NaNo2020

NaNoWriMo Day 1

/ Kristi / 1 Comment

The Words: 2577 words total for the day. I almost always start at midnight on Nov. 1 (in my 11 years of doing NaNo, I think I’ve only not done this twice), but I was in a car at midnight. Fortunately, I’d thought ahead to the possibility of not being home and had my Neo with me. Though I thought I’d be inside somewhere. It still worked….not well, because it was dark, and while I thought that would be fine, because of the no-editing rule, sometimes I couldn’t even remember what the last word I’d written was. Or when I inevitably did go back and erase something out of habit, I wouldn’t know if I’d gotten it all. That will be the most error-filled 700 words of the entire novel at the end of this. But I digress.

I wrote another 700 words when I got home, during a word sprint started on the Twitter feed of @NaNoWordSprints, and went to bed with the smallest midnight-sprint word count I’ve had in 8 years. But I was content with my number. I wrote another thousand words this afternoon to get to the number above.

I often set my daily goal higher than the normal minimum, because it’s important to me that I finish the draft of the novel before the motivation of the month disappears. Unfortunately, I never know how long the draft will actually be. I’m guessing around 75k this year, so my daily goal is 2500 words. And because I also don’t want to finish the draft too early in the month, I’m going to stop at 2500 as often as I can (sometimes I just get the urge to keep going, ya know?). It’s a delicate balance, trying to come to the end of the draft right at the end of the month, considering I don’t estimate my total draft lengths very well. But I’ll re-evaluate halfway through the month or so and raise or lower the word count if/as necessary.

My daily updates aren’t usually this lengthy; I just had a lot to explain today.

The Story: Even though I tried to think ahead about how to start this novel for the last few days, when the time came to begin, nothing really felt right. I stumbled through the opening scene and then dove into the beginning of one of the 4 storylines that will comprise this novel. And then between writing sessions, I thought about a way the opening scene might be better, so I wrote a note to myself for future editing. I don’t want to start re-writing scenes already, so I’ll worry about it later.

Total word count: 2577

For almost as long as I’ve been blogging about how NaNo is going all through the month of November, I’ve been sharing each day’s NaNoToon. Sadly, NaNoToons ended last year. Rather than give up that tradition, I’m going to start going back through them, starting with the first year there was a storyline through the month. So for today, if you want to join me, check out the NaNoToon from November 1, 2010!
And in honor of November 1st, because it is absolutely not NaNoWriMo without the NaNoMusical, here is episode 1!

My 2020 NaNoNovel

/ Kristi / 2 Comments

Here is the synopsis I whipped up for the novel I’m writing for NaNoWriMo starting on Sunday:

Morano

In the underground prison of the Class of Morano, a band of mercenaries who live in a hidden desert base, a brutal battle is coming to a head. In four different cells, there are four different people, whose stories are important to the battle.

Rusalki Morano, leader of the mercenaries. She will do anything to stop those intent on destroying her family. But what will happen if she turns out to be more of a threat than any enemy?

Juris Aganar, second-in-command of the Pithean forces. He has every reason to want to make it home alive and whole, but he knows that the odds are against him.

Acronis Morano, one of many adopted Moranos. He knows Rusalki will elevate his brothers and sisters to a whole new level, but will the cost be too high?

Evan Thossan, a soldier in the Pithean army. He believes he is more than qualified for anything the Moranos can throw at him…but is he?

Are you participating in NaNo this year? What are you writing?

For anyone out there who is participating, feel free to check out my series of tips and tricks for the month, and also to add me as a writing buddy! (Let me know you came from here, and I’ll add you back!)

Weekly Writing Update: 10/25

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I have finished the revision I was doing with one of my sisters, and any further revision of  “Outcast” is up in the air right now. I may be completely done with revisions, but it’s difficult to know, and I’m not in a huge hurry to make that decision. I have started on line edits, though, because I don’t anticipate any large revisions from here forward. By the end of this month, though, I think I’ll know for sure what I have left to do, and be able to set a publishing date (or know if I need to push it back a little instead). I don’t like being so up in the air at this point, but such is the life of a self-published author with no budget.

NaNoWriMo starts in a week, and I think I’m as prepared as I’m going to get. I finished the character interview I started last week, and though it didn’t lead to any wild “Aha!” moments, it still helped me get a firmer handle on a character that has only been in one book so far, but will have a prominent role in what I’m writing for NaNo (first draft of book #4 in the series). I also got my outline, which had been only in the notes sections of Scrivener, into a printable form, so I can have it with me wherever I may write next month. I’m ready and excited to start!

While I work on continuing the series, if you’re interested in reading where it all starts, Pithea is available on Amazon as both an e-book and paperback (it’s also on Kindle Unlimited).

Weekly Writing Update: 10/18

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My progress toward publishing “Outcast” has not been as swift as I would like, but it is progress. I’m hoping one more session with my sister will get us to the end of her notes. After that, I will start on a final line edit, but take my time to give my other sister time to possibly send more notes. I hope to have as little work on for publication in December as possible during November, since NaNoWriMo will most likely take up most of my free time.

And speaking of NaNoWriMo, though I already feel ready for it, I didn’t want to pay no attention at all to the story I’m planning to write during this prepping month. So yesterday I started a character interview with one of the main characters in the book I plan to draft next month. Unfortunately, I haven’t done any writing by hand for at least 9 months, and apparently it’s going to take some time to get used to again. I didn’t get nearly as far in one session as I have been able to in the past, because my hand hurt too much. I look forward to continuing it today though.

While I work on continuing the series, if you’re interested in reading where it all starts, Pithea is available on Amazon as both an e-book and paperback (it’s also on Kindle Unlimited).

Weekly Writing Update: 10/11

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After a few months off for a variety of reasons that culminated in just not caring enough to work on my book, I have dived back in with enthusiasm. I’ve actually been working on the near-final revision of “Outcast” for a few weeks now. The majority of the work I’ve been doing involves using the notes made by one of the other members of the TCSTB (I love being able to use that acronym again). The exciting thing is that, once I had her notes in my hands, I realized that, though there was plenty to work on, it’s a very small fraction compared to what needed revised in Pithea when we spent over a year working on it together. I do have another sister (the one that wasn’t able to be part of the TCSTB) who is planning to make some suggestions for revision as well, but I daresay, based on what she’s sent me so far, it still won’t be an overwhelming amount. Now I just have to be patient while I wait for time to discuss notes with one sister and for the other sister to have time to send me her notes.

In the meantime, NaNoWriMo looms ahead. My plan for this year is to write the first draft to what will almost definitely be book #4 in the series. The outline has been done for over a year, but I’ve spent some time already reading through it and refreshing my thoughts about it. And during that time, I already had a new “Aha!” moment.

Though I’ve already shared my thoughts about how the joy of discovery is my absolute favorite thing about writing, this is a different kind of discovery from what I talked about there. It involved the realization that a chunk of the end of the current draft of book #3 might actually belong in book #4. I’ve been considering this ever since–not letting myself be completely sold, while being pretty sure it will solve a lot of structure problems I have with book #3. I’ve decided to wait and see how long the draft for book #4 comes out to be, because it will only work if it can handle another 15k+ words without being too long.

Sadly, this means that I can’t really work on revision of book #3 until the end of November, even though that’s what I’d like to be doing while waiting to move on in my revision of “Outcast” until others have time to continue helping me. So…I can’t really say what I’ll continue working on this week–hopefully another session with one sister, and outside of that, maybe some writing practice just to keep myself immersed in the series.

While I work on continuing the series, if you’re interested in reading where it all starts, Pithea is available on Amazon as both an e-book and paperback (it’s also on Kindle Unlimited).

NaNoWriMo Season

/ Kristi / 4 Comments

NaNo handouts

NaNoWriMo starts in 31 days and 11 hours, from the time that I am posting this (for my time zone). First, a quick explanation for those who don’t know what I’m even talking about: NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. It is an event that has been around since 1999, becoming more of what it is today in 2005. At its heart, it’s a personal challenge–write 50,000 words in 30 days during the month of November. Signing up and participating simply gives you somewhere to track your progress, goodies if you win, and a huge community of like-minded people, cheering each other on.

Tomorrow begins the month known by many as Preptober. Normally at this time, I’m falling all over myself with excitement at the coming event. This year, though, I’ve been in a major slump with my writing. I’m just starting to pull myself out of it, though, and I anticipate NaNoWriMo helping me with that (it is part of my favorite time of the year, after all).

If you’re planning to participate, or even just thinking about it, and need some tips for getting ready, there is a lot out there. In the past, I’ve noticed that on October 1st, my reader here on WordPress explodes with posts about NaNo. The NaNo site itself has a prep page, though the schedule they write out covers two months, starting at the beginning of September. It could be condensed down to work for October, though, if needed.

I have written many posts about how to prepare for NaNo, as well as how to survive and thrive during November itself, in the past. There is even a sequence of posts with tips about how to plan a story from the ground up. Even if you’re not a planner, there are things you can do to prepare for writing 1667 words a day.

I wish my fellow Wrimos well, and hope to hear from some of you during the month! Please feel free to add me as a writing buddy!

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? What are you doing to prepare?