NaNoWriMo Update 6: Stoppage

The Referee has called a stoppage and scored this fight No Contest.

That's right, I'm done. It's not a win, it's not a loss, it's certainly not a TKO.

Things are just hectic right now and I'm not going to maintain my current rate.  Don't worry, expect a rematch next November!

The plot is frustratingly midstream, so I won't bother boring you with the story, I will; however, tell you the title and synoposis I posted at the start of November:

The Tracks

Frank took another long drag from his cigarette and glanced down at the train console for the 4th time in the last hour.  This isn’t how he’d thought it would be.  The empty landscape roared by, as it had continuously since he’d left the metropolis of Southern California, interrupted only briefly by an aged Joshua tree or lone crossing.  He glanced at the picture of the beautiful young woman pasted on his board and then at the barely healing slash on his left forearm.  “No”, Frank thought, “This isn’t how I thought it’d be at all”.  With less than 300 of 3200 miles completed, he wondered, what the hell had he gotten himself into.

I have a photo as well, maybe I'll post that someday soon.

NaNoWriMo Update 5: Uh oh!

So since my last update, I've had some... issues.  Amazingly, SkyRim hasn't been the problem (or much of the problem).

So, the summary is I'm behind.  But it's not terrible.  As of the writing of this blog, my graph is a bit ugly

I'm not giving up and I have set aside some time to get caught up.  Of course with holidays quickly approaching, that may just be a dream, we'll see.

I've labeled this failures, but only because this update is a failure.  I could still pull through!

NaNoWriMo Update 4: Just shy of half

So I've located that lull that prevents people from finishing novels.  The last few days, writing even 1500 words a day has been dragging a dead mammoth across a rapidly hardening tar pit in the pouring rain.  As you can see, my creativity isn't the problem.  For encouragement, I graphed my progress (NaNoWriMo.org has a progress graph too, but I like mine better.)

So, word-wise, I'm actually keeping up. (Ironically, the last few days I've stayed away from hyphenating any words because it only counts as one word... yep, it's been that bad!)

Plot-wise, things are getting a little hairy.  I'm far enough in that I feel like things should be starting to come together a bit more and they aren't.  Part of me isn't really worried about that, I was much more worried about finishing too early and having nothing left to write, but part of me recognizes that sometimes what I write is utter crap that I'd cut in a heart beat during a final edit.  I have to remind myself that this is an exercise, I'm learning.  Kind of like those first zillion pots I made in ceramics.  So I'm pushing on.

I actually read one of the email encouragements NaNoWriMo sent me and it happened to be about exactly this problem.  Apparently I'm not alone.  They suggested sending your characters to the circus.  I had to laugh, I sent one of mine on a random blind date (she got stood up.)

I'm half way done and I'm feeling about how I felt on mile 13 of the Avon walk, namely "I'm never going to make it to wellness camp!!"  Still, one word in front of the other, I trudge along.

I also have a major distraction that arrived in my hands 1:00 am Friday morning:

So while I had great visions of getting ahead so I'd be set for Thanksgiving, I think it's going to be more like "Okay, I wrote my 1667 words, can I go fight dragons now??"

NaNoWriMo Update 3: 25 percent!

12570 / 50000 words. 25% done!

Day 7, 25 percent complete and still right on schedule!  Some observations from the writer's seat:

1.  I envy sci-fi/fantasy writers.  Not that their writing isn't without challenge, but the random fact finding is time consuming and I'm not doing nearly the leg work I would need to prior to actually publishing a book.  For example, do you know how much a freight train engine weighs off the top of your head?

2.  I don't envy sci-fi/fantasy writers.  As complicated as fact checking seems like it can be, consistency checks are even tougher!  Did I already determine what color Cameron's hair is?  How old is Sandra?  Wait, how can she be that old if she graduated in this year?  What year is this book even set in??  At least fact finding facts stay the same and are sometimes relatively easy to Google.  Trying to remember what I typed only a few days ago is beating me up including using ctrl-f.  How did writers do it on type writers without search features??

3.  Summary of the two preceding, MAN it must be tough to be a good editor!  

It's fun because sometimes it feels like my character are taking on a life of their own.  I type something out then immediately think, "She'd never say that like that!"  Again, good luck with that editors!

Last update from my buddies, they were all lagging behind a little bit.  But it's early!  You can do it!  In other exciting news, Gavin has decided to do some writing this month as well!  My tip tappity must be inspiring!

NaNoWriMo Update 2

It's only day 4, so it seems a little early for an update, but it's my novel I'll do what I want!

6974 / 50000 words. 14% done!

For the numerically interested after today we will be 13% done with the month.  Also, if all goes as planned tonight, I should be up to at least 7500.

In other words, I've kept up so far, which I recognize isn't a significant achievement, since again, it's only 4 days in.  But in the spirit of being me, I did recent do a completion schedule complete with days that I thought no work would get done (holidays, days I have other stuff going on etc) and balanced out the remainder of the days.  Maybe when I'm done I'll post it to see how I did.

So far, I'm really enjoying writing.  1600 words isn't nearly as daunting as it seemed when I first sat down to think about it and so far.  I've never tried to write a novel before, but I think understand why NaNoWriMo works for so many people.

I've never tried writing anything like this before.  Last book I wrote was in 7th grade.  Last creative writing I did, outside of this blog, was probably in high school for AP English.  But every time I sit down to start writing, I worry.  I don't really know the story I'm writing.  I don't know what is going to happen next, really.  I don't know if I have enough characters, or if I'm going to fast, or to slow.  I worry so much while I get to the computer, open the file.  But then, I just start writing.  I don't know if my story makes sense.  I don't know if it's good, but when I'm writing, I just write.  I'm sure that if and when I finish this project/book/story and go back and read it I'll be frustrated with the inconsistencies, annoyed with the time line mistakes bothered by the typos and repeated words.  But so far, most of the time, when I write, I just write.  Given, it's day 4.  Day 24, maybe it's a different story. But for now, I'm enjoying the process of just writing and I'm shocked when sometimes I read what I've written and actually see a story coming together.
 

Reading, Writing and Arithmetic

It's like I'm in grade school all over again!

I've finished "Half a Life."  The purpose of a book club must be, at least in part, to get you to read books you would never look twice at otherwise.  I also think it's interesting to try to figure out why someone would choose a particular book and I look forward to finding out a little bit more about that when we meet next.  The book was a memoir of a man who hit and killed a classmate at his high school.  It's essentially the story of how he lived with, or through, or around, the event.  Books, and stories, are amazing because quite frequently they meet you where you are, no matter where that is.  I was drawn to his conclusion which, to paraphrase, is things don't go away and you can't escape the past.  And it's not strength that makes you more or less able to cope, it's human nature.  How true that is.  Despite our vastly different stories, I could relate to him.  Books are magic.

And then there's writing!  Yesterday officially started NaNoWriMo!  I (awkwardly) attended a 'write-in' kick off event in Mission Viejo where I successfully completed my first 1600 words!  Go me!  My story seems to be taking on a life of it's own.  I'm functioning under the working title of "The Tracks" and the assumption that it will awful when (if) it's done.  Still I have a goal: 50,000 words this month, a little over 1600 words a day.  One more or less completed novel in November.  Jen is participating as well, although I haven't heard her progress yet.  Mike also committed to some amount of involvement, pending my daily success, while we were in Vancouver although the details of which have yet to be clearly recalled by any of the witnesses.  

I really just threw in Arithmetic because I thought it made the title awesome, but in the way of basic math, I have been testing out Mint.com this month as a financial tracking cloud based software.  It's fine, but to be perfectly honest, I'm way happier with my personally created excel sheets (although import is a bit tedious and they became slightly more complicated each year).  Eventually, I recognize the necessity of a more streamlined process, but for now I'm holding out.  Maybe Mint will grow on me?

I know I'm late with my Halloween post and will do my best to get that posted ASAP.

Guess who has two thumbs and is writing a novel?

This guy!!

Yep, I'm writing a novel.  Likely a terrible novel.  Likely a way to close to real life novel.  Likely a novel I'll never let anyone read (as if you want to read it...)  Still, I'm writing a novel.

See?

Thanks to Jen for the challenge.  I'm adding a tag so you can follow along with my progress this November.  NaNoWriMo.  Wish me luck!