NaNo is over. Which… doesn’t really mean much for me.
You may have figured this out by now, I’m sure I must have let it slip sometime during the past month, but I sat NaNo out this year. And you know what? I’m okay with that.
I kept a full schedule with a second job involving technical writing. I spent time with friends. I watched some TV. I even read a couple of books.
So, for the past few posts, I’ve been all over the place. I’ve been happy, I’ve been sad. Mostly this week I’ve just been exhausted.
Last Tuesday I had my last day of filming for the Doctor Who spinoff I’ve been acting in all summer. It was bittersweet, because while the film shoot was a blast, I’m going to miss seeing those kids. Shameless self-promotion time here. The first episode has aired on youtube, Doctor Who: The Purging of Earth, go check it out. I’ll still be here in half an hour when you come back. I promise. (more…)
Last week brought you tales of joy and birthday celebrations. I rode that high for a week before it ultimately had to come to an end. And like most highs (and I’m talking about my experiences with sugar and caffeine highs here, peeps), that end met with a definite crash.
Last week it was good to be me. This week, I’m willing to offer up a trade. Any takers? No? Fine… I guess I’ll turn all my bitter disappointment into fuel for my writing. And two thirds of the way through NaNo, I finally feel like I’m ready to write again. If I can hold onto that feeling (and all the feelings roiling inside of me) until after Thanksgiving, I might be able to get a start on a new novel. Because I need to get these words out before I burst. Or say something really stupid to the wrong person.
Last week wasn’t all bad, though. Friday night was the Halfway Party. I felt a bit guilty for showing up, since I’m sitting this year’s NaNo out, but the best thing about my writer’s group is how welcoming and supportive they are. Well, maybe Sarah minded… but that’s only because we talked her into a tequila shot that I think she regretted. The face she made after taking it sure made it look like she regretted it.
So, as you can probably gather from the title of this blog, I haven’t suddenly converted to writing this month. Looking back on the past couple of weeks, there honestly wouldn’t have even been any time to write.
But I haven’t been wasting my days away. I got older last week. I’ve reached the big quarter of a century mark and I barreled through it with pride. I cooked dinner for friends. It turned out a bit bland, which means I loved it and all of my friends suffered through it. I dyed my hair. I punched more holes in my ear.
It turned out to be one of my better birthday celebrations. It was fairly low-key, but that suits my style just fine.
So while everyone else here was slaving away in front of a computer, I was eating homemade cupcakes and drinking a glass of wine… or two. And that was just Thursday.
Sometimes it really is good to be me.
So, to most of you it has only been a week since I gushed about my plans for NaNo and confided to all of you about my fears. For me it’s been three weeks and in those three weeks I realized something.
I may pretend to be crazy, a lot of people maythink that I’m crazy, but I’m really not. Or at least, I don’t want to be.
I decided to sit this NaNo out. What’s that mean for me? It means that I’m getting eight hours of sleep. It means that I’m able to maintain a social life. It means that I am responsible for cooking my own meals.
Hmm… maybe it’s not too late to change my mind again… I was really looking forward to having all my meals catered.
All of that aside, I think sitting NaNo out was the right decision for me this year. I haven’t had any down time since May and it was beginning to show. If I have some extra time, I’ll flip through my novel from last year. Maybe with a fresh set of eyes I’ll be able to get it scrubbed up enough to start sending out. But if I don’t this month, that’s okay. I’m not going to stress about it. I’ll be the well-rested one at the write-ins. The person who isn’t guzzling coffee at ten pm.
Aren’t you jealous?
Can I be honest with all of you for a couple of minutes?
I’m terrified about this year’s NaNo. I don’t have a plan. I barely have an idea. And I certainly don’t have time. And even worse? I know what to expect.
Last year was my first time participating in NaNoWriMo. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. It seemed like a great idea at the time—and don’t get me wrong, it was—but now I do know. It’s an amazing roller coaster ride. It’s life consuming.
And I’m completely unprepared for it. I’m worried that I’m taking on too many things at once. I’m terrified that something’s going to slip. (more…)
Under the wavering beam of my flashlight, strips of red and yellow flapped in the breeze from where something had shredded the abandoned carnival tent. I’d been here before. Every summer, my cousins would come to town and we would all pile into the rusted station wagon and make the two hour drive to the clearing in the woods, eager to see what new performance the traveling circus had put together.
I grabbed a fistful of the flap and pulled it open. I remembered the flap being heavier, but then I’d only been a kid the last time we were here. Dust choked the air, shining under the weak beam of light. I drew in a deep breath, and stepped into the tent. (more…)
Has there ever been something for you that can drown out the rest of the world? That can suddenly make deadlines and responsibilities seem unimportant? If you have, then you know how I feel about writing. When I get on a roll, nothing else seems to matter. This writing high is how I survived NaNo last year and how I plan on surviving it again. Okay. The writing high and a judicious application of coffee.
There are many hard things about writing, finding the right words, editing, keeping it from becoming a cliché or something that’s already been written. But the hardest thing is to find time to write.
It’s not that I can’t sit down and write in five minute spurts here and there. I can. But to truly become absorbed in the work I need hours, and that’s hard to plan time for. Squeezing in five minute spurts works… right up until that five minutes turned into thirty and I’m suddenly late for work. I would kill for a time turner or a TARDIS. (more…)
Good morning ladies and gentlemen! Usually right now I would be blathering on about some writing topic or entertaining you with a story I spewed out after a few glasses of wine. But today I have something different, something special. I’ve managed to secure an interview with Jemma Behker. You may remember her from my 2011 NaNo novel. She’s a lovely young lady from the Kingdom of Callador and… well, why don’t we cut straight to the interview?
Good morning, Jemma.
Jemma: It’s the middle of the night.
Technically, yes, but…
J: I’m not stupid. It’s the middle of the night.
Right, right. Good evening then. Why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself? (more…)
I’ve known since I was little that I wanted to be a writer, and my parents have had time to come to terms with it. It helps that I grew up in an artistic household. My dad went from freelance artist to working for TSR to making video game art and then back to freelance art. Growing up with this lifestyle has made me realize that people can support themselves and a family off of art, but that sometimes it’s really difficult to make ends meet. My parents are one of my primary sources of encouragement and support for my writing, but they also want me to be realistic.
When I went off to college to pursue a Creative Writing degree, they kept suggesting I consider how I was going to support myself and reminding me that most writers had a day job. Up until recently, I always assumed that I would support myself by working the fast food industry, because that’s what people who have English degrees do if they’re not planning on teaching, right? Luckily, I managed to find a desk job—something I never thought I’d see myself doing—that I actually enjoy most of the time. Writing has currently been sidelined to a hobby. At some point I would like to see it become something more. Though I think if I ever quit my day job to pursue writing full time, my mom might have a panic attack. (more…)