NaNo 2012--who's in?

Hey gang, I hate to be the bearer of slightly panic-inducing news, but National Novel Writing Month 2012 begins in exactly seven weeks from yesterday. Are you ready to rock? Or are you still on the fence?

Last year, I featured two weeks of guest bloggers who participated in NaNoWriMo. I asked them to share their stories and experiences in a series I named "Write What You NaNo." You can find each entry here. Personally, I think it should be required reading for all NaNoers, but maybe I'm biased.

Anyway, where was I?

Oh, yeah. NaNo 2012. Coming soon to an internet near you... (cue movie announcer voice)

Last year's image. Expect a lot of the same,
but with a different year, for this years image

I'm ready. Ish. Ready-ish. I think. I mean, my story's going to be a massive pile of poo come Dec 1, but I'm okay with that. My goals for this year are simple:

1. Win.
2. Finish the story.

See, I've won every year, even last year when I went to Ireland for 10 days in the middle of the month and didn't write a single word. Winning I can do. Finishing the story, though? That's where I struggle. I usually quit the minute I hit the elusive 50K mark, leaving my characters and my story in limbo until I dare re-open the file after the New Year.

How about you--are you participating? What's your goal?

How do you write?

(Remember my previous post where I said I was going to clear my Google Reader feed and start over? Yeah, it didn't happen. My guilt got the best of me and I've skimmed it down to 9. NINE UNREAD POSTS, people. I just high-fived myself...)

I'm working on an outline for a story that I hope will be my 2012 NaNoWriMo. If I can figure out the point, I'll be in business. See, I have all the other stuff. The location, the plot, the turning points, character development, etc. But what I'm missing is the Big Why. As in, why does all of the stuff leading up to this point matter?

Working on this outline got me thinking about where I start and end chapters. In my previous WIPs, I would follow the outline, but my notes weren't so detailed that I knew exactly where one chapter ended and another began.

When it came time to work on edits, I was in trouble. I usually added a new chapter (or four) in the beginning, which left me screwed with my chapters throughout the rest of the document.

So how do you write? Do you write in actual numbered chapters? Or do you use hard returns and come back to it later? Or are you one of those fancy writers who have some formatting thing fired up where it automatically numbers the chapters? If you have that, please let me know what program you're using!

Welcome back!

I figure if the local coffee shop chains have unveiled their pumpkin flavored deliciousness, then it's high time I get back to into the swing of things.

But first, a confession...

I'm sorry. I didn't ever want it to get to this, but I don't know any other way out.

I'm going to hit the dreaded "Mark All as Read" button on my Google Reader. I know, I know. You all wrote BRILLIANT blogs in August. I'm sure of it. But at last check, it was over 1000 unread blog posts. It got to the point where I had so many to read and I was feeling like SUCH a fraud for not reading, that I stopped blogging as a result. Cuz that makes sense--just sticking your head in the sand in hopes that it all goes away...

So, I'm confessing my sin and coming clean. And I'm bringing my new, down-to-zero Google Reader with me.

Have you ever felt so behind in something that you didn't know how to get out? Have you ever cleared your Google Reader and started over?

OMG, I've been MIA...

Okay, so I haven't really been missing, just living away from my computer.

"But Trish!" you exclaim. "That sounds so great!" Um, no. Not quite. You see, time away from computer has a direct correlation to both an increase in dollars spent and a decrease in words composed.

I've been traveling like a crazy lady and have read some excellent books. But I've also been spending money, not working out, and worst of all, not really writing. So much for that "Get my query ready by WriteOnCon" goal I had for this year. I'm so bummed about this. I totally failed myself.

But all that is behind me now. It's August. My July "Month of Insanity" is behind me, and I'm looking ahead. I might not be back to a 2-3 post/week schedule, but I'm close.

What I've been doing on my summer vacation? Here you go:
singing
dancing
flying
helping
reading
dating
revising
organizing
cleaning
shopping
spending
eating
drinking
trying
laughing
dreaming
and most importantly,
LIVING.

See you all soon.
xoxo