NaNoWriMo Day 1

The first day of NaNoWriMo concludes for me with achy wrists and fingers, weariness, and roughly 25,000 words. What a whirlwind! I stayed up an hour later than normal after midnight, and I was up in another five hours to pound once more at the keys. I managed to finally start writing The Campaign, though the majority of my writing for the day was devoted to the Long Story.

Today was not as joyful as I would have hoped, for a family emergency came up and it rattled me a little. Fortunately, emotions–for me, anyway–tend to improve those in my writing. Being a pretty inexpressive person when it comes to emotions, I find that this can work in my favor.

I’m calling it a night now before I end up typing nonsense. I did write a beauty of a NaNoism during the last word war I participated in, around the second 1am (2am without the time change):

“Larry grinned and nodded, then swiveled around in his chair and scribbled along the screen with his mouth.”

Yes, Larry is special. Mouth was supposed to be mouse. I retired to bed shortly thereafter.

Happy NaNo, everyone!

National Novel Planning Month

It’s October! Three reasons why this is one of my favorite months of the year:

• It’s autumn at last! Even though, where I live, there isn’t much of an autumn as most folks in the US might define it, it still means cool breezes, drier air, and the occasional wicked thunderstorm. Plus, it’s Harvest Festival time!
• It’s the start of the holiday season. Yes, I’m one of those people who starts listening to Christmas music in July—well, honestly, I never really stop. Short of Christmas Eve, Halloween is my favorite holiday.
• It’s NaNoWriMo prep time, or as I like to call it, National Novel Planning Month (NaNoPlaMo)!

I confess that I’ve been rather lax in planning for NaNo15. Each year is a little different, and the wild success I enjoyed last year will be difficult to match (I now have a full-time job, plus part-time work on the side. On top of that, I cut out exercise during November 2014, and I will not do that this year.).

I know at least two of the projects I’ll be working on: the Long Story and The Campaign. The Campaign might net me ~50,000 words, but the Long Story is more of a backup in the event that I’m stuck on my other projects and need to churn out lots of words fast. I had a brief visit from a plot bunny about a week ago, but it hopped off without giving me much info. Back to the storyboard for three or four more stories to consider pounding out in November.

One of my main concerns when it comes to The Campaign is my ability at present to write it. It’s a story that wants to be written. There’s a reason it keeps popping into my head at random moments. It’s in a genre, however, with which I have very little experience: mainstream fiction, with a dash of satire. My previous attempts to nail the plot down have met with failure, and though I’m far from surrendering, the story has resisted me at all turns. I’m not sure I can depend on it for NaNo. As evidenced by my earlier posts, I couldn’t depend on it for either Camp session, either.

In spite of this, my NaNo15 goals are unchanged. Maybe in a future post I’ll share them, but I don’t want to commit in public to numbers I can’t promise even to myself yet. Guess I’m a bit of a coward that way!

Are you excited for NaNoWriMo? How often have you participated, and what is your method for success?

Are We There Yet? Timing Your Story Well Part 2

I’m in the process of plotting (cue evil laugh) a new novel, and on this project more than any previous one I have found the timing to be of utmost concern. The events transpire over the course of two swamped months, during which there is a great deal of travel, confrontation, and a few unimpressive lulls.

Not bad as a snapshot . . . but wait until it’s all you’ve seen for three hours and you just want to get home.

Are you familiar with those road trips that, while already torturous with the crying kids and the lack of snacks and the backaches, seem to drag on with interminable slowness because you’re passing unchanging rows of cornfields with little to distract you? Stories can be like that, too. “Stuff” might be happening, but if it’s not of the plot-altering variety, chances are it’s as boring as a cornfield.

August Update

If you refer to my July Update, you will discover that I was planning to work on a new novel for Camp NaNoWriMo, working title The Campaign. Yes, well. That didn’t happen. This is fine, because now that I’ve managed to shrug off the pressure to write it, I feel much more comfortable with commencing in-depth research. I’ve taken this week off of my day job for a writing sabbatical—as well as to catch up on some editing work I need to finish for a client—and I’m excited about reenergizing and de-stressing.

So what did I write during Camp? I started and finished my fourth novel for the year, a swashbuckling science fiction adventure with pirates. Because pirates! In space!

July Update

With the beginning of July, so starts Camp NaNoWriMo, Round 2. My goal was to begin a new project, working title The Campaign, but it’s still so fresh in my head that I don’t feel ready to write it (translation: I have no idea where to start). The good news is that, yesterday, I was within a chapter of finishing the second book of my Long Story, so I had the excitement to push through and complete it. That bumped up my word count for the first day of Camp to a little north of 3400.

Ah, the Long Story. Between the first two books, I’m nearing 400,000 words, but the inciting action for the biggest conflict has yet to happen. I anticipate that it will begin in another 30,000 words or so, but goodness! Sometimes your characters shrug you off and walk away, and other times (like now), they can’t seem to yell over each other loud enough. No sooner do I start a chapter following one character than another from an entirely separate story arc is screaming for my attention.

It’s not January, but I’ll list—mostly for my own benefit—my literary intentions for this year:

• To write a novel of marketable quality. This doesn’t mean the actual writing itself has to be of marketable quality in the first draft, but that the story is something I can sell. I already have an idea (refer to the project I should be writing for Camp).
• To continue my streak of writing 2000 words a day, no matter what. I had some exceptionally difficult days in June, mostly due to exhaustion, but I’m determined to make it through the entire year.
• To refine my editing skills on others’ works as well as my own. I freelance edit pretty regularly, and I can’t begin to explain how much I’ve learned (well, I can, but that would require a separate blog post). I would like to try what I’ve learned on my own works, none of which I have ever seriously edited.
• To read, in the remaining months of the year, four thorough nonfiction books. This isn’t something to which I have committed in the past. I gravitate towards fiction, but I am now finding the necessity of having a greater grasp on history and culture of all kinds.

Do you set up goals when it comes to writing, or do you wing it?