Why NaNoWriMo is Environmentally Unfriendly
1) I am running a dishwasher full of pots and pans instead of washing them by hand, as I usually do (because I am too busy writing this novel - or whatever it is - to wash them myself)
2) I only take showers when I absolutely have to, so I may smell bad - but I don't have time to check (I don't really remember to check - N told me last night I needed one, so I took one): Eeeyew!
3) I keep turning my computer on after I have JUST turned it off, because I keep remembering "just ONE more thing" I wanted to add . . .
4) We are now storing all of our clean clothes in the laundry room in baskets, because although we (barely) have time to do the laundry, I do not have the time (read: want to take the time away from writing this novel - or whatever it is) to actually put any of them away in drawers and closets so everything is wrinkled and hard to find
5) You should see the house (or probably, you shouldn't) - talk about an unfriendly environment!
On the other hand, I'm having a helluva good time! And it's only for another 2 weeks . . .
~Globally warmly yours
11/12/08
11/11/08
NaNoWriMo Day 11: 27,518
I feel almost as if I cheated today, since I took so much material directly from George's and Selah's journals and letters. I rewrote a lot of it, but some of it I just kept in their words because they wrote so beautifully.
Which has led me to wonder, how much should I keep historically correct? I've ended up changing some things for the sake of clarity, and others I've guessed at or added because we Just Don't Know. And then I go and do something so blatant as to use their own words! So is this still my original novel, or blatant plagiarism? Family history, or historical fiction? Do I want to try to whip it into shape eventually to make into something publishable, or just keep it for the family? If truly the former, then should I put quotation marks around all their words (which will read poorly)? Would it be sufficient just to acknowledge in the foreword how much of it came directly from them?
(Because some of the letters in the mss. I wrote myself! So I can't just say that all of the letters were theirs.)
Then again, if I want it just as a family history, am I skewing the facts too much and tainting family history forever by playing fast & loose with the story?
See, right now I have to not let myself think too much about stuff like this, or I will paralyze myself and not be able to keep on writing. And I NEED to Keep On Writing. So, I am spewing forth about it here in order to get it out of my system.
But helpful comments are always welcome!
By the way, speaking of writing, I came across Dr. Wicked's "Write or Die: Putting the Prod Back in Produce" and boy am I itching to try it out! So I think that tomorrow, when I am on campus waiting for my class to start, I will test it and see what I come up with. Check it out - it's quite a clever little gadget!
~Cheering lustily onwards
Which has led me to wonder, how much should I keep historically correct? I've ended up changing some things for the sake of clarity, and others I've guessed at or added because we Just Don't Know. And then I go and do something so blatant as to use their own words! So is this still my original novel, or blatant plagiarism? Family history, or historical fiction? Do I want to try to whip it into shape eventually to make into something publishable, or just keep it for the family? If truly the former, then should I put quotation marks around all their words (which will read poorly)? Would it be sufficient just to acknowledge in the foreword how much of it came directly from them?
(Because some of the letters in the mss. I wrote myself! So I can't just say that all of the letters were theirs.)
Then again, if I want it just as a family history, am I skewing the facts too much and tainting family history forever by playing fast & loose with the story?
See, right now I have to not let myself think too much about stuff like this, or I will paralyze myself and not be able to keep on writing. And I NEED to Keep On Writing. So, I am spewing forth about it here in order to get it out of my system.
But helpful comments are always welcome!
By the way, speaking of writing, I came across Dr. Wicked's "Write or Die: Putting the Prod Back in Produce" and boy am I itching to try it out! So I think that tomorrow, when I am on campus waiting for my class to start, I will test it and see what I come up with. Check it out - it's quite a clever little gadget!
~Cheering lustily onwards
11/10/08
NaNoWriMo Day 10: 25272
Writing with a Group
I spent a couple of hours today writing with two LCCC students who are doing NaNoWriMo, and that was fun. Both have completed NaNo before, so I felt real awe and inspiration working with them. We traded tips for working, and one of them showed me some free software she uses for writing (I will have to get the name of it from her again, as I've already forgotten it - I need to write things down!!!!!). When I got home, I wrote some more, and now I feel I'm over the worst of the hump and have a better handle on George.
It really helped a lot to meet with other NaNos, at the beginning of this week in particular, and get back some of the excitement and inspiration I had in the beginning of the project. We're meeting again next Monday and I'm already looking forward to it!
So: definitely, group writing is a good idea!
And now I'm at the halfway mark, though now my next goal is to be at the 2/3rds mark because then I will be ready for the next hurdle: Marshall. I'm glad I decided to do this novel this way, because each of the sections is so different in so many ways.
One of the students said there's a fourth LCCC person doing NaNo who couldn't make it to today's writing session, and she is doing her novel as a series of rants. She said it's pretty funny to read. I'll bet!
~Cheerful again!
I spent a couple of hours today writing with two LCCC students who are doing NaNoWriMo, and that was fun. Both have completed NaNo before, so I felt real awe and inspiration working with them. We traded tips for working, and one of them showed me some free software she uses for writing (I will have to get the name of it from her again, as I've already forgotten it - I need to write things down!!!!!). When I got home, I wrote some more, and now I feel I'm over the worst of the hump and have a better handle on George.
It really helped a lot to meet with other NaNos, at the beginning of this week in particular, and get back some of the excitement and inspiration I had in the beginning of the project. We're meeting again next Monday and I'm already looking forward to it!
So: definitely, group writing is a good idea!
And now I'm at the halfway mark, though now my next goal is to be at the 2/3rds mark because then I will be ready for the next hurdle: Marshall. I'm glad I decided to do this novel this way, because each of the sections is so different in so many ways.
One of the students said there's a fourth LCCC person doing NaNo who couldn't make it to today's writing session, and she is doing her novel as a series of rants. She said it's pretty funny to read. I'll bet!
~Cheerful again!
11/9/08
NaNoWriMo Day 9: 22648
The NaNoWriMo team were right: Week 2 sucks. I'd thought optimistically that it would be easier for me, since I would be switching to a different chapter and a different person (George). I had it all planned out - one chapter for Selah, one for George, one for Marshall, and end with a little coda for Jimmie.
But it's not working out that way. Selah won't leave me alone, and I can't switch over to George properly. I had expected Selah to play a small role in George's, but he's still the lead character! And I have too much material on George and his siblings for me to decide what to use! It's overwhelming me. I am feeling very frustrated and unhappy about it all. Sure, my word count looks impressive, but it feels as if I'm going nowhere fast.
I hate week 2, and it's only just begun. Plus I have a whole lot of things going on this week, unlike last week when I had a day off from school, and nothing planned on a couple of other days. Now I have a busy week ahead and very little direction in my writing.
Bleh.
Plus the house is a WRECK!!!
~Grump
But it's not working out that way. Selah won't leave me alone, and I can't switch over to George properly. I had expected Selah to play a small role in George's, but he's still the lead character! And I have too much material on George and his siblings for me to decide what to use! It's overwhelming me. I am feeling very frustrated and unhappy about it all. Sure, my word count looks impressive, but it feels as if I'm going nowhere fast.
I hate week 2, and it's only just begun. Plus I have a whole lot of things going on this week, unlike last week when I had a day off from school, and nothing planned on a couple of other days. Now I have a busy week ahead and very little direction in my writing.
Bleh.
Plus the house is a WRECK!!!
~Grump
11/7/08
NaNoWriMo Day 7: 20,145
On Leaving Things Out
Yep, I've gotten this far by leaving a lot of things out. I found that there was a lot more to tell about Selah than I'd thought! The first thing I left out was the method by which he was taught to read lips & speak a bit (articulation/oralism), and I left that out because I have to do more research to learn about it.
Then I got to the part where he was taken around the state of NY by Mr. Peet, and I just didn't feel like writing it all up, and didn't need the word count. So I put in a paragraph about it & didn't write it up.
Then I got to a couple of other places like that where I wasn't sure what to do with them - I thought they ought to be there but I didn't know how to handle them, so I just plain left them out altogether. I mean, it's obvious where they'd go, but I left out two entire years in different spots because I'm not sure they're even necessary.
And if I had tried to put all that in, I think I'd have quit before getting this far.
Now it's time to put away all the Selah stuff and get out all the George stuff and see what there is (TONS of things) and what I want to use and how I want to organize it.
~Cheers
Yep, I've gotten this far by leaving a lot of things out. I found that there was a lot more to tell about Selah than I'd thought! The first thing I left out was the method by which he was taught to read lips & speak a bit (articulation/oralism), and I left that out because I have to do more research to learn about it.
Then I got to the part where he was taken around the state of NY by Mr. Peet, and I just didn't feel like writing it all up, and didn't need the word count. So I put in a paragraph about it & didn't write it up.
Then I got to a couple of other places like that where I wasn't sure what to do with them - I thought they ought to be there but I didn't know how to handle them, so I just plain left them out altogether. I mean, it's obvious where they'd go, but I left out two entire years in different spots because I'm not sure they're even necessary.
And if I had tried to put all that in, I think I'd have quit before getting this far.
Now it's time to put away all the Selah stuff and get out all the George stuff and see what there is (TONS of things) and what I want to use and how I want to organize it.
~Cheers
11/6/08
NaNoWriMo Day 6: 16468 words . . .
I don't think I am done for today, either. I really want to get Selah back from his trip around New York and Connecticut with Mr. Peet (which he really did take), because tomorrow I think I'd better finish his part of the book. It's going to take me a few hours to go through all my stuff on George and map out that part of the book, and I have a lot more things happening next week than I did this week, so it will be more challenging.
Also, the last week, Marshall's week, I will have almost nothing to go on compared to what I had for Selah and George. No letters, no journals, and the research I did years ago turned up very little. So I will have to invent an awful lot of stuff! I look at everything I have for Selah so far and think, wow, so much of that originated in things I got from Selah and his family, even if I changed things around to fill in gaps. I have only family stories and guess-work to go on for Marshall. So that third week will really be hard.
I think it's not so much that the second week is the hardest, as the NaNo site says. It's that when you get to about 12,000 words you bog down. At least, that's what's happened to me. So I need to finish up Selah and then move along to George.
Hm. Maybe I will just put in a place-holder saying "Here's where I will eventually write about Selah's travels around the state" and go on to the last part of that chapter, the way I had to when I got to the part about him learning articulation, since I have not yet been able to find out how it is/was taught, and don't want to spend the time digging right now.
See? This blog is useful just for thinking out loud! Thanks for being there.
My nephew C called last night - he is doing NaNo, too, and writing historical fiction about one of his ancestors about whom he's done a lot of research - someone who fought in the Battle of Hastings! He was feeling discouraged, I think, because of my word count vs. his. But I have the unfair advantage of having so many historical resources to draw upon (letters and journals). Even though I haven't been transcribing much of what I have, just having them for information is awfully helpful background. He's had to make up a lot more than I have. I told him to wait till I get to Marshall and Jimmy!
Then you'll hear me moan.
~Cheers
Also, the last week, Marshall's week, I will have almost nothing to go on compared to what I had for Selah and George. No letters, no journals, and the research I did years ago turned up very little. So I will have to invent an awful lot of stuff! I look at everything I have for Selah so far and think, wow, so much of that originated in things I got from Selah and his family, even if I changed things around to fill in gaps. I have only family stories and guess-work to go on for Marshall. So that third week will really be hard.
I think it's not so much that the second week is the hardest, as the NaNo site says. It's that when you get to about 12,000 words you bog down. At least, that's what's happened to me. So I need to finish up Selah and then move along to George.
Hm. Maybe I will just put in a place-holder saying "Here's where I will eventually write about Selah's travels around the state" and go on to the last part of that chapter, the way I had to when I got to the part about him learning articulation, since I have not yet been able to find out how it is/was taught, and don't want to spend the time digging right now.
See? This blog is useful just for thinking out loud! Thanks for being there.
My nephew C called last night - he is doing NaNo, too, and writing historical fiction about one of his ancestors about whom he's done a lot of research - someone who fought in the Battle of Hastings! He was feeling discouraged, I think, because of my word count vs. his. But I have the unfair advantage of having so many historical resources to draw upon (letters and journals). Even though I haven't been transcribing much of what I have, just having them for information is awfully helpful background. He's had to make up a lot more than I have. I told him to wait till I get to Marshall and Jimmy!
Then you'll hear me moan.
~Cheers
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