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12.01.2008
And the End of Another
Congratulations are in order for everyone who attempted Nanowrimo this year. Whether you've written one word or one hundred thousand, you're all winners because you've tried. Most people who claim they want to write a novel one day don't even do that.
For those of you who want to keep on doing writing challenges throughout the rest of the year, I compiled a list last year of all the Nanowrimo spin-offs.
Meanwhile, I'm going to recover from manic writing and concentrate on my other obsession--science. There won't be any more posts in this blog until next year (as expected, the URL will be changed from 2008 to 2009), but you can always see what I'm up to on my main weblog.
The story itself, however, isn't done. Obvious since I left a cliffhanger. At the moment, I'm feeling a little burned out. If I'm going to finish the story, I need a little time away from it. The thing is, I had no problem writing the story out once I seriously got down to actually writing. I just had a hard time forcing myself to get started in the first place. And when I wrote, it felt more like a chore rather than a joy. And I had all these other ideas clambering in my head trying to get out. And I couldn't get them out because they didn't fit the story I was currently writing.
One major thing I did this year was to try to write an outline, kind of did it, and immediately threw it out once the first of the month rolled around. So mainly, I was writing by the seat of my pants. I really had no idea what was going to happen next. And I was writing sci-fi. But I doubt the genre had anything to do with my sluggishness this year.
I'm not particularly disappointed. Although I also reached 50k in 2002, I didn't finish the story then either. In fact, I'm glad that this year was particularly difficult--an indication that Nanowrimo won't get stale no matter how many times I attempt it. The important thing is, I challenged myself with a different genre and a different point of view. Writing solely focused on a male main character is a difficult thing if you don't have any idea what you're doing. But whether the execution was right or not is besides the point--at least I got to stretch those writing muscles a bit.
As for next year: of course I already have possible ideas floating about. But whatever it ultimately ends up, it'll be another challenge.
Well, it's been obvious that I've been writing in spurts the past two weeks. However, this doesn't mean that I'm that behind. I think with three or four more hours of solid writing, I'd be able to get to 50k easily. The story won't be finished at that point, though. So that's why I'm planning for lots of manic writing the next two days--two days in which I'm not planning to go to lab (my other obsession--I'm trying to finish one set of experiments before Christmas which is why I have far less time to novel this year than the last).
A note about the last write-in: I stayed until the very end when the coffee house had to close. It was sort of a nice touch that they started playing that farewell song from The Sound of Music loudly. Real subtle.
Actually, there's nothing much to report. I haven't really been writing much during the week due to a bunch of other things I needed to get done. I did go to the write-in today and wrote about 5k and passed the 40k mark, so that was productive.
Wow, after having no people show up in the last two Wednesday write-ins, I got enough people to fill up half a meeting room today. I guess as an ML, all you can really do is to help organize things. Whether or not people show up is really up to them. But I gotta tell ya', it does feel good for people to actually find the time to meet-up. It's not so much meeting people as actually having concrete evidence that I'm not doing this noveling thing alone (i.e. being crazy).
As for the demographics that come to the write-ins that I've set up compared to the write-ins set up by the ML in the next town over--that got me to thinking. I've gotten a fairly wide age range whereas the other town is mostly college kids. This is interesting because the two towns are very similar: almost the same population size, both are university towns, both with similar layouts, geography, and mindsets. My ML-ing style isn't the same as any of the other MLs I've ever met (I'm sort of a low key person, really), but I'm not sure if that's what's really making the difference.
Good grief. I'm exhausted. So I have been writing today--but just not on the story. I was working on a paper instead. So no increase in word count today, I'm afraid. However, the paper topic is somewhat tangentially related to the themes of my novel, so I guess one could say that it's just one more thing brewing in my unconscious. Unfortunately, I haven't been unconscious for a while so I'm feeling quite out of it. I was studying for an exam this afternoon and zonked out a couple times in the middle of reading my notes. Not very funny when a couple of old plump ladies nearby are sitting there mocking you.
So, what music have I been listening to this year? Surprisingly, I've managed to stick to the music that I've meant to listen to. This includes the soundtracks for The Rundown, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Atonement (typewriter sounds!), and Planet Earth. Electronica includes stuff by Tiesto. Anything else I've tried throws me off. I think it's the sci-fi setting this year that demands the music to have some action sequences.
At this point, I'm ahead on word count although according to my timeline/outline, I'm probably about one-fourth of the way through. By the way the story is progressing, I might try to end the story arc earlier.
