I Survived Camp Nanowrimo!

Camp Nano, July 2015

Yay me! My draft is a shambles and I still have to write several key scenes, as well as make connections between many others so my novel flows like a novel should. But still. I am proud of my story, rough patches and all. More than that, I am proud of myself for digging in and writing, even on the days when words trickled out of the keyboard like teachers walking into a staff development session when they'd rather be doing ANYTHING else. Root canal, anyone? 

Because that is my biggest roadblock to publishing one of my projects. I get all excited about an idea and start. I am a world-class starter. Seriously, I could start shit all day. Then, as the initial inspiration dries up, the blank pages loom like the White Cliffs of Dover. I get scared of never writing another decent word, or worse, of finishing something and having to show it to a reader. Imagining anyone reading the drivel I write is its own special kind of horror.

So, making it to the end of the month with a daily writing habit that I actually look forward to is a tremendous step forward. 

When I participated in Nanowrimo for the first time in 2008, it was a much smaller affair, and it only happened in November. In some ways, it feels more diluted with the multiple writing events every year. Writing 50,000 words in a month is certainly possible, but I find that trying to do that EVERY month while maintaining a more than full time, very stressful job and a family is more than I can handle. 

I won on word count that first year, although I was only about a third of the way through my story at the end of the month. I have worked on that initial manuscript, off and on, ever since. Every time I pick it up, I fix a few more things and then continue writing. The first 50 pages or so are starting to read the way I want them to, but the manuscript gets progressively rougher as it goes on. I have also started several other projects that I treat in the same way. I find that I hate my writing much less if I leave the words alone for a few months or more. Eventually, I would like to try to get something published. 

My goal from here is to maintain a daily writing habit and to keep moving closer to a finished project.

2013 YALSA Hub Reading Challenge - Update #9

I've been more focused on writing this week than reading. It's week two of Camp Nanowrimo and I've written about a third-ish of my novel--some 19,000 words of literary awesomeness. At least that's what my mom thinks. Still no title, but my characters are starting to come alive and not do what I planned that they would. I completed only one book this week, but it was a "slow read." Next week's list should be more impressive, as I've got a couple of quick-read graphic novels up next.

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

Geraldine Coutts, an Ojibwe woman, lives on a reservation in North Dakota with her husband and teenaged son, Joe. Joe narrates the tale of the day his mother is brutally attacked and its aftermath. Geraldine knows the identity of the man who raped her, but is too afraid to tell either the white or tribal police who did it. Joe teams up with his friends to investigate the crime and to try to bring his mother's attacker to justice. 


The writing is absolutely beautiful and the story, although it meanders off the track occasionally, is one to savor. 

Camp Nanowrimo 2013

Once upon a time, I was a Brownie and then a Girl Scout. My favorite part of the whole experience was not the summer camp (ugh...camping...mosquitoes, wet socks, AND mean girls). It was the badges. I remember being so proud of my sash filled with badges; oh, how I loved them. They were tangible proof that I was strong and capable. I could do stuff, all kinds of stuff. I felt like a superhero.

So, now that I'm getting ready to embark on yet another crazy month of novel writing, what am I most excited about? The satisfaction of finally finishing that novel I've been yammering on about for years and years? Ummm...no. Well, that would be nice, but what I really want are some cool badges to display my awesomeness to the world. Where, oh where, did I put that sash?

Seriously, though, I would love to finally finish my novel. I've been working on it for years and still have less than half of a book. But I'm torn about whether it's better to keep trying to tell a story that doesn't seem to want to come together, or to start something brand new. One more week to do some brainstorming, and hopefully, a few character sketches and a rough plot outline.