In Due Time

NaNoWriMo Decision

2009-11-06T11:08:00.000-08:00

So I've decided not to participate in NaNo this year. :( This makes me very sad.

I gave it a week to see if I could even write much of anything and keep up with school and work and I can't. Too many things being juggled and I can't afford to drop any of them right now.

Good luck to those of you who are participating!

New Year of NaNoWriMo

2009-10-22T09:21:00.000-07:00

So NaNoWriMo starts in a little over a week. I've been hemming and hawing over whether I'm going to participate this year. I'm one of those people who likes to think they're organized and I like to make lists, so here's my list of hindrances and advantages of doing WriMo this year.

Hindrances:

First semester of Master Program
Full-time job
I like my sleep

Advantages:

Might get my creativity flowing again in the writing arena - as my life has been taken over by other things and I've allowed my writing to fall by the wayside
Will force me to be more on top of my life if I'm going to succeed at all the things I have going on
I'll get a chance to get to know some new characters

So what, oh what, is a girl to do? Do I shove NaNo in this year or do I take the year off and focus on schooling?

I'm back, Sort Of

2009-07-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

Hiatus -- I have been on a writing moratorium for a while now. Stressful stuff in my life has taken forefront focus and I'm just now breaking free of it. Hopefully this will enable me to get back to my manuscript. Possibly more than one of them.

Good Writing

And so we begin... again

2009-02-12T08:28:00.000-08:00

Good news abounds... My cast is off. I'm officially partially healed. Technically the crack in my bone is healed, but my wrist now needs to be restrengthened.

What that means for me and my writing. Well, it means that typing is possible with both hands for short periods of time now and progressively longer periods of time as I heal more.

I have yet to jump back into my WIP as the moment I got my cast off I had to start a paper for a literary criticism class I'm taking. To read more about that go to this post.

However, at the top of my to do list after cleaning my house, doing laundry, and finishing that paper is to jump back into my WIP and move full throttle until it's done! Wish me luck! I'll keep you posted.

Happy writing to you all.

Delays

2009-01-15T11:50:00.000-08:00

So here we go... first day of the new year and I fractured my wrist. Yep oops! See A Start to Remember and All Kinds on Adventures on my other blog for pics.

This has of course put a whole big delay in writing... I'm typing with one hand and that's really slow going. But I am supposed to be able to get my cast of Feb 9. Maybe then I can get back to my WIP.

Good luck with whatever your writing.

Today is the Day

2008-12-25T14:37:00.001-08:00

I'm hanging with the family and enjoying my 8 yr old niece.

The Holidays...

2008-12-24T15:53:00.000-08:00

So I've been neglectful of my writing this week. It is only Wednesday and it's the week of Christmas. I'm hoping to get plenty of time to sit down and pound out a bunch on Friday. :)

In the mean time I've changed a little on this blog. To the left you'll see I took down my word count widgits from NaNo. I'll put them back up for next years challenge. I'm looking for a widgit to put on there for a word on my current WIP if anyone has any ideas.

The other thing I've changed is I've put a link to the left that leads to my regular life blog. I like to keep my writing separate from the rest of my life, but you may not feel the same way. Feel free to explore the other blog. I update it much more often and it may help you to get to know me as a person vs. me the writer.

almost a month

2008-12-22T14:45:00.000-08:00

So it's been 22 days since the end of NaNoWriMo 2008 and I have made some progress on my WIP. I find I get the most done on my commute and that I rather enjoy working in short bursts. Maybe with some of the time I'm taking of for the holidays I'll work on it more. We'll have to see what happens.

Happy writing.

The End

2008-12-01T07:46:00.000-08:00

Two words I have gotten no where near this NaNoWriMo. It was an EPIC FAIL. And I know exactly why. No discipline. But luckily I have learned a great deal from this first NaNoWriMo. And I plan on putting some of the lessons into practice throughout the coming year and not just waiting around for next year's NaNoWriMo.

In other news... this blog is supposed to be just for NaNoWriMo. I think I'm may update it periodically with news on how the WIP (work in progress) is coming. Cuz yep I'm going to continue working on it. I want to get it finished before my birthday (March). So here's the goal and I'll try to keep everyone posted.

Good luck with your writing.

2008-11-25T14:51:00.000-08:00

I wrote more last night and this morning. I'll write more tonight and tomorrow and then update the word count before a break for actual Thanksgiving day. YAY!

Now I'm off to feel better.

2008-11-24T15:01:00.001-08:00

wow NaNoWriMo is coming to a close here in a few days and it doesn't look like I'll be finishing this year. :( I'm still going to write to see where I can get my word count to in the next six days.

Things I've learned so far...

1) Life will always get in the way
2) Sickness isn't conducive to writing

Number 2 is related to the fact that I had a whole day I was going to devote to writing this past weekend and instead I caught a stomach virus from my niece. Its really hard to concentrate when you're really sick.

19 days left

2008-11-21T11:26:00.000-08:00

I kept putting off blogging yesterday until I could update my word count. Which means I didn't get it done. So I updated my word count now. YAY!

And I have to thank a friend for the lending of a laptop without which I wouldn't have even hit this many words. I write a lot on my commutes to and from work. And I'm finally getting to an awesome point in the story. Things are happening and I'm trying to decide which way to make them go... Choices oh the choices ...

I'm almost excited at this as I am about seeing Twilight tonight.

hip hip...

2008-11-19T15:38:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to finish that cheer just yet. I'm excited because the story is finally rolling. It's picking up speed and I'm happy. I feel like a few days of really good writing could make it possible to actually hit the 50,000 mark. here's hoping....

Good luck with your writing

Blah

2008-11-18T14:58:00.001-08:00

Monday's seem bad for posting. I guess it's cuz I'm catching up on everything internet related from the weekend as well as the rest of my daily chores and blogging kind falls off the end of a rather large list.

I got a little further on my manuscript. I think any progress is good progress. And yeah you may have noticed that I didn't meet my goal for the weekend. That had more to do with the fact that I under estimated how much effort it would take to care for a person recovering from surgery that I thought it would. At least I got some written.

Are we almost 1/2 through Already?!

2008-11-14T09:06:00.000-08:00

It's November 14th and I'm at a measly 1000ish words. Ughhh. Well lets see I'm going to create a goal for myself. I will break the 10,000 mark by the end of this here weekend. Hopefully I'll blow it away, but just in case...

Good luck with your writing.

Opps

2008-11-13T10:34:00.000-08:00

Missed another day... darn it! Seems like things just keep popping up. You know, looking back, this is no different than my everyday life. I just only notice it when I'm on a short deadline. Bah! Let's see what happens tonight.

The plan-- go home, eat dinner, iron for an hour and then write till I go to bed. Hopefully I'll succeed in increase my word count.

Good luck in your writing.

Day 11

2008-11-11T09:58:00.000-08:00

Wow... sorry I missed posting yesterday folks. Been kind of overwhelmed with annoyance and irritation at things in my everyday life and neither is conducive to getting things done. I've made little progress on "Click". What can I say... I've been distracted. I hope to make remedy of that this week between catching up on all the other things that've fallen behind.

Wow writing 50,000 words in a month seemed so doable until I tried to do it and deal with everyday life too. And don't take this as a statement of despair. I still have hope and confidence that I will succeed. It's more a statement of the reality of life.

Good luck with your writing!

Where am I today?

2008-11-06T14:25:00.000-08:00

Well, lets see.
<-----I updated my word count.

As you can see it hasn't grown any from what I said it was yesterday. :( Why does life always get in the way of writing, but writing never get in the way of life? I think it's because I'm too responsible to let writing get in the way of life... to stay up late immersed in a scene, to miss an appointment (be it business, family or friend), to live in utter chaos. I don't seem to be able to sit down and write if there's laundry needing to be done or mail needing sorted. I guess I'm too much of a neat nick to work well, or sometimes at all, in an non-neat environment.

Another thing I've noticed is that I'm not a stationary writer. When I'm working through an issue or how to word something or coming up with flowing dialogue, I wander. I walk circles in my living room, I pace from my living room through my dining room and back. Any one else need to move to about when working through a particularly tough spot?

The Simple Plan Plan

2008-11-05T11:52:00.000-08:00

I did it... I got the first scene written and to a place where I can now move forward with the story. YAY! All it took was tea and the right music... oddly enough the Freaky Friday Soundtrack. It's up beat and helped me rock out almost 900 words.

And yes I know the counter isn't updated. I forgot my flashdrive at home and have to wait till tomorrow to update my word count on my nanowrimo site. Hopefully I'll be able to write more tonight and get a little closer to the 50,000 word goal. Hey it's only 49,100 words to go.

Good luck and keep writing!

Crawling... through the swamp

2008-11-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

I'm officially stuck. I have everything in my head. I just can't get it out right. Every time I put something on paper I can't get any further than that scene. Hence, not right. I've probably written my first 300 words 3 times. Ugghhh.

Well I'll attack it again tonight. Maybe it'll flow right this time.

Day 3

2008-11-03T09:02:00.001-08:00

Yup I'm skipping past days 1 and 2. Well not skipping..

Days 1 and 2 made up a very hectic weekend. I'm sad to say I got a very slow start on writing. As in a few sentences because when I finally found the time to sit down and start writing I got interrupted and never got back to it. This realization hit me as I was climbing into bed last night. 2 days down and not much to show for it. :(

Well hopefully today will be better. I have my "have to do" stuff planned out so I can get it done as quickly as possible so I have a few hours to devote entirely to "Click". By the way, that's the working title for now. :)

Good luck to you all. Hopefully you're fairing better than me.

The Starting Bell

2008-10-31T20:28:00.000-07:00

It's 10:30 pm, Oct 31, 2008. The bell to begin NaNo will go off here soon. (No its not an actual bell.) I have a scene in my head ready to write and haven't really thought much past it except for small blips that will fit in no matter where the story goes.

I may stay up till 12 just to start the story. But then again, I may go to bed and choose to get a large quantity of dedicated writing time tomorrow, between helping my mom around her house and the Halloween party I'm to attend that night.

Happy Halloween and I'll see ya no later than Monday.

In Just A Few Days

2008-10-29T06:35:00.000-07:00

In just a few days NaNo will start and I'm of mixed feeling on that. I'm excited... very excited... to give myself a reason to do nothing but write. I'm kind of scared that I'll be overwhelmed by the looming deadline and word count. I'm hoping that the fear can be handled by going to the weekly meetings and by knowing a dear friend, DeathByOpus, is doing it too.

I've been discussing participation in NaNo with other writerly friends and I've already begun to love and hate the question "So what's the premise?"

I'm a character writer by nature. I usually find something that triggers the beginnings of a character and then I let my subconscious play with it for a while. I'm usually fairly patient with them. They like to reveal themselves to me at their own pace. They tell me when they're ready to tell their story.

I have learned over time how to prod them forward or how to coax them into being and sharing. I'm working on such a task right now. My maim character seems reluctant to share more than a few details. That may be because I'm so hectic at work that work is all I think about so she's staying in her little cubby to keep out of the way. It may also be that she's simply not yet ready to move forward.

We'll see how it goes on Saturday, Nov. 1 when I sit down, put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, and see what story is ready to come to life.

The First of Many

2008-10-10T10:31:00.000-07:00

I discovered NaNoWriMo last year (2007) on November 5th. I remember this date for two very different reasons. One I had just started a new job the day before and was extremely excited about it (you know girls and their ability to remember in great detail anything that is tied to strong emotion). And two, I was highly disappointed that I hadn't found it just 5 days earlier. I know that you can start late, but with the new job I just didn't see it as a recipe for success on either front. So I put it on my to do list (Mission 101), and here I am trying to actually cross it off. This is my attempt at immortalizing my NaNoWriMo experience.

I will be attempting to blog as many days as I have access to the internet. I want to keep a running log of my progress and to share with anyone out there what I deal with in my writing process. NaNoWriMo's support group is supposed to be phenomenal. I just wish I had a laptop or one I could borrow so I could take advantage of their get together writing sessions. Well, maybe that's a goal for next year.

So this will be the first of many posts. I'll probably start writing regularly here right before November 1 and I'll stop just after December 1 with a wrap up and my hopes for the next year.

If you want to join me in tackling NaNoWriMo this year.... go HERE.

If not, thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy my short journey.