NaNoWriMo – The End (Recap)

I officially crossed the finish line today – 50055 words! Looking back over the month, there was only 1 day that I didn’t do any writing at all (that big red square). I hit my writing goal or better on all of the green days.

Before, I had excuses for why I wasn’t writing: too much time on Facebook, too much time spent on Netflix, too tired after work, etc. Well, I finished and I didn’t have to quit Facebook (got my butt whipped in Scrabble repeatedly) or Netflix (got my fill of giallo).  To make it easier to reach my daily writing goal, I started writing at work during lunch. Thanks to the magic of a goal/deadline, I was better able to balance my time.

I did stop one thing–reading books. I can’t read fiction while trying to write it. Waiting in my “to read” pile are Getting To Happy by Terry McMillan, Spare Change by Robert B. Parker, Skin Folk by Nalo Hopkinson, and For Colored Girls… I’m sure the list will continue to grow while I complete the draft.

As for the draft itself, it’s two-thirds finished (i think). What’s it about?

Working Title: Closet Case
Synopsis: Shanice discovers that Renee, her ex-girlfriend,  may be in trouble and steps in to help. What starts out as a possible blackmail scheme takes a deadly turn.

Inspiration for the entire month: M. She is a great cheerleader.

🙂

NaNoWriMo – Week 3 (Recap)

*Outlines are nice, but a story can’t fully reveal itself to you unless you actually start writing it.
–characters that weren’t thought of last week have showed up, who knows what they will do next.

*I’ve had to take a hard look at the part of myself that wants to procrastinate and say, “I know what you’re doing and it’s not going to work this time.”

 

NaNoWriMo – Week 2 (Recap)

This week there was a strong compulsion to edit what I wrote last week. It’s like moving furniture into a house but getting sidetracked after only one room because you want to make sure that sofa is positioned perfectly.

I’ve discovered the easiest way to combat this is just to write that concern down and keep going. Keeping that criticism/concern inside meant dedicating too many minutes to whether or not something should be fixed or if it even needs fixing. Writing it down shuts up that inner voice and adds to my daily writing total. 🙂  

Plus, what seems like a big issue at first is knocked down to size when it’s confined to a few sentences.

Inspiration For Week 2: the films of Mario Bava