NaNo: Can only see as far as my headlights let me
Weekend NaNo word count = 3292
Total NaNo word count = 39,666
Whew! What a weekend. In addition to my writing, I did the grocery shopping, and raked leaves in the back yard while Derek finished hauling in and spreading the mulch. When I'd finished I had 12 bags of leaves sitting out by the curb -- I just bagged and compacted 'em, Derek hauled them out to the street while I went inside and started writing. I only got about 100 words done on Saturday (there was a 3-hour nap with my name on it). On Sunday I did 3192.
The leaf bagging was a great writing tool. There is nothing like a good, mindless activity to give your brain time to unravel plot knots. My brain was going wide open working on different possibilities for the chapters I wrote this weekend, debating different options, and discarding the ones that wouldn't work. So I got the leaves raked and the plotting done for two chapters. Now that's multi-tasking.
It was a frustrating weekend, because I like knowing things ahead of time. It's like Raine says in Con & Conjure: "I don't have a problem with spontaneity, I just want to know about it first."
I double checked my plot synopsis for Con & Conjure and I'm following it just fine. But it's like all those writing articles that compare writing the middle of a book as being able to only see as far as a car headlights at night. Being a control freak, I not only want ultra-bright headlights, I want a well-lit interstate, not a backroad on a moonless night. I don't think there's anything wrong with what I've written other than the fact that's it's rough and unpolished, but that's why they call it a rough draft.
I like to see the whole picture, the entire story.
Rough drafts aren't my favorite, as I've said before. I like the second pass much better. I have the entire story to work and play with, to build on. But that won't come for me until January. While the NaNo'ers will be editing in December what they wrote in November, I'll be pushing on to write another 50K and finish my first draft of approx. 100K by the end of December. On January 1, I'll start my editing process with the goal of having a complete, finished and polished book in another four months (May 1).
That'll have me completing a book from start to finish in six months rather than my usual nine. And when I do that, it means I'm closer to my goal of writing two books (in two series) a year. : )
Lisa
Total NaNo word count = 39,666
Whew! What a weekend. In addition to my writing, I did the grocery shopping, and raked leaves in the back yard while Derek finished hauling in and spreading the mulch. When I'd finished I had 12 bags of leaves sitting out by the curb -- I just bagged and compacted 'em, Derek hauled them out to the street while I went inside and started writing. I only got about 100 words done on Saturday (there was a 3-hour nap with my name on it). On Sunday I did 3192.
The leaf bagging was a great writing tool. There is nothing like a good, mindless activity to give your brain time to unravel plot knots. My brain was going wide open working on different possibilities for the chapters I wrote this weekend, debating different options, and discarding the ones that wouldn't work. So I got the leaves raked and the plotting done for two chapters. Now that's multi-tasking.
It was a frustrating weekend, because I like knowing things ahead of time. It's like Raine says in Con & Conjure: "I don't have a problem with spontaneity, I just want to know about it first."
I double checked my plot synopsis for Con & Conjure and I'm following it just fine. But it's like all those writing articles that compare writing the middle of a book as being able to only see as far as a car headlights at night. Being a control freak, I not only want ultra-bright headlights, I want a well-lit interstate, not a backroad on a moonless night. I don't think there's anything wrong with what I've written other than the fact that's it's rough and unpolished, but that's why they call it a rough draft.
I like to see the whole picture, the entire story.
Rough drafts aren't my favorite, as I've said before. I like the second pass much better. I have the entire story to work and play with, to build on. But that won't come for me until January. While the NaNo'ers will be editing in December what they wrote in November, I'll be pushing on to write another 50K and finish my first draft of approx. 100K by the end of December. On January 1, I'll start my editing process with the goal of having a complete, finished and polished book in another four months (May 1).
That'll have me completing a book from start to finish in six months rather than my usual nine. And when I do that, it means I'm closer to my goal of writing two books (in two series) a year. : )
Lisa
posted by Lisa Shearin at
6:28 AM
3 Comments:
I'm going to try and continue my NaNo pace into December too, since I'm certain I'm only going to get about halfway into what I have planned by the end of the month (which is both a good and a scary fact lol).
For some reason I have the best time thinking about my plot when I'm walking back and forth from class every day. Sure, it's time well spent, but I get annoyed when I arrive at class when I'm halfway through thinking through something and have to stop xD.
I love that quote "I don't have a problem with spontaneity, I just want to know about it first." :) Wow a goal of two books a year! That's an amazing ambition.
I'm impressed with how well you're coming along. {SMILE}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
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