BulgingButtons

Not bad for a fat girl

Category Archives: NaNoWriMo


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Welcome to My Crazy, Also Known as November

writingI’m not quite sure why I do this to myself, but I do. Each year in November for the past three years I’ve accepted the challenge of NaBloPoMo. What’s that? Well it’s the crazy challenge blog everyday in throughout the month of November. The even crazier part? I’ve done it!

2013? Check!

2014? Check!

2015? Check!

2016? Time will tell, but I don’t see why not.

Oh sure, I’ve become a terribly lazy blogger over the last several months, but I have enough good habits and ideas to get me moving again in November. Besides, blogging is FUN! I’m feeling pretty confident that I’ll meet the challenge. It’s the OTHER challenge that have me a little nervous.

What challenge is that? Why, NaNoWriMo, of course. For the uninitiated, it stands for National Novel Writing Month, and it’s this month. The challenge is to write a novel in November, of at least 50,000 words. GULP.

I’ve done it before, back in 2013, and it wasn’t easy. It took a huge commitment, both from me and from my family. The feeling of accomplishment was tremendous, though, and I have a semi-finished manuscript as a result. I’ve been revising that work for a while now, and soon I’d like to see it in print, but in the meantime I feel like it’s time to start something new, so NaNo, here I am.

I hope I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew this month. I hope that my idea turns into a novel worthy of publication. I hope that I have the stamina and determination to see it through to the end. I hope I hit the 50,000 word mark by November 30. Most of all, though, I hope to renew the love of writing that has dimmed slightly with the stresses of the past few months.

My goals are to provide you with interesting material each day (although I’m sure some days will be better than others) and to get that novel written. I’d love to connect with other writers doing NaNoWriMo. My user name is BulgingButtons. Pretty crazy, right? Just one more piece of my crazy November puzzle.


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To Nano or Not to Nano? 2016 Version

NaNoWriMo is coming up… soon. Before we know it November 1 will be on the calendar and National Novel Writing Month will be upon us. It’s a beautiful thing, this challenge to write a novel in 30 days, and it can be done. I know. I’ve done it.

Well, sort of. I’ve written a draft of a novel. The whole thing, beginning, middle, and end. There are characters, settings, conflicts a plenty, and even a resolution. But is it done? Not be a long shot.

When did I write this manuscript? crest-bda7b7a6e1b57bb9fb8ce9772b8faafb

2013.

Gulp.

Yes, it’s been three years. It was a glorious time, really. The ideas were flowing, the words jumped out of my head and through my fingertips onto the screen. Not all days were like that, but overall it worked! I tracked my progress diligently, and worked hard to deliver those 1,600 words per day. Some days I didn’t make it, but other days made up for it. By the end of the month I did it. I finished!

Now I’m in revisions. Still. To be fair, I didn’t touch it for a long time, but also to be fair, I’ve been really slow about revising. Good thing I belong to a terrific writing group which forces me to bring material for review from time to time, or I might not be working on it at all. So why do I keep doing it?

First of all, at this point I have a lot of time invested in it. Sure, I haven’t worked on it every minute of the past three years, but it’s been part of my life for that length of time. I’d hate to just cut it loose and say that it doesn’t matter.

Secondly, and more importantly, I think there’s something to the story. Each time I work on it I’m surprised by how much I actually like the story. My writing group is encouraging (and they are NOT a smile and nod type of group, they tell it like it is), and frankly if I can figure out a little bit of a plot hole I think I could be done with it soon(ish).

The problem is that plot hole seems like a canyon at the moment. When I wrote the draft it all made sense, but when I reread that section (a very pivotal scene) I realized that the motivation for the characters actions was completely missing. The action simply doesn’t make sense without some type of explanation, and silly me, I forgot to include it. At the time I know why he did what he did, but now for the life of me I can’t remember, and it’s causing a problem. I need to figure it out so I can move on!

All that leads me to November. Am I ready to start a new project? I have ideas, and I think I could commit the time, especially now that the boy is in college. It might be the spark I need to get me going creatively, and maybe as a result I’ll come up with a stellar solution to the plot hole in manuscript number one. Maybe.

What do you think? Is this a challenge I should face or a burden I’ll regret?


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Building Habits

NaBloPoMo_NovemberIt’s December 1, which means that I’ve officially succeeded in posting every day for the month of November, making me a NoBloPoMo winner! Of course I don’t think there are actually winners and losers for that particular challenge, but since I missed my 50,000 word goal for NaNoWriMo by a long-shot, I’ll take what I can get.

I’m actually pretty tickled that it’s December, and I still feel like I have plenty to write about. Rather than feel drained, I feel energized. I’ve gotten into a daily blogging habit, and I’m feeling the need to keep on going. Yay me. Too bad I’ve had so much trouble establishing other good habits.

I always seem to take one step forward then two steps back. At least as far as my health and fitness go. I want to lose weight. I want to move more. I want to get off my medication. But apparently I don’t want it badly enough.

Oh sure, I’ve been walking more, and I really am enjoying it, but it’s not enough.

I’ve also been trying to include more fruits and vegetables into my diet, but that’s not enough either.

My situation calls for more drastic measures. Measures that I don’t feel like I have at my disposal at the moment, like strength and determination and willpower.

I’ve heard so many times that you just have to decide to do it, then make the changes. For some reason this approach is generally offered by men. Maybe we really are wired differently in this aspect? Or maybe we’re all individuals and we each have our quirks and hang-ups. For me, it’s my weight.

It seems that for each good choice I make, I make five poor ones. I’m working hard to balance that out a bit. I’m going to try to keep on moving. NaBloPoMo_Original_0Today I tracked my steps with my phone (which means not all of them since I don’t carry it around all day), and I had more than I’ve had in the past week. The walk before work got me off to a good start. I have to thank my son and my dog for allowing me to join them.

If I can sit down and conjure words every day, then sure I can lace up my sneakers and take a walk around the block. I may even just walk myself into a new good habit.