I just got over the H1N1 flu, no joke. So imagine my surprise when I log back in to find lots more participants joined-up for the novel-push!…

This is going to be fun….

And possibly fierce, isn’t it?

Well! I admit I was resting on laurels. Now you’ve forced my hand. I’m going to have to work hard to stay on top of the proverbial heap.

Nah, kidding, kidding! This is a friendly competition, right? It’s going to be a relaxing (yet productive) snowy December; a mere gentle push. And nothing more. Right?

@Janette:

Wow, a NaNo-er hungry for more? Err. You’re going to be tough competition, aren’t you? Your passion for writing is loud and clear through in your blog entries.
Thanks to this NPI being Laid-back™, you are absolutely welcome to miss updating during those four days you mentioned.

@Julie:

The project-jumping sold it for you? I’m thinking being able to project-jump and do short-stories/poetry/etc could yield interesting results. I know some people are more productive when they work on two projects instead of just one. Theoretically,  a participant could end up with several THE ENDs by the end of this month, possibly undercutting the 7,000 words and still passing through a loophole. So like I said, this NPI should be interesting. Welcome aboard!

@Kait:

Thanks for the great post on your site for NPI :) You were thinking about doing one for January? I hope this event helps you write your way through the tougher parts of your novelette.

@Merrilee:

You’ve got to be one of the most inspiring writers I know. Thanks for everything, and so glad to have you aboard again.

@Ryan:

I hope this event serves as a good way for you to once again get some ‘me-time’ to write.
We all struggle with this, and every time you mention it on your blog, I always think “I couldn’t have said it better myself”. Because really, I couldn’t have; you are a great writer.
As always, it’s great to have you along for another NPI.

@Everyone:

Thanks so much for showing support for our child and the recent struggles my family has gone through. I hope someday I can show Max things like this so he can know how much beautiful difference a single life can make in this world.

—

(((Remeber if you haven’t yet, you can still join– Or even hop in at any time during the month of December. And remember the hashtag for NPI is #novelpi, if you’re going to be using Twitter for your wordcount updates.)))

THREE DAYS. Good luck everyone, I’ll see you on the first.

Right before crap hit the fan in my life, I was writing every day. It felt good. There were days, weeks and months when I was at the hospital and found myself missing writing.

I tried bringing a spiral notebook/legalpad/3-ring binder along to handwrite some chapters.

I tried printing out chapters to edit by hand.

But the hospital room was unforgivingly uncomfortable.

The wooden arms on the seats insisted on digging into my sides, while my legs would fall asleep if I left them up or down for too long. The seat itself was hard, leaving my butt sore. I just couldn’t win.

Which sounds like nothing but excuses, I realize. But there were also important things constantly on my mind, such as my wife’s health and well-being.

But I really wish I would’ve had a working laptop during that time period….

I couldn’t afford one without a job, though. I was at an impass.

But, oddity of oddities, I did manage to fully work out my calendar. Today, for instance, I can tell you that November 23rd is equivalent to Eighth of Tower in Lura, and the farmoon is going to be a New Moon by nightfall, therefore the Crimson moon will be full.

Which makes me sound like a worldbuilder who wants to be a writer, I realize. My only excuse for this is that the calendar was easy to write on. And I was comfy.

Once my new job got easier and I pretty much knew my child was going to pull through and be safe, the keyboard beckoned again.

I’ve been writing—a little during work when inspiration strikes and much more at home during the later hours. I hope to carry that momentum over into the next Novel-Push Initiative.

(By the way, NPI is going to be a one-on-one affair unless somebody else fancies joining up….)

Now more than ever, I want to know how it will feel to complete this project. One novel. Several revisions. It must be done.

Every three months … .

Yeah, remember? http://5-rings.com/blog/2009/09/every-three-months/

Shall we try this again?

Let’s make it nice and easy.

Ten days isn’t a lot of time to get prepared. A lot of you might be coming off a NaNoWriMo crash, hoping for a little R & R.

I know I’m exhausted from the rollercoaster ride I’ve been on….

So the new rules (and I use that term loosely) are as follows:

THE BASICS: Read the rest of this entry »

The past nine weeks have been scary at times, emotional always, but my
family has made it this far, and the end of this chapter of our life draws near.

What happened was, there were sudden complications with the pregnancy,
and it became very likely that we were going to have the baby early at 22
weeks. The biggest problem with that was … the first week of ‘viability’ is
23 weeks. The baby would die.

G had to immediately live at the hospital under constant bedrest and
monitoring. That alone is hard to deal with. And it effected our lives on
many different levels; it was even hard on our dog.
And as for money, well … I still didn’t have a job since December of last year.
G had maternity leave, but that was supposed to be for after we had the baby…. Read the rest of this entry »