Monthly Archives: October 2012

All my pens are packed, I’m ready to go …

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It’s NaNoWriMo time!

I’ve made sure I’m all registered on the official site, and cleaned up the buttons and banners in the sidebar.

Also got Katherine all configured for the Young Writers Program as well.  Last year her goal was 5K words.  This year, it’s 10K … kinda.

She wants to continue the story she was doing last year (wonder where she got that idea), but wants to do some rewriting of what she did then. Unlike with an adult where I’d advise against it, her writing skills have grown enough that I can understand where she’s going there.

The official way of figuring out recommended word count for kids is the “Word Goal Calculator,” which has you write “efficiently but still thoughtfully” for some period time, then figures out what you should be able to do.  Unfortunately, I just discovered that tool today, and I doubt Kay will have a chance to play with it tonight.  (If an opportunity comes up for it soon, we’ll give it a spin.)

With a little digging, I found an older page at the YWP site that has suggested word counts by grade level. Where I learned that Kay was writing last year as a high-performing 7th grader rather than the 6th grader she was.

So blending all that together, we’re going to set a goal with her of 10K words, but, any section from last year she does revision work on will be counted toward that number (any words she adds, plus the original words from last year), so in theory she may not need to write 10K (since she’s already at 5K) — but, depending on the amount of rewriting she wants to do, she might.

As for me — I … guess I’m ready!

So here’s the NaNoPlan for this year

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I’m not writing a new novel. I’m not finishing a previously started novel.

I’m going to edit.  I have a completed novel (Donne & Donne, File 1: Gunsmoke and Jasmine) that is, of course, incomplete without some serious editing.  Our small writing group this past year (waves) simply wasn’t enough (which I’ll take at least a third of the blame for, if not more).

I found an estimate from last year that, when pounding away on writing, I’m averaging about 1,000 words / hour (sometimes more, or sometimes less, but on average).  So for purposes of tracking my NaNoProgress, I’ll be using that number, backwards — i.e., an hour of editing (glares at self to keep self honest) = 1,000 words.  So that magical 1,667 words per day translates out into 1 hour and 40 minutes of work each day.

Yeah, real work. In some ways this will require more discipline than normal writing, because I won’t have words to point to, just my record of hours. And fudging that number only hurts me.

I mean, I’ve got a spare 1:40 / day, right?  Right?

Things to do (not necessarily in this order):

  • I’ve been loading the story, chapter by chapter, in to YWriter, an app that was recommended to me and which I’ve been using the past several months. Doing this after the fact is not only getting the outline and character facts and location facts and scene word counts identified, it should make the further editing efforts easier.  It’s also serving, a bit, as a first pass edit.  (Biggest thing so far: discovering that two of my major secondary characters had their names magically change half-way through the book.) (No, it wasn’t actual magic.)
  • Clean up the overall timeline — day and hour.  There are some wonky gaps and overlaps, and enough “Who’s doing what when?” questions that I just need to get it charted out.  It’s all stuff that NaNoWriMo doesn’t let you do at the time.
  • I need to clean up my San Francisco geography.
  • I need to do some spot research on Chinese mythology.
  • There are a few “[fill this in later]” moments on both the above points.
  • I need to take a “senses” pass.  I tend to focus on the visual.  That needs some punching up in other ways.
  • I need to look at some of the loose ends and either snip them off, tie them back in, or turn them into lead-ins to future endeavors.
  • I do have quite a few notes from my writing group (waves) to ponder and potentially incorporate.

I don’t think I’ll run out of to-dos.

My goal for the month is to end up with a completed novel, to the point where I can:

  1. Give it to some folks for some serious review.
  2. Potentially shop it around.
  3. Self-publish and not be completely embarrassed when I give it to people.
And, as a further possible bonus, should I actually be able to set up time blocks to work on a daily basis (or within a weekly framework) for the month, then maybe I can keep that discipline beyond.
Sh’yeah, I know, not much keeping me from doing so in previous NaNos.

So maybe, maybe not

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Am I doing NaNoWriMo this year? I’d been planning on it, but for the last month or two, every time the thought came up, it came with a wince. And a sigh. And a facial tic.

Life’s been complex and stressful and irksome and frustrating of late. And by “of late” I mean “for several months, at least.” And the fact that it’s not been anything grand or epic or tragic or awful that’s been keeping me up at night or driving me to the asylum by day doesn’t help any. (Indeed, in some ways that might be a relief, since it’s hard to kvetch about being nibbled to death by ducks when others around you are locked in mortal combat with wolves.)

So taking a deep ladle-full of creative stress on top of that — turning my already sketchy free time and ability to get things done that I really want to and plunging it into a deeper deficit for the month of November — is not sounding like a good time to me.  Working around family visits and prospective business trips and Thanksgiving and all of that is not something I want to recreate. Finding something else to whip myself into a frenzy of “you’re falling behind” guilt and “you have other things you should be doing” nagging is not a recipe for entertainment or personal fulfillment.

On the other hand, I really feel like I should be doing NaNoWriMo.  That I have stories to tell and I’ve already been way too much of a slothful slacker in telling them.

On the gripping hand, I really feel like if I am approaching NaNoWriMo as a should versus a wanna, I’ve already missed the point.

So, pathetic cry for help?  Or simple pre-NaNo jitters?

I guess we’ll find out in 17 days.

Looking toward NaNoWriMo 2012

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So, yeah, though (once again) it’s really the last thing I need to add into my schedule, I’m planning on doing the NaNo ths year, in just under (eek!) a month.

I had three ideas for what to do, and am still undecided.

  1. Finish the “Mind & Matter” (superhero) novel I started in NaNoWriMo 2009.
    Pros: It really is sort of at the half-way point, and I know there are folks who have read it who want to read more. And given the death of City of Heroes, it would be somehow appropriate.
    Cons: I just don’t think it’s as good a story as what 2 and 3 involve.
  2. Do editing work on my “Donne & Donne” novel from 2010-2011.
    Pros: It’s something I need to do. I’d end up with a possibly-ready-to-shop-around novel at the end.
    Cons: Kind of a cheat for NaNoWriMo, though I’d probably do some sort of “2.5 hours = 1700 words” conversion.  The “Pro” here is also very scary.
  3. Start on the next “Donne & Donne” book. I have some ideas here, but nothing concrete yet.
    Pros: I’m feeling the characters, and moving forward with them would be useful. Also, would let me possibly put some foreshadowing into the first book, still under edit.
    Cons: It will only be half a novel, and I’m concerned about losing focus on the first one before finished editing. Also, future editing on the first one might invalidate stuff I write in the second one.
I keep running hot and cold on each of these ideas. Which means I’ll probably still be dithering about it by the time 1 November rolls around.