It's a lack of time management that causes these things to happen.

Dear Secret Blogiary,

I haven’t been as attentive as I would have liked and truly – though I am sure you have heard this before – it isn’t you, it’s me. I have been, well, occupied with going crazy. November through January is always a rough time for me in terms of blogging.

First, of course, there is NaNoWriMo, which, by the way I won for the second year in a row. I hated the end result, but I finished and while I think the story has a good premise, I do not think I executed it well. Honestly, now that I have two months between us, I can tell you that the story was possibly some of the worst written drivel I have ever written. Which, although harsh, is true and good, because without being able to recognize the bad in what I write, how will I ever improve?

NaNo also lead Mister W and I on some very long and deep conversations about the meaning of my life and where I want it to go. Clearly, if you recall, I have been displeased… Hell, downright miserable with my job and Mister W has been nothing but encouraging me to follow my dream of writing full time. So I have been playing with story ideas and characters…we’ll see what happens in the coming months.

NaNoWriMo gave way to the holiday season when I am in my personal happy place. I love the holiday season. I take pleasure in everything: songs, food, gifts. And this year I threw myself into making quite a number of handmade gifts, namely crochet and food items. Between baking and wrapping, trimming and drinking my spiked eggnog, I didn’t have much time at all to think of you. I lurked on a few other sites like an innocent peeping Tom, but I didn’t have much to say, so I kept everything hush-hush.

December was also a time for family and I had a houseful. Again, I was in my element because I take great pleasure in entertaining and making people feel welcome, happy and pampered.

Big Sis and Little Sis took much of my time as well, not that I am complaining. Every moment spent with the Girls is good. Board games, Munchkin, new Wii games and scooters kept us busy.

Crafting has also been a big distracter! I got a loom for Christmas so I have been spending time learning how to weave! So fun! With the little taste I got from the table top loom I am eager to move on to a larger floor loom and then…Who knows!? Maybe a spinning wheel and a few alpacas!



My Beka Loom

My crochet has also brought in a bit of money. After a few of my colleagues saw a scarf and hat I made for myself, I received a few requests for scarves, hats and baby blankets. As in people want to give me money to make something for them. Give me money to do something I love to do!! What is that saying? You know, about doing something you love? Well, let me tell you, Mister W is keen on that idea. As much as he is encouraging me to write, he is also pushing me to sell my skills. He doesn’t even blink anymore when I bring home a new skein of yarn!

So that’s what I have been up to. Now it is a new year. My inkwell is full and I have a brand new sheet of ecru parchment, shiny and crisp just waiting to absorb my thoughts and experiences, my joy and my sadness.

NaNoWriMo Update

Dear Secret Blogiary,

This will be my last NaNoWriMo update for 2010.

I AM A WINNER!!!

After a great struggle in the last week, I managed to stumble over the 50k mark last night. From the get go this year’s NaNo was a struggle. I did not plot and plan as much as I have in previous years and I feel that my story certainly shows the effects of inefficient planning. With a critics eye I can honestly say that my characters were one dimensional, flat and static; not a single one of them grew or developed. The plot, weak though it was, did not drive the story and I spent a good twenty thousand words meandering throughout a very stagnant middle.

Also, I did not end the story. I just stopped writing in the middle of a fight scene between my main character and her sister. I had had enough so I walked. All of my investment, my time and effort, I just walked away and that was okay, because really, I do not think that the story would go very far to be a viable polished piece.

Please note my use of polished rather than published. Over the month, I have heard a number of critics slam NaNoWriMo as, and I am paraphrasing here, stupid, hack work, fan-fic crap. These critics who are “published” writers seem to think that NaNo detracts from the written word and they miss all the good that NaNo has done: the surge of interest in writing, the donations to libraries, the connections that the WriMos make with others. All this done in the name of literary abandon!

Do these critics honestly believe that just because a writer writes fast, produces quantity that we expect to be published on December 1? That seems to be the case, but I can tell in all honesty, that most of the WriMos I have encountered are intelligent, word wise people who know that what ever they produce in November is a first draft. It will need polishing, tightening and sometimes, yes, we toss the whole thing out, as I plan on doing.

Now, someday, I hope to be published. Someday, I hope that I have a story that people are moved by. But until that happens, I will continue to participate in NaNoWriMo because the way to improve my writing is through writing. And that is what the critics should focus on. People are writing! Words flowing from the mind through the fingertips so fast the sometimes the word processor can’t keep up with you!

That’s writing, uninhibited by rules and structure, (okay…we all still follow rules and structure, but still). Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in six meager weeks. SIX!! And it was an instant success when it was published. Walt Whitman kept reworking and republishing Leaves of Grass until he died. So who is to say how long a work of genius should take? I’ve seen romance writers publish four novels in a single year. Stephan King publishes one every year or so.

NaNo comes around once a year; a crazy month long adventure that is entertaining, exciting and enjoyable. It is a break from my “regular” writing: blogs, short stories, novellas and yes, novels. I may not be a published writer, but I am still a writer because, my friends, I have stories to tell that are just about near to exploding out of my head!

I write because I love words.

I write because I have stories to tell.

I write because it is who I am.

NaNoWriMo Update

Dear Secret Blogiary,

What I should be doing is sleeping, but what I am really doing is working on my NaNo novel to try to up my word count so that when my family arrives on my doorstep tomorrow and demands I entertain them while they wait for my amazing Thanksgiving Day Feast Extravaganza!

So...

No Tuesday Bananagrams today instead bask in the awesomeness that is my word count:

40162!

Yeah. Yeah. I know some are already done. But I am beyond pleased with my progress.

Have a Great Thanksgiving All!!

NaNoWriMo Update

Dear Secret Blogiary,

Oh how those plot monkeys have been working!

I am pleased to announce that the first week has gone exceedingly well! My word count is 15333 as of tonight and that is with me being a total bum over the weekend wasting time with silly things like laundry and grocery shopping and playing D&D.

If my word count keeps it up, I think I will be way ahead of the game and get a great enough word count cushion that I might even be able to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with the family. This would be especially helpful as I am apparently the one who is going to cook the Thanksgiving dinner...

...Who am I kidding?

I am always the one to cook!

30 Days. 50K. And I still don't have a plot?

Dear Secret Blogiary,

I am in serious trouble! November 1st is almost here and I am still without a solid plot! Heck, I'd settle for a wobbly plot at this point!

Tomorrow night, after the Tricks and Treats, I will be joining fellow Nano-ers in an Night-Owl kick-off writing session at a local 24 hour coffee house and I am terrified that midnight will roll around and I'll sit and stare at blank screen for hours.

But I was a winner last year and I will be a winner this year! I don't know how I'll do it, but those plot monkeys better be dropping by to help me out. This year I vow that not only will I win, but I will actually finish the whole story and not just stop because I hit 50K

All I know is: don't expect too much from me for the next 31 days.

To all who are participating in NaNo this year: Good luck and I'll see you on the other side of November.

Blogtoberfest Kick Off!

Dear Secret Blogiary,

It is almost that time of year again. You know, when would be writers crawl out from what ever manuscript they were feverously working on, and prepare themselves for the glorious madness that is NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month. Thirty days of faced-paced furious typing to reach the all powerful 50,000 word count.

Working in devoted frenzy, I managed last year to finally hit that word goal. I am determined to do so again this year too. In fact, I can guarantee that the stakes are much higher this year.

It isn’t just hitting a word goal this year; it is about completing an entire manuscript. I’ve mentioned the trouble I am having at work and how Mister W is all for me quitting. Well, we’ve decided that I am in fact going to quit. We are planning for me to tender my resignation on December 1 with my actual end date as the 31st. This date allows us to settle any accounts and debts as well as start working with a real estate attorney to gracefully walk away from the house.

So this year, NaNo is vitally important. If ever I am to hack it as a writer, now is the time I need to start proving it.

Writing takes time and practice and unfortunately, when things get crazy-busy, daily writing is the first thing that I sacrifice to eke extra time from the day. As such it is not often that I post a blog the same day I type it, sometimes it takes a day or two to get it out, proofread and posted. But in order for me to get back in my good writing habits, I am turning October into BlogtoberFest! Original, right?

For 31 autumn days, I will blog daily, maybe even posting, not once but twice a day. I will blog about my life as I have been doing, but also, I intend to post some creative writing pieces as well. I will be using “A Writer’s Book of Days” by Judy Reeves to help inspire some of my writing exercises and when I do I will post the prompt along with my writing.

NaNoWriMo Countdown is ON!!

Writer's Block of Doom (when one has too many stories and a massive inability to focus on one of them)

Dear Secret Blogiary,

NaNoWriMo is almost upon me and I am struggling to find a direction. I have two new story ideas that I have been toying with the past couple of weeks and I am equally enthralled with both.

The first is a romance spoof that pokes fun at the ridiculous vampire and werewolf supernatural romances*, the second is my favorite genre, post-apocalyptic.

I also have an older epic fantasy story that has been sorely neglected for a number of years and just this past spring and early summer, I dug up the papers, files and notes and read through them all.

The easiest and least time consuming one would be to go with the older story. I know the characters, the setting, and the plot. Some of the story has been written but for NaNo purposes I would ignore the previously written work and only count the new.

There is something to be said about the familiar. The characters are comfortable, I know them and there reactions. They deserve the attention quite honestly. The only hurdle that I would need to overcome is that the older story was co-created. My BFF and I worked for a good two years at the plot and the background – epics do indeed require a good bit of planning.

We are still BFF’s but she isn’t stateside currently and I feel sort of guilty working on a project that we created. Granted, she has given the go-ahead to do so before, but part of the fun of the story was that she was involved and we could bounce ideas back and forth like a rabid game of ping pong.

The romance I am considering has the characters established and a basic plot outlined. I know what I want to accomplish and where I want to end, but I’m not as passionate as I once was about it. And at this point I use “romance” very loosely. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that my idea leans more to the satirical than the romance.

The post-apocalyptic story is a newer idea that I got after watching one too many late night History Channel shows. I have a main character and a title. Not much else. For the purposes of NaNo, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, having an open concept will allow me more freedom to incorporate crazy dares and more the story the way the character needs it to go. And as it is my favorite genre, I am leaning towards it.

So, Secret Blogiary, which should I choose?


*I’ll save my rant about Twilight, et al., for another post.