found_drama

Well, November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo, that is to say). Had a hell of a time of it last year¹– made it to 50,688 words in 25 days with what really did resemble a complete story by the end of it all. Still haven’t revisited that story as I’d planned to… but there’s plenty of time for that later.

Undecided if I’ll do it here in ‘07. The rules state that you need to start fresh — with a blank canvas notebook. In other words, you can’t just “continue” with something you’ve already got started. And as I’m 12,932 words² into my current project, that’s pretty much out. I may “follow along” and see if I can’t put 50k worth of material into the current project in the spirit of the ‘WriMo — but we’ll see… In any event: for those of y’all out there rocking the pen and paper (or word processor or whatever) in ‘07: have fun hitting the 50k. It’s a fun trip.

1. See also: NaNoWriMo 2006 photo set.[↩]
2. Approximately.[↩]

Cross-posted from Synaptic Clog:

Writely Done or: How F_D Learned to Stop Worrying and Love NaNoWriMo

The tunes that got me through the month:

1. “Panic” The Smiths
2. “No Names feat. Black Debbie” Danger Doom
3. “We Will Become Silhouettes” The Shins
4. “How Soon Is Now?” The Smiths
5. “Banstyle/Sappy’s Curry” Underworld
6. “Lift Your Head up High (And Blow Your Brains Out)” Bloodhound Gang
7. “Sexual Healing” Hot Chip
8. “True Faith” New Order
9. “Aquarius” Boards Of Canada
10. “Seen What I Saw” 16 Horsepower
11. “Lucy” The Dining Rooms
12. “The Breathing Room” Psykosonik
13. “Whiskey” Voxtrot

Cover art and track listing are above; link (good for seven days) is here.

Writing location: kitchen table > The Chair > kitchen table > couch > The Chair…

…back on track. Got the daily average back up to 2,006/day. Still optimistic that I’ll hit 50k with time to spare. Quite the full day today too and I still managed this one:

Today’s Oblique Strategy: The most important thing is the most easily forgotten.

Today’s Word Count: 46,140 of 50,000 (92.28%)

So I decided to check out Flickr’s new “Camera Finder” feature that I’ve been hearing about this week. Mostly out of curiosity. What was all the fuss about? What kind of data does it show? What kind of discovery does it have? Anyway, seems that most of the popular cameras are all DSLRs (digital photo snobs!) but I drilled down a little bit to find my camera, and what should my wondering eyes see?

None other than our Stoli cat, of course. Rockin’ KetelOne for NaNoWriMo. Because our feline is literary like that… (Speaking of which: 44,492 and counting…)

Writing location: Once again, it’s all about The Chair…

Something cropped up at work and kept yrs truly late. Kind of draining. Kind of killed the momentum for the night. Ugh. In two days my average per day word count went from 2,107 to 1,979. A 6.07% decrease! I’m slipping… Perhaps I will get a surge tomorrow. Or in the middle of the night. But this is my narrowest red wedge yet:

Today’s Oblique Strategy: Trust the artist you are right now.

Today’s Word Count: 43,529 of 50,000 (87.06%)

Writing location: The Chair… 100%.

Welcome 802 Online readers.  (Thanks for the plug, Cathy!)

Family just landed in town for the Thanksgiving holiday.  Alas, hanging up the spurs a little early this evening:

Today’s Oblique Strategy: ghost echoes

Today’s Word Count: 42,960 of 50,000 (85.92%)

Writing locations: The Chair > kitchen table > living room couch…

Busy weekend on all fronts… Lost time Friday to travel. But that was an important trip. A good visit. And apparently, a productive one, as well.
The weekend was most decidedly not a wash. I will admit to losing some steam (this “Act II > Act III” shift was a bastard…) but the enthusiasm is still there. Just need to maintain that momentum.

And breaking the 40,000 word mark (just barely) tonight will certainly help with that:

Now to keep that pace up… Current projects still have me breaking 50k around the 24th. Let’s hope that the holiday doesn’t kill that momentum too much.

Today’s Oblique Strategy: Remove specifics and convert to ambiguities.

Today’s Word Count: 40,102 of 50,000 (80.20%)

(Driving to Island Pond; no time for writing tonight, alas.)

Writing location: Uh… Were we writing? (The Chair…)

…I’ve got nothing to say about tonight’s writing session.  Technically?  More than last night.  But quality-wise?  Utter shit.

Today’s Oblique Strategy: Ask your body.

Today’s Word Count: 35,842 of 50,000 (71.66%)

Writing location: The Chair…

Halfway through the month and yet more than two-thirds of the way through to the written goal.  I have a feeling that hitting 50k won’t be a problem.

We’ll see about John’s 60,000 word challenge though…

Brevity has seldom been my problem when it comes to the written word.

That said, here’s to hoping I can keep my momentum.  Tonight was certainly a questionable exercise.  Last night I went to bed feeling all pumped up and ready to write this next more/less climactic scene to finish out the “Act II arc” and yet it seemed such a struggle to make that happen.  1,392 words written?  Man…  Let’s not let me blow my pace.

We’ll start fresh tomorrow night.  Clean break from Act II.  Fortunately, we’re at a spot where such a clean break is possible.

Today’s Oblique Strategy: Go slowly, all the way around the outside.

Today’s Word Count: 34,298 of 50,000 (68.60%)