The bottom line is that I didn’t end up with a cohesive novel. I spent time the last day, after reaching 50,000 words, just writing notes to myself about what seems good about the writing and what doesn’t. One of the things I did was to list all the subplots I had going on. No wonder it never gelled! There were about ten separate things, some of them introduced once and never revisited!

I also wrote what I thought the plot should be. After spending a month immersed in that world and those characters, of course I know better what directions I should gone. I think the notes helped and will help in the future. I have more of a overview of what I wrote rather than being left with the impression of the last few days of writing which was less than inspiring. I also feel that the notes will serve me well later when I want to go back to it. It will give me a way into the story.

So that’s a wrap on Nano 2007.

On the other writing front: I finished the first draft of the short story on Saturday.

Ahhh, such a simple sentence.

Finishing a short story was once close to impossible for me. I had a writing teacher early on who was in the habit of spending 6 months to a year on a short story. She was a very bad influence on me!!! I have since joined a writing group with some wonderful role models who are much more practical. They have been a very good influence on me!!!

This story was a personal challenge to see if I could come up with an idea, write it, edit it, polish it, and send it off to the Nova Scotia Writer’s Federation contest all within 3 weeks. Oh, one other thing: it had to come in under 3,000 words, a feat I’ve never managed before.

So you see… it’s a simple sentence with much import for me. Yesterday I edited and rewrote the ending. Last night I read it out loud and felt it was choppy so I worked on transitions today and did line editing. This afternoon I gave to two trusted readers. While handing it over is always nerve-wracking, I did feel proud that I’ve gotten it to this point with four days to go before it has to be postmarked. The verdict is in from one of my readers; it got a thumbs up!

Now, finally, I have time to clean the bathroom.
What a reward, eh?
Oh the glamourous life of a writer!

Or, at any rate, it’s over.

I’m happy I did it and more than ready to get on with so many things that I’ve neglected this month.

I’m not through with writing for the year, however. I’m deeply embroiled in the antics of two characters in the short story I started last week. Still trying to write it in as few words as possible. Quite a challenge for me and a different way of writing than the novel, but it seems to be progressing. I’m determined to get it into shape by December 7th in time to mail it out in the the world.
A Christmas present I’m giving myself.

Happy. Relief. Sense of Accomplishment.

Sighhhhhhhhh…

Two days of November left.

I went to writing group tonight and was asked how it was going. I said, Oh pretty well, my word count’s good enough that I’ll be finished in two days time. Well. It’s true.

I’ve only had one other NaNoWriMo where I wasn’t way ahead of 50,000 at the end of the month. That was my second year and as many Wrimo’s have found out, there can be a definite “sophomore slump” especially if you had a fantastic first year as I did.

This year hasn’t been that bad. I’ve had a few down days here and there, but nothing prolonged. But I’m not thrilled with the way the writing’s turned out. I think, after a few weeks—or months—when I go back to read it, there will be parts that I like and parts I don’t. But my lack of planning time definitely came into play in this. About 3/4’s of the way through, I really began to suspect that I’d written the wrong story… that there was another one which interested me much more.

At least I know that now.

The fact that I’m ending on a relatively calm, up-beat note and more so, that I’m busily working on a new short story with a very tight deadline, shows that it’s been a month that has spurred me on rather than defeated me.

The photo is of my two dogs, Summer and Charly. They are patiently waiting for me to get finished!

In NaNoWriMo, the idea is to write full tilt for a month and sort out the details (and everything else) later. This short story is a completely different kind of writing. Instead of writing as many words as I can in a short period of time, I’m trying to finish a story in as few words as possible (in a short period of time). To say it’s a different mind set is to say the least!

Because I’ve never written a short story under 6,000 words (usually they’re more in the 8-9,000 word range), I found that I have to think of this more like poetry than prose. In poetry, especially, every word counts. It should be the same in a short story, but my tendency is to tell the story with all those lush details that flesh out characters and setting and back story and not worry to much about the word count. This is a good exercise and discipline for me.

The way I’m going at it so far, is to start over each day. After writing a novel this month, the idea of 3,000 words seems like nothing, but—here’s the rub—these have to be the exact right words in the right order!

At a certain point, I will know enough about the story to keep the draft from the day before and pick up from that point to the end, but right now, starting each day fresh is keeping the story lean, if not mean. Hopefully that will make it lean and seen (as in published) in the future! In the MEANtime, my mind is a slightly blown having these two writing techniques going at the same time, so if this blog post doesn’t make that much sense, you know why.

I started off this month with a feeling that I had enough NaNoWriMo experience that I might be able to offer other people tips on how to get through it. I actually have evidence that a couple of people did get a little encouragement or a helpful message at the right time from these tidbits, so that’s good. I like that. You don’t do something like this 5 times without learning something.

But now, the 26th of November, I’m bushed! I do not feel chipper anymore. I do not have the energy to make little graphics for the blog or to even think up anything helpful to say to anyone. If I had any energy, I’d go looking for tips just to help me get through the next few days. I don’t know if my age is showing or if blogging every day has added just that much extra work or if it’s that short story I masochistically decided to begin over the weekend, or the other dozen things I could name that have nothing to do with writing. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. November is almost over.

I’ll get through it and I’ll get my winner’s certificate for what it’s worth, but this experienced Wrimo will be positively plodding her way to the deadline!

Illustration: I took this shot of my older son and my stepson with their heads together while on a superb vacation in Tobago

Oh boy! My novel FINALLY picked up some speed today. It’s been going in that direction for the last two days but today was truly the first day this month that I felt as if I could just keep going, as if I couldn’t type fast enough to get the words down. In fact, I wasn’t surprised when I got to the end of the chapter I was writing that the word count was 3,163 (to be exact) words more than yesterday.

It’s momentum. What a great feeling! An exhilarating sled run after a long hard slog up the hill. It’s gratifying after all the work put in so far—the feeling of having to paste myself into the chair and duct tape myself to the desk, all the draggy days, the suppressed doubts (because they never actually Go Away, do they?), and the endless setting up of characters until you are quite certain that it’s going to be a book about nothing whatsoever except six single characters milling around in search of something to do!

At this point, however, my main characters have finally come together into a situation that not only brings up aspects of what has happened in the last two novels set in this world, but also sets up new mysteries and, later on, when it’s time, a resolution. No. I don’t know exactly what that will be, but I CAN tell now (as opposed to three days ago) that I’m on the right path to discover it. And so are my characters. How nice to be on the same page as one’s characters.

If you’re not there yet, keep going! You’ll find that momentum sooner or later as well. It’s worth it!

I got to a stopping point in my writing today slightly before I got to the word count I wanted.
I could have pushed it, but I felt it needed to rest. The story is at a crucial juncture and, to tell you the truth, I am not quite sure what’s going to happen. If I had continued today, my fear is that I would have gone off on a tangent.

Sometimes in NaNoWriMo we have to just keep writing even though we know we don’t know where we’re going. I do it if I’m falling too far behind in the word count or if I am uninspired. But sometimes it’s okay to wait. I’m close to being on track with the word count and I am feeling inspired. With both of those things working for me, I’d rather let a little time pass and give it some unfocused, C-mindful simmering before I write what comes next.

That C-mind stuff is what happens in the shower or while chopping vegetables or taking a walk or even cleaning the house (not that any of us are getting that done this month, right?). It’s what happens when we’re into our novels enough that the characters and the situation are with us even when we aren’t directing our minds toward them. When we’re engaged in an activity that doesn’t require our full attention, our minds will sometimes drift across the landscape of story we’re working on and come up with the best ideas! It’s one of the most fun things about writing.

That’s what I’m hoping for tonight.

In the meantime, I took some photos. My camera has literally been on the shelf since I got back from Houston just before Halloween. This evening I heard the wind coming up and I looked outside. It was just before dusk and the cornstalks in the garden were doing fantastic things in the gusting wind. I got a new flash when I was in Houston and it is supposed to not only help me with the low light but also capturing motion. One of my frustrations is that I haven’t had time to learn to use it!

Happily, I took the time to get the camera and go outside. I got the shot above as well as some other blurry ones that I love. I still don’t know what I’m doing with the flash but that’s one of the great things about digital: you can see the mistakes you’ve made immediately. Instantaneous feedback! It felt good to shoot some photos, so much so that I’m vowing to take a few everyday through the rest of the month. It’s not as if it takes that much time and it feels great to *focus* on something other than writing.

Sorry.

I also uploaded an excerpt to my nano profile page.

Dear Fellow Wrimos,

The half-way mark!!!
Does it feel good or depressing?
I guess that depends on how we’ve done so far. If you’re way ahead in the word count, it probably feels good. You’ve been on a roll and it shows. If you’re behind, it feels as if you might never catch up and two more weeks may not seem like enough time. If you’re like me and just hit the 25,000 mark, it feels FINE…but there are no fireworks. It just means two more weeks of hard core writing!

But I think how we’ve done so far is a bad predictor of how the rest of the month will go.

For me, Nano this year seems to turn on a dime. Yesterday was hard; today was a joy. In the same way, a free-for-all beginning that is fun to write, may not be so much fun as the plot thickens. And being way behind can be the biggest motivator of all. Nothing like a looming deadline to get us going.

Either way, whatever our word count now, and however it turns out, we can be proud and satisfied to have written a great deal more than most people do in a year (or more).

Mine is definitely half full.

Onward,
Nanc

This Jackson Pollock widget is one I found this morning on Michelle's lovely blog: Lady Language. Thank you, Michelle! I saw the website (sorry, I don't seem to have bookmarked it so I can't link it right now) several months ago and I thought was so fun and funny, but I hadn't seen the widget until this morning. I immediately got it for my very own and posted it on The PCQ.

Here's a link to some real Jackson Pollocks.

To play with it, just pass your mouse over it. Click to get a different colour. That's it. Splashing "Paint" without the clean-up.

I feel like I could use a nice long session of splashing real paint. Fingerpainting. Bodypainting. I need to break out a little. I've been writing almost everyday for two weeks now and it's getting to me even though yesterday I didn't write at all. I woke up early, worried about all the other things in my life that I've been neglecting---typical for NaNoWriMo. So I set out to do the ones I could. It was paper work and tax stuff (my favourite) and lots of little noodling things. Later, even though I had the time to write, I simply couldn't get in that frame of mind again.

Today was gruesome. Not only did I know and could-not-forget that I had to write twice as much in order to catch up, I also felt like I'd written myself into several corners.

I didn't know what the hell I was thinking when I had this character say that and the other do this! I knew that I could either go back and rewrite those things that were giving me fits or I could suck it up and figure out how to make it work for me. I decided on the sucking up choice. It remains to be seen if what I am writing will work or not, but it feels good that at least I didn't run from my own choices. I'm going to go with them for now and maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised at some future date.

A novel is like a puzzle. Do you do crosswords or sudoku? It can be like any kind of puzzle that's a challenge. It starts off kind of fun and not too hard and then you get to a point where you have to really think and then, it gets very hard and the next step is to assume that somehow the incredibly asinine editors of that particular puzzle made a mistake and there's no solution!!!! They must have goofed! It's all wrong. No way to get it to work.

But then, another part of your mind kicks in and tells you that you are a silly goosehead and of course they didn't screw it up. You realize that you have to work harder. Keep at it. Don't give up. More than anything else, ASSUME you can make it work. Be confident in the fact that if you go at it from a different perspective or angle or state of mind, you will be able to find the solution. You'll be successful and in the figuring it out part, you'll have fun and be proud of yourself.

So that's the stage of writing that happens in the second two weeks. If you find your novel is a giant challenging puzzle, keep working at it until you find out what the solution is. The editor never goofs! Silly head.

Today I passed the 20,000 word mark. Now it’s supposed to be smooth sailing for week, right? Something like that.

What I seem to remember from years past is that during the second weeks of the month there are a few brilliant days of massive word count because it’s all flowing stupendously well and then in there all mixed up with the Good Days, are days of complete and total misery due to the fact that what has been free flowing (sometimes disconcertedly so) set-up now has to be turned into Properly Plotted Scenes. [That's something like Properly Clotted Creams without the calories---or taste.]

It tends to get tight toward the middle of the end. Hmmm. Must be some metaphorical (or physiological) significance somewhere in that sentence….

I do not have any words of wisdom for myself tonight so I think I’ll keep this short. I simply had to blog since today on the twelfth of November, I joined NaNo—no, no—NaBloPoMo. God. I don’t even know what it stands for, but there I was: signing up, giving out all my most personal of information, signing my real name, agreeing to god-knows what terms, uploading photos of myself, writing out a way-too-long and also boring *About Me* section and signing up for about 30 groups. All I know is that I’m supposed to blog everyday in the month of November. Since I was doing it anyway, it had to be worth my time to do all that fixing up of yet again one more social networking group. Right?

Time to go. I hope those Terms of Agreement that I didn’t read didn’t include having to be brilliant.

Hah. No real chance of that on either end.