I am not NANO-ing

Some of my readers are probably puzzled by that, but at least a couple are not. They are almost certainly not NANO-ing either. Or if they are, they're doing it in secret, and maybe even washing their hands after.

NANOWRIMO is National Novel Writing Month, and it happens in November. It's an organization to support people wanting to write a novel in November. There's more to the story, but you can check it out yourself. For them, a novel is defined as 50,000 words.

I've done it a couple times, adding huge chunks to my character's world(s). We aren't talking deathless prose here, just 50,000 words strung together. The editing can happen later, and almost certainly should. Lots of writers get stuck on the first paragraph. They have so much they want to say and feel that first paragraph has to be perfect. Silly writers. That first paragraph gets written last. 

One of the secrets of writing is to start with whatever it is you want to say, in whatever words express it, however crudely. Then the editing happens. They are very different processes. The crude message might be "Get vaccinated now you morons!" while the actual written message might be considerably more elegant.

So the point of NANOWRIMO is to get those 50K words out of your head and into some form where someone else can read them. November has 30 days, so that's 1667 words a day. Every day. Written. You can miss a day of course, busy, or temporary bought of writers block. Then you have to catch up. That gets harder and harder.

Earlier this year I was thinking of having another go. Previous goes built out some of the actual story, and solidified some of the background, and that took on a life of it's own. Lately I've been thinking more about Belinda the best friend and some of her life, and that is growing in the telling inside my head. And Ceridwen the main character is getting back into the action, wondering when I'm going to get around to the next piece in her story. She didn't mind taking a bit of a break, (I still wonder where she went for her vacation and what she got up to, since she's the sort of woman that things happen around) but wants to get back on stage again.

Yes, my characters talk to me. As long time readers might remember, my characters have fun with it, trying out different roles, or playing different parts to find out what works best from a book perspective. I don't always know everything about their lives, and some of it is a distinct surprise to me when they tell me or I somehow find out.

In any case, I've been working on firming up those background details (which is harder than you might think for us pantsers) and making sure everything is consistent and adding little bits and pieces here and there. It feels like there is another chunk of story about to burst forth. Maybe. But in any case I'm now 7 days behind, so that's about 2200 words a day. Big deal, you say, you're retired, write your brains out. Maybe so.

Then again, I thought November was going to be a quiet month but this first week has been a blur, and there's a bunch of other stuff on the calendar already. Maybe I'll write it anyways and not work about the word count goal. 

One of the things keeping me busy recently was a night shoot with Neil Zeller. We went down to Clear Lake, east of Stavely, and set up in the campground. Skies were pretty clear, and I've got a long sequence of sky images that I'd like to try to assemble into a movie. Lots of light trails from planes, satellites, and I think a meteor. We also did some light painting by burning some steel wool. Lots of fun! Both are from the same spot, just using two different cameras with two very different lenses.

And in case you missed it, I updated my other blog with this post.

Of the Day

Driftwood

Peony

Lily

Dragonfly

Eagle

Owl