Saturday, January 17, 2015
Thursday, December 4, 2014
NaNoWriMo
So I participated in NaNoWriMo this year. For those that don't know, NaNoWriMo is National November Writing Month. To participate you have to visit the website at www.nanowrimo.com and register. Then you create a novel and starting on November 1st, you attempt to write every day with the intention of reaching 50k words...which is about the length of an average novel.
I registered about three weeks prior to the start of NaNo with no idea what the book would be about, where it would take place, or even if I could do it. I struggled for a short time, about a week, with the subject and even discussed it with my wife many times. We tossed a few ideas around and then, one night, I was coming home from work when I remembered a story idea I had about 20 years ago. I decided to modify that story idea and make it about a vampire. (Something I swore I would never write about.)
As the day to start drew near, I began to get excited. I really wanted to get started. I had to make a few adjustments, though.
One: I needed a laptop. I only had a desktop and I wanted the ability to write anywhere I could.
Two: I am not able to write unless I have random noises. I come from large family growing up and at home it is just me and my wife, so the house is usually quiet. So I decided to go to the local Waffle House whenever I could to write.
Three: My writing style would have to be different that what I was used to doing. What I mean is that I am so used to writing fantasy that I would have to put this book in the real world and that was a daunting task.
Four: I needed something that would entice me to finish the 50k words so I even went so far as to hire a professional cover artist to do the cover and shelled out the money to pay for it...which was no small amount. Since I had the idea for the story, I already knew how I wanted the cover to look and figured that if I payed something to get the cover done, it would force me to continue with the book.
It was with excitement and still a bit of fear that I finally started on November 1st. I went after work, before work, hell...even during work, to Waffle House and sometimes I stayed two hours, other times I stayed almost eight hours. But I did it. By November 25th, I reached the 50k goal and was thrilled.
I also found that I loved this book. It was a great adventure for me to write it. I still am not finished with it, but I will be soon. I got the cover for the book from the cover artist two days after hitting the 50k point with NaNo and I was thrilled. Now to finish the book and then edit it.
That is a whole other matter altogether.
I registered about three weeks prior to the start of NaNo with no idea what the book would be about, where it would take place, or even if I could do it. I struggled for a short time, about a week, with the subject and even discussed it with my wife many times. We tossed a few ideas around and then, one night, I was coming home from work when I remembered a story idea I had about 20 years ago. I decided to modify that story idea and make it about a vampire. (Something I swore I would never write about.)
As the day to start drew near, I began to get excited. I really wanted to get started. I had to make a few adjustments, though.
One: I needed a laptop. I only had a desktop and I wanted the ability to write anywhere I could.
Two: I am not able to write unless I have random noises. I come from large family growing up and at home it is just me and my wife, so the house is usually quiet. So I decided to go to the local Waffle House whenever I could to write.
Three: My writing style would have to be different that what I was used to doing. What I mean is that I am so used to writing fantasy that I would have to put this book in the real world and that was a daunting task.
Four: I needed something that would entice me to finish the 50k words so I even went so far as to hire a professional cover artist to do the cover and shelled out the money to pay for it...which was no small amount. Since I had the idea for the story, I already knew how I wanted the cover to look and figured that if I payed something to get the cover done, it would force me to continue with the book.
It was with excitement and still a bit of fear that I finally started on November 1st. I went after work, before work, hell...even during work, to Waffle House and sometimes I stayed two hours, other times I stayed almost eight hours. But I did it. By November 25th, I reached the 50k goal and was thrilled.
I also found that I loved this book. It was a great adventure for me to write it. I still am not finished with it, but I will be soon. I got the cover for the book from the cover artist two days after hitting the 50k point with NaNo and I was thrilled. Now to finish the book and then edit it.
That is a whole other matter altogether.
The cover was done by WillowRaven at http://willowraven.weebly.com/
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Procrastination...
I admit it, I procrastinate...sometimes a lot.
I don't procrastinate when it comes to the small stuff or things I hate to do, but when it comes to stuff that I actually enjoy doing or want to do (normally), I procrastinate...weird, right?
I am talking about this because there are times when I want to write on Kho and I actually enjoy doing it, but then I procrastinate and before you know it, the time that I had to work on Kho is gone. I don't know why I do this but I do.
I do know that my best stuff comes from rushing to finish something. I get my best ideas, my best writing and my best work done when I have a deadline to meet and it is just around the corner. My professor in my sociology class in college once told me, after I admitted to writing a paper in just one night, that he never would have guessed it by the way the work had come across to him. It was A+ material and he could have sworn that I had spent weeks on it. (We had 6 weeks to do the report.)
My hope is that my writing will eventually get me off my lazy ass and move forward to completion of the stories in my head beyond Kho. I know, I have to do it myself and not rely on just my writing to get me moving...
Still, I need to look into why I am this way about the stuff I enjoy doing.
But maybe, just maybe, I will wait on that a bit...
I don't procrastinate when it comes to the small stuff or things I hate to do, but when it comes to stuff that I actually enjoy doing or want to do (normally), I procrastinate...weird, right?
I am talking about this because there are times when I want to write on Kho and I actually enjoy doing it, but then I procrastinate and before you know it, the time that I had to work on Kho is gone. I don't know why I do this but I do.
I do know that my best stuff comes from rushing to finish something. I get my best ideas, my best writing and my best work done when I have a deadline to meet and it is just around the corner. My professor in my sociology class in college once told me, after I admitted to writing a paper in just one night, that he never would have guessed it by the way the work had come across to him. It was A+ material and he could have sworn that I had spent weeks on it. (We had 6 weeks to do the report.)
My hope is that my writing will eventually get me off my lazy ass and move forward to completion of the stories in my head beyond Kho. I know, I have to do it myself and not rely on just my writing to get me moving...
Still, I need to look into why I am this way about the stuff I enjoy doing.
But maybe, just maybe, I will wait on that a bit...
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