Camp NaNo18: Day 19

I have been writing! I promise!

… just not as much.

I’ve written a little over 1,000 words a day for the last three days, putting me at 57,322 for the month, and about 4,000 words behind schedule for 100K. Some of this was due, I grant you, to poor time management. Some was due to busyness. But largely tiredness is/was to blame. I cannot seem to catch up on sleep–mostly because I stay up too late trying to write (and research, and goof off–hence the time management issue). I sleep in during the morning to make up for it, knowing full well that doing that never works. So now I’m in this terrible cycle of constant weariness.

But no worries! I will break that this weekend. I have two full writing days planned (Saturday evening might be compromised for family night), as I will be attending Writer’s Digest’s 4th Annual Science Fiction & Fantasy Virtual Conference on Saturday and Sunday. If you’re interested and have the money to spare, you can go here to sign up (and, no, I don’t get any compensation for referring you). The slate of topics they’ll cover relate to a lot of the technical aspects with which I’m currently struggling or on which I could use some more guidance. Between sessions, I plan to write.

How is everyone else doing so far? We’re inching closer to the end!

Camp NaNo18: Days 14 & 15

Hello all! This weekend ended up being far busier than I had anticipated, though I largely stumbled due to my faltering time management. (The problem with reading a book while you’re trying to write one is that either one or the other gets done. Alas, I finished the book I was reading–Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, if you were wondering).

BUT! I am still on track for 100K–clocking in at 10:30 this evening with 50,634 total after writing 3,627 today and 3,474 on Saturday. I’ve been working on a new story the last few days–one of the novels I had originally slated for Camp before I got distracted by brainstorming for an entirely different set of novels–and it’s been a lot of fun so far. I’m calling it The Thirteenth; thus far, I have Grand Plans® to turn it into a trilogy or a quartet. I don’t even have a full plot for this first book yet. I’ve only just gotten to know a couple of the characters pretty well, but my mind works in terms of series. It can’t be helped.

On another, maybe related note, how do you manage your time effectively? I ask because this is my biggest struggle. I’m supremely aware of my own mortality–that clock keeps ticking–and my inability to maximize the short span of time I do have. I’ve never doubted whether or not I can do things; I’ve always feared my lack of time in which to do them. My interests are so varied, so intense, so purposeful, it’s hard to decide where to invest my time. While writing is a given, it is not always immune to being sidelined while I attend to a latest burst of passion for another hobby. Meanwhile, I am constantly being politely asked (and sometimes outright volunteered) to take on greater responsibility in the spheres in which I already operate, whether that be my writing club, Toastmasters, workplace, or family.

Those external obligations, combined with the daily mundanities of life (taking the dog to the vet, cleaning, going food shopping–or worse, clothes shopping–cooking, getting ready for work), leave little time for my true passions: writing, editing, studying, reading, playing violin/piano/guitar, building a business, running, adventuring… the list goes on. And those don’t count the things I want to do but don’t yet do; I’ll spare you the list. And with all of this going on, I’m still expected* to go to bed at a reasonable hour!

This problem is not my own. I think it plagues everyone, to some extent. So, how do you do it? How do you negotiate with the inexorable forward march of time? Do you say no to some of those hobbies, passions, or responsibilities? Do you negotiate with yourself? Do you make a list of priorities and stick to it? Do you shelve projects without intentions of returning to them? Do you simply curl up in a corner and lament your lack of time (as I do sometimes, which is itself a waste of time)?

NaNo is great for teaching dedication to a task and devotion to your own creativity, and I’m so grateful for all it’s done for me. But it’s meant, too, I think, to teach balance. This, however, is a lesson much harder learned and one I have not yet grasped. In the meantime, I’m little more than a circus performer spinning plates, hoping I’m not impaled by the shrapnel as they take turns shattering around me.

*Expectations are entirely my own.

NaNoWriMo17: Day 13

I’m exhausted, so I’m going to keep this short and sad.

I only wrote 11.5k today. That puts me EXACTLY on par for 500k, having eaten up the entirety of my buffer (which I desperately need!). I don’t know where I’m going to make it up, honestly. In a totally non-malicious way, people keep pecking at my time, and this week is about the worst so far. The times I depend upon to write have been eaten at like a can of Pringles. Granted, I made some poor time management decisions today, but dang it! I was doing so well!

Still, I’m on par. I have time tomorrow to write–not necessarily as much as I want, but it will have to do. Furthermore, if this is one of my “bad” days so far, I’ll take it!

Happy writing, no matter what!

NaNoWriMo17: Day 11

Day 11 comes to a (weary) close at 18k, 2k below my intended goal. Did I have time to reach it? Yes, if I’d worked a bit faster earlier in the day. But an unexpected family obligation took up a full four hours of my evening, and I’m glad for it, because I got to spend some quality time with my 12-year-old nephew as I baby (child?) sat for him. I also, in the hour preceding my departure from home, clocked my best hour yet: 4,120 words.

So I’m calling it a night at 185k, but I have a buffer! It’s small, but it’s there. I have church and a violin lesson tomorrow, but neither should be an impediment to my 20k goal. It would be lovely if I could get more than that, to really give me some wiggle room on my buffer, but we’ll see. I’m not anxious at this point. Rest assured that, 20k or no, I will hit 200k, which will be on par for 500k.

On the story side, I finished my second novel of November (the third in my quintet) and started the next. A very important character died, which was actually sadder for me than I expected, especially having to write his sister’s reaction to his death. And tomorrow, FINALLY, pirates!

Happy writing, everyone!

Post-NaNoWriMo Reflections 2016

The word for this year has been distraction. I’ve been pulled in about seven thousand different directions (give or take a couple), and that didn’t change just because NaNo16 started up. In the months leading up to it, I knew that I wasn’t going to reach the astral heights of which I dreamed at the conclusion of NaNo15, and as the start date stalked ever nearer, I even had to resign myself to the unlikelihood that I would much surpass even my “minimum” goal.

Then, during the actual competition, I lost focus. Rather, I never had focus to begin with as I tried to juggle the responsibilities of everyday life. As I have before observed, my time management skills require more practice. Going “back to school” while working full time, doing freelance projects for clients, and writing every day continues to test me beyond anything I have ever before experienced, and with NaNo pushing me to write even more, I found myself struggling to keep my head above water.

Through it all, however, I managed to write. It didn’t matter how late at night it was. It didn’t matter if I was disenchanted with the scene I worked on. It didn’t matter if I simply didn’t feel like writing. I sat down, thought, and typed. I can use this experience–this difficult NaNo–as evidence that I can work through even the toughest moments, that intrepidity can pay off, and that I am still, above all else, a storyteller.

So while this NaNo was not my best, and though I’m walking away with only one completed project (but, hey, it’s a completed rewritten second draft!), I can, with relief, assert to myself that next year will be different. Even if I’m ten times busier than I was this year, I now know that lack of focus is a hurdle for me, and I can prepare for it with greater deliberation and better time management, both of which I can work on in the next eleven months before NaNo17.

The Great Balancing Act

Happy Memorial Day, and God bless all those who have served in the American Armed Forces. May we remember with respect and gratitude all that they sacrificed for our freedoms.

I grew up in a city famous for its ties to the circus, and lately I feel like I might actually be a part of a three-ring shebang. Between juggling about a thousand interests, tasks, and obligations and trying to balance on the great tightrope between work life and home life, I could probably at least qualify to be a clown.