Writer's Block

Well.... yesterday I was so close. My plot took a twist toward the end (that I did not plan) and came to a logical conclusion at 47,000 or so words. What to do? I can't very well quit there since I am doing this for NaNoWriMo.

There were a few characters mentioned only in one chapter in passing that I went back and made new chapters about them. Then I had a couple of short chapters that I elaborated on.

I kept writing yesterday until I just had to get ready to go to the hospital. I was hoping to reach the 50K and then have it validated before I left, but I ran out of time.

Today as I waited for my husband to pick me up at the hospital, I did quite a bit of people watching. Then I came right home and typed out those last 1600 words. I'm validated and I printed out my certificate.

Now I can go wash that goop out of my hair that they used for those little sensors they put on your head for the test. I didn't want to wash my hair at the hospital and then go out into the 10 degree weather with wet hair.

Now I have some first hand experience if any of my characters happen to go to the hospital.

I am moving along at a steady pace now. The most difficult stretch for me was between 14K and 20K. The words came out as slow as molasses. I spent three days in the 18K range. Then I decided that I had to buckle down and keep away from distractions. I stopped reading all the groups and only glancing at e-mail.

I am still behind, but I have the goal in sight. As soon as I got up this morning, my husband said, "Are you going to write any words? Better get busy and write some words."

He has this weekend off for Thanksgiving so he is my cheering section. I am not sure if that is a good thing or not. So as I am quickly typing in my blog, he thinks I am going to town on my novel.

I expect to make the 50K, but I haven't a clue how to get to my story's resolution. I know how I want it to end, but I don't know how to get there.

Jody suggested that I type the word "transition" and then go straight to the ending. So I skipped right to the last chapter and started typing. We'll see what happens next.

I've been busy typing. I have commanded myself to stop getting side-tracked on other projects. I've been getting much more done on my NaNovel since I've restricted myself. I have 34,000 plus words now. I believe I am going to make it barring computer crashes and power outages.

In the past 24 hours or so, I've written about 5,000 words. I'm catching up a little bit, but I am still way behind. It is still doable, and I don't feel any anxiety about it. I do know, however, that I have no time for messing around.

I cannot allow myself to get involved in the groups or I totally wear myself out before I type a word on my novel that day.

I still have not reached that nirvana that I imagined. I want the words to flow without hindrance. I am still aiming for that dream.

Some days I've been able to type out over 2000 words without any problems. Other times, like yesterday, it was pure torture. This thought keeps me going, though. I know it is possible to write 2000 words a day, and I can still make it if I don't give up now.

I am seriously considering having one of my characters be an owner of a Yahoo group with 600 members who is trying to turn over the reins to a group of helpful moderators. Then I could include the 2000 words I wrote today in e-mail.

I have written enough now that I am confusing myself. I keep forgetting which character has which problems, and I find myself typing the wrong name. I also made the doctor's wife's father a contractor, and then a few chapters later he was a doctor. He is a multi-talented fellow!

When I get a real big brain block, I will type xxxxx to remind me that I am skipping over something. Sometimes I start a new chapter. With Microsoft Word, you can use chapters to jump around in your manuscript. It makes it easier to go back and look at my previous work.

I am finding all sorts of new ways to procrastinate. I am writing many more messages to the Writer's group than usual. One person made a comment about the number of words they wasted writing e-mail. So I counted them.

I think we are collecting a group of World Class procrastinators.

One beauty of NaNo, and the reason you must complete it in the space of one month, is that we are all in the same boat. We come up with the same obstacles. It's wonderful to have somebody to talk to who knows what you are feeling and experiencing.

If there is a motto for NaNoWriMo, it would be "Turn Off That Internal Editor".

Donna says she wrote her book by letting the words come, and then she edited it later. I like to write as it comes to my mind. On the other hand, I have been having a bit of trouble the past couple of days keeping myself from editing what I already have written.

I have really tried today to turn off that internal editor. I was surprised that she/he/it was so strong. I changed my fonts for my chapter headings. Then I fixed places where I typed two spaces when it should only be one (and we all know how important that is!). Then I started synchronizing the version on my laptop with my desktop (since I don't have a network set up yet).

So all and all, I stayed home all day to work on the novel, and I came up with less than a thousand words. I am having the hardest time getting out of the 18,000's. I keep checking my work count, and I've only increased it by 200 or so each time (after what seems like forever).

Someone suggested that the Writer's Digest is good for learning the business side of writing, and The Writer is for learning the writing side. I'll have to make a note to subscribe when I get a chance... after NaNoWriMo is over, though.

I had high hopes yesterday of getting a lot of work done on my novel. Well... I think I typed 200 words, maybe. I didn't even count them before I went to bed. I had a busy day. I went out with Terrie in the morning, and then I gave a piano lesson in the afternoon. The young lady stays afterwards and does some housework in exchange for her lesson. By the time she left, I was ready for dinner. So I cooked some hamburger and made some spaghetti. After dinner, I could barely keep my eyes open. I was in bed by 7 p.m. and asleep by 8 p.m.

Today I am doing a little better, but not much. I am so good at procrastinating. I now have to write 1900 words a day (instead of the original 1667) to make it by the last day.

Jean has been trying to get the Fairbanks NaNoWriMo people together in person. Between the weather and other commitments, it hasn't worked out so far.

I would like to go to Gulliver's Used Books store on College Road. There is a coffee shop there, and I love looking at the books. I should go there and check it out for a place to meet. We could bring our laptops and have a write-in. I have a laptop now, so I could do that. *happy grin*

If it were only two of us, surely we could be quiet enough. I was thinking of asking Gulliver's if we could have a room to use. They have different rooms upstairs, and we may be able to meet in one of them. I don't know, though, I haven't really checked this out.

Another place for a "write in" might be the University Wood Center, although parking is difficult there.

I'm behind on my word count, but I refuse to get all worried about it. I thrive with deadlines. Since it only takes me a couple of hours at most to type out 2000 words, I tend not to give the NaNovel that much attention. Now when I need 10,000 words a day, then I'll get busy.

Yesterday morning I downloaded the excel spreadsheet for tracking your NaNo word count. It really is as great as others said it was. You download it from a link on this page:

That's the continuation page for NaNo QandA. The link is halfway down the page. Search the page for "Download" to find it.

I have not kept track of how many hours I've written or how many words that I've written each day up until now. At first I thought it would be impossible to use the spreadsheet. So I just started with the day I downloaded it. I don't get the hourly averages, but it still figures my finish day, which is btw December 8.

. . . showing is also better than telling in the process of becoming a writer. Don't tell your friends and family that you want to be a writer; rather, show them that you are one by planting yourself in front of your keyboard and going to work . . .

Science Fiction Writer Robert J. Sawyer: On Writing

Day 13

How am I doing? Well, I haven't felt too well the past week. I will type up a storm one day and then the next couple of days, nothing. My word count stands at 15,406 as of this morning.

However, I've been talking about my novel to anybody who will listen. Lots of ideas are swarming my mind. My writing is getting less formal looking, (quotation marks and commas falling by the wayside), but the creative juices are flowing.

Whenever I feel a lull, all I have to do is read a little in one of the psychology books I checked out of the library, and I'm off again. My characters are starting to tell me things that I didn't know about them. That's exciting.

How do you know if you are on track to finish your 50,000 words before November 30. Here's how I figure it.

I took 50,000 words divided by 30 days equals 1,667 words per day.

Then I take the day of the month, in this case the 11th and multiply by words per day:

1,667 X 11 = 18,337 (If you don't round off the 1667 then it will be 18,333.3)

OR

Every three days you need 5,000 words.

So here's a quick reference:

Nov Words
3 5,000
6 10,000
9 15,000
12 20,000
15 25,000
18 30,000
21 35,000
24 40,000
27 45,000
30 50,000

That's figuring that you want to be typing your last 1,667 words on November 30. So, if you have 20,000 words at the end of Friday, the 12th, then you are right on target.

Day 9

For me, Nano is a huge writing exercise. My goals are to write freely without filtering content, use active verbs, make sure my dialog is in first person, and all narrative is in the third person. As for the rest, anything goes. When I get stuck, I start writing whatever I'm thinking.

I keep telling myself, "Do not go back and edit until after November."

A surprising reaction is happening when I write. I'll get to a point where it actually feels physically impossible to continue. I put myself into the place of the patient and try to write what she is feeling. Then I start having the feelings myself. Sometimes I have to stop and writing something else for awhile before I can go back and continue.

Technically, I didn't write a word for my NaNo project yesterday. Instead I typed up quotations from The Collected Works of Ted Hughes.

Sylvia Plath was married to Ted Hughes, and her book, The Bell Jar, is the inspiration for my NaNo project. So I've decided to use quotes from his poetry at the beginning of each chapter.

Since my novel's theme is the Meandering Flooded Stream, I am using quotations about rivers, streams, and water in general. It is a fascinating exercise, looking for these quotations. It also gives me ideas how to weave the stream thread throughout the novel.

"Give sorrow words: the grief that does not speak
Whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break."

William Shakespeare
Macbeth
Act 4 Scene 3


Writing often comes from the grief that must be expressed to be endured.

Cheripop from NaNoWriMo forums suggested this Random Name Generator to help find unique names for characters. You can generate up to 30 names at a time for male, female, or both, as well as an obscurity factor from 1 to 50.

I find myself picking at my manuscript. I fancied up the chapter headings and looked up synonyms for said. I still have 800 more words to make my goal for today. Have I run dry yet? No. I think procrastination is trying to step in.

I was surprised that some people wrote over 5000 words on the first day of NaNoWriMo. I could have easily done that, but I made the decision to stop after about 1800 words. I wanted to stop in the middle of what I was doing so that starting up the next day would be easier.

Then Tuesday, I didn't get started until late in the evening. I got my daily goal finished by midnight. Then I started up a little for today.

Maybe I'm making a mistake not writing until I have exhausted all the ideas for the day. I don't know. I also find myself going back and adding a little to previous chapters.

When I get a new idea I start a new chapter. Then the idea is down in black and white. It is easier to spring from that than thinking up "What's next?" when my mind is empty.

This is the second day of NaNoWriMo, and I haven't written a single word today.

I started my NaNoWriMo novel this morning. I was going to stay up last night and type my first words at 12:01 a.m. but I was too sleepy. I woke up around 4:45 a.m. (which is really 5:45 a.m. Alaska Daylight Savings time). By 8:30 a.m., I had my day's goal met. Cool!

I've posted my first two pages on my NaNoWriMo profile if you'd like to read it.

This past weekend I was watching the Brooke Ellison story on television. It was the last movie that Christopher Reeve made before he died. It is the story of a young girl who is paralyzed from the neck down after she was hit by a car. I thought the name "Brooke" would work well for one of the characters in my book.

Then it hit me this morning after I've typed 1800 words. Flooded Stream - Brooke, cool, I love puns.