Category: NaNoWriMo

Countdown to NaNoWriMo

Posted on by Dana

NaNoWriMoNaNoWriMo begins at midnight! I would love for you to follow my project. I could use the encouragement.

I already have a title, despite saying the podcast I shared in the last blog post that I’m not sure titles usually come—or even should come—before the writing. The title was too perfect, though. My project is called Quicksand after the real town in Kentucky where my grandmother was born and where my novel will be set. I am telling a sort of hybrid of my grandparents’ lives in the Great Depression. Both have fascinating and fairly sad backgrounds. I am not sure what the plot will be. I’ve played with some ideas, but I’m not yet really excited about any of them, so I’m hoping the characters can help me figure that out.

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Question of Honor Podcast #1

Posted on by Dana

On the way home from dropping my daughter off to stay with her father for the weekend, I decided to record this podcast using my iPhone. I didn’t edit it much, and as such you can hear some mild road traffic and the windshield wipers slapping every now and then, but I think it works. It’s informal—just me talking about some elements of writing my book. With NaNoWriMo beginning this weekend, I have been reflecting on the process of writing the last book I completed, and I really wanted to record these thoughts in the form of a podcast rather than writing so that I could turn off the editor and just talk.

A Question of Honor #1

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R.I.P. and NaNoWriMo Update

Posted on by Dana

R.I.P. ChallengeI am not doing well with the R.I.P. Challenge. Despite a strong start in which I finished half the challenge in short order, I have stalled toward the end and have not been reading much. I am blaming my iPhone. I have too many cool apps now, such as the Scrabble app, which have taken me away from reading. I am not at all certain I can finish my remaining two books, Dracula and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, without some serious focus over the last week. I’m reading Dracula on the iPhone, and judging from the progress bar along the top, I’m nearly 2/3 through the book. I have only read two chapters of We Have Always Lived in the Castle though.

Another distraction from reading has been my planning for NaNoWriMo. You can see my profile here. I am excited about my project, but I’m kind of at a loss as to what my plot will be. I think I know who my main characters are. I have worked up a plan that includes helpful websites, character maps, inspirational pictures and music, and possible plot ideas in Curio, but I don’t know what my “conflict” is. I don’t know what my story will be. Some ideas I’m playing with include:

  • a retelling of a Shakespearean play (leaning toward Macbeth or Cymbeline—and of the two, leaning more toward the latter) in the Kentucky coal fields
  • feuding families embroiled in murder
  • the hero’s journey
  • Greek tragedy in KY coal fields
  • unfounded murder accusation and imprisonment

The retelling idea is intriguing, but ambitious, and I’m not sure I am up for it. If I go with feuding families or murder, what is the story? Why am I telling the story? So I am not feeling really ready, and it starts in about a week.

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NaNoWriMo 2009

Posted on by Dana

NaNoWriMoI must be crazy.

I’m a full-time wife, mother, and English teacher and half-time grad school student, and I really don’t have time to write. On the other hand, I do feel like I have a story that needs to come out. Well, a couple actually, and I haven’t decided yet which one I will write.

In other news, I discovered that NaNoWriMo purges your account if you haven’t logged in for over a year, and my old account is now gone, though my previous username was available.

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NaNoWriMo?

Posted on by Dana

Last year, my progress in NaNoWriMo was impeded by the fact that for some reason, this challenge takes place in November.  I just didn’t have the time I wanted to devote to the project.  But I liked my novel idea, and I want to continue with it.  However, it is against the NaNoWriMo rules to bring a manuscript you’ve already started or to begin before November.  Therefore, I don’t think I’ll be participating in NaNoWriMo this year.

Do any of you know of another site or organization similar to NaNoWriMo that I can participate in?  Let me know in the comments.

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NaNoWriMo Assessment

Posted on by Dana

After I got sick and lost precious momentum, I pretty much gave up on meeting the deadline.  So I didn’t try.  I’m not mad at myself.  I refuse to make myself feel guilty because life got in the way of something I wanted to try to do.  I am not, however, going to give up.  Some time when I have more time to devote to it, I will pick up my project again.  I think I had a pretty good idea, and I’m still excited about it.  I’m just very busy, and I can’t do everything. I’m not sorry I gave it a shot, either.  I will probably try it again.

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I Was Just Minding My Own Business

Posted on by Dana

I drove up to the school today to get my phone — I thought I had left it there.  Nope.  I don’t know where it is, and I left it on buzz last time, so even if I called it, I doubt I’d find it.  Anyway, while I was there, I updated my classroom blog.  It was very quiet, and I imagine that I could probably get a lot done there on the weekends.  I left and stopped by the store for a few groceries.  Right as I was getting ready to cross over the Chattahoochee into Roswell, some blonde (no offense Lara) plowed into me.  Just minding my own business. I feel OK, and the car has minimal damage, but I would be surprised if her car was not totaled.  This one wasn’t my fault!

In other news NaNoWriMo is going badly.  Being sick took me out of the loop, and I need to work hard to catch up and get back in the game.  And I’m just not feeling it today.  In fact, I’m probably going to play Nintendo after I post this.

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It’s Just a Cold

Posted on by Dana

But it feels worse.  I went to the doctor this morning to see if I had bronchitis or walking pneumonia because that’s how bad I felt, but the diagnosis is a cold.  I have some fancy expensive new medicine, so we’ll see if that helps.

The nurse was telling me about how she had breakfast at Waffle House — sausage and waffles.  I have to admit it pleased me to hear a nurse talking about eating at one of my favorite greasy spoons.  Anyway, I decided to get some breakfast there myself while waiting for my prescription to be filled.  I was creeped out by the guy sitting next to me at the counter.  Then this other guy came in and talked to himself the whole time he was there.  I was looking all over for a Bluetooth something-or-other, but no, he was talking to himself.  The guy at the counter said he was just Elton, and he preached to himself and came in every day (which meant counter-man did, too, I guess), and that he was harmless.  OK.

There are these trees with absolutely the most beautiful, perfect shade of orange all over town right now.

I voted.  Now I am supposed to be relaxing.  I am going to try to think of something to write for my book today; now I’m falling really behind.

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NaNo Update

Posted on by Dana

I don’t know if I like my book idea anymore. I think this is a stage reached by most authors at some point. As I am writing, I keep asking if I have enough for a book here or if it wouldn’t be a better short story. I don’t know. I am going to plug away, though. I wrote a little today, despite not feeling like it. I’m done for now. I get so frustrated. I really want to write like some of these good books I’ve read lately, especially The Thirteenth Tale and The Ghost Writer, but I’m not happy with what I’m producing at the moment. On the positive side, I have exceeded 10% of my word count goal. I am hoping I will feel better next weekend and be able to write more. I think part of my problem right now is I just don’t feel well enough to write. Maybe what I need to do is lay lie down and read.

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