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Writing in November

31 Oct
Nabob and his new girlfriend!

Nabob and his new girlfriend!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s Halloween. Tonight at midnight, the real crazies will come out. They will be strapped to their computers and notebooks, writing as fast as they can. Motivated by that magical number 50,000, they will band together in small groups in coffee houses and restaurants for support. They have kissed they significant others goodbye, told their friends to call them in 30 days and gone into self-imposed exile from the rest of the world. November is a crazy month for writers. NaNoWriMo!

I sat down to write a few days ago and banged out what I think will be the beginning of the climax to my WIP. When I saved the file, it dawned on me how close I am to the end. Sure, there are a few spots in the story that I need to beef up. But, the light at the end of the tunnel does not appear to be a train racing back at me.

I write slow. That’s who I am. 50,000 words in 30 days is not something I want to even try. I understand my limitations and November is the worst month of the year for me to try it. A friend of mine said it’s not the word count that matters. It’s the count of GOOD words that’s important.

So, what does all this mean? I only need a portion of the magic number to finish my WIP. Even though it’s November, the muse is knocking on the door. Nabob has settled in with his new main squeeze. And, most importantly, I want to see how this thing ends. My intention is to finish my WIP by December 1. I’m not sure what the final word count will be and frankly, I don’t care. To make sure I stay on track with this and get my blog going again I will provide weekly updates. Please feel free to give me a hard time if I drop the ball.

For those of you who will disappear tonight and return in 30 days, good luck to you. I wish you well.

 
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Posted by on October 31, 2014 in Thoughts on Writing

 

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Just Weird!

14 Feb

Have you every sat down to do something and the next thing you know a whole day has gone by? It’s been eleven days since my last post and for the life of me, I have no idea where the time went. It’s not like when I was unemployed for five months and would play Harpoon on my IBM Model 50z from 9:00 PM until 3:00 AM. I knew what I was doing then. I was a conscious choice. I was trying to escape the fact that 250 resumes were sent out to 250 companies and only two interviews were generated. If you have to take off your shoes to figure out the numbers, that’s 248 reject letters!!! But I digress.

I got a flash update on MAVEN ans the next thing I know it’s Friday morning a week later and I don’t know where the time went. There is some good news. Wherever the time went, at least some of it went towards the WIP. Progress is being made and the writing habit I set out to create this year seems to be working. As you’ll see later even that had huge amounts of weirdness. Now that I know I lost time, I’ve been trying to find it. It’s strange there are just blank spots that I can’t account for. All of the important stuff got done like paying bills loving on the cats, and going to work. So, I was at least functioning physically. Quite strange.

Have you ever gone back to review your writing progress and determined that your word count for the last week has been EXACTLY the same everyday? I kid you, not! Every day since the 3rd the number of words spilling out of my head and into the laptop as been EXACTLY the same!!! The time spent writing varies from day-to-day by anywhere from five to twenty minutes.

So, what gives? Any ideas? Today is the full moon so that can’t be it. The waxing moon is my high energy period of the month. Maybe that plays into it? But, why do I write the same number of words? The scenes have been different in nature and feel. The one constant, which has been so for well beyond the period in question, has been writing have been fun. I like what’s coming out and it seems to be working. The muse is not fussing and the internal editor has gone south to get out of the extreme cold we’ve been dealing with.

Maybe this weirdness is a good thing? Oh, oh. i got an idea for the beaded moccasin scene, gotta go. See you later.

 
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Posted by on February 14, 2014 in Other Strangeness

 

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Work In Progress

07 Jan

WIPI’ve been reading a lot of blog posts about resolutions and goals for 2014. There are a lot of very ambitious goals out there. I hope everyone accomplishes what they set out to do. For me, I created an action plan. Because, that’s what I do. I’m a contingency planner. My goal(s) are simple.

Goal Number 1: Complete the SFD of current WIP.

Goal Number 2: Refer to Goal Number 1

Goal Number 3: When Goal Number 1 tasks are completed, Catch up on other writing.

There are a variety of tasks that go with these goals which I will not go into here. However, if for some reason, you don’t see a post from me for a while, it’s probably because I’m working on Goal Number 1. If you don’t see steady progress on my WIP meter (See right widget), you have my permission to give me a swift kick in the behind.

Speaking of WIP. How do you feel about writers posting excerpts of their WIPs on their blogs? I can see posting snippets from a published work to entice readers to purchase the whole story. However, WIP by definition is unfinished. What is the purpose of posting part of a ‘shitty first draft’ or even a revised piece?

Now some of you that follow this blog will remember that about this time last year I posted a handful of flash fiction pieces. They have since been revised to form the beginning of my current WIP. However, at the time, they were simply an experiment. My decision to turn them into a larger work has made me reconsider whether or not posting any of the story was a good idea.Would doing so jeopardize any chance of having the piece published traditionally? I don’t know.

Personally, I do read some excerpts, if they are short. I’m always looking for new reads and it gives me a barometer as to what other writers are doing. It has also exposed me to other genres that I might not otherwise have given a second look. For example: My blogging friend Jade, from Jade’s Jungle, has been pestering me to read some romance novels. Even though I read an excerpt from one of her books, I have been somewhat resistant. However, a while back, I won a copy of a romance novel “High” by Corey MP that has finally made its way to the top of my reading rotation.

But, getting back to the question at hand. Is it a good practice to post part of your WIP? There have been books written as a series of blogs and even as a series of tweets! There are books out there that explain the correct way to ‘blog your book’.  Perhaps the issues around doing this are a figment of my imagination. Weigh in on this please. I’d like to know how you feel about it.

Very Important NOTE!  My friend, Jade has started a new blog, Autism’s Child, relating to her family coping with a severely disabled child. Jade writes from her heart so, I believe it will be a very interesting, informational, spiritual, moving and emotional ride. I’m sure those of you who have developmentally disabled children will find it cathartic. I urge all of you who follow me to take a look at it whether you have children or not.

 
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Posted by on January 7, 2014 in Thoughts on Writing

 

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