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Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Get your head out of the mud, baby. Put flowers in the mud, baby

- U2, Zooropa

I sorta have this time thing going now, well really it's me getting used to the new found changes in my life. Unfortunately, I also haven't found much time to write, but I think that is the least of my problems at this point. My homework is done for the week, (and looks like my next chapter due is Nov. 29th)which will leave me a full (well almost full) two weeks of straight concentrating on writing. Granted I still have someone that requires most of my attention during the day and into the early night, I still can write while she's sleeping or watching television.

As far as writing goes, I maybe typed a few hundred words over the course of last week, due to homework and things, so it wasn't a great week my no means for the novel. I finally invested in a small little netbook. (And when I say little, I mean tiny tiny!) Though it does the job. I thought I would have troubles typing on it because it is so small, but I actually like it, though if my fingernails grow any longer, we might have a problem. (Nothing that a nail clippers couldn't fix though)

On to my story...Well, what can I say. It's basically the second week finished, and I am really feeling the self doubt. Granted I haven't written that much, what I do have down is crap. It is flat, unexciting and going really slow. At around 7,000 words, I'm still on chapter 1, with almost no plot happening and seems like we are just following my main character around in her daily life. (I started like this to give a bit of back story, but who likes back story or who even cares about someone they really do not know. Also, not really working on it almost all of last week, really gave me time to think about it. And I really don't like it, I think I would have put it down within the second or third page or so, and for me that's a lot because I usually give a book the first chapter, than if I'm still not interested, I will put it down. Quite frankly, its boring.

So what should I do? I decided that I'm just going to start over. Last week, I had a little bit of time before I went to bed, (actually, I couldn't sleep) so I started plugging away at the keys and I think I have a better start. Is it perfect? No, it is only the first draft, but it is a lot better than the previous start. I wouldn't mind giving more details, but I think I'm just writing for speed right now trying to meet some deadline for NaNo. If it turns out to be semi-decent, then I will rewrite it, and edit the crap out of it.

With the help of my new little computer, and the slack of school over these next two weeks, I hope I will have enough time to type away and maybe catch up? I know that is a tall order! 25,000 words are supposed to be done by today, and that is definitely not happening! I guess I could somewhat cheat, and add the previous start to the one I have now, but I would know I didn't do it, but I did type those words in the time frame given, so we'll see.

Good luck to my fellow NaNoians! I hope everything is going smoothly for you and I can't wait to read your updates!


5 comments:

  1. Awwww *HUGSSS* sometimes it is really hard to find time to write. I totally understand that.

    In terms of restarting I think if it's not working for you it's good to go with your gut. Sometimes a story just isn't ready to be written, I think. Or sometimes I find it is not my story to tell. Andddd, my favourite ones always come from taking an idea and just running with it.

    Here's to a good week!

    <3



    H

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  2. Good luck with restarting! Sometimes it's best to just start over when you know it's not working. You did write those words during NaNo, so you can count them towards your total goal.

    Try not to let the word count goal stress you out too much though. It's a good motivator, but if you don't have the time you don't have the time. It sounds like you're doing great at making time and progress and that's really the important part. I will be writing past November into December because I plan to write the entire novel, so I will still be here, cheering you along as you finish your novel. :D

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  3. I think we have have doubt when our writing is rushed. Good luck this week. Hope this new draft flows well.

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  4. The restarting sounds good! I think the whole thing with writing a novel is that it's a long process.
    I already know that I'm going to scrap most of what I've written, but so far, I'm just interested in getting the story down. I think I'll be writing way in to December and January, so like Elizabeth, I'll be cheering you along too! :) x

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  5. Funny thing is--I love back story. Maybe not in the first chapter, but perhaps you can use some of it and sprinkle it in throughout the book to add depth? That way it isn't a total loss.

    Also, even if you just wrote 50K of back story it would be helping you prepare for the real story to start, ya know? I did that one year. 52K of back story for a novel I had already written. Then I used what I learned during revisions to make the first one better.

    Just an idea. Good luck!

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