NaNoWriMo- 12 Full Moons

2002-11-28T10:47:00.000-05:00

OK- so you all knew it was coming- I have given up. I'm actually at about 33,000 words and I think the book idea has potential. But I evaluated my choices and it didn't seem reasonable at this time of year to be hiding myself away writing when I can spend time with people I don't see all the time (and in some cases haven't ever met before). I knew at the beginning of the month that it would be a stretch. I still think that in, say April, it would be a piece of cake to complete so maybe I'll do my own mini-nanowrimo sometime next year. Who picked November anyway?

So do I htink I failed? Nah, I think I made a good decision not just to hide away with the laptop and write write write- that would have been the easy thing to do, inmany ways.

Still, I wish I could have finished but I accomplished a lot of other things so I can at least loko back atythe month and be pleased with how it went over all.
*shrug*

2002-11-21T18:13:00.000-05:00

I don't know guys- there is so much crap going on.....

Anyway, I have noticed that even in my regular writing I am using a lot more dialogue. Regular writing would include my other blog, e-mail, chatting, and comments of other people's blogs. *eyes " key* hhmm, not worn away yet.

So here is my plan, I doubt I'll be able to finish it but I have decided that it isn't worth sacrificing a lot of other things to get it done. My friends and family are more important to me. So I'm going to keep writing when I can, and work at it. But if I don't make it I'm not going to be too uspet. Oh, wait- if I miss by a few hundred or a thousand words I'll be VERY upset. But if I'm only at 40,000 on 11/30 I'll still be glad that I a) put myself out there to try it and b) had enough sense not to become obsessed. The 28,000 words I've written so far have been a tremendous learning experience and, considering that on 11/3 not a word or a bit of the idea for this thing existed anywhere, I'm pleased with myself.
Am I setting myself up for failure? actually, I think just the opposite. I am more likely to succeed if I feel less pressure on myself.

Oh, and I printed out what I have so far for the first time ever today. I really haven't gone back to read any of it, apart from reviewing several paragraphs to see where I am. Should be interesting reading? well to me anyway. I'm curious to see what I named the other hosuekeeper who has yet to appear in the book and I can't remember how many names Natasha's brother has because I could never keep track of who he was.

2002-11-20T11:04:00.000-05:00

Ugh- feeling pessimistic, which makes sense considering my last entries were about feeling down.
Current word count 24,229- feeling less like I will be able to finish but you know, also less like it's a problem if I don't. Sure, I'd be disappointed but I've been workign on lots of other things this month too so I have plenty to show for it.

2002-11-15T09:18:00.000-05:00

I need to put a word count up. I'd guess I'm about 19,000 right now. Not where I'd hoped to be but I am still feeling positive. The twins actually started an adventure yesterday!! and Eleanor discovered a talent!!! So now I have a villain and the beginnig of a mystery and a Border terrier whose name is yet to be changed.
Yesterday was a down day for me. I just felt down, youknow? But I got my words done and that actually made me feel better.

Something I find that I am struggling with are people who say "ooh, you could publish this and be discovered!!" I don't think I ever intend to publish it. I am not sure that is th epoint at all, for me right now anyway. But when they say that, it pushes me into a famiar state of thinking, "Oh this is what the fabulous outcome of this endeavor will be" and that's when I begin to get paralysed and stop being able to produce.

So, for the record. I have no idea why I'm doing this but becoming the next JK Rowlings isn't the reason.

I'm contemplating putting a list of this that need to be done on one side or the other. For example, someday I'd like to go in and add some dialect- Aunt Natasha should have some amount of a Russian accent, Clarice should be more Scots and I need to double check some of the vocabulary and language that the twins use.

Oh yeah, and spelling and grammar and some descriptions.....

2002-11-13T10:36:00.000-05:00

Various things today: I discovered that I had a duplicate of one section stuck down at the bottom of my document so my word count dropped a bit *sniff* but it's ok. I'm finding the writing is getting easier actually, when I started it was really hrd to contemplate dialogue but I thin I'm gettng better at it. it is, however, tremendously dull to keep writing "blah blah blah,"he said. so i'm looking for lists of words like- said,replied, asked, queried, commented, noted, shrieked, whined, whinnied, indicated, expounded, filibustered, wailed, etc.
The main characters, Elenaor and Evan are developing personalities nicely as are the secondary characters- great aunt natasha, and Clarice. Boris hasn't had a name/gender change yet.

*points left* added several chapter for your reading torture.

1962- um, my year of birth.

Thanks for all your encouragement Darcy- This week is hard, it's the point where I haven't finished half yet so I could still go back. But I really do want to finish it. rah rah rah

2002-11-11T10:48:00.000-05:00

WooHoo 14,465!!!! 35,535 to go- 1776.75 words a day to go. This is good news because I can easily do 2000 words a day.
I'm feeling quite positive about getting my 50,000 words done without cheating.

2002-11-10T22:03:00.000-05:00

Look what I got in my e-mail today:
Dear Anne,

I just wanted to drop you a quick note to thank you for your donation to
National Novel Writing Month. The funds come at a perfect time, as our
costs -- and our goals for the event -- continue to expand. Your
willingness to get involved is inspiring, and I wish you the best of luck
in your frantic noveling endeavors this month.

Also, I don't think anyone has ever given exactly $19.62 to NaNoWriMo
before, earning you a hallowed spot in our hall of donors.

With warm regards,

Chris Baty
Director, NaNoWriMo

2002-11-10T18:42:00.000-05:00

Oh, I've been bad. I'm down a bunch of words, and I was doing so well too! but I did get about 2500 wirds written today so I'm getting back on track.
This is such a weird way to write, I'm not using any shortcuts at all and it makes it feel very stilted. I also really haven't gone back a reread anything that I've written at all so I can't tell whether the fact that it feels like it's slow moving as I write it translates to slow movingness in reading. I'm hoping it ranslates into build up rather than stagnation.

2002-11-07T21:20:00.000-05:00

*yawn* did my 2,000 words for today already- had them done by 7:00 p.m. actually. *smirk*
I've been working on the laptop which is missing a vital cable so I won't be putting any novel updates onlone until Monday, um- probably.

Oh, and, I figured out how to make use of the working title "12 Full Moons" which was originally intended to apply to an entirely different plot- one you all never even heard about.

2002-11-06T21:22:00.000-05:00

OK: word count update- 7630 !! Not bad considering that I had written well over 3,000 on the other plot. If I could merge them, I'd be right where I should be.

Big Giganto- smoochie-yamas to my friends Roxanne (no link provided) for showing me this week's Straight Dope column which contains the key to a petite plot hurdle I was having. I have now leapt gracefully over it and am ready to move on with my life.

2002-11-05T15:43:00.000-05:00

Added a bit today here it is.

2002-11-05T09:54:00.000-05:00

Ha Ha!!!! Welcome Sarah to the torture chamber!!!
I wrote a good amount last night and am quite pleased with how it's going. I guess I've given up on sex in favor of sweet british children and a Russian aunt. I think I'm just going to have to write the thing and then go back and add things like the aun'ts accent.I's too annoying to do it as I go. *shrug* But it seems to be working and it's fun so far so I'm going with the flow and if, at some point, Eleanor has to wake up and become a sex starved erotica writer then so be it.

I don't think anyone who is a true poet could do this project though, it requires such uneconomy of language, the opposite of what poetry is about.

2002-11-04T20:13:00.000-05:00

Help Help- the laptop from work is holding over 2,000 words hostage!!!!!

2002-11-04T10:05:00.000-05:00

Ok, so here is my current plan- I am continuing to work on the idea that I started last week. It is well flushed out plotwise, apart from whether or not the main character wanders off into the sunset with her true love or not, but it didn't feel like it was working well. So I started on another idea which is not just ok but it fabulously standard and fairly cliche too! What fun. It's more of a young adult book (maybe early teen since the main characters are 12) and you know the usual story- parent's go away for a while, kids get sent to some bizarre relative who has a looney cast of characters all around her and a dog that starts talking part way through the book. Magic and mayhem ensue, blah blah blah. the nice thing about that kind of book is that it doesn't necessarily have to tie together well whereas my other plot requried constancy and consistency and stuff.
So, I am going to work on both this week to see which I'm havign more fun with and then make my final decision on Fruday abotu which to continue. It's a lot of extra writing but *shrug* I have a big hard drive. Maybe I'll put up some excerpts and get people's opiniosn but I expect them to be pretty well divided.

2002-11-01T19:32:00.000-05:00

mmmphmm, just stopped by to whine a bit (not red wine of course since that gives me headaches now). I stopped by some of my forums but no one was home. I wanted to go to the Baltimore kickoff party but after gettign up at 2:30 I just couldn't face wandering around in the rain in my suede jacket.

Um- yeah, lefty a comment at Darcy's, I'm ready for new plot already. This happens to me frequently, I work on something and it's going along ok, would end up beign fine, but never really clicks. Then, if I'm lucky, something suddenly kicks in at the last minute and I pull out something that is really OKAY not just sort of ok. So, I guess I'll wander around a while until that happens?

Exactly how much editing is legal?

2002-11-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

Hee hee- At the moment, I have about 2000 words in pieces of paragraphs. A little Stream of Consiousness anyone?

2002-11-01T03:01:00.000-05:00

Something I know about myself that is impossible to overcome is that I am not able to work linearly. Now, I don't actually think I need to overcome this; it hasn't been a problem for me in the past. I like to work on one section of something for a while and then move on to another section and work on that. I'm not sure whether it's an inherent tendency towards boredom or an inability to finish anything.

So, for writing a novel, I don't see this as a particular problem at all, except that if I am going to post it as I progress it may be complicated for readers to follow. I guess I could start each chapter as it occurs to me and add in the same way, and then just keep a running tab here of what happened- e.g. Today's updates are two chapters 1 and 4. See now, I should have paid more attention to how to list the various entries on Diaryland.

Um- yes well *points to time stamp* I fee like I should be looking for Thori or someone. I don't think I woke up out of excitement, particularly, but the pets decided to rumble and I did'nt want to let Edgar back on the bed with his bloody nose and he is an amazing little whiner so I'm up now and will see what I can do before I decide to take a nap and forget to go to work or something.

Anyone want to run my 10 a.m. meeting for me?

2002-10-31T15:49:00.000-05:00

NaNoWriMo.org : View Forum - Maryland

2002-10-31T09:19:00.000-05:00

I wanna write I wanna write!! If I promise to stop a day early can I start writing now?? Damned this moral ethic that screws up my life at every turn.
OK, enough of that- down to business. I haven't written anything except letters and technical stuff for ages. Oh and probably 50,000 in Yahoo messenger windows a month. So last night I sat down and wrote a bit on an unrelated plot and was quite pleased to see that I could pop out just under 1000 words in a hour. Of course, it then took another hour to spell check it. Hmm, maybe I can hire someone to spell check? I know we aren't supposed to edit but I'll lose half my words as goobledeegook if I don't at least spell check!

LOL, one of my characters, Mira's pseudo love interest is tunring into a really funny character. I keep wondering where I got him from. I'm having a hard time not handing the whole thing over to him from the start.

2002-10-30T15:41:00.000-05:00

If I decide to put it online NaNoWriMo- The Novel will be here.

2002-10-30T09:43:00.000-05:00

I have to say- I am quite pleased, my main character and plot are flushing out nicely- espcially considering I have never done anything like this before. I have gone from something completely unreasonable (for me), not mention sort of silly, to something that at least isn't supposed to be anything great. Um- ok, so maybe that isn't the progression I should be aiming for? But at least it's realistic. I think that the current incarnation may even end up being postable.

I enjoy seeing my mind work this way, starting from scratch with a brand new idea that may be completely unreasonable but not letting go, and troubleshooting it until it becomes workable. I don't think i do this kind of thinking and problem solving enough.

2002-10-29T12:27:00.000-05:00

Note to self: don't rush into book title! I had put 12 Full Moons as the working title because I had an idea for a plot that would takeplace over a year. Now I find that Ihave change plot possibilities but keep trying to work with the same title. *sigh* it's very difficult.

Anyway, I thinkI may have worked out something as a plot that is less traumatic than my original idea but maintains some of the original themes of coming to terms with relationships and sex and real life. Will probably still have adult content but I'll jyst have to deal with that aspect of it.

My to do list:
1. add comments
2. add links to other Nervousness writers
3. Add NaNoWriMo graphic
4.Get over myself

2002-10-28T20:49:00.000-05:00

*looks around* LOL, this was the original layout I picked for my first ever blog. How funny.

Anyway, I'm thinking hard about my novel. All of my ideas are way grittier and more evil than I would have suspected for myself. Not evil like serial killer things but evil like man hating things. I'm contemplating doing it as a series of 10 chapters in each of which the protagonist (named Mira, pronounced as in spanish- meera), has a different kind of sexual encounter. This is a problem because it makes it difficult to publish it for anyone to see on the web due to the adult nature of the content. However, it is a concept I'm feeling pretty comfortable with. Perhaps I will write it off line and then publish it on my domain as a text document, not in blog format.

2002-10-28T13:44:00.000-05:00

I don't want to kick blogger or blogspot but I do kind of want to see my entries appear.

2002-10-28T12:14:00.000-05:00

Ok, so here is my first post. I am going to try to do the National Novel Writing Month writing project. A novel in a month? LOL, we'll see! It's an adventure either way. Haven't decided whether to write it here or use this to record my frustration, angst, anxiety, ad general nervousness. will have to get back to you on that one. Oh yeah, will need comments, graphics, ideas, coffee, diet coke, a few bottles of wine, plot, music, doritos....