No amazingly witty story to tell today. Made my word count and my story is making good progress. Now if only I could get into a nice flow that doesn't keep me up until midnight. 6794. Till tomorrow!

So trying to start a novel unenthusiastically on sleepy-brain and then trying to keep writing what sleepy-brain produced leads to novel being rolled into a ditch, completely totaled, and not coverable by standard insurance.  So today was reboot day. Finally feeling less overwhelmed, being caught up in my workload, and having a moment to just reflect as my students were writing tests and doing catch-up work, I did some serious outlining. I got back intune with my lead character and we figured this thing out. Now, I already knew where this part of the story was going; I actually had a bit of a falling out with my lead character before last NaNo, which resulted in him withholding the ending of his story from me. 

...Okay non-writer people, I know that sounds crazy, but trust me, this is how it goes down. Dotan (my lead) got mad at me and basically wouldn't let me end Freakhouse. He shut down, stopped talking to me, and pretty much sent me into a panic because I had an awesome story that wasn't going anywhere. Long story short (and minus all of the spoilers) I figured out what pissed him off, we re-connected, and he showed me where Freakhouse was going. I was resistant, but he convinced me. So Parish was already pre-set in my mind, and I thought ready to go. Refer back to opening paragraph. Basically after my midnight kickoff (and my writing attempts thereafter), Dotan was staring at me blankly and calling me an idiot. And I really couldn't argue against that. I looked at what I had come up with and felt immediately guilty for wanting to sell books to an unsuspecting public who would read this crap. Once I got my head clear, de-stressed, and admitted that I had a problem, my lead and I reconnected again. 

So I have committed my first NaNo cheat of the session (yes, session, NaNoing is full of underhanded NaNo cheats, it's pretty much a rule, like interpreting the Pirates' Code as guidelines).  I drew a line under the crap and restarted. I'm back in the Freakhouse world, I'm back in Dotan's head (or he's in mine), and I am finally in that space where I am proud to be a writer. This is what I love. This is why I drive myself crazy every year with NaNo. If I keep doing this, I won't feel the slightest bit guilty for having you read what I'm writing.

P.S. It's not schizophrenia, it's creativity, there is a difference. My voices go away after I let them tell their stories. 

I have my story open... and it sits open. I've got nothing to give. I know where I want it to go, but I can't connect the dots right now. Maybe it's the workload, maybe it's the awkwardness of it not being November, but whatever the reason, I'm just not feeling it. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. I almost gave up winning NaNo in 2010, but stubbornness won in the end. I have no doubts that my own ego will prevent me from losing this challenge, even if it means a race against the clock on April 30th. One battle lost, but the war has only just begun!

Joys of doing a midnight kick-off, day one feels like day two! 2,488 words before midnight tonight, though 2,000 words in I realize how I should have started this book... I'm attempting a recovery but we'll see how well this actually goes down later. 

Freakhouse was officially a novel to challenge myself with, but I think trying to sequel is one of my greatest challenges yet. I'm not even omitted letters this time around and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. How do authors do it? I mean, granted Knightsbridge may end up being multiple books one day, but the point is that I've always been intending to write it all in one go. This is the first time I'm actually post-writing. It's weird and I don't think that I like it. As far as I can see, the near future consists of me doing one-shots, even if they are epically lengthy like one unfinished work I know...

Oh well. Should not get pessimistic now. It is only day one after all. I have 29 more days of headdesking to look forward to. What was it that George R.R. Martin said? I don't like writing, I like having written. Couldn't agree more. Couldn't agree more. 

Happy Writing WriMo's!

So despite me talking about doing Camp NaNoWriMo for the past few months, it didn't really sink in that this was actually going to be happening. I guess November is the only writing acceptable time of the year. So at 12:01 I looked up at the clock, exclaimed "Oh crap!" and proceeded to boot up the ol' lappy-tappy. It is now 2:o0am. I have written over 1,700 words and have no idea what the hell those 1,700 words are about or where I am going with this. Now, it it was a stand alone novel, I wouldn't be overly worried; I could take it in any direction, even a partially functioning brain direction. But this is my attempt to write a sequel, which specifically means that there's some importance in continuity, sequencing, and actually linking the two stories together. Do I know what is supposed to take place in Parish? Absolutely, or I wouldn't bother with a second book. Does my brain right now know anything about Parish? Not at all. It's still trying to figure out why my teeth aren't brushed for the night yet. In short, congratulations to me for writing the first 1,700 words that will probably be omitted from the final draft of Parish. Or the first 1,700 words of a 50,000 word book that will never be released. Either way I did something in the wee hours of the night... or morning... what does 2:00 am count as if I haven't gone to sleep yet?

Wishing all those other WriMo's out there far better luck than I am currently experiencing!