Today was taken up with work followed by the drive to Longmont for some birthday festivities for my girlfriend's son, who turned 13 today. We had dinner out, dessert at another place, and when we got home we watched a movie together. At around 11:10, I was able to start writing for the day.
After I got done writing and posting my word count on the NaNoWriMo site, I looked at twitter, which brought me to a couple NaNo participant's blogs. They're doing it, so I'm going to do it. In fact, I'll go back and do it for the past couple days all at once:
November 1:
Words today: 5,499
Words total: 5,499
November 2:
Words today: 4,007
Words total: 9,506
November 3:
Words today: 1,126
Words total: 10,632
While my word count is trending down, my morale is good. I'm actually quite pleased about my 1,126 words in under an hour today, especially considering the fact that I GOT RID OF THE HATED PARAGRAPH! The replacement paragraph is a little shorter, but still has a reference to nipples. At least I like this one.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Bad Line
I am totally obsessing over a paragraph I wrote last night. I hate it. I want to take it out, but I want something to put in its place and I can't think of anything to use. No, I'm not going to share the paragraph I hate. I hate it that much. Hopefully something will come to me soon.
Monday, November 2, 2009
NaNoWriMo 2009 begins
I finally started working on the story yesterday. It's the same story I blogged about here in June. I'm actually surprised I was able to sit on it for that long. Hopefully that gave me enough time to come up with good ideas for the plot. We'll see.
Yesterday morning, I woke up just after 7, poured a bowl of cereal and made some tea. I checked email briefly, and started writing. It took me at least an hour, maybe 90 minutes, before I had 70 or so words written because I was coming up with names for my main character and supporting characters, doing a little last-minute research, and reviewing my outline. After that, I went headlong into chapter one. I posted my word count each time it rose significantly, so 70-ish, 140-ish, 380, 800, and so on. I finished the first two chapters of my outline and started on chapter three. My final word count for day one, posted at 11:57 PM (thank you for the extra hour, time change) was 5,499 words.
I did take a couple breaks during the day to grab food, run to the store and play Everquest with Ray - we did the Halloween-themed quests. We also got a visit from the landlord to fix a couple things around the house. I didn't do a lot of the things on my to-do list, like balance my checkbook, clean up my office or finish laundry. I didn't realize until Ray pointed it out that my pajama bottoms were hanging off the TV in my office while the landlord was here! (D'oh!) I put them there when I changed clothes in my office. I was trying to be nice and not wake Ray.
This morning, I woke up with a couple ideas for the story, so rather than open the story document and leave late for work, I emailed them to myself. I checked the NaNoWriMo site and found that since my last update, one of my writing buddies has about a thousand more words than I do. She had about a hundred fewer yesterday. I will have to remedy that! (Yes, I'm competitive that way sometimes.) I'm not sure when I will be able to write today, as I have to work, but I'm sure I will fit it in. I'll be at my old house tonight, which might help since there are fewer distractions there, but might be a hindrance because there is still work to be done there. I must find a balance.
Wee!
Yesterday morning, I woke up just after 7, poured a bowl of cereal and made some tea. I checked email briefly, and started writing. It took me at least an hour, maybe 90 minutes, before I had 70 or so words written because I was coming up with names for my main character and supporting characters, doing a little last-minute research, and reviewing my outline. After that, I went headlong into chapter one. I posted my word count each time it rose significantly, so 70-ish, 140-ish, 380, 800, and so on. I finished the first two chapters of my outline and started on chapter three. My final word count for day one, posted at 11:57 PM (thank you for the extra hour, time change) was 5,499 words.
I did take a couple breaks during the day to grab food, run to the store and play Everquest with Ray - we did the Halloween-themed quests. We also got a visit from the landlord to fix a couple things around the house. I didn't do a lot of the things on my to-do list, like balance my checkbook, clean up my office or finish laundry. I didn't realize until Ray pointed it out that my pajama bottoms were hanging off the TV in my office while the landlord was here! (D'oh!) I put them there when I changed clothes in my office. I was trying to be nice and not wake Ray.
This morning, I woke up with a couple ideas for the story, so rather than open the story document and leave late for work, I emailed them to myself. I checked the NaNoWriMo site and found that since my last update, one of my writing buddies has about a thousand more words than I do. She had about a hundred fewer yesterday. I will have to remedy that! (Yes, I'm competitive that way sometimes.) I'm not sure when I will be able to write today, as I have to work, but I'm sure I will fit it in. I'll be at my old house tonight, which might help since there are fewer distractions there, but might be a hindrance because there is still work to be done there. I must find a balance.
Wee!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
"Hope Vibrates"
The auditorium fell silent as the two teams set to work. On the left, the “Spring Dodgers” were quietly discussing the question. On the right, members of the “Babbleshop Quartet” were staring at each other in silence, sometimes looking around the room hoping to find inspiration in the familiar curtains of the high school stage.
Robbie, a Dodger, glanced up from the team’s chatter and was hopeful, seeing the expressions of their opponents. She returned her attention to the team’s planning, hoping to come up with an answer to the question posed to the teams by the moderator of the competition. When she looked up again, however, her mouth gaped, her eyes opened wide, and she began to pressure her teammates in a panic to hurry.
“Come on, we have to hurry. They’re going to get the answer first!”
“I thought they were spacing out!”
“They were, but now they know what they’re doing.”
“How do you know?”
“When Hope knows the answer, she vibrates. I can just about feel it from here!”
The team returned to the question, but were too late. They jumped when they heard the bell from the other side of the stage, rung by Hope, the Quartet leader. The moderator prompted the team to respond.
“Is it 107x squared?”
The moderator checked his card. “Yes, it is. You are correct and you win this round! Congratulations!”
(This writing prompt took 5 minutes to conceptualize and write. 233 words = about 46 wpm)
Robbie, a Dodger, glanced up from the team’s chatter and was hopeful, seeing the expressions of their opponents. She returned her attention to the team’s planning, hoping to come up with an answer to the question posed to the teams by the moderator of the competition. When she looked up again, however, her mouth gaped, her eyes opened wide, and she began to pressure her teammates in a panic to hurry.
“Come on, we have to hurry. They’re going to get the answer first!”
“I thought they were spacing out!”
“They were, but now they know what they’re doing.”
“How do you know?”
“When Hope knows the answer, she vibrates. I can just about feel it from here!”
The team returned to the question, but were too late. They jumped when they heard the bell from the other side of the stage, rung by Hope, the Quartet leader. The moderator prompted the team to respond.
“Is it 107x squared?”
The moderator checked his card. “Yes, it is. You are correct and you win this round! Congratulations!”
(This writing prompt took 5 minutes to conceptualize and write. 233 words = about 46 wpm)
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
NaNoWriMo 2009 Outline
Rather than going in to work today, I spent some time at the house waiting for the person who provides official measurements for carpet installation. He called this morning and told me that my two-hour window for measurement was between 12:15 and 2:15, so I took a late-morning breakfast break around 10:30, going out in the cooler weather to The Egg and I.
After eating, I was listening to classical music and sipping tea, thinking about the possible directions for the story I am considering trying to write in November. I scribbled a page of notes on it, and turned that into what is basically an outline to a story with some HUGE, GLARING HOLES in it. I'm okay with what is missing at the moment since the overall story has taken on a pretty interesting shape. Now the challenge becomes seeing if I have enough time to commit to writing at least 1667 words a day next month!
Along with this, I feel a nagging need to find or write a tool that will take what I write and check it for word and phrase proximity. That is, I obsessively worry that I'm using the same phrase too many times in a row, or too close to each other, and I would love to have a tool that goes through my work and checks that for me, letting me know where a synonym might be a good idea.
After eating, I was listening to classical music and sipping tea, thinking about the possible directions for the story I am considering trying to write in November. I scribbled a page of notes on it, and turned that into what is basically an outline to a story with some HUGE, GLARING HOLES in it. I'm okay with what is missing at the moment since the overall story has taken on a pretty interesting shape. Now the challenge becomes seeing if I have enough time to commit to writing at least 1667 words a day next month!
Along with this, I feel a nagging need to find or write a tool that will take what I write and check it for word and phrase proximity. That is, I obsessively worry that I'm using the same phrase too many times in a row, or too close to each other, and I would love to have a tool that goes through my work and checks that for me, letting me know where a synonym might be a good idea.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Keeping Pace with Priest
NaNoWriMo is beginning to loom once again, and I'm trying to get geared up for writing. I was able to keep an average pace of about 2,250 words per day during last year's event, but I have proven that I'm not a writer. I'm not talking about the story that came out of my last NaNo attempt. I just re-read my story, and for a first draft, I'm actually pretty happy with it. I'm referring to the fact that since NaNo last year, I have not written every day. I have not written consistently week to week. I've not written much of anything story-wise, really.
I read a lot, between books and blogs. Several of the blogs I read are about writing. One such blog, written by Cherie Priest, keeps frequent track of how many words she has written on her stories in a given day. She posted a blog back on April 15, 2008 (http://www.cheriepriest.com/2008/04/15/april-15-2008/) in which she explains her word count scale. It looks like this:
1000 words - Marginally acceptable
2000 words - Fair
3000 words - Good
4000+ words - Glorious
So on this scale, I had seven days that were too low to count, three that were marginally acceptable, five that were fair, six that were good and one that was glorious. My average pace of 2,250 words a day is just north of Fair.
Or is it? I ask because often, Cherie also makes a little comment about how she feels about her word count. I think the scale she actually holds herself to is a little more strict than what she quoted in April. Based on her blog word count comments, I came up with this Real Cherie Priest Word Count Scale:
Under 1,000 words: Boo. Not good.
1,000 to 2,000 words: Meh (though I've seen Meh range as high as 3,211, I'll consider that an outlier.)
2,001 to 3,750 words: Now we're in the Not Bad to Pretty Good range
3,751 to 4,050 words: Very good. It's a small range because over 4,050, she gets a little more excited.
4,051 up: BOOYAH! HUZZAH! GLORIOUS! RAR! HELLS YEAH! SWEET!
On this revised scale, my average NaNo pace is Not Bad. I had one BOOYAH day (at 5,986 words), a week of Boos (three of which were total non-writing days), three Mehs and eleven Not Bads in my 22 days of writing before my trip to Dallas. I wonder if I can get my average up to the Very Good range this year. I'm competitive that way sometimes.
As an aside, I have to say that I have consistently enjoyed reading Cherie's blog, including the stories of her cats, costumes and steam, as well as the links she shares. One of these days, I will have to pick up one of her books to read. Time and money being what they are, though, I don't know when that will be.
I read a lot, between books and blogs. Several of the blogs I read are about writing. One such blog, written by Cherie Priest, keeps frequent track of how many words she has written on her stories in a given day. She posted a blog back on April 15, 2008 (http://www.cheriepriest.com/2008/04/15/april-15-2008/) in which she explains her word count scale. It looks like this:
1000 words - Marginally acceptable
2000 words - Fair
3000 words - Good
4000+ words - Glorious
So on this scale, I had seven days that were too low to count, three that were marginally acceptable, five that were fair, six that were good and one that was glorious. My average pace of 2,250 words a day is just north of Fair.
Or is it? I ask because often, Cherie also makes a little comment about how she feels about her word count. I think the scale she actually holds herself to is a little more strict than what she quoted in April. Based on her blog word count comments, I came up with this Real Cherie Priest Word Count Scale:
Under 1,000 words: Boo. Not good.
1,000 to 2,000 words: Meh (though I've seen Meh range as high as 3,211, I'll consider that an outlier.)
2,001 to 3,750 words: Now we're in the Not Bad to Pretty Good range
3,751 to 4,050 words: Very good. It's a small range because over 4,050, she gets a little more excited.
4,051 up: BOOYAH! HUZZAH! GLORIOUS! RAR! HELLS YEAH! SWEET!
On this revised scale, my average NaNo pace is Not Bad. I had one BOOYAH day (at 5,986 words), a week of Boos (three of which were total non-writing days), three Mehs and eleven Not Bads in my 22 days of writing before my trip to Dallas. I wonder if I can get my average up to the Very Good range this year. I'm competitive that way sometimes.
As an aside, I have to say that I have consistently enjoyed reading Cherie's blog, including the stories of her cats, costumes and steam, as well as the links she shares. One of these days, I will have to pick up one of her books to read. Time and money being what they are, though, I don't know when that will be.
Monday, August 31, 2009
"The speaker was on fire"
This is a writing prompt, the first I've done in a while. Only 200 words came out in something like 6 minutes, and it describes much of what went through my mind when I read the prompt itself, wondering which direction it should go. The subject of this post was supposed to be the first line of the story.
“The speaker was on fire.” The words, printed across the top of the report, left Rod unsure what he was going to read. At first, his mind flashed to a speaker in the back of a souped-up Chevelle, a discarded Zippo burning into it and starting a car fire. He imagined a couple of stoned guys sitting listening to music when suddenly the balance was thrown off by the flaming speaker. They would “dude” each other obliviously as the flames climbed higher in the back.
His next thought was political, where some otherwise innocuous person suddenly lashes out with gasoline and a match inside the House, setting the Speaker of the House on fire. “Much screaming and running around would ensue, but at least the same amount of work would get done as usual,” he thought darkly.
Finally, he began to read the contents of the report, where an enthusiastic fan reported on a guest speaker at a local church function. He was a real “fire and brimstone” preacher, working the congregation up into a yelling, cheering frenzy about the Lord.
Disappointed, he cast the story aside, knowing it wasn’t going to be good enough to print in today’s paper.
“The speaker was on fire.” The words, printed across the top of the report, left Rod unsure what he was going to read. At first, his mind flashed to a speaker in the back of a souped-up Chevelle, a discarded Zippo burning into it and starting a car fire. He imagined a couple of stoned guys sitting listening to music when suddenly the balance was thrown off by the flaming speaker. They would “dude” each other obliviously as the flames climbed higher in the back.
His next thought was political, where some otherwise innocuous person suddenly lashes out with gasoline and a match inside the House, setting the Speaker of the House on fire. “Much screaming and running around would ensue, but at least the same amount of work would get done as usual,” he thought darkly.
Finally, he began to read the contents of the report, where an enthusiastic fan reported on a guest speaker at a local church function. He was a real “fire and brimstone” preacher, working the congregation up into a yelling, cheering frenzy about the Lord.
Disappointed, he cast the story aside, knowing it wasn’t going to be good enough to print in today’s paper.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)