Just over 12 days and less than 39,000 words to go. Oh, I can do it... I'll be completely exhausted and worn by the end, but I'll do it.
This year's novel is more of a challenge than I'd ever imagined. My characters are finally developing some, well, characteristics and personalities and my plot is starting to waver back towards normality, whatever that may be. I've been forcing myself to sit down every night and write for at least an hour, something I didn't think I'd actually have to do.
A friend of mine (hey, Kris!) brought up the topic of Nano in a class and the prof, a guy I've known for years, blew the idea of writing a novel in a month off. Sure, the method is a little weak, but I've said before that this crazy, hectic process is an exercise in determination. And I'm not taking it as seriously as some other people out there - this is, to me, just a month to experiment, to learn, to work out kinks with my writing.
Even if I don't finish this novel, I'm happy that I started it. I'm hoping it'll be a kick-start to my fledgling writing career... and if it's not, so be it. Not pinning all my hopes on this at all.
I've got two days off this week - in a row, again! - and 75% of Sunday and all day Monday, so lots of writing to be had, hopefully. I'm aiming to be around 35K by Monday night - somehow, with my erratic plot and very bad grammar/tense use, I'll be there.
Check out my novel here.
Almost mid-way...
In terms of the month, not the novel.
It's been pretty rough so far - mostly my fault, though. I've had a year to get ready for this month and I did nothing to prepare for it. I'm not a big fan of outlines and plotting ahead of time, and what I've done off the top of my head in the past has turned out reasonably... readable. But this 'novel' is going from bad to worse to not-so-bad to worse than ever.
I'm sitting at almost 7K, which leaves me with 18 days to crank out 43K. Not impossible, but it's going to be a challenge due to work and the fact that I'm losing interest in continuing with it. But - and this is so incredibly important I can't stress it enough - I'm going to finish this monstrosity by midnight on Nov. 30 because I have to.
This is more than a exercise in making deadlines or proving that I can write what may pass as a novel - this whole month is becoming a way for me to purge bad writing (and methods of writing) from my system and to get back into the motions of writing. Sure, pressuring myself to produce a 50K novel in a month may seem a bit extreme, but when you've gone a year between writing because you've put up a mental block, sometimes you need to have all the pressure in the world to be sitting on you to realize what you're doing right, wrong and what you shouldn't ever touch again with a 10ft pole.
On December 1, I'm going to print out my 'novel' and tuck it away with my other ones, and I'll likely only pull it out for a laugh or to share with friends who haven't been to my website. I'm also planning on reading a lot, and re-reading the books that I've enjoyed in the past. What I won't do is stop writing. I can't go another year without writing for no good reason - if I want to do this for a living, I have to practice, and that's what this month is - it's practice.
I'm going to try to figure out another backstory as to why I took my main character's parents away from them and how three old women came to live in their house overnight - believe me, it's way harder than it sounds, what with trying to keep it from sounding too teenager-y or sci-fi - and hopefully get a few hundred words plunked down before I hit the hay.
It's been pretty rough so far - mostly my fault, though. I've had a year to get ready for this month and I did nothing to prepare for it. I'm not a big fan of outlines and plotting ahead of time, and what I've done off the top of my head in the past has turned out reasonably... readable. But this 'novel' is going from bad to worse to not-so-bad to worse than ever.
I'm sitting at almost 7K, which leaves me with 18 days to crank out 43K. Not impossible, but it's going to be a challenge due to work and the fact that I'm losing interest in continuing with it. But - and this is so incredibly important I can't stress it enough - I'm going to finish this monstrosity by midnight on Nov. 30 because I have to.
This is more than a exercise in making deadlines or proving that I can write what may pass as a novel - this whole month is becoming a way for me to purge bad writing (and methods of writing) from my system and to get back into the motions of writing. Sure, pressuring myself to produce a 50K novel in a month may seem a bit extreme, but when you've gone a year between writing because you've put up a mental block, sometimes you need to have all the pressure in the world to be sitting on you to realize what you're doing right, wrong and what you shouldn't ever touch again with a 10ft pole.
On December 1, I'm going to print out my 'novel' and tuck it away with my other ones, and I'll likely only pull it out for a laugh or to share with friends who haven't been to my website. I'm also planning on reading a lot, and re-reading the books that I've enjoyed in the past. What I won't do is stop writing. I can't go another year without writing for no good reason - if I want to do this for a living, I have to practice, and that's what this month is - it's practice.
I'm going to try to figure out another backstory as to why I took my main character's parents away from them and how three old women came to live in their house overnight - believe me, it's way harder than it sounds, what with trying to keep it from sounding too teenager-y or sci-fi - and hopefully get a few hundred words plunked down before I hit the hay.
Two days off...
Tons of writing to be done. I'm aiming for 20,000 by the end of the weekend. That's only 14,900 +/- from where I'm at right now.
I have all day tomorrow - with the exception of the half hour or so I'll spend helping my sister give our dog a bath - and most of Friday - with the exception of lunch with my mom and a visit to the vet with our dog - to write.
And come hell or high water, I'm writing. I don't get two days in a row off very often and I'm going to use them as best I can.
This is how sad my life is - two days off back in the day would mean a party or two... these days, I want to spend them resuscitating my novel.
Sigh.
I have all day tomorrow - with the exception of the half hour or so I'll spend helping my sister give our dog a bath - and most of Friday - with the exception of lunch with my mom and a visit to the vet with our dog - to write.
And come hell or high water, I'm writing. I don't get two days in a row off very often and I'm going to use them as best I can.
This is how sad my life is - two days off back in the day would mean a party or two... these days, I want to spend them resuscitating my novel.
Sigh.
A wee bit premature...
I think I can salvage what I've done to this point.
I'd completely overlooked the fact that this isn't going to be anywhere near a good, readable novel at this point.
That's what March is for.
Back to the grind - aiming for another 2K tonight.
Update Check out what I've done on my website - not quite 2K words, but it's something, right?
I'd completely overlooked the fact that this isn't going to be anywhere near a good, readable novel at this point.
That's what March is for.
Back to the grind - aiming for another 2K tonight.
Update Check out what I've done on my website - not quite 2K words, but it's something, right?
Sink that puppy
No, not real puppies.
After a weekend of consideration, I'm killing what I've done for this year's Nano.
But - and I'm surprised at myself for this one - I'm going to start anew this afternoon. I'll likely keep the same characters (at least Merk and Nannie) but the lives they were leading were just not what I had in mind at all and I couldn't forsee going anywhere good with them.
I'm going to keep what I've done up to this point on my website - both to give myself encouragement and to show that yes, I can write as much shit as anyone else.
I'm going to try to do a brief - ultra brief, really - outline as to what I want to do and where I want to go. I think I'm going to try to swing back to my comfy home of slightly-dystopic fiction from the world of mainstream fiction I was aiming for.
After a weekend of consideration, I'm killing what I've done for this year's Nano.
But - and I'm surprised at myself for this one - I'm going to start anew this afternoon. I'll likely keep the same characters (at least Merk and Nannie) but the lives they were leading were just not what I had in mind at all and I couldn't forsee going anywhere good with them.
I'm going to keep what I've done up to this point on my website - both to give myself encouragement and to show that yes, I can write as much shit as anyone else.
I'm going to try to do a brief - ultra brief, really - outline as to what I want to do and where I want to go. I think I'm going to try to swing back to my comfy home of slightly-dystopic fiction from the world of mainstream fiction I was aiming for.
Sigh
Well, I've done it. I've mangled my novel almost beyond salvagability (if that's even a word).
I don't know where I went wrong, but I'm further off the path I wanted to be on than I was before I started today.
When I started today, I thought to myself, 'Hey, you should do a bit of backstory work here.' And I did. And what's resulted is bad, bad, bad. I was talking to a friend about it and described it to him as having dug a small hole with what I'd written earlier this week and with what I've done today, I'm so far into this hole that I can't see out.
He did come up with an interesting suggestion, though. Stop with these characters right now and start with a whole new set. Eventually, merge them. I may not go that way exactly, but I'm still looking for a place to set the three Macbeth witch-like women somewhere, so maybe finishing up the backstory on the Baley clan and then moving on to the witches might be the way to go. See, at some point, and I really don't know when I'm going to reach this point, I plan on bringing the witches directly into the Baley children's world (they won't be children at that point, but young-ish adults). How to get there may be the problem.
What I'm seriously considering is something I don't do often - plotting the rest of the novel out just to see how, and if, I can get back on track. It'll be a challenge, and I don't have much time to do it, but I'll think about it tomorrow while I'm flipping eggs and buttering toast at work.
Check out what I've done so far at my website.
I don't know where I went wrong, but I'm further off the path I wanted to be on than I was before I started today.
When I started today, I thought to myself, 'Hey, you should do a bit of backstory work here.' And I did. And what's resulted is bad, bad, bad. I was talking to a friend about it and described it to him as having dug a small hole with what I'd written earlier this week and with what I've done today, I'm so far into this hole that I can't see out.
He did come up with an interesting suggestion, though. Stop with these characters right now and start with a whole new set. Eventually, merge them. I may not go that way exactly, but I'm still looking for a place to set the three Macbeth witch-like women somewhere, so maybe finishing up the backstory on the Baley clan and then moving on to the witches might be the way to go. See, at some point, and I really don't know when I'm going to reach this point, I plan on bringing the witches directly into the Baley children's world (they won't be children at that point, but young-ish adults). How to get there may be the problem.
What I'm seriously considering is something I don't do often - plotting the rest of the novel out just to see how, and if, I can get back on track. It'll be a challenge, and I don't have much time to do it, but I'll think about it tomorrow while I'm flipping eggs and buttering toast at work.
Check out what I've done so far at my website.
Ahh... crap
I've managed to bind myself into a plot corner. I have one of two options: keep going or get rid of what I've mangled. If I keep going, this is so going to turn into a teen/romance novel; if I get rid of it, I lose a few hundred words.
I think I'll get rid of it. I had an idea of where I wanted to go (or at least one of the places I wanted to go on the road to getting there) and took a completely wrong turn somewhere.
Gaaaahhh!!
I think I'll get rid of it. I had an idea of where I wanted to go (or at least one of the places I wanted to go on the road to getting there) and took a completely wrong turn somewhere.
Gaaaahhh!!
Starting a nice pile of dirt
No writing today - again. What I'm doing tonight, in preparation for my three to four hour writing spree (probably more) tomorrow is a whack of research.
I'm working on coming up with full names, including middle, for my characters so I can figure out more of their personalities. I'm also doing some research into the three witches from MacBeth.
It may seem like I'm procrastinating to the extreme, but I'm doing it all tonight so I'm not sitting here tomorrow writing, stopping to research, writing, stopping to research. I'm semi-hoping to break the 10,000 mark tomorrow, but realistically, I could see hitting 8,000, depending on how many distractions come up tomorrow.
Gotta get back to the grind...
I'm working on coming up with full names, including middle, for my characters so I can figure out more of their personalities. I'm also doing some research into the three witches from MacBeth.
It may seem like I'm procrastinating to the extreme, but I'm doing it all tonight so I'm not sitting here tomorrow writing, stopping to research, writing, stopping to research. I'm semi-hoping to break the 10,000 mark tomorrow, but realistically, I could see hitting 8,000, depending on how many distractions come up tomorrow.
Gotta get back to the grind...
Grabbing the shovel to start the hole
No writing today. Not a word. I have nothing (seriously, nothing) to do at work tomorrow, so I'm going to take my notebook and hopefully come up with some ideas.
Definitely going to try to get 4-5000 more done tomorrow night. I've got an idea on where to go with the next stage.
Check out what I've done so far at my website.
Definitely going to try to get 4-5000 more done tomorrow night. I've got an idea on where to go with the next stage.
Check out what I've done so far at my website.
Baby steps
Okay.
I've decided not to post my novel here because... well, I'm not that technologically adept and can't figure out after a week of trying how to make my posts condensed. You know the kind - where there's a brief introduction and then a 'Read more' link that you click to read the rest of the post. Yeah, I can't get it to work.
So I've posted, and will be posting, what I've written so far to my website. This blog will be used mainly for me to bitch and moan about how terrible of a writer I am and to try to drum up readership of my novel and other writing.
Now, on to business. The first day was yucky - that's the only way I can think to describe it. By 7pm last night, seconds before I started to write, I still had no idea what I was going to do, outside of my infamous 'one character name'. So I just started, and believe me, what resulted is so far from good, it's not funny.
In everything I've ever written, be it short stories, novels, essays or news stories from my days as a student journalist, the beginning is easily the worst part. I may know what I want to say, but I have no idea how to get there - I could have a map and still get lost. If you take a peek at what I wrote last night, you'll see (or at least I do) that I have some good ideas, but I just haven't gone anywhere with them or dropped them in the name of moving the story along. I did 2000+ words last night - I still have 48,000+/- to go; where am I trying to get to so fast?
One thing I like about Nano is that, for me, it brings to light some very big weaknesses in my writing. Beginnings, dialogue (although, that is more hit-and-miss, if you ask me), plot and themes are all big problems I have to deal with. I don't think taking a class and learning from someone else would benefit me - trial and error will probably be the best method.
I'm not going to write today, but I will write tomorrow and Thursday and Friday (I'm not writing tonight because I have to take care of some iTunes business {setting up a proper playlist ;)} and the cursed election has me checking CNN every three seconds). I'm not writing on Saturdays at all this month because I work and I go out with my dad and sister in the evenings and I'm usually working at 7am the next day. So... if you break down 50,000 by 30 days, that's 1,667 words per day. For me, with my 6-days a week maximum writing, that's 1,923 at least a day. And I have every Friday off and alternating Mondays, so I can pull late-nighters to fill up word counts if I need to. My biggest challenge won't be lack of time - it'll probably end up being lack of will to finish this cursed novel.
Off to fix my iTunes playlist and check the results... agai.
I've decided not to post my novel here because... well, I'm not that technologically adept and can't figure out after a week of trying how to make my posts condensed. You know the kind - where there's a brief introduction and then a 'Read more' link that you click to read the rest of the post. Yeah, I can't get it to work.
So I've posted, and will be posting, what I've written so far to my website. This blog will be used mainly for me to bitch and moan about how terrible of a writer I am and to try to drum up readership of my novel and other writing.
Now, on to business. The first day was yucky - that's the only way I can think to describe it. By 7pm last night, seconds before I started to write, I still had no idea what I was going to do, outside of my infamous 'one character name'. So I just started, and believe me, what resulted is so far from good, it's not funny.
In everything I've ever written, be it short stories, novels, essays or news stories from my days as a student journalist, the beginning is easily the worst part. I may know what I want to say, but I have no idea how to get there - I could have a map and still get lost. If you take a peek at what I wrote last night, you'll see (or at least I do) that I have some good ideas, but I just haven't gone anywhere with them or dropped them in the name of moving the story along. I did 2000+ words last night - I still have 48,000+/- to go; where am I trying to get to so fast?
One thing I like about Nano is that, for me, it brings to light some very big weaknesses in my writing. Beginnings, dialogue (although, that is more hit-and-miss, if you ask me), plot and themes are all big problems I have to deal with. I don't think taking a class and learning from someone else would benefit me - trial and error will probably be the best method.
I'm not going to write today, but I will write tomorrow and Thursday and Friday (I'm not writing tonight because I have to take care of some iTunes business {setting up a proper playlist ;)} and the cursed election has me checking CNN every three seconds). I'm not writing on Saturdays at all this month because I work and I go out with my dad and sister in the evenings and I'm usually working at 7am the next day. So... if you break down 50,000 by 30 days, that's 1,667 words per day. For me, with my 6-days a week maximum writing, that's 1,923 at least a day. And I have every Friday off and alternating Mondays, so I can pull late-nighters to fill up word counts if I need to. My biggest challenge won't be lack of time - it'll probably end up being lack of will to finish this cursed novel.
Off to fix my iTunes playlist and check the results... agai.
Nada
Still haven't actually started writing. Still have only one character. Still don't have a plot. Still don't have a genre.
And it's only the first day. It's not like I'm going to be ridiculed for not actually getting my first 1,667 words done today, right? I mean, I'll still have 29 days to crank out 50,000... right?
Sigh.
And it's only the first day. It's not like I'm going to be ridiculed for not actually getting my first 1,667 words done today, right? I mean, I'll still have 29 days to crank out 50,000... right?
Sigh.
Well, here goes
Mortified. Terrified. Second-guessing. Blank.
That's how I feel today - November 1. I'm so, so, so screwed. I'm not sure if I'm ready to start this novel - whatever novel it is. Heck, I'm pretty sure I'm not ready to start it today... I haven't finished getting what preparation done that I wanted to have done before I started, I'm not sure I'll actually have time to start it today, I'm pretty sure that whatever I'm going to end up writing is going to be pure crap.
Yeah, it's November 1st, all right - you can tell by my trepidation at starting a novel :)
Honestly, I'm more concerned this Nov. 1 than I have been for the last two. See, for the last year I haven't written a single word - except what I've posted on my blogs. Somehow I developed a mental block when it came to writing. For a while, I had a 'legitimate' excuse - no internet on my computer - then a couple of months ago when I did get the internet, I was too 'busy' (lazy, procrastinated {if that's a word}, distracted by the box with the moving pictures) to write.
Now, it's crunch time. Most of my friends and family know I do this. I don't go on and on about what I'm doing, but I will use them to bounce ideas off of and as a physically live being I can go up to and say 'it's not working!!!!! he won't go do what I want him to!!!' which can usually lead to a slightly confused look becuase these are characters I'm talking about, not a dog.
I'm going to spend my day at work thinking about what I'm going to do. But if I don't at least start today, I'm worried I won't start at all. And if I don't start at all, I may just end up leaving my dreams of writing for a living behind.
This is a reason we need more days in the week, or why I need to quit one of my jobs. Maybe I should start playing the lottery more frequently and make those dreams come true... of course, I'd need to actually remember to buy tickets and check them...
That's how I feel today - November 1. I'm so, so, so screwed. I'm not sure if I'm ready to start this novel - whatever novel it is. Heck, I'm pretty sure I'm not ready to start it today... I haven't finished getting what preparation done that I wanted to have done before I started, I'm not sure I'll actually have time to start it today, I'm pretty sure that whatever I'm going to end up writing is going to be pure crap.
Yeah, it's November 1st, all right - you can tell by my trepidation at starting a novel :)
Honestly, I'm more concerned this Nov. 1 than I have been for the last two. See, for the last year I haven't written a single word - except what I've posted on my blogs. Somehow I developed a mental block when it came to writing. For a while, I had a 'legitimate' excuse - no internet on my computer - then a couple of months ago when I did get the internet, I was too 'busy' (lazy, procrastinated {if that's a word}, distracted by the box with the moving pictures) to write.
Now, it's crunch time. Most of my friends and family know I do this. I don't go on and on about what I'm doing, but I will use them to bounce ideas off of and as a physically live being I can go up to and say 'it's not working!!!!! he won't go do what I want him to!!!' which can usually lead to a slightly confused look becuase these are characters I'm talking about, not a dog.
I'm going to spend my day at work thinking about what I'm going to do. But if I don't at least start today, I'm worried I won't start at all. And if I don't start at all, I may just end up leaving my dreams of writing for a living behind.
This is a reason we need more days in the week, or why I need to quit one of my jobs. Maybe I should start playing the lottery more frequently and make those dreams come true... of course, I'd need to actually remember to buy tickets and check them...
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