Just how long have I been working on this novel?

I came back to my blog today and realized just how long I've been away.  Does it matter?  Not to anyone out in the world I'm sure since no one is paying attention.

But it also made me realize just how long I've been working on this novel.  A decade?  More?  Does that matter? 

I think the only thing that really matters is that I'm still having fun when I write.

The Sun Chaser

This morning I was looking through writing I've done over the past couple of years - short stories, short paragraphs here and there that I've written.  Some pertaining to the novel I'm Writing and some, let's just say, not so much.  I ran across this and thought I'd put it out there - here - let me know what you think - drafty draft and I"ll keep working on it.

The Sun Chaser

I'm an early riser. Now when most people say that, I bet you think, sure, you get up at six and get to work about eight. Good on you.

That might be true for most people but when I say I'm an early riser, I mean early. I'm usually up by three and out the door by four am.  And no, I am not a dairy farmer. I do not milk cows for a living.  I chase the sun.

So this morning, I'm following my normal routine and yes, you guessed it...

The alarm goes off about 2:45. I hit the snooze.  What self-respecting person doesn't hit the snooze?  Nine minutes later the alarm goes off again and I get up.  Can anyone explain to me why alarm snoozes are nine minutes?  Every alarm clock I've ever had has a snooze set at nine minutes. Is there some law in Taiwan about nine minutes?  Something in their religion I don't know about? Maybe I missed that day in school where I didn't learn something really important about Taiwanese culture?  Wait did we even learn about Taiwanese culture in school? Probably not.

So anyway, I get up.  I hit the shower, get dressed and walk into my kitchen to start my nice normal bacon and eggs  breakfast. You eat bacon right?  Who doesn't eat bacon!  Don't read this if you don't eat bacon!

So I walk into the kitchen and bam! My whole day gets sent into a tizzy and no, it's not because I was out of bacon, although that could have done it. Apparently a bird died in a bottle on my kitchen table and then disappeared and left only a feather behind.

Only, I don't know where the bottle came from or what kind of bird it was. In fact, I'm not 100% sure the bird actually died, maybe it teleported, but don't you think it's incredible it got inside that bottle in the first place?

But I digress. You see, I'm an animal lover, although I don't have any animals, on account of being allergic and that I have an early schedule because I chase the sun, remember? Sun chaser.  I figure that makes for long days that's not good for having pets.  Plus my therapist discourages it. He says I have dissociative something or other and that's no conducive to having pets. Anyway I tried it once and since I chase the sun the dog peed in the house so I gave him to the neighbor. They both seem happy.

So this morning, I was going to make my bacon and eggs, just like normal, except here was this bottle on the table. At first I thought it was empty, maybe left over from the cleaning lady. That happened last week. The cleaning, I mean. She comes in once a week and last week she left a bottle of empty cleaning detergent in the waste basket and it smelled really bad.  Only this bottle didn't smell at all.  Plus when I picked up this bottle, well, it had the feather.

That's when I figured the bird must have crawled in there and died and gone to heaven or teleported somewhere.  Well, because all that's left is a feather.  But I still don't know where the bottle came from.  So I'm sitting there thinking about all this - the bottle, the bird, and I got behind on making my breakfast and then all of a sudden the sun showed up.  It came through the window and lit up the feather like it was an angel wing sent from god.

I just sat there staring at the bottle, at the sun and the feather.  My day was over.  See I chase the sun. The sun doesn't chase me.  She was already up and gone.  There was no way I could catch her now. My day was ruined.

But here was heaven in a bottle. God sent me an angel wing in a bottle.  The sea fell from my eyes and I tasted it on my tongue.  My day was done.

Copyright Jill Friedmann 2016

How to Get Distracted by a Conference

The Arizona Library Association annual conference is in town and since I'm attending and speaking I've been a little distracted this week, so I missed writing yesterday!  I know I'm in this for the long haul, not just for the month of November, but it was really hard to get out up early this morning to write.  So what did I do this morning when I actually got out of bed and sat down at the keyboard?  I didn't open my novel and get back to my characters.  I started an internet search on how to buy a domain name.  What's the best way to host a site.  Who are the best web hosting companies anyway.  And I hate those ads from GoDaddy, so even though they sell domain names for 99 cents do I really want to buy my domain name from them?

What am I doing?

I'm totally getting distracted and not writing.

What am I doing right now?  Also being distracted.  But at least I'm reminding myself that's it's okay to be human, even when you're a writer.  It has been a good conference. Today is the last day and I'm looking forward to it, even if I am stressed with how much work I have to do, that I should be in the office not attending presentations and having fun!  OMG - I can have fun!

Sigh...

I'm stopping now and will try to write a few lines.

I am in this for the long haul.  Just write a little bit every day.  Remember the words of your amazing friend Deb. "Even if it's only 100 words, it still counts." And Deb, if that's not exactly what you said, I apologize.  These days, I can't remember sh*t!

Habits

I am into this routine and it feels really great. What is that saying about habits?  Some people say 21 days, some people say 30. There is a lot of info when you google "How long does it take to form a habit."  Remember what Mom said, "Don't believe everything you read." Well, I think we all know that was sage advice and even more important now that we have the internet.

My habit if coming along nicely.  I've only missed writing one day this month.  Not bad.  More importantly, I am still having fun. Not every day is easy and that is important to note when trying to develop a habit. Sometimes getting out of bed early is the last thing I want to do.  But I do it anyway, because this is the month.

Thank you NaNoWriMo for being there.

The goal of course will be to continue after NaNo (November) is over.  That will be the hard and true test.  The forums will be gone, the "go-get-'em" emails will be over, the NaNo community will disappear, back into the world of static pages.  So I will be doing this on my own.  That sounds dreary.  But in reality, I must remind myself, I already doing this on my own. I"m the one sitting at the computer typing every morning. Chin up! And besides, it's only Nov. 12th.

Plus, I've got all of you - my family and friends who encourage me.  It helps a lot.  You are all great! And I really appreciate it.  Forming new habits is hard and you have my back!  Whew - thank goodness.

If you need me, ever, for anything...I'm there!

Is it OK Not Knowing the End?

NaNoWriMo is all about the word count. But for me it's supposed to be all about the writing.  Well really it is all about writing every day.  So far this month I've written every day but one. Yay! But these stats on the NaNo page...are they helpful. Probably to some they are a great motivator.  For me...they are complicated - since I'm just trying to write every day.  Yes it will be great to hit 50K this month but I'm conflicted.  I just want to write every day.  See how conflicted I sound?  And that item close to the bottom that says, "at this rate you will finish on..." Well, you can imagine what I'm saying to that stat every day!

Hence let's get back to the focus of my blog being called "Just Keep Writing." Maybe for this month we should consider calling it "Just Keep Writing Every Day."

I've been working on this novel for a really long time now - like years - and I "just keep writing." I've got all kinds of scenes in all kinds of journals, written at writing circles, rewritten, jumbled together, forgotten about, etc. Written over lunch breaks, on weekends, holidays, early in the morning (hardly ever at night: lark not owl).

I'm not an outliner. (Yay for those of you who are - I salute you! And no, that was not sarcastic.) I don't know what the end of my novel looks like - except that I hope it has a happy ending because I really don't like it when books end sadly.

But here's my thing for today - I haven't finish yet - so is there an end? Because I haven't finish the first draft yet.  Let's be clear I totally get that this is a draft and that writing a novel takes a LOT of work and I'm loving the work.  Is it OK that I haven't finish? Is it OK that I don't know what is going to happen? Is it OK that I don't know the end of the story?

I guess it is going to have to be.  The story keeps coming out. I sit down every morning and it keeps coming out. I'm having fun (otherwise I would stop because life it too short). But is it OK that I haven't gotten through to the end?

I don't want to rush it. When I try to push it, it gets messy and awkward and horrible, so I get up and walk away. I come back later and it gets better.

So...perhaps I'll just keep doing it the way I'm doing it and trust in the work/words.

Just Keep Writing - Because it Works

My teacher, Mary, and many of my friends have told me often that the key to success as a writer is to just keep doing it.  Well, this week with the start of NaNoWriMo, I made a promise to myself, that I would try and write every day.  I know it soothes my soul and I know my writing gets better the more I do it.

So this week, I've gotten up early and written - almost - every morning.  Sometimes life gets in the way or work or migraines, but I've gotten up and made the time to write and the story is flowing.  It's a wonderful feeling and I'm happy with the results.

So keep the pen moving.  Keep your fingers on the keyboard.  Just keep writing.

Past the 5K Mark

I past the 5K mark this morning.  I've been writing every day since November 1st and it really does feel great. Although I'm not hitting 1600 words a day, I'm trying not to let the Ego.  Of course the fact that I mention it in this blog - Ha - probably is a sign that I'm only partially suceeding at not letting it get in the way.

I've got an interesting blot twist started this morning, which is always fun. I love it when my characters turn into something I wasn't expecting. A minor character becomes a badass - nice! Maybe she'll play a more important role later in the story, who knows and who cares at this point. The story will come as it comes.

In the meantime I will celebrate being able to get up early, write, and feel better for it.

Here's to all you NaNoWriMo's out there!  I saw a post from someone last night saying they'd achieved 10K words already!  Way to go!

I'm so impressed by everyone being so creative this month!  It's sure to bring so much love and wonder into the world.

Two Days In

I'm two days in to NaNoWriMo and I've got about 3200 words.  Technically I started with a partially written chapter, but who cares. The point of this for me is to write every day of the month. So what I'm telling myself it, if I write 50K words this month - that's AMAZING.  If I don't - who cares, as long as I write every day. That is the goal.

Write something on the novel, every damn day!

So I'm two days in and I've written both days.  And where am I? I'm no straddled with a new character who has to tag along with my MC's for god knows how long to god knows where.  See what happens when you get back to it?  Chaos and mayhem! HA!  But that's just fine, because I am writing people and that's the whole point!

To everyone in Nanoland - more power to you and keep those fingers moving!

NanoWrimo 2015 - it's that time of year again!

November is just around the corner and you all know what that means - NanoWrimo.  I'm participating this year and I'm continuing the saga of Elum and Ari.  This is perfect timing and a great motivator to keep me moving down the path of writing. So if you're ready and willing keep that encouragement coming because I can use all the help I can get.  1600 words a day is something else.  And yes, I would love to take the month off and just write, that 's not going to happen.  I've got my regular life to keep on living.  So writing will be happening around all the other stuff.

So here's to everyone out there who does this every year and "wins!" You are amazing!  And here's to everyone who signs up and tries!  You are amazing too!  And here's to me!  I am also amazing!

Writing keeps me alive - so here we go.

Writing on Empty

You'd think I haven't been writing since this blog hasn't been active for so long, but that's hardly the case. I've been writing a lot for "work," you know the job that pays the bills.  And the other truth is that I've been writing in a wonderful circle almost every Wednesday night for the past two years that's been saving my bacon.

So why "writing on empty?"

Cuz you gotta have juice, man! You gotta have energy, gas, carbs! You got to have something in the tank to get those little gray cells moving, the pen in hand, the fingers dancing on the keyboard.  When you spend hours writing at your day job what do you have left? Fumes...

But that's where writing circle comes into play.  They are amazing and the circle is sacred. It and they have kept me writing; creatively; peacefully; solemnly; wholesomely; full-fillingly.

Even though nothing hits these blog pages, I've gotten a lot done over the past two years and I'm ready to get back into the novel full speed ahead, full throttle, pedal to metal, and any other metaphor you want to toss into the mix.

The tank is full and I'm surrounded by a sacred circle.

Outlines

When writing a story outline - how detailed to you go?  Chapter outlines - do you go with brief description of what would happen in each chapter and that's enough - or do you get more detailed in each chapter and go paragraph by paragraph?

What about segments of the overall story?  This who idea of doing an outline is just feeling overwhelming - one thing I'm considering is to start large view and work my way down or narrower...

But sitting here right now, I'm just not sure who the story really ends, so can I really do an outline when I don't know that?

UGH!  Sigh...ideas?  Tillie tries to help, but she runs out of ideas too!

Time to Outline? Time to Confess...

I've never outlined my story...never sat down and so much as put one bullet point on paper about the plot, the characters, the climax, any sub-plots and I certainly haven't organized a full blown outline of who, what, when, where, how, why, and then this and voile...(can't even spell that word - not even sure I got the right word - trying to get the word from magic that implies ta da - there it is!!!).

But is that necessary?  I'm beginning to think the answer is a resounding YES!

Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of miscellaneous notebooks from the past few years with numerous pages of notes about my story with lots of great ideas about my characters, who they are, where they come from, where they should go, what they could do, together, to each other, etc... how they are connected, ideas for background, notes about where I need to go back and fill things in...but what I definitely DO NOT HAVE is a comprehensive outline or even a slightly vague outline of what is going to happen in this story.

How problematic is that?

In reading so - oh so many posts at the beginning of November on the Nanowrimo Facebook page enthusiastic Nanoists talked in excruciating detail about the importance of outlines.  In fact, people were panicking at the end of October at having NOT outlined in preparation for the start of Nano!

It's been far too long since I took an actual creative writing class and in reading about writing, clearly an outline is the way to go - and in the practicality of my daily life and trying to wrangle this complex story, an outline is needed.

So - outline it is.  Suggestions - comments - ideas are welcome.  But, as I have no followers on this blog and no one seems to be reading it or commenting - which is fine - this is just really an exercise right now to keep me writing - I'm going to jump in and get started with a basic attempt.

However, in the off chance there is someone out there who does happen across this and feels so inclined to leave their two cents (thanks in advance).

Writing Again Feels Good!

I changed the name of my main female lead. Thank you Sarah for the help! Awesome idea... Ariana going by Ari for short. It means holy one! Perfect!

The Dark Rider is now revealed as Sana which means radiant one (what a fall from grace, right?).

1200 words so far today! Yay!

Back at it...

I am way behind in Nano writing but I got back to it today! Whew for the three day weekend, even though I have to work a bit I can write while I work so alls good! Yay. I can and will catch up this weekend!!! I am determined!

October 29 - three days and counting...

Every time I think about writing a blog post and think about writing for Nano it occurs to me that I should be writing for my story.  That every word I write on Blogger is actually a word I should be using for my novel.

My brain is actually going to start screaming at me, "Hey!  You could be using this word for Nano!  What are you, Crazy!  Oh, right, that was last year!  This is the denial year - yea, you're on that river in Egypt girl and you're not writing either!"

Yep.  That's my brain.  Nice, right?  Welcome to my world.

See you in a few days...maybe...

Me and Tons of Friends...

I found out yesterday that tons of friends are doing Nano this year too!  It's so great to know that I won't be suffering alone!  I shouldn't say that.  I shouldn't say suffering, because writing is really fun.  The story flows, you never know what the characters will do next.  It's really amazing when all of a sudden they are off and running in a completely different direction from the one you originally thought.

But to get back to all my friends - yesterday on Facebook, I posted Nanowrimo - 1667 words a day, 50,000 words in a month, and just how many more days before November and all these people came out of Facebook-land to say they are "in" too!  Awesome!  I'm so excited!

So here's to everyone doing Nano - you can do it!  And we'll all be in this together!  Thanks for being in there with me!

Gear up for Nanowrimo

It's time to gear up for Nanowrimo and in preparation I've been looking again at my manuscript for Guardian (re-writing the first paragraph - bouncing around and adding things here and there). Sarah asked if I was going to continue to work on that for Nano, but then I got to thinking about doing something different. I'd been thinking about our dog Tillie.

Tillie is an avid sleeper, hiker, dreamer, and of course eater! She's had many adventures and loves to tell you all about them, especially when we get in the car and are headed off for a new one. All of this begins to take shape as a great story in my head and so...I start this txt conversation with Sarah about titles: Tillie Takes a Trip, Tillie Goes for a Hike, Tillie Meets a Skunk, Tillie Takes a Plunge. She and I are popping them off to one another like crazy!  Tillie Learns to Yodel, Tillie Catches Flies, Tillie Meets New Friends, Tillie Gets a Puppy.

So as we are txt-ing, it finally comes up that I'm talking about Nanowrimo and of course, you could write the whole thing with just titles - ugh!  That's cheating!  But imagine a series of children's books about Tillie and her adventures!  What fun!  So, maybe I'll do that - or maybe I'll go back to Guardian and keep working - it too is an awesome story and is still just getting started and I'd love to spend more time just writing!

This whole blog about Just Keep Writing - well that works if you make for it and somehow right now, I just haven't - except it's starting to creep back in like a light under the door, gradually getting brighter, slowing beginning to fill the room with a hint of light so just maybe, perhaps, I can see my hands.

Life of a Would-Be Writer

Can you be a writer if you aren't writing every day?
Does writing emails count? How about writing WIKI pages?
What about posting to your blog, that you haven't posted to for nearly five months?

I must say, that while I'm not active on this blog as much as I might like (that makes it sound like I have no control whatsoever!), I am still thinking about my novel almost every day. During these past five months I have been writing, actually doing that thing that was formally reserved for hand and pen/pencil/crayon/chalk. I've got notes and notes in one of my many journals about what needs to be added, changed, expanded upon. So I am writing...just not always in this format.

Excuses? Not really, just explanations.

Success!
I'm now going to post anytime using my iPhone. Sweet!!!

Does 25 inches of snow equal creative abandon?

The snowstorm/blizzard arrived yesterday. By dark there was already 15 inches on the ground. The University closed at noon on Monday and the drive home was nothing short of interesting - a moronic driver in a gigantic Ford tried to go flying by us on Route 66 and ended up going diagonally down the middle of two lanes just in front of us for about 500 yards - Wacko! This morning we awoke to 25 inches - it's really beautiful and I'm very glad i don't have to try and get anywhere. The sun is brilliant, but the wind is typical-insane-Northern Arizona-nothing-to-stop-it wind...so both I-17 south and I-40 west are closed.

Does this time of being snowed-in mean I will turn my attention to creative abandon? Can I take some snippets while the new puppy, Ruby, naps to write - Gehrke calls??? We shall see...in the meantime, it's gorgeous albeit blinding!