Say goodbye to NaNoWriMo 2011 and my obsessive edit of my first 50 pages.

My kids in the Young Writers Program both made their word count goals. One with a day to spare, and the other staying up a little past bedtime to wrap it up. It is surprising how much one can write in a day when pressed!

I’m so proud of these guys. We all know that first draft can be hard. Writing every day can be hard. And getting to the end of our stories can sure be hard. They did it!

Now? We will be spending the next few weeks learning about revision, starting with proper dialogue formatting. Then I’ll be able to read what they typed without going cross eyed. I remember I used to hate taking the time to put in the quotes when I was in school. Now it’s second nature. They’ll get there, too.

For me, my fifty pages grew with my character’s thoughts, feelings, and motivation (and other details) to over seventy pages. Some of the changes I made changed the trajectory of the plot so now I need to follow the thread through until it matches up with the second plot point. Then I get to take what I learned for my first fifty and apply to the rest of the book.

I’d like to set my goal to have this all done by the end of the year, but I don’t know. Life gets full of activities the closer we get to Christmas, but we’re also taking a break from homeschool soon so I’ll have that extra time.

And speaking of goals! I should take another look at my goals for the year. Four more weeks to complete my 2011 goals. I almost forgot about that list. *gulp* I haven’t been good with reviewing it. Hope I’ve covered most of them by now.

Next thing you know, we’ll be talking about 2012 writing goals…

Just 10 days ago, we were playing in the surf on an Australian beach

Looks like the 974 words I wrote for NaNo on November 1st will be the grand total for my 2011 NaNo experience. Moving around the world really put a major wrench in my monthly writing goals. I’ve been in the U.S. for almost a week and I am still exhausted. I feel like I’m going to die if I don’t take a nap at 3pm, but I hang in there so that I’ll sleep great at night. My plans are always to go to sleep early, even 7pm or 8pm if necessary so that I’ll end up with 7-10 hours of sleep even if I wake up way early.

But it seems like every night I get a second wind and I no longer feel like going to bed early. Then I still end up not sleeping well and waking up tired. Sigh. Monday I had to get back to work, regardless of my sleep schedule. I got an awful lot done. Tuesday wasn’t bad either. But I can barely remember what I did then, let alone what I still have to do. I’d be lost without my to do list. In fact, I’ll walk into a room for…I’m sorry, why did I come in here?

These are normal things that happen to people sometimes, but since the flight from Sydney all of these things are part of my life constantly. I’ve written three articles in the last two days, and I think they were moderately good, but I still feel lost inside my head. I think maybe I should write about that, but I’m afraid I’d save it someplace by some name that I’d never find again!

All I can hope for now is to keep up with the major deadlines and show up to the family gatherings without forgetting what day it is. At some point in the (near? please, God, let it be near) future, all of this will fade into a distant memory and I’ll be back to working efficiently. But I can just imagine that John will be offered a contract in London or something right about then, and I’ll be moving again.

Ah, the life of an adventurer!  :)

          It doesn’t look like I’m going to win NaNo this year. I only have about 17,000 words written. That’s not really an insurmountable problem. I could write like a maniac over the next few days and bring my word count up. I’ve done it before.. This year is different, though. I doubt I’ll reach 50,000 words. (Unless I suddenly get bit by the competitive bug and go crazy.)

          But in my mind, I’m still a winner. This month marks the beginning of the end of my long writing-drought. The painful life-events of the past year are behind me (or almost behind me) and I’m on the road to emotional healing. It’s been difficult to write this month, but oh-so therapeutic. Here’s what I’ve “won” this NaNo:

• I have 17,000 words that were not written 4 weeks ago. (Only about 1/2 are actual scenes and story, but the journal entries are full of fodder for more scenes.)
• I re-established a writing routine. (Stumbling and stuttering though it is, it is still a routine.)
• I have reawakened the muse in me. (She’s still a bit groggy, but she’s awake.)

          So, yes, I might not be declared a winner on the NaNoWriMo site, but that’s okay. I’m still a winner.

          What about you? What have you won this NaNo?

Only a few more days left in November. Time to hit the word count hard…whether you’ve been writing madly during NaNoWriMo, or merely editing the same crazy 50 pages (+ scene chart + synopsis), like me.

Here’s my editing goal for the end of the month: to make more connections. Connections between the chapters and the characters.

My main character needs to think more about events that happened in earlier chapters and how those events affect what is presently going on and then what is going to happen (or what she thinks is going to happen) in the future. This is something that will help make my chapters less episodic. And, it will give the reader more time in my character’s head, which is still lacking.

My critiquer mentioned something brilliant, something about these reflective moments being like connective tissue between scenes and chapters. Ah! I get it. Now, to make it happen.

          Another Monday slipped up on me! I almost forgot about posting this blog. But not for the usual reasons. Yay!

          I’ve been busy writing on my NaNoNovel . . . or whatever it is I’m writing. At the moment, it is just a mixture of scenes, journal entries and guided discussions with myself. Verbalizing the emotions of these past few months is helping me to define them. Defining them is leaching them of their power away over me. Finally, the creative side of me is re-emerging. Tentatively. A tiny sigh here, a stray comment there, a hesitant suggestion whispered in my mind’s ear. That’s okay. That’s as it should be. It takes time to heal from trauma. A body lies in the ICU, being cared for and monitored for many days, even weeks after a physical trauma. Just as I needed “trama-ICU” time to heal emotionally, so I need “trauma-ICU” time to heal creatively. And I am . . . healing, that is.

          Last week I read a guest blog on Storyfix.com. Art Holcomb, the guest blogger, tells a story of his 1st published piece. One scene was pivotal. That one scene made the piece authentic. That one scene started him on the road to writing as a career. More importantly, though, it also started him on the road of discovering and healing through his writing.

          In another Storyfix blog, one that sounds almost un-Larry-like, Larry also encourages us to write. He suggests that maybe all “our Muse” is waiting for is for us to sit down and start. If we would just start writing, what we need to write will be made clear. (I told you it didn’t sound like Larry. )

          Art encourages us to write with our hearts. To learn our craft, but to keep letting the six-year-old in us out to play. In doing so, we’ll grow as people and as writers. Larry encourages us to write, again with our hearts. In the doing, we will discover what we need to write. And now I add my voice to theirs and encourage you to write. That’s what I’m doing. That’s what I’ve done. And in the doing I am healing and I am discovering myself and, even more exciting, I am discovering Story! Sometimes it comes slow; sometimes it comes so fast my fingers can’t keep up. Either way, I’m writing! I’m writing! I’M WRITING!

          Come join my happy dance all over the keyboard.

Eight days ago, National Novel Writing Month started and I was feeling quite good about my first day’s progress. Six days ago, John got a text message saying the job he expected to get wasn’t going to come through. Suddenly we were looking at a calendar and seeing we had three weeks to get out of Australia before our visas expired! (They are good until 2015, unless John isn’t working at a sponsoring company.)

Needless to say, I haven’t gotten any more writing done! These are the kinds of things that can really derail your momentum. I had just gotten started with my self-publishing business and I’m still in the middle of bringing Little Miss Lovesick to print before Christmas. But now my days are so full of packing that I didn’t even have time to get this blog posted on time.

Still, what can you take from unexpected roadblocks? You can get upset, of course. But that’s an easy way out. The more difficult but, I believe, better path is to find a way to use the roadblocks. The other day when I was really freaking out, I was trying to think of a way to calm down…so I gave my feelings to the character of the short story I’m writing for an anthology. That poor girl is really having some terrible days in my head, but I’m feeling much better!

If NaNo (or any of your writing) started out well for you but has already hit some bumps, look for ways to use the bumps to make a more interesting story. And remember all the other times that you had roadblocks and you got through them. You’ll get through these as well. We both will. (On the hard days, I remember – I’ll be home for Thanksgiving!!)

Meanwhile, I’ve got to go pack. And I think my character is going to have some packing/moving issues in her story.

          Week 2 of NaNoWriMo!

          I may be the only one on this blog actually writing new material this month. Shonna’s editing and Kitty’s moving.

          That’s right! I. Am. Writing!

          Tuesday, Day 1 of NaNoWriMo, I met with a few local Wrimos for a kick-off write-in. I sat down to write and a little over 2 hours later, I had 3600+ words over about 6 barebones scenes. It was mostly dialogue and some action tags. Just like a all my other first drafts. It all felt so NOMAL.

          For the first time in months, I felt like a writer! I wrote a sentence. Hesitated, unsure what to write next, then cued into the song being played on the sound system. My next sentence included something from the song. A few more hesitations and forced sentences of dialogue and suddenly I was rushing to finish one thought as another one was pushing its way through my fingers.

          My plan was to combine my journal writing with scenes. I wasn’t going to force myself to plan the story or even know what I wanted to happen to the characters. In fact, I hadn’t yet even dreamed up the characters. I was just going to write what came to mind, turning the emotions of the past few months and the memories of the past few years into scenes. Maybe changing events and people as I write, maybe not. Because I’m sure it will not be exactly “as it happened,” I’m calling it fictionalized memoirs.

          When I started writing on Tuesday, I expected to have to write stream of consciousness drivel for pages and pages as I forced myself to write. Not so! The closest I came to drivel was a short 100-200 word paragraph listing several scene ideas that flooded into my brain faster than I could type. I could see how they would illustrate the progression of the main character’s emotional journey and didn’t want to lose the insight. I’ve since included some journaling and narrative, but that first day was pure fiction!

          It was like getting onto a bike after years of not riding. It was like picking up crochet needles and crocheting a granny square after years of no crocheting. It was like . . . returning to the keyboard and writing fiction after months of no words. It all came back: the flow of the words, the germination of an ideas, the way those ideas grew and grew the more it flowed through my fingers, the flickering glimpses of multiple places I could take the scene, the exhilaration of capturing those ideas, the equal exhilaration of not being able to capture them all, the interrupting the flow of dialogue for just a moment to write a few cryptic words, believing that when I returned to those words in saner times, I’d remember the idea that triggered them. And the faith that even if I missed one of those sweet muse offerings, there were plenty more to play with in the coming days.

          The following days have not been as full, not quite as sweet, but every day since has been productive. When I actually sit down to write and force myself past that first scene-starting sentence or two, the words take off! Just like I remember. So familiar and so, so missed. Muse, Welcome back! We are making music!

          Yes. It was a good, good day! It’s been a good, good week. Viva la NaNo!

After participating in NaNoWriMo for several years, I feel really weird not being in frantic writing mode this month. Although we’re only a few days in, my NaNo Rebelling makes me feel like I’m missing out on something.

I miss the camaraderie associated with pounding out a first draft with everyone else. My kids are on their third year of the Young Writer’s Program and my competitive son wants me to work on a new novel so he can beat me. He lives on the YWP website this month, getting ideas from the Dare Machine, and impatiently waiting for new videos or comics to be posted. My daughter, not as much into NaNo as the rest of us, chose this year to write some fan fiction based on Daisy Meadow’s Rainbow Magic fairies. More of an illustrator than a writer, she uses her novel writing time as an excuse to draw pictures.

Me? I’m still plugging away at edits, wondering how much time I should put into one project before moving on to another. I wish I could latch on to that NaNo excitement with my edits, but it’s not working. It’s not the same thing. It’s slower, more deliberate.

The learning part of my rebelling? I’ve taken the time to play around with Scrivener for Windows. I am really excited about how you can attach document notes to single pages. When writing historical novels I tend to write footnotes in the early drafts so I remember where I learned a certain historical fact. But as the draft gets edited and I start sending it out, I delete the footnotes so I don’t drive my critiquers crazy. Then I lose track of which draft held all my notes. Now, I’ll be able to keep my facts organized so much better. Yay.

If you ARE participating in NaNoWriMo and need some pointers to get you going, here’s a rundown I did last year on the best tips we’ve posted:

http://www.routinesforwriters.com/2010/10/08/best-of-nanowrimo-prep/

Yesterday I was so relieved to start a day without file taxes, fill out Medicare levy exemption paperwork, or compile medical reimbursement for insurance on my To Do list. All done. Yay! The day only became sweeter when I found/took the time to sit down and write for a while. Ahhh, joy.

I had a plan – I really did – to work on my short story first since it has the earliest deadline. I have some notes, but it’s still weak in the area of plot. Because I needed to fill out the applications to be considered to teach some writing workshops at the RWA National Conference next year, I had business-y stuff on my brain. Turns out, I made about 500 words each of headway on the two business ebooks I want to write.

By the end of the day, I had 974 words to put in the NaNo word counter. Yay! I haven’t done any today, but I’d already planned for today to be a pretend sick day. Yesterday John and I went to the wrap party for Happy Feet 2. It was a blast! We had soooooo much fun!! LOL!! We drank and danced and toasted the film and talked and laughed and talked and drank and danced and laughed. I think that covers everything. So I knew I was going to be out of my mind with exhaustion today. Just that many more words to write tomorrow.

How are the first few days going for you? I’d like to offer a suggestion. Enjoy it.

Enjoy the writing, the not-writing (there’s a good chance John and I are going to the Grand Opening of a new IKEA tomorrow), the thinking, the daydreaming, the wondering what in the world you could possibly put on paper, enjoy it all. I think that is one of the great keys to creativity.

Enjoy!  :)

          It begins tomorrow Correction: It begins at . . . Midnight! NaNoWriMo 2011 is upon us!

          Are you going to participate? Or are you a rebel? Planning something different for the month? Or determined to churn out 50,000 words on a work of fiction in true NaNoWriMo style?

          Me? I’m not sure. But that’s typical, (Isn’t it, Kitty and Shonna?) I often don’t know what I’m going to write until I put fingers to keyboard. And I can live with that.

          The past several months have been difficult for me emotionally. I’ve done very little writing. But! As I’ve healed emotionally, my desire to write has returned. Unfortunately, it seems my ability has gone on vacation. My journal is full of entries, but creating stories eludes me. Even when a truly splendid idea bubbles up into my mind. I can’t seem to hold the idea long enough to get it written.

          But, again, that’s okay. It’s all part of the healing process I’m going through. And NaNoWriMo is going to be part of that healing process.

          I’m going to continue journaling for NaNoWriMo. With a twist. I’m going to take the memories and the emotions of the past years and write them into scenes and stories. These events I’ve journaled and the emotions I’m still working through, are full of possibilities. NaNoWriMo is my chance to focus more intensely on them and transform them into . . . something else.

          I’m not sure what will happen. I may end up with 50,000 words of emotional drivel that no one wants to read. (Including me.) I might end up with memoirs or an autobiography. (Which no one will want to read. ) Or I might end up with scenes, vignettes, even complete storylines that only vaguely resemble my emotions or experiences. (Which might be able to be polished into something someone . . . my best friend, maybe . . . will want to read.) But I will end up with 50,000 words of fictionalized . . . something.

          That’s ok. For me, NaNoWriMo is my time to work through my emotions and at the same time, bring my fiction back to life. I might be a NaNoWriMo Rebel, but, come December, I’m going to be an emotionally healthier one.

          Get Ready! Get Set! . . .