NaNoWriMo Update!

Well it's Day 2 of this year's NaNoWriMo!

I'm happy to say that I'm on schedule. I've come up with my own little system to see me through this challenge. Basically, I split the work into three, 600 word parts for each day. After I reach 600 words I take a little break - watch an episode of my latest Korean Drama Boys Over Flowers, or play some Final Fantasy X-2 (so many things about this game that are just wrong, but I love the leveling system), or read from the latest book I'm tackling (focused on Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman).

I am surprised to find that I'm jumping around a lot more than I expected to, and not in what story I'm writing. I initially planned to use NaNoWriMo to speed up how I was writing my next major book, Knight, start mapping a completely different type of book, a YA post-apocalyptic piece tentatively titled The Wandering Shadow, and work on a short story idea. I figured I'd probably use each section to work on each project, but instead I've mostly been devoting it to Knight.


However, I've been jumping around Knight, writing snippets of scenes for later chapter, or even later books (Knight is the first book in a three of four book series). Just before starting this post I wrote the last scene for book three. Luckily, between yesterday and today I've also worked on the next two chapters that I need to actually write, so I'm not that worried. It's just I've been working hard at keeping myself focused on the first book of my series. In high school and undergrad I remember starting so many books that were going to be the first of an epic series. I'd burn myself out trying to juggle so many ideas. It wasn't until I sat down to write The Eternal Queen, a stand-alone novel, that I finally completed a book and not a short story.

Do you ever find yourself doing that?

But it is my dream to write a few series, starting with Mist Walkers, of which Knight is Book One. I want to see how I grow characters when they have several books to experience things and struggle through the ups and downs of living in a world surrounded by a suffocating fog concealing Monsters and Dragons. And treasures, if you know where to look, as Gaspar would say.

To everyone participating in NaNoWriMo, how are you doing? Are you on schedule? Don't worry if you're not, you have time to make up for a slow start, and most of all, it's all about having fun and writing.

National Novel Writing Month

We're so close to November, and you know what that means - National Novel Writing Month.

I've tried to participate in NaNoWriMo several times, and I failed several time. It was always one thing or another - November is a busy month, especially when you're in undergrad. However, in 2009 I competed with two writing buddies and we all finished! It was actually perfect timing, since I had been stewing on the Eternal Queen for half a year (at that time I was calling it The Red Queen), had just graduated from school into unemployment, and just moved to Chicago. So it was a great time for fresh starts.

Naturally, I've been editing the Eternal Queen off and on since, finally finishing edits (well, you never really finish edits) and now I'm querying. But, this year I think I'm going to try NaNoWriMo again for my new book, Knight: Book One in the Mist Walkers series. Or I'll try it just to have a guaranteed word count per day to shoot for, haha.

I've got at least one writing buddy already lined up to compete as well, and a wonderful support group of friends and family. And a boyfriend who will shake his head disapprovingly if I try to weasel my way out my word counts, -_-. Nothing like the threat of a STARE OF DOOM to keep your fingers on the keyboard.

To anyone thinking of participating, good luck! And, if NaNoWriMo ever finishes the writing buddies feature, I'll post my sn on the right sidebar (at the very top) and you should add me! I've literally found that writing becomes a lot more fun and productive when you've got a writing buddy to toss ideas with and to act as a cheerleader.