Tag: NaNoWriMo (page 2 of 2)

Fiction Fridays: Tapping Into Writerly Extrasensory Perception

Today marks the final day of the Warm Fuzzies blogfest. I’m not quite sure where the last four weeks went, but here we are, over halfway through with November, hurtling our way to the winter holidays.

Our prompt for the week is a bit of a timely one, given that I am easing my way out of a rough writing patch and trying to regain momentum with NaNoWriMo:

This week, post what makes writing worth it for you and most importantly, post one of your Warm Fuzzy moments. It can be a scene from a WIP, short story, poem, anything that strikes your fancy. Visit one another’s posts and enjoy the writing you find there.

Writing involves blood and sweat and tears (the blood is hopefully metaphorical, unless we are discussing paper cuts). It can be stressful, frightening, disheartening. Sometimes I can end my writing time feeling down-in-the-dumps pathetic, like I’m the worst writer to walk the face of the planet, and how in the world am I ever going to turn this piece of tripe into something that people want to read, let alone pay for?

Sometimes, it helps for me to think of writing as a sort of treasure hunt, or some vast archaeological dig. I like to imagine myself the intrepid adventurer on a quest, armed with a map and some tools, along with a folder holding the bits of research and scraps of paper and a clue or two.

Image: taoty / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

No matter how detailed my preparation for the excursion, however, I never fail to wander into unmarked territory. It’s in those unmarked spaces that I find the most unexpected gems, the most valuable pieces of treasure. It’s in those off-the-beaten-path spots where I suddenly find the capacity to listen.

Sometimes the things I hear resonate with the guideposts on my map; sometimes they take me into brand new territory. No matter what, this is where the magic happens. Characters suddenly reveal a handful of new secrets. Mundane settings become more vibrant. Flat, uninteresting plots gain complexity, along with a few twists and turns. Ideas are infused with life, with passion and vibrancy and wants and needs,

This is why I write, aside from the fact that there are characters chirping in my ear, demanding that their stories be told. I write because I can’t get enough of this strange extrasensory perception, this third eye that allows me to see and to hear things that don’t exist. I write because I have the faith that my hard work will be rewarded with those wonderful, incandescent moments of joy, when a scene that’s been hazy and vague suddenly crystallizes in my mind.

Given the furious pace of NaNoWriMo, it’s been difficult to tap into my writerly ESP, to take the time to sit down and just listen to what my characters want and need. It’s one of the things that I’m hoping to do this weekend, because I know the story needs an injection of vitality, a little (or maybe a lot) extra oomph.

All of this is a roundabout way to preface my excerpt, which is not taken from my NaNo novel (sorry, guys, it just doesn’t have that “zing” right now). Instead, I’m posting a flash fiction piece that I wrote for a Halloween-themed challenge last month. You can find the original post here. I love this piece because it’s a little creepy, moody, and dark, which is out-of-the-ordinary for me.

Enjoy, and be sure to swing by and visit the other bloggers taking part in the Warm Fuzzies blogfest!

-oOo-

“Midnight Walker”

It was a small thing, really: a single globule of blood, no larger than a dewdrop and just as delicate. If Alaric hadn’t been starving, his veins parched and dry, it would’ve been easy enough to ignore. Restraint and willpower had always been his strengths, even before he was reborn. But then again, he had never been deprived of sustenance for so long. There was no way he could withstand such temptation.

That drop of blood was a siren’s song of lust and desire, flooding his mouth with saliva, sharpening his gleaming fangs. It gleamed in the flickering glow of the streetlamp, adorning the whore’s neck like the most precious ruby.

She’d been bitten already — a sloppy kiss from a drunkard, for her intoxicating bouquet was tainted by the acrid, burnt smell of whiskey. With his preternatural senses, he could hear the beating of her heart, the borborygmic trembling of her stomach; she was hungry as well, her face pinched and pale beneath a heavy coating of rouge. It mattered little. By the time Alaric was through, food — or lack thereof — would be the least of her worries.

The whore turned limpid eyes upon him, lips parted in a drawl of invitation, and Alaric’s hands shook as his slid the coin into her hand. A thrill of delight coursed down his spine as he followed her into the dank alley nearby, even as his conscience uttered one final whimper of protest.

He would hate himself come morning, when the alleys would be strewn with evidence of his excesses, but the salt-sweet elixir on his tongue drove away all regret.

ROW80: Tryin’ To Get That Feeling Again

November 12, 2011 / Lena Corazon / 36 Comments

Yes, the title of today’s post is indeed a reference to Barry Manilow’s hit song, and yes, that’s a clip of him performing it in concert below. It is, I promise, relevant for today.

You see, I have hit the mid-month slump. My pretty NaNo novel, which seemed so sparkly and wonderful and exciting when I started it at the beginning of the month, now seems rather… lackluster. Insipid. Boring? Metaphors and figures of speech are unwieldy, not to mention a bit cliche, my characters are revealing some crazy inconsistencies, and I’m starting to see the holes in my lovely outline. One of the problems is that I’ve been working on the voyage sequence (where my main character has been sailing to the strange and frightening land of her birth) for over a week, and I think I am just sick and tired of talking about it. I need to get poor Liandre off the darn ship and onto solid land, so the rest of her journey can take place.

I can’t complain terribly about my NaNoWriMo progress. The beginning of the week was a challenge, but I’ve caught up with my word count. At the moment, I have 19,311 words, and by the time I finish writing tonight, I will have hopefully added on at least 2k more. When I sit and really think about this, I can hardly believe that I’ve written so much in such a short period of time. It’s not perfect — far from it — but I think by the end of the month there will be some salvageable bits that can be edited, polished up, and (maybe) turned into something real and substantial.

I think I’ve reached the mid-point blahs with everything, not just writing. Monday marks the beginning of Week 8 in our academic quarter (there are 10 in total), and oh god, I am just… squeaking… by. I spent the past couple of days laboring over a 5 page paper that I should’ve been able to write in a few hours. I can barely stand reading for class. That thesis thing that I’m supposed to be writing? Yeah, that’s not happening either. I’m a bit tired, a little low on energy, lacking in excitement, and all I really want to do is go home and see my family. Thanksgiving can’t come soon enough.

Pictures of kittens make everything better.

On the other hand, I will say that I’m surprised that I didn’t hit this bump earlier in the quarter. I’m tired, my desire to juggle is flagging, but I’m not unhappy, and that’s more than I can say for previous quarters. By week 5 of each quarter, I’m usually indulging in escape fantasies — you know, plans to drop out of grad school and join the circus, or become a makeup artist, or move to a commune in the forest. I’ve managed to avoid escape fantasies this quarter, which I count as progress. Things are getting done, just not necessarily in the time frame that I’ve intended. However, slow and steady wins the race, etc, etc.

Anyway, if I go a little quiet on the Twitter/blog/social media front, you’ll know why. We’re entering the stretch when I have to tackle the most immediate things first (i.e., all that stuff that I’m getting graded on). I’ve got plans for this week’s blog posts, and some drafts, but we’ll see if I can actually pull them together. I missed Friday’s post because I mistakenly thought that I should be responsible and take care of my 5 page paper before everything else. Had I realized that the dumb paper would’ve taken 2 days to write, I would’ve just gotten the blog post and my NaNo writing out of the way first. Juggling — it is a fine art, and one that I have yet to perfect.

So that’s where I am this week! Just as a reminder, Em and I are hosting another Fun Not Fear! check-in, which I highly encourage all WriMos, and WriMo cheerleaders, to visit. And don’t forget to swing by and wave hello to the rest of the ROW80 community.

ROW80: Buckling Up for a Bumpy Ride

November 6, 2011 / Lena Corazon / 16 Comments

First up, my ROW80 update, with the mix of highs and lows that have marked this week. Second, I (re)introduce my NaNoWriMo tale, PATH TO THE PEACOCK THRONE.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that November has always been a challenging month for me, between trying to balance school, health, and other challenges. We’re barely a week into the month, and I already feel like I’m on a rollercoaster. There have been a mix of highs and lows, and though my head is spinning, I’m trying to stay focused.

The Good: I’m meeting my exercise goals (4 times/week), and I almost succeeded in my MWF blogging schedule. One cool thing is that I hit my 100th post on Monday. I’m still a shocked that I’ve made it so far. Many, many thanks to everyone who reads and comments — you all keep me motivated!

Em and I have also posted the first Fun Not Fear! check-in, with the usual NaNo mashup. If you haven’t already, swing by to share your progress, or to cheer on the WriMos in the bunch.

The So-So: My NaNo word count started out strong, but I faltered on Saturday. I attended a local meetup of WriMos in the area, but didn’t get any writing done. And in terms of my thesis, I started out strong here as well, but life got wonky before I could finish the sections I had hoped to get done this week.

The Could-Be-Better: I received some unsettling news about an illness in the family last week, and it upset me more than I realized it would. I’m better now, but the couple of days I spent in the Depths of Despair have thrown my schedule off kilter.

At the moment, I’m also trying not to get sick. The temperature dropped suddenly, and my asthma is flaring. I ended up sitting outside for Saturday afternoon’s NaNo meet-up, and although I thought I’d be warm enough in my sweater (hey, it had sleeves, and it covered my chest), I was feeling pretty poorly by the time I got home, and didn’t get anything done.

The Bottom Line: I’m feeling better about things, though I’m slightly overwhelmed by everything that needs to get done this week. I’d usually pull a few all-nighters to get myself back on track, but given the health thing, I need all the sleep I can get. “One step at a time” will be my mantra for the next few days.

(Re)Introducing PATH TO THE PEACOCK THRONE

On Friday, as part of the Warm Fuzzies blogfest, I posted three songs that inspire my current WIP. I’ll be talking about this story for the rest of November as way to keep me motivated through NaNoWriMo. I’m terrible at synopses, but the one that I’ve drafted goes like this:

Liandre, a sheltered princess who dreams of adventure, gets her wish when the death of her father exposes the terrible secret of her origins, catapulting her into an unexpected world of danger and discovery. Along the way, she’ll cross paths with allies and adversaries, watch legends come to life, and find magic more powerful than any she’s ever encountered. Better yet, she might just uncover the threads of identity she thought lost.

If PPT sounds a little familiar to you ROWers who have been visiting me for a while, it’s because I was working on it during the end of Round 2 and beginning of Round 3. 25,000 words in, I abandoned it. My protagonist, Liandre, felt incredibly flat, and I had given away the identity of the ultimate villain within the first four chapters — a definite no-no, especially since his identity is key to a larger conflict that won’t be resolved until Book 2.

Taking time off to rethink my plot (which was pretty much nonexistent) has proven incredibly beneficial. I now have a better sense of where the novel is headed, the ultimate goals I need to achieve, and what has to be done in order to get there. Better yet, I decided to switch the POV from 3rd person to 1st person. Suddenly, my flat-as-cardboard protagonist came to life. She needed to be the one telling her story, without the filter of a narrator, and now that she has the mic, she has come to life. 😀

For NaNo, I’m bracketing the first 25k I wrote, and starting in the middle, hence my semi-rebel status. I don’t know if I’ll end up using any of that original material, but my goal right now is to just move forward, and worry about the beginning when I know exactly how the novel ends. 😀

Anyway, have a wee excerpt! This is taken from the very end of Part 1, where Liandre is “crossing the threshold” from her old life into a new world filled with danger and uncertainty.

Dawn came upon swift wings, the ebon sky yielding to the blush-and-gold of sunrise. Unlike Edric’s departure for Laehira the year before, there were no well-wishers assembled to see me off, no band playing jaunty farewell tunes, no father to bestow a formal blessing upon me. I was no longer sister of the newly-crowned king, but the scion of a land most believed to be little more than myth.

Even if Edric had been at liberty to tell our countrymen the truth of my origins, few would be able to comprehend it. To them, Vao Artan was a fable, a cautionary tale told to disobedient children. My own governess had recited the dreaded tale before bedtime when I was young, and it haunted me still.

“Beware the bird-women across the sea,” she always began, “for they feast on the flesh of naughty little children, and use their bones to line their nests.”

To think that I was now one of those frightful bird-women, that their blood, their magic, flowed through my veins, marked me as different was a fact that I could hardly bear. My skin prickled at the knowledge, as though it no longer belonged to me.

Not perfect, of course, but since it’s NaNo, that’s allowed. 😉

Fiction Fridays: Writing Soundtracks, the NaNoWriMo Edition

November 4, 2011 / Lena Corazon / 17 Comments

For today’s first edition of Fiction Fridays, I planned to write a bit about the music that is the inspiration for my NaNoWriMo novel. Coincidentally, the theme for Week 2 of the Warm Fuzzies blogfest is to share something that inspires our current WIPs, so I can kill two birds with one stone.

Having a soundtrack tailored to each WIP is incredibly important to me. Music fuels my mood as a writer, and it also helps me tap into the emotional tone that I want to evoke in my work. I spend far too much time pulling my playlists together — and yes, that is multiple playlists. I usually have a list for the WIP as a whole, plus songs tailored for individual characters, songs that reflect friendships and romances, and songs that inspire specific plot points and scenes (you know, battle scenes, sad moments, sappy moments).

Utilizing a musical soundtrack is also incredibly helpful when it comes to transitioning between projects. TELL ME NO LIES, the novel I most recently worked on (a steampunk murder mystery/romance), has a very distinctive vibe, with lots of folk and country music that remind me of 19th century San Francisco. Disentangling myself from that world and the incredibly vocal characters that inhabit it is a difficult process, but using music to ease that shift makes things a bit easier.

I’ve culled through the current playlist to find the three songs that I think are the most representative of the mood and tone of this novel. As per the rules for this week’s Warm Fuzzies challenge, I’m not going to tell you what the novel is about. Based on the songs I post, you get to guess exactly what this tale might be about. And I see you there, about to peek at my works in-progress page (I’m shaking a finger in admonition, I hope you know). We’re going for honest guesses, folks, so no cheating. 😀

Cara Dillon, “Black is the Colour” (Lyrics)

Cara Dillon is a contemporary Irish folk singer, and her ethereal voice always sends shivers down my spine. She released four studio albums between 2001 and 2009, all of which include a blend of traditional Irish ballads and original music. “Black is the Colour” comes from Cara Dillon, her first album.

Lisa Gerrard, “Sanvean”

Lisa Gerrard is an Australian singer, and former member of the band Dead Can Dance. If her voice sounds familiar, it may be because you recognize it from the Gladiator soundtrack, which she co-composed with Hans Zimmer (“Now We Are Free” is one of her most popular tracks from that album). If you’re wondering exactly what language she’s speaking in “Sanvean,” it turns out that she’s using an invented tongue, one that she created as a child to “talk to God.” She has employed it in a number of her songs over the years.

Loreena McKennitt, “The Old Ways” (Lyrics)

Loreena McKennitt is one of my all-time favorite singers. Her music is lush, evocative, and intricate, and always feels somewhat magical to me. She draws from a wide range of inspiration, from European literature (including Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shalott” and Noyes’ “The Highwayman“) and traditional Celtic music, to broader Arabic and Mediterranean influences. McKennitt is an accomplished singer, songwriter, and musician. “The Old Ways” comes from her fourth album, The Visit.

And there we have it! Any inspired guesses about what my current WIP might be about?

As a sort of “preview of coming attractions,” I’ll be sharing more about the details of my project in my Sunday check-in for the A Round of Words in 80 Days writing challenge. Also, I’m cohosting a discussion about NaNoWriMo progress in today’s post over at Fun Not Fear! All WriMos are invited to pop over and chat about how the first few days of NaNo has gone; for those of you who aren’t participating, we can always use cheerleaders, so please feel free to stop by and say hello.

ROW80: A Quickie Check-in

October 30, 2011 / Lena Corazon / 49 Comments

This is a quick check-in, as I’m getting ready to head out to a Halloween party. Yes, my friends talked me into abandoning my plans to watch scary movies and work on my NaNoWriMo outline, and I’ve somehow cobbled together a “costume.” I’m going as a high-glam version of myself. This involves a cocktail dress (the final decision on which cocktail dress to be made sometime in the next hour), my favorite pair of black patent leather platform heels, a mini top hat fascinator, and lace gloves and stockings. I’m currently grumbling about how this party better be worth my time, but I know that once I get there and fall into my “yay, people!” vibe, it’ll be grand.

As far as my goals go, I’m coming along fairly well. Here’s the breakdown:

Writing: Parts 2 and 3 of my NaNo novel are outlined, and I’ve identified the goals I need to reach for the climax and Part 4 to make sense. I’m hoping to take a little time in the next 2 days to finalize a list of characters and places, a family tree or two (why in the world I chose to write a sweeping fantasy novel that involves tons of royal families, I’ll never know), and to do a few last-minute character profiles.

Thesis: I’ve made a “battleplan” for finalizing my first draft by mid-December. I’ve started working on the outline, which is a ton of fun, and I’ve also given the thesis a temporary title: “‘Money Can’t Buy You Class’: Symbolic Capital, Etiquette, and the White Wedding.” Yes, that’s a reference to the absolutely horrible (but addicting) song from “Countess” Luann of Bravo’s Real Housewives of New York City, and yes, I am going to reference the song in the introduction. *snicker* Gotta make academic writing fun somehow.

Exercise: Ugggh, I’ve done so badly here. I worked out 2 times this week, which is nowhere near my goal of 4-5 times a week. I’d like to say that there’s a great excuse for why I wasn’t able to get this done, but it’s really just sheer laziness. :/

A preview of coming attractions:

As many of you know, I took a little time off from regular blog posts (beyond ROW80 checkins) to reevaluate my blogging strategy. I’m happy to say that I’ve landed on a schedule that I *think* will work well. I’ll be blogging on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with a single ROW80 check-in post on Sunday (unless I find a way to combo my Wedneday post with a check-in; we’ll see how that goes).

I’m still toying with theme days, but at the moment I think I’m going to return to the idea of Monday Inspirations. Instead of focusing on things that inspire my fiction (the original goal of Monday Inspirations), I’ll be talking about inspiration on a broader level. Wednesdays will involve some form of things I love/like/am currently obsessed with (right now I’ve dubbed them Wicked Wednesdays, in a ‘favorite vices’ sort of way), and Fridays will be Fiction Fridays, where I talk about my WIPs and other writing-related topics.

That’s my week in review! For those of you looking for posts about NaNoWriMo, I highly recommend checking out the latest mashup that Em and I have thrown together. Also, as a reminder, the first check-ins for our Fun Not Fear! gang will begin on Friday. Fellow WriMos, stop by and share your progress; cheerleaders and supporters, swing by and give us a wave. Finally, looks like the NaNo website has launched the “writing buddies” section. Feel free to friend me, and don’t forget to share yours on our Fun Not Fear! linky, if you so desire.

There’s Something In the Air…

October 28, 2011 / Lena Corazon / 18 Comments

Can you feel it?

No, no, not the tummyache that you have from all the Halloween candy you’ve been eating! I’m talking about that impending sense of excitement and delight known as NaNoWriMo, thirty days of profligate literary abandon. WriMos (those who choose to follow the rules, that is) tear their way through 50,000 words by the end of the month, scribbling with fast and furious intensity. That’s roughly 1667 words each day, for those who like to think about goals in more manageable “chunks” — a bit daunting, but certainly not impossible.

I have to admit, I haven’t always been this enthusiastic about NaNo. My friends starting doing it in college, taking November to churn out cheesy Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings fan fiction. Back then, I was a much less disciplined writer. I jotted down things when the muse struck, writing in long — but infrequent — chunks of time. I was also pretty skeptical of the idea that anyone could write a novel in a single month. However, since then, I’ve discovered useful things like “editing” and “drafting” (not part of my repertoire in my youth). Am I going to be able to write a perfect and complete novel in 30 days? Well, no, not unless it springs from my head armored and fully-formed. But I can write the draft of a novel that I’ll continue to develop and refine in the weeks and months to come, and that’s no small feat.

I won’t lie — I’m a teeny bit nervous about NaNo. November’s always felt like the month where things go wrong, when the dog doo hits the fan and life becomes more or less intolerable. This is probably because I’ve spent most of my life as a student, and November is the Month of Doom: mid-terms, projects, papers, prepping for final exams. November’s also when I get crazy attacks of allergies and/or the flu, brought on by lack of sleep and stress — not the best time to try my hand at writing a novel.

But for the first time ever, I have been plotting. I have a Scrivener file filled with notes and index cards and summaries of scenes and all sorts of wild stuff. I have a folder bulging with location descriptions and profiles, and lots of research to refer to when I get stuck. I have a story that’s unfolding before my very eyes, and the pure magic of it all is enough to leave me itching for the chance to write. I’ve been bouncing around like a 5 year old on a sugar rush, and all I want to squeal is, “Can I start writing now? Is it November 1st yet? Can’t I just, y’know, write the scene that won’t leave me alone??”

As Em and I have been saying for the past few weeks, NaNoWriMo should be about fun, not fear. This is about the delight of meeting new characters and learning their stories, and the utter joy of discovering new worlds. I don’t know if I’ll make 50k by the end of the month. With papers to grade, books to read for school, and a draft of my MA thesis to write, I’ll be pretty darn shocked if I can pull it off. Even if I don’t “win” (and as trite as it sounds, I think all WriMos are winners, whether or not they reach 50k), I’ll have a whole body of research under my belt, a kickass outline, and pages with words on them. I’ll have the beginning of something special, and the satisfaction of knowing that I took a chance and aimed for the impossible. As Les Brown said,

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.

Those are pretty decent odds, if you ask me.

ROW80: Catching Up

October 19, 2011 / Lena Corazon / 19 Comments

Midweek check-ins are always a little sparse for me, mostly because I spend Mondays and Tuesdays just trying to deal with school stuff. A few things fell through the cracks and came back to haunt me yesterday (namely the stack of grading I was supposed to hand back this morning), so I pulled an unexpected all-nighter last night, staggered into class this morning like a zombie, and had to take an impromptu nap this afternoon to recharge. But I am up, and I will hopefully find the time to tackle the household chores today, because my apartment is a disaster.

Whew.

But it’s not all bad! I’ve done a few things of merit so far, including:

Exercise: I’m on track to fulfill my 4-5 days/week quota, as I have gotten on the glider 3 times this week.

NaNoWriMo Support Group: Today, Em and I launched our “support group,” Fun Not Fear! As she mentions on her check-in post today, the name of the group emerged out of a few conversations she and I had about our fears over tackling NaNo this year. We decided that we needed to focus on the fun aspects of the writing gauntlet, and given the success we’ve both had participating in ROW80, clearly the best way to have fun while writing is to have the support of friends along the way. So pop on over, leave your NaNo profile on the linky list, and introduce yourself. We’ll be hosting “check-in chats” every Friday, and throwing out our linky mashup of NaNoWriMo goodness.

I’ve got quite a few things to work on:

Thesis Edits: The early feedback I received from my advisor basically boils down to the fact that the latest chapter needs to be dramatically tightened up and my arguments “better embedded,” or something along those lines. I more or less expected this, so I have a number of notes to make before I meet with her on Friday. For the record, I just have to say that I HATE first drafts with every gosh darn bone in my body. Like… I bloody HATE them. So I am really relieved to be moving into edit phase, so I can slash and burn all the things that don’t fit, and fix the things that do.

Writing: My WIPs are currently sitting in the corner with sad faces on them, looking like poor little abandoned creatures. I’m can’t wait until November gets here; this extended period of doing nothing but taking notes and outlining (or attempting to, at any rate) is starting to drive me a little crazy.

Spending less time on G+: I’ve recently discovered that Google+ is like this amazing, wonderful, phenomenal candyland of cool people and fantastic ideas, and it has sucked me into its Vortex of Awesome with the force of a massive black hole (seriously, one of these days I will write an ode to G+). Sadly, I think I spent something like 3 hours having great conversations with people, and it was a total blast… but, er, I probably should’ve been doing other things with those three hours (i.e., grading). But just look at the hilarious things I have been finding!

: I am obsessed with this entire “occupy fictional places” thing.

Working on blogging ideas/writing posts: I really miss blogging about more than ROW80 highs and lows, and I’ve been jotting down a few ideas for posts and theme days that I will ~~hopefully~~ ~~eventually~~ ~~maybe~~ definitely write. I just, er, have to find the time to do that, but maybe if I spend less time on G+…

So that’s the current lay of the land. I’ll leave you with the trailer of this wonderful movie that I watched yesterday, Last Night, starring Keira Knightley and Sam Worthington. It tackles that tried and true topic — a married couple tempted to cheat on each other — in a way that I found incredibly compelling and beautiful. This is the sort of movie where the nuances of body language and expression need to be absorbed, not just the dialogue. It’s currently streaming on Netflix (which is how I ran across it), so if you have a chance and it strikes your fancy, check it out.

[tube]qFaTD9kljsU[/tube]

ROW80: A Much-Needed Pause

October 16, 2011 / Lena Corazon / 22 Comments

It’s been a bit of a rocky week, with vestiges of that yucky migraine lingering until Thursday night and lots of work to get out of the way. However, I think I’ve cleared a major hurdle (for the moment), so I’ve been celebrating with a bit of downtime.

The Successes:

I read books 3, 4, and 5 of Karen Marie Moning’s FEVER series between Thursday and Friday night, which is probably a record reading binge for me. A huge thank you to everyone who recommended the series, because wow. It is epic and wonderful and amazing, and I am so glad I read it. Now I am going to sit on pins and needles like the rest of Moning’s fans to see what the upcoming films are going to look like. If they mess up Barrons, I am going to pitch a major fit.

I had a movie marathon last night. I was planning on doing some writing and stuff, but instead I curled up on the couch and watched a couple of old favorites. I started with The Inheritance, a made-for-TV movie based on an early Louisa May Alcott novel, followed it up with The Princess Bride (so. darn. awesome), and then finished with Love’s Kitchen, which I hadn’t heard of until Netflix pushed it on my radar. It has a shockingly low rating on imdb, but I really, really loved it. The film involves food and cooking and people falling in love (three of my favorite things), and stars real-life married couple Dougray Scott (who I have had a huge crush on since he did Ever After) and Claire Forlani. It was definitely the feel-good movie that I needed.

Outlining my NaNo project is coming along. I’ve started using the corkboard function in Scrivener, where I can lay out 3×5 cards to organize my ideas. I’m not exactly working in a linear fashion, so I have Act 2 laid out, with short summaries for each scene, but little else decided beyond that. Over the next two weeks I’ll be brainstorming so that I can hopefully be ready to roll by November 1st.

I finally finished the draft of the latest chapter of my MA thesis. It’s rough, and there are holes in it that will need to be filled in, but the hardest work (I think) has been done. I didn’t realize until I emailed it to my advisor exactly how stressed out finishing this chapter has made me feel, but I do feel like I have had a huge weight lifted from my shoulders. I can’t slack off too badly — I have lots more edits to tackle, along with a couple shorter sections to write — but I am going to step away from the project for the next few days and catch up on my writing.

Places to Pick Up the Slack:

I only worked out 3 days this past week, instead of 4 like I had hoped, so I’ll need to make up for it in the days to come.

Fun Stuff to Check Out:

As I’ve mentioned before, Em and I both decided to tackle NaNoWriMo this year. For an extra bit of fun, and because there seem to be quite a few first time WriMos out there, we decided to create a support blog of sorts, where everyone can pop in once a week and share the challenges and successes that they’re facing during November. We should be launching sometime this week, so keep your eyes peeled!

The photo contest finalists from our ROW80 twitter party have been posted over at Jenny Hansen’s blog. Swing by and cast your vote — there are some awesome shots.

All in all, it’s been a pretty good week. How’s everyone else doing, mid-way through October? Don’t forget to visit the other ROWers checking in today!

ROW80: The Best Laid Plans…

October 11, 2011 / Lena Corazon / 15 Comments

I’m a little confused how Wednesday got here so quickly. Weren’t we all just checking in, like, yesterday? This week seems to be careening forward, but I’m okay with that, since it means that the weekend is all the closer. 😀

The past few days has been a mixed bag of highs and lows.First, The Good:

Had an incredible Sunday that somehow fulfilled all my mind, body, heart, and spirit needs. It started with a great morning at church with my colleague and friend, Megan, followed by shopping at the Farmers’ Market, and, finally, 4 hours of studying and gabbing on the beach. To illustrate:

My worksite of choice.

I’m close to being finished with the chapter of my thesis that I’ve been working on since, er, July. It is over 7000 words long, which seems so darn short for the amount of time I’ve labored over it (and given how much will need to be overhauled in the final draft), but I’m proud of it nonetheless.

I have a ROWsista! Elizabeth Anne Mitchell, my fellow academic, writer, and Round 3 veteran, has agreed to team up for this round. We are going to keep each other accountable, and have lots of fun in the process.

The Bad (because, sadly, you knew it was coming):

The migraine that I thought I vanquished Saturday night with my usual remedy (an Excedrine migraine pill, followed by 8 hours of sleep) came back with a vengeance Sunday night, after the aforementioned Day of Bliss. The migraine refused to retreat until late Monday night, and was bad enough that I skipped my morning Monday class, and had to suffer through my afternoon class feeling super gross and nauseous.

I was back to normal this morning, but of course the whole episode threw off my carefully-wrought schedule. It also called into sharp relief, once again, the fact that I need to make sure that I’m taking care of myself. I never had a migraine till I got to grad school, and I’m almost 100% certain that migraines are the way that my body responds when I’m stressed, worried, and underslept.

This means that I need to finish my schoolwork by 7 pm at the absolute latest. It also means that I need to cook myself dinner. I started off really strong last week, and then sort of tapered off to the point where I was, er, munching on cookies in the evening and calling it a meal. And this also means that I need to make sure that I’m in bed by 11 pm, and/or taking midday naps when I need them.

To tackle during the rest of the week:

Exercise. I’ve slacked off on this over the past two days, so I’ll need to hop on my glider every day for the rest of the week to make up for it.
Thesis stuff. I promised the draft of this latest chapter to my advisor by the end of the week, so I need to make this a priority.
Writing. I used my writing time today and yesterday to write more flash fiction, this time for Glitterlady’s weekly Tuesday Tales. The resulting story, “The Dark Prince,” was a fun distraction, but now I need to get back to prepping for NaNo.
Reading. I am still at the start of Book 3 in Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series, and it is driving me wild. For all you KMM fans out there, I highly suggest checking out the extra scene she’s posted — a steamy scene told from Barrons’ POV. It’s NSFW, of course, but well worth your time. 😉

Finally, stuff to look forward for on Sunday:

Blog awards!
News about an awesomely amazing, totally wonderful NaNo support group that Em and I are currently plotting.

And with that, I’m off to bed. Happy Hump Day, all!

ROW80: CampNano, and Learning to Walk Away

September 4, 2011 / Lena Corazon / 47 Comments

I’ve never been very good at walking away from things.

I’m stubborn, I suppose, or maybe it’s more accurate to say that I believe in sticking by my commitments. When I dedicate myself to a cause — friendships, romantic attachments, jobs, volunteer positions — I see things through to the bitter end, even if it would be easier to pick up and leave.

Persistance can be a positive trait. Add a dash of ambition and you have the recipe for the formula that got me through high school, college, and the past few years of graduate school. Even when things seemed the hardest, when I would find myself sobbing over the mounting stress and seeming impossibility of getting my work completed, I would push myself to keep going. I wrote papers that way, battled my way through seminars and lectures, propelled myself into the “big leagues” of a PhD program by sheer force of will.

There’s a dark side to all of this, however. I’ve lingered in toxic, dysfunctional relationships because I didn’t know how to break away. I’ve drowned in jobs that were too demanding, stressful, and overwhelming because I didn’t know how to say no. In grad school, I piled on the stress, pushed myself to work constantly, guilt-tripped myself for taking naps or reading novels. I developed a mindset that demanded constant productivity, forced myself to eat, sleep and breathe my research, and berated myself when I was unable to work because I was completely drained.

The past month of tackling CampNaNo has made me more aware of this duality than ever. Some people have trouble forcing themselves to sit down and write; I have trouble forcing myself to leave the darn chair. “One more word,” became my mantra. One more word, one more sentence, one more paragraph, and then I’ll turn off the computer. A few hundred more words, and I’ll go to bed.

It’s little wonder that my brain felt like mush on Wednesday, or that on Thursday I was this laughable husk of a zombie, drooping at my desk, aimlessly surfing the web and feeling inordinate amounts of guilt over the thesis that I wasn’t writing. It was a rough day, with me trying to force words out of my pen, as though the sheer effort would magically outweigh my dragging fatigue.

On Friday, though, it hit me: all of the pressure I was feeling was pressure that I had placed on myself. Those ROW80 goals that I’ve set over the past few weeks? Those are goals that I’ve chosen, goals that I decided to pursue. No one’s holding a gun to my head and forcing me to get things done. In fact, the whole point of ROW80 is the ability to be flexible, to change things up without feeling guilty.

So I’ve unplugged a little over the past few days. I closed TweetDeck, quit Scrivener, put away my writing notebook and dug out my battered copy of Lois Bujold’s The Curse of Chalion for a bit of light reading. I took naps and curled up with my cat and spent time with old friends.

CampNaNo has taught me a lot. I’ve learned that having the drive, the confidence, and the passion to reach my goals is essential. The burn of competition, along with the desire to see my novel unfold, have acted as catalysts, propelling me upwards and onwards.

At the same time, the ability to maintain that drive is also necessary, and that can only come from balance and a healthy sense of perspective. I can’t endure daily marathon writing sessions, so I need to take that into consideration when I build my writing schedule. I can’t ignore my body when it’s tired and crying out for rest and some healthy food, which means that I have recognize the signs of fatigue. The world won’t end if I fall short of 50,000 words. As Em has reminded me, it’s fun, not fear, that should rule the day.

There are other practical preparations that I will make before November. Outlining and plotting are at the top of the list; churning out 1600+ words a day can only happen if I have a sense of where I’m going with each chapter and what I’m trying to achieve. Plantsing is definitely going to be my technique of choice (Jody Hedlund’s technique is one of my favorites). And hey, I might just break the rules a little and work on one of my WIPs (although ideas for a new stupid story are forming in my head, much to my dismay). The bottom line is that I want this experience to be a pleasant one, one that allows me to accomplish my goals but without driving me completely crazy.

Any other NaNo vets out there? Any tried and true techniques that you’d recommend for tackling the monthlong novel-writing gauntlet?

Lena Corazon

Flights of Fancy