And So It Begins: Nanowrimo All Over Again

Mixed media art by Fayme Harper.

I have many ways of expressing myself. Sometimes I write a lot and sometimes I don't. This year I wasn't going to participate in the National Novel Writers Month. I felt like I had too many irons in the fire. But then I met the woman in charge of the local meetings for Nanowrimo and she introduced me to the California Writers Club and suddenly all I want to do is write. So as you can see, I've added the Nano badge to my sidebar. I'm writing a Steampunk Novel called Portal Motel. And now it's midnight, so that's all I have to say about that.

Starting Nanowrimo Today

I was intrigued about a book review for the New Gypsies, so I decided to make that the theme of my Nanowrimo novel. Currently the working title is Neogypsies and it starts out in 1978 in Laguna Beach Ca. I have 758 words so far, but it is time to break for dinner.

If I did the math right I need to write 1667 words a day to make 50,000 words in 30 days. I'm off to a good start today.

If you have no idea why I'm starting now, see my previous post.

I'm on the right. Taken in 1976.

Still Nano-ing along.

I am floundering with Nanowrimo. Even though I wrote over 3,000 words today, the halfway mark is Monday more or less, and 25,000 words are needed to be on the mark.  I just passed 17,000. And I didn't really like working this hard so much that I'd want to write 3,000 words a day from now until Nov. 30.
One of the writers I follow has already passed 50,000 words. I think she's at 95,000. My guess is that she is trying to do 100,000, or a double Nano. I'm just not competitive enough.  I actually feel so guilty putting other things on the back burner so I can do this challenge. I'm not ready to throw in the pen yet though. I am learning a lot about novel writing. Like timelines for example. Trying to get things in the right sequence with so many characters running around. Or writing the ending for some scene before I've written the beginning or the middle.

The other challenge is losing characters as I go along. Forgetting to write about some of the groups and carry them forward in the plot.

I've also had to change genres from chick lit to mystery. That's because I've killed off someone and now we need to figure out who did it and why. And now I have a kidnapping. But I don't know yet who ordered the kidnapping or what that has to do with the rest of the storyline. I have a new found appreciation for fiction writers.
I also at some point want to donate some cash to Nanowrimo. It must cost a fortune to keep this all running.

Nano update

It's almost 7 PM and I haven't even thought about working on my novel yet today. And I've already been on line for hours and was just about to leave to eat dinner. Which means it will be another couple of hours before I sit still long enough to write again. I should have planned this out better. Yah think?

My Hubchallenge Listings So Far

Hmm, I'm not going to get very far if I keep adding stuff to the ones I've already written instead of moving on. Here are my first five.5/100

http://hubpages.com/hub/You-Dont-Need-a … o-to-Dance
http://hubpages.com/hub/Polka-Dot-Pandamonium
http://hubpages.com/hub/100-Reasons-to-Dance
http://hubpages.com/hub/Skirts-101
http://hubpages.com/hub/Keeping-a-Daily-Blog

I'm doing pretty good for the third day of the challenge considering I didn't even start until day 2.

And Today I Write

I do write every day and I have for years. I write for online sites like http://www.hubpages.com. And I keep a journal. And now I vlog and blog.
Also I've written many a brochure for businesses I have owned and operated in the last 30 years. And of course many college papers and reports. I don't even know what I'd do if I didn't know how to read and write. And type. I learned to touchtype in high school in the 70's. And I've never regretted it. I almost didn't take the class because I didn't want to be pidgeonholed as a secretary. But then I remembered I wanted to be a writer, and I sure didn't want to waste my money hiring other people to type my books and papers. So as far as the most useful classes I've ever taken, typing is in the top ten I'm sure.

Working on a Book

A few days ago I started writing a new book. It is my goal and dream to have it published by a publisher, and even though I'd happily self-publish it and hope at some point a publisher would sign me on, and take the book and run with it, from what I've seen on the Internet, self-publishing is the kiss of death to a book if you ever want it to be published for the world at large.
So as much as I'd like to share excerpts I'm going to try to have some wisdom and play it close to my chest. I will talk about the process of writing the book however.

I recently turned 50 and after being told for years I should write books, and even getting a fortune in a cookie saying "You will write a book" I've never managed to finish any of the books I started, or even Nanowrimo for that matter. Undaunted however, I am starting again.

The genre of this book is probably going to be fantasy. I try to keep the fantasy out of my books but I always end up there eventually.

So far I have 12 characters, 7 boys and five girls. I've drawn a map of where they live so I can see how close or far apart they might be which should help the flow of the book immensely. For example, if I write, 'They all met at the park in the middle of town,' it helps to know where the middle of town is, what the name of the park is, and how close they live to it. And who would logically walk to the park with whom. What stores will they pass? What logical characters would they meet? So with the map firmly in hand, I'll be able to visualize it so much better.

So far everything is written in longhand, so at some point I'll have to type it all into my computer before I screw around and misplace the notebook it's in, which I am notorious for doing. The next step is to draw each character so I can keep straight who has what color hair and who wears glasses and so forth. Anyway, on with the show. Wish me luck.