Today's revelation is that it is strangely easy to write on a busy subway car. I'm kind of excited for my project. Flowing quite nicely for the time being...
Word count: 5324
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Still in my PJ's
Went to Building on Bond to see if that was a good place to work, but their coffee is so bloody strong I felt woozy and could not concentrate on anything other than Shazam-ing the songs playing on the speakers.
They were: The National: Fake Empire and Fujiya and Miyagi: Collarbone
Got home all jittery, made a lovely sweet potato-apple gratin from The Girl and the Fig cookbook (best cookbook ever), had a nap to sleep off the caffeine, then awoke to do a bunch of research on medieval foods.
Let me tell you, I'm a bit thrown by all the super die-hard Medieval enthusiasts out there. My book will probably get torn to shreds by some nice old lady in Milwaukee for being historically inaccurate. Then again, that's what I thought of the Da Vinci Code, and I still enjoyed it. Oh yes, I'm aiming high.
Regardless, I am back in the place I need to be, and can work today.
Word count: 3780
They were: The National: Fake Empire and Fujiya and Miyagi: Collarbone
Got home all jittery, made a lovely sweet potato-apple gratin from The Girl and the Fig cookbook (best cookbook ever), had a nap to sleep off the caffeine, then awoke to do a bunch of research on medieval foods.
Let me tell you, I'm a bit thrown by all the super die-hard Medieval enthusiasts out there. My book will probably get torn to shreds by some nice old lady in Milwaukee for being historically inaccurate. Then again, that's what I thought of the Da Vinci Code, and I still enjoyed it. Oh yes, I'm aiming high.
Regardless, I am back in the place I need to be, and can work today.
Word count: 3780
Monday, November 24, 2008
Day 24 of 30: The Race Begins
So, today's the day. I've taken off the three days before Thanksgiving to crank out the remaining 47,000 words. Make or break. Do or die. The time has come. this is essentially how I have always written term papers, so I figure the familiar model will help me to get to work.
I've been reading The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell, which has been tremendously inspirational in getting to the themes that I need to use. NOT that this will actually have discernible themes this time around but it's good to think about.
And all this time of not writing has made me churn through the whole story a few times and so I have a much better idea what I want to do to spice things up so to speak.
Tim has given me a rough and tumble monk/botanist for the trip there and back, which has taken the story to a whole new level. Nita has given me a gorgeous lute soundtrack (must download before continuing!) Brandy has been checking in on my (lack of) progress, asking to be one of my first readers, and Rob has been hounding my ass to get cracking, even if he is not himself cracking, ahem.
Thanks Mud, for regularly tracking my blog.
Word count: 3141
I've been reading The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell, which has been tremendously inspirational in getting to the themes that I need to use. NOT that this will actually have discernible themes this time around but it's good to think about.
And all this time of not writing has made me churn through the whole story a few times and so I have a much better idea what I want to do to spice things up so to speak.
Tim has given me a rough and tumble monk/botanist for the trip there and back, which has taken the story to a whole new level. Nita has given me a gorgeous lute soundtrack (must download before continuing!) Brandy has been checking in on my (lack of) progress, asking to be one of my first readers, and Rob has been hounding my ass to get cracking, even if he is not himself cracking, ahem.
Thanks Mud, for regularly tracking my blog.
Word count: 3141
Thursday, November 13, 2008
NaNoWriMo 2008
Damn, damn, damn I am doing it all over again except I have absolutely no excuse this time around other than being scared to death that I am going to screw up my beloved tomato story!
I am completely behind in my wordcount. If I do this it will be much like those term papers of yesteryear when I stayed up till 3 AM typing something that may or may not have made any sense!
So far this year's procrastination has been achieved as follows: I have baked a carrot cake, tried to figure out how to make pancakes in muffin format for ease of serving at a brunch, made chicken and rice soup, done all dishes related to said cooking ventures, snacked on pretty much every single thing in my cupboard at least once, figured out the single most effective cold sore treatment ever (promise to include link to a later post), Facebook, Facebook, Facebook...
Mopped, vacuumed, gone to storage, gone to a looong brunch, had drinks, stayed up way past my bedtime, went to Target for kitty litter, outlined everything in Scrivener, fixed my Wordcount template, and started to re-read a Khaled Hosseini book because he's a fantastic writer and I need some pacing.
Anyway, I am getting back in the swing of things. More progress TK this week, and if I manage to get all the work done at the office that's due before Thanksgiving, I will take off three days before Thanksgiving to see if I can possibly make 50K.
time for bed.
Word count: 2625
I am completely behind in my wordcount. If I do this it will be much like those term papers of yesteryear when I stayed up till 3 AM typing something that may or may not have made any sense!
So far this year's procrastination has been achieved as follows: I have baked a carrot cake, tried to figure out how to make pancakes in muffin format for ease of serving at a brunch, made chicken and rice soup, done all dishes related to said cooking ventures, snacked on pretty much every single thing in my cupboard at least once, figured out the single most effective cold sore treatment ever (promise to include link to a later post), Facebook, Facebook, Facebook...
Mopped, vacuumed, gone to storage, gone to a looong brunch, had drinks, stayed up way past my bedtime, went to Target for kitty litter, outlined everything in Scrivener, fixed my Wordcount template, and started to re-read a Khaled Hosseini book because he's a fantastic writer and I need some pacing.
Anyway, I am getting back in the swing of things. More progress TK this week, and if I manage to get all the work done at the office that's due before Thanksgiving, I will take off three days before Thanksgiving to see if I can possibly make 50K.
time for bed.
Word count: 2625
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Officially Over But...
Well, NaNoWriMo is officially over. I ended with a mere 10K words to show for it, however I really did get a lot out of this.
As cliche as it sounds, it made me realize that writers are not born as writers. It takes a lot of um, writing to be a writer.
So while I'm not all that jazzed about dinosaurs or dragons anymore, I am going to try to squeeze out another 10K at least so I have something to rewrite.
Today however I'm focused on something else entirely--making Swedish meatballs for Gretchen's annual nighttime wintertime BBQ in the freezing cold. And she's not even Minnesotan!
Keep pestering me about the book, please.
Word count: 10,003
As cliche as it sounds, it made me realize that writers are not born as writers. It takes a lot of um, writing to be a writer.
So while I'm not all that jazzed about dinosaurs or dragons anymore, I am going to try to squeeze out another 10K at least so I have something to rewrite.
Today however I'm focused on something else entirely--making Swedish meatballs for Gretchen's annual nighttime wintertime BBQ in the freezing cold. And she's not even Minnesotan!
Keep pestering me about the book, please.
Word count: 10,003
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Time's Running Out
OK, so I have admitted to myself that the 50,000 Word Fairy isn't going to visit me by tomorrow midnight. However, this does not mean I am allowing myself to put this project down, and I'm going to at least hit ten thousand words by the end of NaNoWriMo... totally do-able.
I wish I could say I was completely bummed out about this because then this link would make so much more sense... I just have this song stuck in my head courtesy of Ben Folds but BJ Thomas' version is just so much more colorful. Boy can that guy act! I really do love a good variety show.
Word count: 7815
I wish I could say I was completely bummed out about this because then this link would make so much more sense... I just have this song stuck in my head courtesy of Ben Folds but BJ Thomas' version is just so much more colorful. Boy can that guy act! I really do love a good variety show.
Word count: 7815
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Motivation
Apparently if you give yourself lofty word count goals and a really enticing reward, you just might be able to power through several thousand words at a sitting without even batting an eyelash.
Yesterday, I spent two hours at B&N doing research consisting of reading through all the kids dragon picture books/dinosaur field guides I could find and then finally skimming through a volume of the Best Fantasy Illustrators of 2007--which terrified me, I must admit. I got a million ideas, and worked out a few that had been troubling me.
Last night I decided to lay down the challenge: if I could hit 7K words, Derek would have to come over. And I hit a thousand words in less than an hour. Pretty amazing. :) I don't think he'll be up for being my sole source of motivation so I suppose I'll think of other things. Like the Vosges Chocolat's Mo's Bacon Bar. Or a quick trip down the street to Target.
Regardless, I now have proof that I can do this. So whether or not I hit 50K within the November timeframe (hate to be defeatist but it's not looking so good, folks), I will give myself till December 10 which is one month from the day I started the new (old) subject.
But not quite yet. I'm still assuming I can do it before next Friday...
Word count: 7003
Yesterday, I spent two hours at B&N doing research consisting of reading through all the kids dragon picture books/dinosaur field guides I could find and then finally skimming through a volume of the Best Fantasy Illustrators of 2007--which terrified me, I must admit. I got a million ideas, and worked out a few that had been troubling me.
Last night I decided to lay down the challenge: if I could hit 7K words, Derek would have to come over. And I hit a thousand words in less than an hour. Pretty amazing. :) I don't think he'll be up for being my sole source of motivation so I suppose I'll think of other things. Like the Vosges Chocolat's Mo's Bacon Bar. Or a quick trip down the street to Target.
Regardless, I now have proof that I can do this. So whether or not I hit 50K within the November timeframe (hate to be defeatist but it's not looking so good, folks), I will give myself till December 10 which is one month from the day I started the new (old) subject.
But not quite yet. I'm still assuming I can do it before next Friday...
Word count: 7003
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