Note: The widget may take awhile to appear or be disabled all-together. The NaNoWriMo site is being hit, hard. It's running slow and they've been looking for ways to help speed it up. It will speed up again as people stop hitting it so often.
If you look over at the right hand side, you'll see a new little widget. What this mean little critter does is show any and all of my blog readers exactly how good or bad I do on a certain day. So, I'd better be good! Here's what it all means from the NaNoWriMo page on available widgets:
My Month is a simple display showing overall progress and how you did on any given day. Light green and red show where you were above or below the goal for the day, bold green and red are reserved for days where you did exceptionally well or monumentally badly.
The typical goal for a normal day is 1,667 words.
When I started planning for this NaNo, a single book was selected. As I became over-confident, I decided 2 was better for the amount of free time I had. I then returned to reality. lol While I still wish I could pull off 2 books, I decided I'd be smart and still head for only 1 book. If you're interested, remember I'm posting this book as I write each chapter this month on Writing.com. It's one of the best websites out there devoted to writing. It gets top rewards from a lot of writing related magazines and websites every year, for good reason. :-)
That's about it for today. We're in final countdown for the start of NaNoWriMo 2010. It's exciting watching the countdown clock on their website. Several regions have already crossed into November, so the insanity has begun! Now, to wait for it to reach me. Interesting thinking of the time creeping slowly across the surface of the earth as it spins. I can't help but liken it to the sun slowly lighting the earth as its light slides along.
Midnight... How I wish I could stay up and see you come this year. Alas, I have to get up too early in the morning, so I must hold off starting until the kids are settled in school. At that point, I'll be off the starting line like a greyhound after a mechanical rabbit. Zoom!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
A Not so Gentle Reminder
Okay, people. Let's get this straight, shall we? Maybe I know this instinctively because I prefer writing pieces by hand, but let me remind you of something fairly important as we approach NaNo at lightning speeds.
Even if you decide to type most of your NaNo novel, you ARE allowed to write some of it by hand and type it in later!! There's absolutely no rule out there that says you can't do this. You might worry that you might "edit" it as you type it in. If you can do that, then you're over-thinking your book in the first place. Just get it typed in and use that momentum to keep going. It's not near as difficult as everyone is trying to make it be. If anything else, that section might contain the most typos if you're a touch-typist. lol You're not looking at the screen, you're looking at your paper, so you're not catching the errors as you type them in. When it's typed in, do NOT go back and read it! Just keep going!
I wanted to point this out because I keep seeing on the boards stuff like, "I can't write between my classes because my laptop is breaking down..." or "I can't write while on the train because I only have a desktop computer..." or... The excuse list goes on and on. Right. Last time I checked, pen and paper are portable and require no electricity outside of light to see what you're doing. If you start writing the wrong word, or you misspell it, to heck with the delete key or being able to go back and correct it. Scribble it out and put in the right word!
And yes! This is almost a pet peeve. People stress too much over making it "pretty and neat." This is NANO!!! There is no nice and neat. There is only getting it down in paper and/or digital form and keep going. The biggest part of the battle is writing it. You can fix it later if it's worth it. And later means December, not November.
Okay. I feel better now. I'm going to go and work on brainstorming my story, which! I'm doing by hand using pen and paper. lol
Even if you decide to type most of your NaNo novel, you ARE allowed to write some of it by hand and type it in later!! There's absolutely no rule out there that says you can't do this. You might worry that you might "edit" it as you type it in. If you can do that, then you're over-thinking your book in the first place. Just get it typed in and use that momentum to keep going. It's not near as difficult as everyone is trying to make it be. If anything else, that section might contain the most typos if you're a touch-typist. lol You're not looking at the screen, you're looking at your paper, so you're not catching the errors as you type them in. When it's typed in, do NOT go back and read it! Just keep going!
I wanted to point this out because I keep seeing on the boards stuff like, "I can't write between my classes because my laptop is breaking down..." or "I can't write while on the train because I only have a desktop computer..." or... The excuse list goes on and on. Right. Last time I checked, pen and paper are portable and require no electricity outside of light to see what you're doing. If you start writing the wrong word, or you misspell it, to heck with the delete key or being able to go back and correct it. Scribble it out and put in the right word!
And yes! This is almost a pet peeve. People stress too much over making it "pretty and neat." This is NANO!!! There is no nice and neat. There is only getting it down in paper and/or digital form and keep going. The biggest part of the battle is writing it. You can fix it later if it's worth it. And later means December, not November.
Okay. I feel better now. I'm going to go and work on brainstorming my story, which! I'm doing by hand using pen and paper. lol
Friday, October 29, 2010
A Common Thread
Well, I'm not sure what day this will fall on. It's technically 1 am my time, but apparently Blogger posts these on its own time. So, I might be writing two entries on the same day. However, I came across something interesting and this was as good of a place to write it down as any.
First off, my headache was apparently caused, in part, by dehydration. Figures. :-P So, after drinking some water, I'm feeling much better. :-) I even got some reading done, which is what lead to my marvelous thought.
One of the books my friend loaned me was, "Get Known before the Book Deal" by Christina Katz. I'll admit that I almost blew it off as she likes to talk about how creating a 'platform' applies to nonfiction writers. I'm not a nonfiction writer. Though, I do have a nonfiction book planned for the future... but that's currently beside the point. Thankfully, she had a chapter in there on how what she was saying pertained to fiction writers as well and gave a few examples, so I suppose I'll keep blundering my way through the book and try to apply it to my writing.
Anyway! I was thinking about the book I wrote, and the book I'm going to write next month, and realized that there was a common theme in them. One I didn't even realize existed until tonight. That common theme was someone helping another person, whether a friend or not, to avoid a terrible fate, whether the main character knew it was going to happen or not. In the end, the person helping expects nothing in return. In my first book, the character who helped did receive a gift, though she didn't ask for it. In my second book, the character helping gets an odd "present" out of it, whereas the main character benefits the most. However, "selfless helping" is the underlying theme in both of them. I believe my third book also runs along those lines, but it's not fully planned yet, so there's no telling. Though, it would appear that I enjoy writing books like that.
In our day and age, where we wonder, "If I help you, what do I get out of it" this theme is possibly an out of place one. However, I'd like to think that there are more people out there that would help their fellow man (or woman) without expecting anything in return. I'll admit that I'm not always that altruistic in my motives. I wish I was though.
Anyway! That was my amazing discovery this evening. I personally found it to be an interesting one. I thought my books differed quite a bit and didn't have anything in common. So, it was exciting to find that they did carry the same message, just in different ways. :-)
With that, I guess I'll turn in now. I'm looking forward to heading to bed and praying that my headache stays away. I'd greatly appreciate that since tomorrow is "Halloween Carnival" day. We're going to be busy trying to keep track of 3 boys in a crowded place. Oh, well. They're going to love it, so it will be worth the effort. Night!
First off, my headache was apparently caused, in part, by dehydration. Figures. :-P So, after drinking some water, I'm feeling much better. :-) I even got some reading done, which is what lead to my marvelous thought.
One of the books my friend loaned me was, "Get Known before the Book Deal" by Christina Katz. I'll admit that I almost blew it off as she likes to talk about how creating a 'platform' applies to nonfiction writers. I'm not a nonfiction writer. Though, I do have a nonfiction book planned for the future... but that's currently beside the point. Thankfully, she had a chapter in there on how what she was saying pertained to fiction writers as well and gave a few examples, so I suppose I'll keep blundering my way through the book and try to apply it to my writing.
Anyway! I was thinking about the book I wrote, and the book I'm going to write next month, and realized that there was a common theme in them. One I didn't even realize existed until tonight. That common theme was someone helping another person, whether a friend or not, to avoid a terrible fate, whether the main character knew it was going to happen or not. In the end, the person helping expects nothing in return. In my first book, the character who helped did receive a gift, though she didn't ask for it. In my second book, the character helping gets an odd "present" out of it, whereas the main character benefits the most. However, "selfless helping" is the underlying theme in both of them. I believe my third book also runs along those lines, but it's not fully planned yet, so there's no telling. Though, it would appear that I enjoy writing books like that.
In our day and age, where we wonder, "If I help you, what do I get out of it" this theme is possibly an out of place one. However, I'd like to think that there are more people out there that would help their fellow man (or woman) without expecting anything in return. I'll admit that I'm not always that altruistic in my motives. I wish I was though.
Anyway! That was my amazing discovery this evening. I personally found it to be an interesting one. I thought my books differed quite a bit and didn't have anything in common. So, it was exciting to find that they did carry the same message, just in different ways. :-)
With that, I guess I'll turn in now. I'm looking forward to heading to bed and praying that my headache stays away. I'd greatly appreciate that since tomorrow is "Halloween Carnival" day. We're going to be busy trying to keep track of 3 boys in a crowded place. Oh, well. They're going to love it, so it will be worth the effort. Night!
Quick Entry
Today, nothing happened. That could sum that up perfectly. I woke up extra early with a nasty headache and it's hung in there all day long. It's about to drive me nuts! I'd done everything I can for it, from taking my Sudafed/ibuprofen combination, to getting a neck massage (thanks, honey!), to drinking water in case it's from dehydration. I've also drank some extra coffee in case it's caused by lack of caffeine. Never know with me. ;-)
It did stop long enough for me to help my friend go to Office Depot. That was fun, even if both of us were a little out of it. It was funny, actually. Thank goodness I remembered paper and ink while I was there. That would have been terrible to run out of that during NaNo! I like to print out each chapter as I finish it. I don't read it. It goes straight into a 3-ring binder, but it's my ultimate backup in case something happens to any of my digital copies. I also picked up some fun Post-It flags. I was needing some about a week ago, so I'm glad I have them now. I also picked up index cards. So thrilling... ;-) However, they're handy and hubby's eyes lit up when he saw the bundle I brought home. lol He loves index cards.
Well, darn. That will have to be it for this evening. This headache is knocking me for a loop and I'm sick and tired of it. Time to heat up the ol' rice pack to put over my eyes and go to sleep. I think I might see if I can find a sleeping pill so that I can stay asleep no matter how bad it gets tonight. I don't know why I have it, but I do know our barometric pressure is up. Looking at a weather map on weather.com, I see that we're right in the path of a high pressure system. That's probably causing it. Dang. It looks like it's going to hang in here for a few days as well. I hope I get used to it and my head stops hurting. I hate being so sensitive to pressure like this. *sigh*
Now, off to hunt down a sleeping pill and my rice pack.
It did stop long enough for me to help my friend go to Office Depot. That was fun, even if both of us were a little out of it. It was funny, actually. Thank goodness I remembered paper and ink while I was there. That would have been terrible to run out of that during NaNo! I like to print out each chapter as I finish it. I don't read it. It goes straight into a 3-ring binder, but it's my ultimate backup in case something happens to any of my digital copies. I also picked up some fun Post-It flags. I was needing some about a week ago, so I'm glad I have them now. I also picked up index cards. So thrilling... ;-) However, they're handy and hubby's eyes lit up when he saw the bundle I brought home. lol He loves index cards.
Well, darn. That will have to be it for this evening. This headache is knocking me for a loop and I'm sick and tired of it. Time to heat up the ol' rice pack to put over my eyes and go to sleep. I think I might see if I can find a sleeping pill so that I can stay asleep no matter how bad it gets tonight. I don't know why I have it, but I do know our barometric pressure is up. Looking at a weather map on weather.com, I see that we're right in the path of a high pressure system. That's probably causing it. Dang. It looks like it's going to hang in here for a few days as well. I hope I get used to it and my head stops hurting. I hate being so sensitive to pressure like this. *sigh*
Now, off to hunt down a sleeping pill and my rice pack.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Kick-Off Party and New Thoughts
Darn. I missed posting yesterday. Okay... that's a lie. I thought about it and blew it off. lol Last night, a friend and I went and hung out at Barnes and Noble. Do you know what it's like to find someone who loves office supplies as much as you do? It's awesome! I think we spent at least an hour in the journal section alone, looking in all the journals, comparing the lines, paper quality, etc. Then, we meandered over to the writing section and talked about good writing books. She was so sweet and loaned me three good books on how to become a freelance writer, and I turned around and loaned her my "No Plot? No Problem!" and the Gotham Writer's Workshop Fiction book. It works so well. She bought a journal that I would have loved to have owned myself. There were two of them there. If I'd had the money, I so would have bought it and done NaNo by hand this year. lol
I got to play with some moleskin journals. You know what? I do not like the feel of that paper. It felt kind of oily or something. My hand kept "hitching" on it and it didn't move smooth across the paper. Nope. I like normal paper better. :-) In a way, my pocketbook is happy about that. lol
Tomorrow night, we're talking about hightailing it off to a REAL office supply store and looking at pens and pencils. Ooh! There's a new Sharpie Pencil on the market that I want to try, so I'll definitely get one of those. Otherwise, I'm good for pens, darn it. lol
Tonight was the Kick-Off party. You know, by necessity, they're usually held during dinner time, so it makes sense to do them at a restaurant. Unfortunately, you're isolated to who you can talk to at the table. I wonder what it would be like to do a pot luck kind of get-together at a community center. That would be worth exploring in the future. It would allow people to walk around and talk to everyone, see what they're writing, etc.
What else? Umm... I did no writing today. *hangs head* I did come up with an idea for my book though, I just didn't write it down. Bad me! I should do that right now while I'm thinking about it! *ponders how to "weave" a book within a book and mark it in Scrivener*
Yup. I think that just about covers the past two days. Can you blame me for not posting yesterday? lol In all realities, my life is fairly boring. Well... minus any major drama from my boys, but that's normal for me. hehehe
I'd better head out. I need to sew some labels to something for hubby. Thank goodness the first print worked! I'm so low on ink I don't think I could have done it again. hehehe Oh, geez! I still need a picture of my fingerless gloves. I swear, I think I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached! Nope... I still lose it from time to time. Man. There's no hope for me. lol ;-)
I got to play with some moleskin journals. You know what? I do not like the feel of that paper. It felt kind of oily or something. My hand kept "hitching" on it and it didn't move smooth across the paper. Nope. I like normal paper better. :-) In a way, my pocketbook is happy about that. lol
Tomorrow night, we're talking about hightailing it off to a REAL office supply store and looking at pens and pencils. Ooh! There's a new Sharpie Pencil on the market that I want to try, so I'll definitely get one of those. Otherwise, I'm good for pens, darn it. lol
Tonight was the Kick-Off party. You know, by necessity, they're usually held during dinner time, so it makes sense to do them at a restaurant. Unfortunately, you're isolated to who you can talk to at the table. I wonder what it would be like to do a pot luck kind of get-together at a community center. That would be worth exploring in the future. It would allow people to walk around and talk to everyone, see what they're writing, etc.
What else? Umm... I did no writing today. *hangs head* I did come up with an idea for my book though, I just didn't write it down. Bad me! I should do that right now while I'm thinking about it! *ponders how to "weave" a book within a book and mark it in Scrivener*
Yup. I think that just about covers the past two days. Can you blame me for not posting yesterday? lol In all realities, my life is fairly boring. Well... minus any major drama from my boys, but that's normal for me. hehehe
I'd better head out. I need to sew some labels to something for hubby. Thank goodness the first print worked! I'm so low on ink I don't think I could have done it again. hehehe Oh, geez! I still need a picture of my fingerless gloves. I swear, I think I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached! Nope... I still lose it from time to time. Man. There's no hope for me. lol ;-)
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Sad Realizations
I've been playing with the new Scrivener for awhile and I came to a sad realization. Well, it's only sad in the fact that I adore new technology and playing with new software. :-) Otherwise, it's still fine. I came to the conclusion, while trying to figure out how to make Scrivener work for me, that I'm a pen and paper writer. I do all of my best thinking and writing when I'm doing it by hand. So, I'm now looking at this year's NaNo and wondering if I shouldn't be doing it by hand. I can't seem to figure out how to enter in my "plot line" into Scrivener. Mind you, I've been reading my major brainstorming session here and I can see it's not a true outline at all. It's just a progression of ideas that will get me from the beginning to the end.
"True outline." That's funny. I don't outline anything. ;-) However, they're not even true plot points. I think I need to sit down with it this evening, with or without Scrivener, and hammer out the plot points. I'm also thinking it's time to blow off "The Dark Rider" for this year. I can tackle it later on. And, in all realities, with true plot points, I think I can get Scrivener to work. lol Though, it is still true, that I love writing by hand. Maybe I'll do a 50/50 kind of thing. Or something. I'll just sit and write however I want to when the time comes. Without "The Dark Rider" waiting to be written this month as well, I can slow down and do a better job on "The Day SHADE Came to Call."
I'll post a picture of my fingerless gloves a little later today. I think I'd like to be wearing them so that you can see what they look like on. Unfortunately, I'm not talented enough to wear them and take a picture of both of my hands at the same time. lol
Ooh! The plot points I need for "The Day SHADE Came to Call" are flowing in to my head. I'd better end this so I can concentrate on that. :-D
"True outline." That's funny. I don't outline anything. ;-) However, they're not even true plot points. I think I need to sit down with it this evening, with or without Scrivener, and hammer out the plot points. I'm also thinking it's time to blow off "The Dark Rider" for this year. I can tackle it later on. And, in all realities, with true plot points, I think I can get Scrivener to work. lol Though, it is still true, that I love writing by hand. Maybe I'll do a 50/50 kind of thing. Or something. I'll just sit and write however I want to when the time comes. Without "The Dark Rider" waiting to be written this month as well, I can slow down and do a better job on "The Day SHADE Came to Call."
I'll post a picture of my fingerless gloves a little later today. I think I'd like to be wearing them so that you can see what they look like on. Unfortunately, I'm not talented enough to wear them and take a picture of both of my hands at the same time. lol
Ooh! The plot points I need for "The Day SHADE Came to Call" are flowing in to my head. I'd better end this so I can concentrate on that. :-D
Monday, October 25, 2010
Scrivener Windows Beta has been released!!
OMG! I was right there on the front lines today to download the new Scrivener Windows Beta. It is an open beta if you're brave enough to try it. ;-) First thing I did, after I got out of the tutorial was to crash it. I'm sure my friend Mark would be so proud of me. LOL I'm working with it now and trying to see how I can get it to work for me. What I love about it so far is that the tools it has, while robust, get out of the way. You only use what you need. I like that a lot. I'll keep fiddling with it and see what I end up with. ;-)
Crash count: 1
I'm going to close this down here in a minute and work on my last fingerless glove. It's almost finished, so it will get done tonight. I was going to watch an episode of Stargate SG-1 while working on it. :-) Makes it so much easier to get things done. It's just a nice distraction.
Unfortunately, I was hit by a fly-by napping today, so didn't get near as much done as I'd hoped. *sigh* Tomorrow, will be better. Or rather, it had better be because I don't have a choice. I'm hoping to get some house cleaning done, hang out with my new NaNo friends in the morning. Get Scrivener installed on my Netbook, and get some brainstorming done on "The Dark Rider." Yes, it will be busy, but fun!
With that, I'm off to finish my glove. Hopefully I can get a photo of them to post tomorrow as well. Then you can all see how awesome they are. lol Just keep in mind, mine are adjusted to fit my hand specifically. So the pattern and what I have are not exactly the same thing. Anyway! I'm off to finish it. Later!
Crash count: 1
I'm going to close this down here in a minute and work on my last fingerless glove. It's almost finished, so it will get done tonight. I was going to watch an episode of Stargate SG-1 while working on it. :-) Makes it so much easier to get things done. It's just a nice distraction.
Unfortunately, I was hit by a fly-by napping today, so didn't get near as much done as I'd hoped. *sigh* Tomorrow, will be better. Or rather, it had better be because I don't have a choice. I'm hoping to get some house cleaning done, hang out with my new NaNo friends in the morning. Get Scrivener installed on my Netbook, and get some brainstorming done on "The Dark Rider." Yes, it will be busy, but fun!
With that, I'm off to finish my glove. Hopefully I can get a photo of them to post tomorrow as well. Then you can all see how awesome they are. lol Just keep in mind, mine are adjusted to fit my hand specifically. So the pattern and what I have are not exactly the same thing. Anyway! I'm off to finish it. Later!
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