My current writing corner

I'm trying to write at this wee desk, cause if I sit in bed I can get sleepy.

Here's my lovely Scrivener. I like to open pics of the characters (or room etc) on the left hand side, or sometimes my notes; and then my book on the right. And in the "inspector" I keep track of writing times, word count, and character names... the latter because when I get really tired I forget everyone's names.

Since I like to burn a candle when writing I bought this tacky little candle holder at work (the thrift store.) It's perfect except for the baseball. There should be a cat instead. I'm going to have to turn the baseball into a cat. But the books, tea and computer--all good.

Supplies: contigo mug, Reese's cups, gum to clean my teeth after Reese's cups, headphones for music, and hard drive for backing up. (Remember to do backups!)

My new muses (also from my store.) The Boss, and a Maneki-neko.

The Excel word count sheet--click on it to see the projected date when I'll finish. It's December! lol

And finally, last month I found a new symbol for my "Work in Progress" icon in my dock. Writer Snoopy! "It was a dark and stormy night. A shot rang out. A pirate ship loomed on the horizon..."

   

To Nano or Not to Nano? That is the October question...

Every October writers across the land ask themselves: Should I do Nanowrimo this year?

I love Nanowrimo. For those not *in the know* it's National Novel Writing Month. A free online event where you sign up to say you'll try to write 50 000 words in one month. You "win" simply by completing. (You upload your book to their word count machine, so of course you could cheat. But why do that?)

My Nano profile (blue = participated, purple = won.) 

My brother first heard of it and we both successfully participated in 2002.

I later did 2008, 2009 and 2010. (I went back to school from Sep 2003 - May 2008. Can you tell?) I get excited every October when Nano talk is in the air. It feels like the coming of a holiday.

I'm not sure whether to join in this year. I've got a job now, so I can guilt-free spend the time writing. And it's the first time I've got regular hours, so I could, in theory, get enough sleep. No cats or husband to neglect (shniff).

Every year I get off to a late start and then write like a fool the second half of the month. Which is fun. But not recommended. I know I'm capable of writing 2000/day cause I did it this past spring when I joined JJJ's writing group. First time I wrote the equivalent of a Nanowrimo at an even pace.

Guess I should make the forum /blog rounds and see who else is participating, cause it would be my first Nano year actively involved with writerly pals. I know one frog who must be doing Nano... let's go check her blog... Yep! Good ole Miss Steps. She's a Nano queen.
     

Everything I learned about writing I learned from... Lace?

In April fellow writer and froggy Judy,Judy,Judy took part in a writing bootcamp where I gather they were in teams and whichever team gets the biggest word count by the end of the month wins a free workshop. There's a sort of Nanowrimo idea to it, where you want to just get Words on Paper and overcome your inner editor for that first draft.

She wanted to keep the motivation going and so started her own monthly bootcamp, which she'll run every month if three people sign up. The person with the highest word count at the end get chocolate. There are also these "sprints" where you get online at the same time, write, chat a bit, write, and then your word count counts for double.

I signed up late--Sunday May 6th. I haven't done any sprints, and I doubt I will cause I just can't plan ahead, and commit to stuff right now. So let's see if I can get my own personal private prize: Highest word count without sprints! heh heh. Anyway, I'm thankful to J,J,J cause I've been writing at least 2000 words every night. I refuse to go to bed until I've made 2000, even though in the last 30 minutes my eyes look like this:

and I can't remember my characters names. Every time I have to put in a person's name, I have to pause and think. It's pretty tragic and amusing.

As I walk the wogglies these days I'm listening to old Storywonk podcasts--a podcast about writing by Lani Diane Rich and her husband. Most topics are things I've heard before cause I've been writing for 30 years, but it's always good to hear them discussed, debated, new examples, new approaches, and so forth and it keeps me in a Writing Frame of Mind.

I've been thinking lately about which authors taught me so many good writing "rules"/guidelines over the years. Here's one...

Shirley Conran taught me the dangers of infodump in Lace II, which I read in high school. It's where you dump a whole bunch of information into the story that either is Too Much Information, or should be spread out better. In Lace II there was a chapter that began with a big long description of different types of guns, and I called up Swiss Girl and said: "Shirley Conran is showing off how much research she did about guns. It's no necessary." <-- "No necessary" is how Swiss Mother used to say "not necessary."

Distort reality the Steve Jobs Way

Steve Jobs' biographer was on The Daily Show and talked about the "reality distortion field" that people half-joked surrounded Jobs. In part it refers to the way he would challenge developers to invent something new, even when they'd say it couldn't be done. And then they did it.

Love this expression.

Unfortunately, it's possible that Jobs' applied this too far to his health--some think he delayed surgery to remove his tumor by 9 months so he could try alternative therapies first, which allowed the tumor to spread. (Skimmable balanced summary here.) Though the reality distortion field helps us break barriers, it can't break them all.

But when it comes to innovating and pursuing dreams, a reality distortion field is a great idea.

 I've seen it work even in silly things, like the loyalty card we used to sell at my old work. Time and again a new generation of cashiers would say "Everyone has a card, we can't get a higher percentage!" but my boss would *inspire* them to try harder, and the percentage went up.

This technique did stop working at some point, though. Eventually you really do saturate your market, and the reality distortion field eventually hits reality. But until then, what might we be capable of?

National Novel Writing Month--writing 50 000 words in 30 days--is another example of showing people how they can do more than they thought personally probable. If you pace yourself Nano asks you to write 1666 words per day; but I always get behind and write way more than that at the end, to get ahead. In theory we could all write 100 000 words in the month (and many of the early finishers do... yes, the crazy people.)

We can do more than we think IF we had a good reason, because achieving-the-impossible generally requires sacrifice. For example, in Nano it translates into = no dishes cleaned, no cooking, no childcare, unhappy spouses, and no life. I'll bet it did for Jobs' developers too.

But if your goal or dream is worthy, and the sacrifices can be made, then I say go for it. Reality distort away!
  

    

Confessions of an Uncommitmentphobe (plus a tip for Blogger bloggers & a good read by Anna Cowan)

1. For Blogger/Blogspot bloggers
2. What if heroes stopped eating bonbons and stepped it up?
3. Learning to not commit is oweee

1. FOR THOSE USING BLOGGER/BLOGSPOT
Did you guys notice that you can edit your images on the blog now?? I didn't know!! What the--!! In case you didn't either, you click on the picture then choose "Edit Image." MY DAYS. It's got effects, frames, stickers, everything--I've only started to explore, but it's a little buggy. This is why I haven't left Blogger yet, though. They always add something nice.


2. SOMETHING GOOD TO READ

I just found this Betty blog that I don't think is on the Betty RSS feed.

If you're a writer, or just interested in books and what makes for an interesting hero, then read this post! Très très intéressant! It's like someone freshened up the oil in my brain gears. Here's a taste:

What would a fantasy epic look like if the hero wasn’t “chosen” (i.e. got to have his epic destiny without any autonomy or responsibility)? What if some farm boy (because they always are farm boys, right?) looked around himself and decided to do something about what he saw; to act autonomously, and to be responsible for what he caused? The first thing that occurred to us was: They wouldn’t get away with nearly so much.

Then you can go and discuss! Well I did anyway. En masse. Cause you know that's how I rollz.


3. AND NOW SOME NEWS & PERSONAL CRAP

I was relieved to hear that Bonafide Betty is not ready for a June nano, because neither am I. We're doing July instead. So those of you who thought you might like to try for July - Mouah ha haaaa!!!

And I warned her that, because things in my personal life might get kooky this summer, I'm going to attempt... for the first time ever... Purposeful Undercommitment.

Looking at my messy apartment, my what-ev-ah meals, my home haircuts, my never-makeup, my wrinkled clothes, you wouldn't think I'm a perfectionist. (See below - the view from where I'm sitting, on my bed, in my bedroom/library/office. See the pile of clean laundry, sitting on the boxes of my grandfather's dissertation? One of my favorite Betty conversations was about how a bunch of us have slept on clean laundry before.)

Sadly I've learned that I am, in specific areas of my life. And one of them is that if I commit to something like a Nanowrimo, I WILL FINISH IT. Especially if I'm doing it as a partnership with someone.

But I'm reading a self-help book on procrastination, and it's teaching me that my perfectionism, and my over-commitment-ism, lead to my procrastination. I meet all my deadlines, I've never underperformed at work, I've NEVER turned in a late paper at school, but I work too many hours, I exhaust myself, I lose pull all-nighters, I exacerbate my headaches, and I hurt my personal life instead. So I've got to change.

And one step is to say (though it send shivers through my soul) when we attempt our Nano in July... I'm giving myself permission to "lose." To not complete my word count. I'm not even doing a "real" nano for heaven's sake, cause one of the rules is it can't be a re-write. Imperfectionism! That's got to be my credo.

You've got my four badges, they ought to be enough for heaven's sake. You've got nothing to "prove" Mabelline. And you can cheer on Bonafide and anyone else who joins, even if you make a decision to stop partway through. Hush hush it's going to be okay.

(Looking at these badges, anyone want to guess what year I went back to school and when I graduated? At least I'm not that bad of an overcommitter.)

 


I should add that I've improved in one way, which is no longer freaking out over posting on time on my blogs. Self head pat.