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