Another Insane Month in the Land of Nanowrimo!

(My Plot Bunny)

. . . and thus Nanowrimo begins . . . 

Nanowrimo . . . National Novel Writing Month, which takes place every November, has begun.  The goal is to write 50,000 words in the course of a month.  Full literary abandonment.  The writing doesn't even have to be good!  The goal is to simply write.

I've known about Nano since 2003, in which I completely failed that year, school taking precedence.  In 2011 I finally finished all 50,000 words, though the quality of my writing was very ill, I did get some interesting ideas in the process.  Last year was a mess.  I don't even think I started writing until day 5, and missed several days from that point to the end.  I did manage to miraculously blog every single day in November.  We'll see if that holds true again this year.  But last year, just to make the goal, I wrote 10,000 words in one day, words I will never let anyone read.

This year I'm going to write everyday, and allow myself time for some quality.  All you have to do is write 1,666 words a day to reach the goal, 2,000 words if you want to be finished before Thanksgiving.

If you've always dreamed of writing a novel and need a little push to do so, or simply love writing, you can find more information at www.nanowrimo.org

Now for a little writing . . .

Who Needs New Years Resolutions?

 

 Last month I set out to accomplish two things: finish a nanowrimo novel and blog every single day in the month of November.  Both were accomplished, though there were quite a few days I felt really close to giving up.

If you don't know what nanowrimo is, it's a month full of insanity.  For the month of November you commit to writing 50,000 words of a novel, but in the process it's okay if plots change, points of view change, etc, all things are possible as long as you keep writing.  If you finish you're a "winner," and a link to a PDF certificate of completion is provided.  All you have to do is finish.

This is my fifth year attempting nanowrimo, but failed the first three years due to being a college student.  Homework, tests, and class attendance is important after all.  Both last year and this year I pulled off the 50,000 words, though I must admit that the quality of my writing greatly suffered as my typing needed to grow faster to meet deadlines.  Though, regardless, I stumbled upon some great ideas for this sci-fi series I'm working on, and an idea for a third book spin off, which makes me giddy with excitement.  So even though I spent several days writing nothing but garbage, there are gems scattered about that makes it all worth while.

Above is a nanowrimo temporary tattoo that I got a few years ago.  This year I made a pact with myself that if I finished, I'd wear it.  Below is the tattoo pre-application.  It's totally imitating an HP death mark. 

 

 And of course my other goal last month was to post a blog entry every single day.  A couple months back I got pretty close, but I thought it would be cool if I was able to pull off both tasks, and now I have a happy literary/blogging habit.

This got me thinking, who needs New Years resolutions when you can start fresh each month with new goals?  They say that it takes 3 weeks of constant work to turn a bad habit into a good habit, or to simply form new good habits.

So what are my goals for December?  Besides getting the original song finished that Steven and I are working on, I've decided my goal is going to be to finally learn the Japanese kana (katakana and hiragana).  They're the phonetic characters in the Japanese language.  Not learning them is holding me back in my studies in a big way, and I've placed a few learning blocks on myself in the process.  I'm going to blast through those learning blocks! and get back to learning Japanese so I'm not able to just speak the language, but I also what to be able to write original Japanese Pop songs without having to translate English to Japanese.  So that's the goal!  One step at a time.  Anything's possible when you set your mind to it :0)   

October, the Lull before the Storm

(Nanowrimo.org)

Happy October!  I can't believe there are only 3 months left in the year.  Where has the time gone?  The leaves are changing, which I haven't had a chance to see--I need to go into the mountains and take some pictures--and Halloween costumes, decorations, and candy are on full display in all stores.

But there's something else that's fantastic about October.  It's the month before November!  And what's so great about that?  November is National Novel Writing Month!  For one month you lock yourself away and devote yourself to the insane task of writing a 50,000 word novel.  And October is the month you get to prepare for said task.

Of course, you can't start writing the actual novel (dialogue and prose), but you can outline, plan, and create detailed character profiles.

Nanowrimo (which is National Novel Writing Month broken down) started in 1999, and I first attempted my first nano novel in 2003, failing, then again in 2004 and 2005, failing again.  But last year, 2011, I decided to give nano another go, this time finishing a very raw, rough draft.  But I finished!

What do you win?  A printable certificate and bragging rights, naturally.  All you have to do is complete the task to win.

Anyway, I'm going to do it again this year, only I'm taking a different route.  On a couple previous posts I've mentioned a Graphic Novel I'm working on with my brothers.  I've worked quite a bit on it, but I thought it would be cool if each chapter is a mini short-story where I continue to flesh out the plot and allow the craziness of speed writing to bring me so many great ideas.  When you sit and write for the sake and love of writing, it's amazing what your imagination will throw out at you.  Unexpected.  Characters you never thought up will appear before you, ready for action.  And plot ideas and twists will write themselves.  Of course, it is all rough . . . so December is nation novel revision month :0)

Besides working on the graphic novel this month, I've got a couple books on writing I'm going to read, and a goal of reading a short-story a day.  (I have issues of "Realms of Fantasy," which has now gone out of business, and "The Magazine of Science-Fiction and Fantasy," which is still going strong, laying around with 100's of stories I still need to read.)  This months is going to be fun.   

Sarah