Camp Nanowrimo

http://campnanowrimo.org/

Hey!

Because life isn't crazy enough, I am going to do Camp NaNoWriMo this August! Actually, I need the kick in the pants to get back to writing regularly, and Nano has always done that for me.

Also, I'm cheating this summer: I am going to use Camp Nano to finish my BIAM novel from last August. 50K words are a few more than the novel technically needs to be "finished," but it is easier to cut than to add (some say).

I'm inviting my writing friends to join the challenge! If you sign up for Camp Nano, friend me! I'm "Marenster."

ta

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Rev #2 of Dragon Book DONE

Hooray!

I'm done with my revision of my "Dragons in Oregon" novel. I like the book a lot, and I hope some publisher will scoop it up and ask me to write books 2 and 3.

Ah, it feels good to finish a project. Now to print it and stick it in the mail.

Now, to finish the "Alpaca Romance Novel" project.

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Brief Update 7/2011

Hello!

Well, I have emerged from the infant-induced hiatus to another summer when I am not teaching. I am learning the trick of getting both the girls down for a nap at the same time so I can actually work.

The other trick is to put them both in daycare for a couple days a week. Maybe later this summer I'll blog about the guilt associated with paying a babysitter so I can write, but not today.

My brief writing update is as follows: I am finishing a full revision of my fantasy novel, working title Something. I thought that I had made edits/revisions to the whole book last summer before WWC, but I had only done the first half, thinking anyone who would want to see it would only ask for the first fifty pages first.

Here's a tip: DAW wants the entire manuscript right off the bat.

So, before I send the book to them, I needed to finish the edits. Plus, one of my first readers suggested a couple revisions to the characters arcs that made a lot of sense to me.

The good news is that I am totally in love with this book again. It is as much fun to read and work on the second time as it was the first. I really hope someone wants to publish it.

After I finish that book, I'm going to finish writing the alpaca romance novel I started last August. I think I'm about 60K into it. I need to flesh out the "B" plot, and then revise it to go into the mail to publishers.

That's it for now!

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Stephen Fry Kinetic Typography

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7E-aoXLZGY&sns=fb

This expresses the quintessential debate I have with my husband about grammar, and why, though I teach Writing to Freshmen in college, I am not hugely devoted to prescriptionist grammar, as my husband is.

Ironically, he is the person who sent this to me.

I love that man.

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I'm a professional!

...at least by some definitions.

I received my very first writing paycheck yesterday! Hooray! It was for this play review. I'm going to frame a copy of the check and hang it in my office.

I needed a boost yesterday, too. :)

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Late-term pregnancy really kills the drive to write...

Just as my first trimester was marked by complete exhaustion and no writing, these last weeks have also been characterized by me sleeping as much as possible and writing very little. Given my druthers, I would take a nap at 10 am and another at 2 pm. That rarely happens, but this means that I am walking in a fog most of the time.

This isn't to say that I haven't written at all: I banged out a 600 word flash fiction story based on the prompt from the NPR "3-minute story" contest, and I wrote a play review for a local paper. However, I've done nothing toward the BIAM 2010 book, nor have I re-revised or submitted the other two books.

The good news is that the editor of the Salem Weekly like the above play review so much that he's asked me to write more often for them. Heck, yeah. I'll take some freelance work to keep my mind in "drive." I did tell him that my second child is due any minute (literally, though the due date is Nov. 9), but that I definitely wanted to write for him.

So, sleeping has replaced writing and will soon be replaced by infant care. Perhaps by Christmas I'll be in a position to begin writing regularly again. I'm not expecting more than that any time soon, though.

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BIAM 50K in 30 days SUCCESS!

Hello Everyone!

I finished the Book In a Month (BIAM) challenge/NANOWRIMO in August quest on Saturday, Sept 11, 2010, with a total of 50,021 words, a completed "A" plot, and lots of "B" plot sketches! The book is not "finished," but it has a good shape, and I'm pleased with it. The log line reads something like "Pride and Prejudice (or Bridget Jone's Diary) meets a rural Oregon alpaca Farm."

I wasn't sure I was going to make it because there were several days when I didn't write a word because my schedule was derailed or because I was just too damned tired to write. That might have to do with me being 7 months pregnant during the month, and chasing a toddler. You know, life.

Anyway, if your goal is to write 1,667 words a day every day, and you find yourself facing three days of big, fat, goose eggs (that's 5,001 words, btw), it can feel like you'll never catch up. However, I have an amazingly supportive husband who took the toddler for a couple mornings, which allowed me to dig myself out of this hole. I also have to give thanks for double decaf soy mochas. Decaf may not have caffeine, but it is very stimulating, anyway.

Besides life and the toddler, one thing that got in my way this time was a bit of a slow-down in the second act of the book. This is where the books Book in a Month and Save the Cat really, really helped. Save the Cat is actually a screenplay book, but I have been told (and experienced) that the beats in a screenplay correspond rather nicely with those in a novel. Also proving this point, the BIAM book was written by Victoria Schmidt, a woman with a film background. Many of the "beats" she describes in her book closely correspond to the ones in Snyder's book.

What this means is that when I was stuck in the second act of the book, I could look at Snyder's beat sheet or Schmidt's equivalent and think to myself, "Oh, yes. This is the 'fun and games section.' What can I do here that would be fun?" or "Oh, yes. My villain needs to be more evil. What can I do to make her truly awful?" This would prompt me to go on to write my quota for the day (or several days if I were catching up).

I ended up really liking BIAM. The book is spiral-bound and set up so that you can fill in a bunch of worksheets to keep track of things like character traits, book themes, and setting details. This is basically all the stuff you organized novelists keep in your story bibles. The book suggests that you buy a new copy of the book for each novel you write, so you have all the useful information for each project in one spot. I thought this was a very clever marketing ploy, and promptly re-created the forms either with pen and paper in my story bible notebook or in my word processor.

Now, I am a very lazy person, and I did not fill in each and every form that Ms. Schmidt laid out for us, at least at first. There were several that I later went back and filled in because, indeed, I couldn't remember if my heroine had green eyes or gray, or which of her lovers had a freckle on his bum. A little due diligence on my part would have made it so I didn't have to go pawing through the earlier parts of the book looking for that information. The next time I teach the NANOWRIMO or BIAM class, I'm going to require Schmidt's book and strongly recommend Snyder's.

I think due to new rules, I'm supposed to disclose whether or not I was given a free sample of the books I review, so here you go: I wasn't. However, just in case any publishers are out there looking for reviewers, I will gladly accept and review free copies of books, especially books on writing--composition, exposition, fiction or otherwise. Just drop me an email, and I'll send you my physical address.

So, now my projects include finishing this alpaca romance and getting ready for school to start in the next couple weeks. Baby is due in early November, which is the reason that I cannot participate in the normal NANOWRIMO this year. I don't expect to be writing much at all once babykins arrives for at least three months, but we'll see. If you keep a habit long enough, it becomes tough to break. That is, if writing 1,000 words a day is as natural as brushing my teeth, maybe I'll be able to do that while a child is occupying the other 98% of my brain.

ta
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