On Your Mark, Get Set, GO

Less than five hours now before the official start of NaNoWriMo. I wonder how many of the 90,000+ are poised over their keyboards (let's remember that our friends in New Zealand and Australia have been going for quite some time now) ready to start typing like mad!

I've been contemplating whether to stay up and get started at 12:01am. I'm thinking --- NOT! I need my sleep and my fingers need to be fresh and for those of you who know me, I'm a morning person, not a night owl. Now I realize that after the clock strikes midnight we start calling those hours morning, but let's be reasonable here! I think starting at just after 6am over a bowl of cereal will be just fine.

So, "on your mark, get set, go..........................."

More Ideas for Adding Words

Yesterday when I was looking at the NaNoWriMo site for ideas on how to add words to make it to 50,000 one of the suggestions was to have the MC sing songs all the time. Along these lines of singing, I call Sarah my sunshine, which of course leads to numerous renditions of "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine....."

Tonight we had a fabulous second meal made in our new crockpot we got as a wedding gift. Now, please be fair and remember that right after the wedding we moved and have been settling in here in Flagstaff, so the fact that this is just our second meal is not really that big a thing.

But, I digress...

As we finished our great meal tonight it struck me, as if by a fairy's wand and Sarah helped me finish it out:

We love our crockpot
Our silver crockpot
It makes beef and chicken really good
No matter how hard
You try and screw up
Things come out just as they should

Now, if I can only get my MC to sing this at some point in the story --- I'll gain 30 words!

Freezing Sunday Morning

It's 37 degrees outside this morning and the wind is crazy wild! Although, at this particular moment it seems to be a bit calmer. Last night was like hearing a wailing cry that never rested.

Before I went to sleep last night I thought of some more great scenes and events for my novel. I'm keeping them in my sketchbook by my bed (really I carry this thing around with me everywhere). Why is it that all great ideas seem to come when you are almost asleep? Is the mind more relaxed and thus not distracted by daily life? Is the veil between conscious and unconscious blurred enough to let those gifts from beyond filter in? It's a mystery, but a fascinating one.

Anyway, my MC (main character) is going to be known to all as Guardian. His real name Jacob Mons is known only to his family who have not been in his life for decades or maybe a century (if I choose century that will have some interesting "time" implications for the story). Still looking for a name for the Seeker and the bad guy (girl). Suggestions?

I'm going to have a flash back scene where the Guardian is too late getting to his new Seeker to save him from the bad guys. The event will have happened just after Jacob completes his training and becomes Guardian. Having this happen is a way to create a memory that haunts my MC as he learns a new Seeker has been appointed to him.

Isn't this fun?! Yeah!

Finding the Words

I spent some time this afternoon looking at the forums on the NaNoWriMo site. There are a lot of people out there posting away like mad! It's pretty great! Everyone is gearing up for November and making some interesting suggestions on how to hit the 50,000 word count. For example:
"Put potato in as every other word."

"Have your MCs (Main Characters) fight like little kids a lot"

"Yes you did!"
"No I didn't."
"Yes you did!"
"No I didn't."
"Yes
you did!"
"No I didn't."
"Yes you did!"
"No I didn't."

"Describe everything in excruciating detail." (think Henry James)

It's all been fun, but it also made me finally decide to answer the question I've been avoiding for the past twelve days, "Just how many words a day are we talking about here?"

The answer (and don't all you wiz-kids answer without giving the rest of us a chance)?
1,667 words a day.

Can we all agree right now - at 10:06pm on a Saturday evening, that 1,667 words a day is a LOT? Yeah, I think so too! But, hey, all my friends are going to send me chocolate, chai, peanut M&Ms, lots of light and love and maybe some WORDS.........right?????? Right????? Please????

I don't mean to sound so pathetic and it's not even November yet. I'm really not too panicked! In fact, every day I think of more ways to add to my story --- the trick is to remember them in the heat of the moment (of course, I'm writing them down!). I'm still excited, jazzed, ready to pounce! So stay tuned, the mahem begins in 11 days!

Question of the Day: What's the book about?

I've been getting some encouraging words from friends and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. The main question seems to be, however, "What's it about?" I've put off a few of you for a few days now, so I thought I'd better live up to what I promised and give you all a synopsis. Here goes:

Basic PLOT: This is a story about a guarder of secrets, the seeker of knowledge he protects, and the power that wants the knowledge to unleash what is basically evil into the universe. The seeker knows he's looking for knowledge, but doesn't know what the knowledge is...or that the Guardian is there to protect him. The power that wants to unleash evil doesn't know exactly what the knowledge is either, but has tortured enough seekers to gain their knowledge, so he has more of a clue than my "virgin" seeker.

1. Spacial/Temporal Location: World where it is commonplace to travel between planets/Undisclosed time but definitely future human race
2. Main Character: Known as "The Guardian," he is a protector of Seekers. We won't know his born-name until later in the book (can't reveal any of those secrets in a synopsis, though).
3. Secondary Character: _____ (haven't quite got the name yet), "Virgin" Seeker the Guardian protects.
4. Bad Guy (Girl, actually): _____ (again, not sure of the name yet - think Trinity from the Matrix, but bad). She wants to have ultimate power.
5. Other Characters: All types of folk who help/hinder the Guardian, while he protects the Seeker who is looking for the knowledge.

So, that's it for now! This is going to be so fun! I'm really psyched about it!

Oh yeah, and about the Knowledge: No one Seeker has ever assembled all the Knowledge except in legend.

It's all about QUANTITY people!

So I'm reading through the intro email I got from NaNoWriMo and it's talking about the site, setting up your profile and then at the bottom are three and a half tips (yes a 1/2) on how to make it through the contest.

What is the contest you ask?
Let's do this really truly CRAZED thing: sit down and write 50,000 words in ONE MONTH! Yeap! 50,000 words - 30 days - November (do they realize Thanksgiving is in there?).

So what are the tips you ask? Here ya go - verbatim!

"1) It's okay to not know what you're doing. Really. You've read a lot of novels, so you're completely up to the challenge of writing one. No plot? No problem! If you feel more comfortable outlining your story ahead of time, absolutely do so. But it's also fine to just wing it. Write everyday, and a book-worthy story will appear, even if you're not sure what that story might be right now.

2) Do not edit as you go. Editing is for December. Think of November as an experiment in pure output. Even if its hard at first, leave ugly prose and poorly written passages on the page to be cleaned up later. Your inner editor will be very grumpy about this, but your inner editor is a nitpicky jerk who foolishly believes that it is possible to write a brilliant first draft if you write it slowly enough. It isn't. Every book you've ever loved started out as a beautifully flawed first draft. In November, embrace imperfection and see where it takes you.

3) Tell everyone you know that you're writing a novel in November. This will pay big dividends in Week Two, when the only thing keeping you from quitting is the fear of looking pathetic in front of all the people who've had to hear about your novel for the past month. Seriously. Email them now about your awesome new book. The looming specter of personal humiliation is a very reliable muse.

3.5) There will be times you'll want to quit during November. This is okay. Everyone who wins NaNoWriMo wanted to quit at some point in November. Stick it out. See it through. Week Two can be hard. Week Three is much better. Week Four will make you want to hug the world."

This is what I'll be doing the month of November. I'm going to need all the encouragement you can send me - See tip 3 - so please, keep it comin'!

Thanks for reading, jill

Finding my way around NaNoWriMo site

At the moment I'm not feeling very productive: just finding my way around the NaNoWriMo website ---- would love to spend a whole day doing this, but do I want to use a precious Saturday or Sunday to do this???

I find it very interesting that I'm even asking that question...(more on that later).

When setting up preferences, profiles on so many sites lately (not just NaNoWriMo, but Facebook, Connections) this takes a lot more time than I ever imagined. I'm finding that I think much more about how I am spending my "free" time. Except that I'm about ready to embark on a HUGE project in November to write 50,000 words of my novel! Holy Cow! 50,000 words!

I'll be emailing a bunch of my friends to request their support as I take on this challenge. So for those of you who've gotten that email and are now looking at this blog - thankyou! Thank you! And thanks!

I'm IN!

Well, "it's official" as the email says from NaNoWriMo. I'm committed to writing a novel in November --- so here we go!

I am so jazzed about this --- excited and curious about what the experience will be like. When will the great looming WALL appear and how hard will I be going when I hit it? 'cuz, it's bound to happen! You know it is....but hey, I'm game. I've got a cracken idea and it's gonna be a blast to see where these characters take me!

In the meantime, until November 1st that is....I'm psyching up! ~j

23 Days to Start

On November 1st, I'm going to start writing a novel. It's all part of NaNoWriMo. My friend Deb Eisloeffel did this last year and it was a real inspiration. In early 2007 after my job ended, I started creating the idea for my novel in my head and with a few notes on paper. Over the course of the next six months I started a new job, got an offer for an even better one, got married and moved to a new state, so the idea has been resting.

But now it's time to dust it off (that wasn't very creative). Now it's time to get ready to write write write.....so I named this blog "Just Keep Writing."

I'll keep this blog going during and hopefully after the process and we'll see what happens. In the meantime, just keep writing! ~j