Wow.. could that be a creepier title?? I did some sprints this morning & got the final scene of my novel finished, and as I thought it might, it needs an epilogue. I thought I'd finish it this morning, but then once I started the epilogue, I realized part of my cast needed renamed & name hunting always takes a while, so it'll be tonight I think.
It's kind of an odd thing though...finishing my first novel. For one, it'll mean having an actual finished piece all my own, even if it is in crazy, sloppy, rough draft form. And another is the notion of 'my first novel', as if there'll be others. That's kind of a new mindset for me, but I like it. For now though, I must sleep.
I know 'you're going to bed in the middle of the day??' I work nights. Deal :-P.
And after the epilogue is complete tonight, I'm rereading my '03 NaNo so I can start 'FiMoing it tomorrow(yes Cheri, I'm doing it). I'm getting quite a little schedule of projects lined up....again, new & a bit odd, but I like it.
Goodnight Bloggerland, I might check in this evening.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Life After NaNo
So here it is a few days into the offseason & my rushed haze from November is finally starting to fade. Can you have a writing hangover, do you think? I still have to finish the last half of the final scene of my novel, it should only be a couple thousand words, but somehow I just can't get myself to do it. I'm not certain if it's just with the hullabaloo of NaNo officially over that I'll slide back into my usual slacker ways, or if it's that then it'll be officially, completely over.
Maybe it's because I've read a few books I really liked....until they totally fell on their face at the ending. I do not wanna be that book.
I'm looking for some after NaNo writing to do, besides shiny new game things obviously. I've gotten on request that I join up on NaNoFiMo (finishing month), which I've given some thought to. Their stipulations are putting 30k on an unfinished piece. And I was planning to reopen my first NaNo & try finishing it off as this newest one & I took a bit of a breather before rewrites. Maybe I'll try that there, rather than after Christmas as I'd originally thought. I've signed up on a couple writing forums as well & am considering joining a critique group.
Anyway, just a little something to let you know I'm still out there. Oh, welcomes go out to Cheri, my region's illustrious ML & Salambander, my newest blog followers. Salambander, you have a gorgeous blog, really. Very clever & clean with a cool background! *applauds*
Maybe it's because I've read a few books I really liked....until they totally fell on their face at the ending. I do not wanna be that book.
I'm looking for some after NaNo writing to do, besides shiny new game things obviously. I've gotten on request that I join up on NaNoFiMo (finishing month), which I've given some thought to. Their stipulations are putting 30k on an unfinished piece. And I was planning to reopen my first NaNo & try finishing it off as this newest one & I took a bit of a breather before rewrites. Maybe I'll try that there, rather than after Christmas as I'd originally thought. I've signed up on a couple writing forums as well & am considering joining a critique group.
Anyway, just a little something to let you know I'm still out there. Oh, welcomes go out to Cheri, my region's illustrious ML & Salambander, my newest blog followers. Salambander, you have a gorgeous blog, really. Very clever & clean with a cool background! *applauds*
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Evolution
As I may have mentioned once, or about 15 times lol, I write on role playing games. Well, my longest running & favorite is an X-Men game, where I play 3 chars as well as Mod. I started writing in RPGs &, if you can find a good one, they're a great place to write. You can create an original char to play in a world you love, sometimes nab a canon char you've always liked reading & write them as their own or even start a communal writing experience in a world entirely your own. I like it because, unlike the solitary venture of novel writing, it's communal. There's back & forth that is not only fun & challenging, but can spark some really great ideas. What's more, a lot of games go on for quite some time so you get a chance to see your char(s) grow & evolve.
My game has just revamped & is about to start up a whole new chapter in the story. The plot is about to take a twist that'll take things in a new direction & now is a great time to step into the world. Yes kids, that's right, this is the obligatory Game Plug Post. So, without further ado, I give you Graymalkin:
Everything evolves; species, people, dreams. Professor Charles Xavier dreamed of a world where humans & mutants could peacefully coexist. But, the world had other intentions & Xavier's dream had to change. After the sudden revelation of the true nature of his school to the public Xavier & his X-Men had to evolve. They'd been thrust into the spotlight & life would never be the same.
Now the next era dawns with a new home in San Fransisco. The Graymalkin Foundation has become the new training ground of the X-Men. Scott Summers leads the Foundation in teaching a new generation of mutants about their powers, training a new crop of heroes & in furthering Xavier's dream of peaceful co-existence.
Come join us at the Graymalkin Foundation for new challenges & new adventures. Help us forge a new chapter in the X-Men mythos.
Rules | Available Characters | Blank Applications | Billboard
Monday, December 1, 2008
Thank God It's Over!
On on hand, NaNo is over, but on the other, I hope this is just the beginning. First a few stats:
In total, I wrote 50,086 words.
My highest word count day was right around 10k (the end flying up to meet you can be very motivating ;) )
And this blog (excluding this post, titles & my replies in comments) is 13454 words so far
My Region, Peoria, IL collectively wrote 1,560,129 words
119,301 people signed up for NaNoWriMo this year with an 18.2% win rate of 21683 authors!
And the combined total words of all NaNos was 1,519,501,005!
That is AWESOME! Everyone that wrote, whether they hit 50k or not should feel at least some sense of accomplishment. I know even in years I didn't win, I still met some great people, I brought better writing than I had the year before, I always learned new things & no matter my word count I'd want to come back next NaNo & try it all again. I hope you all feel likewise. Congrats all around! These are some truly staggering numbers & I hope that next year they just keep going up!
This year, I learned:
That sprinting is word count Miracle Grow!
For me, reading during NaNo is strictly verboten. I get too caught up either wanting to see the outcome of a new read or racing ahead to my favorite spots on old ones & neglect my own stories.
Posting to or reading the Forums, or other writing message boards may be helpful & interesting, but it WILL NOT add to your wordcount. Forums are a treat to be enjoyed either for brief portions before, or as you like AFTER you've hit the day's target.
Setting a target (daily/weekly/monthly...whatever) can be a major help. When I was at around 8k, I thought quite idly & pie in the sky that it'd be great to have at least 20k in the first week. When I said it originally, I never thought I'd mke it, but as I put more words behind me 20k seemed more attainable & it made me work harder to get there.
Having a cheering section is a great boon! Usually, I have one or two people interested in my NaNo, this year I had a crowd of friends online that followed, cajoled, cheered, threatened me with guilt monkeys & generally drug my sorry kiester towards that magic 50k, even on days I wouldn't have myself.
Similarly, shooting your mouth off to said crowd is a good thing. It makes it a lot harder to punk out once you've run your mouth about how great you're going to do, lol.
This year I learned I could finish a piece of my own work & it'd be worth reading, and possibly, after a few edits & some polishing, maybe even worth paying for. I knew my writing was fairly decent; I get compliments on my game posts frequently & have a lot of requests to write with my chars & have favorable things said about previous NaNos. But this was really the first full length work I've done that was wholly mine; not fanfic, game stuff or the like. And ya know what? It was still good. How 'bout that?
This year I really realized how much writing meant to me. I got how much I love doing it, figuring out the puzzles of it, getting a char to talk & to live. I really got how much I want to get better at it & noticed or the first time that I may want to do this for good - my work, out there, in the world, to be read (and hopefully enjoyed) by as an actual vocation.
This year I'd like to thank:
Chris Baty - without you, none of the rest of us would be throwing ourselves into this annual insanity & life would be poorer without it. Thank you for the weekly pep talks! I love them!! You had this hairbrained notion that gave us all permission to go out & suck & that is so liberating! Lol. Because once you know it's ok to not be perfect, it gives you so much room to be great, as counterintuitive as it may sound to someone that hasn't tried it. You gave everybody a great place to expand their skills & learn about the real guts of book writing; that nothing that ends up on the shelf starts out it's literary life looking like that. You helped us mess the fun & beauty & chance there is in being a mess, because amazing things that can be created from that mess! Thanks Chris!
Russell Uman - Not only is he the ever brilliant "Robot Whisperer" that keeps the virtual lights on so we all have a place to play every year, but Russ was my NaNo mentor my first year. He may not remember, it was a few years back & he's come across hundreds of NaNos since then, but I do. I still have parts of his letters from that first year in my 'cheering section', a file I keep of comments my writing's received. It's great to look over on days I'm having trouble. He encouraged me, read my stuff & told me 'you really write well and it would be a shame for that to go unfulfilled'.
I held onto that & all the other things he said & it was one of the reasons that I kept going, even in years I did badly (and wow...some years I did very badly!) So thanks Russ. I never would have made it here without you!
To all the authors that've taken time out to do pep talks - Thank you, they're amazing. It's wonderful knowing not only are we not exploring these strange new worlds alone, but you all have survived the trip & live to report back, and with great success in doing so. Beyond that, and maybe this is just me,. I find it somehow a little reassuring that pep talks from "real" authors show up in my inbox, complete with typos. I'm sorry, but that's great!
A special thank you goes to Piers Anthony. When I saw his name on this year's pep talk list, I must admit, I nearly squealed in transports of fangirlish joy. I love his stuff, I've got about eight of his books. I ran, figuratively, to my email every few days in anxious anticipation, only to have my little hopes dash time & again. On the night before NaNo ended, I was lamenting to a friend that there was no Piers post yet, only to have it arrive about five minutes later. It was well worth the wait.
Silke & Carolyn - ty, ty! It was great having two people from the game going through this two. And I'm so proud of you both for making it to 50k! You guys rock!
Cheri & Kelly - Peoria's illustrious current & former ML. You two are fabulous! Cheri, you set up real world events & online write ins & Kelly for setting up The Cafe for us to hang out in & both of you for staging all those sprints! Thank you, thank you for being such wonderfully helpful & encouraging forces in our little corner of NaNoworld!
Nehellenia - You made it & I'm so proud of you! I know you ha a couple hang up spots in the middle, but you did great.
Gypsy! Oh, Gypsy m'dear, you were my NaNo angel! Lol. You read along, clamoring for more, you were my constant sprinting companion & my staunchest cheerleader this year. Ty, ty, ty! I never would have made it without you.
And finally, you, gentle reader. Thanks for hanging in with me through this crazy time. Keep checking back, I'll keep posting. And thank you, thank you for all the comments. Keep'em comin'. It's great knowing I'm not just sitting here talking to myself.
Ok...I think that about covers it for the time being. We'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming in the next day or two.
In total, I wrote 50,086 words.
My highest word count day was right around 10k (the end flying up to meet you can be very motivating ;) )
And this blog (excluding this post, titles & my replies in comments) is 13454 words so far
My Region, Peoria, IL collectively wrote 1,560,129 words
119,301 people signed up for NaNoWriMo this year with an 18.2% win rate of 21683 authors!
And the combined total words of all NaNos was 1,519,501,005!
That is AWESOME! Everyone that wrote, whether they hit 50k or not should feel at least some sense of accomplishment. I know even in years I didn't win, I still met some great people, I brought better writing than I had the year before, I always learned new things & no matter my word count I'd want to come back next NaNo & try it all again. I hope you all feel likewise. Congrats all around! These are some truly staggering numbers & I hope that next year they just keep going up!
This year, I learned:
That sprinting is word count Miracle Grow!
For me, reading during NaNo is strictly verboten. I get too caught up either wanting to see the outcome of a new read or racing ahead to my favorite spots on old ones & neglect my own stories.
Posting to or reading the Forums, or other writing message boards may be helpful & interesting, but it WILL NOT add to your wordcount. Forums are a treat to be enjoyed either for brief portions before, or as you like AFTER you've hit the day's target.
Setting a target (daily/weekly/monthly...whatever) can be a major help. When I was at around 8k, I thought quite idly & pie in the sky that it'd be great to have at least 20k in the first week. When I said it originally, I never thought I'd mke it, but as I put more words behind me 20k seemed more attainable & it made me work harder to get there.
Having a cheering section is a great boon! Usually, I have one or two people interested in my NaNo, this year I had a crowd of friends online that followed, cajoled, cheered, threatened me with guilt monkeys & generally drug my sorry kiester towards that magic 50k, even on days I wouldn't have myself.
Similarly, shooting your mouth off to said crowd is a good thing. It makes it a lot harder to punk out once you've run your mouth about how great you're going to do, lol.
This year I learned I could finish a piece of my own work & it'd be worth reading, and possibly, after a few edits & some polishing, maybe even worth paying for. I knew my writing was fairly decent; I get compliments on my game posts frequently & have a lot of requests to write with my chars & have favorable things said about previous NaNos. But this was really the first full length work I've done that was wholly mine; not fanfic, game stuff or the like. And ya know what? It was still good. How 'bout that?
This year I really realized how much writing meant to me. I got how much I love doing it, figuring out the puzzles of it, getting a char to talk & to live. I really got how much I want to get better at it & noticed or the first time that I may want to do this for good - my work, out there, in the world, to be read (and hopefully enjoyed) by as an actual vocation.
This year I'd like to thank:
Chris Baty - without you, none of the rest of us would be throwing ourselves into this annual insanity & life would be poorer without it. Thank you for the weekly pep talks! I love them!! You had this hairbrained notion that gave us all permission to go out & suck & that is so liberating! Lol. Because once you know it's ok to not be perfect, it gives you so much room to be great, as counterintuitive as it may sound to someone that hasn't tried it. You gave everybody a great place to expand their skills & learn about the real guts of book writing; that nothing that ends up on the shelf starts out it's literary life looking like that. You helped us mess the fun & beauty & chance there is in being a mess, because amazing things that can be created from that mess! Thanks Chris!
Russell Uman - Not only is he the ever brilliant "Robot Whisperer" that keeps the virtual lights on so we all have a place to play every year, but Russ was my NaNo mentor my first year. He may not remember, it was a few years back & he's come across hundreds of NaNos since then, but I do. I still have parts of his letters from that first year in my 'cheering section', a file I keep of comments my writing's received. It's great to look over on days I'm having trouble. He encouraged me, read my stuff & told me 'you really write well and it would be a shame for that to go unfulfilled'.
I held onto that & all the other things he said & it was one of the reasons that I kept going, even in years I did badly (and wow...some years I did very badly!) So thanks Russ. I never would have made it here without you!
To all the authors that've taken time out to do pep talks - Thank you, they're amazing. It's wonderful knowing not only are we not exploring these strange new worlds alone, but you all have survived the trip & live to report back, and with great success in doing so. Beyond that, and maybe this is just me,. I find it somehow a little reassuring that pep talks from "real" authors show up in my inbox, complete with typos. I'm sorry, but that's great!
A special thank you goes to Piers Anthony. When I saw his name on this year's pep talk list, I must admit, I nearly squealed in transports of fangirlish joy. I love his stuff, I've got about eight of his books. I ran, figuratively, to my email every few days in anxious anticipation, only to have my little hopes dash time & again. On the night before NaNo ended, I was lamenting to a friend that there was no Piers post yet, only to have it arrive about five minutes later. It was well worth the wait.
Silke & Carolyn - ty, ty! It was great having two people from the game going through this two. And I'm so proud of you both for making it to 50k! You guys rock!
Cheri & Kelly - Peoria's illustrious current & former ML. You two are fabulous! Cheri, you set up real world events & online write ins & Kelly for setting up The Cafe for us to hang out in & both of you for staging all those sprints! Thank you, thank you for being such wonderfully helpful & encouraging forces in our little corner of NaNoworld!
Nehellenia - You made it & I'm so proud of you! I know you ha a couple hang up spots in the middle, but you did great.
Gypsy! Oh, Gypsy m'dear, you were my NaNo angel! Lol. You read along, clamoring for more, you were my constant sprinting companion & my staunchest cheerleader this year. Ty, ty, ty! I never would have made it without you.
And finally, you, gentle reader. Thanks for hanging in with me through this crazy time. Keep checking back, I'll keep posting. And thank you, thank you for all the comments. Keep'em comin'. It's great knowing I'm not just sitting here talking to myself.
Ok...I think that about covers it for the time being. We'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming in the next day or two.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Purple is the New Black
Ok...I'll have a bit more detailed breakdown of things once my head stops spinning, but....
I WON!
It was spectacular seeing that progress bar go from blue to green(50k+, unverified) to winning purple. Oh wow...I don't even have words for it, lol. I will, but tomorrow once I'm a little more sane again. I still have a couple thousand(at a guess) left to actually finish the story, but that's ok. I made it to fifty thousand words & beyond with a full story I actually like. Don't get me wrong, lol, there will be much editing thrown around in a couple months, but for now, I'm just enjoying the rush of beating something I thought may well be insurmountable.
To anyone reading out there who are still plugging along, DON'T GIVE UP! 50 is attainable! And for all of you that have reached, or even passed that magic mark, CONGRATULATIONS! I hope whichever camp you fall into, that you'll be back next November to go again. I know I will.
I WON!
It was spectacular seeing that progress bar go from blue to green(50k+, unverified) to winning purple. Oh wow...I don't even have words for it, lol. I will, but tomorrow once I'm a little more sane again. I still have a couple thousand(at a guess) left to actually finish the story, but that's ok. I made it to fifty thousand words & beyond with a full story I actually like. Don't get me wrong, lol, there will be much editing thrown around in a couple months, but for now, I'm just enjoying the rush of beating something I thought may well be insurmountable.
To anyone reading out there who are still plugging along, DON'T GIVE UP! 50 is attainable! And for all of you that have reached, or even passed that magic mark, CONGRATULATIONS! I hope whichever camp you fall into, that you'll be back next November to go again. I know I will.
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