In which somehow the author ended up doing double NaNoWriMo, or worse
What happened was this.
I'd decided awhile back that I wanted to do the next Sam & company novel for NaNoWriMo. I'd been struggling with it for some time, and I figured the focus of NaNo would help me out. Once I added the epic HAMEMA trip, it was solid. I did the prep in the fabulous new Scrivener 2, made a collage and a soundtrack, found a title-all set.
Well, the trouble was, I'd had this bug for a historical which was supposed to be my play-with-it-October book. I figured I'd get out a quick draft a-la Nowhere Ranch or Miles, and I'd edit it in December while Better Than Love cooled. Easy! (Looking back, I so had this coming.) What happened, of course, was that APG (A Private Gentleman, the historical) snagged, then snarled, then sat in a corner and pouted. Suddenly it was the pre-NaNo party, and I only had 25k.
No problem, I thought, full of Effexor-energy and optimism. I'll just work on it a little here and there during November to keep it fresh. Never mind that this never works because one story always takes precedence. I'll bring my amazon and get it done. And to be clever, I decided I'd enter my word count for APG in my NaNoWrio total so it counts, because our region KICKS. ASS. But in a separate account, because, hello, VIRGO, MUST BE TIDY.
Maybe you see where this is going?
See, the thing is that when you start an account, you, um, start an account. They keep track of your stats. They tell you that you need to get to 50k or you DON'T WIN. (Scorpio ascendant. Ungh.) WORSE, this year they have all these micro stats telling you how many words you need each day, and if you don't keep up, you're BEHIND. Even if you're AHEAD. For a while they even had "succesful days" and "unsuccessful days." They've gone, but I don't trust anybody, and they might COME BACK. And tell me how I was unsucessful.
Which means that now I have TWO novels to keep up on EVERY DAY, minimum of 1667 words EACH DAY. And because you win if you hit 50k, I have to get 50k. Except you're SUPPOSED to finish each one. Which I did last year. So I want to do it again, and if I don't, I'll feel unsuccessful even if they don't put the damn words back. And it's already creeping up on my head that I should do so with both. BOTH.
Last year Double Blind, the prequel to this book, was 140k. THAT'S ALMOST THREE NANOWRIMOS. This book will be at least 100k. IT MIGHT BE LONGER.
I can hear what you're saying. You're saying, "Heidi, don't be crazy. Change the icon for this post and be sane." Well, the thing is, there's two problems. One I can't talk about just yet but hopefully soon. But basically it's GOOD, and yeah, I gotta keep writing. Next year's gonna be busy busy. The other thing is, nuts as this is, it makes me feel really damn alive. Really, really, really damn alive.
The biggest issue now is that I need to do my exercises. Especially my arms. So get on me about that when you see me.
But this is how I ended up doing two nanowrimos. This is the official account. This is the bonus.
The upside is, there's gonna be a crapload of books to read very soon. I'll to my best not to be collecting royalties from the mental institution.
I'd decided awhile back that I wanted to do the next Sam & company novel for NaNoWriMo. I'd been struggling with it for some time, and I figured the focus of NaNo would help me out. Once I added the epic HAMEMA trip, it was solid. I did the prep in the fabulous new Scrivener 2, made a collage and a soundtrack, found a title-all set.
Well, the trouble was, I'd had this bug for a historical which was supposed to be my play-with-it-October book. I figured I'd get out a quick draft a-la Nowhere Ranch or Miles, and I'd edit it in December while Better Than Love cooled. Easy! (Looking back, I so had this coming.) What happened, of course, was that APG (A Private Gentleman, the historical) snagged, then snarled, then sat in a corner and pouted. Suddenly it was the pre-NaNo party, and I only had 25k.
No problem, I thought, full of Effexor-energy and optimism. I'll just work on it a little here and there during November to keep it fresh. Never mind that this never works because one story always takes precedence. I'll bring my amazon and get it done. And to be clever, I decided I'd enter my word count for APG in my NaNoWrio total so it counts, because our region KICKS. ASS. But in a separate account, because, hello, VIRGO, MUST BE TIDY.
Maybe you see where this is going?
See, the thing is that when you start an account, you, um, start an account. They keep track of your stats. They tell you that you need to get to 50k or you DON'T WIN. (Scorpio ascendant. Ungh.) WORSE, this year they have all these micro stats telling you how many words you need each day, and if you don't keep up, you're BEHIND. Even if you're AHEAD. For a while they even had "succesful days" and "unsuccessful days." They've gone, but I don't trust anybody, and they might COME BACK. And tell me how I was unsucessful.
Which means that now I have TWO novels to keep up on EVERY DAY, minimum of 1667 words EACH DAY. And because you win if you hit 50k, I have to get 50k. Except you're SUPPOSED to finish each one. Which I did last year. So I want to do it again, and if I don't, I'll feel unsuccessful even if they don't put the damn words back. And it's already creeping up on my head that I should do so with both. BOTH.
Last year Double Blind, the prequel to this book, was 140k. THAT'S ALMOST THREE NANOWRIMOS. This book will be at least 100k. IT MIGHT BE LONGER.
I can hear what you're saying. You're saying, "Heidi, don't be crazy. Change the icon for this post and be sane." Well, the thing is, there's two problems. One I can't talk about just yet but hopefully soon. But basically it's GOOD, and yeah, I gotta keep writing. Next year's gonna be busy busy. The other thing is, nuts as this is, it makes me feel really damn alive. Really, really, really damn alive.
The biggest issue now is that I need to do my exercises. Especially my arms. So get on me about that when you see me.
But this is how I ended up doing two nanowrimos. This is the official account. This is the bonus.
The upside is, there's gonna be a crapload of books to read very soon. I'll to my best not to be collecting royalties from the mental institution.