It's time to leave work.
My attention span has decreased, from that of a fly, to that of a gnat. Yes, it's time to leave work for the evening.
Somehow I managed to type 3101 words today. Even with all the work I had to do. The Word War AIMers keep me on my toes, they really do.
My fears around doing NaNo were all about achieving the word count. The word count is easy. Plot is the hard thing. Writing a coherent narrative is the hard thing.
Hm.
Today I got an inkling, though. I thought of a few shifts of my main character's personality and setting that might make him a little smarter. A little edgier. Not so sad sack. And infinitely more interesting.
This might work. I need to think on it. Next week, I'll introduce you to him.
I'm headed for 30,000 words by this Thursday.
I think I can,
I think I can,
jules
Monday, November 06, 2006
NaNo - Day 6. Miscellaneous.
I'm *digging* this little Neo. I've been typing on the subway on this little slice of word processing heaven - I can get 600 words down in the ride to work, if I'm uninterrupted.
Just called my local Board of Elections, found out where to go tomorrow.
Writing this novel has had me thinking a lot about emotional honesty. And, in the interest of emotional honesty, I don't mind saying that I'm scared.
I'm scared of who these people are who are running our country.
I'm talking about the zombied souls in the smiling, glad-handing guise of public servants. They've taken what should be the most honest and fair of all systems, and perverted it. They've perverted it, they've rigged it, they've done everything they could to maintain their stranglehold on this country's money and resources, for their own ends.
We are, for the most part, law abiding nation. We go to work and pay our taxes. We don't storm Congress with AK-47s and stick guns in these people's faces and demand they do their jobs properly. We don't do that stuff, because we assume that our public servants are, at heart, decent people who want the best for this country and its citizens.
But I wonder. I look at what they've done, and what they continue to do, and I wonder. To be able to siphon so much money (and so many lives) away from decent, hardworking Americans and somehow manage to sleep at night surely denotes some kind of disconnection from humanity. How do you remind someone of their humanity once they've forgotten it? I'm reminded of Ayn Rand's drooling beast that's had its brain eaten out, impervious to logic and reason.
It's hard not to lose hope these days. With this election staring us all in the face, it's also hard not to be reminded that hope still exists.
I will vote tomorrow. And I hope you will, too.
Cheers,
jules
Just called my local Board of Elections, found out where to go tomorrow.
Writing this novel has had me thinking a lot about emotional honesty. And, in the interest of emotional honesty, I don't mind saying that I'm scared.
I'm scared of who these people are who are running our country.
I'm talking about the zombied souls in the smiling, glad-handing guise of public servants. They've taken what should be the most honest and fair of all systems, and perverted it. They've perverted it, they've rigged it, they've done everything they could to maintain their stranglehold on this country's money and resources, for their own ends.
We are, for the most part, law abiding nation. We go to work and pay our taxes. We don't storm Congress with AK-47s and stick guns in these people's faces and demand they do their jobs properly. We don't do that stuff, because we assume that our public servants are, at heart, decent people who want the best for this country and its citizens.
But I wonder. I look at what they've done, and what they continue to do, and I wonder. To be able to siphon so much money (and so many lives) away from decent, hardworking Americans and somehow manage to sleep at night surely denotes some kind of disconnection from humanity. How do you remind someone of their humanity once they've forgotten it? I'm reminded of Ayn Rand's drooling beast that's had its brain eaten out, impervious to logic and reason.
It's hard not to lose hope these days. With this election staring us all in the face, it's also hard not to be reminded that hope still exists.
I will vote tomorrow. And I hope you will, too.
Cheers,
jules
Sunday, November 05, 2006
NaNo - Day 5. Ripping Up the Roots.
Hello.
It's the end of day 5.
I have somewhere to be, about half an hour ago. I'm staggeringly late, still cleaning up here at work, but I wanted to put some thoughts down about the writing.
Still trying to reach rock bottom with the plot/lack-of-plot.
Today, I got the idea to ask my character who it is and what he wants to do.
He told me some *very* disturbing things.
See, there might be no way to have my character do what he's done, and be a nice, sympathetic individual at the same time. Maybe he's done this bad thing more than once. I don't know. He started saying very disturbing things, about human beings and religion and all that. He scared me a little.
Then again, I'm not a very experienced medium. Could be that I was getting the waves of someone else, some malevolent man-mental, not my guy. My guy is not really good at speaking up.
I'll spend time listening some more.
I can't say that it's any easier to know what to write about. But, having clocked an unbelievable 4,519 words today, I can say that at least it's easy to write.
Hm.
Hanging in there,
jules
It's the end of day 5.
I have somewhere to be, about half an hour ago. I'm staggeringly late, still cleaning up here at work, but I wanted to put some thoughts down about the writing.
Still trying to reach rock bottom with the plot/lack-of-plot.
Today, I got the idea to ask my character who it is and what he wants to do.
He told me some *very* disturbing things.
See, there might be no way to have my character do what he's done, and be a nice, sympathetic individual at the same time. Maybe he's done this bad thing more than once. I don't know. He started saying very disturbing things, about human beings and religion and all that. He scared me a little.
Then again, I'm not a very experienced medium. Could be that I was getting the waves of someone else, some malevolent man-mental, not my guy. My guy is not really good at speaking up.
I'll spend time listening some more.
I can't say that it's any easier to know what to write about. But, having clocked an unbelievable 4,519 words today, I can say that at least it's easy to write.
Hm.
Hanging in there,
jules
Saturday, November 04, 2006
NaNo - Day 4. BizarroWorld.
I managed to clock another 3000 words today, the stream of conscious is heating up and turning into steam.
Here's my new strategy: I just keep writing the same scene.
Note: I *didn't* say rewriting. There's no editing going on. I take the main idea of what I want to express, and I write it, and I write it a different way, and then I write it a different way.
This is helping me *so* *much* to know the characters, to really think about where they are and what they are seeing. It's like the scene deepens with every reset, and I'm able to capture something I didn't before.
What's rich - I have another 2900 words to go before I'm in the 20K club. I may do that after getting home tonight.
Today I watched a bad, bad movie (Mariah Carey's Glitter; strictly for the comedic value) and thoroughly avoided doing almost all my work.
How are you all doing out there in NaNoLand. Give me a shout!
Here's my new strategy: I just keep writing the same scene.
Note: I *didn't* say rewriting. There's no editing going on. I take the main idea of what I want to express, and I write it, and I write it a different way, and then I write it a different way.
This is helping me *so* *much* to know the characters, to really think about where they are and what they are seeing. It's like the scene deepens with every reset, and I'm able to capture something I didn't before.
What's rich - I have another 2900 words to go before I'm in the 20K club. I may do that after getting home tonight.
Today I watched a bad, bad movie (Mariah Carey's Glitter; strictly for the comedic value) and thoroughly avoided doing almost all my work.
How are you all doing out there in NaNoLand. Give me a shout!
Friday, November 03, 2006
NaNo - Day 3. The last few minutes.
Was out and about today for most of the day. I managed to get in nearly a thousand words at 7:45am, did some writing into a notebook on the way home tonight, and participated in a word war that probably netted me an extra seven or eight hundred words. At the end of the day, I landed just over 14,000.
Was in the studio for most of the day, then went to the NaNo meetup at Veselka in the city. Got there late, in time enough for some coffee and eggs and cheese. Nice people there.
My below mentioned lack of plot has been on my mind all day.
It's not necessarily bad that my book lacks Archplot; Robert McKee let me know ages ago that my book is probably Miniplot instead. But there's got to be something that joins one scene to another, some yearning in my main character that stays with him from the beginning to the end.
Dunno. I'll have to write my way through this one, folks.
Work tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how much gets done.
g'night,
jules
Was in the studio for most of the day, then went to the NaNo meetup at Veselka in the city. Got there late, in time enough for some coffee and eggs and cheese. Nice people there.
My below mentioned lack of plot has been on my mind all day.
It's not necessarily bad that my book lacks Archplot; Robert McKee let me know ages ago that my book is probably Miniplot instead. But there's got to be something that joins one scene to another, some yearning in my main character that stays with him from the beginning to the end.
Dunno. I'll have to write my way through this one, folks.
Work tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how much gets done.
g'night,
jules
NaNo - Day 3. Story helps.
I don't have a plot.
I feel like I'm in a twelve step meeting, admitting to something awful, but it has to be said.
I have a plot *twist*, but no plot. Which is technically just a *twist*. Which I could put down in one sentence, and shrug at it. It's kind-of a cool twist. But without a plot to weave it into...well...
There's no motivation guiding my protagonist's actions right now. And it's begun to bother me. I'm writing scene after scene, and I'm thinking, "gee, can't wait to get to the good part." Ergh.
I'm not going to stop writing. But I need to do some *serious* rethinking.
*sigh*
Any comments, advice, or virtual vodkas welcome at this point.
jules
I feel like I'm in a twelve step meeting, admitting to something awful, but it has to be said.
I have a plot *twist*, but no plot. Which is technically just a *twist*. Which I could put down in one sentence, and shrug at it. It's kind-of a cool twist. But without a plot to weave it into...well...
There's no motivation guiding my protagonist's actions right now. And it's begun to bother me. I'm writing scene after scene, and I'm thinking, "gee, can't wait to get to the good part." Ergh.
I'm not going to stop writing. But I need to do some *serious* rethinking.
*sigh*
Any comments, advice, or virtual vodkas welcome at this point.
jules
Thursday, November 02, 2006
NaNo - Day 2. Evening.
It's a little after 9pm. Today *flew*.
Wrote from 11am to 3pm today. The last hour of that time was spent in heavy duty WORD WARS. The scene flew right out of my fingers, so much easier than I'd ever thought.
WORD WARS are my new best friend. The people in the NaNoWar chat room on AIM *know* how to party. They'll get your wordcount *sorted*.
I took a break at 3pm to get some lunch and putz around. Made a bad egg white omelette (which I ate anyway). Started at it again at around 6:30pm, WORD WARRED my little heart out.
I added 6,800+ words today (in three scenes), to bring my total to 11,315!
Unbelievable.
Tomorrow: The test. I'm headed out for an 11am chiropractor appointment, and then I'm in the studio all day. I'll probably head over to Veselka to the New York dinner meetup after. Hitting the bed early so I can get up early enough to at least get through a scene. My word count won't be anything like it has been the past couple of days, I'm sure.
Tomorrow, I test drive the Neo. If I can type on the train, then...
WATCH OUT!!!
We are getting *baked* by Boston. That's not right.
Cheers,
jules
Wrote from 11am to 3pm today. The last hour of that time was spent in heavy duty WORD WARS. The scene flew right out of my fingers, so much easier than I'd ever thought.
WORD WARS are my new best friend. The people in the NaNoWar chat room on AIM *know* how to party. They'll get your wordcount *sorted*.
I took a break at 3pm to get some lunch and putz around. Made a bad egg white omelette (which I ate anyway). Started at it again at around 6:30pm, WORD WARRED my little heart out.
I added 6,800+ words today (in three scenes), to bring my total to 11,315!
Unbelievable.
Tomorrow: The test. I'm headed out for an 11am chiropractor appointment, and then I'm in the studio all day. I'll probably head over to Veselka to the New York dinner meetup after. Hitting the bed early so I can get up early enough to at least get through a scene. My word count won't be anything like it has been the past couple of days, I'm sure.
Tomorrow, I test drive the Neo. If I can type on the train, then...
WATCH OUT!!!
We are getting *baked* by Boston. That's not right.
Cheers,
jules
NaNo - Day 2. 1pm.
Howdy.
I've just done a good bit of work, and I'm here to tell you about it!
A new spin on a scene I was working on yesterday came to me this morning, as I was focusing all my energy on getting rid of a monster headache. 1,736 words later, my headache's gone and the scene has been widened and deepened. Now it looks a little more like what it's supposed to look like. And I am *jazzed*.
A small moment in a writer's life (damn, it feels *bold* to say that), but I'm enjoying the heck out of it.
Can I get two more (at least) 1,500 word chapters done today?
I'm going to try, ladies and gentlemen.
Think I'll go join the NaNoChat on AIM. A good 10 minute word war will be a good blast into the next scene.
Cool News: NaNoWriMo sent me a Neo. And, I've finally figured out how to load the work from the Neo onto the main computer I'm working on. Joy! This means I can take this baby to the STREET! New Yorkers, if you see a chick typing on a weird, fisher-price-looking thing on the subway, it's probably me.
Might go to the meetup tomorrow, after all.
cheers,
j.
I've just done a good bit of work, and I'm here to tell you about it!
A new spin on a scene I was working on yesterday came to me this morning, as I was focusing all my energy on getting rid of a monster headache. 1,736 words later, my headache's gone and the scene has been widened and deepened. Now it looks a little more like what it's supposed to look like. And I am *jazzed*.
A small moment in a writer's life (damn, it feels *bold* to say that), but I'm enjoying the heck out of it.
Can I get two more (at least) 1,500 word chapters done today?
I'm going to try, ladies and gentlemen.
Think I'll go join the NaNoChat on AIM. A good 10 minute word war will be a good blast into the next scene.
Cool News: NaNoWriMo sent me a Neo. And, I've finally figured out how to load the work from the Neo onto the main computer I'm working on. Joy! This means I can take this baby to the STREET! New Yorkers, if you see a chick typing on a weird, fisher-price-looking thing on the subway, it's probably me.
Might go to the meetup tomorrow, after all.
cheers,
j.
NaNo - Day 2. Morning.
It's 8:30am.
My head is pounding, and I feel hung over and sick.
I'm not sure why this is, except that I was up until way too late in the morning, until 3:30am, or so, watching Wire in the Blood. A friend taped the new series from BBC America and I watched the first three episodes. I'm a little miffed about the direction the show has taken since the departure of Hermione Norris. Simone Lahbib is trying. But it seems like all the other characters have degenerated to cardboard cutouts now that Hermione's gone. DI Alex Fielding's pretty flat (I love the way she dashes into a crime scene, tells everyone else to do the work, then leaves). I'm also not sure if DI Fielding is good at her job. Hermione's Carol Jordan was much more of a match for Tony Hill, intellectually *and* chemistry-wise. In the past series, there was also a lot more going on with the secondary characters, unexpected storylines that made them interesting to watch as well (like the rivalry between Don Merrick and Kevin Geoffries). Wire in the Blood Series 4 could also be called "The Robson Green Show."
I heard that something similar is happening to my lovely House, as well. I haven't been able to watch any of the new series (my TV is *fried*). I also have officially given up on the SAW franchise - SAW III was *awful*.
*sigh*
It's coming up on 9am. I will get some breakfast, feed the kitties, see if I can kill this headache, then start writing at 10am. And I won't stop until I've typed at least 4000 words.
NO SLEEP TIL 4000!
People racked up some *amazing* word counts yesterday. I may take some time to go hunting around on the NaNo forum today, see if I can meet some new folks and network. Still haven't decided on whether to go to the meet up tomorrow - I'm in the studio tomorrow during the day and might need time to write tomorrow night.
Burt says he's getting himself an ipod upon completion of his 50,000 words. I hadn't thought about a reward gift, that's a good idea.
I'll think on that.
It's all good,
jules
My head is pounding, and I feel hung over and sick.
I'm not sure why this is, except that I was up until way too late in the morning, until 3:30am, or so, watching Wire in the Blood. A friend taped the new series from BBC America and I watched the first three episodes. I'm a little miffed about the direction the show has taken since the departure of Hermione Norris. Simone Lahbib is trying. But it seems like all the other characters have degenerated to cardboard cutouts now that Hermione's gone. DI Alex Fielding's pretty flat (I love the way she dashes into a crime scene, tells everyone else to do the work, then leaves). I'm also not sure if DI Fielding is good at her job. Hermione's Carol Jordan was much more of a match for Tony Hill, intellectually *and* chemistry-wise. In the past series, there was also a lot more going on with the secondary characters, unexpected storylines that made them interesting to watch as well (like the rivalry between Don Merrick and Kevin Geoffries). Wire in the Blood Series 4 could also be called "The Robson Green Show."
I heard that something similar is happening to my lovely House, as well. I haven't been able to watch any of the new series (my TV is *fried*). I also have officially given up on the SAW franchise - SAW III was *awful*.
*sigh*
It's coming up on 9am. I will get some breakfast, feed the kitties, see if I can kill this headache, then start writing at 10am. And I won't stop until I've typed at least 4000 words.
NO SLEEP TIL 4000!
People racked up some *amazing* word counts yesterday. I may take some time to go hunting around on the NaNo forum today, see if I can meet some new folks and network. Still haven't decided on whether to go to the meet up tomorrow - I'm in the studio tomorrow during the day and might need time to write tomorrow night.
Burt says he's getting himself an ipod upon completion of his 50,000 words. I hadn't thought about a reward gift, that's a good idea.
I'll think on that.
It's all good,
jules
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
NaNo – Day 1. Evening.
(or, for God’s sake, will someone please stop me from checking my word count every 30 seconds???)
It’s nearly 9pm. I’m completely spent.
I came up with a title that I think is going to stick (A Deep, Wide Blue).
Started typing at about 7:30am this morning. Stopped at closed to 9am, to go to my chiropractic appointment in the city. Scribbled a bit more for that first scene on the subway, before coming home and working on and off from 3pm to 8pm. There was a nap in there somewhere.
All in all I didn’t do too badly – 4,511 words today in three scenes (1,702 in scene 1, 1,777 in scene 2, and 1,032 in scene 3). I’m not working again tomorrow, so I’ll go for at least another 4,000 words. If I've hit 10,000 words by the weekend I'll feel like I've made a reasonable dent.
Initial impressions?
Already, mine is not quite the amazing, prize winning novel I’d hoped. My lack of external plot (and, indeed, of general fiction writing skills) is rearing its ugly head. I’ve gotten a glut of great information on the craft of plot from this book I’m reading (Robert McKee’s Story), but haven’t had enough time to integrate it into my current storyline.
I’m competitive by nature, but there is *no* *way* I can keep up with the novelling speeds of some people on this board. Boggles the mind.
I’d like to take a moment to recognize:
Robbie – from the NaNo Board. He’s a writing *machine*. You should go to his blog site, if only to check out his amazing NaNo word counter. The plot for his novel sounds great as well.
The NaNoChat group on AIM.
My SupaBad NaNo mentors, friends and writing buddies. You guys rock.
Smoked Gouda Cheese. Smoked Gouda Cheese is generally awesome. And, it’s my reward for completing the day’s word count goal.
I’ll rest from the novel, for the evening. Back at it tomorrow.
I came up with a title that I think is going to stick (A Deep, Wide Blue).
Started typing at about 7:30am this morning. Stopped at closed to 9am, to go to my chiropractic appointment in the city. Scribbled a bit more for that first scene on the subway, before coming home and working on and off from 3pm to 8pm. There was a nap in there somewhere.
All in all I didn’t do too badly – 4,511 words today in three scenes (1,702 in scene 1, 1,777 in scene 2, and 1,032 in scene 3). I’m not working again tomorrow, so I’ll go for at least another 4,000 words. If I've hit 10,000 words by the weekend I'll feel like I've made a reasonable dent.
Initial impressions?
Already, mine is not quite the amazing, prize winning novel I’d hoped. My lack of external plot (and, indeed, of general fiction writing skills) is rearing its ugly head. I’ve gotten a glut of great information on the craft of plot from this book I’m reading (Robert McKee’s Story), but haven’t had enough time to integrate it into my current storyline.
I’m competitive by nature, but there is *no* *way* I can keep up with the novelling speeds of some people on this board. Boggles the mind.
I’d like to take a moment to recognize:
Robbie – from the NaNo Board. He’s a writing *machine*. You should go to his blog site, if only to check out his amazing NaNo word counter. The plot for his novel sounds great as well.
The NaNoChat group on AIM.
My SupaBad NaNo mentors, friends and writing buddies. You guys rock.
Smoked Gouda Cheese. Smoked Gouda Cheese is generally awesome. And, it’s my reward for completing the day’s word count goal.
I’ll rest from the novel, for the evening. Back at it tomorrow.
Off to get
some smoked gouda
cheese,
jules
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
