Monthly Archives: November 2009

leap before looking

23 Monday Nov 2009

Posted by in get along like cats and dogs, Writing

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With advance apologies to the many excellent housekeepers I know, please disregard the state of my windows.

Wait, um, I mean, those are not my windows… Ha! Silly me.  Yeah this is definitely someone else’s house and that kitten just looks like my kitten Cowboy.

But the point remains:  I have hit the 30,000 word mark on my NaNoWriMo quest, and am reminded that balancing on the very edge of my personal comfort zone makes my heart race, and the idea of leaping before I look? It is not the worst idea in the world.  Sort of liberating, actually.

10 days, and the honeymoon? Already?

10 Tuesday Nov 2009

Posted by in Motherhood, Writing

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It is Day 10 of my great writing escapade, and I have this news flash to report:

NaNoWriMo Honeymoon.  So.  Over.

I look back at my bright-and-shiny post from a week ago (Really?  Has it been a whole week?  What have I been doing?)

Oh, I remember, yesterday I pruned a bonsai instead of writing.  Because that couldn’t wait another year or two before doing.  Sunday I dredged a small pond instead of writing.  That did need to be done, but still.

Then, two things happened:

1)  I woke throughout the night with my brain suddenly filled with ideas of where the story would go.  For days, those lousy characters had been lounging around my brain, eating cheetos and staring at the TV screen even though it wasn’t on, not talking to each other and frankly not doing anything.  At.  All.

Then suddenly last night the characters started to talk again, talking to me, just like the writing experts said they would.  Wow, I need some sleep.

2)  All that character chatting was well and good, until The Professor shared some advice that got the wheels turning again.  He heard me tell a friend last night that I was floundering at about 7600 words, which was a good 8000 words behind the freakishly ridiculous schedule.  This morning, he came up to me out of the blue and gave me some writing advice — he said if I was stuck, I should just keep writing anyway.  If I was on a roll, I should stop.  He said it would make sense if I just did that, because if I quit while I am on a roll, I’ll be excited to sit down again and restart.  If I keep going when I’m stuck, some words will come out anyway.

I love that kid.

And you know what?  It worked.  I just banged out 5000 words this afternoon, for a new total of 12,460.  I guess that technically means I did not quit while I was on a roll, but it sure felt good.  Now I am a mere 4000 words behind pace, and at the rate I am going, I think the NaNo gurus are right — I can sneeze out that many words if I want to.  The honeymoon may be over, but I’m still planning to stick it out for the long haul.

a picture is worth a thousand words?

05 Thursday Nov 2009

Posted by in Writing

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NaNoWriMo Day 5, and I am at 5881 words.  Behind schedule, but better than I expected.  And I am enjoying the process more than I can say.

All participants can opt to receive email pep talks from the MotherShip;  here is a passage, from NaNoWriMo guru Chris Baty, that sums up part of the appeal of the whole exercise:

We get so focused on doing the things that pay the bills that we sometimes neglect to do the things that make us feel truly alive. You have a world of people depending on you—family, friends, co-workers, bosses, teachers. Taking care of everyone’s needs while still finding time to buy groceries and bathe every couple days can be a feat. Unfortunately, this means that activities like writing and art and music tend to disappear into the margins of our lives.

… For one month, you get to orient your life around your creative spark, rather than vice versa.

So, here I am with my spark, which is at this moment staring blankly back at me, but I know we’ll figure out something more to type.  In the meantime… if a picture is worth a thousand words, then I’ll be posting a few here for your enjoyment (because words written here are not words written there…)

nosey

And… we’re off! I mean on! I’m NaNoWriMo-ing!

02 Monday Nov 2009

Posted by in Writing

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Let me apologize right off the bat for the uncontrolled use of exclamation points in that title.

Day One of the Great Writing Adventure got off to a rocky start yesterday, but finished strong and I drifted off to dreamland last night with a sense of accomplishment.  Day One final wordcount:  1799.

So far, I am loving the writing program Scrivener (note:  this is not a paid endorsement.  There is an unfortunate lack of pay for anything at the moment.  My rave reviews are merely the excitement of a software newbie who is amazed by the features of anything beyond Word.)  The program saves my work every two seconds, so there is little worry that any of the gobbledeegook of output will be lost to the ages.  And I do mean gobbledeegook — when the kitten walks across my keyboard, as she is compelled to do often because she wants to commandeer my hands, random words such as

777777urrrrrrrrhtmn,,lp

count as actual words in the daily tally.  Sweet!  And I doubted my ability to hit 50,000.  Luckily most of the words I type on purpose seem to make sense.

Scrivener also saves everything that I delete, which offers peace of mind since I worry that my fingers will accidently spaz out and inadvertently hit the delete button.  This could also come under the heading of Freudian slip, depending on how things are going at the keyboard.  Either way, I can go back and retrieve off the cutting room floor if need be.

My next step is to stop checking my wordcount every five minutes, which is, of course, detrimental to the wordcount itself.  The irony is not lost on me but I am powerless to resist.

And what am I writing about, you ask?  I am no longer telling anyone about my final choice of storyline, as the several attempts to share subject possibilities with family members ended in disasters of confidence.  For now, I’ll just plink along privately.  Other than offering suggestions of better alternative storylines than my initial concepts, everyone here on the homefront has been supportive of my adventure, and I appreciate that.

Day Two wordcount as of now:  2967.  Just a bit behind schedule, but exceeding my expectations.  Onward we go!