Jamie Todd Rubin's Blog, page 373
November 24, 2010
NaNoWriMo 2010 Days 22-23 (Win+3)
I didn't manage to do any writing on Monday or Tuesday because I was in New York attending various writer events. That is really just an excuse, of course. In reality it was a combination of the fact that I "won" the competition which takes off some of the pressure (I wish it didn't), laziness (being on the road is a good excuse not to write), and exhaustion. As things stand, I have just over 52,000 words and while I didn't get up to write this morning, I do expect to get some writing in today, and I plan on being back to my normal schedule tomorrow, now that I am caught up on sleep.
Part 2 still needs work and I think the fact that my outline did not start out nearly as complete as Part 1 is a big reason why I am having so much difficulty with it now. I plan on getting the rest of the kinks worked out today, and I also plan on being certain that I have Part 2 fully-fleshed out, as I should be ready to start on that in about a week.
I believe the NaNoWriMo site opens for official "win" recording tomorrow, so I should have my "certificate" tomorrow, which is nice.
The SFWA Author and Editors Reception
I wrapped up my Monday evening by attending my first Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America annual author and editor reception at Planet Hollywood in Times Square. I'd invited my brother-in-law, Jason, to the event and in a rather ironic twist, he–the copy editor who makes commercials–walked away with an agent's card. But I didn't come away empty handed either…
The event was held upstairs in an area segregated from the rest of the restaurant. It was crowded and loud when I arrived and it stayed that way they whole time I was there. Checking in, I finally got to meet Steven H. Silver in person. We'd been LiveJournal friends for years and it was great to finally meet him in the flesh. (He's edited a couple of books collecting the short fiction of Lester Del Rey, that are just terrific.) There was an open bar and Jason and I made our way there so that I could obtain some liquid courage: there were people in the room who were science fiction heroes of mine, to say nothing of other writers who I've admired for a very long time. I'm still getting used to the idea that I am a Real Writer, and as I've said before, my philosophy is "fan first, writer second". I was a little nervous but a bottle of New Castle helped.
I found Stan Schmidt and he took me and Jay Werkheiser around and introduced us as "two of newest Analog authors," which made me smile. He introduced us that way to Joe Haldeman. Joe-freakin'-Haldeman: author of The Forever War, and "The Hemingway Hoax" and The Accidental Time Machine. I was so glad I got to meet Joe in person. Stan also introduced us to his agent, as well as Sheila Williams, editor of Asimov's Science Fiction. Later, Stan, Jay and I found a table in the "quiet" room and sat with Carl Frederick and Ian Randal Strock, and talked more shop. It was absolutely wonderful.
I got to chat for a few minutes with Mary Robinette Kowal, who I'd first met in person back at Readercon in July. She had to have been the most elegantly dressed people attending the event, and I was so glad I got to talk to her again. I also got to chat with Bill Shunn, whose writing I've admired since I first read "Two Paths in the Forest Toulemonde" in Science Fiction Age back in 1994, and who I met briefly at Balticon in 2007. I introduced Jason to Bill since they used to share a neighborhood in Queens. There were a few other people that I wanted to to say hello to, but I ran into two problems: first, it was so crowded that I simply couldn't find them; and second, I was exhausted and I needed to be up at 3:30am the next morning in order to drive the family back home.
I made a final round, saying goodbye to the people that I'd seen, and thanking Stan again for lunch and for showing me such a good time at the reception, and then Jason and I headed home.
I dozed off Monday night floating on a cloud.
A Codexian dinner
On Monday evening, I finally got to meet in person several members of the Codex Writers' group who, until that time, I'd only met online. We met at the Aspen Social Club near Times Square, and by the time I arrived, most of them were already there: Lawrence M. Schoen and his wife Valerie, Alethea Kontis and her friend Leanna, and Mary Rodgers. We managed to score a table in the back by the virtual fireplace. I had a blast at the dinner. Mostly, I sat listening to everyone else–far more experienced than I–talk shop, joke around, tell war stories. It was an education for me and it was a heck of a lot of fun.
Alethea took some pictures, which she will hopefully post at some point. Everyone there was incredibly nice to me and made me feel at home and part of the group. Like a Real Writer. It still sounds unbelievable to me. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to that.
My first editorial lunch in NYC
On Monday, I had my first lunch with an editor in New York City. I headed down to the offices of Dell Magazine and met Dr. Stanley Schmidt, editor of Analog Science Fiction in person for the first time. We sat in his office and chatted for a while while we waited for others to arrive. It was a surreal experience for me. First of all, just seeing the offices of Analog (and Asimov's) in the flesh: they are, in fact, more than just an address on an envelope. Second, getting to meet Stan in person and chat with him one-on-one. Here's a man who has been the editor of Analog since 1978 or so–almost as long as John Campbell's tenure–and who has been selecting the stories that I (and everyone else, for that matter) have been reading for more than three decades. Stan was incredibly nice to me and we talked about all manner of things as we waited for the others to arrive.
The others included Carl Frederick, who has been writing prolifically for Analog for 7 or 8 years now. He's a tall fellow who speaks half a million languages and who has a great sense of humor. Also joining us was Jay Werkheiser, a writer who has had 2 stories in Analog so far (in consecutive Novembers, as he pointed out to me when I asked about it) and who will probably have many more. He's a high school chemistry and physics teacher and that alone puts him in my high regard.
Once we had a quorum, Stan led us to Baluchi's, which had some outstanding Indian food, and we sat at the table for nearly an hour and a half talking about all manner of things, only half of which had to do with writing. I was pretty much in awe of Stan and Carl throughout the lunch. Stan told us stories about his own rejection letters from John Campbell and about his process for reading stories submitted to the magazine and it was absolutely terrific. The time flew by and before we knew it, the restaurant was closing down and our little party was breaking up on the sidewalk just outside the restaurant.
As a first editorial lunch, it set a high standard for future lunches (if I'm lucky enough to have any) to meet. I had an absolute blast.
November 22, 2010
A Sunday drive to Bronxville
Yesterday, we drove the new car up to Bronxville where we are staying with Jen and Jason while I attend the variously Writerly Events I have scheduled for today in New York City. We left at 8am and stopped in New Brunswick to meet Kelly's cousins for brunch at a place called Old Man Rafferty's. The brunch there was quite amazing and included some crabs legs which were particularly good.
After brunch, we headed over to the neighborhood that I grew up in–Somerset, New Jersey. We drove past the house that I grew up in and except for the color it looks very much like I remembered it:
When I lived there, it was the early-mid-1970s. Thirty years later, the cars are the most noticeable changes in the neighborhood. We drove past my school as well, and then continued up to Broxnville to Jen and Jason's place.
Zach and Sadie had a blast together, chasing each other around the apartment, laughing and wearing out their parents who merely stood on the sidelines watching. We all headed out to the Outback Steakhouse for dinner and then came back home and began to wind down. At first, it seemed that Zach was going to have a quiet, easy night, but that wasn't to be. He was uncomfortable, overtired, and itchy and that made for a rough night for him, and Kelly. And me. But he finally got to sleep and he's still asleep this morning as I write this.
I tried getting up this morning to do a little writing, but it wasn't to be, so it looks like today will be my first missed day since I started on the novel. That's okay. I've done a pretty good job so far and I think I've earned a day off.
We're heading into the City a little later this morning. I have a lunch around noon, a dinner at 5:30, and the big SFWA event at 7.
November 21, 2010
NaNoWriMo 2010 Day 21 (Win+1)
This morning was the first morning that I did not make my personal quota of 2,000 words, and it is probably no coincidence that it happened the day after I "won" the event. Some of the pressure is off. I finished up the morning with 1,875 words, still well above the NaNoWriMo pace, for a 21-day total of 52,034 words. I could make excuses for why I couldn't squeeze out another 125 words, but I won't. I'm just happy I was able to get up at 5am on a Sunday and get 2 hours of writing in, despite having won the competition yesterday. I hope it demonstrates my dedication to finishing up the first draft of the novel before December 15.
I wrote the first scene of Chapter 23 this morning and it wasn't a great scene, but it added some background information to the main antagonist which I felt I needed to make her into a more fully rounded character, and give her the motivation for why she is opposing the heroes of the novel. In that sense, it was a good morning.
We're heading up to New York today. Tomorrow, I have my Big Writers Day. Hopefully I can continue my early morning writing unabated while I'm there.
Here are the stats for today:
November 20, 2010
NaNoWriMo Day 20: THE WIN!
With less than a thousand word to go to "win" the NaNoWriMo event, I figured I'd throw in an afternoon session to push myself past the milestone. I wrote one new scene that added 1,109 words–which gives me a 20-day total of 50,159 words, and which officially pushes me over the 50,000 word-mark. For the second year in a row, I am a NaNoWriMo winner. Here is a picture of the winner in his brand new NaNoWriMo winner's t-shirt:
And here's a closeup of the shirt:
And here is how my win looked in Scrivener:
It's pretty exciting to win the challenge in a mere 20 days. But this is only the first step in my larger goal–which is to write a novel that is good enough to SELL. And that means the next milestone will take over as my focus: to finish the novel. I completed NaNoWriMo last year on November 25 and I ended up with 60,000 words by November 30. But I gave up after that, feeling that it was a good exercise, but what I had written wouldn't work for a novel. This year, I've tried to plan things better and at the 50,000-word mark, I'm feeling very good about the story that I'm telling.
My plan going forward is to maintain the same pace that I've been working since I started: aiming for 2,000 words each and every day until I hit 90,000 words (or finish the novel). At my current pace I should finish up the first draft around December 10. I will continue to make my daily posts of my progress so that those who are interested can continue to follow along on this process.
All told, I wrote 3,617 words today, which is an extraordinary day for me. I'm planning to be back up early tomorrow to get in my 2,000 words. Very early for a Sunday since we're hitting the road at 8am. But I'm taking the rest of the evening off.
Here are the revised stats for today:
New rug
Kelly picked up our new area rug for the TV room this morning and I installed it while she and Zach were out at Gymboree. Here it is:
NaNoWriMo 2010 Day 20 (morning session)
I managed a rather unexpected 2,508 words this morning in a mere 90 minutes, which surprised me, but which I think is due in part to a mid-course correction I made yesterday, which I will discuss in due course below. This morning's session brought me to a 20-day total of 49,050 words. When I wrapped up this morning and saw that I was within 950 words of "winning", I was tempted to press on, but I held back, deciding that I had a good session and didn't want to press my luck. There's always this afternoon.
After yesterday morning's session, I really felt that my Part 2 outline was not nearly in the shape it needed to be for me to continue without a constant daily struggle. So I decided to address that by fleshing out all of the issues during my lunch hour yesterday. Part 2 is more complex than Part 1, but that doesn't mean it needed to be structured in a more complex way. Part of my goal was to see if I could find some kind of simpler structure–like I have in Part 1–that would work in Part 2. So I cleaned off the large whiteboard in my office and began to map out what happens in Part 2. I tried identifying all of the key plot points, and how those points added tension to the plot, what characters were involved, when in the timeline they took place, and what forces were acting against them. The result was the following:
It might be hard read (which is good, I suppose, since it doesn't give anything away), but the diagram I ended up with listed all of the events on the timeline, and in relationship to a barely visible narrative arc line that curves its way up through the center of the diagram. The items in black are major plot points and the red lines that seem to criss-cross between them are items of tension, things that push against the plot point to add tension to the storyline. I started with a simple, "How do I get from A to B in an exciting way?" and worked from there. It turned out to be very helpful. And John, my next door office neighbor pointed out that what I had done was have positive plot points one side and opposite plot points on the other. It was completely unintentional, but it gave me the simple framework that I was looking for and that I'd already achieved in Part 1.
It made filling in the rest of the outline for Part 2 much easier. But it also means there is a fair amount of reworking that will be required in the first 5 chapters of Part 2. I say "will be required" because I'm not going back to rework them now. NaNoWriMo is not about rewriting, but have the outline marked up in such a way as to identify what needs reworking so I can attend to that in the second draft. Meanwhile, I think the results of this "mid-course correction" were apparent in my work this morning. I wrote Chapters 21 and 22 and managed to get through 2,500 words in the space of 90 minutes. A pretty remarkable pace for me.
The reworking isn't quite complete yet and I expect I will spend some time this afternoon (thus, the "morning session") fixing up what remains to be fixed (without deleting or rewriting) and at that point, I may try and squeeze in one more scene to push me over the 50,000 word mark. I received my winner's T-shirt yesterday and as soon as I pass that mark, I'll post a photo of me wearing that shirt.
Here are my stats for today:
November 19, 2010
"Don't touch my junk" will save the day
This is why I am not overly concerned about the recent invasive screening techniques used by the TSA. The balance between freedom and security is a zero-sum game. Increase security and freedoms decrease. Increase freedoms and security decreases. Americans will tolerate only so much before they will do what they are best at–revolt. Congress is listening because they have to–the very people being felt-up by airport security staff are the same people who put Congress in office. With the Congress involved it is only a matter of time. Pistole, the head of the TSA has said that he's not going to change the policies. Fast forward to the not-too-distant future where he'll likely issue a quiet memorandum, backing out of the policies which many people say border on sexual harassment.
There is a call to boycott the screenings on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. It will be interesting to see how that works out. For me it comes down to a risk assessment: how much you value your freedom over how likely it seems to you that someone can sneak explosives on board an aircraft through existing security mechanism. I think the TSA has gone too far, but I'm not concerned because John Tyner's, "Don't touch my junk" will resonate with the public and with Congress in the same way that Roosevelt's "little dog Fala" did. And the pendulum will begin to swing back the other way.
