Welcome to the March 2010 Novel Push Initiative!

(It’s actually 11 days in but shhh….)

Very interesting outcome for the first 10 days. A lot of the veterans aren’t doing so hot while the newcomers are carving us a new one. There’s some serious writing going on here. People are hitting personal milestones left and right. In fact, I think we might have a lot of records set by the end of this month. We shall see!

• The break-down:

1. A “Knock-out” is 0-249 words. (After the Days of Reprieve are exhausted)
2. An “Update” is 250-999 words.
3. A  “Session” is 1,000-1,667 words.  (And earns you an extra Day of Reprieve)
4. A “Tougher-than-NaNo” is anything greater than 1,667.
5. A “THE END!” is when you’ve completed a WIP and type ‘THE END’.

  Read the rest of this entry »

I have become like ocean waves to a pebble; I write and rewrite and rewrite to try and make my story as smooth as possible.

This requires the patience of a wave.

Maybe three or four novels later I’ll be able to do this quick.

Maybe a first novel should have a clean, simple story structure. Perhaps writing a self-contained novel or a few more short stories would’ve saved me from writing so many worthless scenes and entire chapters that weren’t needed.

Sometimes I regret the difficulty of this project. There are too many layered events and abstract ideas for anyone as ill-experienced as me to tackle without stumbling. A lot.

I’m bleeding for this book. They say all writers do. Which makes me wonder how there are so many books.

Just like my son, day by day, my book’s growing and developing. I guess that’s all that matters.

 Well well well, 2/3rds of the way through the month, are we? I applaud you! 

For those that aren’t innit, think of all the words you could be writing by switching to NPI. And that’s not such a bad thing, is it? Like … free fish n’ chips or something. Only they’re not free, but they’re easy. As easy as standing up, some blokes might say. Or sitting down and typing, as it were. Others might even say ‘laid back’.

The break-down:

1. A “Knock-out” is 0-249 words. (After the three Days of Reprieve are exhausted!)
2. An “Update” is 250-999 words.
3. A “Session” is 1,000-1,667 words.
4. A “Tougher-than-NaNo” is anything greater than 1,667.
5. A “THE END!” is when you’ve completed your WIP and type ‘THE END’.

1st: Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome back. It’s impressive you’ve made it this far. But I must warn you– the month’s only a third of the way through. And, outside in the wintery winter,  it grows ever colder.

/begin out-of-sync lips/

Your laid-back-fu is good.

But mine is better.

/end out-of-sync lips/

• 10 days in, guys! Grats!!
  Let’s see how we did…
• The break-down:

1. A “Knock-out” is 0-249 words. (After the three Days of Reprieve are exhausted!)
2. An “Update” is 250-999 words.
3. A  “Session” is 1,000-1,667 words.
4. A “Tougher-than-NaNo” is anything greater than 1,667.
5. A “THE END!” is when you’ve completed your WIP and type ‘THE END’.

1st:

These past five days have been some of the most writerly days I’ve ever experienced. And– Holy gravy, I’m first?!? And you know what? It wasn’t too bad. I didn’t feel too stretched out; still worked each day, and still spent lots of time at the hospital with Max.

Yep, NPI Laid-back Edition: So easy, even a caveman can do it. ;)

2nd:

Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, I’m watching each and every one of you, just like the Geico money.

(for those not familiar.)

And so far everyone’s doing an excellent job– OR ARE THEY??? Well, everybody’s still innit at least.

With the first five days done, let’s see where we stand.

• The break-down:

1. A “Knock-out” is 0-249 words. (After the three Days of Reprieve are exhausted!)
2. An “Update” is 250-999 words.
3. A  “Session” is 1,000-1,667 words.
4. A “Tougher-than-NaNo” is anything greater than 1,667.
5. A “THE END!” is when you’ve completed your WIP and type ‘THE END’.

1st:

Merrilee, as usual, is a fierce opponent! But ouch, two Days of Reprieve already. Five days in and this is getting verrrry interesting. Laid-back, but iiiinteresting. Yep, she’s kicking our laid-back butts.

2nd: Read the rest of this entry »

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.

The Tower of Babel (Etemananki) has made life that much more difficult for us story lovers. We miss out on a lot of great books that never get translated overseas. We have to get our own works translated to see the broader world market. And us writers, depending on the scale of our stories, are forced to consider that people in different countries often speak different languages and use region-based dialects.

[The whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Šin'âr, and they dwelt there. (…)

And they said, "Come, let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."]

Read the rest of this entry »

I know I haven’t posted in a moon or two, and I wish I could tell you I’ve been editing this whole time. But let’s just say slow and not-so-steady isn’t working very well.

I’ve gone through the conceptualization of Five Rings and two sequel novels, designed outlines, wrote the entire first book, and now all that’s left is the editing/re-writing.

I thought things would be easy from here. I have the weight of all those steps behind me just crushing me to get finished… but…

What I need is a way to inspire myself to commit to sitting down and editing more often. It’s harder for me to sit down and edit than it has been for me to write. I didn’t expect it to be so difficult. Maybe it’s because the changes I make feel more permanent this time around. I more or less have to get it right this time, you know? Or maybe it’s because a few of my author friends seem to have stopped writing altogether, which is a thought that has depressed me quite a bit.

It’s not that I haven’t been working on Five Rings at all, but, too regularly, I’ve been letting other things distract me. My usual method is to try and get distractions out of my system through oversaturation, but this time I’m starting to feel guilty.

I know there’s a lot of great writers sitting down right now editing. Some of which conceptualized, outlined, wrote, edited, and rewrote all in the time it took me to write my first draft. And that’s what I’ve been telling myself lately to keep my damn butt in this chair. Maybe if I can channel the energies of all these wonderfully dedicated writers and feel some sort of virtual kinship to them, it’ll encourage me to sit down and edit, too. 

But any further advice is welcome.

All over the interwebs, it’s “What was it like writing your first novel?”

And the canned answer is: “It was like having a baby.”

Is writing a novel really like having a baby? Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to the finish line—You’ve made it!

Without further ado, the final statistics:

1.

Joseph Lewis:

Read the rest of this entry »

Yo, yo, yo peeps. Not only is it FRIDAY, (yeah, it’s freaking Friday, party people!) but you’ve managed click on another wondrous (read: long-winded) pseudo-weekly progress report of the Novel-Push Initiative.

N

P

I

YEAH BABY!!! Read the rest of this entry »

A few days ago, I was heavily discouraged by certain recent books and movies that are socially embraced and loved even though they have what I may consider bad writing.

In the end, I decided to just move on and be a little upset. And after packsister’s comments, I think we both agreed that we can only write for ourselves and not sweat the luck some of those authors seem to have.

But…I’m going to reiterate something I’ve heard recently that strikes the very core of the issue I’m having.

Gimmicks ultimately can’t compensate for bad writing.

And, with that, I’m at peace with all of this.

But what does that mean, exactly? Read the rest of this entry »

I hope everyone had a lovely Mother’s Day! It’s time to tally again. I decided to wait until day 11 to have an even 10 days to look at.

1.

Joseph Lewis:

A big part of NPI is to aspire to be more like Mr. Lewis. Joseph’s experience with writing and completing novels really shows in his daily word counts. He religiously sits down at the keyboard and writes a sizable amount every day, all while posting insightful blog posts and keeping a busy schedule.

Your diligence has been an inspiration for me to try harder this month.

Tally:

Read the rest of this entry »

Every once in a while, a movie or book comes out that the general population  embraces—they overwhelmingly feels it’s great.

A lot of the time they’re right. But sometimes—let’s face it—they’re wrong. Read the rest of this entry »

WC: 669.

The end of the month is so close.

So I guess I’ll be taking on NaNo later on in the year after all. We’ll have to see how well I work under a lot more pressure than NPI had to offer. NaNoWriMo’s daily deadlines are much like Bradbury’s coin-op typewriter. But, I won’t have to worry about that ‘til November.

Welcome to March 10th! Glad you’re still here :)

The past five days have definitely had their share of highs and lows for us all.

1.
packsister:

Still coming in strong at first place, packsister has been an inspiration. Last time we checked in, she’d written 3,316 words in a mere four days for her werewolf novel. Let’s see how she’s doing now:

Tally:

Previous Total WC: 3,316.
March… Read the rest of this entry »

Back again :)

So far, 384 words today, about Cirellio and Cauinn travelling to a small town called Javo.  They had a discussion where Cauinn reveals a bit about her past.

Just to let you know, I do plan to do an update post showing where everybody stands in the NPI on day 5 (and pretty much every five days).

So anyway, I went to hear Steve Davenport yesterday. It wasn’t quite what I expected.

He made it clear to us he’s a dyed-in-the-wool beat poet. 90% of the time, he recited his poetry. Some were 100 lines.

Apparently, he’s also a fiction writer, but he didn’t talk about that—at all.  Read the rest of this entry »

The Novel Push Initiative:

NPI is a mere four days away.

Packsister and I are going to push our novels’ word counts forward from March 1st through March 31st.

The goal is to write at least 250 words (or half a page) per day. If we miss reporting our progress via our blogs even a single day, we’re knocked out of the event.

If I can’t handle this, I guess I have no business entering NaNoWriMo.

So this is a test for me.

And I’m excited.

And nervous.

The Writing Contest: Read the rest of this entry »

One thing creative writing classes try to teach their students is how to mimic the styles of famous authors.

I think that’s pretty smart. After all, one way to ensure a writer can make informed decisions about the different aspects of their own writing style is to see if they can pick up on and identify the alchemy of other writers’ styles.

I’ve never taken Creative Writing, but I’m taking Lit 110 this semester. As a result, I’ve recently read some short stories that are considered ‘classics’ by the powers that be:

A & P – John Updike
Story of an Hour – Kate Chopin
A Rose for Emily – William Faulkner
A Party Down at the Square – Ralph Ellison
Everyday Use – Alice Walker
Shiloh – Bobbie Ann Mason
Araby – James Joyce
The Man Who Was Almost a Man – Richard Wright
Sweat – Zora Neale Hurston
Good Country People – Flannery O’Conner
The Guest – Albert Camus
Hills Like White Elephants – Ernest Hemingway
In the American Society – Gish Jen
Woman Hollering Creek – Sandra Cisneros
The Red Convertible – Louise Erdrich

I’ll admit I have little patience for old movies and less patience still for old, archaic prose.
To make matters worse, a good portion of the stories featured irritating dialogue, where the writers tried to phonetically transcribe ‘slack-jawed’ or other variant dialect, which made reading them horribly laborious.

But a few were pleasant surprises, such as Araby and The Guest. And every one of these authors had radically different styles, so it was kinda fun to pick up their quirks and nuances while reading.

The point of all this is I tried rewriting the ending to Mr. Updike’s short story, A & P (circa 1930), mimicking his style as best as I could.

Read the rest of this entry »