I decided after the first day to not do NaNoWriMo. I didn’t have an idea that I cared about enough for a 50,000 word novel and I realized that I hadn’t worked on any of my writing skills over the past two years. Sure, I would have learned more about writing doing it a second time, but not as much as if/when I actually take a writing course and/or practice some of the finer points via short stories.
Instead, I decided to take something that I know well and see how it feels to apply the same principles to a project that I’ve never gotten around to finishing… or even starting. So I’m doing Na-Software-WriMo instead.
The project I’m working on for the next 30 days (I’m running a bit late due to the last minute change) is related to parsers and compilers. I won’t go into too much detail until I see that the idea is going to work.
I am going to do NaNoWriMo this year. I’m running a bit behind because I was too busy over the past couple weeks to really think through a plot like I wanted to – fortunately the first day (today) is a Saturday so I have a few extra hours to work on the overall structure before starting. I’ve been reading a few books on writing, including a book specifically on plot and structure, so I’m hoping that this year I create a story that is at least well crafted.
We moved all of the furniture from the condo to the house Sunday, with lots of help from W & S (thanks!). Shanti did a lot of organizing yesterday and the place feels so much more comfortable. Most of the furniture works as well or better than I expected, though we are still planning on replacing a few things. We already ordered a new couch that I think will be really nice.
(I’ll post a few pictures of the house soon)
I’m about halfway through The Essential Guide to Motorcycle Maintenance. It’s a pretty good book though there aren’t as many good photos as some of the other books I’ve looked through. I really want to start tinkering with something so I’m stalking Craigslist. At this point, any sort of small 4 stroke engine would be very educational. Perhaps even something detached from a motorcycle.
Shanti and I are thinking about doing NaNoWriMo this year. Right now I feel too busy but I think that feeling will subside a bit now that we are settled into the house. More stuff is coming in the next couple months, though…
Tonight is the last night of acrobatics. I remember talking to Chuck about the trampoline during the last Olympics, so that means I’ve been doing it (off and on) for a little more than 4 years now. Despite it being lots of fun and great for coordination and strength, I think I need to take a long break. I get much more satisfaction out of running/jumping/throwing type sports, mostly because I’m actually talented at that sort of thing. Acrobatics has always been a challenge. A fun challenge, definitely, but after 4 years I’d prefer to spend more time on something that comes naturally to me.
One thing I’m looking to do is play volleyball more often. I’ve played a couple times with coworkers and it has been lots of fun.
The park near our house has a rubberized track. I’m thinking of getting some track spikes and doing a sprinter workout. Again, I should focus on types of exercise that come naturally. I’m far enough out of shape that I should stick to things that are immediately enjoyable and rewarding.
Just three weeks until the start of NaNoWriMo. I’ve started jotting down notes and story ideas. Perhaps I’ll read last year’s novel again.
Other than Swedish classes, my schedule for November is clear. I should have my (meager) belongings moved into my new place by the first.
The nanowrimo.org site seems much nicer this year. Very Rails-esque. And they seemed to have ditched the silly Flash profile thing. Hopefully it won’t go down every night again, as everyone updates their word count at the last minute.
To all (three) of you who read this and aren’t planning on doing NaNoWriMo… check out this sweet award I won last year and try not to get too jealous:
I’m having a difficult time getting through the middle of my first novel. It is very short on character development, setting, and plot. The only thing it has too much of is dry technical descriptions. Not good.
I’ll probably do LoNoWriMo next month.
I bought a book on Xcode last night and had fun working through the examples until 2am. It is the first time in a while that programming has seemed really fun. Perhaps that is what I’ll be doing next.
I started reading my NaNoWriMo novel last night. I’m about halfway through it and I’ve decided that I won’t be letting anyone read it. It’s not very good.
However, I am anxious to write another novel. My plan is to make lots of notes while reading (and re-reading) my first novel and then do another novel writing month soon. The new novel will be very different from the first. No geeky technology, third person instead of first, and more character driven.
It is now six (or seven) weeks after NaNoWriMo ended. This is when I was planning on picking up my novel again and editing it into something that I might share with the world.
I haven’t thought about my novel at all in the past few weeks. Apparently that is the reason for putting it away for this long. I certainly will be looking at it with new eyes.
On Saturday we are flying to Charleston, SC for two weeks. Perhaps I’ll put a few hours into it there.
After thinking about the NaNoWriMo story again, I’m not expecting much. It was basically a month long exercise in basic fiction writing skills. I am quite anxious to write a second novel, though, and it will certainly not be about any scifi or technology topics. I fell back on that too much last November. The main character might still be a geek (it’s what I know) but the story will be primarily about his relationship with other people.
I spent some serious time today browsing Iceland photos on Flickr. I want to go there someday.
I tried a novel writing month last year and didn’t have much luck: LoNoWriMo 2005. I thought the text of the story was lost but just found it when I logged into an abandoned shell account. Only 4984 words. Here is a sample:
There was a lull in the conversation and she smiled. He smiled back. She reached across the table and grabbed his hands and held them.
The problem, M- thought, is that he’d never think of doing that. He wanted to do that, but hadn’t even thought of it. He didn’t just have a confidence problem, he had a creativity problem.
That’s the best part. The rest is even more lifeless. There is no story, just random incidents with no setup. The insights are spelled out immediately after they are hinted at.
I remember March 2005 as a good time but this story makes it sound like I was suicidal. My NaNoWriMo 2006 novel isn’t great but it is better than this.
In my NaNoWriMo novel, the main characters made a bit of money and decided to buy an apartment building where they could work, live, and throw parties. The building was located in an industrial part of town (think Georgetown) and had a lot of character.
The geek hideout idea has been with me since I was about 16 years old.
I grew up in a big house on a hill in the country. It wasn’t a farm but it was well beyond the suburbs. It was a great place to grow up but by the time I started driving, I was fascinated by cities. I’d make trips down to Portland to spend hours at Powell’s Books. I’d always park by the technical bookstore, spend a couple hours there until it closed (at 9pm), and then walk to the main bookstore.
On the way to the main bookstore I’d walk by The Amory. I have no idea what the building is like inside but it looked really cool when I walked by it at night. That part of town has changed a lot in the past 5-10 years but back then the buildings were all breweries and old warehouses, so it was dark and empty at night. I loved it, though I still can’t explain why.
Over the years I romanticized that idea. When I thought about writing a novel, that was always the setting I imagined. Even though it had been years since the idea had last intrigued me, it was still what popped into my head when I started writing last month.
I think it’s good to purge these old ideas by writing a first novel. It becomes obvious how stale they’ve become. Next time I write a novel (probably a local novel writing month we do in March), I’ll be coming up with new ideas.
I’m feeling a bit underwhelmed after finishing NaNoWriMo last night. I’m still extremely happy that I did it and gladly gave them a modest donation. I hope the number of people doing it increases every year and they also get out of it as much as I did. But I guess it finally dawned on me that my story isn’t going to suddenly come together into what I had originally envisioned. My characters are two dimensional and the deep insights I wanted to convey about technology and the thought processes of geeks didn’t appear.
Of course, that is one of the numerous reasons for doing NaNoWriMo. It is easy to sit back and think that we can write a great novel and communicate our thoughts to people, but it is actually very difficult.
Another thing I didn’t realize before doing NaNoWriMo is that the first draft is the half way point. It is disappointing to find out I’m only half way after a month of work, but it is better sitting at the starting line. Even if it is easier to stand at the starting line and think about how much fun the race will be and how a 9 minute mile pace should be easy…
OK, enough with that metaphor.
The plan is to put the draft away for 6 weeks, as Stephen King recommends in On Writing,
and then come at it again with a fresh point of view. Even thought I doubt I’ll be happy with it then, I’m sure that I’ll be excited again and be able to turn it into a fairly decent short novel.
