As if she isn’t crazy enough already…
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Worm!
Yeah, what is that odd little grey thing, anyway? It looks like a Good n’ Plenty that fell under a theater seat way back when David Spade had a movie career. And what’s with those numbers? Fifty thousand? That’s a lot of donuts. Are you sure you wanna eat all that?
Nope. Fifty thousand words.
That’s right, be it known that I, Mrs D, of sound mind and body — oh wait, better strike that last part — that I, the certifiably insane Mrs D, will not only be blogging during the month of November, I will also be participating in NANOWRIMO, otherwise known as National Novel Writing Month.
I will write a 50,000 word first draft of a novel between November 1st and November 30th. No, you don’t get to read it. Not yet, anyway.
You do get to nag me. As much as you want.
See, I work well when nagged. Chopper may laugh at this (in fact, he’ll probably run in here shortly, screaming “No, no, for the love of all that’s holy, please dear god, not with the nagging!”), but trust me: public humiliation at lack of writing progress is a Very Good Thing. Especially when the resulting desperately achieved success is accompanied by pom poms and confetti. (And a nice glass of chocolate port, thank you very much.)
So, here’s the deal: I’m starting bright and early November 1st, and to get the full fifty thousand in, I’ve got to write on average 1666 words per day. Cake, right? Big chunk of Triple Chocolate Mouse Cake. (Note to self: remind Chopper to post that recipe sometime.)
Cake to some, maybe, but I, on the other hand, am a notorious slowby.
After all, it took me all last week to do this:
OHMYGODTHEKITCHENCOUNTERISCLEAN!
(And here you thought I was busy stitching the cat’s Chairman Kaga outfit. Oh, we loves the Photoshop, we do… Ahem. No, I did not Photoshop a clean kitchen counter.)
So, what’s all this rambling about?
It’s about turning this:
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Into this:
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And it’s about the madness that goes with. Meaning, things might get a little weird around here in November.
(Hey! I heard that! Weird already. Harrumph.)
October 31st, 2005 at 8:17 pm
Hey, good luck. That’s an ambitious undertaking. The kitchen has been transformed. Meanwhile, my kitchen is looking more and more like your other kitchen photo!
October 31st, 2005 at 8:25 pm
OOooooooh! I can live vicariously through you! I’ve been avoiding NaNoWriMo for a number of reasons, largely that for several years I’ve been wrapping up galleys on a book about then, last year I was moving, this year…lack of inspiration. Then again, I may find some and start late. Got a story idea you’re willing to share? (even privately) I’m more than happy to cheer, coach, harass…beats the hell out of doing my own work. LOL
Nice kitchen counter, btw. Have you spread your writing stuff all over it yet?
btw, if you are on a Windows machine and have ~150 to spare, look into Naturally Speaking. You’ll easily double your writing speed. Easy. No training required.
October 31st, 2005 at 9:54 pm
Oh, cool. Owen was right.
Did you get my nag?
(Oh, I should just shut up. You cleaned your kitchen, and I… uh…)
October 31st, 2005 at 11:27 pm
Kalyn, mine has only stayed clean because a certain chef husband of mine has been working the dinner shift and I’ve been too lazy to cook. It’ll be back to its messy self in a week, I am certain.
Hey Kitchenmage, nope, no spreading of writing stuff on the counter yet. I have a guest bed for that purpose (though that also means papers get re-sorted by the dog on a regular basis*). Oh, and I have Naturally Speaking but it’s been ages since I’ve tried it. Darned thing had a hell of a time understanding what I was saying, so I got frustrated and gave up. Perhaps I’ll give it another shot. Oh, and thanks for the cheer/coach/harass offer. I’ll let you know when I need it. :-)
(*Come to think of it, canine paper sorting could be a useful re-plotting tool. I do tend to use the 3×5 card method, so if I just spread the cards on the bed and get the dog to jump on it…)
Cookiecrumb, yes, I got your nag. The first one of the season, thank you! ::glances at clock:: Yikes! Half an hour till November 1st!
November 1st, 2005 at 1:43 am
> After all, it took me all last week to do this
You made onions?
I don’t know a heck of a lot about things horticultural, but that’s a pretty short time in which to make three onions.
especially since you’re like, not even in the same kingdom of organisms.
you *are* sci-fi.
zo.
p.s. get writing.
November 1st, 2005 at 8:06 am
You go, girl! My wife Elise writes novels for her day job, 100,000 words at a crack, and they take her about 4 months of steady writing…from which she emerges battered and bruised. “Surely you jest…?” was her comment when I told her about NANOWRIMO. (Okay, I cleaned up her comment a little for publication…and cleaned it up a litle more in this version…)
November 1st, 2005 at 10:05 pm
I have tried and failed at Nanowrimo before (33,000 words) and my lovely spouse has tried and failed twice. But they pale into insignificance beside my children who have collectively tried and succeeded three times (and one fail) between the two of them! They have school and homework to do as well. So I don’t want to hear any excuses…apart from the ones I used when I failed that is…
November 1st, 2005 at 10:52 pm
Yo, zo, I didn’t show you that gnome-run allium manufacturing plant in the crawl space under the kitchen, did I?
Hey Stephen: Here’s the thing. I imagine (and I’m guessing here) that in four months, Elise has a manuscript that’s ready to go to her editor. Me, in a month? It’s a very very rough draft that’s ready for me to tackle with a chainsaw. No chance I show this baby to anyone but my closest writer friends. ::g:: So, four months is much more like it. Besides, 50k is waaay too short for a full-length, marketable novel. This is rough draft, outliney stuff all the way, baby!
Hey Owen. Kudos to your kids! This’ll be my first sucessful Nano if — ahem — when I finish. I’m much better at finishing shorter projects — short stories, plays… The novel is the thing that looms in comparison, so Nano is my way of overcoming the deaded Fear. Oh, and yup. No excuses! :-)
November 2nd, 2005 at 1:45 am
Do we really have to wait until the end of November to read it? How can we check if you are progressing then?
Kudos to you for the kitchen counter, but don’t start cleaning the whole house before you start writing. No excuses.
November 3rd, 2005 at 8:54 pm
Hey Gracianne, you’ll just have to trust Chopper to keep me honest on this one! I may post an excerpt or two, but believe me, this is very much a first draft which means it stays put on my computer and only my computer till I do a lot of editing! Oh, and don’t worry — I rarely ever clean the whole house!
November 7th, 2005 at 10:01 am
Good luck! I “won” NaNoWriMo a couple years ago…but didn’t do it last year and frankly FORGOT about it this year!
November 7th, 2005 at 11:19 pm
Hey, Thanks Lenn! I understand forgetting it’s November. There are days when I try to do the same. :-)