Lessons from NaNoWriMo 2015

So this year, I returned to the short story. I have found that I'm actually a lot better at short stories than trying to directly apply myself into a huge novel. There is something mentally relieving when I can switch gears if I am not feeling the characters I'm working on at the time.

One of the struggles I really could not compromise on was the fact that I was working on some ideas  in my stories and I had no purpose for the characters. I just had these one or two phrases to write the story and it made being a "pantser" (writing by the seat of my pants), a lot less appealing for the first year. I can be flexible with my writing and accept if there should not be something I should push with my writing, but without traditional literary themes (exploration of 'riches', emotional contrasts, political statements, emotional growth) I found my first draft stifling. My characters turned wooden and were hardly moving. I was really disappointed in that fact. Previously, most of my characters were characters to be proud of. And this year, while I had interesting stories, I did not have interesting characters.

In the case where I had an interesting character, I felt shackled by an uprising in the writing community to avoid some types of story lines because they are all too easy to use as "ways to make the story work." And while normally, I ignore that advice, I thought I should try for once just to see if I could look at the tasks faced by my characters and come up with less common tasks for my characters to overcome and that are just as emotionally shackling as some more traumatic human experiences. And they are hard to fathom. Most of these struggles are deeply pained sorts of losses and with out exploration, they continue to eat away at the character, stripping them to their basic level and no one really knows how to rebuild from the emotional destruction better than the character.

So for next year, I'm going to do more than just "try to write more". I want to commit back to writing more like once a week for a full hour. I want to make sure I address more basic literary themes, based on leaving them in the dust this year, I realized if I had addressed them, my stories would have been stronger. And finally, I want to remember that the characters come first in fictional writing. It is not just their world I am building, I am building them.

NaNoWriMo Count Down

I'm not that crazy. I mean I do know there are 34 days until I can rev up my writing engine and get out all the work necessary.

I have five story ideas that are ready to go for this year's NaNo. I'm really looking forward to being able to get those ideas out and the characters to become more than just a few spare ideas.

Most of all, this year, I would like to break 60,000 words. I know I squeaked by in 55,000 last year, but I would really like to put in that effort, and breaking a personal record makes me wonder if it is at all possible.

I think I'm set. I just have to register and go. But first: birthday party palooza. I have no less than 3 babies in the next few weeks who turn 1. I haven't decided what to do for them all yet, but it's on the list to focus on.

Copy rights and other things

A good author should always be writing. The problem with my life: I'm not always doing so. Some of it is there are parts of my life that are not involved with writing; sleeping, eating, self-entertaining (TV/media), friends, and stuff writing related (research, illustrating, and editing).

So when I announced at the end of last month I had finally produced a second edition to a book I had written two years ago, I was over the moon with joy. Today, I'm sitting and waiting for the physical proof of a second book in a series to arrive so I can check it for publishing. 

I have also started five new projects, two of which I sent to a pay to use publisher that was about a week of work for both. The remaining three non-fiction projects include intensive research one that requires reading Homer. I've got to say that while I am versed and highly skilled in research, even before the advent of Google, research is a pain. You've got to be extraordinarily organized and prepared for anything that you will uncover.

And then there are no less than three fictional works in progress. I realized last year during NaNo, I was feeling rusty, as if my written work was suffering from my lack of connection to the worlds I was building, even if the world as we see it wasn't that different than the world in the piece I was writing. The good news is that these written works have been started, yet they are hardly publishing level. I don't know if they will ever be ready. I worry about that because that is my goal, to have work prepared for people to share. 

Then there is blogging, I need todo more of it, and hold myself to the deadlines because clearly that works during the 8 months a year I blog for the Company. I am getting better. 

An announcement of no small proportions, I've just formally registered for a copyright for one of my books. I'm thrilled and scared all at the same time. Hopefully the Office of Copyright will see fit to bestow one of their precious certificates on me. I won't know for 8 months. Previous works are actually protected by common copyright law. Having been published is enough to generally protect the work but this last step is an important legal step.

There is a lot going on in the world of writing. I enjoy [almost] every minute of it.

While I have you here: I'm now a part of a campaign #BetterTogether. Using this hashtag is meant to help promote inclusive communities for people with disabilities. Hopefully I will have cause to use it soon.