NaNoWriMo 2011 Complete!

FINISHED!!! 50,236 according to Word and 50,040 according to NaNoWriMo.

Now to sit on my butt and play Zelda without guilt and eat delicious barbecued pizza made by my handsome husband! Huzzah!

Tomorrow begins the week of house clean-up, holiday decorating, and Nutcracker practicing, rehearsals, and performances!

At some point I will write a wrap-up of NaNoWriMo 2011, but I'm sure you all can appreciate the fact that I'm tired of writing at the moment. But the first draft of the novel is complete, for better or worse. And there's quite a bit of the latter, my inner editor says. But that's okay because for now:

I'VE FINISHED! Ta Da!

Muses, Valkyries, and Free Coffee

In the month of November, there is no halftime. Not for writing. It's a bit upsetting actually. Here I am, just having passed the halfway mark, and there is no marching band with an amazing field show for me. Not one. Maybe they weren't ready, since I am ahead of the game. *Sigh* I guess that playing Ride of the Valkyries last night at symphony rehearsal was my halftime show. At this point, if you haven't already, I suggest you click on the above link so that you can experience the epic-ness with me, and then come back while it's playing for the halftime report with Bob and Ralph!

Because, after all, with any good halftime show, we need a good halftime report. And so here goes: 

BOB: "What an exciting opening half, don't you agree, Ralph?" 

RALPH: "Yes, Bob, I do say that it was. It started out slow, I was a little worried there for the first few plays, I felt like the ball just wasn't going anywhere. But then out of nowhere, it suddenly flew down the field!" 

B: "Those Muses practically handed the game over to Team Sondra, do you think they'll have anything left for the second half?" 

R: "Really, only time will tell. Last year at this time the game was a lot closer, but this year Team Sondra has some hidden talents." 

B: "You know Ralph, to be honest I'm surprised. In fact, I think she took a lot of us by surprise. Up until the last week before the big month, she wasn't even sure she'd be competing."

R: "Excellent point, Bob. But apparently that strategy has been working for her. Last year she came prepared. This year it could have gone either way, and there have been some shockers." 

B: "Certainly. Her characters have taken control of the game at times, leading her in what seems to be a crazy path down the field. Do you think that she can keep up with them and bring it home?" 

R: "Time will only tell. But if she keeps playing like she has during the first half--" 

B: "You mean if The Muses keep handing it over." 

R: "I think Team Sondra deserves some credit. Apparently she's been keeping some of those main scenes and characters on the downlow for years." 

B: "I do have to agree, those were some powerful secret weapons. Now, let's get back to the game and see what happens in the second half!" 

*******

Meanwhile, in other news, Costco had great samples today (oreo cookies being one of them) and McDonald's is offering a free 12 oz coffee all day, every day until Nov. 20th. Score! 

*******

Amusing the Muses

I am hoping I won't jinx myself, but so far I'm cruising right along with my novel. Sometimes I stare at the page for a while wondering what mindless drivel will end up on the paper. Yet several days in a row now, I've been thrown a tidbit by the Writerly Muses. And with each delightful morsel, I find myself eagerly flipping pages as my pencils whittle down to mere nubs. (Good thing I have a steady supply from last Christmas in my office.)

More than once my characters have surprised me or new characters suddenly push their way into my story. One character picked an occupation that I never expected (or even knew existed until it appeared on my paper). Another character blurted out something at a family dinner that sent shockwaves...both through the other characters and within my writing. And then, just as I thought my Writerly Muses had deserted me, they dangled a carrot in front of my proverbial writing donkey and voilà! I was off again.

I took a chance on NanoWriMo this year, starting with only snapshots of scenes and no real direction. I don't think writing this freely will work every time, but it certainly does have a sense of liberation. There are certainly moments that will have to be cut or drastically altered in my rewrites, but for now, I'm excited that this might actually turn into a novel. I'll try not to hold my breath, but between you and me, Dear Reader, I'm excited!!!

NaNoWriMo 2011. It's gonna happen.

November snuck up on me. I was minding my own business when all of a sudden it leapt up and screamed, NOVEMBER 1st! on my calendar. I shouldn't be surprised, really. My dear husband's birthday is on that very day of NaNoWriMo beginnings. And that is perhaps why it didn't so much as sneak up on me as trailed me around for the latter half of October saying, "I'm coming! You can't stop it. November 1st is one day closer!"

I had a big surprise day planned for my husband's birthday this year, so it was with eager trepidation that I awaited the changing of the month: Super-stoked for the big surprise I had for him (flight museum, among other fun activities), yet lacking the time I needed to blast ahead with my word count just out of the gate.

Come November 2nd I already felt exhausted and behind. I guess NaNoWriMo is kicking me in the pants early this year. Does this mean it will be easier at the end? Is this a reverse year? Ha! I think I have to accept the fact that this isn't meant to be a walk in the park. Well, maybe Central Park.

Last year, I received inspiration from the Writerly Muses weeks before. Okay, it was probably only two weeks prior, but an entire story outline came screaming out of nowhere and smacked me in the forehead. It was pretty cool. Not gonna lie. That story left an imprint in my brain. I had plot. I had a main character. I had some conflict ready to battle it out on the paper. I had a story. And with a fervent desire to finish my goal, I had a finished first-draft of a novel by the end of November.

This year it's a bit different. Maybe it's because I'd recently found the time to start revising last year's story and would rather focus on that than a new, un-plotted, un-mapped, un-outlined story. Maybe I'm just feeling overwhelmed in general (car accident, husband working on his master's, the struggle to keep the joy in my musical playing). That's just life though, I suppose.

So I don't have an outline this year. So I really only started with some characters in some very poignant scenes that have been poking me for years to get out on paper. So I am a few hundred words off the target daily goal. This year it's just a new and different approach to NaNoWriMo. Perhaps simply because I don't have an outline I will be able to write more freely? In the past few days, I've already been astonished at things my characters have said and done. One of them chose an occupation I had never anticipated. It's amazing what comes out of nothing, isn't it?

I suppose each day of this month I will approach with some semblance of eager trepidation. If every NaNoWriMo were exactly the same, I'd be bored. This is to get me writing, no matter how I end up doing it.

The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel by the end of the November. The means is entirely up to me.