NaNoWriMo 2017

Yup. I did it again. I signed up to participate in NaNoWriMo once again. It begins at midnight tonight. I’m hosting a midnight virtual write-in on Facebook. I will be making a posting where people can check in with their word count every 30 to 45 minutes. It should be interesting and maybe even fun. If anyone reading this wants to join in, let me know by email and if you are on Facebook, I can tag you or try to tag you when the post is up. I will be putting it up around 8 pm Pacific so that those in other time zones can jump in and start checking in, even though I won’t be commenting with my word count until midnight.

This year will be a challenge, once again. It seems that every year it gets more and more difficult because the grandma duties keep getting more and more time consuming and energy draining. So we shall see what happens this time around.

I’m not even sure what I am going to write. I have no name for the Main Character (MC). Something will come to me. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even choose a name from one of my readers!

Happy Halloween. If you’re doing NaNoWriMo, good luck. You can do it. I know you can!

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No Time For This

I have no time for this. I spent a hour of precious time trying to find a NaNoWriMo banner with the theme for the year. Can’t find it. Then I tried to find a participant badge so I can put on here and on FB. Can’t find one. Then I tried to add the NaNoWriMo word count widget here but I can’t seem to do it. I’ve done it all the other years but for some reason, this year it’s not working. Maybe it’s not me. Maybe they aren’t set up yet. In any case, I don’t have the time for all of this. I’m also blogging every day with the NaNoPoblano but I can’t seem to make their thingy work either so I will just have to download the badge and post it every day.

Do you get the idea that I am trying to do a gazillion things in not such a great amount of time? Yeah. That would be me. We’ll see how many of them get done!

On a side note, Anderson spends so much time with me that he picks up a lot of my mannerisms and speech patterns and words. My daughter thinks it’s funny that he, all of the sudden, is saying “a gazillion” every little while. Yup. He got it from me. He doesn’t want to go on a gazillion errands (neither do I) and he wants to spend a gazillion minutes playing Minecraft. The little one picks it up, too. He’s saying stuff like “ay ay ay” and “sorry Charlie” and “later gator.”

Anyway, this is my post for the day and I got it up at a reasonable time. That might not happen much during this month.

What are your personal challenges this month? What are you participating in that is gobbling up all of your time? Yes, that was a reference to turkey day.

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And So It Begins…

And so it begins…

Last night I headed out to a local café for a midnight NaNoWriMo write-in. Armed with my GPS, I drove 25 minutes then found the place. However, I couldn’t get to it because I was on the wrong side of a concrete divider. I got turned around and then missed it again because it wasn’t well lit from that angle. After I went around another two times, I got there. One problem. There were no parking spaces. I had anticipated this because I called ahead. The owner of the café told me there was a Subway store across the street and I could park there with no problem. I looked for the Subway and it was waaaayyyyy across the street…SIX LANES, three in each direction. I first looked for a space on the side of the street that I was on and couldn’t find any. I searched for four blocks in all directions. Nothing. The Subway parking lot was completely filled. It was raining. I don’t know about you but I am not about to park four blocks away in an industrial area and walk, alone, with my purse and laptop and no jacket. Nope. Not me. So I headed back home.

In the end, I had wasted almost two hours in travel time, getting lost time, assessing the parking situation time, and driving back home time. I walked in the door at home at 12:05 am and had to start up the desktop and load my MS Office before I could start writing. After 20 minutes, I took my first break to fix some coffee and visit the potty. More writing. Within an hour, I had written 2650 words. I quit at that point because my neck and back hurt. Today, I haven’t written anything for my novel. I just don’t feel like it. I’m sure I’ll give it all another try some time tonight and again tomorrow. I’ll be happy if I can get to 6,000 words by the end of the weekend. I don’t think that’ll be a problem. I tend to write fast so I think I can easily get there.

So that’s how it starts.

Let’s see how it ends!

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Nanowrimo, Names, Plots, & Canolli

Nanowrimo is fast approaching and I don’t have names for my main character. Help! I need both first and last names for a young man (teen ager) that is half Italian. I wanted something like Jake but is Jacob an Italian name? A good one? I guess it could be because he’s only half Italian. Oh, his family is in the mob, if that makes a difference. I don’t know. (But if you know, leave me suggestions in the comments below.)

I also need a name for his love interest who we will see only briefly at the beginning of the novel and then will disappear til the end. She may not be Italian but she could be.

I’m not really doing any preparation for this year’s novel. In previous years I know my characters names and possibly the title or a good working title. I’ve also known where my novel is going although I’ve not really known exactly how I’m going to get there. This year is different because I know only the very beginning but have no idea what I am going to write for the other 45,000 words!

I’m not letting this discourage me. Nanowrimo is a wonderful time to write with no concern for whether you’re writing anything worth writing. It’s a time to dismiss that Inner Critic and let out the child that just wants to play at writing. Play hard. Play true. The Nanowrimo novel just happens after that.

If you’re a first time Nanowrimo-er, take it easy. Don’t over plan. Don’t be concerned if you don’t have an outline. In fact, if you have one, put it away. Consult it only if you are absolutely stuck. Let your novel happen. It will just sort of write itself through you. I never actually believed this when I read it before my first time participating but it’s true. It just sort of happens.

Okay, back to prepping for my novel. I’ve been watching mob related movies. I love them and it’s a perfect excuse to sit and watch my favorite movie, The Godfather, and the sequels. I’m actually debating what I should use as a writing prop this year. Many people use a writer’s hat or a special coffee mug or in one instance that I know, a pipe. I’m wondering if I should get a replica gun?

Nah. I’ll leave the gun and grab some cannoli!

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