Life After Nano (Day 28)

Today I read a blog post talking about NaNoWriMo (it was during a word war when I was supposed to be writing, but don't judge me!  I got my words for the day done early,  I swear!)

Anyway, in this blog post (which I'm sure wasn't actually intended as negative toward Nano) they basically said that nano isn't the end all of writing.  That at the end of the day it doesn't matter.  That getting the first draft of any book done isn't the biggest step.

Of course, I know that nano isn't the last step you need to get published.  You can't finish a book and hand it over, expecting them to give you money for it.  An author once visited my school and told us about the writing process.  He glossed over a lot of it, of course, as he was talking to ten year olds, but the basic thing that I came away with was LOTS of drafts.  So, I've always been aware that this isn't an easy thing to do.

The thing is, though, that I don't necessarily agree with everything that he said.  No, the first draft isn't the end of writing.  You can't finish writing the first draft and assume that you're done.  And if you're doing something like nano (which can create some real crap writing, when you hit a part that you can't figure out and know you need to get the words, so you just write down whatever you need) then you really need to go back and look over your work.  Not just for the spelling mistakes, but for everything.  Plot holes, faulty character development, the stupid ball, and even bad choices.

But without that first draft, without getting something down on paper, there isn't anything there to edit, to double check, to get beta readers for, and finally to submit.

For me, that first draft came with Nano.

Yes, I know that 50k words doesn't generally a complete novel make.  I knew that the first time I wrote nano.  Of course, that year I did end up doing 50k novels, but just because the goal of nano is 50k doesn't mean that you have to stop there.  You can keep going!  Keep writing.

For me, Nano has blossomed into a novel nearly ready for submissions, and multiple novels awaiting my attention.  A critique group who occasionally dabbles in writing exercises, and something to work toward (in case you're wondering, I'm hoping the Nano will one day ask me to do a pep talk for them.  Step #1: Get Published!)

So, yes, there are so many more steps after finishing the first draft (especially if the 50k doesn't finish off your story) but Nano doesn't promise you something ready to submit.  That's not the point.  The point of nano is to make you pick up the pen (or, generally more common, put your fingers to the keys) and get writing.  Get started on putting down that novel that's been running rampant in your brain for years.  Make those characters talk and prove to yourself that you can do it.

Then, come December, remember that Nano just starts the process for you.  YOU have to be responsible for the rest of it.  It's up to you to keep writing.  To fearfully look back over that first draft, certain that you won't be able to keep anything.  To find those diamonds surrounded by the crap that you can really build a novel from.  To rewrite as much of it may need to be rewritten, and to finally show the world that, yes, you are a writer!

So hold those heads up high.  Shout to the world that Nano helped you accomplish something you never thought you world!  And don't ever let the world tell you that what you've done so far isn't an accomplishment, because it is!  Then, keep going.  Don't give up!  One day, those words will be polished enough for you to show another person.

Happy Writing.

What do you plan to do once Nano is done?  Have you ever managed to go back and edit a nano novel?

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Daily Word Count: 15,296

Total Word Count: 270,391

Skillful Liars (Day 15)

Today is midway through nano, and I spent the day not writing.  Okay, I got some words done, just not as many as I was hoping for.  Apparently, the day before a trip is typically crammed full of last minute errands.  Who know.  Okay, probably everyone, except for me, because I've never really been on a trip like this one.

Anyway, while I was running around not writing today, I started thinking about my story (because when I'm not writing my story, I'm generally talking about it or thinking about it, or really doing something that could somehow be related back to writing.)

So, while I was thinking about my story (and talking about it to my friend) I couldn't help but realize just how skillful writers are.  Writers are the best liars out there!

Now, this might not be true face to face.  I know how to tell a lie, but I've seen some writers who are absolutely terrible at it.  But on the page, that is where the talent really shines through.  I mean, we don't write stories, we sell worlds.

We have to take something that we've come up with and create a world that the reader knows and loves and never wants to leave.  We have to bring it to life for them, and in order to do that, we have to make it real to ourselves.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  If there's one thing writers are really good at, it's lying to themselves.

Today I was so far in to my world that I was talking about the fashion.  The fashion!  I barely care about that in our world, but I was describing it with absolute glee.  (In case you're wondering, picture a mixture of modern and late eighteenth century clothing.  I have character that matches a tight bodice, corset included with capris and a hairstyle with feathers sticking out of it.  Just saying.)

Because the fashion is so relevant to how everything works in this world, I had to figure it out, and I had to care.  I had to make the world real to myself so that I can sell it to my readers.  That's just the way writers work.

There's just one problem with it.  You see, when a writer sells a world to themselves, sometimes that world becomes an obsession.  And I'm not being sarcastic.  I think about my books far more often than I probably should.  I know a few things that are going to be happening in the third book of one of my series, and I'm not even done the editing on the first book.

The characters become so real, when I talk about them to other people (who aren't my friends and therefore don't know who they are) they assume that I'm talking about some of my friends.  It gets really awkward when I start to mention things like how he or she is a werewolf, or then the Lady in th fountain showed up.

Now, I say 'problem' but the truth is, I think it's great that we have the ability to immerse ourselves in our writing so much.  We get to live in this world for a while as we try to portray it on the screen.  We get to watch these scenes that we've had running through our heads for who knows how long come to life on the page.  And then we get to watch our readers fall in love with it to.  In my opinion, there's nothing better.

How involved do you get in your stories? Do you have someone who knows your characters as well as you do?

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Daily Word Count: 5,500

Total Word Count: 123,089

Eden Has Been Betrayed! (Day 13)

So, last night I finished Aliens Stole My Socks. I liked the book, but I didn't get into it as much as I normally get in to my novels, so it's almost with a sense of relief that I put it aside and get ready to work on Betraying Eden.

As always,because I know you all love to hear me talk forever about the books I'm working on, I'm going to give you a short run down on the book I'm about to dive in to.

When the world broke out in yet another war, every nation was forced in to the fighting. Japan fought alongside China against France, Canada and the US fought each other with the UK taking Canada's side, and Mexico giving US all of their support. There wasn't a continent or country that wasn't effected by the violence that ravaged the earth. And the result was a bomb that was set off that poisoned the very air we breath.

The seven major corporations of the world acted quickly, and designed an air filter that would save the population, and installed them in underground shelters. They weren't large enough for everyone, and soon most of the population had been wiped out, and the landscape that was once rich with greenery was barren.

The underground shelters worked temporarily, but it wasn't long before people began to long to be outside. Seven cities were designed and built, each with a large dome to hold the poison at bay, and each outfitted with the air filter that would allow the residents inside the dome to survive. Then those corporations each claimed a city as their own, then declared themselves a monarchy.

It has been 150 years since the cities were built, and once more the population is growing too quickly for the domed cities. In order to moderate the people living within the cities, each one imposed a rent that those living within must pay each month to remain a resident. If this rent is even a day late, the resident is evicted with only a single canister of air to get them to the next city.

Charlie has been evicted from four different cities in her life. Her father, once a minor nobleman in Camelot, had lost all of his money, and has recently fallen ill. Now she has to care for him while trying to find the money to pay for both of their rents. Life hasn't been easy, and Kai, the guy who seemed to be infatuated with her, wasn't making it any easier. She doesn't know how to tell him that she's been taking care of herself for years, and she doesn't need his help.

Mordecai is the son of the King of Eden. His father doesn't approve of him and his forward thinking ways, but he refuses to not name him the heir. Instead he keeps all the power out of Mordecai's hands, and Mordecai has to find other ways of helping those he thinks deserves it. But on one of his trips to Snake's Ridge, he finds Charlie. He's fascinated by her. She seems so strong, despite everything that's happened to her, and he doesn't know what to make of it.

He does everything in his power to help her, usually making things worse, until one day he get's them evicted due to criminal charges. The trial, presided over by his cousin, ended with them charged as guilty and kicked out of the city.

Charlie brings them to one of the underground shelters, which has become a refuge for those that can't stay within the city, but finds themselves in the middle of a hostage situation. Now their separated, and neither sees a way of getting back home.

Alright, that's Betraying Eden. I can't wait to see how the first draft turns out.

How is your nano project coming along?

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Daily Word Count: 4,918

Total Word Count: 115,255

Forbidden Submissions (Day 12)

Well, we're not quite half way through the month, and already my mind is wandering away from the first drafts I'm currently working on and focusing squarely on something I really shouldn't even be thinking about during NaNoWriMo: Submissions.

I'll admit, this topic isn't quite as forbidden as editing is during November, but I'm probably still going to get people telling me to focus on the writing. December is for everything else. To those people I would say: Have you ever had to sit at work with no access to your current novel knowing that you could be doing something productive? That's what happened to me.

It's a holiday today, so a lot of people seem to be assuming that we're closed (we are a registry, so I can see how they came to that conclusion, but lo and behold, we are open.) This means that there has been a lot of chatting, and wasting time going on. Which, for me, tends to mean I have a Word document open on my computer and I'm typing away.

The current project (other than Aliens Stole My Socks, which I should have finished last night, but I didn't. I'll do it tonight, I promise!) is a short story for a submissions call I found out about nearly a month ago.

I've had an idea for it floating around in my head since I saw the call, and I've been looking for a way to find time to write it. Today that time presented itself on a silver platter. (Okay, okay. There was no silver platter. Sue me, I'm a writer).

Anyway, I opened the word document, and started typing.

Now, this story is a little on the darker side, and I'm feeling a little awkward writing it at work, but at the same time, I know that if I don't write it here, I'm never going to get it done. At least not this month. While the submission deadline isn't until February or March, it also said, basically, first come first serve, so I'm trying to get it in as soon as possible.

I'm not very far in to it, but I think the dark feeling is coming across. I'm hoping, anyway. But writing it also made me think of my other submission that I sent out in October. I haven't heard back from them, which I'm taking as a good sign. I'm desperately hoping that it's in the 'We Must Have This' pile, even if that means I won't hear back until March. That story deserves to be published, and I would love for my first choice to accept it.

Anyway, now I'm thinking about submissions instead of my novel. It could become a problem. But there's a write in tonight, which should get me focused back on NaNo. At least I'm hoping it does.

For now, though, it's back to work on the short story and serving any customers that wander through our door. Maybe I'll get this first draft done today!

Do you ever get distracted by non-nano projects? Should I use the word count from the short story toward my nano count?

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Daily Word Count: 9,490

Total Word Count: 110,337

Hello Aliens. Please, Steal My Socks. (Day 8)

Last night I started on the next novel I had planned out for this November (I didn't get very far, but that's another blog post). Because today is the first day I get to concentrate solely on this novel, I thought I would tell you guys all about it, and where the idea came from.

In 2010 I took part in my first every NaNoWriMo, and it was a success! With 150k words under my belt, I was feeling on top of the world when I walked in to the TGIO party. I had my three novels tucked away in my bag, and I sat down with some new friends I had just made that month.

Giddy with success, and excited about what was to come afterwards, we started talking about the next NaNo.

We came up with all sorts of ideas for books, but the one that stuck with me (The one that I claimed I was going to write the next year) was an idea about a book that explained how one socks inevitably goes missing in the dryer. I said that, obviously, aliens ate the socks, and that needed to be a book.

Obviously I didn't write that book in 2011. First of all, I had forgotten about it, second, I just didn't find it plausible to actually become a book.

This year, though, when I sat down to pick out the ideas I was going to use for NaNo, that idea stuck out to me. I stared at it for a while, wondering what I could possibly do with a story like that, rejected the very thought that it could be turned in to a novel, and then finally gave in and sat down to start planning.

What I ended up with was no where near to the idea I had originally started with (which does tend to happen with most of my story ideas, honestly.)

My main character is a ten year old by the name of Tommy Thompson (yes, it did take me a while to think of the name, and yes I did pick it because of how memorable it is). In the very first chapter his world is changed forever when he finds an alien stealing a sock out of the dryer.

The alien tries to kidnap him, but when Tommy evades him, he goes after Tommy's half-sister instead. He trieds to tell his mom, but she doesnt believe him. When his friend Felicia says they need to go after Emily themselves.

The story follows them as they go on an adventure up to the mother ship, find countless other kids the aliens have stolen to bring to their home planet and serve them and begin searching for the little sister Tommy never thought he wanted.

As you may have noticed, it's a Middle Grade novel. I've never written anything like it before, and I am a little worried about having such a young main character. I think I've already made some mistakes with word choice, but that's editable. Plus, I started the story in third, but I really do think I need to change it to first.

Other than that, though, I'm excited to see what comes of this idea that I jokingly called a novel two years ago. Who knows, this could be the novel that puts me on the map as an author!

Do you have any story ideas that you're not sure would work as a novel? What are you currently writing about?

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Daily Word Count: 4,722

Total Word Count: 75,600

Goodbye, Stolen Magick (Day 7)

So, today I finished the first of the four novels I will be writing this month. (Okay, so right now as I'm writing this post, it's not finished. It's still hovering around 66k, and it's should be ending at about 70k, but by the time this is posted it will be done. Promise!

Anyway, as I was saying, Stolen Magick will be done by the end of the day, and I will be moving on to the second book in my pile.

But before I move on, I can't help but take a minute to talk about the book that I'm finishing.

As you all know (or, at least those that read my blog yesterday) this book didn't go as smoothly as I was hoping. Characters, plot lines and love interests inserted themselves in to what I already had planned out, and I found myself doing the one thing I hate doing while writing first drafts: Figuring out where the plot was going.

While I still followed the basic plot that I had figured out before I even started the book, there was so much added to it, I'm not sure it's recognizable as the book it started out as.

Looking back over the past week, though, I'm glad that those characters, plots and love interests showed up. This book is so much better than it started out, and as an added bonus, there isn't nearly as much word padding because of how much I added in.

Somehow, though, I still ended up with about 10k less words. Still not sure how I managed that, but I live with it. 70K is decent for a YA, though I'm going to look at it during editing and see if I can't add a few more words (or maybe even plot points) in there to get that word count up a bit more.

Stolen Magick was a great book for me to start with, and while I'm looking forward to writing the other three books that are still waiting for my attention, I can't help but be a little bit sad to be finishing this novel.

All good books must end somewhere, though. And I'm assuming that goes for not so great books too, so I have to say good bye to Stolen Magick.

Next up: Aliens Stole My Socks!

How is your nano going? Have you ever finished a project and been a little sad to see it go?

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Daily Word Count: 4,786

Total Word Count; 70,878

Wait, That Wasn't Supposed To Happen (Day 6)

As I'm sure all of you are aware by now, I'm a planner. Not just a casual planner, either. I plan my books longer than I write them. (For those of you thinking that's not saying much, I do spend about a month on planning, so that's something, right?)

Anyway, because I spend so much time planning, I never expect my books to hold too many surprises. I know that I'll get some, I just don't expect them to be too big, or noteworthy. And I'm okay with that, honestly. I almost prefer not having the surprises. It makes the writing easier, because I'm not sitting there wondering why this character is acting that way, or whether that other character is important or not.

So, I started to write the first book I have planned out for NaNo this year. (Stolen Magick is a YA set in a school that teaches young Arcanists how to control their magick, which presents more as abilities than typical magic scenarios. This school also accepts humans, and the two groups, which aware of each other, and even mingling in occasional classes, are kept mostly separate. Phaedra joins the school after her mother dies. Originally she is though human, but eventually she discovers she has magick too, and soon chaos reins)

It was going pretty good. The chapters weren't ending up as long as I thought they were going to be, and I'll admit, I was a little worried about reaching the 80k I needed this book to be, but the story itself was going exactly the way I had planned. Maybe that's why it happened.

The first thing to go wrong was a chapter being added. I'd realized that there was more that I hadn't shown that could be important. First one chapter, then two and now I'm sitting at eight chapters added.

The next thing was a character forced herself in to the book. She started out as just a girl walking past Phaedra making a comment. When she appeared in another scene and named herself, though, I knew I was in trouble.

Once she was added, another character showed up, this one much more unique and surprising.

The enemy of my character (not the antagonist, they just didn't get along) turned out to be so much nicer than I originally thought. I added too many layers and now she's friends with Phaedra!

Two more subplots somehow wound themselves in there around the two characters that showed up, both subplots will be extending multiple books.

And, finally, there was a love interest that I hadn't originally planned on. Between Phaedra and one of the characters I had originally planned on. Which would have been fine, except that I knew he was dying about half way through the book, and every time they were cute it made me that much more sad when I had to kill him.

Before you say it, I know, these surprises are making the book better, but it's just so frustrating to have to change the basic plot of my book that I worked so hard on to accommodate everything. I'm finding myself constantly thinking of new things that would be happening because of it, and my easy, no hassle book is suddenly inserting itself in to my life.

I suppose I'll just have to go along with it and hope that my other books don't do the same thing. Hopefully I'll have a much better book in the end. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

Do you ever find yourself with surprises in your novel? Are you a planner, or a pantser?

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Daily Word Count: 11,079

Total Word Count: 66,092

The Cup Runneth Over (Day 4)

I tend to get a lot of ideas for books. Okay, more like for series of books. I've never managed to write a stand alone book before, and I doubt I'll ever figure out how to do it. The truth is that my ideas tend to be too big for a single book. And I don't mean a little too big. I mean these grand plans that if I tried to shove in to a single book would end up so long that it could be called an epic fantasy. Except it wouldn't be a fantasy.

Anyway, lets just say that my brain doesn't allow me to think in single book terms, and I've learned to deal with it.

The point of this blog, though, isn't about how big of a book I write, but rather how many ideas I have.

See, I bought a notebook last year that I dubbed my 'Shiny New Idea Book' and I started writing all of the ideas I have for novels in it. There are some that are really old, but most are brand new ideas that I've thought of since last November. Today, I counted them.

Fifty. I have fifty ideas for, not just books, but series. And two of those have been from the last few days since nano started! I don't even want to tell you how many came from just before nano as I was planning.

I swear, I come up with more other ideas about books to write while I'm doing nano than any other time of the year. I spend months editing and don't come up with a single thing, but start planning or writing, and suddenly my brain is tossing out story ideas like I have all the time in the world to sit down and write them. Like my brain wants me to just keep writing first drafts all the time and never move on from it.

Of course, I'm not going to do that. First of all, first drafts don't get published. Especially not mine. They're pretty bad. Pandora had almost three quarters of it rewritten in it's first pass of editing, and I know there are parts that I'll want to fix again, because they're still not sitting quite right with me. And I don't even want to talk about all of the typos and spelling mistakes that I manage to get in my first drafts (I'm sure you've seen some of them, I don't tend to edit my blog posts, sorry).

This nano I've also had to put up with the fact that my brain is now tossing out ideas for books that I've written in the past and want to come back to at some point, but have been shelved for now. (Literally...I got a book shelf). I figured out that one of the first novels I've ever written was all wrong. The main character was too young, she should have been married, and her husband should have been the one getting blackmailed, not her father.

Because I have so much time to go and fix it now.

I'm not complaining, I promise. I know so many writers that honestly don't know what to write. They don't have any ideas. The thing is, at this point in my life, I'm not sure that I”ll ever have enough time to write all of the ideas I have.

Maybe I should look at adopting them out.

Do you have lots of ideas piling up waiting for your attention? How many books have you shelved that you want to get back to?

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Daily Word Count: 15,309

Total Word Count: 50,143

The Interference (Day 3)

Today is the third day of nano and the first official write in of the season! (I never count the kick off...not sure why. Could have something to do with the utter lack of sleep)

I should be excited. Hell, I should be ecstatic! There should be some jumping off of the walls going on, huge grins, and barely contained energy that has the rest of the world looking at me like I've just been let out of the loony bin.

Somehow, though, the day has fallen flat.

Why? Well, the answer to that is simple. You see, I'm working. My day job (For those of you counting, yes I am planning doing 320,000 words while working a full time job, but rest assured, I have taken the last two weeks of November off. Both for the trip to San Francisco and to take some of the pressure off...last year, though, there was no vacation...just saying.)

I work at a registry. That means that I spend my day doing things like handing out licenses, renewing registrations and listening to people bitch to me about the speeding ticket they got for doing ONLY 115 on deerfoot. It's not exactly the most inspiring of atmospheres. In fact, it's the opposite of inspiring.

To make matters worse, I got to stare at the clock and see that everyone was already at the write in while I was ordering people birth certificates and trying to explain why you can't just switch over your Indian License to an Alberta one, because there are rules and laws and policies in place that prevent me from doing it.

All in all, I'm losing a little of the nano spirit as I sit at my desk listening to the issues everyone is having today. All I want to do is be at home (or better yet, the library) writing away. Working to hit my 11k that is my goal for the day.

Unfortunately, the day job is something that I need to do in order to survive. As I'm not yet published, my writing doesn't support me, and I need to pay the bills somehow.

So, in order to help ourselves feel just a little better, my friend and I have decided to throw our own little write in (it's just going to be the two of us). Neither of us could attend today's event due to work, so we'll head down to our usual Denny's and write up a storm all by ourselves.

Here's hoping I can hit my goal!!

Have you attended any of your regions events this year?

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Daily Word Count: 7,151

Total Word Count: 34,834

The Shut Down (Day 2)

Normally I'm pretty good at getting my stuff done. Stop laughing, I am! Okay, so I can procrastinate with the best of them. I think I even procrastinated on procrastinating once, but that's besides the point. The point is that I normally get my stuff done, if not on the day it needs to be done, then pretty close. Especially if it's a precursor for something else. Like, say, the planning for nano.

This year is my third year doing nano. The first year, I was terrified out of my wits that I wasn't going to write my 50k. The second year I was more prepared, so I upped my goal (then had someone challenge me and I upped it again). This year, though I did up my goal, it was by so little that my brain barely registered it as a challenge.

So, rather than frantically planning and getting things done the couple of weeks before nano, my brain did what I'm assuming it thought was logical. It shut down.

I'm not even kidding on this one. Two weeks before the start of nano, and suddenly I couldn't concentrate. I couldn't even decide what my characters looked like. I found myself watching far too many tv shows, unwilling to even look at the pages I needed to fill before the beginning of nano. The boxes for my move sat unfilled, and the editing I swore I would have done before November sat remembered, but ignored in my bag.

I shut down.

Of course, the sudden descent of unproductivity made for a rather unorganized move, and more than a few headaches on my part.

Add to that the fact that I had to cram all of my planning in to the last two days before nano started, and had to put off the editing until December (which sucks, because I wanted to have it submission ready for January) and going in to November, I wasn't feeling like the robot I normally am.

Despite that, though, I'm determined to get my 320k this year. That might be a little rough, as the first book I've started is coming in under the goal (which might actually be a miracle for me) but I'll make up those words somewhere.

I have an office, I have a calender, and I have all the support of the wrimos here in Calgary. I have everything I need to accomplish my goal. Now I just have to fight off the lazy unproductive part of my brain, and keep writing!

What do you do to get yourself ready for Nano?

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Daily Word Count: 11,488

Total Word Count: 27,683

All The Words!! (Day 1)

So today I woke up late (I was out at the midnight kick off until about two in the morning)  and I had, of course, a goal for the day.  I wanted to hit 15,000 words by the end of the day to start out NaNoWriMo right.  I have a plan to make it to 320,000 words this month (despite all the different things I have planned.)

Now, this may sound like a lot.  Trust me, it does to me too.  In fact after the kickoff here in Calgary, I may have had a small panic attack where I might have wondered if I was going to be able to finish.

So, now it's the end of the day and I have my first word count.  Today I managed to write 16,195 words.  Which is more than my goal for the day, and I'm super excited.

Now I'm thinking that I can actually do this.  Yes, yes, I know, I've done it before.  Last year I wrote 300,000 words and now I'm only adding on an additional 20,000 words, so why was i worried?

Maybe it was because of all the other plans I have for the month.  Maybe it was because I had only written 4k words (even if it was only the first night, in fact the first few hours).  Or maybe it's just because I do have random moments of doubt no matter how long I've been doing things like this.

The why doesn't really matter.  What matters is that I'm going to do it.  I'm going to get my word count.  I just have to buckle down and do it.  And not get distracted by all the shows I'm dying to watch.

Anyway, it's a short post today, cause I have to get this up in the next couple of minutes, but I do have to say, no matter what your goal this year, you can do it!!

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Daily Word Count: 16,195

Total Word count: 16,195

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.

The Epic Month of Posts

I thought I would begin this post by telling you all the story of Nano 2011. For me, of course.  I'm sure there were a million story's during nano 2011.  Anyway, this is my story of Nano 2011.

It was my second year of Nano, and my first year had gone relatively well.  (Okay, so I tripled the goal for the month...at the time I had absolutely no idea that I was even capable of such a thing.  Who knew.)  Anyway, as it was my second year and had managed to get so many words, I decided I was going to up that goal.  Just by a little bit, and I decided to set it at 200k words.

So, I was on about day three, and I had already written 30k words.  I was ahead of the game, and pretty happy with my progress thus far.  Then I started talking to one of my nano friends online.  She had decided that her goal that year was to beat me, and she already had 20k.

I'm told that this was the point where I overreacted.  I disagree.  I think what I did was perfectly rational, but I suppose I have to concede to the majority.

At this point, she was only 10k behind me, and I might be just slightly competitive, so I decided right then and there that 10k a day wasn't so bad, and I could keep that up for the entire month and write 300k.

I did it.  The girl who got me to raise my goal, she didn't even make the original 200k.  But it was a great month, and it's going to be something that I'm repeating this year.

So why am I telling you this now when nano hasn't even started?  Because of what else I did during Nano 2011 that will also be happening this year.

A friend of mine (not the same girl that managed to get me to write 300k words...) told me about a week before Nano started that she was going to write a blog post a day during the month of November.  I scoffed at her and told her she was crazy (I had only written about five blog posts total at this point).  Then I decided I was going to join her.

I didn't quite make it.  I ended up missing two days, and not all of it was good (more than a couple days was nothing more than 'here's my word count, I'm going to bed) but it was what really got this blog started.  It was because of those 30 days that I even considered getting the posts on a schedule of sorts.

Of course, last years we didn't have any rules.  This year we have a couple:

1) The post must be up on your site before midnight in whatever time zone you happen to be in.

2) All blog posts must be a minimum of 50 words to be considered a post (yes, this is short, but we might just up this count next year.)

This year we're also inviting other people to join us in our blogging efforts.  I'm keeping a list of all those involved on the sidebar on my site, and B. A. Matthews is doing the same.  So you can follow anyone whose going to be posting a blog a day and see who actually manages it.

Or you can sign up for it yourself, either by commenting on this post, contacting me via twitter (@DanniM86) or talking to B. A. Matthews.

We would also appreciate anyone who would like to spread the word.  I'm calling it the Epic Month of Posts, but feel free to come up with your own names for it.

I'm excited for this year (as I've upped my goal to 320k of my own free will, rather than being goaded in to it), and I can't wait to see the posts that come out of it.  I hope that we get a few of you to join, because it's going to be great!