Penning a Novel #7- It's all over

So as of the middle of last week, I have officially quit NaNoWriMo. I just couldn't make myself write any more. So the official ending count for me was just a little over 20,000 words. Yeah, pretty poor showing. However, I got done what I wanted to get done. I finally sat down and wrote out several children's books that I have been brainstorming for almost a year, since the character mysteriously made her way into my sketch book. So I am not going to be too down on myself.

I might do some more writing during the Thanksgiving holiday. But with family around, a Xbox and a Wii at my disposal, and more good food than I can stand, I don't see any writing going on. At least not on this particular project. I did however start on a script before NaNo and shelved for when this was done. So perhaps I should pull that out and see how far I get with it. It feels really promising.

I wish I had something more exciting to tell you. I wish I could say that "Hooray, I won for a second year in a row" but that is just not the case. I suppose the lesson here is when something isn't working, take a step away from it and see what the problem is. And know when to say when.

I guess I knew it was a monumental task to write 25 short stories in a month. Especially since the short story is not my cup of tea. I have never written anything that was a collection or had a parade of the same characters over and over. Most of my stories were stand alone. So doing something like this was a learning experience. I could get used to the short story format I suppose. But I do believe that I will always be a novelist at heart.

So curtains have closed for me this writing season. Hopefully I will be more successful next year.

Penning a Novel #6

Today is the halfway mark (well technically tomorrow, but my region is having the party today). So what have I gotten done up to this point? Well I have written out 5 stories so far. 4 of them are fully done and 1 I started last night at the Comix City Too write in. Let's talk about that write in, shall we?


First off, I twas very very productive for me. At the end of the night I was able to write over 3,000 words. So that made my very happy. Secondly, let's talk about the actual store. Oh, I feel like I have found my nerd center hang out spot. The comic shop I have ever been in was when I was in high school and that place had a cave sort of feeling. Not the most well lit and welcoming of places. This place was quite the opposite. It had the feel of a small private owned book store. But instead of rows and rows of books, it was rows and rows of comics.


Off to the side of the store was a sort of gaming area. It was simply long white tables with folding chairs, but from what I heard, it gets packed in there some nights. Last night, they were running a D&D campaign. I couldn't really tell what the campaign was about exactly, but all the maps, miniatures and dice made me remember the days when I used to do that with my Saturday nights. It also made me wonder if I would ever join a game again.


I heard that the night with the most activity is Friday night where they play their Magic games. Again a nerd tingle went down my spine. I have yet to open the decks that I was given at GMX. 


So yes, back to the actual writing. The way they did Word Wars was really interesting. You had to pick a certain colored popsicle stick from the Box of Doom and then write the amount of words that were on the stick. It was pretty interesting. I won my first word war, missed the second by 97 words, and the last one was a complete wash. I liked the fact that you had a word war against yourself and not against the other people sitting around the table.


The write in was really good fun and sharing the space with the D&D guys was an added bonus. In fact, I think I recognized one of them from GMX. The shop owner was really nice and let us stay there way past close. I'm sure he would have let us stay until the wee hours of the night (that D&D game didn't look like it was anywhere near over), but around 10, we decided it was time to pack up, head home and call it a day.


I liked being there with the others. I liked the way their minds worked. If I had more to time, I would have loved to hang out with them and picked their brains a bit more. For some reason, I always thing that the stories that I am writing are off beat or is not as exciting as what others are doing. Therefore no one would take interest in them. But the fact that these guys had an immediate answer to my "What type of ice cream do you think would be a little kid's favorite?" question with something that was really awesome, made me feel better somehow. 


I do not know if I am heading out to the Halfway done party today, but I do feel very re-energized and still striving to hit 50k by the end of the month.

Why is everyone angry?

To me it feels like the default attitude of the internet these days it to be angry and upset about something. And it can be a number topics, or not even a topic at all. Just mad to be mad. Angry with the world because negative is the new black. I don't really understand this at all.


Now I get ranting about something you are passionate about. I get blowing steam and venting because something/someone has angered, hurt or offended you. But to be in that state of mind constantly? That is what I don't understand. It is like some people out there just look for things to be unhappy and angry about.


Maybe I am just too laid back for my own good. Maybe I am too much of a pacifist and should take up arms over something and get mad about it. Whenever I find out what that something is, I will make sure to make angry blogs about it. Until then...anyone want a cookie? 

Penning a novel #5 - Writing is Brutal

Ah yes, the infamous second week blues of NaNoWriMo. Don't feel like writing anything. Think I should come up with a new idea. I just feel like I am clawing at a creative wall that I just can't get over. And now I am writing so sloppy. Of course that my inner editor who is just twisting herself into knots on how bad the writing is and I refuse to stop, go back and fix it.


There are so many gaps that I am leaving in the stories I am writing. It is like I only write the nucleus of the story just enough to get the main point of it and then move on to the next one. I am not even bothering with the opening or the ending any more. I just don't feel like being bothered with it, because all the beginnings are all the same. And that is not at accident, I sort of want it to be that way. Each story with start the exact same way, that way it doesn't matter if you read the books out order. None of the stories assume that you have been introduced to the characters before. But writing it over and over again, just feels redundant and boring.


I suppose I just have to push through until I hit that writing sweet spot where I am nothing but a typing machine and couldn't stop myself if I wanted to. I am just hoping that my laptop gets here really soon. My desktop is a great computer, but sitting in this corner just makes me feel sleepy. And being curled up on the couch on the couch while I write is just so much more comfortable.

Penning a novel #4

This is the post where I whine about how difficult the writing has become instead of doing some actual writing.I am about 3500 words behind at this point. I hoping that being home for a weekend that I don't have to study will help me catch up and maybe I can squeak in a buffer if I am at all lucky. Friday, I didn't write at all. Instead I played Guild Wars. Mindlessly killing low level things just made me feel good.

The main problem I am having is that I am getting thoroughly bored with these stories. They don't hold my attention at all. They are just way too simplistic and I feel like there needs to be more. But what more could I possibly add? The stories are short (maybe 3k a pop) begins with a problem and ends with a solution. Some of them might even have a moral, who knows. These are the type of stories that need to be floridly described and cleverly set up. These are short and are taken at face value.So about half way through each story, I find myself getting terribly bored and running off to do something else.

Not sure what to do in order to make it more entertaining for me to write.Stories like the ones I am writing need a good illustrator. If you just read the words, it would be okay, but there definitely needs to be some pictures if/when these stories are published.

So right now, I am going to fill my glass and see how much I can write before hitting the sack.

Anime Day and some other stuff.

Some might describe my life as being a bit hectic for the past couple of months. Because of that, I have not been able to keep up with the animes that I normally watch. So today I took some time out to play a bit of catch up.The one good thing about having a bit of a back log is that you get to watch episode after episode until you are tired of watching. When you are all caught up, you can only watch one episode and then you have to wait an entire week before the next one comes out.


For anyone curious, my main animes are Bleach and Naruto. Second string is One Piece and Fairy Tail. I would watch way more, but I don't have time for it.However, I am making a list of what to watch when I go on vacation. Will I get around to it? I have no idea.


I was introduced to www.dafont.com today. While I have been to font sites like this before, there were some pretty ones on this site. I snagged a few that I thought looked pretty. I just might be typing those Christmas cards this year that I was supposed to be doing calligraphy for by hand. Some of those calligraphy fonts were really really nice.


I have a Psychiatry mid-term tomorrow. (Yeah I know, finally talking about some med school stuff). I am feeling pretty good about it. And I like the fact that it is in the afternoon. I'm telling you that 8 am ish is for the birds. So I am going to finish up with my study, cross my fingers and pray everything goes well.


Small noveling tidbit. I'm behind by a day. I am hoping to make it up over the weekend. We will see.I read a small piece of my stories to my mom and sister. They seemed to be entertained. They actually wanted to hear the whole story. I suppose that is good sign. It definitely made me feel better about the direction of my writing so far. 

Penning a Novel #3

Okay, so this writing thing is proving to be a bit harder than I had expected. Last year the writing was a bit easier starting off. I'm hoping that this just means I haven't settled into my groove yet.


One of the things that is causing a bit of problem is that I can't write in my tried and true writing spot. Instead I have to write on my desktop, and right now, this area of my house is not that conducive to creativity. And until I get a laptop, I won't be able to go to any write ins either. 


I will be doing the piecemeal writing method this year. There are parts of the story that are pretty solidly hammered out in my head. However, the transition getting those parts aren't all there as of yet.I figure that I will fill those in once I have all the scenes that are set in stone written down.


Writing a child's story is so much different because I feel like my vocabulary has to be extremely watered down. I don't want the characters to sound older than they actually are.I guess the thing that I am fighting in my head is the fact that the story sounds so childish. I mean, in this instance it is a good thing. I am just not used to it.I literally read my story with the voice of a elementary school teacher in my head.


I have come to a terrible realization though. I am close the finishing the first story and am only 1800 words in.If each story is only 2000 words, then I have to write 25 stories in order to make to 50,000. This is a far cry from the " 5 stories at 10,000 words" that I had planned at first. I can't panic about that now, however. I just have to keep writing and see what comes of it.