Is It Time Yet?

It's All Nano's Eve...I mean...Halloween, and you know what that means!  Yep...I've been sitting around with my twitter open jealously staring at all the people who get to do sprints because my time zone hasn't rolled over in to November yet.

I've always liked Halloween.  As a kid it had a lot more to do with the candy I got to collect from the people in our neighbourhood (I distinctly remember having to dump it all out when we got home so my mom could go through it and throw out anything open, and possibly take some of her favourites too.)

Now, of course, Halloween has a whole new meaning for me.

My year has suddenly shifted.  I no longer think of December as the end of the year, instead, October 31st ends out my year, and the first of November starts it over again.

What I'm basically saying, is that it's New Years in a couple of hours, and I'm so excited!

This November is jam packed with things happening.  I've got nano (of course) which my goal is to write 320k words this year.  completely possible, by the way.  I wrote 300k last year.  I'm also goind down to San Francisco in the middle of the month for the ever amazing Night of Writing Dangerously!

For those of you who don't know, The Night of Writing Dangerously is a function hosted by OLL (Office of Letters and Light) to raise money for Nano.  To go you have to raise at least $250, then pay for your own flight there, your own hotel room, and your own flight home. (I've already raised what I need, but I wanted to help out Nano more.  If you'll direct your attention to the column on your right, you'll notice a section dedicated to donations.  I would LOVE it if anyone is willing to donate.  Even $5 helps.)  Basically 250 Wrimos get together and have one huge write in.  The night is completed with a complementary candy bar and all sorts of other goodies.  I can't freaking wait.

Finally (for now, you never know what other craziness I'm willing to pack in to the month) I've got the Epic Month of Blog Posts. (Also to your right you'll see a list of bloggers who have agreed to participate this year.)  The idea behind this is that you have to write a blog post a day (each blog post much contain at least 50 words).  there's no where to keep track, but it's fun.  We did it last year, and this year we thought we'd ask others to join in the insanity.

So now that I know all of this is coming, you'd think I'd be dreading it.  So much to do, so little time!  Really, there's only 24 hours in a day and I have to sleep at some point (at least, that's what other people keep trying to tell me.  I just smile and nod)..

Somehow, though, it's excitement that has me staring at the clock counting down the hours until we can start writing.  (I swear, the last half hour has gone slower than all day at work...)  What makes it worse is watching the nanosprints on twitter.  See, for some of the world it is November 1st, and they've already started.  It makes me want to pick up my pen (okay, okay, put my fingers on the keyboard) and get writing!

Sadly there's another four hours before we can have that first word war.  I will wait with bated breath (or rather, impatiently tapping my foot) until I can start writing the words I've been planning since July.

Expect my first Epic Month Of Blog Posts entry tomorrow!  I've got to go glare at people across the world now.

Productivity. Who Knew?

Have you ever had one of those weeks where things just seem to get done, and you're never quite sure how you managed it?

That's my month so far.  I mean, I've written three short stories (all of which have made their way into my Shiny New Idea book for future series...) I've managed to make blog posts every single time that I needed to make one (even when they are late.)  I've gotten my critiques done early both weeks. (I'm already done the one that I need for Monday.  I'm never done this early!) and I've actually started editing Pandora.  I did chapter 5 for critique group, but have finished chapter 6, rewritten chapter 7 and have looked over chapter 8, which will probably be actually started tomorrow.  I've also managed to finish the planning of one of the novels I will be writing in November.

Normally I have a hard time getting motivated to do these kinds of things.  It isn't unusual to see me rushing to finish my critiques Sunday night when I realized that they weren't done yet.  Or for me to submit sub par chapters because I didn't spend nearly enough time on them.  I should probably apologize to my critique group for that, actually...

Anyway, the point of it is, I'm somehow motivated this month, though I really don't know why.  It could be because I was already planning on editing this month, but wasn't able to because my beta readers have unfortunately not gotten back to me yet.  Or it could be because I know that I'll be writing again next month, and I won't have time to get caught up on all of these things once I start doing that.

Honestly, I don't know, and I'm not sure I actually care.  I know, I know.  If I know what's keeping me motivated, I might actually figure out a way to keep myself motivated for the rest of the year.  I'm just afraid that if I figure it out, the magic might wear out.  (Don't laugh!  It's possible...) What then?  How do I go about figuring out yet another way to motivate myself?

Just to explain how weird it is, let me put this into perspective for you.  I bought two new books yesterday.  One by my favourite author Kelley Armstrong.  I've barely touched it.  I only read on the bus on the way to and from work.  Normally I would have had that book done by now.  Trust me.

Or, let's talk about the editing.  Normally it's a struggle to just get through a single chapter.  To force myself to sit down and read it over then put in the edits.  You all know this.  All you have to do is look at my very last blog post where I talked about the fact that I was back to editing.  When I finished rewriting chapter 7, all I could think about what what I  needed to do to fix chapter 8, and actually wanted to look through it right then and there.  I had to do a critique first, but I've also finished going through it.

Does that put it into perspective for you?  I don't know where it's coming from, but it makes me happy. I'm glad to be motivated.  To get all of this done and not have to worry about it so much.  I'm already freaking out too much over The Commons, so having other things to work on while waiting for the much anticipated beta reader feedback has been really helpful.

So, I've decided not to look this gift horse in the mouth.  I'm going to continue being productive for as long as I can.  I want to get as much done this month as I possibly can before heading into an extremely busy month in August.  (Last year I didn't complete the August session of camp nano, so I'm hoping to do much better this year.)

Do you ever have problems with motivation?  How do you get past it?

***I'm currently collecting donations for OLL (Office of Letters and Light) who hosts NaNoWriMo every year.  My goal is $500 and I've already hit 60% of that.  I need your help to complete my goal, however.  Help me raise money for the organization that single-handedly helped me to figure out jthat I'm a writer.***

Edit? Do I Have To?

As I'm sure many of you know, I have a very detailed process on how I do my planning.  I brainstorm, and make character bibles.  I compile cast lists and make floor plans for most of my settings.  I have entire plots set out before I even consider started chapter 1.  It's just the way I write.  A lot of people think of a new project and jump in, losing themselves in the story.  While I've tried this before, I prefer getting my revelations about the book before I start.  That doesn't mean that everything goes according to plan when I'm writing, but I think it definitely helps.  I don't generally have to go back and make huge corrections to anything.

This works for me.  I love this routine.  In fact, planning is probably my favourite part of the writing process.  I also enjoy the writing, of course, but I think I actually prefer the planning part to the writing part.

Editing, though, is another matter altogether.  I'm sure I've mentioned it enough here for everyone to know that I hate the entire thing.  I hate having to go back over work that I've already done to make sure that it's right.  I hate having to acknowledge how bad a scene I thoroughly enjoyed writing is.  I prefer to live in a fantasy world, thinking that my first drafts are fantastic.  That no one has ever written a first draft as good as mine.

Unfortunately for me, I don't really have a choice in this one.  As a writer who hopes to be published, editing is essential to my chosen career.  So I sit down and force myself to do the editing.  I've even tried to not complain about it so much, because I really do need to suck it up.

The problem, though, is that I don't have a routine for editing.  I print the book off, and I just read through it.  That's it.  There's nothing there that keeps me interested in what I'm doing.  I don't have a way to get myself through it, like my planning.  I didn't always like planning, but I do now that I have a way I like to do it.  Maybe that's what I need to do with editing.

I just don't know how to start that routine.  I need to figure out a way to start going through my work without hating what I wrote.  Or maybe without questioning every single decision I made.  Anything to make it so that I no longer feel like I'm just redoing work I've already done.  To stop myself from banging my head against a wall.

Right now I'm sure I'm missing things that I could be fixing on the first run through, because I go through it so quickly.  I don't want to stop and think about it, I just want to get it polished before I get completely frustrated or bored with the process.

So far I haven't come up with anything, unfortunately.  I am, however, planning a trip to the bookstore in coming days, and I may just find myself buying a book or two on how to edit.  And if anyone has any tips of their own they want to share, I would love to hear them.

Before the year is out I'm going to find a way to edit that doesn't make me hate the entire process.  I just hope it's sooner rather than later...

***I'm currently collecting donations for OLL (Office of Letters and Light).  The organization that first conceived of NaNoWriMo and runs it every year.  I've personally donated $300, but I'm hoping to make it to $500 and would love some help with my goal.  The link is on the left side bar.  I'm trying to come up with something for incentive, but have yet to think of a good reward.  I would love to hear from you on what you think I could do.***

San Francisco Here I Come!

Every year OLL (Office of Letters and Light who hosts NaNoWriMo, and various other events) hosts The Night of Writing Dangerously.  It's a great night when 250(ish) wrimos get together at a Noire Themed dinner and, basically, write.

To put it simply, it's a ginormous write in with a noire theme and candy.  Lots and lots of candy.

In my opinion it's probably the goal of every wrimo out there to attend this gala at least once, and I'm going to be doing that very thing this year.

November 18th will see me in San Francisco, possibly dressed in a Noire Themed outfit and sitting at a table with wrimos from all around the world that have accomplished the same goal as me.

See, to go to this event, we wrimos have to raise $200 for OLL.  It's a fundraising event, so that just gets us in the door.  Then we have to buy our plane tickets and pay for a hotel, not to mention all the touristy stuff we're going to end up doing while we're there.

Me, being the overachiever that I am, have set an even higher goal for myself.  OLL is a fantastic organization that has brought the world more novels than you can shake a fist at.  Even if most of those novels never see the light of day, it's a great program, showing people that they have it within themselves to write that novel they've always been thinking about doing.

Without nano, I don't know where I would be in my life right now.  I would never have met my boyfriend.  I wouldn't have already written ten novels (no, none of them are published, but every novel I write brings me closer to that one that's going to be put on the bookshelves, I know it).  I wouldn't have the friends that I currently have.  I would be wasting my life away still not knowing what I wanted to do.

It's because of nano that I started this blog.

I want to show that appreciation by raising $500 for them.  Of course, I require your help for that.  I've already donated $300, but I'm hoping that I can fundraise the rest of the amount.  Love will be shown for anyone who donates, probably in the form of a blog post.

If you want to help, I've posted a link to my fundraising page in the sidebar to the left.  I want to thank anyone who helps in advance.  This a great organization who deserves every penny that's donated to them.  Their work with youth alone makes them amazing.

I encourage anyone who hasn't heard of nano to visit their site.  If you've been thinking about writing a novel, why don't you sign up and join us in our adventure in November?