Tag: Writing

Nano Update – Day 8

438 on the ride in this morning.  I had a seat the whole time.  I don’t know if that helped my word count or not.

Unfortunately, with the idiotic waste of time meeting I had to go to before I left work and then the aforementioned trivia, I only got about 1,100 words yesterday.  So this morning’s word count is just getting me back to about on track.

It’s okay, though.  The wife is going out of town for a day or two, and I can spend the entire time writing.  Wives can be really distracting.  I mean, they’re great and all, and mine is particularly great.  But they tend to not like it if you ignore them all the time and don’t help with cooking or cleaning or anything.

Which reminds me, I won a little bet with the wife last night at trivia.  Had I lost, I would have had to cook dinner three nights in a row.  Unfortunately, I never thought of what she would have to do if I won.  It was one of the trivia questions.  It said that Columbia Heights, our wonderful transitional neighborhood, was named for Columbia College.  Columbia College has a new name.  What is it?

Well, the wife was sure it was Howard, because Howard is more or less in Columbia Heights (Or Shaw, whatever, they’re right next door).  While that is certainly a reasonable guess, I was pretty sure it was GW.  Turns out I was right.

Nano Update – Day 6 (Or, the worst paragraph Ive ever written)

I wrote 353 words this morning.  That’s good for the wordcount, but today’s opening paragraph is one of the worst I’ve written since I started doing Nano.

Kathy woke up feeling cold.  Her leg hurt, and she was cold.  As she regained her bearings, she realized that it was very noisy.  People screaming and running everywhere.

WTF was that?  I looked at it as I was counting words after I got to work, and I cringed.  I’m going to claim that I was still asleep when I wrote that, because that’s the only reasonable excuse.  I know Nano is supposed to create more quantity than quality, but there IS a bottom, below which one should take up another hobby.  That paragraph was below the bottom.  But the section picked up as it went on, and I have high hopes for this afternoon’s ride home.

I think I’m going to use that paragraph as my excerpt at the Nano site.

Nano Update – Day 5

Four hundred and sixty words on the Metro this morning.  Did you see how I wrote out “four hundred and sixty”, instead of simply writing “460”?  That is what is called “maximizing your word count for National Novel Writing Month“.  There, I did it again.  I could have abbreviated National Novel Writing Month.  Or used apostrophes.  But I did not.

Anyway, that brings my total up to 7,190.  That’s a pretty good total for four days plus a commute to work.  And I’m just hitting the first big event in the story.  I don’t know the literary term for it.  It’s the big event early in the story that enables the rest of the story to happen.  I think it’s going well.

Nano update – Day 2

1817 words yesterday.  428 on the Metro this morning.  If I can knock out nearly half my daily word goal during my commute, that would be awesome.

The story is going well so far.  I love how characters kind of pop up out of nowhere.  I mean, sometimes I have a character in my head before I start, and I’m more or less waiting for the right moment for him or her to make an appearance.  But sometimes I’m writing, and someone pops up, and turns out to be important.  The campaign manager hoping her guy gets elected so she can get a better book deal is one of those.  The surly, hungover police officer might be another.  I’m not sure if he’s going to end up with a big role in the story.

Anyway, I’m happy so far.

Not a lot of words

I wrote 205 words this morning on the Metro.  That’s not too many.  Although, it’s more words than I’ve ever written before during my work commute, so that’s cool.  It’s tough to stand and write, especially since I had my normal bag plus my work laptop this morning.  But I don’t usually bring my laptop home, and if it really gets to be a problem, I can probably get a seat most of the time.  I tend to not sit on the Metro that often because I don’t really like sharing a seat with strangers, and anyone who gets on the train probably needs the seat at least as much as I do.

But if I’m going to be writing, and it becomes too difficult to do standing, then I’ll sit more.  Let those elderly and disabled people stand for a change.  They shouldn’t be riding Metro at rush hour anyway.

Its almost time.

Just over fifteen hours until Nano starts. I’m ready to go. I’ve got the beginning of the story rattling around in my head. I’m a little afraid that the beginning is ALL I have in my head, and the whole middle and end thing is going to be a struggle. But now is not the time for doubts.

I didn’t sleep well last night, and I’m not sure why, but it’s going to make it even harder to stay up until midnight tonight and start before I go to bed. I do that most years. It feels like a nice head start.

Anyway, I’m excited about the story.  I have a name for my main character.  Well, I have a first name.  She needs a last name.  I notice that none of you slackers responded to my request for character names.  That’s fine.  When I’m a rich and famous novelist, I’ll just forget all of you.

Ill make you famous

Okay, probably not that famous. But I’m looking for some names for my Nanowrimo novel, and I’m terrible at thinking of good names. I used names from my Gmail spam folder last year, but last year’s novel was a little more fanciful than this one, which is going to be serious literature. Written in 30 days.  I mean it.

Anyway, I have a couple of characters already named. I still need names for:

  • A thinly veiled Barack Obama.
  • An equally thinly veiled Mitt Romney.
  • The hero. Actually, I think it will be a heroine, because I’ve always had trouble writing women (It’s hard to write what you don’t understand), and that seems like a good challenge. She’s the partner of a cop who dies early in the story. I’m not sure yet if she’s the partner in the cop sense, or partner in the romantic sense.
  • Random characters. These characters aren’t planned yet, but will undoubtedly pop up.
    That’s all for now.  If I use a name you suggest, you’ll get credit in whatever form this is published in, which could be Lulu, a real publishing house, or just the Writing folder on my hard drive.  TheWriting folder is a really strong bet.

Since context may help, a little background on the story.  It will contain political intrigue and violence, but also a homeless guy named Shake and Bake.  Think Christopher Buckley meets John Woo, then they go smoke pot behind a dumpster.

Suggestions welcome in the comments.

Seriously, Im an addict

I just made my first visit of the year to the Nanowrimo forums.  The minute I read about people planning their novel and outlining a plot and creating characters, I just can’t help myself.

There are certainly worse things to be addicted to.  Crack.  Sex.  World of Warcraft.  I just have Nano.  And complaining.  Always complaining.

I need to start my planning.  When I plan more, my novels turn out better.  I think.  I have the first two or three chapters vaguely in my head, but I need a lot more than that.  And I need some names.  And that’s where you, dear readers, come in.  I know it’s hard to name people you know nothing about, so as I do more planning, I’ll try and bring you some character descriptions, and you can suggest names.  I hate naming characters, and I’m generally not all that happy with the names I end up with (Although Polly the Duck from Nano 2005 was nice).

So, stay tuned for your chance to name my characters.

I said I wasnt going to do this

But Nanowrimo sign-ups start tonight. For those who don’t know and are too lazy to click the link, Nano is National Novel Writing Month, which happens every November. It started in maybe 2001 with about 20 people in San Fransisco deciding to each write a 50,000 word novel (For reference, this is approximately the length of Brave New World, among others, but shorter than the average novel) in 30 days. Last year, something like 75,000 people all over the world did it.

If I do it this year, it will be my sixth attempt. I finished in 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2006. After last year, I had decided to quit because it wasn’t that much fun. But that may be because my 2006 story was stupid. This year I have a better idea, so I’m thinking it will be better. Also, I now have a portable laptop (As opposed to the giant brick I had before), so I can go to writing meetings at local coffee shops and whatnot, something I pledge to do every year and never do.

This also begins my yearly quixotic recruitment drive.  I’ve managed to get a few people over the years to commit to trying, but none have ever finished.  A friend did it last year, and she finished, but she was planning to do it before she knew I was a veteran, so I can only take credit for a few encouraging words here and there.

Anyway, you should do it.  It’s fun.  It’s a huge rush when you finish.