Guest blog!

[andpuff]

I guest blog at Magic Words and discuss NaNo and house building and brick laying and well, words.

Thirty Days Hath November

The last line makes me snicker every time.

Comments

[archangelbeth]

Bricklayer, yes, yes, yes!

(...worse, I'm an ad-lib bricklayer. The shape of the house is in my mind, but thus far, writing outlines tends to make my inner architect go, "Okay, all done, leave it." Which, ah-heh, dun't wurk gud, to tap my inner lolcat. Crossing fingers that, with enough spousal cheerleading, I can eventually outline first, then fill in the bricks... I'd like to learn how to be a house-framer!)

[andpuff]

I don't write outlines. I know where I'm going and I trust myself to get there... this is, incidently, why I keep tearing down and rebuilding that damned wall. *g*

[archangelbeth]

You... don't write outlines? Um, may I please give you a virtual huge gigantic flying tackle hug and sob incoherently on your virtual shoulder a little bit about how it's so validating to hear that a Real Author doesn't do the outlines either? O:>

[alexmegami]

Wow, suddenly things make a lot more sense to me.

I achieved a finished NaNo in 2007. (It was actually two novellas, at best, one of which got re-imagined into a short story that I actually sold.)

Since then, I have been d-e-s-p-e-r-a-t-e to complete it again. EVERY YEAR, I have failed (I'm including this one because there is no possible way I am catching up on nearly half a month of words). Because I start and then I hit the research wall and then I realize that I can't do it, because I don't have any clay for the goddamn bricks in the first place. :P I always decide October 31st that I'm going to start it, but it's useless because I have some neat ideas, but no actual architectural drawing. I have, like, "an ivy-covered wall would be COOL!" and no actual plan.

Which is sad, a bit, because I let committing to writing consistently fall by the wayside because I don't have enough background to hang my cool stuff on, which I shouldn't. I SHOULD commit to actually researching stuff and then writing. Buuuuut it's hard.

NaNo

[alexmegami]

The beauty of Nano is quantity, not quality. Just write the story, do the research in December.

Re: NaNo

[andpuff]

That only works if you can write without knowing what you're writing about. Some of us can't.

[andpuff]

Four hundred publishable words a day is 144,000 words a year. That's a book. And a third.

[andpuff]

Good luck!

[twiegand]

I planning a concerted effort not to write 50,000 words but to get close to finishing the work I started in June and had faithfully written at least a page a day (often more) since then. That was until the last week of October when things got crazy with work and family. Now I will be happy to get back to writing a page a day.

[andpuff]

A page a day is a book a year! Good luck!

[markbernstein]

Just FYI, the link as you currently have it jumps directly to the top of the comments, so I had to scroll up to see what you wrote. Which was, as I would have expected, eminently sensible. :)

[andpuff]

I have no idea why it does that...

And thank you!

[markbernstein]

Ah, I see it. It's because the link has "/#comments" at the end. Without that, it goes to the top of the page.