NaNoWriMo

It's NaNoWriMo time again. The plan is to the write the antagonist's half of my fantasy novel. So far - day 6 and doing okay. A little behind but the work was was crazy.

I am also fundraising for NaNo again this year. Like to see your name in my book? See here for more information on how we can make that happen.

March 10 - Progress

With pokes from my writing partner, I finally slowed down enough to write. It's been a busy day between appointments and work.

The last few scenes have been difficult for different reasons. The first one had 'big nasty thing' that had to happen. The last had T working out a possible reason for big nasty thing. (He's not a happy camper at the moment. Which means others are soon going to also be unhappy.)

Title: Chaos Unleashed
Words Total:36,664
Words Today:399
Reason for stopping: Finished the scene and the antagonist is on the move
Music: Red - Nothing and Everything

Planning ahead

It is March which means it's almost time for camp! Okay, not the summer camp where you're bitten by mosquitoes, dealing with sunburn and eating too many hot dogs. No, this is becoming one of my favourite camps. April brings the first of two Camp NaNoWriMo months. (The second is July.)

I "won" NaNoWriMo last year but the book wants to be longer and needs some TLC. My April goal is to revise Tidal Wave (and find a better name for it in the process). In the mean time, I need to add words to the traditional fantasy novel I've been fighting with.

February 3

My writing partner (and Alpha reader) and I haven't been writing together. Some of that is because she lives 2 time zones away. Some of it is that life gets in the way. I miss doing it and asked her about it.

We are going to write, at the some time, two evenings a week and possibly some weekends. Tonight was the first session. She is editing and I found music and wrote one scene and began another.

Title: Chaos Unleashed
Words Total:36,265
Words Today:426
Reason for stopping: It's Monday and I have to go to the office tomorrow
Music: Red - Shadows

Little epiphy

While waiting for something to load for work today, my mind wandered. I was thinking about the 'don't wanna' scene and what follows the point where I stopped. I knew what the overall result would be but realized that 'thing' wasn't going to be able to happen in the moments between the two actions. It needed a little longer.

Which made me realize what the POV character would try to do and why it would fail. "That will make it even worse," I said to myself. "Which means that's what I have to do." And is another reason I never, ever want to meet my characters in real life.

Title: Chaos Unleashed
Words Total:35,839
Words Today:521
Reason for stopping: Finished the scene
Music: Unwoman - The Fires I Started Instrumentals

Jan 21

First part of the hard scene is written. Tomorrow, I'll face the rest.

Title: Chaos Unleashed
Words Total:35,318
Words Today: 205
Reason for stopping: It's getting late & I have to work in the morning.
Music: None. Nothing seems to fit.

Sundays are made of this

I did not finish the "I don't wanna" scene tonight. I did make progress on it.

Title: Chaos Unleashed
Words Total:35,113
Words Today: 223
Reason for stopping: It's getting late & I have to work in the morning.

Tomorrow's goal is to finish the scene ... no matter what.

Sundays pass quickly

No actual words today. I spent time finding the most recent version of my novel among the many bits and pieces of files. The bits & pieces are now tucked away in a folder for sorting through when I have time. Most can likely be deleted without issue but I have a feeling some of the information may be missing in the 'full' version.

I've been thinking about writing retreats for this year. I am currently planning a trip in May which will see writing happen - likely accompanied by tea and/or coffee and late night talks. I'd like to have at least two more. Perhaps a weekend with like-minded friends. Perhaps another trip to Kingston. (I'd count World Fantasy but I know the writing time will likely be minimal.)

At least I finally found out how to easily set the first page for my manuscripts. (Don't ask. Let's just say what I call something and what the program calls the same something are not the same.)

Now that April is done

I did not "win" Camp NaNo this time out. However, I did add 9,000 words to the story and may have had a breakthrough on character motivation. (I've always known what would happen but was missing the key of why? What pushes him over the edge? I think I know now.)

While that percolates, I'm going to work on revising my paranormal romance book. That is May's writing goal.

Things Decided

Well, Camp isn't going as well as I could hope. Partly, it's where I am in the story - what I know, what I don't, what is tripping me up. Partly, it's been a busy (and challenging) time at work and it's been difficult to disengage my brain from it.

So, the things I have decided:

• 50,000 words is not attainable. I've lowered the number to 30,000. We shall see how close I get to that.
• Taking a lesson from SharedWorlds - specifically Sharon Shinn's advice - I'm just going to put words down. It doesn't matter if they aren't the right ones. It doesn't even matter if they don't make it into the final version. Just write the words and fix them later.

Right now, I'm going to pack my bags for the office, fill my water bottle, set the timer and get words on the screen.

April 5 update

In an attempt to reconnect with my antagonist, I'm rewriting scenes from old files. (I was surprised to see just how long ago I began his part of the story.) It's been slow going so far. Might have something to do with the way the work week has eaten most of my energy.

I have hopes for the weekend. Maybe even some 'scribbling' over breakfast at my favourite restaurant.

Camp goal: 50,000 words
As of now: 2,655
To go: many

Dear Neglected Blog

I know it's been a long time. August? Really? Well, that still falls under the definition of long. It would be an indicator of how much writing I've been doing.

There have been words. I finished a short story and made notes for another novel. But ...

I'm taking part in Camp NaNoWriMo again. This time, it's in April. My goal is 50,000 words on Timus' part of the fantasy novel. I'm sure he'll enjoy the attention. I'm not so sure I'll enjoy everything he gets up to but I just need to get the words down. We'll come to some sort of agreement.

Wish me luck.

Progress - February 20, 2012

Title: Chaos Unleashed
Words Total: 30,935
Words Today: 1,177
Reason for stopping: The current section is starting to snowball and I know I don't have enough time or energy to let it roll tonight.

Wordage I liked: Once M joined L in the sleeping chamber, Birte began pacing. She had to keep moving. If she stopped, she would fail Anden. She would not allow that to happen.

Things discovered: Nasty things are happening. Also that I will have to write a scene I thought (okay, hoped) could be off-screen.

***
This was a long weekend for me (extra-long since I took Friday off as well). Today was one of the better word count days I've had since November.

Yes, it's been a while since I've updated here. It would be a sign that I haven't been writing much. The day job has required extra hours the last few weeks. Unless my schedule changed on Friday, the next couple of weeks look to be the same. I have hopes of not having to do overtime on the weekends. It would be good to have dedicated writing time.

Progress - January 2, 2012

Title: Chaos Unleashed
Words Total: 28,785
Words Today: 527
Reason for stopping: Dinner time. There may be more words tonight.

Wordage I liked: Spoilers all today.

Things discovered: Emotions, emotions.

***
I'm using new software for writing (WriteWay). It counts words a little differently than Word. I've adjusted the numbers above to what WriteWay shows. Less confusing for me. :-)

2011 Review

After nearly 1.5 years of not writing, 2011 saw words.

I:
- finished a 4900 word short story
- added 6925 words to the fantasy novel
- 'won' NaNoWriMo with a 50052 word romance/thriller novel

In 2012, I want to:
- polish the short story and submit it
- finish the first draft of the fantasy novel
- polish the romance novel and consider what to do with it

Thanks to those of you who read this blog. Here's to a fresh new year with new words and continued progress.

Progress - October 3, 2011

Title: Chaos Unleashed
Words Total: 25,342
Words Today: 225
Reason for stopping: It looks like rain and I'd rather not get caught out in it.

Wordage I liked: "I don't know what I expected from him."

"You hoped he would forget the past and return to being the child you remember."

Things discovered: Everyone reacts differently to loss. (Which I knew but certain characters are learning.)

*****

I decided to stop at the coffee shop after work. A coffee and sandwich (yummy spicy hummus for the win!) later and words have been achieved. Now to get home and check the pre-Castle to-do list.

Progress - October 2, 2011

Title: Chaos Unleashed
Words Total: 25,117
Words During Vacation: 1325
Reason for stopping: It's late and tomorrow is a work day.

Wordage I liked: Her call ended in a gasp as a wave of pain and grief washed over her.

Things discovered: Emotional turmoil shows the measure of a person

*****

Vacation #1 is almost over. Writing did happen, as did visiting with friends, walking, chatting, movie watching and relaxing. One week of work and then I'm back on vacation. There shall be more words committed to the screen/paper. There may even be a side trip for genealogy research and more visiting of friends. But there will be words.

So ...

It's been a while, hasn't it? My total output over the past two weeks is +2 words. (Deleted 13, changed 1 and added 15.) There has been a lot of story thinking though.

Work has been taking up a great deal of my time and energy lately. However, I am officially on vacation for the next week. My original plans fell through but I contacted other friends and will be heading east and north for the week. Along with visiting, there will be words.

I'll report in when I can. If you don't hear from me until next weekend, assume I'm enjoying myself too much to be on-line.

Progress - September 11, 2011

Title: Chaos Unleashed
Words Total: 23,790
Words Today: 300
Reason for stopping: It's late and tomorrow is a work day.

Wordage I liked: Spoilers tonight, I'm afraid.

Things discovered: My main characters haven't discussed something important.

Progress - September 9, 2011

Title: Chaos Unleashed
Words Total: 23,490
Words Today: 303
Reason for stopping: Same as last time - It's getting late and I have things I need to do at home tonight.

Wordage I liked: Spoilers tonight, I'm afraid.

Things discovered: It would help to establish *where* people are talking.

*******

I'm planning to be "minimally on-line" this coming weekend. Will that lead to more words? Look for an update late Sunday. :-)