Well, I think I know when it is time to admit that I will not be able to complete my 50,000 words in 30 days. Trying to work on a story that centers around Death and the Angel of Death becomes next to impossible when someone you love very much is in the hospital and is rather ill. My grandma was taken to the hospital on June 2nd and she really has not gotten much better.
They have run a number of tests and such on her, and the have also done a number of operations. Just a couple days ago they took her pacemaker out because they believed that the virus she had was on the leads of her pacemaker. The doctor said that all the seeping stopped before he closed her up but then it turns out that it hadn't. So now they have to go in again to repair the damage that they caused. This happened to her before the last time she had to be taken to a hospital around where she lived. Actually, when they put the pacemaker in, the doctor put the leads in the wrong chambers so they had to go back in and fix it all.
Needless to say, after almost a month, we still aren't really closer to getting my grandma out of the hospital. She is 86 years old and with everything she is going through, there is always a degree of risk. My focus this month has been on trying to help my family with bills and other duties around the house since my dad has been living at the hospital with grandma.
Anyway, I have to let my CreateSpace coupon expire (which it will on June 30). The only consolation I can give myself is that I will get another coupon when I win NaNoWriMo in November. So, my new plan is to get back to work on Resurrection probably in September and October so it will be completely finished. Then in December, when I receive my winner goodies, I will be able to use my new CreateSpace coupon to publish Resurrection before the end of 2012, which was one of my goals at the start of the year.
In the meantime, my focus from now until the end of July is plotting out my novel for the August session of Camp NaNoWriMo. I came up with the idea years ago and it was actually going to be my NaNovel back in 2007, but another idea popped up and I ran with that one. I have been going through all the story ideas that I have written down over the years and there are a number of them that I want to sit down and write, and perhaps even finish.
Back in January 2012 I sat down and made a list of all of my stories: completed, in progress, on hiatus, and ideas. The list has 70 stories on it. The sad truth of the matter is that most of the list is comprised of ideas and stories that are on hiatus. This is something that I need to fix. I need to set a schedule for myself so I have time to write every day, and I will spend my time working on one of the stories on the list.
My August Camp Novel is Do Not Drink the Holy Water. Right now I know that it will at least have one sequel, Please No Ritual Sacrifices, but beyond that I don't know if it will be a trilogy or a quartet. I will post up more information on the next session of Camp at a later time. Perhaps during the month of July, I will try to post a few updates on my planning process.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Camp NaNoWriMo June Session - progress in everything but writing
I keep thinking about Resurrection and things I want to add to it and such but when I sit down I find that I can't really focus on writing, and that is very disappointing. However, there should be some changes rather soon to my writing space. I asked my parents if I could turn my brother's room into a study and they agreed. Once I clean the room and then move my stuff over there it will be a proper office-like area. I won't have my TV in there and the only books that will be around me will be my reference books.
I have already picked out a couple posters to put on the walls as my brother had his room in an outdoor hunting theme and the walls were painted brown. So I have a Marvel Avengers poster and a poster of Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory so far. I'm thinking I might move my beach hammock poster over there too, but I have to see what I'm working with first.
Of course, moving my desk to my new study also gives me the space to add a couple more bookshelves in my room, which is good because my books are starting to overflow from their current shelves and overtake my room. But, once I get everything organized again, I will have to go through everything and make sure I have every book documented in my personal library catalog (which is really just an Excel spreadsheet.
I get off work early today so hopefully I can get some writing done this evening and then I am off for the next two days, which will hopefully help me do some catch up as well since I am about twelve days behind on my word count. However, at the rate of speed I can write when I can actually focus, it would only take me about five good hours of writing to catch up. So, here's to hoping that actually happens.
Well, I guess I'm off to work now.
Current word count: 7,636
Behind: 20,697
Goal: Anything is progress at this point.
I have already picked out a couple posters to put on the walls as my brother had his room in an outdoor hunting theme and the walls were painted brown. So I have a Marvel Avengers poster and a poster of Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory so far. I'm thinking I might move my beach hammock poster over there too, but I have to see what I'm working with first.
Of course, moving my desk to my new study also gives me the space to add a couple more bookshelves in my room, which is good because my books are starting to overflow from their current shelves and overtake my room. But, once I get everything organized again, I will have to go through everything and make sure I have every book documented in my personal library catalog (which is really just an Excel spreadsheet.
I get off work early today so hopefully I can get some writing done this evening and then I am off for the next two days, which will hopefully help me do some catch up as well since I am about twelve days behind on my word count. However, at the rate of speed I can write when I can actually focus, it would only take me about five good hours of writing to catch up. So, here's to hoping that actually happens.
Well, I guess I'm off to work now.
Current word count: 7,636
Behind: 20,697
Goal: Anything is progress at this point.
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Camp NaNoWriMo June Session - Ups and Downs of Writing
Today (well technically yesterday, though in my mind the day doesn't change until I go to bed for the night) I made some more progress with Resurrection. I don't know how much exactly because it is all on my printed out copy. Maybe tomorrow (er, today), I'll sit down and type it all up. Right now I'm guessing that it was around 2,000 words, which still leaves me I'm thinking about 6,000 words behind for Camp.
Anyway, while I did make a little progress in writing, I learned of more issues going on in my non-writing life. I was already uneasy about the fact that I have to start paying back my student loans next month, but now add to that even more pressure to try and help my family out, and everything is just becoming ridiculous. My dad was in an accident last year and can't work, and my mom doesn't make enough money to pay all the bills, but she makes enough so we don't qualify for food stamps.
Then--and I think I've mentioned it in a previous post--my grandma is in the hospital. Now if/when she is released, it is almost certain that my dad will be moving her up here to live with us.
The one good thing that has come from this whole situation is that my parents have finally gotten fed up with having my brother (the mooch) and his even bigger mooch girlfriend around. My brother is three months behind on his rent, so it is about time that they stop letting him get away with his crap. They told him that he either needs to pay all the rent he owes or get out...so he and his girlfriend are moving in with her dad instead.
So, with all the stress in my non-writing life, it is dampening my inspiration to write. I'm hoping to get some more writing done soon, but I can't force myself into it.
Anyway, while I did make a little progress in writing, I learned of more issues going on in my non-writing life. I was already uneasy about the fact that I have to start paying back my student loans next month, but now add to that even more pressure to try and help my family out, and everything is just becoming ridiculous. My dad was in an accident last year and can't work, and my mom doesn't make enough money to pay all the bills, but she makes enough so we don't qualify for food stamps.
Then--and I think I've mentioned it in a previous post--my grandma is in the hospital. Now if/when she is released, it is almost certain that my dad will be moving her up here to live with us.
The one good thing that has come from this whole situation is that my parents have finally gotten fed up with having my brother (the mooch) and his even bigger mooch girlfriend around. My brother is three months behind on his rent, so it is about time that they stop letting him get away with his crap. They told him that he either needs to pay all the rent he owes or get out...so he and his girlfriend are moving in with her dad instead.
So, with all the stress in my non-writing life, it is dampening my inspiration to write. I'm hoping to get some more writing done soon, but I can't force myself into it.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Camp NaNoWriMo June Session - Minor Progress
Yesterday (Day 6) I managed to actually write another 1,932 words. It isn't where I want to be on my novel at this time, but at least it is a little step in the right direction. By the end of Day 7, I am supposed to be at 11,666 words. I don't think I will catch up today, but there is some potential tomorrow as I have a shorter shift at work. Instead of my usual 2-10pm, I work 2-7pm. Given a few extra hours I should be able to write at least an extra 2-3,000, depending of course on whether or not my family will leave me alone for that time.
Hmm...maybe I should go to Panera after work tomorrow and get a couple hours of writing in there. My mom hates when I have short shifts anyway. Yeah, thinking about it, that really is the best option for me. Hopefully that will give me a little boost on my word count, and maybe even get me to catch up completely. I'd actually like to get to a point where I am ahead on everything.
Okay, well, what I can say about my work on Resurrection is that I have now completed the prologue and the first two chapters, successfully adding 5,593 words so far. By the time I am finished, I should have a novel that is close to 100,000 words in length. Yay!
I write using Scrivener and I know I have sung their praises before for saving my stories when other technological devices have failed me, but there is something else I love about the program. I can actually set a word count goal for either my entire manuscript or my goal for that particular writing session. Since my writing amount tends to vary by session I don't really use that feature, but the manuscript total is awesome. It gives me a goal bar and shows how far along I am. If you have written very little the bar is red, and about midway it is yellow-ish, and by the time you hit the final stretch the bar turns green. It is very cool.
Don't you think that is pretty darn cool? I love that it gives me a visual representation of how much I have accomplished. With Scrivener you don't have a running page total at the bottom of the document like Word has, though it is pretty easy to look up the project statistics and see the total word count and the number of pages in standard paperback format. Speaking of, I just looked and right now it says that Resurrection is 195 pages paperback. :)
This is still a difficult time for me to be working on a novel that centers around Death. There really hasn't been any change in regards to my grandma. She is still in the hospital and the doctors are running more and more tests on her to try and figure out what is going on. Needless to say, my focus is a little off, but I'm still trying to get some work done. Hopefully I can continue to meet my personal daily goals and then in the next few days I should be caught up.
Current word count: 6,845
Behind: 4,821 words
Goal: ~2,500 words
Hmm...maybe I should go to Panera after work tomorrow and get a couple hours of writing in there. My mom hates when I have short shifts anyway. Yeah, thinking about it, that really is the best option for me. Hopefully that will give me a little boost on my word count, and maybe even get me to catch up completely. I'd actually like to get to a point where I am ahead on everything.
Okay, well, what I can say about my work on Resurrection is that I have now completed the prologue and the first two chapters, successfully adding 5,593 words so far. By the time I am finished, I should have a novel that is close to 100,000 words in length. Yay!
I write using Scrivener and I know I have sung their praises before for saving my stories when other technological devices have failed me, but there is something else I love about the program. I can actually set a word count goal for either my entire manuscript or my goal for that particular writing session. Since my writing amount tends to vary by session I don't really use that feature, but the manuscript total is awesome. It gives me a goal bar and shows how far along I am. If you have written very little the bar is red, and about midway it is yellow-ish, and by the time you hit the final stretch the bar turns green. It is very cool.
Don't you think that is pretty darn cool? I love that it gives me a visual representation of how much I have accomplished. With Scrivener you don't have a running page total at the bottom of the document like Word has, though it is pretty easy to look up the project statistics and see the total word count and the number of pages in standard paperback format. Speaking of, I just looked and right now it says that Resurrection is 195 pages paperback. :)
This is still a difficult time for me to be working on a novel that centers around Death. There really hasn't been any change in regards to my grandma. She is still in the hospital and the doctors are running more and more tests on her to try and figure out what is going on. Needless to say, my focus is a little off, but I'm still trying to get some work done. Hopefully I can continue to meet my personal daily goals and then in the next few days I should be caught up.
Current word count: 6,845
Behind: 4,821 words
Goal: ~2,500 words
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Camp NaNoWriMo June Session - Stuck in a Rut
I kinda feel like I've enrolled in a camp and the first day is all great and exciting and then everything changes. In an actual camp this would probably be something like never-ending storms that keep all the campers from going hiking or canoeing or enjoying a bonfire or anything like that. For Camp NaNoWriMo, it is more like hitting a huge block in writing.
It isn't that I'm not interested in my story, because I am. The big problem is that right now the idea of writing about Death and the Angel of Death just feels wrong. On the second day of Camp my family got a phone call and we learned that my grandma was being taken to the hospital. She is 86 years old and so hearing her name combined with hospital is extremely scary.
At first we were told that her potassium was low and she was dehydrated so they thought she would be released fairly quickly, but then after that problem was solved there was something else going on. Supposedly (since I wasn't there) she wasn't responding as she should. Come to find out she has a blood clot in her brain. So on the fifth day of Camp she was taken in for a "minor" surgery.
My dad kept saying "minor" and that we didn't have to worry, but I can't help but worry. Because of her advanced age any kind of surgery is basically major. So, for now, I don't know how it went or anything. Hopefully I'll hear something later.
So clearly, with this family situation going on, working on Project Death: Resurrection or Project Death: Revelation seems inappropriate. But I know I need to get some writing done. I absolutely have to get through my work on Resurrection before this month is over.
Current word count: 4,913
Behind: 5,087 words
Goal for Day 6: ~2,000 words
It isn't that I'm not interested in my story, because I am. The big problem is that right now the idea of writing about Death and the Angel of Death just feels wrong. On the second day of Camp my family got a phone call and we learned that my grandma was being taken to the hospital. She is 86 years old and so hearing her name combined with hospital is extremely scary.
At first we were told that her potassium was low and she was dehydrated so they thought she would be released fairly quickly, but then after that problem was solved there was something else going on. Supposedly (since I wasn't there) she wasn't responding as she should. Come to find out she has a blood clot in her brain. So on the fifth day of Camp she was taken in for a "minor" surgery.
My dad kept saying "minor" and that we didn't have to worry, but I can't help but worry. Because of her advanced age any kind of surgery is basically major. So, for now, I don't know how it went or anything. Hopefully I'll hear something later.
So clearly, with this family situation going on, working on Project Death: Resurrection or Project Death: Revelation seems inappropriate. But I know I need to get some writing done. I absolutely have to get through my work on Resurrection before this month is over.
Current word count: 4,913
Behind: 5,087 words
Goal for Day 6: ~2,000 words
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Camp NaNoWriMo June session - Day 01
My day started off with a bang, figuratively. At midnight I started working on my project for the June session of Camp, and I went to bed about 90 minutes later after putting 2,452 words into both Resurrection and Revelation. It is actually almost fun to work this way because when I can feel myself slowing down with one project I can just move on to the next, even though they both deal with the same universe and the same characters.
My main priority through this month though will be Resurrection. If everything goes the way I'd like it to then I could be finished with it by the halfway point and then just do a quick read through to make sure that I've fixed any blaring errors before going through the process of using my CreateSpace coupon. So, with any luck before I hit my 24th birthday, I will have a book published. Honestly I will consider it to be a success if I can sell a handful of copies, but I can still hope that I will become a success story like Amanda Hocking.
Anyway, I guess I should talk a little more about my writing process and progress. Since participating in NaNoWriMo 2011, I have discovered Scrivener, which I find to be one of the best ways to work on my novel. As a winner of the latest NaNo, I had a coupon to get Scrivener for 50% off and I decided to give it a try. I am so glad I did. Scrivener makes it easy to keep my research and my novel in one spot, and can organize my novel by chapter and/or scene. Then, when I'm finished, it will actually put all the chapters together to make one beautiful novel.
Also, an added bonus that I will admit to being extremely glad for is that every time I close Scrivener it automatically saves a backup copy of my project. So, when my USB and my external hard drive both failed on me within a couple months of each other, I still had copies of my novels because of the awesomeness of Scrivener.
As far as the editing of Resurrection, I have now finished the Prologue and Chapter One and I am almost finished with the edit of Chapter Two. Then, with Revelation I have finished Chapter One and I'm in the process of basically planning out the events of Chapter Two. My hope for tomorrow is to finish Chapter Two of Resurrection and then start on Chapter Three. All in all I have to make it all the way through Chapter 18 and I have such a short time in which to get this all finished. I am so glad to have Camp NaNoWriMo because it helps to push me forward in my writing.
My main priority through this month though will be Resurrection. If everything goes the way I'd like it to then I could be finished with it by the halfway point and then just do a quick read through to make sure that I've fixed any blaring errors before going through the process of using my CreateSpace coupon. So, with any luck before I hit my 24th birthday, I will have a book published. Honestly I will consider it to be a success if I can sell a handful of copies, but I can still hope that I will become a success story like Amanda Hocking.
Anyway, I guess I should talk a little more about my writing process and progress. Since participating in NaNoWriMo 2011, I have discovered Scrivener, which I find to be one of the best ways to work on my novel. As a winner of the latest NaNo, I had a coupon to get Scrivener for 50% off and I decided to give it a try. I am so glad I did. Scrivener makes it easy to keep my research and my novel in one spot, and can organize my novel by chapter and/or scene. Then, when I'm finished, it will actually put all the chapters together to make one beautiful novel.
Also, an added bonus that I will admit to being extremely glad for is that every time I close Scrivener it automatically saves a backup copy of my project. So, when my USB and my external hard drive both failed on me within a couple months of each other, I still had copies of my novels because of the awesomeness of Scrivener.
As far as the editing of Resurrection, I have now finished the Prologue and Chapter One and I am almost finished with the edit of Chapter Two. Then, with Revelation I have finished Chapter One and I'm in the process of basically planning out the events of Chapter Two. My hope for tomorrow is to finish Chapter Two of Resurrection and then start on Chapter Three. All in all I have to make it all the way through Chapter 18 and I have such a short time in which to get this all finished. I am so glad to have Camp NaNoWriMo because it helps to push me forward in my writing.
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