National Novel Writing Month

It's really not a very good excuse as to where I have been since October, but I am taking part in National Novel Writing Month.

National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo to its friends, is like a marathon. Participants labor away in whatever way they see fit to produce a minimum 50,000 word novel by the end of November. Like a marathon, pacing is key, and most participants try to produce 1,600 words per day.



Unfortunately, like most things I take up, I have a tendency to fall behind. But right now, I am ahead of schedule by a few hundred words. The weekend was good for something, I guess!

I'm breaking my work-induced silence (which I have been regretting, as you know from previous posts where I regret not posting) is that I have reached a major milestone: I am halfway.

25,000 words. I cannot believe I have come this far. I'm excited, but truth be told terrified at the prospect of the next 25,000. For the moment, I will revel in my accomplishment.

You can follow my progress here, as well as learn a little bit more about what I am working on. I'm keeping it pretty close to the chest for now, since the emphasis of NaNoWriMo is quantity, not quality. In an event like this, there isn't time for editing or second guessing. I have to plow ahead with whatever is on the page.

In the end, I think this kind of approach to writing is good for me. In other projects, I can barely get past the first few pages because I make the mistake of starting at the beginning, and trying to make it right the first time.

The pace of NaNoWriMo takes care of the second problem, and a neat program I am using called Scrivener is taking care of the first. It's like a magical three-ring binder that lives in your computer and lets you jump around with your writing and hold all your research in one place.

Confession: part of why I am trying to finish this book so I can get 50% off Scrivener. It's just great. I don't think I would have made it this far without it.



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Regarding the novel: again, I don't want to say too much since it's very silly, but I know that you, gentle readers, are surely chomping at the bit to find out what's going on.

My novel is set in the very early 1400's, a time period I know very little about. A monk arrives in the city of Hamelin as part of an effort to produce an ornate and definitive history of the city. Along the way he discovers that this very town is the setting of the Pied Piper legend, and begins to ask the townsfolk about the strange event in the name of historical accuracy.

This unleashes a torrent of disparate stories, strange tales, and bizarre events that will (of course!) lead to the town's undoing.

Really, the whole thing is just a framing device to introduce different variations on the Pied Piper story. So far, each more disturbing than the next.

For me, this whole process was kicked off by hours browsing Wikipedia. I learned from the Pied Piper article that this story is much weirder than I originally thought, and has some basis for truth.
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For updates on my NaNoWriMo novel, keep watching the blog and keep an eye on Twitter as well. You can also stop by my NaNoWriMo user page, if you like.

And thanks for stickin' with this ol' blog as well. I'm grateful for each and every one of you!

Workspace!

I haven't had a desk since I lived on Lawrence street in Ann Arbor -- that was about three years ago. My last apartment in Ann Arbor didn't come furnished with an area devoted to work, so I used the kitchen table. This was a perfect solution, since it meant I was near food, and had two lovely windows to look out of. All I could see was a parking lot and some tree trunks, but it was better than nothing.

Since moving to Virginia I've been a nomad. Sometimes, I work from an easy chair, sometimes from our small dining table, and sometimes from the toilet. Each of these locations has it's pros and cons, but the real problem was that I had no space devoted to work. I often had to pack up all my materials on whatever I was doing, and clear out long before I was finished.

That's all changed now.

The local consignment store had this very nice antique solid wood desk at a very affordable price.

From Virginia Apartment: Awesome

From Virginia Apartment: Awesome

From Virginia Apartment: Awesome

From Virginia Apartment: Awesome

I was told by the woman who sold it to me that the former owners had the table in their family for years, and that it was once used as an altar in an outdoor wedding.

I am eminently pleased with my new acquisition, and I have now removed one more excuse to not get any work done.

These Feelings Are Natural

Day01 at Ft. Belvoir summation: Oh crap crap crap! The woman I am replacing is far more experienced/talented/competant than me. Oh my god what am I doing here? I am going to screw up and everyone is going to hate me oh god. Maybe I should drive my car into a tree and use some disability time to get off the hook. No no no, if I start driving funny the Army guys will think I am a spy and shoot me a thousand times!

Day02 at Ft. Belvoir summation: Ok, I think I can handle this.

The big change between the two? Well, today I got a much more concrete feeling for what needs to be done in the coming weeks. Most of it just nerves; changes in my routine always throw me off like that. It's also kind of nerve wracking for someone like me to work at an army base. I get freaked out when a cop goes by me on a bicycle, so you can imagine what working at a place with Area-51 signs around does to me.
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I don't think I'll be as good a job as the woman I am (temporarily) replacing. But I will learn a hell of a lot about how to be a better writer. She's got years of newspaper and Army experience. She knows how to write for these people, and can make writing a task in a way that I am still learning how to do. She, and others I have worked with at SAIC, are able to build an article like they're building a table.

The closest analog I can think of is writing college essays. You take a stack of information, and you make something cohesive out of it. Now, it's true that I could (and probably still can) churn out college essays like a machine, but this is like a whole other level.

The other skill that I have not fully developed is a journalist's scheduling. These pro-writers track story ideas in terms of what will be available when and from whom, and various aspects of the approval process, in addition to deadlines. I am truly amazed at the information handoff going between the two of us. This is the kind of skill-reinforcing activity that really need.
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So, to my family and my employers: I am OK, and I think I am going to do well.