falling asleep, but since today is cloudy I've already written 600 words this morning.  Today may be a good day to rent kayaks.

Writing here has been a little challenging.  I'm not short on ideas, but with everyone here it is difficult to want to close myself off to what everyone else is doing and focus on writing.  It hasn't stopped me, though, and everyone here is encouraging.  One of our family friends who came with us has some experience writing, and has offered to proofread my work (when I no longer think that it would be embarrassing to hand it off to someone else).  My dad has been trying to encourage me by showing me a novel he loves that became a big hit solely through self-publishing and word-of-mouth (just in case no publisher wants my story WHEN I manage to finish it).

It may be because of all the potential distractions that I am jumping around a little in my writing.  Normally I write more chronologically, but I've been leaving these blank spots where I'm  not really sure what happens.  It makes me uneasy even though I know it isn't a bad thing.  It could help me out in the long-run, because I'm still writing things out and, who knows, maybe I'm just writing these particular parts because I'm just particularly inspired about them.

Something kind of interesting is that somehow two characters just invented themselves this morning.  I hadn't planned to add them in, and I don't really have a good grasp of who they are yet.  I'm not really sure where else I can fit them in to the story, so I may have to make some changes to my outline.

I should get back to writing.  Between Jordan, my friends and I cooking dinner tonight and my brother arriving this evening, I need to get this done now.

total word count: ~6,000

Impending NaNoWriMo

Despite my last post's attempt to keep writing through my cold I was not able to keep it up.   The cold just would not die and on top of that I lost my voice for a good week and a half over it.  When I had the time to write I could not get myself to stay focused on the task.  I did do some writing yesterday, though, now that I am feeling almost better.

I'll be going to the outer banks in North Carolina this Sunday for a week.  I'm very much looking forward to it for obvious reasons (a break from work, time with friends and family, who doesn't like the beach?) but I'm also looking forward to having a full week without 40 hours to keep me from writing as much.  Yes, I do plan to make the most of walking on the beach, swimming in the ocean, and visiting light houses, but I'm not going to be outside enjoying the weather the whole time.  So, I am setting myself a goal that I hope is reasonable.  I am going to write 1,000 words a day.  I can probably do that in about an hour if I don't get caught up in editing myself as I go.

I have a couple reasons for wanting to do this.  I am completely intimidated about maintaining 1,667 words a day if I plan on doing the summer version of NaNoWriMo in June, so this would be a good warm up.  I hope.  On the other hand it could make me wear down on writing three weeks into June, before I can reach the 50,000-word goal.  We'll see.  I'm hoping this time off will help me develop the writing habits I will need to make 50,000 words possible for me.  Secondly, I would love to break 10,000 words before NaNo starts.  The way I see it, if I have 10,000 words beforehand and then add 50k to that, I will be 2/3 of the way to my goal.  I know that is a very tall order, but like everyone has been saying at my writing group (I went to another NaNo group last night) you just can't care about writing something that is polished.  It can be a pile of crap.  That is the point of editing... AFTER you finish the draft.  Luckily Jordan is 100% supportive of my writing, because if I do succeed in completing NaNo I'll be busy for 10 hours every work day.

 total word count: 4,500

... I can't help noticing how low my word count is for how far I am into the year and feel like I will need some sort of miracle to get through NaNo.

thank you, numbing lozenges

I was going to get a good chunk of writing done this weekend.  I did get some done, but not as much as I had hoped.  I've started coming down with a nasty cold.  I haven't been sick at all for about a year now, so I suppose I thought I had made it through the year unscathed.  It figures that I didn't make it.  When you work with toddlers you just can't escape it.

I did push myself, though.  I was afraid that if I didn't it would be too easy for me not to write tomorrow, or the next day.  I need to keep going, even if it is only a little bit at a time.  Sore throat be damned, I was going to write something.  Or else I only ended up writing because Jordan helped me pick out numbing throat lozenges... grateful as I am I'd like to think I would have written anyway.

I think I got past the tricky spot in the story.  The hangover comparison helped, or it at least satisfied me enough that I didn't feel too much nagging at me to fix it.  I've got something for now, and I'll fix it during future edits.  Right now I'm very much looking forward to my main character realizing something is completely wrong and starting to put the pieces together.  I've only just started that.  I won't need to be skipping scenes for a while.

My one concern now deals with my ending.  Luckily I've got a long way to go before I have to write it, so I can think about how I can make it better... but there isn't really any major way I can change it.  I've been discussing it with my writing buddy, and she agrees that there isn't really any other way to end it... but I want something happier.  It's a little more bittersweet than I wanted.  But hey, I've read other books with much sadder endings than mine, and I still loved them.  I'll just have to be super careful when I finally get to that stage of my novel.

I'd write more but my computer screen is giving me a headache.

words written today: ~1,100 words
total word count: 3,550 (1/25 of the way to 90,000!)

NaNoWriMo Writing Group

So I've attended my first writing group session.  I went to the bookstore with my laptop but at first couldn't even figure out who were the NaNoWriMo-ers.  I should have expected it'd be a favored spot for students studying for their finals.  There were laptops everywhere.  Turns out I missed the sign that clearly displayed the NaNo symbol.  I was intimidated at first (let's face it, all of them have much more experience than I have), but everyone was extremely welcoming.  A few of the people had already written several full-length books and novellas (at various stages of editing and revisions) and a few have self-published books available. I'm pretty impressed, and would love to reach that point someday.

The particular scene that may have derailed my earlier attempt to write this novel came up at the session.  Considering that I've never woken up from a coma before, I'd had difficulty writing anything I was happy with.  I got a few suggestions that should give me some direction, some of which involved me recalling what it feels like waking up after a night of heavy drinking... or reliving the experience if I need a reminder what it is like.  All for the sake of art, of course.  Seriously though, the comparison a terrible hangover gave me something to work with.  No need to get drunk.  Also on my to-do list: watch Life on Mars and Sliding Doors.  I'm wary of the former because it is a TV series, and those do terrible things to my productivity.  They take too much time and I tend to watch multiple episodes back-to-back.  But, if it might give me some inspiration for my book...

I'd intended to come home afterwards and do some good writing, but by the time I got home, then got my car back from the shop, blah blah blah, I ended up not really having the time.  Whoops.  I swear I've got the best intentions still!  I've been reviewing the notes I'd made on all my characters, and after that I'm going back to coma-scene.  If that fails, I'll just have to accept temporary defeat and come back to it later.  At the very least, the weekend is coming up.  I may be going to a Kentucky Derby party, but other than that I'm hoping I'll get to write.

Getting back on that horse

I know, I know, it has been a while.  I got distracted.  I blame trying to watch every episode of Dexter in existence.  No more though.  I have decided that until I get a good chunk of my book done, I won't be playing catch-up with any TV shows or even reading any more novels (unless to observe technique).  Those were also an issue.  It may mean stopping halfway though what I've already started reading, but I really just want to get going again.

A couple changes.  I have recently found myself a writing buddy.  I found her on the forums at nanowrimo.com.  We're still learning about what each other is trying to write and accomplish, but I'm already optimistic that we will make a good match.

For those of you who don't know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month.  The idea is that during the month of November, participants attempt to write 50,000 words in thirty days.  The site has all sorts of tools to help the writers, mainly in the forums.  People list characters they thought up but have no use for so other writers can 'adopt' them if they so choose, as well as titles, character quirks, anecdotes/childhood stories, first sentences, character weaknesses, etc.  Other forums offer advice if people get stuck or have a problem with their story.  Essentially, everyone tries to help each other, so it is a great resource during that month.  I've always wanted to do it, but I've never really put aside the time to do it.

Before you point out to me that November is six months away, they do have other events.  November is the main one, however they have recently started doing 'summer camps,' which are essentially the same thing over the summer.  I'm assuming they aren't as well attended, but I may use them to boost me into a lot of writing.  Fifty thousand words may not be enough to make my novel, but it would certainly get me underway.  The first 'camp' starts in June.  I'll probably write a little before I get into the 50k for June.

If I can write 50k words in a month that will be some sort of miracle.  To do that I wouldn't be able to edit as I go, which is a bad habit but oh so horribly tempting.  Maybe that high goal will get me on track if I don't have the time to edit.  I remember writing a novella for my Senior Out of School Experience and, procrastinator that I was, I was stuck writing about 10,000 words the night before it was due.  Surely I can manage 1,667 words a day after that... only I'd have to do it every day.

Another feature NaNo offers:  regional writing groups.  The site allows people to find other people in their area so they can get together to socialize, write, and get help from each other.  I've been getting emails for a while, now, about the occasional meetings they have at the local Barnes and Noble, and the next one is today.  I think I'm going to try going.  I know that if I'm going to finish something as huge as a novel I am going to need support from other people with writing experience... might as well immerse myself in the writing community.

I also decided to buy a book called Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maas.  It came highly recommended on a few different websites and was written by someone in the publishing business, so he knows what publishers are looking for.  It has made good arguments so far on what makes a book more more appealing.  I'm glad to see that I've been doing a lot of things the 'right' way (according to him), but I've also found a lot to think about that I hope to apply to my writing.  Granted, it's about how to get published more than how to write better, but I'm kind of counting on that they are for the most part two sides of the same coin.  That seems to be the case so far.

Day 8: Changing my technique

I apologize in advance if this entry is not perfectly written.  As I write this, I'm lying on my couch where my cat has decided that my right arm would make a cozy resting spot.  I don't have the heart to move him.

 My last writing session was a little more productive.  I suppose I've had to retrain myself to sit down and do it and also remember what works best for me.  I don't know why I didn't immediately start doing this earlier:  I do have a general outline to tell me what will happen through the entire story, but that is not the only one I like to use.  When I sit down to start a scene or a chapter I like to create one specifically for what I'm about to write.  This one goes into more detail and includes more snippets of conversation.  The reason I like to do this is pretty much the same reason why I'm trying not to edit as I go.  I don't want to bog myself down with thinking up the best way to write it.

When I try to write in full paragraphs I usually will close my eyes and trying to put myself in my characters' shoes.  What are they thinking now?  What might bug them?  What are they trying to do?  That certainly needs to be done, but sometimes it slows me down some and makes writing a little tougher if I start out that way, at least for me.   If I flesh out exactly what happens in a scene first I can get it all out before I forget my ideas or get too worn down trying to write something polished.

My dialogue in particularly improves with this method.  I write that best if I write it fast, at the speed that the exchange might realistically happen.  It gets unnatural if I slow it down by typing out what the characters are doing physically at the moment or the emotions they experience.  Plus, this gives me the added bonus of making my dialogue a more realistic length.  Otherwise my exchanges tend to be just a few lines long each, mainly because they become too succinct (let's face it, none of us are very good at getting straight to the point when we speak.  It just doesn't happen.)  I don't want my characters to talk in too many circles, but somehow I find balance here.


Then I write it out with more flow, connecting the bits of conversation into a larger picture, anchoring it into a physical world, adding more details.  I can close my eyes and see how it should really happen... and change whatever I may realize does not work after all.

I should note that this might not be the best method for everyone to use.  If I have learned anything in my time writing so far it is that everyone has their own strategies that work for them.  Some people don't plan their stories at all.  Some people write their best work with music that matches the mood they are trying to depict while others (me) either get horribly distracted by it or else forget there is even anything playing.

I am not done writing for the day.  I've got other things to do, but I'm planning on writing a little more tonight before I go to bed.

Shortly after I decided to write this novel I talked about it with a few of my friends.  One of them told me that she had also finally decided to do something she'd been considering for a long time: start a YouTube channel.  Well, she has put up her introductory video and I am very much looking forward to seeing what she does with it.  You can check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seWLkH8fnB4&feature=plcp&context=C3337ad1UDOEgsToPDskJEiUce3jusu3plyi3eMoZC

I think I have also figured out something else I'd like to accomplish with this blog.  During the years when I was only wishing I was writing a novel I visited site after site about writing.  Some were inspirational, some gave advice, some focused on writing technique and others on publishing.  I am going to try to pass this information on to those who read my blog with the hope that anyone else out there wants to try to write something and either does not have the courage to try or else does not know how to start can also take this leap.  My link for today will take you to a TED talk.  I'm obsessed with these.  This one is a presentation by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love.  Since the video on the TED talk site does not seem to be working, here it is on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=86x-u-tz0MA

Phew.  Long post and my cat is still balanced on my arm.

Words written today (so far): 938
Total word count: 2469 (1/36 of the way to 90,000!)