Meme and Progress

Word count: 64,921/100K

Had a little shakeup today. I have this ... thing... where I am suddenly unsatisfied with something, and everything must stop until I have put this thing to rest. The current dis-satisfaction? My writing setup. Everything is the wrong size. Card table is too deep, not wide enough. Little desk I've had since sixth grade is too narrow across the top and too tall to type at comfortably. I can't write in my journals on the card table without moving everything. I have no room to write in my journals on the desk if the computer is on it, so I try and use the two, juxtaposed in some manner. I tried to change it today, to shut up my interior dis-satisfaction.

Sigh.

Chalk another one up to "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

And I am going to do this meme, cuz everyone is doing this meme. It looked fun.

Your Cell Phone? Pink
Your Hair? Brown
Your Mother? Missing
Your Father? Retired
Your Favorite Food? Pizza
Your Dream Last Night? Disturbing
Your Favorite Drink? Coffee
Your Dream/Goal? Writer
What Room Are You In? All
Your Hobby? Reading
Your Fear? Homelessness
Where Do You See Yourself In Six Years? Published
Where Were You Last Night? Writing
Something That You Aren't? Thin
Muffins? Wish!
Wish List Item? Peace
Where Did You Grow Up? Oklahoma
Last Thing You Did? Write
What Are You Wearing? Sweats
Your TV? Obsessed
Your Pets? Cricket
Friends? Meh
Your Life? Satisfactory
Your Mood? Chipper
Missing Someone? Rarely
Vehicle? Red
Something You Aren't Wearing? Socks
Your Favorite Store? Borders
Your Favorite Color? Pink
When Was The Last Time You Laughed? Today
Last Time You Cried? Yesterday
Your Best Friend? Where?!
Facebook? bleh
Favorite Place To Eat? TGIF's
Favorite Character you've written about? Jale

Why Do I Write? Good Question.

Word Count: 56,148/100K

One of mah buddies, the soon-to-be-published Adam Slade over at Editing Hat posed the question How did you get started? and I answered it. Now he has asked Why do you write? Now I'm answering that. I guess, if Adam asks a question, it seems that I will answer it.

Hmm....

I find my answer is near to his, in that I don't write to ponder some great moral dichotomy or political agenda. When I find themes and symbolism in my writing, I assure you, I'm as surprised as the next person. I've always written what I wanted to read. I love to escape. I'm always looking for the door out of reality. If one opened to Narnia, right now, I'd jump through that fu#@%r with nary a backwards glance, White Witch, Big Scary Minotaur thing or no.

You know what would be really awesome? If there were others that wanted to follow.

Arm yourselves, Fearless Readers! I think I felt a cold draft from the direction of my chest of drawers!!

50K in 23 Days!

Current Word Count: 52,134/100K

Well, I got to 50K late late Saturday night! That means this bad boy is halfway done!

I took a look at my calendar for last year, to see where I was during NaNo at this time. It took 23 days to win then, also. Then I went to my sister's for Thanksgiving. I came back and got back to work... then flipped over to December. And was horrified.

I was a lazy ass bum in December. I missed out on a smattering of 6 days in the first few weeks! In short, I totally lost my mojo! I have written myself a little warning note in my calendar for February, warning myself to DON'T LET DECEMBER HAPPEN AGAIN! I've got a 500 page manuscript to edit in March, and I think I need a few extra weeks! I hope to carve them out in February! If I write every day at 2K a day, I should be done by Feb 16. That is, if the story agrees to be 100K. This is my hope! I'm also entering the most unplanned part of my outline... so I need to think about that, too. And my birthday is Feb 12th... so I'm sure I'll take that day off since it's going to be my last birthday!... so let's say the goal is the 17th.

How about you and your goals? Is January going the way you hoped?

Cruisin' to 40K

Current Word Count 41,136/100K

Currently: trying to keep Cricket from destroying my desk

Have you seen that commercial? The McDonald's one where the guy doesn't want to talk to anyone until he's had his coffee? That's me. Except he's a guy. He's an actor, not a writer. And he is on TV. I am in my apartment.

I'm going to go out on a limb here. You know of bloggers who post irresponsible things about their work on their blogs and get fired? I am going to walk that line. At my work, they have substituted caffeinated for decaffeinated. I was never included in this secret meeting, this now infamous meeting where it was decided that decaf would rule the day. Or as I see it: rue the day. My days are rued. I don't know if that is a word. But weeks with decaff coffee four days a week are taking their toll. Thus, this rambling post.

Regardless of this four day a week "rue-ing" I have achieved 40K! whoooooo! Had a great night, where unexpected things happened. Had my characters sitting around a campfire. I wanted a little getting to know you banter and BAM! BOOM! They know things about each other, things they haven't told each other. I guess it's some sort of psychic link.

In honor of all this, I am posting a picture of Cricket. This makes no sense, but your dealing with someone who had decaff coffee today!

Checkin' in on 30K

Current Word Count: Endways of the Gods

31,056/100K

Listening to: Sleater Kinney - Dig Me Out

Greetings, Fearless Readers! I've reached the 30K mark, and surprise, surprise! I'm right where I want to be! There are three "acts" to this book: The Gathering of all the Favored (note the capital, it's important!), The Exodus, and The Quest. The Quest will have the lion's share of the glory, of course, but I'm right where I wanted to be at this part.

I'm getting a little OCD with the record keeping. It's nice seeing all those pink boxes that signify a writing day add up on the calendar page! I'm trying to keep it to only one day off a week! I've discovered: the more I goof off, the more I goof off. The more I write, the more I write! Daily goals and consistency is the way to go for me.

And I had a realization on Tuesday. In exactly one month, I will be 39. This will be my last birthday. I refuse to turn 40 - I've decided I'll be $39.95 plus shipping and handling for the rest of my life!

A Visual Break

Thought I would give you all a bit of a break from my blather, and instead, give you some visuals. First of all, I don't know how my little bloggy got 39 followers, but the above kitty (my chorus, if you will) and I, thank you for all the kind comments and what have you. Especially for the encouragement! It's so important writers encourage each other. I will try and continue to do the same for you!

and again... encouragement. Anywhere we can look for a little hope, you know? :)

Have a awesome Sunday.

Goals and Accountability

NaNo was a huge breakthrough for me. Way way back when I started writing an actual novel, I wrote 2k a day, because Stephen King said I was supposed to. Then I quit writing for a long time and lost sight of my goals. The Dragongar books took 9 months to write, each. Shudder! For NaNo, I decided it was time to get serious. Please note the serious bold face type! And I wanted that sucker out to agents in 2010. I put myself on a 2k a day regimen and got 'er done! For myself, the way to finish books is to set goals and be held accountable.

A lot of writers post their weekly goals on their blogs. I, however, have only the mental where-withal to work on one project at a time. Not that I don't make goals, I do! Bare minimum is 2k a day on the novel in progress. My other goal is to write EVERYDAY! If I take a day off, I increase my goal the next day or couple of days to catch up. I have also taken the challenge to increase my goals on the weekend and Fridays to 3k. The result? It's the first week of January, and I've got more than 20K!

As for being accountable, I have several ways of doing this. On AW, I've got the JaNoWriMo, Anyone thread. The point is to go on everyday, talk about your word count, problems, epic fails or epic wins. There is also the 2010 Weekend Progress Report Thread. You can get shinies for reporting your doin's for the week! :) There is the JaNoWriMo board. I also use a calendar where I write my daily progress: total word count, word count for the day and what page I'm at. This seems like a lot - I tend to go all out when I get somethin' in my little noggin. I find it keeps me excited and I have to be accountable, to myself. I also update my signature with my word count. I love watchin' that thing as it goes up.

What about you? How do you get novels done? Do you set goals? Do you have somewhere (a board or blog) or something (a calendar, a word ticker) you use to hold yourself accountable?

Decisions and Delight

Decisions. Let me show you them.

Right Here I listed three possible stories that could be written during the two available novel slots this year (yeah, I think I'm pretty awesome, planning three novels, and yet having four stories!) Since there are three stories, and only two time slots, a decision had to be made. Thanks to the muse having more "visions" for one, and the overwhelming response of my Fearless Readers (FR is what I call you!) I have decided that The Unicorn Hunter gets June/July and the Road Dogs gets the coveted time slot of November/December (can I get a NaNo cheer from the initiated? Oh yeah!)

Adam, no boo boo lip! Look at it this way, I have time now to plot and plan and make it more awesome!

Delight

Oh yes. The current book. Going sooo well. You remember how I kept chirping about how great the last book went? This might be more awesome. I've introduced the four characters and it seems the Female MC is made of epic win. All my other stories have had very strong female characters, and the one quasi romance/fantasy I wrote had a male character with a very gentle vibe. I was worried the one adult female in my group of wanderers wasn't going to be strong enough, but she's just.... awesome. I should have more betterer words than that (going on about being a writer and all).

It's not that she's a knife flinging badass... it's that she taught herself to be one! She's not a fighter, she's a potion maker, but seeing that herblore has been lumped in with black magic, and the folks in charge are protected by these muscle bound cretins that may not be human, the lady took things in hand and armed herself. She's devoid of romance. She knows how things are and that people gotta do what they gotta do. She held no malice against the women who helped their husbands capture her. She saw the capture coming, knew she couldn't do anything about it, knew why it was happening and she accepted it. She also knows that just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. Not everyone learned that from Jurassic Park! Jus' sayin'!

Kitteh Update, General Ramblage

For those of you following my plight, I just want to let you know my kitteh is back to being unpleasant and biting me, thus, this phase of heat is over. All we can do is duck and cover... and fear the coming of the next cycle. I like to think this is teaching me the true meaning of dread, to further my writing....

In other words, I am three days in on The Endways of the Gods and things are going swimmingly! I'm up over 10K, 11,206 words to be exact! (blush!) I'm feeling a little strange, having never written third person omniscient before. I hope it doesn't come across hokey. :) I'm a lot more prepared, as far as the characters went, this time. It feels like the story is coming to life. And the prose doesn't suck as bad as The Spiritcaster. I think the moral of the story is to write on a regular basis! I don't want to experience that feeling of laying bricks rather than forming sentences, Evar. Again!! I know the SC will be cleaned up and made right, but reading it now is ultra-cringeworthy. I'm glad to know I can write fast and coherently at the same time.

I have also accepted that I have become... a plotter. Yes. One of those. Never thought it would happen to me. It's just a series of sentences, the things that are going to happen. That's all. I keep it open while I write, and as I change or add to the scenes, I adjust the outline. I'm also keeping track of the chapters this time. Being frustrated at only having the outline on the computer, I made a set of index cards with the outline points, so I can fiddle and add while not on the computer.

That is all, dear readers. I am off to watch a little Star Trek the Next Generation on a Japanese website. Or is it Chinese? I am sorry, I have not the skills to tell the difference. I do love it so...

Writing Under Pressure

I'm not talking about the pressures of production. No. I'm talking about the whims of my cat. Anyone with a female (unspayed) cat knows what I'm talking about. My cat is in heat.

I haven't slept at nighttime now for a good four days. Thank God for the days off, because without them, I probably would have crashed my car or killed a co-worker (the car on accident, the co-worker, accidentally on purpose.) I feel like a mom with a new baby. I have to sleep when she sleeps, because there is no sleeping when she is awake and yowling.

Last night I wore her out, to the point of near exhaustion, playing laser tag. Today, I tried waking her every time I saw her little head start to nod off (why should I be the only one going psychotic from lack of sleep, right?). Tonight, as I strove for my 3k (fell a little short by 230 words or so - I'll get that tomorrow!) she was sleeping. I knew I should have said to hell with it and got in bed. I kept trying to wake her up, so she'd be tired when I was done. To no avail. Sure enough, I finish the scene, I update my sig on AW, then start to turn off lights, and she starts to yowl. Laser pointer it is.

The Free-Spay-And-Neuter-Month can't come too early. I just hope I make it till then.

First 2k of the Year - Written

I am managing, somehow, not to post my first few hundred words or so. The only reason: it is very early in the morning, I have gotten little sleep the past few days, and I fear sparklepeaches catching all my inanity and sitting there, laughing at me. <-- Is inanity even a word? No, I think I am looking for "inaneness". Regardless, the first blush of what you write is always colored with your hopes and dreams, and upon later reading, makes all the spit dry up in your mouth. I've decided NOT to post anything which would horrify me later. Beside this rambling post.

It was weird stepping into another world. I realized how little world building I did for this, or at least for the world that they will inhabit for the first 1/4 of the book. You see, this world my characters are in is DOOMED! Doomed, I tell you! Everything is going all to hell, the characters barely recognize their own world, why should I? I'm going to concoct horrors on the fly. It should be fun.

Oh, and for those of you (ahem) who have voted for Road Dogs - that might not make the June/July book. I am having all kinds of visions for the Unicorn Hunter story. I've already filled about 8 journal pages of scenes and notes. I have only a few typed pages and very few notes for Road Dogs. Fear not, though. The boys from the wild west are surely on the road as we speak. Doing good deeds and making up for their atrocities. Luv, Sammich.

ETA: total word count for the day increased to 5140