NaNoWriMo 2015

Maybe some day I'll finish my vacation blogs.

I participated in National Novel Writing Month again this year. Every time I do it's different. Each story has its own way of coming into being. Each month has its own real life events interfere with the writing.

This year, interference was run primarily by The Day Job. My manager left the company about half way through November and it had a much bigger impact on my daily tasks than I expected. I didn't get to write on my breaks; half the time I didn't even get my breaks!

I fell farther behind in word count than in any of the previous eight times I actually made 50K.

So what's a NaNo veteran to do? Buckle down and write!

My characters cooperated. I owe them chocolate or booze or something.

The final Friday of November I wrote 6111 words. Saturday 6202. Sunday, Nov 29, another 5472 to bring my word count to 50002! 17785 words in three days is a personal record, one I hope not to approach again while still working full time.

(I had to finish on Sunday because the Monday after Thanksgiving is probably the busiest day of the year at work for me and my team. That meant no NaNo words would happen.)

When I validated, the lovely NaNo Word Count Bots gave me an additional 215 words gratis. If I haven't said it before, I now declare my love for the NaNo Word Count Bots.

If you want to see a graphic representation of my November, it's HERE. It's a graph! Like Science!

NaNoWriMo 2014

Yep, I'm doing it again.

They say you don't learn to write novels, you learn to write this novel. They say every novel comes to the writer in a somewhat different way.

In my limited experience, this is true.

My last novel had strong characters that were easy for me to write, but there were times I couldn't see what happened beyond the scene I was working on.

This novel I'll be starting in two days? I have a strong sense of the over-arching plot, large vistas, the big picture stuff. What I don't have is characters! This is scary for me. You can't tell a story without characters.

First drafts suck. This is another thing they say that is true. They also say a first draft is the writer telling herself a story. Subsequent drafts are the writer telling others the story. What that means is I can start with a major info dump of all these big vistas, describe the plot as I currently see it. Start with the panorama view, then zoom in.

And that's when those characters better start waving at me to tell their stories!

Got my fingers crossed and my stash of coffee.

New Inkwell Entry

I had today off from The Day Job. I planned to work on a short story that has a deadline of September 26. Instead I dithered. A lot. Reorganized my Safari bookmarks. Cleaned up the laptop desktop. Read over the stories and story fragments from two recent NaNoWriMo rebel years (2012 and 2013). Copied out the pieces that looked promising.

One of those stories was set in The Inkwell world. (See the tab at the top of this page. It's a story I wrote jointly with Dixiegirl, started during NaNo 2009). So I did a rough revision and posted it HERE.

That September 26 short story? No progress. I believe I have effectively spent my day in that well-known phenomenon: displacement activities. Well, it's not bedtime yet...

April Summary

Hi.

Only hours remain before April Camp NaNo is over. The structure is different than November NaNo.  You get assigned cabins. Like going away to camp!

You can request cabin mates, so the members of my on-line writing group as well as a British NaNo friend were all in the same cabin. There were also seven people we hadn't met before camp. We had s'mores, scimitars, and chocolate wine. Also Baileys and Guinness and cocoa. Some reached their goals and others didn't, but we had some fun conversations.

I signed up to edit for 25 hours on Rising Tide. I put in more than 27. The final battle scene is longer now and I punched up Rori's role at the end (as requested by beta reader Theresa L). Just a few more tweaks and it will be time to start on synopsis and query.

Scary.

I read five of the seven volumes in Kate Elliott's Crown of Stars series. (I read the first two books in March.) Ms Elliott writes epic fantasy. Each of these books was about 600 pages long (mass market paperbacks). I enjoyed the series, but I like her Spiritwalker series better.

And that pretty much accounts for my free time for the entire month of April.

A Few Random Links

Because I don't have much to say, here are some other folks saying stuff:

Up first, John Scalzi with a baseball - writing metaphor:

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2014/01/20/a-season-in-the-show/


Next, Chuck Wendig on characters:

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2014/01/13/25-things-a-great-character-needs/


A bit of Aussie science to offset the writing:

http://csironewsblog.com/2014/01/06/accelerating-our-dragon-rd-program/

The marvelous follow-up by CSIRO:

http://csironewsblog.com/2014/01/10/here-be-3d-printed-dragons/


And some music. I learned a bit of ukulele on the Hawaiian cruise. This piece by Amanda Palmer reminded me how fun an instrument this is.

It has a brief intro about her before she sings.

For those who don't know, Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman are married. (Segue back to writing!)

Happy Monday. Back to editing my story now...

Writing, Short and Long

The Asylum (on-line writing group I'm in) met this evening.  We didn't cover anything important; it was a chat kind of meeting.  November is coming up fast.  For us that means National Novel Writing Month.  I considered not participating this year, but my buddies won't hear of it.  So I'll be a rebel and work on short stories, because ... 

For eight weeks, starting in September, I'll be taking Mary Robinette Kowal's Writing on the Fast Track short story workshop.  I'm excited and a bit scared.  We already have our first assignment!  When the workshop's over I plan on practicing what I learn.  It would be foolish to turn around and write a novel instead.

I will be busy.  Don't know if blog posts will happen very often.  But I'll be thinking about ya'  ;-)

The Business of Writing

Up front let me share I am as yet unpublished, but have spent time learning about the business end of being a writer.  If ever a publisher offers me a contract, I want some idea as to whether what is offered is standard or aberrant.  Having an agent would help with that, but, again, knowing what's standard is necessary to choosing a good agent!

On the off chance you haven't heard about this, there are several divisions of Random House focusing on ebooks - yes, that big name publisher - that have predatory terms in their contracts.  What John Scalzi calls "... A  HORRIBLE AWFUL TERRIBLE APPALLING DISGUSTING CONTRACT WHICH IS BAD AND NO WRITER SHOULD SIGN IT EVER."  (all caps is how he wrote it)  He has done a number of posts about it: Hydra imprint and Alibi imprint and even moar.  These contracts include the writer giving the publisher full world-wide rights to the work for the life of the copyright!

This issue is getting Random House a lot of publicity, but not the good kind.  A sampling includes Book View Cafe (a writers co-op), The Huffington Post, and Forbes.  Some folks have remarked these contracts are similar to what the music industry started offering musicians years ago.  To help prevent the same nastiness happening to writers, we need to spread the word and refuse to sign contracts like that!

Don't be so eager to publish that you give away your rights and future earnings.  You don't pay someone else for the work you did.  They pay you.  Remember money flows TO the writer.

Edit:  The good advice, it keeps coming.  Here's Chuck Wendig's 25 Things to watch out for.  (For those not familiar with Mr. Wendig, he uses "naughty language.") 

Daughter of Edit (3/12/13):  Hey, all the noise had an effect!  Looky here -->  http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2013/03/random-house-announces-new-terms-at.html

The Inkwell

Starting in December of 2009, my friend Cindy and I co-wrote a novel.  We didn't plan to.  We were having fun creating a story with some very cooperative characters and it sort of got out of hand.  Initially we thought we'd do it for about a month.  It ended up keeping us busy for more like four months.

We were posting on line as we wrote, in a thread in the National Novel Writing Month forums called The Smoking Pen.  That thread is set up for cooperative writing, and in the beginning other people were contributing as well.  When the story grabbed us and wouldn't let go, Cindy (who is known as Dixiegirl in NaNoLand), started a separate thread called The Inkwell.

In 2012, Cindy set up a writing group consisting of folks who met doing NaNoWriMo (The Asylum:  you don't have to be crazy, just committed).  On several occasions, The Inkwell has come up in conversations as an example of this or that.  Many in the group hadn't read it.  I'd say I should post that some time.

Well, that time has come.

I'm posting it.

That's why there's a new tab at the top here on my blog.  The Inkwell tab will always take you to the initial background post, whether there's a new entry or not.  On the right, under Archive, is the list of entries.  They're numbered sequentially and each is roughly 2000 words long.  Thanks to the magic of cookies, after you've read one the color should change and that can help you keep track of what you've seen.

I think the total length is about 70,000 words, so this will take a while.  I posted a lot in the last few days, but I'll slow down now, to probably just one entry per day.

I hope you enjoy our story.  We certainly had a lot of fun writing it.

That Writing Gig

 Here is a Telegraph interview with Richard Thompson in which he was asked how he works on songs (among other things, including playing electric vs acoustic guitars): 

"I write out my songs long hand and notate the music rather than trust electronic devices, which I tend to lose. If it is written down somewhere, then I stand more chance of hanging on to it. If I am in a writing mode, and have a couple of spare weeks, I do office hours every day, especially in America where there is a quiet guest-room at the back of the house with no phone. I start really early in the morning, about 7am, and work until noon. If it's going great, then I keep going, if not then I do something else. There are always distractions and everything intrudes but you figure out how to write wherever you are and whatever you are doing. You know, I have written songs with a baby on my shoulder, screaming in my ear. You learn how to write on the train and on the car. I jot things down. But it's best when I can shut the door and plough through."

My favorite line:  "There are always distractions and everything intrudes but you figure out how to write wherever you are and whatever you are doing."

One of my early fiction instructors strongly emphasized getting away from the desk when we wrote.  Go out into the world.  Write in restaurants, on park benches, at the beach.  The objective was to teach yourself to write anywhere and not link the creative process to any one location.  I followed her advice.  I can't yet write anywhere, but there are many places away from the desk that work for me.  I frequently write on my breaks at work.  It's amazing how much can be done in ten minutes!  Every paragraph written or edited gets you closer to a finished work. 

Soundtrack for this post:  Richard Thompson, "If Love Whispers Your Name" (Dream Attic), "Salford Sunday" and "Stony Ground" (Electric)

Squeeeeeeee!!!!

*wipes sweat from brow*

Last night I filled the last gap in v2 of the novel.  There are a few little things I still need to do, but essentially this version is DONE.  I had no idea how good this would feel, since I've never taken a novel to this point before.

It feels mighty good.

Already had a BBQ with friends on the calendar for tonight - oh, honey, I am CELEBRATING.

Cool! And Coffee!

I have A/C!!!

Something I haven't had for five years or more.  Given the heat wave we are currently in, I left this to the very last minute, although didn't actually plan it that way.  It was planned for several years ago, but events (sudden 20% pay cut, family member needing money) conspired to delay things.  The last few months were just me dawdling, reluctance to see my savings account depleted dominating my knowledge that this would be the summer Climate Change really raised its head and roared.

The money is spent.  There is a cool breeze blowing my way as I type this, an iced coffee on the desk. 

Now to get this novel finished...  Coffee and chocolate are writing fuel.  You knew that, right?  That's why I drink mochas.

Feels like Magic

The novel has reached the stage where I need to pull in all the dangling threads and basically make things go Boom.  I have bits and pieces of at least six sections yet to be written, including one that took me completely by surprise.  And I passed 60,000 words yesterday. 

This is the magic that keeps me writing.

WRoE Summary for May

25 hours, 5074 word increase, word count at end of month 57280

Part of my time in May was spent doing another edit pass on the sections I’ll submit for critique later in June, so I didn’t get as many words per hour as last month.

I’m still having a grand time writing this.  I now know where the main characters will be at the end of the story.  The last three sections are in rough form in my head.  Not sure how they get from where they are now (on page 126) to where they will be then or how much happens in between.  Dangling threads must be captured, too.

As usual with this one, I just follow these folks around and write down what they do and say.  There have been many stretches where I couldn’t see beyond the section I was writing.  Because the story kept growing anyway, I have confidence in it and the characters to guide me to that rough ending.  Or another one!  They’ve sprung many surprises and I wouldn’t put it past them to have a few more for me before the story is done.

I'm not participating in the NaNoWriMo Summer Camp which started yesterday.  Want to finish editing Rising Tide then do the first pass edit on my 2010 NaNoNovel, Affairs.  So I suspect I won't be participating in the August Summer Camp, either. 

To all my NaNo Buddies and Friends who ARE getting to know their cabin mates and novel characters, Best of Luck and may the Word Count Fairie visit you often.  Here's lemonade and some fresh baked chocolate chip cookies to fuel the creativity.

April WRoE Update

Thirty-seven hours.  10,100 word net gain.  Current word count:  52,204. 

Wrote the dreaded (by me) torture scene.  FMC rescued from kidnapper and safe in MMC’s condo.  MMC now vulnerable to murder (kidnapper is dead) and kidnapping charges (cops could think him complicit) compounded by transporting victim = FMC across state lines.   Their upcoming lunch will be award-winning Maryland Crabcakes from MMC’s brother’s restaurant.  Followed potentially by romantic interlude. 

I’m happy with that.

[FMC = Female Main Character; MMC = Male Main Character]

Novel Update

The story is chugging along nicely - passed 45K yesterday (45397 at the moment).  Near the end of February I removed the ending, which took the story from 52K and 119 pages to just under 38K and 89 pages.  It’s back to 104 pages. (I don’t work in official manuscript format.  I like to maximize what I see on the screen and I’m balancing that with printing things out for editing, so it’s 1 1/2  spaced with 3/4 inch margins.) 

Seven thousand words in about as many weeks is nothing like a NaNo pace, but it’s sustainable through my crazy work schedule and the other interferences that wander by.  And those seven thousand words are edited, something that is anathema during NaNo.

Ah, yes, in case you missed it, last Monday I visited Motor Cycle Center and spoke with Geoff.  He was very helpful and confirmed my choice of a Triumph for Cait.  Very sleek bike, stylish, modern, and an appropriate size for an athletic woman around 5 ft 8 in.  And the big surprise of the day for me was the Street Triple comes in purple!  *swoon*  Now I have to add those details to the novel ...

Pick a Bike from the Lyrics

I love my characters.  They push me to find out stuff I didn’t know before.

In the current WIP, my character Cait has a motorcycle and won’t consider any other vehicle.  So this evening I went hunting for which bike she rides. 

What little I know of motorbikes I learned from Richard Thompson’s song “1952 Vincent Black Lightning.”  (See my post of 2/11/12 if you’ve never heard it.)  There’s one line of the song where he lists three brands of bike that “won’t do” - meaning they’re not as good as Vincents.  I’ve noticed that in different recordings he lists different bikes:  Nortons and Indians and Greeveses, Velocettes and Triumphs and Sunbeams. 

It seemed risky to choose one from his list.  I mean, from the lyrics Vincents are obviously some classic bike.  Anything he listed might not be made any more! 

I first thought to give her a Beemer.  Asserting my independence of the lyrics?  My cyber search took me to motorcycle.com, where the manufacturers list included Triumph.  So after reading a bit about Beemers and picking a potential one, I went exploring Triumphs. 

Well, ladies and gentlemen, Cait rides a Triumph.  Specifically a Street Triple R, that this website says is on their Sexiest Bikes of the Decade list. 

It’s a middleweight street bike, “the one who broke into the classroom, stole the test answers out of the teacher’s desk, did a smoky burnout and wheelied away.” 

Yep, that is SO Cait’s bike!

WRoE Update 1

The current edit pass on my WIP is officially terminated as of today, at page 80 of 119.  Version 1 goes to the trunk.

Why? 

I had a great idea for a plot change today.  I shall have Rori kidnapped by the main antagonist after all.  I rejected that back in November because I couldn't see a way for her to survive; thought the logical thing if he got his hands on her was to just kill her.  Now ... I can see a way.  It involves Our Hero busting his handsome butt, but he's good at that, and this time he may not end up with three cracked ribs and a fractured skull! 

Gotta give the guy some incentive ...

WRoE

I was going to call this an update, but since it's my first post about the topic it's more of an introduction.  :-)  My writing friend Dixie designed her Writing Rules of Engagement (WRoE acronym, duh) as motivation to keep working on large projects.  The very condensed version of the rules:  work every day on The Project for a year (or until The Project is completed); set a daily minimum (time or word count); report your progress each month.

So this is my progress report for January.  The Project is my 2011 NaNoNovel.

I renamed characters so there weren’t so many with the same starting letters and named the companies that didn't have names yet.  [This Agency] and [That Agency] are gone from the text.  Then I reformatted the document (wider margins and 1 1/2 spacing) and printed about 20 pages to start.  Some editing just goes better for me on hard copy, and paper is easy to carry around.  That morning hour before work thing didn’t happen in January, but I took the hard copy with me and worked on my breaks and at lunch.  On my days off I tried to spend at least two hours each day working on it.  That’s when I typed in the changes from the hard copy and made additional adjustments.   

I put in 29 hours for the month, almost my one hour a day goal.  This edit pass I’ve been tightening the language, correcting verb tense issues (I tended to wander into present tense during the writing), adding some descriptions and identifying plot holes.  I have a list of the plot holes to make it easier for me when I start filling them. 

I’m on page 37 (of 118), almost one-third of the way through.  The word count was 53150 at the end of November; now it’s 51360. 

For February, I’ll keep the goal of 1 hour per day, and add the goal of finishing this edit pass.

So that's it.  Now you know how I spend my free time ...

NaNo 2011, 50K day

I have made 50K in the wonderful craziness that is NaNoWriMo for the sixth time.

There is still a bit of my story to write to get to the actual ending.  I plan on doing that before the 30th, so I can add that milestone:  having an end to the story in November.  Never achieved that before, and this year is my best shot at it ever.  My characters have been very cooperative, even though there were many times I couldn't see farther ahead than the scene I was writing.  I'm at one of those spots now.  Although I know only one or two more scenes are needed, I can't see what they'll be. 

Best of luck to those of you still striving for the goal. 


Thanks for reading; comments welcome.

That NaNoWriMo Thing I'm Doing

I'm in the home stretch.  I've got less than 5K to go.  I just might finish before the 29th this year, which has been my finish date for the past four NaNo's. 

For the first time in my NaNo history, I may actually write to the end of the story!

Best of luck to everyone along for this crazy ride. 



Thanks for reading; comments welcome. 
>^.^<