November
2017 Blog
Write Away
Today is
the first day of the rest of my writing life.
Write Away: A Haiku
NaNoWriMo reigns
Supreme, demands I fulfill
Declared prophesy.
Today
is November 1, 2017 – the first day of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month –
https://nanowrimo.org) for this year. I
will be participating for my seventh year in a row – at least. Could be longer,
but that’s as far back as their records go.
Every November since 2011, I have penned at least 50,000 words, literally,
since I still write with pen on paper.
I’ve
written an odd assortment of novels, some finished and published – some not.
Actually 50,000 words is not enough for a full-length novel. So I try to finish
in December for NoNoFiMo (National Novel Finishing Month – http://nanofimo.net).
There
has even been a NaNoEdMo (National Novel Editing Month) in March. Not certain
that one still exists as my attempts to access it give me an unsecure site
warning and tells me I do not exist.
Writing
50,000 words in 30 days requires at least 1,667 words a day to finish on the 30th. I try to finish by November 28th , which is my
birthday. Kind of like a present to myself.
I
find it requires a good two-and-a-half hours of dedicated writing to
accomplish. I seldom split the time up, because I don’t want to lose my train
of thought and have to go over what I’ve written. I reserve that for the first
few minutes of my writing session.
I
pretty much isolate myself as I don’t like distractions. For background noise,
I listen to classical music. I can’t have regular TV on or any music with lyrics
I can understand – my mind will start to wander.
I
love the idea of getting lost in my story. I find it’s the best way to write.
Also, it gives my characters the chance to jump in and maybe tell me something
about themselves I didn’t know.
I usually start with an abbreviated outline
of where the story should go, But I have no problems taking it elsewhere, if my
characters tell me it needs to go there.
The
year I wrote “The Chronicles of Acqueria: Blood Moon Treachery”, my main
character, Sentia told me she had a younger sister, Petra. The sister became an
integral part of the story and is featured in the sequel on which I am still
working.
My
favorite novel so far has been “The Seasons of Sam Rock”, a 1940’s Hollywood detective novel that does not
follow the detective genre rules, but becomes a horror showcase. In this noir novel
set in sunny Southern California, I commit two of the novelist’s cardinal sin by
killing a little old lady and a cute little dog. The culprits? A murder of
ravens, controlled (or not) by a red-headed French woman named Marie Delacroix
whom Sam Rock does not find hard to look at.
My
favorite heinous killing come from my Western novella, “Black Oak: Town of
Joy”. It’s a woman on woman axe murder, and I smile every time I read it.
Okay,
so by now, you know I’m an introverted psychopath who loves to write horror,
although I also write in the science fiction and fantasy segments of genre
fiction.
This
year’s NaNoWriMo will be a sequel to the Black Oak novel. If I stay on
schedule, I should be able to publish in late spring. Although, the best laid
plans of mice, men and writers oft gang awry. We’ll see if I can stick to that
schedule.
Actually,
I might be able to better it, since a novella can be around 43,000 to 50,000
words, so I might be able to publish early spring.
I
find myself looking forward more to NaNoWriMo than to the holidays. I ‘ve never
been much of a holiday person (any holiday) but writing in November is something
special I do for myself, and of course, I love sharing my work with my loyal
readers.
I
will do my best post excerpts from the day’s writing on Twitter, so my readers
can see what I’m up to. Maybe a sentence or two. Maybe every couple of days. Wouldn’t
want to give too much away.
In
the meantime, I will keep writing and posting my daily Haiku on Twitter and on
Facebook, and I will endeavor to publish my next collection of Haiku before the
end of the year.
Hopefully,
with my computer problem behind me, I will get back into some sort of routine
and start the New Year on a more productive note. Yep, I’ve pretty much chalked
this year up on the non-productive side. I don’t know where it went; it just
went, and I know there’s no do-overs for time gone by. It’s just gone.
So,
here’s to NaNoWriMo and here’s to my mascot for the month.
And
here’s a big salute to the coming year – a year of frenzied productivity.
Now
y’all, don’t laugh too hard. It is possible, you know.
Until
next month, I welcome your reactions and responses to my current blog. I love
to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook
accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there:
