Ten Things I Should Be Doing in November But Won't Because of Nanowrimo: #1

I should be able to focus on something other than my Novel. This month, that will not be the case. Already, I am teeming with ideas and filling the pages of my Moleskine notebook. I'm stressing about whether to hand write or type the first draft. I have detailed plot maps, notes, research, and character sketches. Basically, I'm obsessing. So what? I love writing. I love stories. So who cares what I "should" be doing this month? I'm doing what I want to do, which maybe is exactly what I should be doing anyway.

Ten Things I Should Be Doing in November But Won't Because of Nanowrimo: #2

I really should fix my shed doors. Every time I try to open them, they fall off. It's a metal shed, so when I say, "...they fall off," what I mean is, they crash in a horrendous loud trash can falling off the Empire State building sort of way. It's really rather silly. Actually, I'm not even sure why I bother to put them back on. A curtain would be more durable and provide the same protection from the elements, but I should probably put the Shed Doors at the top of the "To Do" list for December.

Ten Things I Should Be Doing in November But Won't Because of Nanowrimo: #3

I should be taking more pictures. I love photography. I haven't spent nearly enough time with my new Nikon D300. It is so much camera. I need a solid month of daily photo outings to really get in touch with it. I hadn't realized, until recently, how much a different camera could affect an image. I have so much more control with the D300, but it is also easy to over-do it.
Photography, like writing, requires a lot of practice. So, I think that I'll Make December Naphotomo.

Ten Things I Should Be Doing in November But Won't Because of Nanowrimo: #4

Write Christmas cards. Wait a minute, I've never sent Christmas cards. Who has been playing with my list?

Ten Things I Should Be Doing in November But Won't Because of Nanowrimo: #5

Sleep. The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7-9 hours (Check here) for a healthy person. Let's do some math…7 hours for sleep plus 8 hours at work plus 1 hour for lunch plus 2 hours of commute time; that's 18. Add 1 hour for dinner, a ½ hour in the morning and evening for bathing, shaving, etc; that makes 20. But wait, there's more. Add in an hour for opening the mail, taking out the trash, feeding the cats; 21. Oh yeah, I almost forgot waiting in line at the grocery store, doing laundry, cleaning crayon off the walls (I have a two-year-old), paying the bills, finding lost keys. That has to add up to another hour or two.
Now it's ME time, what am I going to do with the whole hour I have left over? Write 1667 words…yeah right. I need a break, some time to vedge (I know that "vedge" is not really a word, but cut me some slack…I'm obviously delirious from not sleeping). How can I be creative without any time?

Ten Things I Should Be Doing in November But Won't Because of Nanowrimo: #6

Writing my life story is not easy. My friends are constantly telling me that I need to write down my life story. But, it is one of the most difficult things to do well. Why is that? I can imagine new worlds and adventures, but writing about things that have really happened is tough.

I think that it might be how closely tied to the story I am. It is difficult to make real events drive a storyline. As Mark Twain once said, "Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities, truth is not." So a lot of life experiences do not make sense in the story, they just distract from it.

Another thing that I have noticed is the constant internal battle between memory and the truth. Should I tell how things happened, or how I perceived them happening? I guess it depends, but I cannot decide.

Either way, I'll have to put off my life story until after Nano.

BTW, If you would like to hear a little about my life, please check out my other blog here.

Ten Things I Should Be Doing in November But Won't Because of Nanowrimo: #7

Cutting back on caffeine does not even seem possible. Cutting back on caffeine during Nanowrimo, forget about it.
So I will be enjoying many steaming cups of coffee goodness and a few cups of black tea too.

Ten Things I Should Be Doing in November But Won't Because of Nanowrimo: #8

Fishing. Now is the time when the fish in my area really start to bite. But alas, I will be typing. Then again, the lake nearest to my home (the one in the picture) is almost completely dry anyway. In fact, I'm not sure I could even get the boat in the water right now. I hope we get some rain soon. For some reason rain always puts me in a creative mood.

Ten Things I Should Be Doing in November But Won't Because of Nanowrimo: #9

I know a lot of people who don't sleep well during Nanowrimo because they trade sleep for writing time. That's not my issue. My feeble attempts at sleep during Nano are ruined by the characters that continue running around in my mind and generally making a racket. Then there is that moment, the burst, the feeling of falling that one gets just before they fade off into dream world. For some reason, my characters think that is a great time to put their arms up and scream like they are on some rollercoaster. It really does get annoying. Maybe they think that I'm throwing them some plot twist to send them on a new adventure, but seriously, shut up and let me sleep.

 

So, I won't be getting nearly enough sleep this November. You will have to forgive me when my plot fades into some rambling uninspired drivel…it's just part of the process. Anyway, I can sleep in December.

Ten Things I Should Be Doing in November But Won't Because of Nanowrimo: #10

#10 Playing Guitar

So many things need to fall by the wayside in November. Playing Guitar is one of them. I love to play music, but November is writing month. February is FAWM! I can start obsessing about music in January.

So in November, I'll put my lovely guitar in its case and take the time I usually spend with it to boost my word-count. The extra few minutes each day could yield an extra hundred words or so. This year, every little bit will help, because I'm trying for a double whammy in Nano; 100,000 words,

Space: The First Frontier

The blank white screen sits in front of me like some taunting beast of the netherworld. It challenges anyone to take a chance and face it. Sometimes a soul is brave enough to stare it down, but, most often, the would-be challenger finds other things to keep his or her attention. The world outside the window suddenly looks a lot more interesting. The bookshelf really needs to be reorganized. Was that one of the kids calling me? Boy, I sure am hungry. Oh, I forgot to pay that bill. I wonder who is on Facebook. I know, I'll try my journal instead. Where did I put it? Now where is my pen? No, not this one, I want the other one.

Okay, focus. Just write an opening line. "Bob sat silently, looking at a blank computer screen". Bob? Why Bob? Why not Charles or Maggie or Sue? Silently: I should steer away from empty adjectives. Does that sentence really need a comma?

 

Creative mind-space is difficult to find. We all have an inner editor. Maybe yours was born by domineering parents or over zealous teachers. Maybe it was created out of necessity during college. Maybe, like me, you cannot put a finger on where it started, but it seems to have always been with you; questioning your every creative move.

A good editor can make all the difference in a creative work. He/She can make sure that the ideas are communicated professionally, succinctly, and completely. But an editor needs to come into the process AFTER creation, not during.

This has taken me some time to believe. I used to think that I could finish a piece in one sitting. In fact, I often did. Those one-take pieces suffered on two fronts. First, they never reached their potential because of constant editing. Secondly, they were judged complete before they had time to breath.

I have become a proponent of the quick thought. Write it before you can read it. Read it later. If I can keep my hands typing or writing faster than my editor can read, things usually come out better. Sure, there is often a lot of fixing up after the fact, but the raw materials for a good piece are on paper. Once they are on paper, my editor can toy with them all as long as he likes.

In-process editing is what holds most people back from writing. They do not want to put something on the page until its right; maybe even perfect. But, how many artist have you watched paint? A painter doesn't start by painting a tree. He or she lays in some color, then shaped the tree out of the background. It takes a long time before the painting looks anything like a tree. We need to approach writing the same way.

Don't write a tree, lay in some background. Where is the tree, who put it there, what has it seen? Most importantly, start writing. Keep writing until something amazing finds its way onto the page, then, keep writing until you have to take a break from physical pain. Only then should you even look at what you have written.  

I guarantee that your creative mind-space will open up once you put your inner-editor in his/her proper place

Journaling: Pestiferous

A journal can be many things. For some, it is a place to pour out the heart. For others, it is a place to simply record the events of the day. For me, a journal has become pestiferous, infecting me with creativity.

My journaling is sporadic at best, but, I have been more engaged lately. I have been preparing to write a novel and had three very different ideas for the book. One idea is really a thinly veiled version of my last novel. One feels a little too ambitious for the moment. The third could be good, but it has some serious flaws. What to do? I grabbed my journal.

I took a few hours and wrote out all I knew about each story. I noted my feeling about the story in the borders. I began writing short bursts of scenes that had been floating around in my head. By the end, I found myself with a solid direction for the first half of my book. There are still plenty of flaws, but, many of the major decisions have already been made. When I sit down to begin writing on November 1, I'll be prepared and armed with a well-framed plot. Who could ask for more?

I tend to forget that my journal is really only for me. What I write in it does not have to be perfect, organized, or even make sense. My journal is simply a physical space for my thoughts. When I approach journaling like that, great pestiferous things happen.

Planning a Novel

I've never been a big fan of planning, especially when it comes to creative pursuits. But, the "you can't knock it until you've tried it," mentality has some weight; so, this year I am (gasp) planning my novel for Nanowrimo.
As you may have guessed, I'm a bit stubborn. While I decided to plan my novel, I put some very rigid guidelines in place to keep my story from being to...well...planned. I had to use some form of planning that gave me direction but left gaping holes to fill when the timing felt right. I stumbled around the forums, bookstores, and search engines for the perfect system. I'm not sure that a prefect planning system exists, but one popular one, The Snowflake Method, caught me by surprise.
This planning idea (it really is an idea more than a system) involves short exercises which build upon each other to flesh out a story synopsis. What I like most about it is the simplicity and creative freedom it provides.
I am into step 5 of the method and, so far, I am really enjoying the way my story is coming together. I am finding little bits of plot so early in the process. Things that usually took me a few chapters to figure out are already making their way into my synopsis. I'm looking forward to seeing if the first draft is as much fun as (this hurts to say) planning is turning out to be.

Need my own place

I just decided that I needed my own little place on the web to muse. So here it is.