Wednesday, December 1, 2010

MeNoWriMo Complete

Well, here we are. The annual frenzy is over. You can move your eyes away from the computer's soft glow. Soak your little fingers, fatigued from endless typing, coated with pen ink, in a hot bath. Cut down on the caffeine. To all of you who participated in NaNoWriMo, whether you 'won' or not, I applaud you for taking on such an insane challenge. It's hard to write a novel. But in just 30 days most of you have proved that it is not impossible. And that really is something.

I promised an update on MeNoWriMo so here it is.

Melissa's Novel Writing Month didn't include writing a novel at all. Instead, it included focusing my writing goals and completing the first draft and one edit of a short story. Which I did! I like this story. I'm in love with some of the secondary characters. I identify with the protaganist. And I like the subtle, quiet action. You should know that my action sequences mainly include two people sipping a glass of wine at a dining room table. It's like Die Hard and Indiana Jones rolled into one, I tell you.

I jest.

As for focusing on one project and setting goals, I managed to do it. I wrote 1,000 words of Rabbit Island, a contemporary YA loosely based on Coney Island in its heyday. I'm telling the story of Adelaine Cross, a sixteen year old girl who has a story to tell. Here Now, the novel I began this summer, has been put aside because it is lost at the moment, trying to find it's way. I have a bunch of really depressed characters sitting on a foggy beach just as it's about to rain and I simply don't know where these silly people belong.

I plan to have a first draft of Rabbit Island by March 15th. At least, that's the idea. For now.

Another goal I had was to submit a short story to some magazines or journals or contests, once a week for the rest of my life until it's published, is what I believe I said. As I began to delve into this, I realized that this requires a lot of research as to what journals and magazines and contests might work for the type of stories I write. And so I hope to have at least 20 ideas of places to submit for the end of this month.

And that's about it. Thanks for letting me talk about my work and tell you my goals. Accountability is what allows me to finish all of my projects and it's thanks to telling all of you what my goals are. So thank you, thank you.

I hope you'll share your own progress on your creative endeavors, writing or otherwise, right here.

5 comments:

  1. Fantastic, hearing about your writing - the ups and downs and the stray characters, plus the adrenalin rush when all is going well. I almost said 'to plan' but that would make it too neat with no room for further inspiration to creep in.
    I have been making progress with my whacky trilogy (onto third book now) and a couple of sinister characters have appeared which (they are 'Twisted Pairs' and 'Fibre Optics') will make the end of the book more viable than I had realised.
    Also, I have just come to a part in which I bring in a character with a cameo role. I had been waiting to arrive at this point .. and he makes his appearance well!
    I am willing to share writing progrss at any time as writing can be isolating - apart from being crowded by one's characters, of course!

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  2. Great goals and I second the idea of putting a book aside for awhile. I worked on my YA book all summer and set it aside in August to do edits for my book on submission. I'm so glad I had some time away from it, because now I'm ready to come back to it with a bunch of shiny new ideas! Good luck with your goals! :)

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  3. Lovely update! Goals are excellent to have- I'm not doing as well with them as I was last year, mostly because I've been sleeping better, and when most people sleep is when I usually write. So blah on that! What I wanted to start on hardcore in October only has 16 pages, which is pretty weak for me. I just can't write when my son is awake (I've never heard another child talk quite so much. You'd think by 8, he'd have learned to filter and not say every little thing that pops into his brain, but no...), and once he goes to bed, my husband usually parks himself in front of the tv, and since my computer is in the living room...Yeah. So I steal little bits of writing time whenever I can, but it's not often. Other than that, just lots of rejection all over the place. Gets a girl down, you know?

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  4. Great goals. I love the title of your YA WIP. I also loved hearing that you left those foggy people on the beach in Here Now. I so often leave my characters, or really, they leave me. I'm trying to finish up a draft I've been saying I'd finish since September! But, I'll be done grading my students writing portfolios next week and then there's winter break (writing time!). Woo-hoo!

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  5. It sounds like you have had a very productive month well done! I have been following your example and have been busy planning and writing more of my short story and found the incentive of the writing month really helpful.

    You seem to have a clear idea of your goals and Rabbit Island sounds interesting.

    Good Luck getting everything finished!

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