25,113 words and a cold that won’t leave

Thus the week without a post. The Monday before Thanksgiving I got hit with a really bad cold, which pretty much derailed my NaNo efforts. But, I still managed to crack 25,000 words, which I’m pretty proud of.

It was interesting though how being sick not only completely sapped my energy, but my creativity too. I just didn’t have it in me to sit down and think about my characters and what they were doing or saying. Even over a week later while I’m still trying to get over the last remains of the cold (i.e., the cough that won’t go away), I’m still super tired and having a hard time getting my brain to focus on my characters enough for me to write. (Which is why I’m hoping that this post makes sense. My brain hasn’t exactly been set on “high performing” today. I’m not even sure we cracked “minimally performing.”) I hadn’t really thought about the link between a healthy body and creativity before, but it makes sense. It’s hard to be creative when you can’t really breathe easily or you’re so tired that getting up to walk across the room to get your computer is more effort than you can muster. Or even when you’re just tired. But sometimes, when you still make yourself try anyway, it feels amazing.

And then there are times like last week, when you just back off and let your body heal itself before you try to push creativity out. So, I’m not going to win NaNo this year. But I have 25,113 more words than I probably would have had if I hadn’t tried it and another month to try to finish it! And if I still can’t finish it then, then I’ve got January, February, and an entire rest of the year to go for it.

Until then, I’ll just keep writing. And trying not to get sick again. Being sick tanks.

24,355 words! And… in other news, I’m behind.

Yeah, if you do the math, I’m behind on my NaNo book. But you know what? It only bothers me a little bit. Sure, I’m going to try to catch up, but if I don’t, I’ll just finish it as soon as possible after November is over. I’ve still written more in a 17 day period then I think I have before in my life, I’m writing every day, and I’m enjoying myself immensely. Isn’t that the real goal anyway?

It’s interesting as I’ve been writing this novel. I started out thinking that it was going to be three sections taking place over different chunks of time. The more I keep writing, however, the more I suspect that I might actually have two books here. Well, that’s what the rewrite stage is for. For now, I’m going to just keep plugging along and giving it my best shot.

I’m also discovering that I’m not very good at coming up with clues for a mystery. I’m pretty sure the mystery part of my novel is absolute trash. But again, that’s what the rewrite stage is for. For now, I’m just putting the word BLANK anywhere that there’s supposed to be some sort of clue so I’ll know that I need to go back there and fix it. Then I just move forward! I’m trying not to let myself get hung up on things, because I know that will stop me from writing. So far, it’s working pretty well.

In other news, we had our first snow storm of the year last weekend. It resulted in some very pretty pictures that I was lucky enough to take. Maybe soon I’ll post some of them.

For now, I need to get back to my NaNo novel!

11,684 words and counting!

I am having a blast with my NaNo book! Seriously, things are going SO much better than they were last year. I’m a little behind where I want to be, but only by about four hundred words. (I choose not to write on Sundays, so I have to hit about 2,000 words a day to finish.) I just checked where I got to on my novel last year and the highest I hit was 16,238 words before I gave up and focused on finishing my playwriting class.

I had forgotten how much of a difference it makes to write an idea that’s already pretty well laid out in your mind before you start. I think that was the largest problem with my NaNo for last year (Lorrie’s story) that I only finished a couple of weeks ago. I hadn’t let it simmer enough before I started writing it, so things were changing all over the place. This idea is going really well, though I’m doing something that I’ve never done before. I’m writing it backwards.

You see, I started at the beginning, but the scene that kept popping up in my head and demanding to be written is what I suspect will be the climax. So I finally gave in and wrote that. Now I’ve been writing the scenes around that and slowly working my way back towards the beginning, one chapter at a time. And it’s going much better than starting at the beginning was. Go figure.

In doing all this, I’m also discovering/learning how to budget my time extremely well. I’ve finally found a calendar/to do list system that works really well for me and I’ve never felt more productive. Not that I haven’t fallen off every now and again, but I’ve been hopping right back on the next day. Usually I just give up on the system and try something else. Basically, I have a desk calendar that holds all of my appointments. Then I have a small notebook that I carry around with me that has a two page spread for each day. On the left I write in any appointments for that day and my to do list. The right page is for notes so that everything is in one place. I love it! It’s working incredibly well for me.

Anyway, that’s about it for tonight. Life is just fantastic!