Just one month until NaNoWriMo...
I attempted to get up a little earlier than I have been this morning, and it failed utterly. I instead got up at nine o'clock when my other alarm went off telling me it was time to start school. So the getting up thing will have to start tomorrow instead. Except for the part where tomorrow my mom and I head out west to talk at some sort of mother/daughter retreat about some Africa stuff... I don't know exactly what, but my participation will be limited... I hope. I'm not so great at public speaking is all.
I don't know if I want October to go quickly or slowly. There's so much to do, and yet NaNo is so close I can almost taste it. I don't feel at all ready. I should fix that.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Finishing and Plotting
One thing straight to another... Good news though (that I should have posted before)! On the... 22nd of September, I finished up my current project, at least as far as first drafts go. It came in at about 98k. Not bad for under two months, eh?
I've been sleeping in during the mornings since I finished, as a treat to myself. I'll have to get up again in October to start on my NaNoWriMo prep - aka NaNoPloMo. I've got a to-do list somewhere, I'll have to put it up in a while.
I meant to put up updates with my goals, didn't I? Sorry. Um... I don't like the Italian program we have right now, because despite the fact that it brags of lots of grammer, I don't like when it tell us - after we do all of the exercises. I don't know... I want to be told the rule, and then I'll be all right. I might fiddle with the different modes of it a bit, and we'll see how we do.
Writing's been going all right, since I managed to catch up and all. I'm just taking a nice break, like I said, and I'll put my nose back to the grindstone in October and get plotting.
Speaking of... It's not cheating if I do a total rewrite during NaNo, is it? I won't be saving a single scrap of manuscript from my previous novel, but I'll be using it basically as plot, so I should be all right, right?
I've been sleeping in during the mornings since I finished, as a treat to myself. I'll have to get up again in October to start on my NaNoWriMo prep - aka NaNoPloMo. I've got a to-do list somewhere, I'll have to put it up in a while.
I meant to put up updates with my goals, didn't I? Sorry. Um... I don't like the Italian program we have right now, because despite the fact that it brags of lots of grammer, I don't like when it tell us - after we do all of the exercises. I don't know... I want to be told the rule, and then I'll be all right. I might fiddle with the different modes of it a bit, and we'll see how we do.
Writing's been going all right, since I managed to catch up and all. I'm just taking a nice break, like I said, and I'll put my nose back to the grindstone in October and get plotting.
Speaking of... It's not cheating if I do a total rewrite during NaNo, is it? I won't be saving a single scrap of manuscript from my previous novel, but I'll be using it basically as plot, so I should be all right, right?
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Drama: A Rant
I'll have an update on my writing in a moment, but first I'm feeling rather ranty, so I'm going to have a nice little rant about drama.
I'm not talking about plays and theater and such, that's perfectly fine. I'm talking about people in life who seem to feel like it's too dull and have to go around hacking people off so that things are harder for everyone, but apparently more interesting.
I find this most at internet forums. People will bring up something about a brand they like or don't like, and then everyone loves to come and join in a big fight about what's good, what's bad, and why. And the original issue brought up was something totally stupid. And all that gets done is people look like idiots, people get mad, and a point is maybe made that's been made many times over on that very forum. Who wants all that trouble?
I guess people on the internet who are apparently anonymous, so they like to cause all sorts of grief. But what can you do with a drama-free afternoon? You can go for a swim, you can talk nicely to friends, you can write a book (or at least work on writing a book, maybe not a whole book in an afternoon...), you can enjoy the product of the brand you like, and stop caring about the brand you don't like. And I'm sure it's better for your blood pressure. It's not boring. It's infinitely more productive than getting people mad who odds are you've never met before, and you'll never meet in your life. Why bring the grief?
-ahem- Ok, now I'm done. On to the update!
I started on that Monday, as I planned, and things went well until the... 11th of August. Then I started getting behind. It took me three days (the 11th through the 13th) to write two thousand words. After that, it took me another three days to write another two thousand words. I have reasons for the second set, what with stuff going on over the weekend, but still. I wrote a few extra words today, so I'm only (only, heh) five and half kays behind now. My challenge runs through September... I can catch up, right? Right?
At any rate, I'm going to do my best not to miss any more days, and to do plenty of extra to catch up. I've never been this far behind before though... I'm just glad this didn't happen in November.
I'm not talking about plays and theater and such, that's perfectly fine. I'm talking about people in life who seem to feel like it's too dull and have to go around hacking people off so that things are harder for everyone, but apparently more interesting.
I find this most at internet forums. People will bring up something about a brand they like or don't like, and then everyone loves to come and join in a big fight about what's good, what's bad, and why. And the original issue brought up was something totally stupid. And all that gets done is people look like idiots, people get mad, and a point is maybe made that's been made many times over on that very forum. Who wants all that trouble?
I guess people on the internet who are apparently anonymous, so they like to cause all sorts of grief. But what can you do with a drama-free afternoon? You can go for a swim, you can talk nicely to friends, you can write a book (or at least work on writing a book, maybe not a whole book in an afternoon...), you can enjoy the product of the brand you like, and stop caring about the brand you don't like. And I'm sure it's better for your blood pressure. It's not boring. It's infinitely more productive than getting people mad who odds are you've never met before, and you'll never meet in your life. Why bring the grief?
-ahem- Ok, now I'm done. On to the update!
I started on that Monday, as I planned, and things went well until the... 11th of August. Then I started getting behind. It took me three days (the 11th through the 13th) to write two thousand words. After that, it took me another three days to write another two thousand words. I have reasons for the second set, what with stuff going on over the weekend, but still. I wrote a few extra words today, so I'm only (only, heh) five and half kays behind now. My challenge runs through September... I can catch up, right? Right?
At any rate, I'm going to do my best not to miss any more days, and to do plenty of extra to catch up. I've never been this far behind before though... I'm just glad this didn't happen in November.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
The Start Looms...
I think I really do like deadlines. This Saturday starts my personal writing challenge... 2k every day. I need to finish up my plotting so I can have a day or two of break before I start.
I had to put a few of them on the rack, but I finally got my main characters to talk to me, and I think I know a little more of what goes on in their heads. Enough to be getting on with anyway. I just need to set up my timeline then, and I should be ready.
Deadlines though... They're such good motivation for me with writing. My deadline for plotting is Friday, my deadline for writing this is every day, in a way. I have to write 2k every single day. That's my requirement. The goal is either 116k by October, or a finished story (preferably a finished story. 116k would a little long of a manuscript for me). Hopefully I can make it.
I had to put a few of them on the rack, but I finally got my main characters to talk to me, and I think I know a little more of what goes on in their heads. Enough to be getting on with anyway. I just need to set up my timeline then, and I should be ready.
Deadlines though... They're such good motivation for me with writing. My deadline for plotting is Friday, my deadline for writing this is every day, in a way. I have to write 2k every single day. That's my requirement. The goal is either 116k by October, or a finished story (preferably a finished story. 116k would a little long of a manuscript for me). Hopefully I can make it.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Plans
It was about this time last year that I started training for NaNoWriMo. 2,000 words every day, except Sundays. Day of rest ya know.
Anyway, I've been thinking that it's about time I started with that again. Maybe I should plan for JulNoWriMo like I know people do... Anyway, all sorts of things got turned upside down in my head. I've been plotting on Crystal Glare so I can rewrite it, but now I'm thinking that if I wanted to do my other idea for NaNo, I would want to wait until afterwards to write on CG, since I excell at setting stories down and never picking them back up again, or when I do, not remembering what to do, despite my plots.
My brain hasn't been working lately. Usually I'd see the solution instantly. Since Crystal Glare is so long, why don't I do it for NaNo, and this other shorter piece as prep? I don't know what's up with me. My habits ran away, and apparently so did my brain. Anyway, I've set myself a challenge: Even with Sundays off, if I write 2k every day starting the 25th, I should be able to write 116k of story. That should be plenty for what plot I've got right now. So I'm plotting until that day, and then I set off on another insane pre-NaNo journey!
Anyway, I've been thinking that it's about time I started with that again. Maybe I should plan for JulNoWriMo like I know people do... Anyway, all sorts of things got turned upside down in my head. I've been plotting on Crystal Glare so I can rewrite it, but now I'm thinking that if I wanted to do my other idea for NaNo, I would want to wait until afterwards to write on CG, since I excell at setting stories down and never picking them back up again, or when I do, not remembering what to do, despite my plots.
My brain hasn't been working lately. Usually I'd see the solution instantly. Since Crystal Glare is so long, why don't I do it for NaNo, and this other shorter piece as prep? I don't know what's up with me. My habits ran away, and apparently so did my brain. Anyway, I've set myself a challenge: Even with Sundays off, if I write 2k every day starting the 25th, I should be able to write 116k of story. That should be plenty for what plot I've got right now. So I'm plotting until that day, and then I set off on another insane pre-NaNo journey!
Friday, June 19, 2009
The Power Went Bye-Bye...
We had a nice storm on Monday night that knocked out the power for most people in the area. It was amazing though. We got a few limbs knocked down in our yard, but out neighbors across the street... their yard was completely torn up. So Tuesday was spent cutting and hauling trees. It was fun actually.
Over the next few days, it got noticeably less fun. It's been hot, and without power we were without AC. And more importantly, our house runs on well water, so no power means the pump on the well doesn't work, which means to water for us. We have a generator, so sometimes we'd run water, and for a lot of the rest of it we'd plug it into the fridges so the milk didn't go bad. But it wasn't very fun...
We had just borrowed another generator from some friends so we could have a few things running at once, and that night, the power came back on! Yay! It's one of those things that always happens like that... Ah well. That was the adventure for the week.
My good habits still have not returned, although I got a little plotting done on Crystal Glare. I have a general idea of the sections it's going to be in, but I have quite a few new characters to create, as well as a lot of specifics to draw in. Maybe I can do a bit of that today yet...
Over the next few days, it got noticeably less fun. It's been hot, and without power we were without AC. And more importantly, our house runs on well water, so no power means the pump on the well doesn't work, which means to water for us. We have a generator, so sometimes we'd run water, and for a lot of the rest of it we'd plug it into the fridges so the milk didn't go bad. But it wasn't very fun...
We had just borrowed another generator from some friends so we could have a few things running at once, and that night, the power came back on! Yay! It's one of those things that always happens like that... Ah well. That was the adventure for the week.
My good habits still have not returned, although I got a little plotting done on Crystal Glare. I have a general idea of the sections it's going to be in, but I have quite a few new characters to create, as well as a lot of specifics to draw in. Maybe I can do a bit of that today yet...
Monday, June 8, 2009
Once Upon a Time I Had All of These Good Habits...
I wonder where they went. I would get up, write on one of my many stories, or maybe edit one of them, and then I would write a blog post. Now look at me. When I do get up, I don't really write, and I haven't written a post from the computer since I don't even know when. So anyway, -waves- I'm still alive! Hi!
Let me see... Things have been all right I guess, recently one of my family's dogs died. He was really sick with a belly full of fluid and such, so not a great thing. We ended up putting him down on Thursday. The day before we left on a church canoe trip (which was fun by the way).
As far as writing goes, I was doing well for a while, getting up and writing on one of my stories, but I hit a little block at one point when I couldn't remember something, and then I got all thrown off. I'll have to see if I can fix that.
Right now... Since I can't be motivated or bothered to do anything actually productive, I'm loading a bunch of CDs that I pulled from my dad's collection at semi-random. To the computer, and then to the mp3 player! Woo.
I have made a little bit of progress on reworking Crystal Glare. If getting a few more thoughts about it swimming around my head can be called progress. I'm just hoping right now that the sit in my head won't kill them, and maybe it will make them better. Like fine wine. Or even cheap wine, since it probably gets better with a little age on it too.
Lemme see... I finished my beginner Italian course a little while ago, and there should be a spiffy computer one winging it's way towards my Italian partner's house right now... If it hasn't arrived already. It's not Rosetta Stone, but it's got some cool voice recognition, and it seemed to be a good course. As if I really know anything, but I need to work on something, so it might as well be this.
I'm off to try and find my good habits!
Let me see... Things have been all right I guess, recently one of my family's dogs died. He was really sick with a belly full of fluid and such, so not a great thing. We ended up putting him down on Thursday. The day before we left on a church canoe trip (which was fun by the way).
As far as writing goes, I was doing well for a while, getting up and writing on one of my stories, but I hit a little block at one point when I couldn't remember something, and then I got all thrown off. I'll have to see if I can fix that.
Right now... Since I can't be motivated or bothered to do anything actually productive, I'm loading a bunch of CDs that I pulled from my dad's collection at semi-random. To the computer, and then to the mp3 player! Woo.
I have made a little bit of progress on reworking Crystal Glare. If getting a few more thoughts about it swimming around my head can be called progress. I'm just hoping right now that the sit in my head won't kill them, and maybe it will make them better. Like fine wine. Or even cheap wine, since it probably gets better with a little age on it too.
Lemme see... I finished my beginner Italian course a little while ago, and there should be a spiffy computer one winging it's way towards my Italian partner's house right now... If it hasn't arrived already. It's not Rosetta Stone, but it's got some cool voice recognition, and it seemed to be a good course. As if I really know anything, but I need to work on something, so it might as well be this.
I'm off to try and find my good habits!
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