So like many people tonight, I am distracted. I have been distracted all day, and I will likely be distracted all tomorrow. I love and hate election day. Of course it is a whole lot more fun when your guy is the one who is victorious, but there is something about exercising your right to vote. Sometimes I think it is very reaffirming. Sometimes I wish I could take that right away from people. I'm only half joking.
Anyway, tomorrow I will be taking Terror #2 with me to go vote. Well I hope to, we'll see. In true us fashion, The Commissioner left today on a week long business trip. With my license. In his wallet. So I am now without my ID. I flipped out, but thank goodness for google, it doesn't look like a drivers license is necessary. This kind of surprised me, but whatever.
Election day is a favorite in our household, but this year it will be different. I don't think Terror #1 will let me watch as the results start coming in, as the only way she would care what happens tomorrow is if Mickey Mouse was running. But I will be checking my phone early and often. Which probably means my productivity will be down a bit.
Today, however, went pretty well. I took a big step today and I posted a status update on Facebook telling everyone I was participating in NaNo. That is basically how I told my mom I was doing this. I had resisted making it public for various reasons. Not the least being I am "friends," with some people who I don't think would be very supportive. Which begs the question, why am I "friends" with them. It's a good question, which I don't have the brain power to think about now. I was also nervous about announcing it because I know there will be some friends who are extremely supportive about my attempting this. So supportive, they will want to read what I'm writing. And that is a whole other can of freak out. Actually letting someone read what I'm writing? I mean, I'm having fun writing this, but that doesn't mean anything I'm writing is any good. So to let anyone actually read what I'm doing is a whole other step that I'm not quite ready to tackle. Of course, thats down the line. First I need to write my book (and hopefully complete NaNo).
Day 5 Recap:
2,388 words written today, which makes my total word count for the 5 days 10,304. That amazes me. I am officially 1/5 of the way through my goal. A good day.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Weekend Recap...
Okay, I am exhausted. That is my disclaimer for what ramblings are sure to follow (as well as typos and poor grammar). Between the fact I actually went out Saturday night (hooray for babysitters) and the fact my kids don't believe in time changes (boo early wakeup calls), we got little sleep. So I'm going to keep this short, but I wanted to document my progress for the weekend.
Saturday was almost a complete bust. I had no time to write all day with both kids home and The Commissioner around to distract me. Then we went out to the movies for a belated anniversary celebration. Which sounds lame, until you see the cinema we went to. It's freaking AMAZING. We reserved seats for Flight, which was great but seriously the movie was second to the fact we had LEATHER RECLINERS. WHAT??? AND WE GOT TO ORDER FOOD AND GROWN-UP DRINKS... all from the comfort of our chairs. Even during the movie! I never wanted to get up. It was so comfortable and the food was actually really good! No crappy movie theater food for me- gourmet all the way! On top of that, the movie was good and, oh yeah, WAYNE GRETZKY was there! Somehow we missed TMZ interviewing him about the NHL mess, but we did see him!
Anyway, I did wind up writing a little bit when we got home from the movies, but not much. Because we came home and Terror 1 had manipulated our babysitter into staying up. It was 10:00. She's supposed to be asleep by 8:30. On top of that, when we checked on Terror 2, The Commissioner noticed her pjs were on BACKWARDS. How do you do that? They have feet on them. It should be self-explanatory. I really worry about who we entrusted our kids with, but my desire to have a night out will win out in the future I'm sure. In the end, everyone was in one piece so I can't ask for much more than that. Clearly.
When I got up today I knew I needed to make up for my progress on Saturday, and I did. Tonight was good. I figured out a few story ideas I was worrying about, and I really really tried hard not to edit what I have already written. I managed to add 3,449 words today. NaNo has a nifty stat tracker and it basically says I'll hit the 50,000 goal by November 25 if I keep this up. It also has a graph tracking my productivity for the day. I could do without that as it clearly shows my Saturday slacking. HA!
Point is, four days in and I'm still on target to finish, and I still love doing this. Here's hoping the rest of the week is productive. I'm a little nervous as The Commissioner will be out of town so I'm on my own with the terrors. On the other hand, once they go to bed I'll have extra time to write. So we'll see!
TOTAL WORDS: 7916
Saturday was almost a complete bust. I had no time to write all day with both kids home and The Commissioner around to distract me. Then we went out to the movies for a belated anniversary celebration. Which sounds lame, until you see the cinema we went to. It's freaking AMAZING. We reserved seats for Flight, which was great but seriously the movie was second to the fact we had LEATHER RECLINERS. WHAT??? AND WE GOT TO ORDER FOOD AND GROWN-UP DRINKS... all from the comfort of our chairs. Even during the movie! I never wanted to get up. It was so comfortable and the food was actually really good! No crappy movie theater food for me- gourmet all the way! On top of that, the movie was good and, oh yeah, WAYNE GRETZKY was there! Somehow we missed TMZ interviewing him about the NHL mess, but we did see him!
Anyway, I did wind up writing a little bit when we got home from the movies, but not much. Because we came home and Terror 1 had manipulated our babysitter into staying up. It was 10:00. She's supposed to be asleep by 8:30. On top of that, when we checked on Terror 2, The Commissioner noticed her pjs were on BACKWARDS. How do you do that? They have feet on them. It should be self-explanatory. I really worry about who we entrusted our kids with, but my desire to have a night out will win out in the future I'm sure. In the end, everyone was in one piece so I can't ask for much more than that. Clearly.
When I got up today I knew I needed to make up for my progress on Saturday, and I did. Tonight was good. I figured out a few story ideas I was worrying about, and I really really tried hard not to edit what I have already written. I managed to add 3,449 words today. NaNo has a nifty stat tracker and it basically says I'll hit the 50,000 goal by November 25 if I keep this up. It also has a graph tracking my productivity for the day. I could do without that as it clearly shows my Saturday slacking. HA!
Point is, four days in and I'm still on target to finish, and I still love doing this. Here's hoping the rest of the week is productive. I'm a little nervous as The Commissioner will be out of town so I'm on my own with the terrors. On the other hand, once they go to bed I'll have extra time to write. So we'll see!
TOTAL WORDS: 7916
Friday, November 2, 2012
Guilty Pleasure...
Ask anyone who knows me and they will ultimately talk about my love of all things YA. The Commissioner loves to tease me about my love of YA books, t.v. shows and movies. Seriously, my kindle could be mistaken for a teenager's reading list, well not completely but you get the point. Anyway, in doing NaNo I've been thinking about why I like YA so much, and the more I think about it, the less I "guilty" I feel about it.
Young adults, new adults or whatever you call them (I seriously don't get the categories publishers have come up with) are completely passionate people. They are ruled by their emotions, they are often obsessed with love and relationships and they don't yet have the weight of the world on their shoulders. Yes, I know some YA books address very serious issues that YA's face, but mostly, the books are focused on true love, or sparkly vampires or high school. And there is just a part of me who loves living vicariously through these characters. I mean who wouldn't love to be the focus of a vampire's attentions, or the bad boy at school or whoever your particular character interest happens to be. Or wake up one day and find out that you have magical powers (I really would like this even now. Seriously.)
Also, a lot of YA is unapologetically shiny and hopeful. It deals with things like first loves, crushes and best friends. It often focuses on characters who have their whole lives in front of them and it more often than not has a happy ending. What's not to like about that? Anyway, one of the NaNo experts gave the advice that you should write what you would want to read, so it should come as no surprise that I am writing YA. I hope it turns out to be something I would want to read- even if there aren't any sparkly vampires in my story.
Day 2 Recap: I have written 4,467 words, which is 1,133 words over my deadline for the night.
(Confession: even though you aren't supposed to, I couldn't help but edit my prior work a little bit. I tried really hard not to, but I went back to check something I had written and I just kept thinking I MUST DELETE. I MUST DELETE. I MUST DELETE. So I gave in, but only a little. I know the goal is not to come out of this month with a finished product, but rather a good start that you can hopefully salvage with intensive editing. I have to admit though, it is really hard not to stop and edit!)
I am hoping to continue my writing over the weekend but as Terror #1 won't be in school I'm guessing that will cut into my productivity. Also, The Commissioner and I will be going out for a belated Anniversary celebration as we finally found a babysitter. So we're going to go see Flight at a fancy schmancy movie theater that serves dinner. Both time efficient and fun. Still, I hope to fit in some writing time. I have a feeling that I am writing too much "pre-story," but so far I like the direction the story is headed. We'll see how I feel about it in a month!
Young adults, new adults or whatever you call them (I seriously don't get the categories publishers have come up with) are completely passionate people. They are ruled by their emotions, they are often obsessed with love and relationships and they don't yet have the weight of the world on their shoulders. Yes, I know some YA books address very serious issues that YA's face, but mostly, the books are focused on true love, or sparkly vampires or high school. And there is just a part of me who loves living vicariously through these characters. I mean who wouldn't love to be the focus of a vampire's attentions, or the bad boy at school or whoever your particular character interest happens to be. Or wake up one day and find out that you have magical powers (I really would like this even now. Seriously.)
Also, a lot of YA is unapologetically shiny and hopeful. It deals with things like first loves, crushes and best friends. It often focuses on characters who have their whole lives in front of them and it more often than not has a happy ending. What's not to like about that? Anyway, one of the NaNo experts gave the advice that you should write what you would want to read, so it should come as no surprise that I am writing YA. I hope it turns out to be something I would want to read- even if there aren't any sparkly vampires in my story.
Day 2 Recap: I have written 4,467 words, which is 1,133 words over my deadline for the night.
(Confession: even though you aren't supposed to, I couldn't help but edit my prior work a little bit. I tried really hard not to, but I went back to check something I had written and I just kept thinking I MUST DELETE. I MUST DELETE. I MUST DELETE. So I gave in, but only a little. I know the goal is not to come out of this month with a finished product, but rather a good start that you can hopefully salvage with intensive editing. I have to admit though, it is really hard not to stop and edit!)
I am hoping to continue my writing over the weekend but as Terror #1 won't be in school I'm guessing that will cut into my productivity. Also, The Commissioner and I will be going out for a belated Anniversary celebration as we finally found a babysitter. So we're going to go see Flight at a fancy schmancy movie theater that serves dinner. Both time efficient and fun. Still, I hope to fit in some writing time. I have a feeling that I am writing too much "pre-story," but so far I like the direction the story is headed. We'll see how I feel about it in a month!
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Day 1- Recap
Even though I actually wrote a post on this blog earlier, I thought I should update it now that I am done for the night.
So the helpful people at NaNoWriMo have basically figured out in order to complete your goal of writing 50,000 words by the end of the month, you need to write approximately 1,667 words a day. I, like most overachieving newbies I imagine, exceeded that goal and wrote 2,566 words. I really want to erase about 2,500 words so I am not sure it really counts. I'm trying to take the helpful advice sent out by the NaNo folks to tell my inner editor to take a hike, but the thing is, it's all very satisfying to reach or exceed a word count goal, but it does not mean much if the words are total crap!
This all sounds overly pessimistic. The truth is I loved every minute of it. I loved actually writing. I have wanted to do this for so long and this "competition" gave me the very excuse to at least try. I still have no clue where my story is going, but overall I am happy. I have words on paper. 2,566 words to be exact. I am actually writing a story. I may even have a finished product at some point. Something I can look at, and even if nothing else happens, I can say I accomplished my goal, for even just this little time, I was a writer. So I can't help but be excited.
To recap, I more than met my first goal of 1,667 words (even if I had to physically restrain myself from pushing the delete button) and I am ready to start day 2. All it took was a couple cups of coffee, some good music (I'm listening to Of Monsters and Men right now) and a few pieces of candy from my kids' Halloween stash. Don't judge.
Heres hoping everyone else had a good first day and that tomorrow is successful too! Happy writing.
PS- I have to also send out a HUGE congrats to E on her admission to graduate school. So excited for you! xoxo
So the helpful people at NaNoWriMo have basically figured out in order to complete your goal of writing 50,000 words by the end of the month, you need to write approximately 1,667 words a day. I, like most overachieving newbies I imagine, exceeded that goal and wrote 2,566 words. I really want to erase about 2,500 words so I am not sure it really counts. I'm trying to take the helpful advice sent out by the NaNo folks to tell my inner editor to take a hike, but the thing is, it's all very satisfying to reach or exceed a word count goal, but it does not mean much if the words are total crap!
This all sounds overly pessimistic. The truth is I loved every minute of it. I loved actually writing. I have wanted to do this for so long and this "competition" gave me the very excuse to at least try. I still have no clue where my story is going, but overall I am happy. I have words on paper. 2,566 words to be exact. I am actually writing a story. I may even have a finished product at some point. Something I can look at, and even if nothing else happens, I can say I accomplished my goal, for even just this little time, I was a writer. So I can't help but be excited.
To recap, I more than met my first goal of 1,667 words (even if I had to physically restrain myself from pushing the delete button) and I am ready to start day 2. All it took was a couple cups of coffee, some good music (I'm listening to Of Monsters and Men right now) and a few pieces of candy from my kids' Halloween stash. Don't judge.
Heres hoping everyone else had a good first day and that tomorrow is successful too! Happy writing.
PS- I have to also send out a HUGE congrats to E on her admission to graduate school. So excited for you! xoxo
NaNoWriMo- Day 1
OMG its November 1st and NaNoWriMo has officially started... which means I am already behind! I had such good intentions, I really did. I was going to start writing at midnight in order to kick-off NaNo on a productive note and, well, Halloween got in the way.
I have two young kids. Terror #1 is 3 years old and Terror #2 is 7 months. So Terror #1 was completely bonkers most of the night on a sugar high (as well as an excitement high) from a Halloween party at school and trick-or-treating with one of her little friends. By the time we got her down to sleep, I was literally about 30 minutes away from falling asleep myself. Which means by the time the clock struck midnight and the excitement of NaNo began, I was asleep. Sigh.
However, today is still November 1st, and still technically the first day of NaNoWriMo, so I will be getting my word count in for the day. (On a side note, writing a novel with word count deadlines, way less sexy than the idea of writing a book!) Of course, I need to fit this in during the kiddos naps and/or after bedtime, but I am determined, I will be getting in my 1,667 words for the day. Which means I better stop writing on this Blog and start writing my, wait for it, NOVEL!
Happy writing.
I have two young kids. Terror #1 is 3 years old and Terror #2 is 7 months. So Terror #1 was completely bonkers most of the night on a sugar high (as well as an excitement high) from a Halloween party at school and trick-or-treating with one of her little friends. By the time we got her down to sleep, I was literally about 30 minutes away from falling asleep myself. Which means by the time the clock struck midnight and the excitement of NaNo began, I was asleep. Sigh.
However, today is still November 1st, and still technically the first day of NaNoWriMo, so I will be getting my word count in for the day. (On a side note, writing a novel with word count deadlines, way less sexy than the idea of writing a book!) Of course, I need to fit this in during the kiddos naps and/or after bedtime, but I am determined, I will be getting in my 1,667 words for the day. Which means I better stop writing on this Blog and start writing my, wait for it, NOVEL!
Happy writing.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Let the Second Guessing Begin!
We are now a little more than a day away from the start of NaNoWriMo. At this point, I was hoping to have started my character outlines and have a general story outline ready. Instead, I basically took the last three days to play with my kids, celebrate my birthday (and try out my new Keurig- addicting!) and stalk Facebook and Twitter for all things Hurricane Sandy related. Basically anything other than making a decision as to what I'm going to write about.
Then, I had a middle of the night brainstorm. I came up with an idea on a subject that is by no means original, but I think could be a take on it which is original. At least, I could not find any books similar enough to make me nervous. In fact, the only two I did find that were close, were books I have on my Amazon Wish List- but have not read yet. So basically, I am going to wait on buying them to make sure I do not get influenced by what that author did.
So back to my amazingly original idea. The problem with middle of the night brainstorms is either you really did come up with a good idea, or in the haze of sleep deprivation, you came up with absolute crap that just sounded good at the time. So I jotted down a few notes and sent them off to E to help figure out whether my idea was workable, or whether I needed to start thinking about this after drinking at least 2 cups of coffee. Added bonus, by waiting on E's response, I bought myself a little longer to procrastinate actually making a decision. I really do have a thing for deadlines. Sigh.
So now that I have my "subject," what's the next step? NaNo floods your e-mail, Facebook and twitter with all kinds of helpful information, but there is just no way to keep up with everything. Instead, I think I am going to take the next day and try to map out a few key things I want to happen in my story, and start getting to know my main characters. Of course, there is always the chance I wind up hating everything about my idea and decide to start over... so, let the second guessing begin!
Then, I had a middle of the night brainstorm. I came up with an idea on a subject that is by no means original, but I think could be a take on it which is original. At least, I could not find any books similar enough to make me nervous. In fact, the only two I did find that were close, were books I have on my Amazon Wish List- but have not read yet. So basically, I am going to wait on buying them to make sure I do not get influenced by what that author did.
So back to my amazingly original idea. The problem with middle of the night brainstorms is either you really did come up with a good idea, or in the haze of sleep deprivation, you came up with absolute crap that just sounded good at the time. So I jotted down a few notes and sent them off to E to help figure out whether my idea was workable, or whether I needed to start thinking about this after drinking at least 2 cups of coffee. Added bonus, by waiting on E's response, I bought myself a little longer to procrastinate actually making a decision. I really do have a thing for deadlines. Sigh.
So now that I have my "subject," what's the next step? NaNo floods your e-mail, Facebook and twitter with all kinds of helpful information, but there is just no way to keep up with everything. Instead, I think I am going to take the next day and try to map out a few key things I want to happen in my story, and start getting to know my main characters. Of course, there is always the chance I wind up hating everything about my idea and decide to start over... so, let the second guessing begin!
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Back to the Drawing Board
So I have been mulling over a story option to use for NaNo, and just when I thought I knew which way I was leaning, I went on Amazon (FYI: I blame my procrastination on my awesome sisters-in-law who gave me a GC to help support my addiction... just saying.) Anyway, I was reading a summary of a book I was considering and it was almost exactly the story I was thinking of writing. Which makes me wonder, is this just a freaky coincidence, or did I previously read the description and just forgot?
My biggest concern is to make my book original. Obviously, no one wants to copy another author's work. But further, I really don't want my story to be even close to another author's work, for fear I would be constantly comparing the two, and finding mine lacking. So the question is, how do you take a common theme and make it yours? By way of example, there are a lot of people who have written about vampires (disclaimer: I've probably read a lot of those books!) The trick is, to make it different from say Twilight. Is there really a way to address these common themes in original ways, or are we all doomed to be a sort of fan fiction ripping off other author's ideas?
I am not really sure what the answer is, I just know I am holding out hope I can come up with an idea of how to address what is probably not a unique topic in a new and creative way. I know the best way to do that is to come up with my own characters who are well developed and who readers can relate to (or at least characters who I relate to as I may be the only one to read this!) Which means, I am basically back to the drawing board.
I have two potential story lines I am considering, but both have complications for me to consider. One story I have developed a little more in my head but it involves me writing scenes I am not sure I am comfortable with yet (i.e., romance). The second story is less developed but which I am a little more drawn to, but it involves a type of character who was previously addressed by a writer who I love. I think I am leaning towards the latter at this point, but it is obviously a HUGE concern of mine to write about a character who was previously addressed by a writer I respect, even tangentially. I mean, I love how she did it in her book, so the question is how can I do it differently? The one positive with this storyline; however, is that this character was not her main character, but it was a significant one.
Of course, in the end, I am just hoping to come up with something uniquely mine, even if I am the only one who will read it. So I think I will brainstorm a little more and hope to come up with my brilliant original idea, or at least my original take on a more common idea. One way I will be doing this is by using the worksheets sent out by the NaNo contributors. I find it amazing how many published authors, including quite a few authors whose books I have read, have taken the time to send out advice to aspiring writers. I can honestly say, in the few days I've been working on this, I have already learned so much. There are also a few writers who have their own blogs which I follow (i.e., stalk). Most of these authors have written at some point about their writing process. Again, this advice has been invaluable to me even at these beginning stages. I have quite a few of the pages bookmarked for further review.
As for coming up with my final plan, well I have three days until NaNo starts, so knowing me, I won't have made a final decision until the last possible second. Here's hoping it is the right decision!
So over this weekend I have:
My biggest concern is to make my book original. Obviously, no one wants to copy another author's work. But further, I really don't want my story to be even close to another author's work, for fear I would be constantly comparing the two, and finding mine lacking. So the question is, how do you take a common theme and make it yours? By way of example, there are a lot of people who have written about vampires (disclaimer: I've probably read a lot of those books!) The trick is, to make it different from say Twilight. Is there really a way to address these common themes in original ways, or are we all doomed to be a sort of fan fiction ripping off other author's ideas?
I am not really sure what the answer is, I just know I am holding out hope I can come up with an idea of how to address what is probably not a unique topic in a new and creative way. I know the best way to do that is to come up with my own characters who are well developed and who readers can relate to (or at least characters who I relate to as I may be the only one to read this!) Which means, I am basically back to the drawing board.
I have two potential story lines I am considering, but both have complications for me to consider. One story I have developed a little more in my head but it involves me writing scenes I am not sure I am comfortable with yet (i.e., romance). The second story is less developed but which I am a little more drawn to, but it involves a type of character who was previously addressed by a writer who I love. I think I am leaning towards the latter at this point, but it is obviously a HUGE concern of mine to write about a character who was previously addressed by a writer I respect, even tangentially. I mean, I love how she did it in her book, so the question is how can I do it differently? The one positive with this storyline; however, is that this character was not her main character, but it was a significant one.
Of course, in the end, I am just hoping to come up with something uniquely mine, even if I am the only one who will read it. So I think I will brainstorm a little more and hope to come up with my brilliant original idea, or at least my original take on a more common idea. One way I will be doing this is by using the worksheets sent out by the NaNo contributors. I find it amazing how many published authors, including quite a few authors whose books I have read, have taken the time to send out advice to aspiring writers. I can honestly say, in the few days I've been working on this, I have already learned so much. There are also a few writers who have their own blogs which I follow (i.e., stalk). Most of these authors have written at some point about their writing process. Again, this advice has been invaluable to me even at these beginning stages. I have quite a few of the pages bookmarked for further review.
As for coming up with my final plan, well I have three days until NaNo starts, so knowing me, I won't have made a final decision until the last possible second. Here's hoping it is the right decision!
So over this weekend I have:
- Found out my brilliant original idea, is actually not so original;
- Scrapped said unoriginal idea;
- Got distracted on Amazon adding quite a few new books to my already overloaded wish list;
- Took time out to celebrate my 35th birthday (more like freak out over the idea I could possibly be that old);
- Come up with a game plan to make a decision on a new storyline; and
- Write this blog entry to procrastinate actually making said decision :)
If anyone who writes (or is attempting NaNo) is actually reading this blog, I am wondering how you address the concern that your storyline was likely already done. You know the saying, there are no new ideas only new takes on those ideas... or maybe I made that up.
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