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Tag Archives: National Novel Writing Month


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Is It Really Only Tuesday?

tuesdayI’m ready for the weekend. I feel like I’ve put in a full week already, but a glance at the calendar (as if I really have a calendar) confirms that today is actually only Tuesday. Dammit.

Like most people I have certain little routines and rituals that take me through the week. Yesterday I decided to revisit an old one, the Monday night Weight Watchers meeting. Oh yes I did.

I’ve been watching myself balloon up to a scary size with a correspondingly scary weight, and I’m tired of it. My giant sweatshirt doesn’t look giant on me, but it does make me resemble a giant. My airline seatbelt days were looking like they were on the path to extender city, a destination I would rather avoid.

There is no shame in going back, at least that’s what they say, because face it, most people who lose weight don’t keep it off. They count on people going back. They make good money on us.

The way I see it is this: I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again, and one of these times it will stick. Maybe it’ll be this time. I would like that a lot. So here I go again. Wish me luck.

Another Monday night tradition has become tv watching. I know I said I was going to reclaim my time, but I’m hooked on both Dancing With the Stars and Sleepy Hollow. 

Good thing we have a DVR, because by the time the meeting was over and we had cooked dinner DWTS was almost over.  We got comfy and started watching the recorded show from the beginning. By the time it was over, I was ready for bed. Sleepy Hollow would have to wait until some other time.

And writing? What about writing? Um, well, uh… there hasn’t been too much of that lately. Aside from blog posts, that is. I’m terribly behind on my word count for NaNoWriMo. I’m starting to feel like it’s NaNo-NoGo or NaNo-TooSlow. I’m not giving up, though.

Then there’s all the usual stuff that happens in a week. Mine all sort of seemed to happen yesterday and today. I’m beat, I truly am. I did have some great conferences with my son’s teachers this afternoon. They told me things that I already knew, but it felt good to hear it from someone else.

There’s more, too, but I can’t keep my eyes open. Maybe tomorrow I’ll edit this post and maybe tomorrow I’ll decide that it’s garbage, but for tonight it’s my daily offering.

 


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To NaNo or Not to NaNo

crest-bda7b7a6e1b57bb9fb8ce9772b8faafbNovember is rapidly approaching, and I’m starting to get lots of e-mails from the folks over at NaNoWriMo. For those of you  unfamiliar with NaNo, it’s short form NaNoWriMo, which in turn is short for National Novel Writing Month. The NaNoWriMo folks have claimed November as theirs, and invited the whole wold to join them. Last year I accepted that invitation, and I wrote the manuscript of a young adult novel. In a month. Yes. I did it.

That manuscript is still very raw, in fact I haven’t done much of anything with it. I know so much more about writing now than I did a year ago, and what I’ve learned has left me feeling somewhat overwhelmed at the prospect of all the revisions that lay ahead. Gulp. But does that mean I can’t write something new? Of course not!

Completing NaNoWriMo was a huge accomplishment. It showed me that I did in fact have at least one book in me, and that I could find the time to create it. It also showed me that even when I was feeling stuck, I could make myself move forward. It was an important lesson. Of course it wasn’t without its freak-outs along the way.

Another lesson that it taught me was that I spend too much time on activities that give me nothing in return. I think many of us do. My main time sucker (and maybe yours too) tends to be surfing the internet. Watching tv is a big one for a lot of people too. Still, no matter how busy I felt, I was always able to at least put in at least twenty to thirty minutes on work days, then fill in with some extra time on the weekends. I knew that skipping days would stress me out too much in the long run, so I avoided it at all costs.

So now here I am, Mid-October, and decision time is looming. Yes, I think I’ll try it again, and this time I’ll incorporate some of the information on story structure that I’ve learned over the past several months. I have a new character that I need to get to know, and I need to create some really interesting things for her to do and say. I also need to stock up on Hot Tamales, they are my go to candy for writing inspiration and energy.

Hopefully this year’s 50,000 plus words come more easily than last year’s, but I’m not counting on it. Writing a novel is a really difficult process, but by announcing it, I’ve just taken the first step. Wish me luck!


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Cleaning Out The Drafts

Talk about crazy, here I sit going through my various stuff, seeing what I ‘ve written and trying to figure out if there are any trends. I also took a little time to sort through my spam folder, and figured I would wander over to my draft folder too, just to see what was collecting cobwebs over there.

Imagine my surprise when I found this post, completely done, with illustration inserted and everything. Why on earth didn’t I publish it? I wrote it on the 21st of November, in the thick of NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo, so all I can think of is that my poor tired brain must have been completely fried. I wonder if I thought I hit the publish button but didn’t? Weird. Anyway, since it’s done and I’m doing some end of the year clean up, I present a nearly month old blog post, originally entitled NaNo No No.

tuesSo here we are three weeks into NaNoWriMo and I have over 33,000 words written. I survived my NaNoWriMo Freak-O and have learned the important art of correctly backing up files. I have also been a good little NaBloPoMo participant, posting at least one blog post per day since November 1.

Let me tell you, that’s a lot of words. Oh, I know, for some of you it’s a drop in the bucket, but for this girl, it’s a lot. Today I composed two blogs posts and wrote a piece for my writing class. When it came time to work on my novel, I just couldn’t quite do it. I hit a wall. I needed a break.

So here’s the NoNo: I did not work on my novel at all today. Not one word. So what? Give yourself a break, I think. But the deadline won’t give me a break. I really want to get my 50,000 words written before midnight on November 30. Whining about it here won’t get it done. But it’s laaaaaaate. And I’m tiiiiiiiired. Oh jeez. Time to give it up for a few hours and come back to it later. I will get it done. I’m the little engine that could. Look out, the weekend is coming! And then, no more no no’s.