I'm Done...Now What?

A lot has happened since my last post on the 23rd. Late Monday night (technically Tuesday), day 25, I finished - I crossed the 50k line!

The last 2,000 words were the hardest. I really had run out of story ideas. Then, cooking dinner I decided that the mom of my MC's nemesis-turned-friend needed to get married. A HEA for one character. This became the second to last chapter. It was odd that I wasn't finishing with the ending.

 Did I mention that I had written the last chapter the week before? I had an idea I was excited about, so I chose to jump ahead and write it.

Anyway, it was exciting for the first 24 hours, and then I felt a bit of a let down. NaNo had been my focus for 25 days, and now I felt like I was twiddling my thumbs. I'm over that now and ready to take on the next challenge: editing.

Stay tuned :)

Inner Editor Tries to Escape - Again

I had a fight with my inner editor again. I just can't seem to keep her locked up. Maybe I just need better ear muffs.

Thursday (NaNo day 21) she was at it again. "You have only two chapters left in your head and you still have 12,000 words to go to reach your goal. No way you're going to have enough to say!"

God, I really dislike her.

Finally I had to get out the billy club and beat her back into the trunk. This time I put four padlocks on it. Since then I've been on a tear. I've written 9,000 words. And- I still have most of a chapter to write.

I'll admit, I'm feeling a wee bit proud of myself. I've thought of opening the trunk and showing her, but she's wily. She'll jump out of my grasp and start taunting me again. Nope, best to keep her in there. If all goes well, I'm getting to 45k tonight. (Day 23)

I think I can actually dream about begin done before my sons get here for Turkey Day. What's that?
Damn, she's banging on the trunk lid. Maybe I should keep that goal from her for now. It seems to energize her.

Good luck all!

It's Alive!

So one of the cool things about writing is that sometimes you’re going along minding your own business, when one of your characters suddenly does something you didn’t expect.

Yesterday, my MC’s former nemisis turned best friend, informed me that she does Jujitsu - with her mom. Thanks for letting me know…

Three days ago her good for nothing father told me that he was taking a job in another state - which was three days sooner than he told his own daughter. He waited until the day before he left to let her know. Scum bag.

And...turns out the the social worker who rents the downstairs apartment, not only wants to send my MC to foster care, but has it in for the cat too! She was sneaky about it. There I was typing about her having a lovely cuppa with MC’s aunt, when she surreptitiously kicked the cat under the table - and then lied about it. I thought I knew this woman!

I don’t know where my characters get these ideas. They didn’t let me know about them back in September/October when I was plotting out their lives, but what’s an author to do?

This is one of the fun parts of writing, discovering your characters’ backstories, their flaws, their secret talents. Sometimes your creative nureons fire and your story travels down a road not just less travelled, but that you didn’t even know existed. 

Some people feel that stories are fixed things, static. But we know that stories are fluid, sparking not only the imagination of the readers, but the author’s as well.

I just hope my characters finish filling me in on their lives before I complete the book. 

11 days and 15k to go. So many paths yet to be explored.

Some Days The Words Just Sing

Some days the words just sing and their melody carries across the page.

The past two days were like that, though they each played different tunes. 

On Friday I wrote 4,000 words - which is the most I've done yet in a day. It wasn't a speedy 4k, truth be told, it took me most of the day to write them. By the end of the evening my eyes felt as though they were two, swollen orbs and my brain was on standby, but I felt great!

Yesterday I went to a local write-in. For those of you unfamiliar with NaNoWriMo, write-ins provide a chance to meet some of the fellow writers in your area and perhaps get some advice on a sticky story point, character names, and to participate fun challenges meant to keep your creative energy flowing and boost your word count.  My local group is small: 3-4 of us show up. We like to challenged each other to 'word wars'. Yesterdays' wars were 'first to 500' challenges. I fell a little short each time, but not by much, so that even with noshing and socializing I was able to write 1,200 words I felt pretty good about by the end of our 2 hours together.

I knocked out another 1,300 after I got home. I hit 30,000 words! Overall, a very successful day.

For a brief time earlier today I felt a little worried that I still had 20k to write. I know how much of the story I've written, and was feeling a little daunted about stretching out what I have left to 20k. I was sitting there staring at my stats thinking that I'd like to aim for 2k minimum a day. Two thousand, for ten days - now that feels doable. I had forgotten the 'break things down into manageable chunks' rule. Panic averted.

Now I'm back to tackle the next 1,200 words of my story...or more. Things are about to get just a little bit worse for my MC and his friend. But, sometimes you have to hit bottom before you decided to take charge of your life!

Support on the Home Front

One of the challenges of NaNoWriMo is the commitment of time - for thirty days. Family and friends root for you early on, but as one week becomes two, three... well all too often people in our lives start to feel lonely. We start to feel guilty for not spending time with them. And, face it, we need real life social contact from time to time. No, Twitter does not count!

I have been very lucky. My husband has been very supportive. Day three he surprised me and brought a 'writer's lunch' into my writing area and tiptoed away. Yesterday he offered me another, which I declined (I felt badly, but I wasn't hungry.)  When I returned from one of our local write-ins last night, he pressed me at dinner to tell him about it, I mean more than the polite query.

My 24 year old son has started sending me writer tips and silly advice, like this one which is a list of children's stories Not to write.

I love that my family is doing little things to help encourage me on my path to 50,000. 

I'm going to have to do something really nice for them, 17 days from now...after a nap.

The Wall and Beyond

Sunday I was struggling. Barely into week two and I had hit a wall of doubt. But, like the Kool-Aid dude I crashed through it.

How? Well, first I whined all over the digital-verse, because venting is therapeutic; next I re-read parts of my story - for some reason that tends to get my groove back on - my characters pump me up; and then I did what you have to do: I sat in front of my computer and forced my fingers to type words. The more I typed, the easier it got.

Are they any good? Is my story better for them? No doubt at least a few of them are keepers, but I can't let myself obsess about that right now. I have a goal to meet. I can't let those tendrils of self-doubt (this is fluff, you know you're just typing these words to meet your word count, this part of the story is unnecessary)...yeah, those - well I just don't have time to let them hold me back.

And I'm glad I didn't. Yesterday was an awesome day. I hit a part of my story where I was weaving in a visit to my MC by someone I met in the RW (real world), well a fictionalized version of her. She is a dynamic person, and she was getting the kids psyched about math. A double bonus. (well, if you like math puzzles that don't involve calculus) The point is, it was a fun part of the story to work with, and the words just came to me. They probably aren't all brilliant either, but I enjoyed the process - and that's the whole point of being a writer - isn't it?

I mean if you're writing just for the big bucks - I'd say you're living a pipe dream. But if you're writing because you enjoy the process - you know, overall - because you love bringing characters and their worlds to life; well then days like this are like Hannukah/Christmas.

I'm feeling that the wheels of writing are a little stickier today, but have overcome that first wall; I have the confidence that I can crush the road blocks in my future. I know they are out there, waiting to pop up. But I also know I have the equipment to knock them down. If I have any doubts, I'll just come back and re-read this post!

Best of luck to those of you who are writing. May the wrecking ball of perseverance hover in the ready over your shoulder.

The Week Two Blues

I'd heard about the week two blues: when many NaNo writers hit a wall in their writing. In the pre-nano days (October) I was cocky and thought, "Well, not me. I'll just keep plugging along. I'm sure I can BS my way through the wall.

Week one: I started writing and had quickly started to worry that I only had 7,000 words worth of ideas planned out. I wasn't even going to make it through week one! The worrying slowed me down for a day and a half before I scolded myself, and kicked the 'inner editor' out of my head. "Just write, stop fretting about a problem you haven't even gotten to...yet."

I've made it 613 words shy of 15,000. Look at me, double where I thought for sure I'd die off. Only...only...

I had planned out 8 markers or major stepping stones for my story. I've tackled four of them, which if you're into numbers and averages means I 'should be' halfway through my word count. But, I'm 10,000 words short of that. This wouldn't be a problem in and of itself - I mean, it was arbitrary to say that my story had to be at the halfway word count just because I've tackled half the markers - the problem is that I don't think I have a whole lot to say on the next four - certainly not 35,000 words worth. Is this the word desert I feared?

I'm finding myself looking over the chasm and panicking. A meltdown is lurking just around the corner. How can this be happening to me? I knew it was ordained to occur...but my pre-nano self had said with confidence, "I will persevere, I know that I will just have to force myself to sit in front of the computer and type - type until it starts making sense again." That pre-NaNo self was self assured. Who told her she could skip out on me?

But, like any desert, it appears empty, desolate, void of life, until you enter it and start looking around.
So, now that I've shared my 'fear' with someone (Thanks!) I'm off to engage in a stare off with my word processor. I will cross this desert, and I know that once I start walking I'll find an oasis or two, along the way. I just...have...to...keep...going.

May you too survive the week two blues!

The Craziness Begins - Naner-Naner

A week ago I posted on FaceBook that I was diving into the craziness of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Midnight was approaching, and I was excited and nervous about the challenge that lay ahead.

A friend, chiming in with her vote of support, suggested I start a blog discussing my daily reflections on my day's writing. "Really?" I wrote back, "After hours of pouring words out you're suggesting I write more?" I hope she saw between the digital lines that I was smiling.

I mean, I actually thought it was a good idea. As I said, I was nervous about stepping up to the challenge of 1667 words everyday for 30 days - in a row, and problems always feel less...problematic when shared.
Of course, when you read that 'real writers' like Stephan King have strict writing regimes where they write 2,000; 3,000, X,000 words per day - well then you feel like a whinny baby quaking at the thought of a mere 1,667. On the other hand, if Mr. King falls short of his daily goal, only his wife knows.

NaNo encourages you to post your daily count: accountability my husband (a psychologist) will agree, helps with task completion.
NaNo suggests you collect writing buddies: people who will agree to give you a kick in the pants when you begin to flag, and who grab you by the digital hand and twirl you around when you're making progress (thanks Ona!)
NaNo encourages you bribe yourself with handy piles of chocolate - is it a coincidence that it begins right after all the post Halloween candy sales? I think not!
But mostly, NaNo encourages you to surround yourself with like minded people who 'get it'. No one in the digital world of the NaNoWriMo forums doubts that you are a writer, no one tells you to stop wasting your time, or that you should be doing (insert school work, chore, other practical achievement here).

Writing is a solitary business.

Except - during the month of November, when close to 300,000 people worldwide, on every continent (yep Antarctica too!), band together as a collective with the goal to write 15 trillion words, and announce to the world: We Are Writers!

Speaking of accountability...week one of NaNo concluded at midnight. I'm doing fairly well. I am 822 words short of where I need to be by the end of the day. I can do that. It's the next 37,000 I'm fretting about!

In the immortal words of Mork: Naner-Naner....
    To 50,000 and beyond!