Posts Tagged With: Nanowrimo

Colds, Christmas, and Bookish Gifts

Posted on December 10, 2015 by caseykins

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One of these days I’m going to get around to a real, meaty post about bookish stuff.  I am deathly ill with the cold that’s been going around the office this month.  I was one of the last to get it, and I was thinking that my usual routine of Nyquil and insane amounts of hydration would see me through better than some.  Not so much.  I’ve been floored for 3 days now, and I still sound like I have a clothespin on my nose.

I’ve been consoling myself with Christmas.  Brian and I got the tree up last weekend, actually managed to put Christmas lights on our house, and bought a new angel for the tree.  She’s made of shell, and she lights up.  The pregnant angel – one of mysterious origin who had her little china hands centered over a mysterious bulge in her dress – is no more.  I’ve also been reading a bunch of Christmas-themed romance novels.  Which, frankly, have been terrible.  I don’t know what I was expecting, but certainly something better than I got.  The recommended ones seem to be mostly anthologies of short stories, of which I’m not as much of a fan.  Any recommendations?  Send them my way, please!  I am still throwing off the tired from this cold, so I’m sure I’ll be snuggled up in bed often over the next few days.

Nanowrimo went well-ish.  I won by all official measures (50,000 new words in November), but I didn’t finish the novel.  I’m back to editing other things, although I’m sure Easterbay will become an actual, edited thing someday.

In the meantime, I thought I might put up links so some of my favorite bookish stores for your perusing pleasure.  If you have a bookworm you’re shopping for, but are afraid that they probably already have any books you might consider getting for them, all of these are good options.

Out of Print Clothing: http://www.outofprintclothing.com/.  Between my “American Gods” shirt and my “Little Prince” shirt, I practically live in this stuff on the weekends.  So soft!  I’ve been drooling over their tote bags, too.  You can’t help but love a place that sells a nice Holden Caulfield hat as a necklace, or lets you light things on fire with your “Fahrenheit 451” matchbook.

Sainted Writers: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SaintedWriters.  Who doesn’t need a saint candle to burn to your favorite writer?  I need the Saint Neil Gaiman one STAT!  But we also bought Saint Stephen King for an old professor of my husband’s, and it comes complete with hilarious prayer on the back.

Literary Emporium: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LiteraryEmporium.  Pretty literary quotes with matching baubles, magic notebooks, and other fancy stuff.  They even have cufflinks for the male variety of bookworm.

Other things to consider are bookplate stamps, funky bookmarks, and Moleskine notebooks.  Those are all things I’d drool over.

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A Cheater Post

Posted on November 24, 2015 by caseykins

Can’t write… NaNoWriMo.  And also, 15 people for Thanksgiving at my house.  It’s the most we’ve ever done, and we’re BUSY.  Word count is 47,000 as of yesterday, and I’m poised to win if I just keep on trucking…

So, instead of the usual thing, please enjoy this gallery of photos from that time Brian and I went to the pumpkin patch.  I’ll be back to regular programming next week, when Nano is over and I’m not totally insane.

You know, a little insane.  Just not totally.

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Easterbay and Nanowrimo

Posted on November 14, 2015 by caseykins

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I’ve been SO BAD about posting this week. It’s because I’m an idiot and I tried to do NaNoWriMo without a full outline even though I know better.

Nano is easy if you do it exactly right, and impossible if you do it even a bit wrong, I have found.

On day 10 I scrapped the whole thing, wrote an outline, and am now attempting to catch up. That’s 2000+ words per day now to end up with a full 50,000 word draft at the end of it. I’m still keeping the old words in the count for morale, but I’m not sure it’s working… Morale is low today.  Yesterday morale was high, though. Ugh.

So: Can’t talk, must Nano.

In the mean time, here’s an excerpt of the good portion. And a link to my Pinterest mood board for the thing so you can see what I’m working on is here: .

Easterbay:

I was just dragging the gate over the sandy roadway, preparing to click the lock together, when he stepped out of the trees.

I say “he” because he stood upright as a human would, on two cloven feet.  His bottom half was wooly, but his top was human.  He wore a leather bomber jacket and a knit cap with horns peeking through, and he looked for all the world at first like a cheeky fisherman, the sort who loitered down at the docks.  Only the cheeky fishermen down by the docks had either turned soldier or weren’t young.

“Hey!” he said.

I’m afraid I startled, and dropped the padlock into the dust.  I stood.

“Yes?” I said, slowly.

“Yourn the newest witch, right?”

“No,” I said.  “I mean, I live in the house, but I’m not a witch or anything.  I can’t do magic.”

He scoffed at me.  “Anyone can do magic, even you mortal folk.  That isn’t what I’m talking about.  You’ve taken Her place, haven’t you?”

“Gran’s?  Vega Gay?”

“That’s the one,” he said.

“I don’t know.  I guess I have,” I said.

“Then yourn the new witch.” He nodded at me.

“Can I help you?” I said.

“No, but maybe I can help you.  This time it’s free.  Next time it’ll cost ya.”

“I don’t know what you could possibly tell me at this point…”

“They’re meetin’,” he said.  “That’s wha’ I came to tell ya.  On Samhain, they’re meetin’.”

“Who?” I said.

“Who… as if ya didn’t know.  Them.  The Fae-folk.  The little people.  The Winter court.  Haven’t elected a king in years, but they’re going to.  Thought you’d like to know.”

“What’ll it cost me?” I said.

“Huh?”

“Next time.  What will it cost me?”

“A chocolate bar,” he said.  “Maybe two.  Depends on the information I got.”

“Sure,” I said.  “Sure…”

“Nice doing business with ya,” he said.  And then he turned and swaggered off into the forest again.

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Fall, Daylight Savings, and Exhaustion

Posted on November 2, 2015 by caseykins

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Oh man, it’s Monday and time for a blog entry again, isn’t it?  I’ve been a bit out of it, and Daylight Savings doesn’t help…

Last week I presided over a huge extravaganza of events at my work.  2 days of a cadre of complex stuff.  It all was terribly exhausting, but went well.  I also got to work from the President’s kitchen on Thursday.  That was definitely the highlight of my time at Scripps so far.  Her house is BEAUTIFUL, and we used it as home base for our event guests since we’re between presidents and no one is actually living there right now.  It’s an understatement to say that it was lovely. Catering had left fresh flowers everywhere.

In the middle of that crazy was the Chapman Pumpkin Carving Contest.  Brian’s department had won for 3 years in a row, but everyone was SO BUSY this year.  They usually get planning about a month before everything happens.  This year they had a few days.  On the nights I wasn’t working late, Brian and I stayed up and made Memorial Hall (where the President’s Office is located) out of poster board so a mini-DeLorean could time travel onto the campus and they could pass out “Save Memorial Hall” pamphlets.  They defended their title, so they’ve now been winners for 4 years running.  I’m officially married to an award winning fellow, several times over.

Prizes were Harry and David pears… Brian brought me 2 of them as a thanks for mini-buildings.  I do not know why those pears are the best things in the entire universe, but they are.  I ate the second one for breakfast this morning.

I am now smack in the middle of NaNoWriMo.  It’s going well – so far, I’m ahead.  Crazy, right?  I’m never ahead.  I think the fact that the book is all in Epistolary form is helping me.  It’s easy to write several billion letters.  And if I need to cut out half those letters in the future, it’s also easy to do.  I’ll tell you right now, though… I’ve been doing one Scrivener chapter for each letter and my sidebar looks NUTS, it’s so full.

That’s about all from the realm of Caseyville.  I have not had nearly enough cuddle time with the kitten lately.  The weather is finally cooling off a bit here, though.  I have optimistically bought firewood. I’m determined to have a fall, whether the California drought lets me or not…

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NaNoWriMo Advice:

Posted on October 26, 2015 by caseykins

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I wrote last week about my own journey to Nanowrimo.  I wanted to do a second post, though, about some recommendations that I have for sticking it through.  I’m feeling like a veteran at this since it’s my 5th year and all (and I’ve done Camp a couple of times too).  This is my guide to thirty days of writing insanity, specially geared towards first-timers.

  1. Let your family and friends know, and recruit a cheering section. You’re going to be spending a LOT of time alone with your computer.  Make sure everyone knows it’s because you’re an intrepid novelist and not because you hate them or are suddenly feeling anti-social.  Other bonuses include motivating guilt when people ask you how it’s going and you’re inevitably behind, possible dinners and/or candy brought to you by sympathetic pals, and encouragement when you’re feeling deep in the dumps because it’s not working out.  If you don’t have that kind of support system at home, the message boards can be a great stand-in.  So can writer meet-ups.
  2. DO NOT GO IN WITHOUT A PLAN. No, really.  I know there’s this awesome debate about planners vs pantsers and that it’s equally legitimate to be either.  If this is your first rodeo, DO NOT go in without a plan of some kind.  You don’t have to have a detailed outline like a “planner” would, but you should at least know in your head the beginning, some of the middle, and where it will end.  If it’s your first novel-writing experience, I recommend that you steal a plot.  I know that sounds bad at first glance, but it’s totally legit. All you have to do is pick your favorite tale, set it in a different time period, and write away.  A Macbeth/Mean Girls mashup where they murder the alpha-girl, A steampunk Odyssey in a dirigible balloon (one-eyed aliens, anyone?), a Sleeping Beauty on a far-away planet, where she’s incased not in briars but in ice… the options are endless.  Pick a story you know well, and mess with the wheres and whens.  You will thank me in week 2 when the Hatred hits.
  3. Be prepared for the week 2 Hatred. I always think I’m prepared for week 2.  And then I’m always surprised by how authentically and genuinely I loathe the story I’m writing.  You don’t have to like it, you just have to write it.  I recommend the pep talks on the Nanowrimo website at this point, especially Neil Gaiman’s.  Bribery and punishment also work for some.  Although I’ve never used them, I have heard great things about Write Or Die and Written Kitten.  Keep going.  Do not ditch this in favor of another idea.  You will hate it less in a few days, and if you have stolen a plot you probably know how to get to the next thing that happens.  If you have not stolen a plot, you may be feeling at this point like you’ve exhausted all your creativity and/or like your story has gone off the rails.  For this problem, try adding something completely unexpected, something from the prompt message boards on the Nano site, OR just skip to that part that happens super far in the future but that you’re looking forward to writing.  No one said you had to write the book in the right order.
  4. For the love of God, do not re-read your work! It will only end in tears. And in less writing.  There’s plenty of time after Nano to fix whatever isn’t working.  Whatever you do, just keep going and ignore the rest.  Also, this makes draft 2 really fun when you find the horrible things you’ve written and you laugh at yourself.
  5. Make the most of your weekends. Work will get crazy.  Relatives will fly in for Thanksgiving.  You will have that thing that night that you can’t get out of.  It will happen, and the word count mounts up so fast that it will seem impossible for you to ever catch up.  Use your weekends to pad your word count.  Even if you can’t get those extra words in on both days, you will usually have one day to really crank it out.  Make the most of these times and you will keep yourself sane (okay, sane-ish).
  6. It’s possible to write more than you think it is. I did 9,000 words one day.  My shoulders ached and my brain felt pretty fried at the end, but I caught myself up with some word count to spare.  If you had asked me before I did it, I would have said that 3,000 a day was my absolute upward limit.  You are capable of more than you think if you push yourself hard.  Who ever said that winning was easy?
  7. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Give it your all, certainly, but it’s useful to remember a few things along the way.  #1 is that no one will ever see this draft.  It will be bad.  It will be the worst thing you have ever written sometimes.  You are still lapping the people on the couch who have never written a novel, and anyway, all you want is something you can edit.  It’s SUPPOSED to be bad.  If it isn’t bad, you aren’t doing it right.  #2 is that Nano isn’t for everyone.  Not everyone is capable of working like that, and that’s okay.  You are a winner if you wrote more words than you would have otherwise this month, and that’s all that matters.  This is also the reason you should keep going once you start, even if you definitely aren’t going to make it to 50,000.  More words are better words.  Quantity over quality forever! (or at least until draft 2).  #3 is to ignore everyone else’s word count on the message boards.  I’ll tell you right now that those people who have 20,000 words  of a novel on day 2 are either professionals with dozens of books in print, super humans, or lying.  Run your own race against yourself, and just know that the rest of us are mad at those overachievers for blowing the bell-curve too.

So that’s all I’ll say today.  Any other advice I have is probably specific for my writing style anyway.  I leave you to enjoy the Viking hats, the traveling shovel of death, to get acquainted with Mr. Ian Woon, and otherwise revel in the explosion of words that happens every November.  Best of luck!

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On My Love for NaNoWriMo

Posted on October 22, 2015 by caseykins

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This is my annual “I’m doing Nanowrimo” post.  I am, like hundreds of thousands of other people on the internet, going to write a novel in a month.  It’s a giant writing party on the internet and we’re all invited.  You too!  It’s both easier and harder than you think it will be…

I’ll be honest in saying that this might not be the best choice for me.  I currently have 3 Nano drafts that I consider good enough to edit, and so far I’ve only managed to touch one and a half of them.  I’ve been participating since 2011.  I’m about to have a 4th draft of something I probably won’t edit for ages and ages.  It seems a little silly to drop everything else and Nano for a month.  But I’m compelled, you know.  There can’t be a huge writing party on the internet without me.  I get angsty if I don’t join in.

I don’t talk about imposter syndrome much, but there’s a reason that I’m 33 years old and I haven’t pursued writing seriously until about 4 years ago.  I don’t remember where I read it, and I’m sure the thing would strike me differently if I were to read it today, but in a forward in one of my favorite books was an essay.  It mentioned people who grew up in a literary environment, and how they are different from actual writers.  People who grew up in a literary environment, the essay said, probably read a lot as children.  Maybe there were writers in their family (there are several in mine – my grandfather’s bread and butter was covering the Celtics for the Christian Science Monitor), maybe there were lots of books around everywhere.  But in any case, these people dabbled in writing, were bad at it, and didn’t have the stamina to have a writing career.  These were people who liked books, sometimes scribbled things down, and left it at that.  I compiled this essay in my mind together with all the writing advice that basically says “if you can help it at all, do something REAL with your life,” and I left those half-formed scribblings in my notebooks.

4 years ago, I participated in my first Nanowrimo.  A bunch of my friends were doing it, and there’s nothing I like more than a silly challenge that lets me brag about things – especially things like having written a novel.

I signed up, and a flood unleashed.

By the end I knew things.  I had no skills, I had nothing but a small way with words, and yet I had the HABITS of a writer.  By the end of the month, that 1600 words a day was easy to crank out.  I kept going after November.  I signed up to minor in English so that I could get a bit more of a handle on the skill part of things.  I can help it.  I don’t have to write.  I am a product of a literary environment.  All of those things are true.  But it’s also true that Nanowrimo made a writer of me.  I am certain that this novel would never have been written, that the other two novels I’m dying to get my fingers into would never have been conceived, let alone exist as first drafts, had I not joined that crazy no-stakes contest in November 2011.  I am now pursuing a writing career with determination.

The best part?  I get to relive the magic again once a year.  And that’s why, despite the fact that I’m in a terrible place to drop everything for a month, I’m going to Nano my heart out.

Consider joining us?  It’s not for everyone, I admit.  Brian, for instance, is driven insane by the timeline.  He would rather take a week to have a perfect chapter than take a month to have the worst draft ever written.  But if you’ve ever wanted to write a novel, sometimes the kamikaze way is excellent.  It was excellent for me.

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NaNoWriMo: The Week 2 Blues

Posted on November 12, 2014 by caseykins

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The latest pep talk for Nanowrimo is not what I needed right now. And I need a pep talk. I’m feeling the week 2 blues set in. I was so excited to see that they had one up on the website, and I’m sure it helped someone move forward amidst some writers block. The thing about Nano, though, is that I don’t usually get writers block. I get writers block when I am worried that everything I’m writing is crap and won’t fit the tone of the rest of the novel. I get writers block when I don’t know how to write a scene and I desperately need it to work. In short, I only get blocked when there are stakes.

There are no stakes in Nanowrimo. There aren’t. However much you’d like to believe that you’re the next Hemmingway, I will have you know that your current novel is not up to those standards (that’s what editing is for). You should also know that’s a GREAT thing. It means your next line of prose doesn’t have to be genius. You also never have to show your novel to anyone, ever. All the “her troubles melted into the fondue pot of life”s and “their eyes met across the crowded room and stuff”s, all those horrible clichés, and the twelve adjectives you used to describe each thing; all of those are between you and the blank piece of paper. The blank piece of paper isn’t talking. There are no stakes

For me this time, there is only the realization that I hate these people a little bit. I don’t know why I decided to spend a month with them. He’s too nice. And why does he cry when she leaves? She’s going to help her country. He shouldn’t cry, he should be angry that she won’t listen to reason. Only he isn’t angry. He’s this warm, supportive, wishy-washy guy. And then there’s her, and she is such a reluctant revolutionary. She’s supposed to like excitement. The baby is supposed to be more than a glorified purse that she carries around and has to make sure she doesn’t leave at restaurants. The leader of the resistance is supposed to be the one that’s reluctant, but he seems ever gleeful to send everyone to their death.   At least Dad seems to be the asshole he’s supposed to be.

I know. It’s week two and we all feel this way. Every year I’m ready for it and make fun of the week 2 slump. But I’m always surprised by how genuinely I hate my novel. This isn’t “ha, ha. I’m over the thrill of week one.” This is honest loathing. I’ll get over it. I’ll feel proud of myself by the end of week 3. But how to charge forward through week 2?

I don’t know any way to do it except to put my butt in the chair and do some uninspired driveling. So that’s what I’m doing.

But I sure could use a good pep-talk right about now. Perhaps I’ll read Neil Gaiman’s (again) for the 1000th time. Or perhaps I’ll take my inspiration from Shannon Hale, who said that if engineers can land a probe on a comet, surely I can do something so simple as meet my word count goal…

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To Nanowrimo or not to Nanowrimo? That is the question.

Posted on October 31, 2014 by caseykins

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Nanowrimo starts tomorrow (that’s National Novel Writing Month), and I am still deciding whether or not to participate. I know, right? Nothing like waiting until the last minute.

Except that this isn’t really the last minute. I have a novel, I have an outline, I have a cover. It’s great, just like all novels are great before they’re full of the bad prose and plot holes of a zero draft. I am ready for Nano. There is no one more ready than I am.

So why would I not participate?

I’m at a terrible stopping place in draft five of the novel I’m currently editing. A terrible place. Sure, I’m not in the middle of a chapter or anything, but the queen is about to maybe get killed and I’m about to leave her in suspense for a whole month. It seems cruel. I was supposed to be farther along than this. MUCH farther along. I was supposed to be finished with draft 5 by November 1st. The queen was supposed to know who was trying to kill her.  The main character was supposed to make up with her family.  I was supposed to put it in a drawer, and then dabble with changes, and then have a readable manuscript by January 1st.

Brian and I were to have lovely nights in front of our new fireplace, both bending over a copy of the manuscript while I read aloud, occasionally scribbling things in the margins. (Which is a joke if you know us. We’re more likely to get into horrible fights with me accusing him of being mean to my writing, and he not understanding why his gentle criticism was reinterpreted so horribly wrong. And then he threatens not to read my stuff anymore if I can’t behave myself. Sometimes there are tears.  And then I apologize and dupe him into participating in the same cycle again. But maybe slightly better, because I’m trying to behave myself. I really am.).

My eyes were bigger than my fingers, though. I couldn’t complete 20 pages a day and still be a human. It’s my own fault for giving myself more work than I could manage. That doesn’t make it any easier to put the thing in the drawer at this haphazard place.

I must finish this novel. This year.

But, new novel!!! It’s the prequel to the novel I’m currently writing. That means it’s sort of related, right? We could call it research? No? Anyone?

I’ll probably end up participating. Just knowing that there’s a party of writing going on somewhere on the internets is enough that I can’t stay away. No one can resist the traveling shovel of death, or the wombats, or the mass quantities of caffeine and sugar we’re all consuming. It’s an orgy of words and it’s wonderful. It’s a new novel in only a month; something to fall in and out of love with and then toss aside. The newness is what I crave. I haven’t written anything new in months.

And who knows? Maybe I’ll have time for both?

Yeah, I know.

But don’t rain on my parade, okay?

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Ruby of Ra

Posted on November 7, 2013 by caseykins

Nanowrimo

As usual, I’m doing Nanowrimo again this year.  When am I not doing Nanowrimo is the real question.  I also try and participate in Camp every year, and I think my family is starting to think that Nano never ends.  November is the best one, though.  It’s the one where thousands of people are all online.  It’s the one where you can feel like you are struggling to craft a terrible 50,000 words beside hundreds of thousands of people who are also crafting terrible 50,000 word drafts.  There are thrilling pep talks just when you’re feeling down.  There are message boards full of people who are willing to commiserate both with victory and with failure.  There are stickers.

I’ve put my current novel on hold to write something new.  I’m probably insane, but I was at a good stopping point.  Putting that novel aside for a month will give me excellent perspective on it, right?  No?  Well, I’m telling myself that it will anyway.  I’ll go back to it in December and give this one a break, and then I can take turns editing.

I read more than one book at once, I can edit two at once, right?  Still no?

Anyway, I’m doing very well so far.  I’m a whole day ahead, have had a couple of 3000 word days during the week (!!!  <-this is a miracle), and am ready to blow the bell curve this weekend.  I’m also realizing that the more you write, the easier it becomes to write.  You know, if you can make yourself sit down at the computer in the first place and resist the siren’s call of the internet.

This novel is set in 1952, so I’ve downloaded a playlist on Spotify that features all the top 40 hits from 1950-1952.  Some days I’m not sure how anyone back then could listen to the radio for long, the songs are so saccharine.  Other days, I find myself wanting to jitterbug to “Rag Mop.” Today I got fed up with the fifties and decided to revert to the 1920s.  I discovered Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks on NPR last night. I’ve been swinging in a clarinet-trill world all afternoon.  Yes, I know they aren’t technically from the 1920s, but they play music from that era and that is enough for me.

Okay, enough stalling.  If you’ll excuse me, I have to get Ruby to the Grand Canyon so she can find out shocking secrets about her mother…

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Winner!!!

Posted on July 31, 2013 by caseykins

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Today is the last day of Camp Nanowrimo July, and I am officially a WINNER!  That certificate is fancy, and such nice validation.  What’s also nice is that now I know I’m capable of editing a novel.  If I can get through draft two, I can push my way through draft ten or beyond.  I know I can.  (But hopefully it will never be thirty.  Shannon Hale really shouldn’t have told us that it took her thirty drafts to complete Goose Girl.  Talk about no end in sight…)

There is still plenty wrong with the novel.  I’m beginning to realize that you can’t just take it all in one fell swoop like you can with a short story.  There are too many words, and too many skeins to hold onto as you weave the story.  My first draft was messy.  It was missing chunks of things, it was full of textbook-like explanation, and it kept repeating itself.  The story arc is better now.  There are no chunks missing, and the repeats have been rearranged to appear in their proper place. 

I haven’t read this draft as a whole document yet, so I can’t put my finger on exactly what’s wrong.  I know immediately that something is, though.  I learned in my Novel class last semester that there are several differences between a Novel and a Novella.  A Novel is a story over 50,000 words, and a Novella is a story between 25,000 and 50,000 words.  Beyond just word count, a Novella usually has one main story line, and maybe one sub-plot (maybe).  There is not time to do justice to more.  A Novel usually has a main story line and up to five sub-plots, although two or three is more common.  Blue Gentian currently clocks in at about 45,000 words.  It has three sub-plots.  You see?  I already know I’m not doing the sub-plots justice, that there is a lot missing.  Next is to find out why, where, and how to fix it.  

Draft four will be for Character and dialogue.  Draft five will be to make sure the threading and symbolism is working.  Draft six will be for anything else that I feel I missed, up to and including editing for chapter length.  Chapters with action should be shorter.  They’ll feel like they’re moving faster. 

After draft six, I’ll show it to people.  Brian gets first dibs.  He is my most thorough critic, and best source of advice. I have a feeling my father would also like to read it.  Once I’ve done draft seven (or maybe eight), I’ll put it on Critique Circle.  Then I’ll write draft nine…  

It sounds like a long row to hoe, right?  It really does.  But 50,000 words looks like a far cry from 0 words on day one of Nano.  In small chunks after thirty days, though, it mostly looks impressive.  I plan to be very impressed with my novel once it’s done, too.  I’m confident I can do it.  After all, I already have draft two under my belt.  What’s a few more?  

(Holy crap, what did I just get myself into?)

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