NaNoWriMo 2010: Official

This is part one, because I'm sure there will be more parts and updates. I don't know how many or when they will be, but there will be. I;m officially signed up for NaNoWriMo 2010. For those who don't know, NaNoWriMo stands for NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth. It's a challenge to write 50,000 words of a novel (according to the official rules, a new novel that you hadn't started yet) in ONE MONTH.

 I've registered. If anyone wants to be my writing buddy, you can add me under Boatkicker. This month, pre-nano, I'll be doing two things.
1) Taking a break from The Circle. In fact, this break will be a two month break
2) Pre-planning for my NaNo novel, which is currently titled Only Make Believe.
3) Trying to convince my dear friend Chelsea to participate with me.

I think I'll post some of my pre-planning here, starting with a copy-paste from something I wrote over on the Nanowrimo forums. The thread was called "Things you will do differently this year."

This year I will
1) (Hopefully) Not get a computer virus at the end of week 1
......1a) If I do get a computer virus, I will NOT spend ALL of week two fixing my computer. Instead, I will keep writing on paper, and if I have time after meeting my daily word goals, THEN I will work on the computer.
2) If I get behind, I will not give up. Last year, the virus got me way off track, and being so far behind everyone else unmotivated me. I lost at 14,000
3) I will participate in lots of word wars. Oddly enough, some of the best writing I did last year came from those short bursts. Last year I only did a few. This year, I will do many!
4) (If there is one in my area) I will go to a write in. I've never been to one before. It sounds like fun.
5) Research BEFORE November. Last year I didn't do any research before starting. Then, I wrote slowly because I was researching as I went along. I've already started this!
6) Appearance lists? Yes please. Most of my characters jump into my brain with mostly-formed personalities and NO physical appearance. In editing last years novel I noticed that I had a black-haired brunette blond with red hair. No, I'm not kidding. Missy's hair color changed several times... without any hair dye. And another of my characters was both "extraordinarily short", and "rather tall". This year, I will be keeping track of what everyone looks like.
Last and most important 7) I WILL WIN NANOWRIMO!

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3/24/2010 St. Albans

My Fiance invited me to go to one of his classes with him yesterday, because they were having a medium come in. The class was Religion and Death, incase anyone was wondering.

Anyways, I thought it was pretty cool. Some of the stuff the medium said was really interesting. Other parts, in my opinion, were total crap. Do I think spirits might be hanging around any given place at any given time, sure. I’m cool with that. Do I think scribbling on the mirror is going to call evil spirits into my home? Nope, that seems ridiculous. And unlikely, considering how many scribbles have been all over my own mirrors over time. If random marks called evil sprits in, I’d have had a lot more problems to deal with in my life.

Oh. Wait. Maybe that explains everything. Hahaha.

The medium (I’ve forgotten his name. Woops.) mentioned this place near here called St. Albans. Apparently it used to be a mental hospital and before that it was a boys school. The building is, as far as I know, standing empty right now. Local legend says its haunted. The medium described a room that is covered in papers with kids hand prints all over, finger-paint style. He said he was creepy. A student in the class confirmed that it was a creepy room, and mentioned some hallway that “seemed out of place” in the building. The medium then told a story about how he met with the spirit of a former student in the attic/bedroom area and the boy was looking for his mother and playing on a dumbwaiter.

Does this sound like an awesome setting for a book? For some reason, despite all the medium said, and the supposed “Creepiness” of the hand print room, it doesn’t feel like a horror story to me. Of course I’d have to go there myself to be sure, but my Fiance said he might take me there. I think that would be totally awesome. I’d love to see the hand print room. The whole place seems like it would be interesting. I plan on doing a little research on the place sometime this evening. I tried to last night, but the internet was down. This place had definitely sparked my interest. I have a thing for old buildings. :)

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Making it Seamless

I have been working on a short story that I plan to enter into the June Accentuate Contest. Originally it was intended for May, but I can already tell that it wont fit into the Sorrow theme was well as it will into the Regret theme. The death of a loved one IS sorrowful, but the story isn't really about that. It's about three sisters who haven't spoken much in 10 years. They fight a lot, but the reconnect when the middle sister Madison finds a teddy bear named Mr. Buttons.

I have what I actually think it a decent beginning. I have GREAT ending...... and nothing else. I have no middle. I have the first hundred or so words, and the last 200. I don't even have an idea for the middle.

This happened to me last time I tried to write out of order, and I swore to myself I would never do that again. But this time I started with the ending of the story, and then went backwards. Bad Boat! Bad Bad Bad.

If I don't get at least some sort of a middle by this time tomorrow, some idea, maybe a couple hundred words, I'm going to lock myself in the laundry room (there isn't any internet there, so I wont get distracted) and not come out until I have.... something.

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Dreaded First Post

I started writing my first post here, and somehow blogger managed to delete it. I started writing it again in wordperfect, and somehow that ate it too. I've decided that my original first post just isn't meant to be.

I'm not sure where to start. Starting something, be it a new blog, a new book, or meeting new people, is always hard for me. It makes me a little nervous, because I wonder whether things will work out in the end. Starting a new blog about writing, after I just had a three day breakdown in which I didn't write AT ALL makes me even more anxious.

Am I supposed to say what I'll be doing here on this blog? That's easy. Talking about writing my books. Talking about books I read.

Do I talk about where I am currently with my writing? That's a hassle. I don't even know where I am. I started with 5 individual novels, was focusing on one, and then somehow, they all merged into one lovely series. Oops.

Maybe I introduce myself? But no, that's what I have a Bio for. Right? I'm bad at introducing myself, so that will have to do for you. Whatever isn't mentioned there you can figure out as you follow me on this crazy journey I'm taking. (I had a silly metaphor here, but I took it out. I love metaphors but this one was bordering on too tacky to exist. I point this out because I'm sure you'll find a few more of these in other posts.)

I think I'm done. Now that I've got the dreaded first post out of the way, I think I can write something decent.

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