Check in

So, here's what's going on with me and my novel.

First off, I've been really sick this month! Not coughing up a lung or anything, but I've really not been feeling well. I think at least some of it is from anxiety/stress, but overall I've mostly been wanting to curl up and stay in bed. It's been a little horrible.

As a result I've missed a lot of writing days. There have been 6 days so far this month that I just haven't written anything, and one day where I didn't write near enough. So at this point I'm 6900 words behind on the NaNoWriMo scale (1667 words a day), and 10,500 words behind on my personal goal (2000 words a day). Currently my new goal is to write 6k words tomorrow and Tuesday, and then 4500 on Wednesday, which will bring me back up to where I want to be.

And I'm going to do this by starting over.

Yep - I'm starting over on my story. Second time, actually. I'm keeping the words I've written toward my novel (after all - I wrote them toward it!), but I'm starting from the beginning again.

Also, on Thursday I think I'm going to play around with making a cover. It's a thing people do. Also making a map of my world. I've made a very dorky map of the complex where most of the action in this book is happening, but there's a whole other world to look at!

The story I'm writing is named The Chronicles of Meija Healer, Book One: Slave (or Escape, I can't decide which I want). Like I mentioned earlier, it's a story I started back in middle school, but didn't get very far with (which means I wrote some 100 pages, but the plot went absolutely nowhere - or rather, went everywhere in a very chaotic fashion). I spent a lot of today thinking about exactly how I wanted the story to go - so hopefully writing tomorrow will go fairly smoothly.

Currently I'm at 11424 words. Pretty good, if I say so myself. Too bad they're all backstory!

And We're Off!

So, today hasn't been the best of days for me (I woke up feeling extremely ill, and spent much of the day either in bed or laying on the couch), but I did it! I reached my NaNo word goal, although not my personal word goal.

The NaNoWriMo word goal is 1667 words each day. This gets you to just over 50,000 words by the end of the month. There is little time for slacking or breaks. It's just writewritewrite, and if you miss a day it is horrible. Today I reached (and passed) the 1667 mark.

For myself I set a goal this year that, at least for this first week, I'm going to try for 2500 words each day. This would give me a buffer, so that if I do need to take a break for some reason, I have at least a day's worth of words saved up. Like I said: I did not reach this goal today.

I was torn between stories this year - but not until it was nearly Halloween! All of October I was trying to think of what to write, then suddenly, I came up with two ideas.

First was a story I started way back in middle school/Junior High. Originally it was about a girl named Mika who was stolen from her home as a child and was a slave for an evil king with an impossible to pronounce name. She, along with something like seven friends, escaped (at the prompting of her spirit guide/ancestor/heroic figure) and fled to her home in the middle of the woods. Then they went to another country and overthrew the evil princess who was ruling there (her sister was one of Mika's companions), then they went back to the Abbey and trained up a fighting force, then they went back to the castle for an epic battle.

It was all over the place and more than a little embarrassing to think of now.

I've updated and streamlined the plot a little for Nano - my thinking is that it would end up being two books, one about Mika's (who is now named Meija [IPA: meɪʒæ]) escape from slavery, and the other about her return and the subsequent war.

So now the story is: Meija was stolen from her home as a child and is a slave for an evil king. She, along with four friends, are prompted to escape by an escalation in violence against them and one of them becoming pregnant by their captors. The main story is about the escape and subsequent journey between the Grounds (my current name for the castle where Meija and the others are being kept) and Citel (the village/town/city/keep that Meija grew up in). The girls will have to battle wildlife both mundane (bears!) and magical (ogres!).

I'll talk about my other idea some other time. Suffice it to say, it was a love story that looked into some social and political things about the world the characters lived in. It was going to be adorable.

I chose Journey (Meija's story) because I had a better grasp on it, and on where I wanted to take it. If I'm going to be successful to any degree this year, I believe I need to have a good, solid foundation to build the story on - and the love story just didn't have that. Meija did.

Final wordcount for the day: 2044
Time spent writing: 1 hour and 15 minutes

NaNoWriMo 2012

I do it every year, and I have yet to win.

That's right, it's time for NaNoWriMo again! It's also time for Movember, which I think is a silly thing but a great cause. Too bad I can't grow a mustache. Perhaps I'll make some chocolate ones or something.

But this post is about Nano. Yes I'm trying it again this year. I at least think I'll do better than last year (where I believe I got about 2000 words in and gave up), and I'm even cautiously optimistic about being able to get to 50k words!

I know a lot of my problems in the past have been due to a complete and utter lack of planning. I was trying to write by the seat of my pants (which is the recommended way of doing Nano, from the creator), or I just had a vague idea or a couple of characters. That doesn't work for me. It's too easy for me to get distracted or lose interest in the story.

This year I'm going to plan all the little nitpicky bits. I'm planning on trying to follow a standard "layout" for whatever I choose to write - the Hero's Journey, for example. I'm going to have a good roadmap (storymap?) for where I'm going - beginning, middle, end. I think if I do that, I have a decent shot at doing this thing.

Not saying the product will be any good, just that it will actually exist this year.

On the other hand, I don't really have a plan yet. I have no clue what I want to write, I've been trying to think of the best story for this year. Something that I'm excited about, that I really want to tell.

Maybe it'll come to me in my sleep.

NaNoWriMo 2011

Well, here we are again. November first, the first day of National Novel Writing Month.

I have failed ot complete my novel (or to get passed 20,000 words) the last four years I have attempted this journey. I might fail again this year. I have no illusions that what I am attempting to undertake is difficult, time consuming, and I'm not ready at all.

But who knows, maybe fifth year's the charm.

And I don't care either way - at this point, I'm here for the journey.

I have no idea what I'm going to write. I had planned to spend October plotting, characterizing, and preparing for NaNo this year, to help mitigate some of my typical road blocks. That ... didn't exactly happen.

But, I have 24 hours to write 2000 words. And I get the exact same chance tomorrow, and the next day, and so on for 30 days! I have notebooks full of ideas. I have cheatsheets and 3x5 cards and a cleared off desk. I'm potentially buying a notebook tomorrow.

The sky is clear and the sun is bright and my way, while unmarked, is obvious.

I'm ready to dive in. Who's with me?