Sarah, this is ALL your fault!

I blame Sarah Ahiers. I'd link to her blog like a good blogging friend, but seeing as it took 20 minutes and a random Act of Congress to remember how to log back in to my Blogger account, I'm rapidly running out of time.

Bah, I'm lame. Here's Sarah. You already know her, though.

Anyway, this isn't supposed to be about Sarah (no offense, dear friend!), but more about how I'm blaming her for something wild and crazy.

We went out to lunch two Sundays ago and were talking about finding the time to write, read, or just not work, which has been tough since starting my not-so-new job last November. I decided to try something ridiculous and I set my alarm for 5:15 am the next day. And then I did it the next day, and the day after that, and kept going until I strung together an entire week.

And then I did it again today. MADNESS, I TELL YOU!
By setting my alarm at this ungodly hour, I can get out of bed by 5:50 (and yes, it takes me that long to even hear the music. I've NEVER claimed to be a morning person but rather, a professional sleeper), and either out for a run or down at the dining room table with my writing stuff all ready to go, by 6am.

Last week, I ran 3 mi on Monday and 4 on Wednesday. But Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday? Yeah, I wrote. And it was magical. It wasn't pretty and technically, I haven't really written anything, but I'm outlining, brainstorming, and getting the gears moving again, which is a good thing.

And it's about time.

Stay tuned. I might even do something totally insane, like blog more than once a quarter.
Ahiers, this is all your fault...

IWSG: March edition

It's very simple, this month's insecurity:

If I've been gone so long, can I return?
If I take a time-out, can I come back?
Will I be welcomed?
Probably. Likely.
But still, the fear and insecurity have kept me away.

How silly is that?

Calm before the storm?

Is it poor form to make storm-related double entendres yet? Maybe. Possibly.
Whatever. I'm sticking with it.

(All jokes aside though, to all my east coast people--PLEASE, be safe. I'm totally land-locked and find myself continually refreshing CNN, fascinated by how powerful Mother Nature can be.)

On to my post...

It's that time of the year, my friends. That time when everyone's Twitter feed is besieged with random numbers and people are talking about "nano" and you may or may not know what the hell they're talking about.

Who am I kidding? I know you guys who read my blog. You all know NaNo. Heck, you're probably doing it too this year.

National Novel Writing Month starts on Thursday.
My new big pimpin' job* starts on Wednesday.

What's that? A new job, you ask? Exciting, right? I got a new job as an analyst (cue gigglesnorts at such a technical sounding job) and start on Wednesday. So much for all that free time during my work day that got me through the past three NaNo years...

So, this 30-day insanity is right around the corner. I've decided to do a full re-write of my 2010 NaNo. I made this decision about a week ago. I'm really good at last minute stuff.

Since deciding on my story, I created a much more manageable outline and have cut some plot lines that were simply too confusing. I feel like I'm possibly copping out by doing that, but sometimes, you just have to make your story the easiest to understand. The K.I.S.S. motif and all that jazz.

But right now, I'm feeling a touch nervous. It's probably 90% due to starting a new job and all the craziness that comes with a big change. I have to admit that I'm nervous about writing this story though.  Have I done enough planning? Is my outline solid? Are my characters legit? I'm second guessing everything, but I think I do this every year.

So, I'm going on faith. I know how to hit 50K. Heck, I know how to hit 50K before Thanksgiving. I'll be okay. I know this story SO well. I can do this.

Tonight I will read over my outline and make any last minute additions/changes. And then I'm going to start my new job on Halloween. And the day after that?

That day, I shall write.

(*With my first fancy paycheck, I'm buying Jay-Z's greatest hits. You heard it here first, folks.)

Decisions, decisions

Hi, world. A wild and crazy idea is going through my head right now and I'd love to hear your thoughts (if you have time).

I enjoy writing, but I never really knew which genre to call "home". My 2009 NaNo was fantasy YA (though one reader thought it was MG), 2010 was MG, and 2011 was futuristic YA.

Now, plotting for 2012, I'm looking at a thriller YA. I even have 30+ pages of hand written notes, outlines, setting research, and an overall plan in place.

So, it sounds like I'm more of a YA writer, no?

But there's this Middle Grade story from 2010 (I talked about it here last week) that won't let go. I look at it and feel 66% "Man, I love this story so much!" and 33% "Holy literary nightmare, this needs SO much work. Impossible!"

I think I'm experiencing a writerly personality conflict. I don't know where I belong. I enjoy the innocence of MG but still like the ability to make my MC a touch older, bringing with them slightly older experiences. I don't mean sex, drugs, and rock n' roll, but more like the believability of my MC running around a city on their own. It's more plausible in YA than in MG.

I read an agent blog the other day who was essentially BEGGING for MG books. It lit a fire to return to my MG story and give it an honest shot.

I have approximately two weeks to decide which book to write for this year's NaNo: the YA thriller I've been outlining, or dramatically shifting gears and re-writing my 2010 MG, fixing the holes/issues. On the other hand, I don't want to re-write the story just because some "dream agent" said they wanted MG.

I guess I need to do some soul-searching. I don't know how to fix all that needs fixing in my MG and that fear is holding me back.

Anyone? Bueller? How have you handled a re-write, especially if you weren't 100% sure of what needed to be fixed and/or re-written?