NaNoWriMo No Mo

I failed.

Big time.

Ultimately, I couldn't even hit 10,000 words.

I thought I would have more time in November.  I thought I had a real shot.

NaNoWriMo is an international writing contest challenging you to write 50,000 words on a novel in one month, the month of November.

I had a great idea, The Extra Credit Club, that had been burning in me for many years.  On paper, I had more time available to do it.

First, however, I had to finish up The Model Apartment, a play I was in.  That took the first few days of the month.

Second, I wanted to front-load my work time, so I could have more time in the back of the month.

Third, with my family home with their Thanksgiving break, I found myself choosing between time with family and time to churn out another 41,000 words.  I chose family.

I know about the theory that you can write whatever and then go back to fix it.  I write relatively fast, but I don't quite write that way, either.  Sure, I often have to go back and edit, tighten and make it more consistent, but I'm not a big wholesale editor.  I usually have a strong idea of my characters and plot, and like to make the first draft pretty close to the final draft.  Everybody writes differently.  That's just the way I do it. 

I probably could have gotten to 20,000 words if I kept doing it a little each day, but once I realized I couldn't make it, and that very few people would see the finished work, I found it harder to motivate myself.

I do want to get back to The Extra Credit Club.  But I  owe it to my readers to return to The History of the Trap series first.  I also have a completed book I'm just sitting on - Crowley Stories: Swamp's Edge.  I'm Hamletting that, as I can't decide whether to find a real publisher or agent, or just publish it myself. 

Semi-retirement has not brought the extra writing time I had hoped for.  Much of it is my fault.  I have let other projects and concerns get in the way. I have not had the consistency of schedule yet that makes me know - this, this is my writing time each day.  I vary what times I go to work at accounting each day, and for the longest time, I had a script I had to learn for a play I was in.

I have to do what I can to restore a consistent AND longer writing time.  Fiction takes more time and effort than blog entries and non-fiction writing.  And fiction is my first love, and what I want to return to.

Thanks for all who support my writing efforts, be they blog, or newspaper column, or my self-published efforts.  You help inspire me, and help keep me going.

Back to the writing board!

T. M. Strait

What? Another Tuesday Tidbits?

Let's swing it - fast and furious Tuesday Tidbit style!

Tidbit #1

I attended the first NaNoWriMo event last night - great event with many new writers (at least new to me). What a joy to see so many bubbling over with writing ideas!

Tidbit #2

Across the nation, thee are some 300,000 participants in NaNoWriMo (the writing contest that challenges you to write 50,000 or more words in a month - National Novel Writing Month), according to our group leader, Elizabeth Welch.

Tidbit #3

Given the almost complete collapse of bookstores, and receding American readership, I sometimes wonder if there are more people trying to write books than read them!

Tidbit #4

Case in point:  The best selling comic books in the country might barely break into six figures in sales.  The leading comics used to sell millions.  This in an era when super hero movies and television dominate!  There are many, many more people who have watched the Avengers movie than have ever picked up an Avengers comic book.

Tidbit #5

Elizabeth Welch did an excellent job chairing last night's NaNoWriMo meeting.  I don't know if I can achieve the task set out, but I think I'm going to enjoy trying much more than I initially thought I was.

Tidbit #6

I wonder if I'm making a mistake not concentrating on self-publishing instead of literary agents and regular publishers.  I get impatient when I see other people have their books in print.  And I wonder if  I'm good enough to really attract an agent and/or publisher.

Tidbit #7

Case in point:  There is going to be a book signing event on November 19th at the Okefenokee Heritage Center.  I have two completed novels, a half million words on my blog, a newspaper column in two papers - and I have NOTHING to present for people to buy or sign.  Well, except for my custom made Chap Book pamphlet of Strait Line stories that to date has sold ZERO copies.

Tidbit #8

Enough with the writing already!  How 'bout them Dawgs?

Tidbit #9

Okay, maybe back to writing again.

Tidbit #10

How 'bout that Paul Ryan?  Has there ever been a bigger five star hypocrite?  Refuses to take the speakership of the House until he gets more family leave, and then wants to legislate to deny it to the rest of us.  I'm trying to tell you people.  He ain't no Christian.  He is an Ayn Randian.

Tidbit #11

Saw the first Supergirl.  Not bad!  Lots of things in it that actually go back to the roots of the way Superman was presented in the Golden Age, mixed with a little bit of 90s chatter.  Love that she's part of the media, and that National City has an updated Daily Planet like setting, with Cat Grant serving as an edgier Perry White.  Love that she's enthusiastic and has such a strong sense of doing good.  Love that they're not afraid to show her in costume - a fear that permeated the show Smallville.  This  fan of the Superman family for over a half a century gives a thumbs up!

Tidbit #12

I like cookies.  I'm in the danger zone for losing/maintaining weight, that runs from Halloween through New Years.  I had gotten down to a low weight for me, and now I fear that the cookies just smell too damn good. Sigh.

Tidbit #13

How's my word count?

Tidbit #14

Oy.  50,000 is a lot of words!

Nan-noo Nano and other Monday Musings

Every word counts.

At least it does this month.

It's NaNo Nano, or National Novel Writing Month, and the goal is to write 50,000 words in a month.  I think it would be best if it was a novel, but I've been told other writings count, including things like blog entries.

It should be a breeze for me, right?

I mean, I'm sometimes told I'm a "quantity over quality" writer, so this should be a piece of cake.

I even have a novel idea.  The title?  The Walk Away

Unfortunately, I haven't gotten much beyond the title, and a few vaguely formed ideas swirling in the back of my head.

This may not be the ideal month for this.

I'm trying not so much to write a new novel, as I am trying to promote and get published the two I already have.  It's important to me to keep my energy on that as much as possible.  Even if a novel is good (and there's no telling whether mine are really any good or not), it takes time and effort to find an agent and publisher.  It may not happen.  But I've got to try.  I want to be able to at least say that I did my best to try.

I have the Okefenokee Heritage Writer's Contest the first part of the month.  I am involved in organizing and preparing the ceremony to present the awards.  It will take quite a bit of prep, and some prime writing time to pull off.  I'm excited by this year's contest, and grateful to all the writers who chose to compete.  I'm hoping this contest will continue to thrive and grow from year to year.  I should be posting an event for it in the next day or two.

Alison has a conference to go to this week, and I have one to go to next week.  Those events could definitely put a crimp in my writing plans.  Alison and I are also planning a trip to St. Simon's for our 19th wedding anniversary.

Based on a recent doctor's visit, the one thing I need to do more of to get my blood pressure down, is more cardio level exercise.  That could cut into writing time.

I'm spoiled and I love to have time to watch TV, see movies and theater, to read and perform.  Selfish, I know, but I don't know how much of that I can give up.  The new TV season is in high gear, with many great serial dramas (including The Walking Dead, Fargo, The Man in the High Castle, and a plethora more).  We are in the thick of football season as well, as my love/hate relationship with that sport continues.  This last weekend was rough with Detroit, Atlanta, and the Georgia Bulldogs all losing.  But the Wolverines eeked out a victory, and gave me a great cardio workout while doing so.

And then we have the political  races picking up steam.  The Republicans are like watching a clown car train wreck, and as repulsive as it is, you can't help but rubberneck it sometimes.  Every time a candidate emerges from the pile, my reaction is always the same - "Really?  Seriously?  THAT'S who you think could be President?"  My poor Republican friends! I try not to ask them who they favor, because there is no way they can give me a good answer.  So many candidates, so many clowns.

As much as I seem to write, it is still difficult and slow to put together novels.  History of the Trap and Crowley Stories took several years of hard work, at only a few pages each week.  Heck, History of the Trap traces back to 9TH GRADE as to when it first started to formulate in my mind.

I did have a week and a half off this summer.  That allowed me to put the finishing touches on Crowley Stories, adding about 15 to 20 thousand words.  And although I would love to do that more and more, I still have a mortgage, and a son who would like to go to college.  Until I prove that I can write and bring some money in doing it, I may not even be able to retire from accounting at 62.  So finding out if I can do that has to be the top priority.

Unless, of course, Fargo is on.

So, the point of this is really two things -

1) to prepare myself for failure in the NanNo contest

2) so exactly how many word is this, and how many more does that leave to go?


Until next time,

T. M .Strait