NaNoWriMo 2015 5/6

In NaNoWriMo 2015! 4/6, I mentioned that I wished to be working on Chapter 3 by the time of this post.  I'm still working on that second chapter.  One of the problems with the final weeks of November - socialization and family obligations sometimes must take precedence.  Not too mention two people on one computer?  Leaves less time than one would like for writing/typing.

My word count is suspiciously low at less than 20,000, but there's still the rest of today and tomorrow to reach the 50,000 word goal, right?  Maybe if I keep thinking positive and working towards that 50,000 word goal I can make it...then again, probably not.  At least I got the fanfic started!

For those who've won at NaNoWriMo 2015, congratulations!  Enjoy editing all of that work over the next couple of months.  For those who haven't?  As I mentioned earlier in this post: there's still all day today and tomorrow (at least where I'm at in The United States of America,) so don't be discouraged.  Even if you don't hit the 50k at least you got something done that you felt the need or want to share with the rest of the world (or at least those willing to read your work if you ever decide to share it!)

Either way have fun, and enjoy the writing!

NaNoWriMo 2015! 4/6

As I type this, I'm really just taking a break from my NaNoWriMo project.  I finally finished the first chapter (just the typing, no editing!) putting me above 12,000 words last week.  I've been chugging along working on the second chapter, but had to type up the scene I had remarked upon in NaNoWriMo 2015: 3/6.  So other than a quick update about reaching 14,000 words since my last post, and a wish of good luck to my fellow writers, there isn't much to write within this post.  I do however hope to reach Chapter three by next post, but it will be little typing time as my husband is off of work and Thanksgiving is this Thursday.

Speaking of, Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers out there!  Now I've got to return to my NaNoWriMo 2015 fanfic, here's to hoping that by next Sunday I'll be working on chapter three.  It's either that or work on a cover for the story, but I'm not that great an artist.  Also, I'll need to figure out a proper title for it.  I think I've made my to-do list even longer for the week, or is that rest of the month?

NaNoWriMo 2015: 3/6

Finally!  I just managed to finish chapter one of the fanfiction I had mentioned that I would be working on for NaNoWriMo 2015 in previous blogs, NaNoWriMo 2015! 1/6 and NaNoWriMo 2015: 2/6.  I know only getting just over 12,000 words for the first chapter of a fanfiction doesn't seem like much, but currently it's a personal record!

Now, I get to start on the next chapter, or perhaps I'll work on a later scene in fanfiction...  There's a part from a promo that I found for the first episode of season 2 of the Librarians that's just begging for a scene.  I may try to get that done before my work party this afternoon.

Speaking of work, I'd have had more towards my NaNoWriMo 2015 fanfiction typed up if a coworker hadn't gotten the flu yesterday.  Also the first gun deer season in Illinois will be occurring in less than a week, so I'm not sure how much havoc that plus Thanksgiving (American here!) will have on my writing.

Hope any other NaNoWriMo 2015 participants are chugging along, meeting their personal goals if not the overall 50,000 words for the month.  If not, there's still half the month to type or write!

NaNoWriMo 2015: 2/6

So it's the end of the first week, and I'm no where near the end goal.  I'm not even on target for the 1,667 words per day.  I am working on it though.  And when a person has to use either handwritten or typed when their husband leaves, it's not as easy as one might think.  It's not even issues with the characters not wanting to work with me, because their constantly tell me to write...when I'm at work or not near any form of recording what they want recorded, damn it, Jacob Stone/Elliot Spencer!

So, yes, this is another promised update from NaNoWriMo 2015! 1/6.  This does not mean I'm giving up on trying to reach the 50,000 word goal.  It just means that when given time for each session on the computer or when I'm able to work on it by hand, I'll need to do more.  Distractions in the form of housework, work work (if that makes sense?), and family obligations are going to have to be minimized.  Even my other hobbies will have to be put on hold at least until I get caught up.

Now, I'm going back to writing.  For those who are ahead or on target, congratulations!  Keep it up!  For those of us who aren't?  Get back to writing!  It's not that hard.  If you've hit a block, try it from a different character or object's point of view.  It might help you to figure out  what the problem is and continue on.  Happy  writing!

NaNoWriMo 2015! 1/6

Today is the first day of NaNoWriMo 2015, and I must admit this first Sunday is not going to be an update. Instead, I'm going to give a brief overview of my plans for NaNoWriMo 2015, sinceNaNoWriMo: What Is It? gives a brief explanation and more can be learned at their official website,NaNoWriMo.org.

This year I plan on giving a brief update every Sunday, and yes, I do plan to still give updates on the campaign, which I will soon post update blogs for the previous sessions or you can reread New Campaign: LANZ Session 0 or LANZ: Session 1 . I promise I haven't abandoned it, and the campaign is going strong. This happens when players actually play their character and allow others to have play time instead of trying to show just how awesome their character is.

Alright back to my NaNoWriMo 2015 schedule. So this is the first in a series of six. Why six? Because this year, the last Sunday of November is not the last day of November. The final NaNo Update 2015 post will be made on the first Sunday in December.  Instead of trying to reach the goal of 50,000 words with an original piece, I shall be typing a fanfiction which will hopefully be put on (hyperlink) at the end of the month after editing, most likely heavily. The fanfiction will be a crossover between The Librarians and Leverage TV shows.

I have yet to title it and it will focus of Elliot Spencer being Jake Stone. Things will change within the The Librarians time line. I've decided that the first episode of The Librarians is ten years after the first episode of Leverage. Also, I can't really see Jassandra ( the Jake Stone and Cassandra Cillian pairing), so I don't know if their will be a pairing for Jake, though I could see over some length of time something occurring between Jake and Ezekiel Jones (which I will hereafter refer to as Jezekiel.) The Flynn and Eve pairing is pretty nonexistent in the first season and I'm not sure how well it will translate into my fanfic, but it is a journey I look forward to undertaking.

Now, I follow Kristina Horner on YouTube and she recently posted a NaNoWriMo Tag. It consists of technically ten questions, though two are linked and counted as only one. This gives nine lines for the questions. These questions are for NaNoWriMo and not Camp NaNoWriMo. I will answer as honestly as I can so far as my memory goes or I can find the information.

1. How many NaNoWriMo's have you done?

2015 will be my third year participating in NaNoWriMo, though I have yet to “win.”

2. How did you find out about NaNoWriMo?

I first saw the term NaNoWriMo in author's notes in some fanfictions as early as 2010 but it wasn't until 2013 that I took the initiative to learn what it was about.

3. What was the title of your first NaNoWriMo attempt?

I titled my first attempt Shambles and while it's still a work in progress, it a futuristic setting that relies on the search for one's family history. I managed what I did on it in less than half the month, I think. I know I didn't find out and actually start on Shambles until at least a week into November, anyway.

4. Give a one sentence summary of this year's attempt.

A crossover between The Librarians and Leverage, where Jake Stone and Elliot Spencer are the same person, or you could just read the first part of this post.

5. The best writing advice you've been given?

I've seen and heard a lot of advice, especially as NaNoWriMo comes around, and I've heard it from numerous walks of life. There's the time honored “Write what you know.” Or how about a NaNoWriMo fave ”Ignore your inner editor and just keep writing.” Another common one is to stop right in the middle of what you know you are going to type or write up. These are all sound pieces of advice. At least for everyone but me, or so it seems. I've tried them.

Writing what I know annoys me and to be completely honest, I bullshitted my way through papers in high school. Aced most of them, but over half the time I had no clue as to what I was trying to say. Somehow I'd still manage practically perfect test essays.

If I ignore my inner editor, I find myself annoyed at the smallest of mistakes in a piece and I either have to go back and fix it (usually after the bout of inspiration is done,) or give up until I can figure out what is bothering me so much about it. Oftentimes, by listening to my inner editor, I can usually gain some more insight which actually spurs my writing on. Instead of ignoring it, I use my inner editor when I hit some kind of block.

I've purposely stopped in the middle of writing a sentence so that I could return with something in my mind to actually continue on, and found me trying to puzzle out what it was I was trying to say. A couple of times it was because my husband or a friend called me from my work but I've done so on purpose just to see if it would work. It never failed that when I returned (and it could have been a five minute hiatus,) I just could not figure out where I was going with the sentence!

I have found however that there is a piece of advice that works for me: Write from a different perspective, from any other viewpoint. Basically take the scene that's giving you trouble and either tell it as a different type of story (my favorite is as a newspaper of magazine article) or get inside the head of someone or something else in the scene. Write as though you're the sidewalk the main character is being made to lick their bully's shoes upon or write as the bully or their shoes. Write as the wall that is being vandalized after having watched a murder the night before or write as the murderer. No matter what, if you get stuck on a scene not working the way you think it should, just rewrite from another's perspective. A really good example is to think back to those kids books we'd read (The Babysitter's Club comes to mind) where practically every chapter or book was written from someone else's viewpoint. I've got a fanfiction and original stories that make use of these alternate tellings. Sometimes that's what needed to get back into the flow of the story is to explore the story of another character, be it animate or inanimate, human or creature.

6. Have you ever taken a year off of NaNoWriMo? If so, why?

Since starting NaNoWriMo back in 2013, I have attempted each NaNoWriMo, though I almost did not this year due to the untimely demise my new computer thanks to the Windows 10 update and a lack of inspiration. However, I found a spark to ignite the NaNoWriMo fire, and can always hand write.  Transfering it at random points in time to my husband's computer with good ol' Windows 7.

7. What is your biggest inspiration when figuring out what to write?

Typically something I see or read sparks some kind of what if, like last year when I listened to the battle rounds on The Voice and the duet of Joliene starting off a capella with one voice male and the other female made me think “What if one of the men this Joliene had seduced had been gay?” Then I thought, “What if she couldn't seduce him but came really close? Ooh, and she fell in love with the man she almost stole him from's brother!” From that came my next project, which again is still being worked on, and even worse, still has no title.  This year's inspiration was actually the lack of Leverage and The Librarians craossovers

8. Read the first sentence from one of your novels.

Obviously this was meant for those who vlog. I shall however give a quote of the first line of a work in progress, meaning if it ever gets published this line might be changed. “Everyone is jealous of someone or something.”

9. And finally, why do you love writing?

I love writing because I can get things down and not worry about it strangling my brain. Sometimes I feel I have planets and solar systems and galaxies and universes even striving for my attention, yelling that that's wrong or so and so is described too prettily. It gets crazy for me, but when I go back to read it and find myself enjoying the world I created, knowing the subtle nuances and the manipulations occurring even as I submerge myself into the world I didn't even realize I was creating, it's well worth it.

Sometimes, it's too keep the voices of all the characters waiting for their story from overwhelming me, but others it's to write the story I'm trying to find that I wish to read. A few times it's because a dream overwhelmed me and keeps itself on repeat. Poems just suddenly leap on the page sometimes. It's a joy for me to write, most days, but just about every day it feels a necessity as well as so long as I can do both, I'm actually very happy.

That wrap's up the NaNoWriMo tag. Have a tag you want answered? Leave a link to it in a comment or find me on Facebook or Twitter. Planning on attempting NaNoWriMo 2015? Let me know and buddy me on the site at Ency Peterson. Answer the tag yourself and leave a link to it in the comments!