The Second Day Is The Worst!
Mood:  don't ask
Now Playing: "Leaning On The Everlasting Arms" Buddy Jewell
Topic: The NaNo Task

NaNo 2009 WIP: "The Salt Lake Concert"
Word Count: 2,912

I probably wrote 25,000 words yesterday. Of those, 2,912 were the Prologue and Chapter 1 of the WIP.

I felt like the start was a decent one, but fell short of my goal. My record (so far) is 50,000 words in 17 days. My goal is to do the same in 16 days, which means I must "book" at least 3,125 words each of the sixteen days of the goal.

I ripped the first pages yesterday, played with my NaNoBuddies online at WDC and NaNoWriMo, wrote 5 In-Depth interviews (~4,500 words each!) and two Blog Posts here.

So far, it's 1645 on Day #2. Not a single word on the WIP. Distraction? Procrastination? Laziness?

Nope. I'm pooped. I will get at least 3,338 word "booked" today before midnight. When the clock struck "NaNo Time!" at midnight yesterday, I had no ideas, and no words. I do have confidence in my own ability to gab my way to my daily goal. Making "real" words that move the story forward? Well...

This is not, believe it or don't, unexpected. Everyone has trouble in their writing process. For many NaNoers, it is week three. That is usually my most productive time--go figure. There is usually a mad dash to the end of the event during the last week. Thanksgiving and all, you see. For many, that may include Final Exams and/or family visiting and/or Holiday Shopping. None of those distractions loom on the horizon for me, except the fact that I am going to create Thanksgiving Dinner for my friend and HCA, Sara Peachey. She is coming up to spend this Holiday with me.

I considered warning her. I couldn't find the words. What are you supposed to say to the uninitiated? "Let the Turkey burn! I've only got 500 words!" Somehow, that feels neither hospitable or encouraging for future visits.

For me, it is the second day of NaNo. What you did yesterday, you must repeat. I must do better today than I did yesterday. I felt satisfied because I had over 1667 "booked". I completely forgot my personal goal. That is not a good thing. 3,125 each and every day for sixteen days. These sixteen days include Dr. appointmens, Lab Work, and at least 5 days in Tennessee! (I'm taking my PC with me! I'm dedicated, what can I say?)

Why am I going to Tennessee, you might well ask.

Rest.

Such is the NaNo life.

NaNo 2009 Signature SNAFU's
Mood:  don't ask
Now Playing: Southern Gospel on AOL Radio
Topic: NaNo Prep

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks rather innocuous, doesn't it?

Actually, it is a writing signature, or "siggy" that a friend of mine over at WDC (Thanks again, Leger!) made for me. I use it at the bottom of my WDC emails, blog entries, reviews, and other insignaturenificant thingeys around the web.

Tonight(Ok, last night now!), I tried for almost three hours to get this simple siggy into my NaNo signature block. Why? Why, you ask?

I'll tell ya why. The signature block says a lot about you, that's why. It becomes, along with your avitar (small picture by your name) the identifying symbol of your presence in the NaNo world. You'd be surprised how many people have become my Nanobuddy because of my signature!

Everybody needs nanobuddies when you are doing NaNoWriMo! Word wars, coffee chats, and Forums fly like the wind during NaNo. (Are you my buddy yet? It's kybudman, y'all!) The chatrooms are full the procrastination station is brimming over, and headaches abound.

So, I just wanted to paste a little identifyier into my signature.

 

THREE HOURS!

Why couldn't NaNoWriMo.org offer their users a safe, simple, signature testing page? I had to find a reasonably accessible forum post after every change--just to see how the siggy looked. FORTY TWO TIMES!!

"The devil's in the details!" Ohhh, how tuhruuueee!

kybudman

Hooking up, Linking Up, Gearing Up
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: Coming Home: The Cathedrals
Topic: NaNo Prep

The National Novel Writing Month is, for several million writers, an annual event par excellence! This year will be my fifth year of participation.

 

This is one of the many nefarious animals encountered during NaNo. They are called plot bunnies, and they can mess up your very best intentions. They play around with your plot, change your words, kill your characters, or create entirely new plot lines you had no idea of using. They love to play with your words while you are taking a much-needed break from the chaos of NaNo. You may be taking a nanobreak with some freshly baked nanocookies and nanocoffee with your nanobuddies in a nanochat room. 

There are lots of "badges" particpants use to announce to the world they are a part of this activity. This year's badges look like this:

You'll see these badges around--a lot. I hope that you will send a note of encouragement to those wearing this "badge" proudly. After all, they have to deal with plot bunnies.