So this past week I thought was pretty difficult. However, as I finished up Sunday night I found myself sitting at 41,476 words completed. That puts me at just under 9,000 words left to complete this week. The ring is within reach. Unfortunately I didn't get any writing done today. Let's make up for that tomorrow.
So this past week was the dreaded and infamous week #2 for Nanowrimo. It is said that most authors really hit a wall during this second week in their novels. I am not sure if it is because they have gotten past the introduction portion of their books and are now in the setup phases or if the realize how big the mountain is that they have to climb in front of them.
Whatever the case is, I have to say that I did find this past week to be pretty difficult. Early in this week I had some real problems trying to get my book going. I found that I have run across a lot more auxiliary characters and locations than I originally anticipated. I spent a good portion of this early part of this week just wracking my brain on how my characters were going to get from point A to point B, or why they cared about risking their lives to do something. I ultimately found a good path for their progression, but not without some turmoil on my end.
One thing that has helped tremendously is talking with someone about my ideas and bouncing the ideas off of them. Getting the words out of my head and asking for advice on how to approach a scene or on how someone would act helped a lot. My wife was that person this week and she actually responded back to me with some really good suggestions.
I finished off this evening with 25,159 words. I am technically a few thousand words behind schedule, but my goal was to be "half way" to 50,000 at the end of week two here and I am proud to say that I accomplished that this evening. I also left my novel in a good spot to allow me to pickup tomorrow with the next section of the story. Let's hope that this next week goes more smoothly.
So my word count right now is up to 15,257. I have to say that I am pretty impressed with myself. Through the end of this past Friday I was sitting at around 7,000 words. Nanowrimo stated that yesterday was supposed to be a "write in". I was to dedicate as much of the day as I could to just writing.
I probably sat down to write for 5-6 hours and I cranked out another 7,000 words. My story is getting to the point where it is starting to find its stride and open up a bit. Hopefully things continue to be easy here on out.
To close out this check in I will post up another unedited excerpt.
So I have been Nanowrimo for five days now. For my first go at this I have to say that I think I am doing pretty well. The first day was extremely difficult to just get started. I probably ended up starting over three or four times before I finally found a good flow. So far I have written every day except today. That puts me slightly behind my target word out, but overall I am sitting at approximately 4300 words.
So far i have found that while writing, the important thing is to literally just get words written. Forget about how it is written and just keep putting words down. As I am writing I have found that I needed locations and characters that I originally did not anticipate. As I am going along I am just filling in all of that information with an "XXXX" that will allow me to go back at some later point to try and look at something.
I have also found that writing with my eyes closed as helped tremendously. I have the ability to type on a keyboard without looking at it. So closing my eyes to fully imagine the scene that I am in has helped me a lot in trying to visualize what I might need to describe and put down onto a page.
Overall I have to say that I am really enjoying this process so far. I will post some excerpts, completed unedited as I go along.
Ok,
So day one is done. Man was it hard to get this started. I probably started and rewrote this beginning sequence a half dozen times. I have ended the day with 1724 words though which I feel is not to bad of a start. I basically made my way through the introduction of my characters.
I am toying with the idea of posting up my content as I write to get feedback from people who may have thoughts or ideas I could explore. I assume that my writing is going to be pretty atrocious since I am basically mashing at the keyboard to just get words on the page. We will see if that may be some thing I want to do.
So here it is. November 1st is the start of Nanowrimo 2013. I have told myself I am doing this. Writing a novel in a month. Am I prepared? I have no idea. I tried to do some real planning and outlining the past couple of months and I have a solid idea. I suppose we will just sort of see how this all plays out.
As I have mentioned before, I have never done anything like this before. Am I nervous? Heck ya.
Time for another reading list update.
As 2012 is coming to a close, I have to say that the reading list this year has been a pretty good one. I am on track for fifteen or sixteen books read if I keep my pace up through December. It is hard to believe that I haven't posted one of these since April.
Anyways, tons of books read. Most notable of them has been the first two books of the John Carter series. Yes, the same John Carter that Disney tried to make into a movie last summer. While the movie wasn't a smash hit at the box office. the first two books in the series are absolustely incredible. They are adventure pulp fiction at its best, and I was litterally on the edge of my seat while reading them. They have quickly gone to the top of my favorite books shelf. They are also public domain so if you have an e-reader, go download them for free.
I also read books two and three of the Harry Potter series. I remember why those movies are so engaging. Nobody but J.K. Rowling can make boarding school sound so appealing.
Finally I just started reading "The Hobbit" again last week. This year is the 75th anniversairy of the book and the movie is coming out in December. I think it apt to re-read the book, since I haven't read it since about fifth grade. To be honest I remember almost none of the story and I am amazed again at how good the book is. I am surprised how much the tone really comes across as a children's book though. The whole prose really gives a sort of Narnia vibe a little bit, much more so than the "Lord of the Rings".
You can see above that my childhood copy is a bit of a wreck, so I am actually reading a copy I bought my wife several years ago.
About a week ago my wife bought me a GoPro for my birthday. So with some luck the weather was nice yesterday and I decided to ride my motorcycle up to my parent's house for breakfast to test it out. I tried the timelapse feature on the bike. I have to say I am impressed, ignoring the fact that my windshield on my bike is covered in bugs. I am sooooo stoked to use this thing next season on rides.
Friday night was sushi with Megan and the Crystal Castles at the Congress theatre.
Saturday was dinner at Brauhaus for some kitsch and German food.
Sunday was the Hot Chocolate 5K.
Above is a picture of some gifts and other things from this weekend. Overall quite and good time.