35 minutes to NaNo!!!

I just finished playing FIFA! 2-0 win over Red Bull. I'm feeling good. I was debating whether to stay up to get a few hundred words in before I retire tonight. Now, that I'm up this late...might as well, right?

I'm getting nervous. I should have went to bed early, like La, to be 100% in the morning. But it going to feel badass to be typing at midnight with the rest of the West Coasters. The morning is going to be rough. I'll want to sleep in, but have NaNo on my mind. Also my competitive spirit will kick in. Knowing that La CAN wake up early to start writing, will motivate me to get up when she does.

I will finish 50k words this year.

My goal for the first week is 1800 words per day. That's only 133 more words than the daily average. But by the end of week one, I'll be a little less than 1000 words over average. No fuck it. Let's go for broke on the first week. 2000 words per day. That'll leave me at 14,000 by the end of week 1. A good 2331 cushion to slack off here and there. Man oh man...this is going to be tough. Wish me luck, folks.

And...if you hear any funny quotes, see interesting people, or hear any great stories, let me know. I need as many ideas as I can get. And away weeeeeee goooooooo...

Just write and press "Send"

I know...I said I'd be blogging more. I had this great idea for an entry this morning, but it somehow escaped me on the drive over to work.

I'm typing this entry on my Neo Alphasmart to get into the practice of using this machine during NaNo. I'm getting more and more excited as the day comes closer. Lara got her grandfather to join in this year! Anyone out there want to join in with me? It's a painfully wonderful experience that I highly recommend.

I underestimated the difficulty in writing blog entries that steer clear from diary-ish (eww) or journal-y tones. My inclination is to always report what has been going on in my life, first, then see what comes up after that. I want to go the other way, then stop before I get to the life reporting. Yet, that's what blogs hove become. Or at least what most people expect. Blogs have replaced handwritten letters and even emails sent to an individual person. It's a way to keep in touch with a lot of people with minimal effort. That isn't a bad thing, just a shift in communication. It's even gotten extreme with micro-blogging (to which I am proudly a member) thanks to Twitter and Facebook status updates.

But then what's left to pique the interests of you, the reader? Blogging has always been a self-centered act. I write all of this for me, me, me. Having an audience is a perk, so I guess I should keep them in mind. So there it was...another boring stream-of-consciousness entry that helps clear the tubes of bullshit from the system in preparation for some high speed writing in 11 days.

Where's that horse?

NaNoWriMo is coming in 27 days! Who's in with me? To get my creative juices flowing again, I've decided to get in as much writing as I can, in as many mediums as possible. The most consistent of my writings has been my tweets on Twitter, pretty much updating every day. I want to start writing more than the 140 characters but don't expect to be writing long narratives here.

I'm visualizing blogger as metaphorical push-ups one does first thing to start the day. Not necessarily to build muscle but more for maintenance and morale building. By the way, I haven't done a push-up since the first day I got Wii Fit. It wasn't pretty.

So keep your eye out on new posts. This time around, I'm going to try to keep them more like narrative commentaries, a little more memoir-ish, and a lot less journal-like. As you can see my descriptive abilities have gotten flabby. Lots of work to do.

Things I learned from my first NaNoWriMo

I'm sorry to report that I didn't make it to 25,000 words. The final count was 22,303. Although I'm disappointed, I'm also very proud of myself for even getting that far. I'm already looking forward to next year and I'm certain that I'm going to continue writing (short stories, though) to keep the muscles warmed up for next November. I promised myself that I would close this one off at 25K, even if it's an abrupt, disjointed ending. La convinced me that it would give me some resolution and sense of accomplishment. Working without pressure, though, is just not the same.

Things I learned from my first NaNo that will help me complete it next year:

• Start on the first of November. I started on the fifth because I was too nervous to get the first word down.
• Don't have a New Month (eve's eve) party the night before the last day. I got way too happily drunk and couldn't function the next day.
• Have a basic plot idea before the first of the month.
• Don't get stuck in writing sequentially. I was bored with some sections at times, and should have just kept the momentum going by writing more interesting parts, then stitching them together in the right order after the thirtieth.
  
• Toward the third week, start planning for the end. A few days ago, I made a list of all the loose ends I wanted to tie back up and where I wanted it to go. It was very helpful, but too late.
• Don't do NaNoWriMo a month after you get married. Believe it or not, I was still recovering from the wedding madness, only to be thrown into NaNo madness.
• I need to go to Write-Ins and NaNo events next year. I can see how they can be motivating.
• Convince La to do it again next year. She was a major inspiration for me to write day in and day out. (I'm a bit competitive)

Overall it was so much fun. This is the first time I've ever done something like this. I've grown a new appreciation for books and their authors that you can only earn from trying to do it yourself. I'm happy that I finally participated and got the nerves out. Next year I'm going to kick some literary ass. If anyone participates next year, let me know.

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.

Short Update (or NaNoWriMo is taking over!)

As you can tell from my latest status update, it's been all about the NaNoing. I'm way behind on word count. I'm supposed to be over 25,000 words by now, but I'm at 15,618. Not too shabby for my first NaNo, but not quite up to par. I've relented to the fact that I'm probably not going to finish the full 50,000, but I'm going to continue writing until the last day to see how far I can get.

I'm having flashbacks of writing my thesis. All the self-doubt, low self-esteem and stress have returned. But this time around it's fully voluntary with no consequences if I don't succeed. People have likened it to running a marathon. I can see that I'm already winning by getting this far. 15K words of fiction for leisure??? I never would have thought I could do that.

To help with the process, I have purchased a piece of gadget pr0n...the AlphaSmart Neo. It's a throwback to a pre-Internets age of single functioning instruments. It's a word processor...and that's all. But it's a damn good, full-featured one! I could go crazy on how great it is, but there are millions of others who have reviewed this wonderful piece of artwork. It's light and there are no distractions. I'm a chump for gadgets and this seems to be one of the gadgets many people are using strictly for NaNoWriMo.

This weekend will be some good catch up time, as will the Thanksgiving break. Wish me luck. And if anyone has any random writing prompts to help me write this story, please leave a comment.

NaNoWriMo Brainstorming...What if...?

It's less than a week to the start of NaNoWriMo. I'm in the process of brainstorming ideas on where and how to start on the first of November. I want to follow the counsel of Stephen King, as he wrote in his book On Writing. The way he writes stories is to create a situation, first. Then place characters in that situation and narrate what happens.

A strong enough situation renders the whole question of plot moot, which is fine by me. The most interesting situations can be usually expressed as a What-if question: What if vampires invaded a small New England Town? (Salem's Lot)... What if a young mother and her son became trapped in their stalled car by a rabid dog? (Cujo)

I'm trying to think of interesting situations in which to eventually put my characters. Any ideas?

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/

Wow...High School Reunion

Right before I was about to post something about a 5-year old neighbor of mine, I routinely checked my buddy list. Since I'm not on my personal computer nicknames don't show up. I saw a screenname that I almost recognized that took me awhile to guess who it was.

It happened to be a woman that I had a crush on way back in high school. It was an innocent crush, one that I knew wouldn't go anywhere because she was dating a friend of mine. As we chatted and caught up on our adult lives, a barrage of old memories about high school came back. The joy. The pain. The torment of adolescent life. The testing of different roles and personalities. The complications of friend dynamics.

I realized that I draw on the experiences of my high school years in doing the work that I do now. In fact, I've shared the story of love unrequited of this woman whom I just chatted, to a client of mine who was going through a similar situation. "This is too confusing to explain," he told me. "Do you get what I mean?"

"Do I!?!?!?..."

I've been going through spurts of reflecting on my past during these last weeks before my wedding. My childhood: High school, Undergrad, even Grad School. Marriage is such a grown-up thing to do. *shiver* Am I a grown-up? It feels like this marriage will seal the deal.

Stephen King marathon

This past Friday, I finally finished Stephen King's "It." It is the longest book I've ever committed to and finished...1090 pages. I'm a slow reader. I started it on the last days of December. It took only two and a half months! I've recently become Stephen King fan ever since I read his writing book "On writing" and got to know his writing style and writing philosophies. It was sad to finish the book because I've gotten to know the chararcters so well. The story reminded me of my own childhood, its wonders and beliefs.

It eerily reminds me of the time my friends and I took our own expedition into our neighborhood sewers! From an entrance that measured maybe 3 feet, that tapered to around a foot an a half, my friends and I crawled what seemed to be miles (probably less than 100 yards) to the first open sewer grate on Queens Court. As an adult, I can't figure any logical reason for doing that. As a kid, it made perfect sense. Even more creepy, my life reflected the book in the way we built a dam out of sticks and rocks at the opening of the sewer.

On the night that I finished the book, "It" happened to be on tv. I had about 50 pages to go. So during the commercials, I read as much as I can. I finished the book before the end of the 3 hour movie. As always, the book was better.

In other Stephen King news, I also finished the first of the Dark Towers books, "The Gunslinger," on audiobook. On to book 2!

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.