Gearing Up - Nanowrimo 2012

This year I am not flying by my seat.  I am outlining. This is a new thing for me, I like not knowing where my story is going, however, this year my story is a little complicated and I need some structure. 

I have created my outline on colored index cards.  So far I have 23 chapters and 4 parts.  I've done as much research as time allow.  I am sure I will have to do more during Nanowrimo, because I am going back to 1962.

I honestly don't know how writers write Historical Fiction.  The research that must go into it boggles my mind. I'm only going back 50 years and I have more information than I ever thought I would need.  However, to be reliable, I have to have my facts right.  I don't mind doing the research, but time is running out.  Next Thursday is T-30.

If the storm prevents me from going to work, I will spend much of the day researching.

I wish everyone who is participating this year the best of luck.  50K here I come.

Various

Nanowrimo

November is Nanowrimo.  I haven’t completed a Nano in about 3 years.  I had done it for many years before that and finished, but I don’t know what happened.  This year I’m going to finish.  I will post updates about that here.

Right now I’m in research mode.  I’m pretty sure I’m going to write a fictional account of my uncle’s death.  It is not going to be about my uncle’s death per se, rather the aftermath.  I wasn’t born when he died (1962), but I obtained details from my mother about the death.

One of the true aftermath’s of his death was me (not going in the novel). If he didn’t die, my mom would have married him instead of his brother, I wouldn’t be here as me, I’d be someone else LOL!

Reading

As I mentioned in my last post, I will be reading shorter books until the end of the year.  I just finished up “The Omen” by David Seltzer.  I know that the movie(s) were graphic, the newer one was more graphic than the original, but I feel that this book is even more graphic. It could be my imagination. Maybe it has something to do with reading it.  My next book is “Psycho” by Richard Block.  I have a lot of things to read, but I’m trying not to over load myself.  I think some books are coming in from the Library, so not sure what is up next.

Movies (TV and Theater)

I saw “Sinister”.  It is a good horror film, but I wasn’t as scared as some other movies I’ve seen in the past.  “Insidious” and “Possession” were scarier for me.  I was talking with Michelle / The True Book Addict, about this.  I was saying I think horror films are subjective.  Whatever we are most afraid of will scare us most on the screen, even if the fears are deep routed.  If my daughter saw a spider in any movie she’d run out of the theater.  The subject matter in “Insidious” and “Possession” are some ‘issues’ that I have.  “Sinister” did bring up those ‘issues’, so although I could see how it could scare some, it doesn’t scare me.

Who saw “Steel Magnolias” on Lifetime? I wasn’t sure why it was remade for the small screen, but it has been years since I’ve watched it, so I went ahead.  It was really good.  All the actresses were on point.  Queen Latifah, Phylicia Rashad, Condola Rashad, Jill Scott and Alfre Woodard played their parts to perfection.  Now I have to go back and watch the original to see how closely they followed.  From what I remember, it was identical.

TV Shows

I’m watching “Upstairs, Downstairs – Season 2” on Masterpiece Classics.  We are picking up where we left off last year.  We are now being plunged into WW II.  If anyone is watching it, I just want to say that Percy is a B****. She needs to fall off of a cliff.  I also do not like Mr. Amajad, I liked him more last season.

I started watching “World Without End”.  I didn’t know it was even coming on. Actually I didn’t even know it existed until Michelle / True Book Addict, mentioned it.  Hopefully I will like it, it is hard to tell at this point since I only watched about 30 minutes of it. So fingers crossed.

Bummed that they pushed “Whitney” back. It was supposed to come back on October 19^th, however that show and “Community” were pushed to an unknown date.  No real explanation given, but I suspect they are waiting for a sweep. Because let’s face it, some of this junk on TV really shouldn’t be there. 

“American Horror Story” is back.  I haven’t watched it yet, but it doesn’t matter.  The show is a hit. I will watch that one tonight with my daughter.

My daughter is making me watch “The Mindy Project”.  I don’t like this show. I don’t like Mindy, she is an annoying, whiney, man-hunting, spinster….sorry.

And the rest of my watch list:

2 Broke Girls, 2 and a Half Men, Revolution, The New Normal, Bones, Guys With Kids, Project Runway, Grimm, New Girl, Glee.

App for Nanowrimo

I discovered a new app. Someone posted about it on the Nanowrimo forums. I've been testing it out and I think it will work fine. Since I'm temping and don't know where I will be from one day to the next, and I do a lot of my nanoing at work, I will always have to remember to send my stuff home via email and to clean it off of the computer every day. What a pain, I thought. Then someone mentioned My Writing Nook. It is an on-line website where you can write from any computer and it is saved on-line, as opposed to on a hard drive. You can send yourself an email with it as well so you can have a back up. It has word count, It has dictionary and spell check. It also is an app for iphone/ipad/itouch/Android.

I was iffy about it, because sometimes when I am on the train, I get ideas. I hate to have to pull out my Molskine to write something. I was wondering if this would work, since it is on-line. But it does work. You can type anything, you can sync it later. You will never lose a thought.

This is put out by Google. I remember Google did something like this a few years ago, I think it was called Google Doc, but I don't know what happened to it, but I like this, especially because of the app.

So all of my nanoing this year will be done on this website & app. Check it out and see if it works for you.

Nanowrimo 2010

NanoWriMo Website

I am planning to join this years NanoWrimo. I was planning to participate last year, however, I had surgery in October, and I was not really feeling up to it in November.

This year I will participate and finish. However, I have no idea what I'm going to write about. I don't know what genre I am going to write either. Probably just mainstream fiction, although I really want to try my hand at horror again. I love Stephen King, but I don't think I have his chops.

I will be blogging about it here once it starts on November 1st. I don't know if I will be working by then or not. If not, I will be able to write during the day. If I do get a job by then (I can be hopeful), I will be doing all my writing at night, which will be a first. I used to write at my desk at my last job, and had a lot of sucess. There was not much going on, but a new job, will probably require more of my concentration.

Either way, I will get it done. 50,000 words, here I come.

Nanowrimo - 2009

This is scheduled to start at midnight on Sunday, November 1st. For those who start at midnight, and live in the States, they get an extra hour as we fall back. I'll be asleep, so it won't benefit me.

I will have to get a great deal done before November 13th, I'm going in for gall bladder surgery, so I will be laid up. However, if all goes well, it will be outpatient and I will be home that night. Hope to not be in too much pain, where I can type a few pages during my recovery.

Can't wait to start year #6. I hope to get to blog about it here on a regular basis.

NanoWriMo 2009

This will be year #6 for me. My first journey into Nanowrimo was way back in 2004. I learned of it by accident. I was surfing around for writing contest and came across The Nanwrimo Website. It was only a few days before it was due to start.

Nanowrimo is a 'movement' where crazy people like myself will write (a novel) 50,000 words in 30 days (November 1 - 30). Most novels are more than 50,000 words, but this number will certainly get you started.

I've won all six years, but it wasn't easy, especially since in the states we have Thanksgiving in November. But it is a great thing for writers to do, and it is a lot of fun. The forum on the Nanowrimo website is very active before, during and after Nanowrimo (Nano for short). You can get ideas, encouragement or just spend time procrastinating. If anyone is crazy enough to join, please do, you won't regret it.

Every year by the end of November I say "Never again, I'm out next year", and every October I'm right back on the site, planning my next novel.

I will be keeping track of it here. Sometimes I post it in my mainsteam blog, but I don't have one, so since writing and reading go hand in hand, you guys will have to suffer. But it will be OK, I promise, I don't overload my blog with Nano stuff.

This year, I have my idea, my title and my characters, but I am unsure of what genre this will fall into. It is either Romance or Mainstream, I think it will develop as I write.

Right now my biggest concern is my banner....LOL! The things that matter!

Yes, the title of my novel is "Without Issue". The idea is still floating around in my brain about how exactly to proceed with this. But there are 18 days left before start date. I have always got it together before then, and managed to hold it together for the past six years, so why should this year be any different?