Decisions

I had a miniature meltdown earlier. I'm better now. I talked it through with Wesley and decided to postpone my defense. I've officially told my adviser. I feel much more relaxed.

I had to decide a few things for me to be able to finish (and not get to this point again in the spring).
I'm not going back to bed after work or taking Wesley to work. I'm going to work at least two hours a day on the paper and write for fun for at least one hour. And I have to do those three hours of work before Wesley gets home in the evenings. That way I'm accountable to myself.

If I actually work two hours a day on the paper, I think I can be pretty much finished in the next month or so. I've set myself a hard deadline (because I told my adviser and Wesley) of March 1 to be through with defense and post-defense edits.

I am declaring it: I AM NOT A PROCRASTINATOR!

(I think I need theme music.)

Tomorrow I'll contact the department so I can sign up for my one-hour extension class so I stay enrolled.

Okay, I'm off to write for NaNo.

NaNo Plot

I didn't mention what my NaNo novel is about.

My working title is "Golgotha," though it will probably stay.

It's a story about having faith in God, yourself and others. The inspiration came from Zechariah 13:7-9.

It's set in another world and is about a young woman who's world is turned upside down when god punishes her town for not being faithful. There's war, disease, death...Don't worry, there's good stuff to - love, forgiveness, overcoming obstacles, moving on.

So far, so good.

Tuesday-slacking ways

Jumped the wall Monday and wrote 2.4K+ words. Caught up, plus a little...but then yesterday, I wasn't very productive on NaNo. But my project is looking better. Seems I can't balance the two.

Oh, well.

Write-In was fun, but didn't make up for my Tuesday-slacking ways.

Splat

I hit a wall.

Okay, so the wall is only at shin level, but it counts. I realized today that while I have the "big" things worked out in my outline, I have no subplots...and as we all know, subplots make the world go 'round. Or something like that.

So I've been trying to sub-outline. It's not going super well. Do you think it's cheating if I jump around in writing my story. I don't have to go "A B C D E F G". I can go "A B F E Z R F", right? (Yes, I know F is in there twice...)

Oh, and I've come to terms with the idea that I might not graduate this semester. I have 2.5 weeks (approx.) to completely finish my paper (edits and everything). My adviser is slower in getting back to me than I'd like. (Sigh) It's not a huge deal that I might have to do that I guess.

Whatever.

Hope everyone else's day was better!

At it again

Things are going better today. I absolutely hated what I wrote yesterday. So I basically started over. Don't worry, I didn't edit yesterday's. I simply rewound and began the story again. I switched my point of view from third to first person. I feel much better about it now. I also wrote more today than yesterday. (Score!) I want to keep going, but am not because 1) I need to eat supper. 2) I haven't done anything on my real paper today.

(Sigh)

The real world sucks sometimes.

Hang in there everybody!

Success

Day one is successful! Woohoo!! I hit 1,679 words in about two hours (minus time to stuff my face and answer a quick phone call). I would keep going, but I need to work on my applied project some more before I go to bed.

I'm not super happy with what I've written, but it's a starting place. It was a little difficult not to edit as I went along. (How I normally write!) But I did it and it wasn't that hard. We'll see if I can keep it up.

How'd you do?

Head-first dive

So I'm about to start my NaNo writing for the day. Wesley made me go to bed early last night. Theoretically it was so I wouldn't take a nap today - which I still managed to do.

I've been quite productive on my applied project paper. I'm determined to be completely finished with it by Nov. 10 before my mother gets into town. That would be 12 days before the final final deadline.

Anyway, wish me luck with all. I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh! And I just finished uploading 7 little picture thingies. (Can't remember what they're called. haha.) And you say I'm not productive. I laugh in the face of unproductiveness. ha-ha ha ha.

Ooohhh. I learned a new word today. Profligate. I've decided to use it in my NaNo-book for posterity's sake.

Nada, sorta

Yeah, I've done nothing productive this week. Today I officially freaked out about my applied project (i.e. thesis). I guess it's really crunch time. Maybe that means I can actually accomplish things now.

Oh, wait! I did attend the "informal" Fayetteville NaNo group (our ML is still M.I.A.) and I went down to Ft. Smith's again. That was enjoyable.

Progress Tracker

One of the other NaNoers created a topic in the forum showing a sheet they had created for tracking their progress during November.

Taking a leaf from their page, I modified their design and created my own. I have a column that checks my progress and tells me if I'm "behind" or "on target." Of course right now it says I'm behind.

Click for the spreadsheet using Microsoft Excel or Open Office.

Addendum to brilliance

I forgot. My MC decided she'd wouldn't mind being in the story again if I changed some things (i.e. bumped the time up a little, funded construction projects in her home town, etc.)

I'm stoked about that too.

When you have an addendum to a post about your brilliance, does that make you less brilliant? Let's pretend it doesn't.

I'm brilliant!

Had a wicked breakthrough last night in my outlining/plotting process in one of those moments in which everything just started clicking. I was so excited I didn't want to stop.

In times like those, don't you just want to shout to the world how brilliant you are?

Pre-Write-In

So, the pre-write-in was a lot of fun. We met up in a coffee shop in a back "study" room. I was glad I had a jacket - it was a little chilly.

Shay made up a box full of prompts (color-coded even) for us to write a short story. (See her Live Journal explanation entry.) Then there was the usual stuff - talking about what our genre is, how far in the outlining process we are, what our "day jobs" are, etc.

I enjoyed meeting the people and it was totally worth the drive.

Enter Sandman

Still don't have a new MC since my old one decided she wanted to live in the future (perhaps a sequel), but that's getting way ahead of where the story is right now. Since I'm sort of character-less at the moment I'm not trying to decide if more than one point of view is the best way to tell the story.

I have decided more features of the world and the inhabitants. I'm going to a pre-write-in for NaNo tonight. It's to help us plot and brainstorm before November starts. I'm looking forward to it. I've going to the one in the next big town over. I can't wait until my town's ML announces the write-in for this area. It'll be a big gas/money/time/hassle saver. Still, the girls I've been in contact with down there seem very gung-ho about it all.

Oh, I've also started working on the "soundtrack" for the book. Right now I'm browsing Metallica songs. Nothing's definite yet.

Unruly characters

Well, I was working on my story and it took an unexpected turn. The character I was going to have be the MC wanted to live further in the future than when this book is set. So, I need a new MC. grrr.

Researching

I've been trying to brainstorm on my plot. It's slow going. I'm not really sure what I want to even happen. I have the MC (who I think will tell the story) and I know generally what's going to happen, but I don't have the world nailed down yet.

Question: Are there any books in which the MC isn't the person telling the story? (Clarification: A secondary character tells another person's story from their point of view - would that make the secondary character the MC?)

Marching onward - I've got more reading/researching to do.

When in Rome

Well, having been to Rome, I must say I preferred the smaller Italian cities like Sorrento.

You Belong in Rome

You're a big city soul with a small town heart Which is why you're attracted to the romance of Rome Strolling down picture perfect streets, cappuccino in hand And gorgeous Italian people - could life get any better?

What City Do You Belong In?

Outlining

My initial idea for NaNo had a lot of potential. I even wrote it down. But I can't put my hands on it now that I need it. I've looked through all the places I think I'd have written it down.
So I thought I'd flesh out my WiP and just add to that. Wesley talked me out of that. He thinks I've got too much invested in that novel to risk it to a month of potentially disastrous writing. That had merit, so I pulled out those notebooks I couldn't find my original idea in and found another idea that I could flesh out.
I'm still working on it. My problem? I really want to work on my WiP, but I don't think I'll have time/energy to put into both for the next two months. Hopefully the ideas will keep flowing for this new novel.

Refusing

I posted my first chapter ever on my OWG. It's amazing how nervous it can make you when you're waiting on someone else to give feedback on your work. It's also liberating. I'm stoked about moving forward with this part of my life.

I'm tired of making half-hearted goals. I want one that's a little more challenging, but engaging enough to keep me involved.

I had a major breakthrough the other night with my Work-in-Progress. I initially was disappointed with the chapter thinking it wasn't a good fit with the plot. So I brainstormed different ways the chapter could have gone. And it turns out, my best option ended up fitting my written chapter perfectly. It was awesome.

I'm also contemplating competing in NaNoWriMo. The forecast for November looks pretty busy regardless, but I'm hoping the added pressure will encourage me to perform on deadline. And I want the Web graphic. heh.

It's amazing how you need that push at times.