Quote of the Moment

"What's Past Is Prologue." - William Shakespeare

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Aw, Crud - NaNo Crud, That Is

It's inevitable. Every November when I plan to dive into NaNoWriMo and up my productivity, a monster rears its ugly head and bellows, "Nooooo!"

Most of the time that monster comes in the form of what I've dubbed NaNo Crud. And that's the very monster that loomed over me this month. Shortly after my last blog post, I got a cold, and right when I thought I was getting better, I got a worse cold (could have been bronchitis, it was that bad, but I didn't go in to the doctor to find out).

So, I missed blog posts and my writing progress froze because just moving off the couch was difficult. I was hopped up on Mucinex DM so I could breathe and sleep, and cold meds make me whoozy and loopy as all hell.

I'm starting to feel a bit better now, though I'm still hacking up a lung between typing sentences.

12,963. That's what I'm ending NaNoWriMo at this year. Progress is progress, and that's almost 13k words more than I had before the month started. It doesn't earn me a NaNo Winner banner, but that's OK.

This sick has also made me realize that I need to take a step back and reassess my writing output. I think I've been expecting too much of myself, especially since I want to get the editing business in a good place as well, and I still have a kid at home most of the time who needs my attention!

December, a low writing output month to begin with due to the holidays, will be planning and reassessing month. And organizing. Oh, and I'll likely be reformatting a few books since I ordered a Macbook and I'll be buying Vellum!

It's not like I'll be idle. I just think I need a month worth of no pressure for writing and revising and figuring things out. And some family and holiday time. I've been neglecting several other things while tackling writing tasks. I'll be back to revisions of Thorns Entwine the Blade in January, though!

And don't worry, I still have some fun blog posts planned for December. After all, I saw Thor: Ragnarok and watched the first half of the season of Star Trek: Discovery. I have many thoughts on both.

Never stopping, just slowing down a little so I can enjoy the scenery. Live in the moment, right?

Wednesday, November 08, 2017

NaNoWriMo - Slight Change of Plans

I know, I'm only eight days into NaNoWriMo, and I'm already changing my plans!

It's nothing earth shattering, but this plan takes my NaNo Rebel status a bit farther.

Are you dying to know? No? Oh, well, I'm going to tell you anyway.

Since revising Thorns Entwine the Blade has been taking as long (or longer) than drafting fresh words, I've decided to count my revisions toward NaNoWriMo!

Some of you may think I'm taking the whole Rebel thing too far, but honestly isn't the core goal of NaNoWriMo to push yourself to complete more than you normally would in a month? I'm still reaching for the stars with a goal of 50,000 of combined revised and drafted words. All the work counts!

And maybe, this year with that combined goal, I'll actually reach 50,000 words for the first time! Unless of course the month explodes on me. It's a possibility. My eldest just clocked a fever on the thermometer (eep).

So, here are the edited goals to reach 50,000:

Thorns Entwine the Blade (Trinity Torn, 2) Revisions - 20,000 words

GSD vs. Everything Complete First Draft - 15,000 to 18,000 words

Blood Stains the Soul (Trinity Torn, 3) Pretty Shitty Beginning Draft - 12,000 to 15,000 words

This removes my last goal of wandering wherever my whims drag me, but that's OK. The renewed decision to aim for 50,000 is spurring me on.

As of this blog post, I'm at 9000 words, 5134 of Thorns revisions and 3866 of adding to the GSD vs. Everything draft. I'll tweak my counters on the left side a bit due to the shift in goals. The original NaNoWriMo post counter will remain at 9000, while the one below will keep counting up as I write and revise more (until I post another update, if I do). We'll start it with the Potato Dude watching TV, in honor of the next GSD chapter ahead -- GSD vs. Entertainment.

Reaching for that 50,000!

Wednesday, November 01, 2017

NaNoWriMo 2017 - Rebel Rebel

Now I have the song "Devil Devil" stuck in my head. Hey, at least it's a good song.

But that's not what this post is about. No, of course not. It's November 1. And we all know what that means, right? NaNoWriMo!

I am deep diving in revisions for Thorns Entwine the Blade right now, and I need to keep making progress on those if I want to release the novel in March or April. But I can't resist the temptation of NaNoWriMo! It's a weakness. Maybe even an addiction at this point since I never do hit 50,000 words (I'm still OK with that, by the way).

So, I'm all in this month. Along with a goal of 20,000 words for revisions, I'm also hoping to reach at least 25,000 words for NaNoWriMo, though I have scheduled stuff to shoot for 50,000.

What am I, though? A NaNo Rebel, always and forever. There are so many projects that I want to work on, so I'm going to use NaNoWriMo this year to finish some things up and most importantly have fun. No pressure at all. This will be fun drafting time.

The projects I intend to work on are as follows:

GSD Vs. Everything - I am 12,000 words into this. I am hoping for 18,000 more words (though some won't count toward NaNo as I have one or two sections that will be copied from elsewhere). This is the first task, and I may not get any words written today because I still have to read through what I've already written since it's been so long.

Blood Stains the Soul (Trinity Torn, 3) - Back in 2004, my first NaNoWriMo, I wrote out a mad dash of 14,000 words on Thorns. I kind of want to do that for Book 3 in the trilogy as well. Get down the bones and things that are floating around in my head. I want to see where the words take me. I'm not even calling this a rough draft. More like a free write with a prompt? My aim is 15,000 words on this.

❦ Now, those two don't add up to 50,000. If I do complete the above projects, it's a free-for-all. My whims will take me to the well of words. I could start a Fortunes of Fate story, inspired by the votes I've already gotten (if you haven't voted yet, please do: Which Tarot Card Next?). Or I might continue Chains of Nect. Oh, oh, or work on the Rabid Unicorns idea. A Fractured Fairies story? Another completely different shiny that is preying on my brain (I have so many that nibble at the edges)? Who knows! I sure don't right now.

What do you think? Am I completely off my rocker? Will I fall flat on my face immediately and get absolutely no revising or writing done? I sure hope not - lol.

My usual NaNoWriMo meter is below, and I'll tweak the word count meters in the left column as well. I may just have NaNoWriMo update posts throughout November, but we'll see. Depends on how well I can keep my head above water.

Happy writing AND happy reading!

Nov. 1 - I completed the chapter GSD vs. Sleep, so it's only fitting that the potato dude is nodding off. And now, I actually go to sleep... Zzzzzz.

Nov. 8 - The counter above will remain at 9000 -- pop over to my newest post, NaNoWriMo - Slight Change of Plans, to see the words continue to climb!