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!

NaNoWriMo 2020: The Reckoning

Keeping it simple: Yes, I reached 50,000 words this time.

It's a second third fifth attempt at finishing a novel set in my superhero Talents 'verse, and here's hoping that this one finally has the kinks banged out of it so I can edit it into a coherent work.

There's roughly half a novel done in this, but it'll need so much more plugged in to make it sensible. I shouldn't crow too much, still working it, still writing it...

I will update on this - with more consistency and focus - so that I know I will get this one done...

Io Saturnalia to ye now!

NaNo Me Baby One More Time! 2019 Edition

Annnnnd... I'M OFF!

(types furiously)

Remember to use the Space Bar. THE SPACE BAR! AAAIIIIIEEEEEEeeeee... (crashes into the Oxford Comma)

Knuckling In, Keep Writing

I am going to use the month of March to focus hard on getting the rough draft of Ocean Dancers done.

I will finish this.

That means no distractions.

NaNoWriMo 2014: Clearing Out the Leftovers

Tell me to get at least two of the six stories finished that I'd planned to make part of my superhero narrative from 2013 NaNo before Halloween.  Two.  That's all.  I got one, if I can get two I can post them in a combo mini-anthology of sorts on Smashwords or something.

TELL ME.  I need an editor with an egg timer and a 2x4 standing behind me right about now.

NaNoWriMo 2014: Another Reckoning Another Chance

It's time to NANO.

This year I'm plotting out an alien invasion with a twist (the aliens are here to SPOILERS).

Meantime, I am finishing up some of the chapters from LAST YEAR's NaNo attempt to see about getting the rough draft edited out and published before I get working this November on this new one.

This time I'll have the 2013 work finished BEFORE I go jumping for an artist / cover designer.

Things to Do for 2014

It's a week after the new year started, I know, but this is more a To-Do List than a resolutions page anyway.

Need to improve at work.  The first months at a new place of employ is getting settled in, getting aware of the rules and office arrangements.  Now that I've been at Bartow Public for a year now, I need to step up a bit more, pick up on the classes I'm teaching for computer use and pick up on some of the duties a reference librarian should do.

Need to get more writing finished.  I've had way too many projects getting juggled and barely any finished.  On the bright side, I've gotten back into finishing up short stories well enough to get published in an anthology... and will get a second submission looked at for acceptance (here's hoping).  But there's three five stories on file needing completion.  One is two, maybe three chapters away from getting finished as a rough draft, at which point I'll need beta readers to test the narrative and destroy my work pointing out glaring inaccuracies and terrible dialog.

Need to lose weight.  I've gotten down to 277 lbs before, shouldn't be anywhere above 300 lbs, but here I am again.  A lot of the weight re-gain wasn't from a bad diet as it was the inactivity (and dour mood) brought on by prolonged unemployment.  But that's been a year now, I'm fully employed and doing well and need to get my body feeling as good as I need to.

I'll let you all know how it goes.

NaNoWriMo Update 11/26/13

You know how you get down to the wire and then all of a sudden there's like 153 different things distracting you from getting something done?

Well, for me, not really.  I mean, I'm at 48,000-plus words with 4 days to go.  I ought to hit 50,000 words for NaNo sometime tonight.

As for a workable novel... well, yeah, it's gonna need editing...

Update: Into The Blue Again

Okay, I got a rough draft of the first three chapters of Into The Blue Again done over the Labor Day weekend!

Yay.

Granted it's only about 40+ pages (double-spaced) so far, but it's something, and it's mostly coherent, and I've got a good feeling about how it'll finish up.

So I've decided to start shopping for a cover artist to make sure I've got all my ducks in a row before self-publishing it.

With that as an incentive I hope to finish this particular project before NaNoWriMo starts this November...

Words Into Chapters

I may have to break a chapter I've planned down into two in order to make the pacing work.  Although it leaves the story a bit unbalanced.

In short, I'm coming up with more excuses to avoid finishing off the last two (THREE) chapters of the rough draft.  Tell me to keep working...

Just Wondering

1) Just wondering if there's any flash drive makers that market a $1 drive.  Nothing huge, just 16 MB at least (we're in the GB range nowadays).  We need cheap flash drives to sell at libraries for patrons needing to save stuff to disk.

2) Just wondering if I should teach evening classes instead of afternoon.  Afternoon turnouts have been pretty quiet for my basic computing courses.  Something between 5 pm to 7 pm (8 pm is when we close up, so it can't be that late).

3) Just wondering if I can get this rough draft novel DONE this Memorial Day weekend (BACK TO WORK YOU FIEND).

Update: Writing and Marketing April 2013

1) Still working on finishing up a novel idea from 2010 NaNoWriMo.  Need to get it done soon and edited and uploaded to ebook before May because...

2) Local Authors event at Barnes & Noble at Wiregrass in Wesley Chapel FL on May 18, 2013.  From 2pm to 4pm.  It'd be nice to have a new book to promote alongside the published stuff like Last of the Grapefruit Wars, Welcome to Florida and Hero Cleanup Protocol.  Before which I'll be...

3) Attending the Florida Writers Association meeting in Lakeland FL this April 16, where I'll be asking about post-meeting for quick hints on self-marketing with a Facebook page perhaps or other methods.

So I'm off to work!  Just three more chapters to go!

P.S. it'd be real nice if I can get support of people in the Tampa Bay area to come to the Local Authors event at Wiregrass.  I mean, just to show up: the last two times I've done this, turnout was shamefully low.  :(

One of the Side-Effects Of Being Gainfully Employed

Is the serious urge to get back to writing fiction.

The depressive funk for four years has lifted.  I am tackling a half-finished novel from an early NaNo yet again in a mad desire to get something e-published before April.

Keep the fire burning.  WORK WORK WORK WORK WORK...

Winning NaNo... But the War on Writers Block Continues Ever On

Getting to 50,000 words is one thing.

For starters, you badge up. :)

 Just gotta figure how to add this to the blog template for permanent display... ;-)

But the novel itself is - even at 50,000+ words - halfway through.  I haven't even gotten to the breaking point for one of the main characters, and the climactic battle not yet in sight.  The month of December is gonna be both a continuing writing frenzy and a push to get the first draft (oh Lord is it rough) cleaned up for any half-decent publishing attempt.

The best thing is that there's a sense of accomplishment here.  Just gotta get past the next hurdle is all...

NaNoWriMo Update: Day 20

This is coming late at night, having been a busy Friday all around.

Currently at 40,014 words.  At this pace 50,000 is no problem.  Finishing the whole novel currently at Chapter Five with Five (maybe up to Seven if the pacing goes as it does) more to go.