The Final Lap of NaNoWriMo

It's amazing what a little indifference and disappointment can do to sideswipe my motivation to write my NaNo. Since my last entry, I've gotten back into playing FIFA 08, got caught up on Heroes, Man vs. Wild, and Pushing Daisies, watched 4 or 5 movies (go see The Mist), and gotten to know my new DSLR better. Not to say that I haven't written anything. At the time of this writing, I'm at 22,039 words with 2 days left. I've decided that I will try to make the 25K word mark. Halfway... Meh.

I'm in the process of closing down the story now. It's way premature, but I'm figuring that if I don't wrap it up now, I'm never going to touch the story again. I'm trying to convince myself that 25K words is pretty damn good for my first NaNo. Actually, my first piece of fiction ever written for leisure! I'm already psyched about next year.

But to close off a story, I'm realizing that there are too many loose ends to tie up in 3000 words and/or 3 days. I feel like I'm still developing the story. I'm trying to avoid those lame plot twists to speed up the pace. E.g., "and then he woke up." *shiver* What's sad is that there really is no climax to the story (yet. if only I had a few more weeks...), so there won't be much resolution. The outline of my story: Build, build, wait for it...wait for it...end. The building of the characters is rather good, in my opinion.

The characters had been leading the story thus far. I feel like I know them well enough and I've just been watching what they do. But now I have to intervene and burden them with artificial events. Again...meh.

Wish me luck on the next 3000. I'll be back with final report in a few days.

National Novel Writing Month

I'm officially registered to be a part of this year's National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo is something that I've wanted to do for awhile now. Last year, I was in the midst of planning a wedding (well, actually, La was), so I postponed. The year before was, "I'll do it next year." Yet, it's NaNoWriMo's vision to eradicate that exact attitude.

So here's the skinny on NaNoWriMo. Every November, this Oakland based non-profit organization holds an event that motivates people to write a 50,000 (175 page) novel in 30 days. They define novel as "a lengthy work of fiction." It's to get what's in, out. No worries about quality, just quantity. How many areas in life can you say that?

I can't explain it as well as they do on their FAQs and About page, so here's a few quotes from them:

• "Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together."
• "People who take their writing (and themselves) very seriously should probably go elsewhere. Everyone else, though, is warmly welcomed."
• "Novel writing is mostly a 'one day' event. As in 'One day, I'd like to write a novel.'"
• Aiming low is the best way to succeed.
• "NaNoWriMo is all about the magical power of deadlines. Give someone a goal and a goal-minded community and miracles are bound to happen. Pies will be eaten at amazing rates. Alfalfa will be harvested like never before. And novels will be written in a month."
• "The other reason we do NaNoWriMo is because the glow from making big, messy art, and watching others make big, messy art, lasts for a long, long time. The act of sustained creation does bizarre, wonderful things to you. It changes the way you read. And changes, a little bit, your sense of self. We like that."

So who's in with me? I'll be strictly focusing on word count for this first year of participation. Plot, character development, theme, blah blah blah is all peripheral. I can picture some of the people who read this as good candidates (*ahem* V). Let's get this novel writing shit done!

Register at http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Val and Albert are my brothers

This is probably not new to many of you, but my co-worker just came in here cracking up about doing this all weekend.

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

Blue Steel! I am a hottie!

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

She is so punk rock!

Something to cheer you up...

I love it when she sings about "La" and when she brings us back to "Do!" \m/ \m/ Rock on, little one!

Not burnt umber (revisited)

In a previous entry, I had tried out a site called StorySquared by starting a story. The whole point of the site is to have a fun way to write a story with others, in a "telphone game" style. It ended up being too complicated for what it was worth. Although the collaboration features were cool, it seemed like a waste.

One of my friends, A1, was really intent in tacking on her addition, so I'm reposting the story in its entirety (thus far).

Feel free to comment your own contributions (which I will add and update later):

Not Burnt Umber

Time and time again, Lisa has been told not to do crossword puzzles in the bathroom. She was feeling particularly skittish this rainy Monday morning and tiptoed into the bathroom with a Pilot gel pen (red) and the whole morning paper.

Why crosswords? Why the bathroom? She had no answers. No clues were offered to keep her intrigued. The thought escaped her. The grey sky from the overcast day, brought her endless streams of raindrops that seemed to whisper, “Think, Lisa. Think. Think. Think.” They slapped against the glass of the tiny bathroom window that gave her just enough light to write. Raindrops chanted as she focused on the first clue. Could they be cheering? Maybe she was mistaken. Time was not on her side. She had to complete the crossword---fast. First clue down or across? She breathed deeply and thought. And thought. And thought. Then, the light bulbs. Her mind opened. Scribbles from her left hand quickly covered the rough newsprint, and the red, shiny, glistening gel smeared her fingers. She smiled, of course. This one was easy. It was only Monday. The easiest known day for crosswords. Everyone knows that.

StorySquared

Those who know me know that I consist of four core components:

• I am a dork (especially when it comes to anything digital)
• I am social
  
• I like to write
• I am a procrastinator
  

What better way to combine all 4 by joining me on some collaborative writing at StorySquared. I haven't figured out fully how to work it. I think it's by invite only, which is bull. The more that I write about it here the more that I think that this could be done right here on this blog, sans StorySquared. The benefit on doing it on that site is that it manages contributions in a more efficient manner than I ever could.

If you're down, let me know. I'll invite you to my next story.

My first story on StorySquared:

Not Burnt Umber

Time and time again, Lisa has been told not to do crossword puzzles in the bathroom. She was feeling particularly skittish this rainy Monday morning and tiptoed into the bathroom with a Pilot gel pen (red) and the whole morning paper.