Tag Archives: novels

NaNoWriMo ’09 Journal: T-minus 7 Days

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Am I committed enough?

I haven’t done a thing to prepare for NaNoWriMo since my last “journal” entry about it almost a week ago. That’s got me thinking: how committed am I to this project?

There’s plenty to do. I still need to review my notes and refresh my memory about the characters I created five or more years ago. I have to remember the rather complex mystery genre plot, which needs to be presented properly to give readers a solvable puzzle that’s not too easy to solve. I still need to go over the outline and make more detailed notes about the scenes — including the scenes I wrote that were lost in that hard disk crash.

Instead, my days have been filled with getting my helicopter charter business ready for the fall season and entertaining house guests. Evenings like yesterday’s — which I’d be spending on my NaNoWriMo project during November — were taken up with modifying the never-ending collection of forms I need to provide concierges with paperwork to sell tours and day trips for me.

Will I be disciplined enough come November 1 to spend each evening working on the novel? Or will I be burned out by 4 PM from a full day in front of the computer or dealing with flying or passengers?

And that brings up what’s really on my calendar for the first week of November: a 6-day helicopter excursion. It’s my last scheduled excursion for the season and I meet my passengers on November 1 at 10 AM. I’ll be responsible for their transportation and making sure they complete their itinerary smoothly. So for the first six days, I’ll be on the road. Will I be able to bring my notes with me? Sit down to write every evening? Although I think I will, I’m wondering if I’m committed enough to really do it.

And that’s what NaNoWriMo is all about: setting aside time for an entire month to force yourself to get a project done. Forget excuses, forget procrastination. Take a month, make the time you need, and get it done.

In this point in my career as I writer, I know I can finish a book-length work in a month. I’ve done it before. But I’ve never done it for fiction. So the question is: how important is this to me? Important enough to make it happen when I’ve clearly demonstrated that I can?

I guess I’ll know for sure at November month-end.

NaNoWriMo ’09 Journal: T-minus 13 Days

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Final search for the lost manuscript and warm-up exercises.

Back in 2007, I realized that I’d lost the manuscript for a novel work-in-progress. The working copy was lost in a hard disk crash. I thought I had backups, but it turns out the backups had not been created. I detail the steps that led up to this disaster and my thoughts about it at the time here.

When I realized that the manuscript had been lost, I spent a lot of time trying to recover it. I still have all the “recovery” files. I put “recovery” in quotes because although the file had contained 97 pages of text, I only recovered about two pages. Not much of a recovery.

Gathering the Remains

Yesterday, I went through those files again, trying hard to extract some more text from them. No matter how I tried, the only thing I could get was the same two pages: about a half page from somewhere in the middle of the work followed almost immediately by the text at the very beginning. Just the fact that the text does not appear in order should tell me something. The hard disk that crashed was almost full. Chances are, the recovered “files” are not whole files but bits and pieces of other files mixed in with my manuscript text. In other words, what I recovered was all I’ll ever recover because the rest is gone forever, written over by other text.

This is the book I’ll be working on for NaNoWriMo this year.

I extracted the usable text from one of the recovery files and put it in a brand new document. Then I tracked down the other files I’d been keeping with the manuscript as I worked on it: a FileMaker Pro file that neatly recorded the details about eight of the main characters and an outline that broke down the plot into chapters with lots of notes. Although I had this outline in Scrivener as well as Microsoft Word — I likely created it in Microsoft Word and then imported it into Scrivener with the idea of writing there — I won’t be using Scrivener to write. I’ll stick to Word.

I also tracked down some index cards I’d been using to keep track of the plot and characters and make detailed notes such as maps. The book is a mystery and the murder takes place outdoors, so maps are an important part of my preparation process. I’d done quite a bit of preparation when I began the project back in 2005 (I think) and just about all of that material was still available. It’s just the manuscript itself that I lost because of my own stupidity and carelessness.

Warming Up

And this brings up the point for today’s journal entry: in the weeks leading up to NanoWriMo, participants should be preparing for the task of writing. Create your characters and build your plot now, before crunch time. Take detailed notes on index cards or in a computer-based outline, or with some other tool. Visit the world of your characters and story in your mind and take detailed notes about what you see and hear and feel.

This should be an excellent warm-up for NaNoWriMo’s writing process.

Here are a few other suggestions for those who are participating:

  • Decide now what kind of schedule you’re going to keep for NaNoWriMo. Will you write first thing in the morning, while you’re still fresh? Will you write after work? After you get the kids off to school? Before you pick them up? Or are you lucky/unlucky enough to not have anything to prevent you from writing all day? No matter what your time is like, decide now when you’ll write and be prepared to stick to it.
  • In the days leading up to NaNoWriMo’s start, spend your scheduled writing time preparing to write. Organize your workspace. Get out your notebooks or index cards or computer-based outliner. Do whatever research you need to do. Make notes about your characters and plot. Draw maps and diagrams. Spend at least 50% of the scheduled time doing this every day you plan to write.
  • Think about the things distracting you during this warm-up period. Are Twitter and Facebook and your e-mail client calling out to you? Turn off your router or WiFi card. Are you getting phone calls from friends wanting to chat? Shut off the ringer or take the phone off the hook. Is your family making too much noise or interrupting you? Close the door or explain that you need to work during this scheduled time every day. Learn about these distractions and how to handle them now, before the month begins.
  • Get your need to participate in NaNoWriMo writer’s forums (or other writer’s forums and blogs) out of your system. Some folks claim that the forums give them support and ideas. If you’re one of these people, now is the time to check in and participate. Use the other 50% of your scheduled time to do this. But get it out of your system now, before crunch time. Online forums are a procrastination tool. Every minute you spend online, is a minute you’re not writing. You know this is true. Don’t make excuses to waste time.

This is what I’ll be doing (and writing about here) in the days leading up to NaNoWriMo’s start.

Any comments? Use the comments link or form for this post to share them.

NaNoWriMo ’09 Journal: T-minus 14 Days

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The start of a NaNoWriMo journal.

Yesterday, I spent a lot of time reading old blog entries as part of the process of adding excerpts that would appear in search results.

And now I must go off on a tangent to explain why….

On Tags and Excerpts

A few weeks ago, I added a feature to this blog that would list related posts at the end of each post when viewed in single page view. (If you don’t see what I’m talking about at the end of this post, click the title of this post to switch to single page view and you’ll see it.) This feature uses the tag feature of WordPress to match the current post’s tags to other posts in this blog. The posts with the most tag matches are listed as related. Makes sense to me and it actually works pretty well if all the posts are properly tagged. I set this up so it displays an excerpt after the post title. I tend to use vague titles in many of my posts — a blogging no-no, I know — so the excerpt helps readers get a better idea of what the post is about.

The trouble is, if I don’t create a custom excerpt, WordPress uses the first bunch of words — 50, I think — as the excerpt. This is not satisfactory. So I need to go through all those old posts and update them so they have excerpts. While I’m at it, I’m also updating the tags.

And, of course, I’m reading a lot of those old posts.

Why This Blog Exists

This blog has been around since October 2003 — six years this month. As I’ve explained elsewhere on this blog, I embraced the idea of blogging early on. I’d always wanted to keep a journal of the things going on in my life and blogging seemed the way to do it. Rather than rely on myself to keep a diary or journal that only I read, I could put a lot of my thoughts and experiences on the Web where others could read about them. Their comments and other means of interaction could help me understand other points of view and grow as an individual.

Sounds silly and idealistic? I don’t think so. I’ve met a lot of people through blogging — people I’ve become friends with. Miraz, for example, co-authored a book about WordPress with me a few years back after we met on my blog. Ann flew with me once and has introduced me to other people after finding me on another site I manage, wickenburg-az.com. There are other folks who have connected with me through my blog. They’ve all made my life richer and have given me good reason to continue blogging.

So, with 1,910 blog posts on this site and another 100 or so in the archives still waiting to be imported (long story), I’ve built quite a journal with plenty to look back on.

I do want to mention here that I’ve had a personal Web site since 1994. This blog is simply the current incarnation of it.

Back to My Original Train of Thought

So, as I was saying, yesterday I spent a lot of time reading old blog entries. It reminded me why I started this blog — as a journal of my life. So it makes sense to journalize my NaNoWriMo ’09 experience as it happens.

I announced that I was thinking of participating in NaNoWriMo this year in a blog post yesterday. I’d actually written the post the night before, but the Internet went down (as it often does in Wickenburg) and I wound up posting it the next day. That was a big step for me. Although I didn’t say for sure that I was going to participate, publicly suggesting that I might was enough to get me thinking very seriously about it.

And if I move forward — which I expect I will — I thought I’d journalize the process for future reference.

Just Say No to Forums

I don’t think the digital ink had dried on that blog post when I got my first query from a Twitter friend:

so whats your userid on NanoWriMo ? you can probably guess mine ;)

I could guess his, but I won’t share it here. My response was this:

I will not be participating on the NaNoWriMo Web site or forums. I don’t see any benefit.

My advice: When you’re ready to start writing, stop goofing off on the NaNoWriMo site. You can’t get work done there.

Indeed, I’d checked out the NaNoWriMo site back in 2005 when I’d first heard of NaNoWriMo. I was appalled. The site seemed to exist primarily to raise money — $110,000 — to build libraries in Laos. It was heavy on the NaNoWriMo-branded merchandise and requests for donations. Someone was obviously making money — possibly lots of it. It really irks me when I see people or organizations preying on wannabe writers.

The forums were full of NaNoWriMo participants chatting about writing or not writing. It seemed to be an extraordinary waste of time. Why would you spend any time participating in a forum when you could be spending that time actually writing?

Remember, the goal of NaNoWriMo is to write a novel-length work. I think the number of words tossed around is 50,000. With 30 days in November, that’s nearly 1,700 words a day every day for an entire month. Miss a few days and that number rises dramatically.

It seems to me that a serious author should be more focused on the writing task, not the socialization aspects of yet another writer’s forum.

Another Twitter follower had this to say about the forums:

lol maybe not but its addicting – as is twitter this year for me. :p It’s good advice though :)

I replied:

I haven’t checked it out this year. I was turned off last time I was there. Lots of people chatting, no one writing.

She replied:

Hmm… well that’s what the forums are for. You write the novel in your own time. For me the forums are a break during writing.

I’m afraid I let my cynicism get the best of me in my response to that:

If I need a break from writing, the last thing I want to do is visit a forum full of people whining about writing. IMHO.

I later pointed out the fact that I’m a cynic and linked to my first blog post about NaNoWriMo back in 2005.

What I also should have linked to is one of my more popular posts, “Why Forums Suck.” I think it pretty much covers my opinions on forums in general. Although a well-moderated forum can be an incredibly useful tool for getting and sharing information, the vast majority of forums have a signal to noise ratio that’s just too low to be worth wasting time on.

And I’ll go back to my original point: why participate in a forum if you can spend your energy writing the actual novel?

The way I see it, the NaNoWriMo forums may have value now, before the month begins. But come November 1, the serious writers should pretty much abandon it and get to work.

100 Monkeys?

I’ll step out on the line one more time here to remind folks that the goal of NaNoWriMo is to write a complete novel. That means it needs a beginning, middle, and end. It needs character development. It needs plot and subplots and underlying themes. It needs dialog and description. It needs to create loose ends and tie them all up before the last page. It needs to be compelling so someone will want to read it and written in good English (or whatever language you prefer) so someone can read it.

When you write a novel, you’re telling a story.

What I took away from my NaNoWriMo non-experience back in 2005 was that people seemed to think it was more important to get the 50,000 words out than to actually write a coherent piece of literature. Even one of my Twitter friends this year gave me this impression when he wrote:

Doubt I’ll make anywhere near the 50,000 words.. real life will get in the way ;)

It’s not the word count that matters as much as whether the entire work holds together as a novel.

100 monkeys with typewriters can churn out 50,000 words of text in a month. If you’re participating in NaNoWriMo, don’t be a monkey.

On Life Getting in the Way

The above quote brings up another topic for consideration: the responsibilities of life preventing you from completing a NaNoWriMo project.

The main reason I’ve never participated in NaNoWriMo is because of work and related responsibilities. I write for a living. The last thing I want to do at the end of a day full of writing step-by-step instructions for completing a mail merge with Word (for example) is spend any more time in front of a computer, writing.

I also travel extensively and, when I do, I have numerous responsibilities for either getting work done or seeing to the safety and comfort of passengers. Clearly, NaNoWriMo would interfere with my ability to perform while on the road.

Notice that I said that NaNoWriMo would interfere — not that my work would interfere with NaNoWriMo. That’s because if I participate in NaNoWriMo, it will become a priority in my life. That’s not to say I won’t do anything else — I do have other priorities. It just means that I won’t let life get in the way (if I can help it).

Isn’t that the point of NaNoWriMo? To force you to finish the novel in a month? To make time for it? To make it happen?

And this goes back to something I said back in 2005: You cannot write a novel without the complete support of your significant other or family. Fortunately, NaNoWriMo makes this easy. After all, you only need their support for a month.

More Coming

I think I’ve written enough about this for today, so I’ll stop here. Tomorrow, I’ll get specific about what I’m doing to prepare for NaNoWriMo.

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? Let us know by sharing your comments — and perhaps a link to your own journal — here.