Life. Writing. NaNo.

*Shrugs off Worst Blogger Ever Mantle*

*Dusts off blog*

*Breathes deep*

OMG IT'S NANO TIME, GUYS!

:) This, as you can probably tell, makes me very, very happy. I love NaNo. I've been doing it both officially and unofficially for a couple years now and even though I've never actually won, I adore it all the same.

I never really set out to win. Mostly I just try and get words for new ideas from my head to the paper and let the chips--or the word count--fall where they may. As I generally write more intently in the winter months (and let's be real here, Texas doesn't really HAVE winter months), November's the perfect time for me to reestablish my Butt In Chair routine.

NaNoWriMo: Just what the doctor ordered.

This year I'm less prepared than normal (which is no small feat, let me tell you). I have absolutely no friggin' clue what my project is going to be. (Can you tell I'm a pantser to the core?) I've got a new idea for a YA contemporary that sure is tempting, but I've also thought about going back to an older story and restarting it from a clean slate. What to do, what to do. I guess I'll find out tomorrow. (And yeah, I'm that person at the restaurant who can't ever decide what she wants until the waitstaff is eyeballing her over the order paper, foot tapping impatiently. It's a disease.)

That said, I'll probably pop by every couple of days to give an update, even if it's only for my own accountability: I'm going to shoot for 30k in 30 days.

Anybody else participating in NaNo? Got a project in mind? Got opinions about what my project should be?

Best of luck to all!

Currently listening to: Ballada by Gusstavo Lima

cover design: when boredness strikes.

When you develop a blister by 9 a.m. you know the day is going to be a long one. True to form, by the time I got home all I wanted was a cup of coffee, a chocolate bar and a nap, not necessarily in that order.

Still, I had things to be doing besides caffeinating,  bingeing or sleeping. Most specifically I should have curled up with the monstrous stack of papers in dire need of my red pen's attention, but I just couldn't make myself. Opening any WIP revisions made me want to eat fifteen pounds of m&m's, and that's not really conducive to the current fitness torture regimen.

Instead I dragged my body and laptop to the nearest recliner and collapsed. Ended up opening GIMP 2, a program I've been meaning to master and just haven't put in the time or effort. (Because I'm pretty goal-oriented, jacking around--on something that's not writing, anyway--with no real project in mind isn't my idea of a good time.) I needed a project that was simple and pretty straightforward to A) not murder my little fried brain and B) not exceed my very limited GIMP skills. The end result was a mock cover for the WIP, which felt like actually working on it but at the same time not. (Best of both worlds, really. Delusions are wonderful.)

In the end I edited the flowers in GIMP and then crapped out and copied/pasted/rearranged/resized in Paint, which is when things got a little distorted, but hey. All's well in procrastination. Some of the text, the tagline specifically, is kind of hard to read, but I'm actually pretty pleased with it. Hereyago:

Right. Now to [try and] actually get something productive done.

Currently listening to: The Perishers--My Heart

NaNo Update, Day 12

I'm at 17, 281 right now. Technically, I should be at around 18k, but life happened in the middle of the week and I was unable to get any writing time in. At one point, in fact, I was behind by about 5k--I've narrowed it down to only about a thousand words behind, which makes me pretty happy. Or atleast lessens the drowing feeling...kinda.

Hopefully I can catch up today.

As far as yesterday, I really struggled to get going. I wasn't sure what I wanted to throw at my characters next (read: I'm pantsing the hell out of this WIP) and was generally feeling pretty blah. Being ~5k behind schedule isn't a fun feeling and can be more than a little overwhelming. Thankfully I got in a groove a couple hundred words in and went on from there, finishing with a few thousand that I'm okay with.

Try as I might, I can't seem to get ahead for anything. But I'll settle for being close, for now. Maybe, once I sit down to write today, I can get on a roll.

How's your NaNo going?

Currently listening to: the tv blaring and Wednesday the MonsterCat meowing.

Nano-ing-ness. Day 10.

11,210.

I know, I know, I'm behind. I've got all day to try and catch up though, so that's what I'll be doing.

Favorite lines from the last day's work:

“We do well for ourselves,” it preened. “These communities are like the richest meals. You can really taste the full-bodied flavor of desperation.”

So, yeah. That's it.

Hope y'all are managing better than I am!

Currently listening to Alone With You--Jake Owen (<--sexy.)

50k in 30 days. Oye.

I did it. I signed up for the insanity fun that is National Novel Writing Month--eek!

Find the site here: http://www.nanowrimo.com/

For those who may not know (or don't wanna click the link), NaNoWriMo is an annual event that draws hundreds of thousands of writers, both published and aspiring. Basically, it's a writing free-for-all, with the main goal to pull words from the aether and put them to paper...erm...word processor. 50k.

In 30 days.

That's about 1,666 words/day, for those strange creatures who actually like math.

Whether you abhor numbers (*raises hand*) or not, 50k in 30 days probably seems like quite a challenge. I know that it will be for me. Try as I might, I don't write regularly, or at least not in a daily routine. I have relegated most of my writing time to the weekend, where I can spend a few continuous hours on my projects. Generally I can turn out 3.5k a week, usually in about 3 hours. Weekdays are too crazy with school and work and thesis crap.

But, that being said, I'm going to try and tackle NaNo this year. Is it crazy? Will I even have a chance to 'win'? Yes and probably a snowball's chance in hell, respectively.

Joining NaNo is helpful to me for two reasons:
1) It means I have a deadline of October 31st for my current WIP. I need deadlines. Otherwise I fiddle on the google or on AW or on crackbook or chew my nails or take naps instead of writing. Hi, I'm WT and I am a procrastinator.

2) It also means I have a distraction to keep myself from editing immediately after I type the end in mah current WIP. Letting it rest for a month will help me to be more objective when the time comes to go back and gut edit the thing. (And major edits it needs.) Plus, the idea I've got for November is one that been pestering me for months and months. One that's been trying to lure me astray. To distract me with its Shiny New Idea-ness. (All words are better with -ness endings. Face it.) I've resisted admirably up to this point. (The query that I tapped out oh so very quickly doesn't count...right? I swear it was just tiny moment of infidelity...I mean weakness.)

I want to get a down and dirty draft done for WIP2. Basically, the beginning, the pivotal scenes, and the ending. While I'm shooting for 50k in 30 days, I'm not going to be too disappointed if I fall short. Any words on paper are progress, and most of those words will get changed through editing sweeps anyway. The point is to get the words out there, period. No editing, no fretting, no second-guessing.

Write. And then write more.

I'm posting this here as a little accountability thingy. Every three days or so I'll post my progress. I have say that I'm really stoked about this story. It's got some pretty dark themes going on--much darker that in my current WIP. Should be fun.

Should any other NaNo-ers exist out there, my handle is lilchubb. Add me. We can talk or moan/groan together. It's always funner (today, a word) when there's people to commiserate with ;).

Things I've learned

over the past few blogless weeks include

1) I stink at blogging. ...This is a bad lead-off sentence I think.

2) Writing a master's thesis also stinks.

3) Weddings 400 miles away are, well...a long way away. (I never said these were going to be riveting.)

• (3a. Optimistic (read: one size smaller) ordering of bridesmaid's dress is a poor decision for a harried grad student. I'm still recovering from the lack of oxygen.)

4) Going for a run with a person who is required by contract to maintain a high level of physical fitness (read: a U.S. Marine) is a poor, poor idea on part of harried, fluffy grad student. Emphasis on the fluffy part. And the harried. Probably more the fluffy.

5) There is no five, because five is the number of DNA primer pairs I'm using for my thesis. And frankly, the number five stinks. I've grown to hate poor old five, and it's kind of sad really. It's not five's fault.

6) I'm all out of learned things. (This is probably bad.)

In other updates, I broke 55k in my WIP. *Wootwoot!* I'll wrap up a short first draft at around 65k, and then I plan on letting it sit for about a month whilst I forget everything and focus my attention on the idea that's been clamoring (with cymbals) in the back of my head for MONTHS. I'm so excited about the new project, but I'm determined to finish the current WIP first. Must. Finish.

Right now I'm reading GENERATION KILL by Evan Wright. Final verdict is still out (I'm only about 6-7 chapters in), but I will say I'm enjoying it thus far. I'm dying to get my hands on Lee Child's new Jack Reacher book, THE AFFAIR, as well as read a couple other books of various genres that I picked up in a bargain sale. Life would be better if I had more time to read.

Other than that, nothing much going on in my life. How're all of you?

WordCountStuffs.

Short post here, as I don't have much to say (count yer blessings). Latest WIP busted into the 20k-ish range, which makes me pretty happy. I've seen on other blogs and AW that loads of writers reward themselves when that pesky word count reaches certain milestones: I think that's a wondiferous idea. I think a celebration every 10k is warranted, so obviously I get to have twice the party. :). Yes, I'm back-partying, cuz it's mah prerogative.

Anyway, whilst celebrating my two word count parties--I'm eating 2 cookies right now--I'm trying to remind myself not to enslave my person to that darn button, no matter how fun it is to click (sometimes). *Sigh*

It's hard being so complicated. I mean conflicted. I mean confused. Compulsive?

Anyways, I have a funny feeling that this rough draft is going to end up on the shorter side.

Tools --> Word Count sez so.

/writerfail.

*****

ps. Tell me I'm not the only one who struggles with the WC issue(s). Support group? Stepwise program? Something (besides more cookies)? (Ignore the last, more cookies is always a groovy idea.)

The Chaos Between

Ah, the Shiny New Idea (SNI) strikes again. I've started a new mantra (as of 9:00am this morning): I am going to finish my current WIP. I am going to finish my current WIP. I Am Going To Finish My Current WIP. IAMGOINGTOFINISHMYCURRENTWIP!

Maybe I should tattoo that backwards on my forehead. And then carry around a handmirror everywhere I go.

Okay, so maybe not. But I could definitely use a little in the way of focus right now. I'm so excited to be writing again that I've got a twenty-nine point five zillion ideas going on in mah lil noggin which makes it ohsohard to concentrate on anything at any given time because there's so much going on or so much I could be doing if I could only work on twelve WIPS of different genres all at one time....

Right. You get what I mean.

Hi, my name is Lee, and I'm battling SNI addition.

[Must. Not. Give. In.]

Suffice it to say, after this current WIP is completed and sitting nicely in a drawer for thirty days before editing, I shant be twiddling my thumbs in want of an idea. Or seven.

*head desk*