Hey, strangers!
NaNoWriMo and my novel rather took on a life of their own this year, and Life went and happened in November.
Nothing Ventured has survived the initial writing, and is now in the 1st revision stages. I would like to have it revised far enough by mid-January that I can enter it in the RWA Golden Heart competition, which feels like a really lofty goal for a first novel. But it's pushing me forward, so I'm not second-guessing it.
I met my goal of 50,000 words around the 20th, but the story wasn't done, so I kept going, pushing through until I hit the end of the plot. Unfortunately, I discovered that sometimes, you fall in love with your characters, and it's really freaking hard to let go of their story. Thankfully, the Universe invented revision, so I can spend more time with them before releasing them into the wider world.
I also learned that having a solid support team is critical to finishing. Those that cheered me on, followed my endless stream of progress posts on Twitter and Facebook, and those that playfully whispered, "I hate you," while congratulating me. I've discovered I can only manage a project this big and involved with a support team that puts up with random crying jags, temper tantrums when printers fail, and really late nights devoted to writing (and a few nights of crappy dinners because I couldn't spare the brain cells to come up with anything more interesting than frozen pizza).
And so, as November draws to a close, I'm starting to shift my attention to building the actual online store for Sage Wolfsong Creations. Over the next few weeks, I'll be opening up my shop on Shopify with my own domain name, and migrating the blog to integrate with the store. I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am for this.
More to come in the next few days and weeks!
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Friday, November 4, 2016
What 4 Days of NaNo Has Taught Me
It's day 4 of NaNoWriMo2016, and I thought I'd pop in for a quick update.
Yes, I'm letting the blogs sit more or less idle this month, as I am focusing on my book for this 30 day period of time, though I have gotten a few posts set up to go out automatically this month.
If you hadn't noticed yet, there are a couple of little tickers over on the right hand side of the screen. One shows you which days I made my goal of 1,667 words for that day (green is achieved, yellow means I wrote and updated my word count, but didn't get all 1700 or so words for that day). The other is simply a little bar that fills up as I complete my 50k goal.
I've managed to write every day this month, and as of last night, I was nearing the 10,000 word mark. I'm almost 1/5 of the way through the challenge, and I'm having so much fun doing this.
I have learned a few things already, though.
We've talked before that I am a pantser, meaning that I write by the seat of my pants. I have an outline and a time line, as well as a few sketched scenes, but mostly, I sit down to write whatever comes next in the story, though I do have one scene that I had far too much fun with, thanks to the support of my NaNo group on Discord chat (like Skype for gamers).
That brings me to the next thing I've learned.
I can really make myself stretch to incorporate the unexpected. Yesterday, fueled by sugar and far too much caffeine, I pounded out 2,800 words, and had some weird little tidbits that showed up in my drafting, thanks to oddball writing prompts and mass-silliness on the part of our group. You see, what happens to writers during NaNo, is that our usual brand of crazy gets cranked up a few notches, and things like "What would happen if the world were taken over by Emoji's?" Word sprints (a short challenge where you set a timer and write as much as you can in that time) with off the wall writing prompts like, "Introduce a llama in your next chapter," have your main character suddenly sitting, stuck in traffic, while a llama is on the loose in the city.
We also entertain ourselves with distractions like, "What would the consequences be of having 4 lungs instead of 2?" The combined knowledge and creativity makes for some strange conversations.
I mentioned that yesterday's writing was brought to you by too much caffeine and sugar, yes? I've also learned that I'm not 20 anymore, and that abusing my body with such things is a recipe for feeling like crap the next day. So, what am I doing differently today? Not much, other than planning to have salad for lunch and a little less caffeine.
I've also learned that the crazy is contagious. Two nights before NaNo began, I had friends approach me about wanting to do their own NaNo books this year. I totally support that! Of course, it also meant that when my daughter came home from her uncle's on Tuesday, and I told her, she rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, no... not more writers! Mom, what have you started?"
Technically, I haven't started anything. NaNo has been going on since 1999. I have only talked up the fact that I am doing it this year. And I'll support everyone that participates! Speaking of which, it's not too late to get started (yes, you will have to work hard to catch up and make your goal, but you've only lost 3 days. Get writing!).
Yes, I'm letting the blogs sit more or less idle this month, as I am focusing on my book for this 30 day period of time, though I have gotten a few posts set up to go out automatically this month.
If you hadn't noticed yet, there are a couple of little tickers over on the right hand side of the screen. One shows you which days I made my goal of 1,667 words for that day (green is achieved, yellow means I wrote and updated my word count, but didn't get all 1700 or so words for that day). The other is simply a little bar that fills up as I complete my 50k goal.
I've managed to write every day this month, and as of last night, I was nearing the 10,000 word mark. I'm almost 1/5 of the way through the challenge, and I'm having so much fun doing this.
I have learned a few things already, though.
 |
| NaNo2016 is teaching me lessons. |
That brings me to the next thing I've learned.
I can really make myself stretch to incorporate the unexpected. Yesterday, fueled by sugar and far too much caffeine, I pounded out 2,800 words, and had some weird little tidbits that showed up in my drafting, thanks to oddball writing prompts and mass-silliness on the part of our group. You see, what happens to writers during NaNo, is that our usual brand of crazy gets cranked up a few notches, and things like "What would happen if the world were taken over by Emoji's?" Word sprints (a short challenge where you set a timer and write as much as you can in that time) with off the wall writing prompts like, "Introduce a llama in your next chapter," have your main character suddenly sitting, stuck in traffic, while a llama is on the loose in the city.
We also entertain ourselves with distractions like, "What would the consequences be of having 4 lungs instead of 2?" The combined knowledge and creativity makes for some strange conversations.
 |
| To be a writer, one must write. |
I've also learned that the crazy is contagious. Two nights before NaNo began, I had friends approach me about wanting to do their own NaNo books this year. I totally support that! Of course, it also meant that when my daughter came home from her uncle's on Tuesday, and I told her, she rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, no... not more writers! Mom, what have you started?"
Technically, I haven't started anything. NaNo has been going on since 1999. I have only talked up the fact that I am doing it this year. And I'll support everyone that participates! Speaking of which, it's not too late to get started (yes, you will have to work hard to catch up and make your goal, but you've only lost 3 days. Get writing!).
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