Fighting Every Day

Not a lot new here. Writing. Working. Eating. Sleeping (a little). And baby wrangling.

I’m also fighting off a cold, although I’m trying really hard not to admit that to myself. It’s not terrible, just a bit uncomfortable.

With being tired and a little under the weather, I have been fighting the desire to take the easy path and quit NaNoWriMo. I haven’t quit yet, and have in fact been writing 2,000 words a day. Still, it is going to be a long month.

The only other thing I did was shoot some basketball free throws at work for a local charity. People pledged to give a little bit of money for each basket we made. I made 18 out of 25, which isn’t so bad for an aging fart like myself.

Right. Off to write.

If Love is a Battlefield, What is Writing?

If love is a battlefield, what is writing? A pain in the neck? A gift from God? A bologna sandwhich?

I don’t really know. One thing I do know is that writing a novel is very difficult. The good news is the more you do it the easier it gets. As long as you don’t give up. And as long as you don’t mind throwing away, or at least putting aside, the first few 100k words you write.

I also know that I’ve already written more words this month (13,637) than I’ve written in all the other months of this year combined. I got 2,000 or so words written yesterday, which doesn’t catch me up to where I need to be, but does get me on the right track.

As eveybody knows, Sesame Street is 40 years old. Here’s a clip I particularly enjoy. Elmo and Robert DiNero (for real).

NaNoWriMo – 0 for 2

What’s that sound? Oh, that’s just the sound of the wheels coming off. Nothing to see here. *hurl*

So, yeah, I did absolutely no writing the past two days. Zero words. That leaves me with 11,634 words written for the month. About 1,702 words behind.

What happened? Well, we drove to Pittsburgh on Saturday morning and returned on Sunday. I was too exhausted to write either night.

Now, I did build in five days of no writing into my play before the month started. So technically, if I average 2,000 words a day for the remaining days, I can still miss three more days and still hit 50,000 words. That said, being this far behind is a scary thing.

Let’s not think about that. Instead, why not check out this amazing animated short: Pigeon Impossible.

NaNoWriMo Day 5 – 9,731

As of last night I’m at 9,731 words, less than 300 words off my goal of 10,000 (to average 2,000 words a day). Last night was a struggle for sure. Yes, I wrote 2,000 words, but I nearly fell asleep while writing and was up until midnight.

Right now I wish I really was Mario, because I’d eat a flower or mushroom or leaf and power-up. Unfortunately, I’m not Mario and if I eat at least one of those things I could get arrested.

I will know by the end of the weekend if the wheels have come off or if I pull out a miracle. It really is 50/50 at this point.

Still, I’ve written a lot and I feel good.

NaNoWriMo Break – Sesame Street

I’m sure you are all tired of NaNoWriMo talk. I am too. I’m at 7,802 words as of last night (only 200 off my goal) and I feel like there is a very real chance I won’t survive the month.

So, something different. Did you know Sesame Street is celebrating its 40th birthday? If you go to google.comthey have been displaying Sesame Street themed headings this week. Pretty cool.

Even better, Sesame Street is having a vote on the “Best Sesame Street Ever!” and allowing people to vote on their favorite segments of each decade. Right now it’s The ’80s. Even better is Grover’s intros. I love Grover, even though he was The Monster at the End of This Book.

Be careful though, NaNo’ers. You could waste some good writing time over there.

NaNoWriMo Advice – Don’t Delete Anything

YankeeGirl asked a good question in the comments here yesterday regarding NaNoWriMo:

So I just decided that I want to change about half of what I already wrote. Do I go back and change it now and then finish writing what I want to write, or leave it the way it is, write the rest of the story like I actually had changed it and change it next month?

Luckily for me, I had just read a blog post by NaNoWriMo’s founder Chris Baty, in which he talks about this very thing:

7) And please remember: If you write a paragraph or chapter you don’t like, just put it in italics (or change the font color to white). Do not delete! After you write your way across the 50,000-word finish line, you can double back and clip out all the parts of your book that make you cringe (I think you’ll surprise yourself with what you decide to keep). For now, just keep moving forward! There’s an old folk saying that goes: Whenever you delete a sentence in your NaNoWriMo novel, a NaNoWriMo angel loses its wings and plummets, screaming, to the ground.

Good advice, huh? Why lose out on your word count, just because something isn’t worded properly. Why not get the idea down, flag it for edit later, and move on. I suggest using the change in color rather than italics because italics could be valid in your story, such as thoughts of a character. Another thing you could do is use the “notes” feature in your word processing program (word or open office writer both have implementations of this feature).

As far as my progress, I’m at about 5,800 words after three days. Two hundred less than my goal, but ahead of the pace. I’ve already encountered one case of the blahs and have worked through it. Whew!

Let’s Hear it for the Pantsers

Well, I’m in day two and have a bit over 4,000 words written. I’ve been up to midnight both nights, but am very happy with my progress.

I have to say, I’m happy with my pants-ness. Yes, I did do a bit of planning, but I’m still doing most of the writing by the seat of my pants. I’m coming up with little plot twists and characterization that I just wouldn’t create in the planning phase. I have to say it feels fun to write right now. Very cool.

It’s funny. I thought about this story for a couple weeks straight, trying so hard to come up with an outline. It just wasn’t happening. It seems my brain just doesn’t work that way.

What I do have, as far as planning goes, is a few sentences of what should happen in each chapter. This is my guideline, and has helped immensely. It’s also what I need for chapters to come.

NaNoWriMo Update – Day 1

Well, I eeked out 2,000 words on Day 1 of NaNoWriMo. I hit my goal the first day, at least. I’d be very surprised if I can keep this pace, but I know I can’t think that way. Just have to take it one day at a time.

Hopefully, I can post more than my word count totals this month, but not today. In addition to writing, I have four pieces I need to critique for my writing group meeting tonight. Lucky for me, they are all interesting to read.

How are all of you NaNoWriMo’ers and Non-NaNoWriMo’ers doing?

Story Posted!

The 500 word story I wrote for Karen Lee Field’s writing contest has been posted to her blog. If you have a few minutes, why not go over there and give it a read. It’s a pretty fun story, I think. If you get a chance, why not read all seven entries and vote for your favorite?

Anyhow, here’s a direct link to my entry, titled Happens All the Time. Feel free to leave me comments/feedback either at her site or in the comments of this message. Or via smoke signals, but only if you live in Centre County, Pennsylvania. That’s probably the only way I’d see the smoke.

Halloween – Mario and Luigi

For all of you anxious to see my costume for this year, here is this year’s Halloween photo. My only regret is that I didn’t get a fake mustache for Luigi.

The overalls I ordered on the web didn’t show up in time, so I had to make a frantic last minute run to the local Tractor Supply Company to pick some up. Also, I’m not too happy with my mustache. That bad boy cost me $7 and doesn’t even stay on. Next time I’m just gonna grow one.

So, tomorrow night at “midnight” NaNoWriMo begins. I definitely plan on writing a little at least at “midnight”. I’m still hoping for a miracle or a visit from the muse fairy. We shall see.