New Year - New Goals

Welcome to the new year.

One of my goals (I don't use the R word) is to write at least 500 words most days. (I say 'most days' because I don't want to set myself up for failure.) All going well, there will be update posts - most days.

Title: Trapeze (working title)
Words Total: 569
Words Today: 569
Reason for stopping: It was a good place to stop for the night.
Music: Gotan Project

November 1 - NaNoWriMo begins

The last time I successfully completed NaNoWriMo I noticed a pattern. Fridays were my least productive days and Mondays my most. Counter-intuitive to me but I suppose, after the work week, my brain was tired.

This year, NaNo begins on a Friday. For whatever reason, perhaps that I didn't want to start in a deficit, I made my quota.

I'm hoping to see mostly green squares on the calendar. They are very motivating.

My fundraising for the Office of Letters and Light continues. Every little bit helps. I do believe if something like the Young Writers Program had existed when I was a student, I would have started writing seriously much earlier.

Word count - 1,723

Reason for stopping - finished the opening scene and it's getting late

Snippet - None today. Still feeling out the situation.

Soundtrack - Rangers losing to the Storm (sigh)

It's a sign

I can tell my summer was filled with health issues, job stress and mild insanity. Few words written. No blog posts.

I can't promise it will radically change but I have two weeks of vacation coming up - part of the plan is to write. Come November, I'm also taking part in NaNoWriMo. If nothing else, I will try to update word count every day.

I'm also fundraising for NaNo. Take a look at my page if you will: http://www.stayclassy.org/stuarru

Thanks to those who wander by. Hope to see you again soon.

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.