NaNoWriMo 2012 Decision

Verdict: Officially Unofficially Participating

I am going to do my own version of NaNo again this year.  It might in the end be 50,000 words, but I don’t care so much about the numbers so much as I care about the completions.  Here are my three goals:

Finish my novel’s roughest draft.

Go back to the scenes that need rewriting, and draft the new versions.

Write the Christmas story (novella) that’s been percolating in my mind for a couple months now.  (This is a revision of my previous thinking, which was to write one or both of the novellas connected to the novel during NaNo.  Instead I want (1) to get a change of pace, (2) to do something seasonal since Christmas stories are so big in the romance community, and (3) to avoid the necessity of revising two stories if something changes in the novel in revisions that would affect the connected stories.)

If I can accomplish these three things in the month of November, then I will consider myself to have won NaNo 2012, even if it only takes 30,000 words to accomplish it all.

By default of having too damn much else going on in my life right now, I can definitely say I wont be working on my novel again until November 1.

In the next few days I am going to plot out the novella.  I know the beginning point and the ending point, but not the parts in between—as always in a romance.  I would like to be able to publish it during December, but obviously that will very much depend on the execution that happens in November and how much revision it needs after drafting.

Right now I am undecided whether to finish the novel first or jump into something new for the novelty of it and go back to the novel after, when it’s new again, but I am not sure.

The main thing is that I have been stalled out, stuck in neutral, for what feels like ages, and I am thus going to try and harness the energy and momentum of NaNoWriMo to overcome my current inertia of stillness.

Best of luck to all my fellows out there giving the steep goals of NaNoWriMo a go this year!

This Is My NaNoWrimo Post

There Are Many Like It, But This One Is Mine

October is the time of year when the entire web of writers vibrates with the answer to one question: “am I going to participate in National Novel Writing Month this November?”

I have never won NaNo. I have also never given it the kind of serious try it deserves. I did a half-NaNo last year. I am currently debating whether to try this year.

My dilemma is this: I love the energy that exists around NaNoWriMo as an event. It’s inspiring, and it’s a good excuse to go silent on the interwebs for a month and focus on your story. It’s a tough enough goal that you get to feel like you really accomplished something if you manage it. It’s also a helluva lot of words forward in a new project, even if you don’t finish outright.

However. It comes at a really terrible time of year for me. In the first place, I work long hours at a day job and struggle to find time to write during the week. But I am a huge (college) football fan, so Saturdays are devoted to watching games. Secondly, Nano falls during one of the prime costume seasons of the year, namely just after Halloween and right smack amidst the two most accessible Renaissance Festivals to me.  Since I dress up every chance I get and often sew my own costumes, those two activities make it really hard for me to devote every spare second to writing during November (and also October, which, of course, is prep month for character and plot building and research, etc.).

This year I have the added wrinkle of being something like 10,000 words away from the end of a novel. It’s awkward. It’s just long enough that I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish before NaNo, but I certainly don’t want to jump ship and write something new. I want to finish this one first.

That said, I’m not interested in writing a novel during NaNo this year if I participate. The next two writing projects I want to tackle are both shorter works, either novelettes or novellas (knowing me and the way words seem to expand, probably novellas). They are also both related pieces to the novel, one a direct parallel and the other a loose sequel (picks up with two of the side characters following the events of the novel). My goal would be to finish the novel’s rough draft and re-writes and one of the other stories. All told that would be about 50K.

My pipe dream would be to have the novel finished by the end of October (at least in rough draft…maybe not all the rewrites) and write both new stories, one 30K and one 20K, but considering it’s already the 18th and I have a tunic to make, two skirts to splice into one, and a hundred tiles to hand-sew to a mask between now and Halloween plus a sewing commission needed by then as well…I just don’t think that’s going to happen. Not with my day job.

So the question becomes: To NaNo, or not to NaNo? Do I tap into the energy of the month or just finish at my own pace and do a self-challenged NaNo at a time slightly better for me in that regard?

What are all of you doing with your similar dilemmas?

Ebb and Flow

My work life has been a sinkhole for the past three weeks…10 hour days that require 10 hours of concentration. I never thought I would miss the bureaucracy, but it never required this kind of mental exertion. I haven’t even been up for writing blog posts, much less writing on a story.

Interesting discovery, though–my blog view stats are stable despite no posts for 10 days. This validates that this is an article blog, not a following blog for the most part. That’s cool to see, that old posts of mine still keep getting read.

I think we might be over the hump at the office. And if we’re not I might be over the hump of caring. I refuse to let a job become my life. I have too many costumes to make and stories to write for that!

Illustrated Example of Why Piracy Happens: Game of Thrones Edition

I have blogged before about what drives honest media consumers to piracy–lack of availability. For most people, it’s not the cost, and it’s not the thrill of getting away with something that lead them to piracy. It’s not being able to get what they want on the terms they want. This comic is a perfect example of that dynamic. Go read it. Read it for the epithet at the end.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones

You Know You’re a Nerd When…

…the name of a spam-bot called “silver price” evokes not visions of the silver market but visions of the iron price*, and a vague wondering of what the silver price would be in that context.

*for those of you who don’t watch/read Game of Thrones/ASOIF, the iron price is blood. Specifically killing for the thing you take.