Decisions, Decisions...

It's getting to be that time of year. Only about a month to go until NaNo. The jury is still out on what this year's project will be. I kind of want to continue the arc I'm on with the project from last year, but I think it might be fun to do something different. Stretch out and flex some different writing muscles. There are a bunch of different genre forums and it would be a lot of fun to eventually write one of each. Put scraps of paper in a basket and leave it to the luck of the draw.

Hmm, well, I have a bit of time to decide. :D

Word Count Sahara.

I haven't written anything lately, not even a to-do list. Which is probably why I have none of my Christmas decorations up. I'm going to cite creative decompression for my lack of updates. It's reasonable, handy, and most important, totally true. For the past couple weeks my head has felt like a sponge that had every drop of creative liquid wrung from it. Which is both good and bad. Good because the end product of a month-long mad dash to a manuscript. Bad because of the amount of physical strength the mental exertion takes out of you.

But that's part of the fun. This happened to me last year, too. And when I do NaNo next year, chances are it'll be another repeat of years past. I think, for me, anyways, that the decompression is a very necessary element. By the time November comes to a close, I'm so tired of the writing marathon that I know I run the risk of true and complete burn out, the type where I never want to see the story again. And that would be bad.

Today is the first day that I even looked at my manuscript. It was mostly to get some feedback on a big edit I want to do, but I still looked at it. I think that I've managed to catch up on all my sleep and my head is starting to fill back up. Which is handy because I have about another fifty thousand words until the thing is complete. :)

Big Sigh.

So NaNo is over for this year.

Thank God!

But there's a sadistic little part of me that was totally bummed once I officially finished (in the context of the rules). I don't think that there was a night where I managed to fall asleep before one a.m. I shudder to think how long it's going to take me to get back to normal. I drank way, WAY to much caffeine. The happy hour two-for-one drinks at the coffee shop seemed like a good idea at the time. The last 10K word dash to finishing was just as stressful as it was last year, even though I had a freakin' outline.

And yeah, I could ruin my sleeping habits and cultivate an ulcer for the other eleven months out of the year, but there is just something magically awesome knowing that there are thousands and thousands of other writers doing the exact same thing as you. I'm already looking forward to next year. :D

The horror...the horror...?

My NaNo project this year took a little bitty turn towards the dark side (not THE Dark Side(C, R, TM, etc)), but the general idea of the term. I decided to write a horror project. I don't know why, really. Maybe I've been needing to channel my loathing of the books that shall not be named, maybe I miss the old school styles, maybe I think it's time for a reboot (hell, everything else in the world is getting rebooted, why not?).

But the funny thing is that I've noticed my usual movie habits have ramped up and amped up from the usual weirdness. I thought that I'd be immersing myself if horror classics, indie experimental, and, shudder, modern slasher flicks. I mean, after all, this was my first foray into the horror genre, shouldn't I get all the help I could get? But no, not to be. All the stuff I've been driven to watch has been anime; crazy, farce, bishonen, comedic anime. So far this month I've finished off the entire seasons of Wallflower and Oran High School Host Club. On the mailing dvd deck is more of the same.

I think I have a problem. (^<>^)

NaNo Update

This year's NaNo endeavor is madness. Glorious madness. :D Too much caffeine, not enough sleep.

NaNo Log: Day 4.

You're supposed to read the blog title in Captain Kirk's voice. :D

So my goal for today is be at about 6700 words. I'm sitting at about a 1000 short right now. Not a deal, it's only seven p.m. and I gots da plans for the rest. Hehe. In ll fairness, though (funny how keep saying that to justify myself), we did have a catastrophic car issue that kept us at the mercy of mechanics and tow trucks all day.

This is my second year participating in NaNo. Last year i had a completely different plan of literary action, insofar as I had none. Well, not exactly none. But all I had was a little seed of an idea that I just planted on the 1st and waited to see what grew. Flew totally by the seat of my pants. It was way too much fun.

This year I planned. A lot. I have plot points galore, outlines, research notes, visual cues, you name it. So far my characters are being really gracious and magnanimous and lining up like I've planned. So far, anyway. Of course, I've given them a bit of freedom to walk around, but the paths they've taken have been helpful instead of plopping me into a well. :D

Something else different this year is that we (as in my NaNo region) are in a word war with another region in southern California. I'm not sure how that's supposed to work, I think the wagers are stuffed animal and fashion dolls (don't ask). My group is pretty intent on all out victory. War is hell.

I will close for now for I must return to the front lines for now. Send care packages!