Camp NaNo July 2021 Results

Short take: I couldn't finish the project again.

Long take: Every time I tried to sit myself down to write, I couldn't do it. I felt no inspiration, no spark, could not find the words to commit to the story even though I *know* where I want that story - and several others I've left in limbo - to go.

I even took a few days off from work to see about getting a lot of the rough first draft done. Barely got a chapter out of it, and I'm not impressed with what I made.

I've been looking at myself in the mirror a lot lately, coming to terms with a few things, and at the top of the list is the realization that my depressive moods have returned. The pandemic anxiety, general loss of contact with friends in real life, and other unhappy truths about my lack of a social life seem to have left me drained.

So I am going back to the psychiatrists/psychologists to see what I can do to get myself out of this funk (again).

Just in case, if anybody's got a link to a Muse of inspiration, let me know what the arcane rituals are to summon one.

Alas.

 

Camp NaNo July 2021

One more summer of Camp NaNoWriMo to see if I can keep to my personal goal of finishing an honest-to-God novel.

No more self-doubt. No more delays, no more distractions. Who cares if I succumbed to nostalgia and got an Atari VCS this month? I will not play with it until I get the damn novel done.

I have the basics of it, I've got the beginning and the middle and the end. I need to fill the gaps, give my main characters better motivation, describe some of the fight scenes a little better and GET ER DONE.

I will update here when I can on my status.

Good luck, writers!

Camp NaNoWriMo for July 2020

Plans are made.

Plots are frayed.

Snacks are out-laid.

Rhymes are hard.

;-)

I shall keep all informed this time. I really want to get a novel done, really truly madly deeply.

I Got NaNo-Nine Problems...

Quick update on my writing for this month of July:

(cricket chirping)

I was hoping that by going with a time limit - 40 hours - instead of word count, I would be gliding into the writing process of an hour here, a couple of hours during the weekend there, that sort of thing.

The first full week of NaNo writing and I haven't even found an hour to get anything done: not a paragraph, not one sentence or bit of dialogue.

I am finding myself sitting in front of a computer monitor suffering from depression, self-loathing, and anxiety... not all of it writing related.

I've headed out to places away from home, to avoid distractions. It's not working.

No excuses here.

I need to find my motivation. A muse. Something.

Camp NaNo July 2019, Underway

I got my opening chapter already!

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single slice of bread in possession of strawberry spread, must be in want of a butter knife."

...

WHADDA YA MEAN IT'S BEEN DONE?!

Sigh. (crumples paper and starts again)

I'll get something done this month with Camp NaNoWriMo. 40 hours to go...

Something New With Camp Nano 2019

One of the things you could do with Camp NaNoWriMo for April/July was setting your own word goal, so that you won't stress out trying to get 50,000 words done in 30 days like you do in November.

But I noticed something new when I tried to select my Goals for the July camp: It now included options on selecting other means of measuring your efforts.

• Words
• Hours
• Minutes
• Lines
• Paragraphs

One thing I kept running into with my last handful of failed projects was finding the time to get writing done. The word count was one thing: trying to cram in 1600-plus words per day wasn't happening, and the more I fell back the harder it was to keep up.

I'm going to see if going by HOURS - say, 40 hours for the month of July - will get me to my goals better. If time is my limiter, use that as an advantage.

So I'm planning on 40 hours worth of writing this July: Getting science fiction stories finished up to complete an anthology of sci-fi shorts.

Wish me luck.

Getting Back Into The Superhero 'Verse I'm Writing

I've settled on the plot ideas I've been bouncing around in my head since 2004. It's gonna be a story about a man who meets a woman during the war.

...

Okay, so I'm ripping off the plot of the Book With the Blue Cover (wherever it may be on our shelves). BUT DAMMIT I'M TIRED OF SUFFERING FROM WRITERS BLOCK.

(activates lightsaber before heading into battle) CHARRRRRRGGGEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

As March Rolls Out, April Rolls In

I know I promised to find a work I had on the backburner and clean it up for possible publication through IngramSpark to see how the experience went.

Well... one month later and I haven't gotten anywhere near fixing that project and getting something going.

There's every excuse I can throw out there, but the basic answer is I am just not feeling it. I'm bummed and stressed about three to thirty things that don't even have to do with writing, and I'm bummed and stressed about that.

I'm looking back at about ten years of working on NaNoWriMo projects and finding not a one of them - whittled down to five solid candidates - grabbing my interest to get done.

Even with Camp Nano starting again this April, I am feeling challenged and unmotivated.

I am one of those poor souls in dire need of a Muse. Might be Thalia (for humor), maybe Clio (for history/non-fiction). It's a damn shame the Greeks never set up Muses for Sci-Fi / Fantasy fiction. :/

Anyone know the hourly rates of a good Muse?

Camp NaNo July 2018 Update

ARRRRRGHHHHHH MUST KEEP WRITING.

WORDS AND WORDS.

Must... avoid... ADVERBS...

Camping a NaNo July 2018

Writing
Writing
Wiritign
WIRRRRITTIINNGGG
argh gotta keep writing brb.

CampNaNo Right Around the Corner for July

I keep saying this. I keep looking for inspiration and moral support and the means and time to giterdun.

This coming Sunday is July 1st and the first official day for CampNaNoWriMo.

Doom me forever if I do not get my novel idea(s) done this time.

Just one novel... just to know what it feels like to cross that threshold...

National Writing Day Is a Thing Now?

Oh, okay, it seems to be something out of the UK:

National Writing Day is an annual celebration of writing designed to inspire people across the UK to get writing. Our message is simple: everyone has a story to tell and sharing it can be a source of pleasure and power.

On 27th June 2018, we will aim to inspire creative writing on a grand scale—young people are more inclined to write creatively if they see adults around them doing so and writing can benefit people of all ages. We welcome participation from any individual or group, regardless of age, gender, and cultural or economic backgrounds. Our aim is to promote all forms of writing and encourage communities to join in via a programme of public, educational and online activities.

National Writing Day is coordinated by First Story, a national literacy charity dedicated to changing lives through writing, and delivered in partnership with over thirty-five national literacy partners. It is made possible with support from Arts Council England and Old Possums Practical Trust.

Bloody Brits, thinking a novel can be written in a day. I've tried, it's not feasible even with a 3-Day Novel contest, best you can do is like 13000 words and that's barely a novella, how can I write a novel in a day when I've got to go to work at the library within the hour and this blog writing is cutting into that novel-writing time, you fiends no wonder you're falling apart to Brexit and...

Oh, it doesn't apply to Americans?! THANK YOU GEORGE WASHINGTON! (runs away)

...anyway I've got plans for Camp NaNo this July... so I'll be busy then.

Camp NaNo July 2018 Motivation

HIT ME! (slap)

Tell me I need to finish a novel for once in my struggling artist life!!!

Link here to follow the atrocities when July begins.

Surrendering on Camp NaNo

I just can't keep up.

Writing this project just hasn't been any fun for me. I'm making this homework, and I've gotten too old for homework...

I still want to write, I want to get around to finishing this project (and Gods help me, some of the others) but right now I just can't get this alien invasion story anywhere near a finished draft.

I'm going to take a couple days to unwind, figure out what else I can do to get my inspiration back.

Sorry.

Go ahead and slap me like I asked earlier. I need the public shaming.

April 2018 Writing Projects

1. Cleaning up some of my short stories to submit to the FWA Royal Palm Awards.

2. Joining Camp NaNo this month to complete the YA alien invasion novel.

3. Slapping myself each hour I don't get any damn writing done when it could get done.


I expect to be covered in slap bruises by the end of next week.

Good luck to ye, too.

Writing Projects April 2017

There are at least three things on my writing agenda:

1) Camp NaNo, to finish a novel on SOMETHING.

2) Florida Writers' Association annual anthology, due April 30th.

3) A short story on the current political  climate, which might get me over my writers' block (yes, I am blaming trump for this).

Wish me luck.

July CampNaNo Results

Well, I got my designated word count over 50,000... so that means

Of course the novel itself is still a mess and needs heavy revision.

And there's about 52 other things I need to get done before this month is even over.

Still and all, I feel the need to get something published soon. Just not this rough draft. Gotta keep writing...

Camp NaNoWriMo July 2016

So, while I've got a bunch of projects floating out there, MIGHT AS WELL START ONE MORE!

ow, stop hitting me! Just go visit http://www.campnanowrimo.org and find out what I'm shilling!

Actually, I'm going to be using this upcoming July Camp NaNo to re-start that Ocean Dancers plot idea I had two years ago and take it into a different direction. I like the idea, and I wanna mess with it, but I've looked at how I've painted myself into a corner (again) on the first run and I'm thinking I need to try an alternate path.

So, now. It's going to be How to Invade Earth And Get Away With It.

this won't be the final cover, this is just a placeholder/
motivator to get er done.

I worry the book title's already been done, although WorldCat is telling me I'm in the clear on this.

If anyone in Central Florida area wants in on the Camp NaNo Cabin I'm in, leave a comment here or contact me at the CampNaNo site (under the name of "Witty").