Writer Goes Bonkers

Here we go again

2010-11-02T00:44:00.001-04:00

Full speed ahead.

I think I have to let this monkey go

2008-11-11T19:27:00.002-05:00

Most of our time is spent trying to find housing. This is an exhausting task.

At this point, the NANO is just another thing to fuss about not getting done.

Last year it was fun. This year it is a chore.

Goodbye, monkey.

Abort. Restart. Retry.

2008-11-04T22:19:00.004-05:00

The cozy wasn't working for me. I went on line and ran a few story idea generators and one of the ideas struck the proper chord. (The www has become an electronic muse.)

I'm now working on a contemporary novel about group of friends. The introductory character, Allison McCloud, is a literary editor working for Turtle Press. The opening scene in at a SF convention called SciCon.

The working title is Elements.

2000 words a day, starting tomorrow, will do the trick.

NANO 2008

2008-11-01T15:31:00.002-04:00

Today is day one. From the few words I've written so far it looks like this one will be a cozy.

Our internet connection is a dial-up and service is spotty at best. I totally missed the chance of a kick off this year. I know I'll miss my writing buddies up in the South Jersey region.

TGIO Party

2007-12-10T16:15:00.000-05:00

Here we are, holding our bubbly and "Current" in which Bluestone has an article about NANO published.

It's now officially over for the year.

But we have already planned on getting together before November 08.

I made it

2007-11-29T13:07:00.000-05:00

I made it! The whole story is now told.

Originally it was to be a mystery taking place mostly in NYC with an early scene being the reading of Hamster (Hamish) Holliday's will. It was entitled "March Madness."

It turned out to be a romance, taking place entirely on Aruba, and featuring Hamster (Hamish) Holliday who is very much alive and is the uncle of our protagonist. It is now entitled "Grist."

With this seat of pants writing, one never knows from day to day what will happen next.

But it's done.

I do plan to do some editing, though not for publication.**

It was a great ride.

**(This is an open invitation for my internal editor, who had been vacationing with other internal editors in California to return from the coffee house and provide assistance. Or not. Whatever.)

I have to say

2007-11-27T00:00:00.000-05:00

This is turning out to be quite a ride.

I've never written without editing before, and once you get going it's almost like watching a movie and writing down the words.

Writing SOP is the literary equivalent of a fun house. You never know what is going to be around the next corner.

Things keep changing

2007-11-22T12:17:00.000-05:00

Now we're at 33000 words. Writing just 2100 a day will get me to the end on time.

In the meanwhile:

Julia has totally fallen for Alvaro who is equally enamored (make way for the sex scene!)
This is especially interesting as Julia can't cook (claims to have burned a salad) and Alvaro is a professional chef.
Cousin Teddy turns out to be gay, which all the characters knew but have only just now thought to mention to the author. *heavy sigh*
Someone broke into the house and attacked Hamster and it's beginning to look like Hamster paid him to do it.

I'm still doing things by the seat of my pants. Not knowing what comes next makes writing almost like reading.

Still Behind

2007-11-17T10:28:00.000-05:00

My story sucks. I have only 20,000 words. I should have 25,000 by now. My characters are cardboard and my plot, such as it is, is at a standstill. In other words, folks, we're halfway through the month.

Back on track

2007-11-10T17:39:00.001-05:00

If I keep up 2000 words per day I can make it.

The new widgets have been published

2007-11-09T09:14:00.000-05:00

Here's my progress:

Still on course

2007-11-02T17:02:00.000-04:00

Another two thousand words today and I've learned part of what Julia does for a living.

Usually one starts a work knowing all about one's protagonist. But with the NANO novel this is not necessary. And such revelations are what makes writing fun.

Salt Free Living (working title)

2007-11-01T01:45:00.000-04:00

The book has begun. Wrote 946 words starting at midnight and already I'm at a variance with my original plot line.

Julia started out on a plane as intended, and gave enough of the back story for you to know why she's there. But the plane, which I though would land at JFK, landed at Queen Beatrix.

My New York plot has moved to Aruba!

Kickoff Meeting at Mayslanding Borders

2007-10-31T19:46:00.001-04:00

PurpleFish, WritnGypsy and Amyhaha at the kickoff.

It's a great group but an hour away from yours truly. :(

The Name Game

2007-10-31T09:03:00.000-04:00

I had decided to call her Julia - Julia S. Parker.

But I keep refering to her (to myself) as Laura.

What's up with that ?

At least I now know ...

2007-10-28T12:38:00.001-04:00

The genre - mystery/humor

The opening scene - she is on a plane from Europe to USA.

I'll spend a bit of time thinking about character and basic plot but I think I'll let most of the action be dictated by the character. (That happens anyway. Why fight it?)

We aren't supposed to let the inner editor in the door (and that's why I bought an Alphasmart Neo) but I will have to get the first several paragraphs right. I need a strong opening or I just can't proceed.

(The NEO is a word processor which allows one to see just a few lines of text. Perfect for writing in coffee houses as it runs 700 hours on 3 AAA batteries.)

Oh yeah, really making progress

2007-10-26T21:21:00.001-04:00

What I ought to have done today was work on a novel idea.

What I DID was

Check the NANO boards for the closest kickoff meeting (Borders, Mays Landing on Tuesday night)
Download a half dozen NANO wallpapers
Set up the gizmo you see below
Make confit of duck on a frizee salad for dinner

Tomorrow I just have to work on story ideas.

_____________________________________

NANO 2007

2007-10-26T08:49:00.000-04:00

Here we are again, on the verge of the "write a 50000 word novel in one month" month.

I have NO idea what my novel will be about.

Yikes!