New Years Resolution

I'm making resolutions this year.  I think I always do, but I don't always write them down and plan them out appropriately.  So I'm making a bigger effort on that front this year. 

I am excited about having y-writer now.  I used it to write in Nano2012.  But not to its full extent.  This year I would really like to use it as it's meant to be used and draft out my Nano2013 story in advance of the crazy month of November.  I have a story brewing in my mind that I had planned to write in 2012.  I went a different direction last year, so the story still needs telling.  I have a few notes scattered here and there.  Maybe more than a few.  There might be enough for a very basic outline.  Basic, but an outline for the entire story.  It needs rounding out.  It needs better characters.  It needs a lot, but it's a start. 

So, I plan to make time each month to do a step in story telling.  I'm adding it to my calendar/planner.

For Christmas, my father gave me a 24 lecture CD course on writing.  I'm both dreading and excited to start that course.  And it has become a resolution to finish it by my birthday. 

My calendar is filling up with all the plans I'm making....

New Song

 

This is my new can't get enough of it song.  I may have finally got enough of Fun. Some Nights.

 

 

 

I don't quite understand why the singer can shave her eyebrows and draw in new ones, but can't be bothered shaving her armpits at all.  But who am I to judge?

Learning lessons

November is over. Well, a few days are still coming, but the hard part is over. Nanowrimo. I finished this year. I am not sure if I should feel shocked that I made it or not. I'm not sure if I really believed I'd do it (I tend to avoid things that will be hard). I went in knowing it was going to be painful. And it was. And I could probably still write more to the story. But I won't. Can't.

I'm not sure if I learned what I was meant to but I did learn. I found out I am both stronger than I thought I was and not nearly strong enough. And I'm a fool.

Maybe now comes the healing and growing.

The story is uploaded. I've won Nano and now the story can be wiped out. No one need read it again.

I did learn to appreciate the outlining program I found. I didn't use it to it's full potential. This story didn't call for it. But now I might break up the Piper story from 2 years ago and put it into the program. I think it could help me edit it. And it still needs editing. I wonder if it works backwards like that...

Maybe even the sucky story from last year could be reworked if I break it up a bit and get it organized.

There is always Nano 2013.

Amazingly I found the time. I should have done that a long time ago... I'm learning the importance. To bad it's a lesson learned late.

It Will Leave a Scar

I’m doing Nano again this year. And I’m not excited about it. I’m going it alone this year I think. No word war challengers, no cheerleaders writing/suffering with me. I haven’t ever succeeded in Nano this way, but to be fair, I’ve failed with supporters as well.

I had a basic outline that was a fictionalized story of the past few years in my life. Kind of a write what you know thing. But I’ve been encouraged to really write what I know. So I’m not going to fictionalize it. I don’t know how far back to even go, but it will be further back than I was planning originally. It’s a long story, but I don’t know all the words. And believe it or not I’ll have to research it. Research my own life and my own feelings. That seems a little weird, but I’ve already looked back and found that there are feelings I’d forgotten and recent things that I’m not comfortable remembering. I’m not excited to bring up the bad emotions that I’ve tried to erase already. In fact I’m not sure I’m excited to bring up the good ones right now either.

I guess it’s like picking a scab. Sometimes it really hurts, but you have to do it to get the bad stuff out. It’s meant to be healing but it will leave a scar.

Maybe I’ll be a better person by the end of this. Maybe I’ll at least know me a little better again. I hope I like me in the end.

yWriter

I found a book about outlining. It was on Amazon and I bought it, along with a couple other noveling made easy books. Ha! I won’t get to read them before Nano this year, and I shouldn’t because the story I’m writing is different. But I did browse through the first one. And I thought there were some good tips in it. One recommendation is to use yWriter.  It’s free software from SpaceJock. http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter.html. It helps you sort your book into scenes and chapters that can be moved around and dropped where you need them later.

I did download it and I’ve started to build my outline on there. I think it will be a very useful tool. I’ve already had to move things around because I remembered them in the wrong order or I wanted a chapter in between when A and B happened.

I guess the one thing I am excited about Nano this year is the actual outline. By November 1, I should have at LEAST 30 bullet points to spew on about. I can write 1667 words if I have an idea about what to write about. And I have a feeling it will take more than 30 if I’m being true to myself and not glossing over points.

Committed

Committed.  Perhaps I should be anyway. With a straight jacket and a padded room.  No, I don't like Jello.  Shhhhhh....

Shari has successfully twisted my arm and I promised her that I would do NaNoWriMo2011 with her.  Of coarse, she already has an outline for her story.  She already has an outline! 
I've only got the most basic of ideas for mine.  I have decided that I can not continue with the Piper story until I have done more editing on the original.  So that means I get to write something new.  And I do have a basic idea.  Basic.  It has been something that I have considered, literally, since I was a kid.  Maybe not the story, but the idea of the story. 
I threw the idea past Shari last night, via Skype, and she liked it.  She even had some ideas for me to develop the plot.  There is still quite a bit of work to do.  I have always thought about writing it from the point of view of a teenager.  But it occurred to me today that was only because when I dreamt it up I *was* a teenager.  So, does it change now that I'm an **cough** adult?   The dynamics could certainly be different that way.  And there are characters to throw in..(aka, husband and kids and coworkers...). And the interests of the main character would have certainly changed since childhood.  I think I'll do that.  Thanks for talking me into it!

Shari blew past us as we typed up a storm in our weekly word games last year.  She even had a late start.  What she had that I didn't have was an outline.  She already had her story mapped out when she started typing it up.  She knew how many chapters she wanted to write and what was in each one. She even knew, basically, how many words belonged in each one.  And she has already put that together for this year.  Already! 
I think I would like to try it that way.  She assured me that I have 2 *whole* months to put one together!  They way she said it didn't sound anything like *ONLY TWO MONTHS!!!*.  But that is how I'm feeling.   I guess I had better get cracking then.  I could use some outline advice.  Let me know if anyone has any tips.  Of coarse, a plot and some characters would be nice too.  Let me know if you have any of those to spare as well.

Happy OUTLINING!  Get busy!  Get the crazy car ready for me at the end of November! 

Time?

My story was on my mind this morning for the first time in a while.  I'm hoping I can still rescue it, and I will be taking a look at it again this summer.  But it's also time to get serious about brainstorming the next one. I have a few basic ideas that need developed.  Our family will be taking a trip in a few weeks.  I plan to have pen and paper with me so I can work out outlines while travelling.  Plans like that never go as I think they will, so we will see, and I will be prepared.

It's almost summer.  It hit me yesterday that everything will be changing soon.  I usually like change.  I'm not looking forward to it this time.  I feel like I just got here, and I'm not ready for everything to be different yet.  Not much to be done but to muddle through it all and make the best of it.  I'm sure it's a good change and positive things will come from it somehow. 

New project?

There is a new writing project on the drawing board.  Someone I admire would like me to write some very special books with her.  These books would be geared towards children and travel.  I'm very excited to work out details with her and draw up some outlines.  This is not a small undertaking, I'm sure.  I hope that I can keep up with her cleverness.  More information to come during the summer.