Tag: NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriWoe

So, I’ve lost NaNoWriMo once again. And don’t try telling me there’s still time – there isn’t. Not to write 47 000 odd words in a little more than 24 hours.

Going in I’d decided to shun the 50 000 words goal, and rather just try to write every day, and for the first five days I managed just that. But this November really wasn’t very conducive to writing. We were only home for one weekend this entire month, and the times between weekends were not exactly quiet either.

Among other things, we visited the wife’s parents (we surprised the mother-in-law for her birthday) where I did some gardening with my father-in-law while listening to India soundly thrash South Africa in cricket. We visisted one of our best friends (whom we hadn’t seen in almost a year) who took us for sushi in Hillbrow while we took her to go see the South African production of Sweeney Todd. And the past few days we were visiting my sister’s – the wife was attending a workshop there, but she doesn’t like driving in city traffic so I played chauffer, and got to spend some time with my nephew in return.

After that first weekend away I just couldn’t get back into the writing groove, which is a pathetic excuse, I know, but it’s what I have. I’m still trying my best to cultivate a sustainable writing habit, but first I need to sort out my routine regarding the day job.

What day job, I hear you ask? Watch this space.

NaNaWriNo or NaNoWriGo?

Until yesterday, my answer for this year was no. There have been some pretty big stuff going on in my life (that I will tell you about soon) and I just felt that doing NaNo on top of it would be pushing things a bit too far. Besides, I have only the vaguest idea of a plot, and October was so hectic there simply wasn’t time to work on an outline.

Then, somewhere between yesterday and today I decided, what the heck. What do I have to lose? Except my sanity and my sense of pride?

Nothing.

But if I win I’ll be that much closer to having a finished novel (again). I’ll have a 50% discount voucher for Scrivener. I’ll have the admiration of my friends and family. Strangers will stop me in the streets and ask for my autograph. Fans will camp out in front of my house in the hopes of glimpsing me as I pass by the window. Celebrities will tell their friends that they know me, even though we’ve never met. I’ll ascend to Mount Olympus and feast in the halls of Valhalla. I’ll…

I’ll stop now.

. . .

So, with only an hour to go before NaNo starts in my time zone, I declare that I’m going to write 50 000 words this November, or die trying (or at least severely embarrass myself in the process). I have no plot, my world-building is half done, some of my characters don’t even have names yet, but I’m going for it.

Because you only live once.

Because sitting on fences is bad for your health.

Because writing is fun, and hard work, and awesome.

And because if you never write that novel, it will never get written, and the world needs more books.

On losing

I have a theory why online auction sites are so successful, as compared to regular online retailers. Auction sites allow you to win. And winning feels nice.

Think about it: shopping in and of itself makes us feel good. The buyer’s remorse comes later, of course, but at that moment you hand over your cash and take possession of that object that you have coveted for who knows how long, your body gets flooded with all manner of feel-good hormones. (Come to think of it, one could probably consider buyer’s remorse the hangover that occurs when one come off the high produced by this particular naturally produced drug.)

But auction sites take it a step further. Even before you hold that coveted item in your hands you get to experience the unsurpassed joy that’s produced when the message flashes across the screen that you have won the auction.

Continue reading “On losing” →

On false starts, birthdays and changing one’s mind

Man, I’m out of practice with fiction writing.

NaNoWriMo is going quite well, word count-wise. Day one started with a bang, well, actually not, as I started writing at midnight and the wife was already in bed, so I kept it quiet. But it started well with me exceeding my quota in the first day. The following few days saw me missing my quota, though it was still a vast improvement over last year where I couldn’t start writing until day four.

I reached both the five and ten thousand word milestones only two days behind schedule and was all set of a 5k-Sunday which would have put me back on track and in a good position to build up a lead for the three days I’ll be missing when I attend a conference from tomorrow.

Then I hit a snag. Click here to find out more.

NaNoWriGO!

I blinked, and suddenly we’re at the end of October. I’ve no idea how this happened. Wait, I do. I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time at the school again. It seems even though I’ve been gone for almost two years now, I still know more about what goes on there than anyone else. At first it was gratifying to know I’m still needed, but it’s reaching the point where I’m starting to wish they’d learn to figure stuff for themselves. I suppose I could have left them detailed written instructions and made sure all the curriculum and policy documents were available and easily accessible from a central location in both printed and digital format…oh, wait…I did!

Every time I visit the school I’m just strengthened in my resolve to not go back to my old job. But I’ll do a proper rant about that later.

Because just now I need to focus on NaNoWriMo, which is a mere seven hours away in my time zone. I’m nowhere near done outlining for the new novel, but at least I already have a brief synopsis. Go give it a read, why don’t ya!

This post gets better once you click here. I promise.