Nano - Day 11. Yawn, yawn. Yawn.

Some things seem more rational while you're doing them than they appear in hindsight.

I started watching the back half of the series Dexter last night. My sister recommended the show a while back. The whole first series is up on Netflix. I'd seen the first few episodes and found them mildly interesting.

Last night, around 1am, the first series got *good*. I was up watching until...oh, 6:30am this morning.

It's now 9:15am, and time to go to work.

I have a feeling today will be difficult, on just a couple of hours sleep.

Dexter was pretty horrific, by the way. I wonder if it could have ended any other way.

Anyhow, time to work. Cross your fingers for me.

Nano - Day 10. Ouch. Ouch, ouch.

I'm two and a half scenes in, and I feel like teeth are being pulled out of my head one by one. With a blunt instrument.

The scenes are way too long. 2500 words per crappy scene is way too much.

The past couple of years I was a total overachiever during NaNo. I'm just going to have to let go of my former self for now and be...an achiever. If I get through 50K with this novel, with a complete lack of focus and interesting plot, well, I'll just have to call that successful. And this will be good practice for me. I don't normally write if I don't want to. Nano gives me a good excuse to write even though I absolutely don't want to.

I went to see Neil Gaiman yesterday. It was a total spur of the moment thing, I just happened to find out he was being interviewed at the 92nd Street Y for The Sandman's 20th Anniversary. I called, there were plenty of tickets left. So I went.

He doesn't ever seem to change, of course he was dressed head to toe in his trademark black, with a crown of thick black curls. He was affable as usual. Neil is so natural, so genius, he doesn't even have to try. He doesn't even have to try. He does a mad Harlan Ellison impression. I was quite impressed with Chip Kidd, his interviewer. He looked like the love child of David Sedaris and Fred Schneider from the B52s. A terrific, almost irreverant, campy foil for Neil's quiet, boyish Englishness.

I bought the Graveyard Book and stood in (the long, long) line to have it signed. I read it halfway through in the wait (Neil's fans are hardcore). Now this is how it's done my head said to me, reading through the first few pages. He drops you right in the action, keeps things moving swiftly, there's always a buildup and a payoff.

I wish I had had my camera. I managed to ask Neil a question that no one has ever asked him before, he said.

I'll take that as a compliment.

Finished a crappy scene on the way home, with many more to finish before it's over and done with. I have a things to do list as long as my arm and I stare at it day after day, waiting for my focus to return.

Hm.

j.

Nano - Day 8. The Work Starts.

It's a Saturday, almost noon.

Normally I'd be at work. Today I'm not.

I also have an outline together, all written down and worked up and typed out and scened. I feel like it's thin on details, and I'm a little nervous about filling the details in. I read Anne LaMott's essay on Shitty First Drafts; I feel a little better.

It was a great week for shows, Tom McRae on Wednesday, Thea Gilmore on Thursday, and my friend Jodes last night - all great shows. Jodes was *terrific*. I felt like a proud mama, watching her pounding away on the piano and fully finding her fierce. Yay.

Jill, Jodes, Trish and I sat in Bruno's until late o'clock at night. I ran my little plot by them, and they seemed interested. There are still great big black holes in the storyline, but I know I can't worry about those until I get there. I keep thinking about Don DeLillo's White Noise. DeLillo does some *fabulous* characterization work in White Noise, and then a town-wide chemical cloud hits. I need a town-wide chemical cloud, a late stage external conflict to shift everyone from the mess they're in to a wider, deeper mess. Hm.

I keep missing the Nano meetups. There were caramel brownies at Bar 9 last night, courtesy of Livvy. *sigh* Happy Anniversary Livvy.

I'll let myself procrastinate until 12:15. Then it's Part One, Chapter One, Scene One.

Wish me luck.

j.

Nano Day 6. A Plot Burgeoning?

Hm.

I hate skipping days of check in, but yesterday was spent in a hangover. Wow, this country did the do on November 4th. Amazing. Inspiring. I spent the evening glued to CNN and MSNBC, but I should have gone to the village. People stopped traffic in the street.

So -

We're six days into NaNo, and normally, I'd be a writing fiend. But, I've been struggling with finding a plot inspiring enough to spend the rest of the month with. The last plot I came up with was a Sandra Bullock movie. Ick.

But, a name that came to me a few days ago has grown a few threads of storyline, something that might be the one.

I feel like I should run this plot bunny by Livvy to see if I'm pilfering anyone else's work.

Hm.

I'm running out now. For pancakes.

Yum.

j.

NaNo - Day 4. Election day.

Wow, I almost had good news there.

On a long, dreary train ride into the city, I came up with a plot that I was starting to like. Grew the idea just a little.

Came to find out that the basic plot was used in a SANDRA BULLOCK movie.

Ew.

So, no inspiration. No word count yet.

But, I'm going to take the next few hours and stop searching for inspiration on the novel front. I'm going to leave the house, walk two blocks, and vote. I don't know how much of the election hoopla I will be able to take today. I fully plan on coming home tonight, having a nice cup of tea, and then waking up to all the results on Wednesday. I've been refreshing The Huffington Post every few minutes, and I can't take anymore....

But, I will vote. Hope you will too.

j.

NaNo - Day 2.

Errrggggh.

More plot stress. No mental focus.

Will keep working on it.

j.

NaNo - Day 1.

So.

I was going to write you a whiny post about how I wrote 1300 useless words on the train this morning, completely uninspired and uninspiring.

I was going to lament about the blankness in my own head, how I can't think of one thing I want to write about.

But, today I got on the phone with my buddy Su. Su and I have been talking about National Novel Writing Month all year. And, in my attempting to convince her that it's more than a worthwhile undertaking, I convinced myself as well. A curious co-worker had follow up questions, and I got to relive some pretty amazing moments from the past couple of years.

I also started working with Holly Lisle's plot clinic. It may be a couple of days before I have a workable outline, but if I chart out where I'm going, they will be days well spent.

And look! The universe is giving me an extra hour tonight to work on plotting. I'm going to go make some lists.

More. Soon.

j.

Whew. Three hours to go.

Hi there.

It's almost Nano, and I got nothing. No plot, no outline, nada.

*sigh*

Didn't make it to the kickoff party. That might have helped get me into the spirit a bit more.

I thought to go to the site today. There's no author search (so I can't find my brother, who's also doing Nano this year), and I doubt that my favorite feature (the "find yourself in the total word count list" feature) will be back. The site is also mega slow.

I'm bummed. I'm really not excited about this at all.

Dana wasn't even charged. I thought it might be broken, but then I was reminded by the kind tech support person that I had to charge it by USB. She seems to be right as rain now, so I will start typing something at midnight.

Hm.

Here's to finding my enthusiasm.

j.

God it's been forever...

...since I updated.

Albums do not fly off shelves by themselves, I can promise you that.

I got a general inkling for Nano this year, something completely different for me.

I'm not sure I'll be able to rock the word count like last year, I already have a couple of gigs and a trip home scheduled. But, it's definitely about quality over quantity. I'd like to focus on having something I can show people by month's end.

Hm.

Hope you're doing well.

jul

If You Ever Wanted To Know...

...what 2000 CDs look like stacked against a wall, feast your eyes:



They're here, arrived on the day that Mercury's retrograde lifted, and carried up six flights of stairs by yours truly. I thought I would be a pony out of the gate when the CDs arrived, I am taking the weekend to exhale, and rest up.

They're not perfect. But they're close enough.

There's more to say, but I'm wrapped in a blanket of something that is feeling like exhaustion.

It won't last long. It can't. In the last 48 hours, I've been having really great conversations about the album and all that's to happen to it. I'm searching in the attic and under the floorboards for my strength reserves; I will definitely need them.

More soon.
jul