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?

RETREAT!

Have you ever noticed how much work you can get done on your book simply by thinking about it? I can go through the motions here at Ye Ole Day Job, but approximately 95% of the time, I'm living in my book. Trying to unravel new plot threads. Spicing up characters with quirks. Finding ways to make my setting more "real." I'm always thinking about my story.

And I love it.

Anyway. What's going on this weekend? Any big plans? (You realize I ask because it's a polite way for me to tell you about my upcoming weekend, right?)

My writing group is getting together Sunday morning and heading north to a quiet retreat center for the day/night. We each have high hopes of putting a lot of necessary work into our books. I have new scenes to write and old ones to move around. I have more to do than is possible to accomplish in 24 hours.

I'm excited--SUPER excited--about this quick retreat. But part of me is nervous. Two people in our group are social. They're lovely people, but if one starts to talk, then the other one does, and the next thing you know, an hour is gone and I haven't been able to write a thing.

So this means I'm going to have to protect my time. The retreat center is HUGE. I will have my own room. And headphones. If I'm not getting stuff done because of the chatter, I will simply walk away. No harm, no foul. I won't ask them to stop, I will simply relocate. I'm paying for this time with my own money and my own vacation day on Monday. I do not want to get home and feel like it wasn't worth either one.

No, really: What's going on this weekend? Anyone writing? Anyone want to pull my weeds? Wait, no, that's not right. Big plans?

What can you do in 3 weeks?

Three weeks. 21 days.

What could you get done in 3 weeks if you set your mind to it?

Just about anything, right? I hope so, because that's exactly what I'm up against.

In order to use my 2011 NaNo CreateSpace code for 5 free proof copies, I have exactly three weeks to polish my book and send it in. Truth be told? 21 days is generous. My self-imposed deadline is Tuesday, June 26th, so three weeks minus one day.

But what if I can't do it? Do I draw the line in the sand and say, "Self, if you're not at Point X by Date Y, hang it up"?

In order to give myself the best possible chance of success, I am allowing myself some luxuries this month. In the month of June, it is okay to:

• Run the dishwasher more than once a week. If lil' ol me fills it up, this means I've been bringing my lunches and making my dinners = more money left over. Win-win.
• Skip trips to the gym. Something has to give.
• A 2-mile walk with the dog is enough exercise. There's a book to polish!
• Go 10-12 days between mowing the lawn. Yes, the neighbors do theirs every 7-8, but that's fine. I'm writing.
• Laundry. Meh. Not sure why I do it so often anyway.
• Say no to friends. Thankfully, they all know this deadline is upon me, so they're cool.

Okay, so I have it all laid out and you're likely thinking, "There's no WAY you'll fail!" Alas, I haven't told you the bad parts. 

I rewrote my story outline last night. It's tighter and cleaner and has less "fluff" than before, but it means I have a lot to do. And I'm determined to figure out how to use Photoshop or InDesign to make my cover (I'm proficient enough to screw things up--should be NO problem!) instead of using the CreateSpace cover generator. Finally, in a fit of insanity, I decided to fly out to see a friend in two weeks. He's helped with one of my settings and has offered to play tour guide so I can see it first hand. While I feel this is amazing timing and really quite fortunate, I just HAD to go schedule a 4-day trip in the middle of these sacred three weeks, didn't I...

What was I thinking?! 

Dear Insecure Writers Support Group: I'm worried that I'm going to put all this time and effort, and now money and vacation time, into a project that A) won't come together by the deadline, or B) will sit on my shelf for the rest of eternity because the book isn't "sellable." As a result, I won't be a writer, but instead, a pretender. In debt.

Commence insecurity-induced freak out. 

Out of the Office

I'm taking a blogging break for a whole week! 

I'm going to be out of town.

In Vegas.

With other writers.

Unsupervised.

Yeah, I'm going to get TONS done. I can see it already.

I'll update if I have any good stories or pics to share.

Names might have to be changed.

Reputations might need to be protected.

(Including mine.)

You understand, right?

See you on the flip side!

(Compliments to the lovely Sommer Leigh for the artwork!)

Write What You NaNo: Calm Before The Storm

First, Happy Halloween! Second, welcome to the last week of the Write What You NaNo BlogParty! This week, I am excited to introduce another four amazing guest bloggers appearing Tuesday through Friday: Margo Berendsen, Steph Sinkhorn, Sommer Leigh, and Alex J. Cavanaugh. I hope you come back to check out their posts!

Can you feel it? There's a slight disturbance in the air, a low pressure system sweeping across the globe. It's the calm before the storm. The NaNoWriMo storm. (dun dun DUN!)

Sorry for the cheesy dramatics, but I can't control myself. The panic is setting in and I'm stressing out. I got zero accomplished on my NaNo To Do list this weekend, so yeah... panic.

In a nutshell, here's how my weekend went: My neighbor stopped by on Saturday asking if I needed help fixing something on my house. I knew I needed help and hiring a roofer would cost over a thousand dollars. So, I accepted the offer.

Alas, nothing goes as smoothly as anticipated, so our afternoon project turned into a two-day ordeal. Two days of me watching him, trying to help even though it was a one person job. I realized this was how my friends and family must feel during NaNo. They stand there, watching from afar, cheering me on, offering support, but not really knowing what else to do or say while I type as fast as my fingers can go.

I was grateful for my neighbor's help so I did what my mom would do: I baked him a banana bread. Actually, I baked two. One for him and one for me. Suddenly, this week and month ahead didn't look so bad. I have an army of friends and family who are excited to watch me embark on this journey. My home project is done. I have a vacation coming up in nine days. And I have a banana bread to enjoy while I type.

So bring it on, NaNo. Give me your best shot. I'm as ready as I'll ever be.


(Programming note: So yeah, NaNo's here. After this week's blogparty ends, my blog posting schedule will be reduced as I try to juggle the blog, my story, my trip to Ireland, my mom's two week visit, and Thanksgiving. As soon as I have it figured out, you will be the first to know. Thanks in advance for your patience!)

19 more days!

Holy moses... 19 more days until NaNo!

I've been so busy shopping planning for my IRE trip that my book outline has been lovingly placed on the back burner. And that doesn't bode well for this plotter. I need to have a better idea of what is going to happen and when so I can add in the proper clues and hints and foreshadowing where needed.

(Sidenote: I just love how I made that sound like I've perfected the art of foreshadowing... HA!)

I mentioned in a previous blog that I was trying to do this year's NaNo with Scrivener. So far, that's been working. Last week, I sat down with index cards to order the scenes I've been flirting with. I listed the scene in one sentence and at the bottom of the card I wrote SETS UP: xyz, where I listed what each scene or information revealed.

I then sat down with the cards and laid them out on my desk in a somewhat logical order. A large part of me wanted to pull up a Word doc and begin the outline process there, but I remembered Scrivener had a feature specifically for the index card process called the Cork Board.

I typed up all the cards I had, using the colored tacks to designate if the cards were points of conflict, scene ideas, or questions to consider, first.

Once I got all my cards entered, I kept making new ones. Adding cards was a breeze and I was soon on a roll. I especially enjoyed having a color (green, I think) specifically for questions that I would need to answer or situations I would need to introduce before the next plot point. And if something needed to move? No problem, I simply dragged the card to its new spot in the story.

Scrivener is pretty easy to use, but I am by no means a pro. I'm still fairly confident that I'm only using about 30% of its power, but each time I use it I become more comfortable. 

Next on the to do list? First, find an ending that I'm happy with (though I know I'll likely change it later). Then I need to do some real character development. I might interview them. I might just fill out questionnaires about them. Or I may mine through Margo's now dark Urbanpsychopomp blog or the ever-informative Wicked & Tricksy blog for past posts on how plot your novel before you write it. Like this one. Margo, FTW!

A is for announcements. And Anti-Blah.

If you're reading this, that means I successfully posted my very first ever blog post. Cue the hallelujah chorus.

Here's the deal. I'm two days late in participating, but I am participating in the April A to Z blog challenge. More info on the challenge can be found here.

Without further ado, I present my first blog: A is for Announcements. And Anti-Blah.

The announcement part has been taken care of. I have a blog. I hope to update it regularly enough with enough quality information that you feel compelled to follow me. This blog will primarily revolve around my writing adventures, but I'm also training for a half marathon and have half-baked plans to travel some more. Don't be alarmed if either of those topics pop up on this page from time to time.

A is also for Anti-Blah. If you don't know what I mean, that's okay. I'm going to be a blogging dolt for a moment and reference something that only a small number of people will understand.

I'm part of a vicious girl gang (and by vicious, I mean terribly supporting and wonderful and by gang I mean group) and without their encouragement, I'm not sure this blog, or my writing "career" would be here. So kudos to my AB friends.

Take a moment and thank your friends for being the cool cats that they are. I'm fortunate to have some great ones.

Off to look at B...