Kids, Coffee, Chaos

Life as a working mom of three, chasing my next cup of coffee through the chaos of our lives while I get a few words written

Falling Through Fall

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This fall has been a crazy time for us. I was all set to write during NaNoWriMo, with vacation days scheduled and everything. Then we decided we were going to put in an offer for my husband’s aunt and uncle’s house. This is actually where he lived when we met back in high school.

So I decided to forgo NaNo in lieu of preparing to buy this house. We send documents in, waited, scrambled to send more documents and held our breath. This past week, the appraisal report was released and we learned that in order to have our loan approved some things needed to be done to the residence, namely the roof being replaced.

We also learned that the husband’s aunt and uncle did not want to replace the roof, so we were faced with a decision to make. Did we still want the house bad enough to make a new roof happen or were we going to give up on the house?

We’ve discussed our options the last few days and have come to the conclusion that we do want the house still and are currently researching and getting estimates so we can get the roof repaired.

So I am not in such a hurry to pack now, and I’m taken on something else to do that I’m going to talk about soon, which I really hope has an impact on what I’m doing every day. Things have been  stressful for me in general lately and I’m hoping to break the cycle.

NaNo: Pantsing Your Novel

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If you belong to one of the major (or perhaps any) writing forums across the vast Interwebs, you will learn there is a common argument among writers on the best way write. Some will argue that one must have an outline, the more thorough, the better. Others will promptly argue that one simply cannot write with all the stuffy outlining. It restricts the story and makes it impossible to write. And you have the Outliner vs. Pantser war. I’d say one can find these debates about once a month over on the forums at Absolute Write.

However, there is only one true rule for writing: You do what works for you and ignore the rest. There are a plenty of guidelines and good practices, particularly when one is a novice and just learning about the craft. But at some point you must cast off the recommendations of others and decide where you stand yourself.

The year before last when I tried NaNo, I outlined and I struggled. I found myself bored with my own story and that’s no way to write. Last year, I had an idea and then I just pantsed my efforts. I found I enjoyed myself so much more. And let’s face it, at this point, I’m not trying for publication and fun is all I have, so if I’m going to spend my precious time on anything, it’s going to be something that I enjoy. Free time is almost nonexistent at this stage of my life and I’m going to treasure it.

For this year’s NaNo, I had an idea about sword-wielding elven warrior/bodyguard. She has a chip on her shoulder and she manages to catch a ship on fire. That’s it. Then, I decided I probably should have some sort of idea what this chick’s deal is, so I wrote the prequel/prologue doohickie that I posted the other day. I learned she’s angry about her father’s death and her brother is the king. Also, that as a culture, everyone takes a shadow walk to learn about their future.

And that’s pretty much all I have to go. No fancy outlines, no bullet points, no diagrams. I just sit down at the computer, read a few lines of where I left off, and start writing. Then I keep writing. I figure I can outline my story during the editing phase. Since I’m using Scrivener, I just make a new notecard for every scene, so that if ever I need to swap scenes around and remove them all together, I can do it easily.

And this is what seems to be working for me. So I’m going to keep doing. Now, to just finish a novel…

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In other news, my NaNo t-shirt arrived. This is the first year I’ve purchased one and I’m pretty excited to have it.

And I’m loving Adele’s new song, Skyfall. It has that epic, climatic feel to it. Of course, it’s for a movie, so there’s probably a good reason for that.

What’s new in your world? Everyone ready for NaNo? Not much time left. Tick, tock, tick, tock…

NaNo Prep: Local Meet & Greet

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NaNo Participant Badge 2012

Participant Image for NaNo 2012

As NaNoWriMo quickly approaches, participants are hitting up their local regions to meet up with others trying to hit that 50,000 milestone.

In a different mindset from year’s past, I decided to participate actively in my region. Friday night was the meet & greet event for the region.

This year’s group looks to be the biggest group of participants ever in this area. There were 30 or more people attending. I didn’t really think that we would have that many people in our area wanting to write, period. Our leader did a terrific job of organizing things and we all got to chat with each other.

It was quite a bit of fun. I think this  will be a very entertaining year for NaNo and I’m pushing myself to become more of the active participant with the hope that this will pressure me to truly compete and win this year.

Good luck to all my fellow writers!

NaNoWriMo 2012: I’d Really Like to Win This Year

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So the fall weather announces one of the most exciting times of the writing world for many folks. November is National Novel Writing Month. For the thirty days that make up November, writers all around the world push themselves to write 50,000 words. For some it’s a challenge, for others it is as easy as pie. Some writers are not a fan of the concept, some writers use it as a chance to make a change and break away from the normal habits of the other 11 months.
I’ve attempted for several years, some harder than others. I have yet to win. Most years it seems like something super serious and time consuming comes up and I drop everything. So I tried Camp NaNoWriMo this summer. And failed. I also may not have been motivated.
Some of it I think is me. My motivation is craptacular. I want to write. I love the way it feels when the words pour out of me and a story is formed. But things are kind of stressful right now too. Small children, full time job, rocky marriage, sleepless nights. They all add up and sometimes it seems like they suck the life right out of me. I have a great group of online writing buddies to turn to for some motivation, but I’m not particularly close to any one person. I never have been really close to many people. Sometimes I wish for one good friend that I could stay connected with besides my husband. But I don’t get a lot of time to build relationships, so I take what I can get.
My online buddies push me to meet my writing goals sometimes. We have Word Wars and discussions. I just need to figure out how to turn this into a Thing, which means building some new habits. My preferred method would be to get up before the rest of the house and write quietly with a cup of coffee. However, sleeping through the night is overrated and I am often awakened at least two times a night, and when the alarm clock goes off, I am not ready to climb out of the bed. I am hoping since Kidlet 3 only has one more molar to break through, that we will have more restful nights in the near future.
Back to this year’s NaNo, I am considering hiring a babysitter/mother’s helper on the weekends some to help me free up some time to write. It’s hard to concentrate on the story when every five seconds you have to go chase a two year old off his latest climbing expedition. It also makes it physically hard to type on the keyboard when you aren’t at the computer. But with a helper, I have a possibility of escaping to the library or coffee shop to do a little writing. Or even just plugging earbuds in and not having to worry about kid disasters for awhile.
We will see as we get closer to the start of November, but I worry that trying to manage the job, the kids, the house, my sanity and doing it all may make reaching my writing goal harder. It’s hard when your spouse doesn’t support what you do.
Anyone else giving NaNoWriMo a try?

NaNoWriMo Progress

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So we are between a third and halfway through National Novel Writing Month. I am behind, which I expected. But I am now taking my week of vacation, so I hope to be able to catch up among other things.

I will admit I have been getting up a little early to squeeze in a few words most mornings, which if I did this regularly, I could probably write year round. It’s a habit I need to build because I love writing. It’s fun, relaxing and just a part of me.

This last week, my husband has been exceptionally helpful around the house, so that makes my life easier too. I’ve crossed the 3k mark on my NaNo novel, which was a random idea I did for one of the Sunday Flash Fiction Challenges from Absolute Write. Best place on the interwebs evah!

I am looking forward to doing this though, so I am going to keep trucking along.

November Hallmarks National Novel Writing Month

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November hallmarks the beginning of National Novel Writing Month (also known as NaNoWriMo or NaNo), where writers attempt to complete a 50,000 word manuscript in one month. That averages out to 1,667 words a day.

The purpose is to get those writers who might be hindered by their inner editor or who have never written novel length before to just let loose, get the words on the page and worry about the rest of it later.

As someone who has been a part of a writing community for nearly a decade, I can say that there will always be revisions, so just getting it down on the page is an important first step.

Some writers use NaNo to write something vastly different than they normally would.

Unfortunately, as much as I love NaNo, I’ve yet to complete a year. Something I want to remedy this year.

So march onward writers and write many words!