Why I Am (and Will Be) Crazy
I have decided to dip my toes into uncharted waters. (And possibly mix metaphors in the process . . .)
Novembers past used to be the most insane time of the year for me. And that didn't count preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The whirlwind used to be because of my work as assistant director of the Utah Chocolate Show. Even after I pulled away from that (something had to give, and it wasn't going to be family or my writing), the fall was almost always loaded with book promotions (when I had a fall release) PLUS trying to get my latest book polished up and ready for submission.
This year, I have none of those excuses. (Okay, I do have the promotional excuse with THIS beauty, but not the "get that book turned in" one, nor do I have the chocolate show one. ) Oh, and yeah, I promised to get a rewrite back to my editor ASAP. I'll do both. I swear.)
As one writer on the Kindle boards put it, if you're a writer and don't have a good reason to not to NaNoWriMo, you should do it. He says it's "like jury duty." (Only I'll add: more fun. I hope.)
For my non-writer friends, here's what's I'm talking about, a song that explains why November is going to be NUTS.
(It's a song parody on one of my old favorites, "That Good Ol' A Capella." I love the version sung by The Nylons.)
That's the gist.
Basically, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It's when thousands of writers use that month to write a brand-spanking new manuscript in one month: 50,000 words of one, at least.
(That's usually not a full novel unless we're talking a Middle Grade book. My novels range from about 75,000 to 115,000 Still.)
Let's spell it out:
FIFTY.
THOUSAND.
WORDS.
IN.
ONE.
MONTH.
For pantsers (people who have no clue where their story is going and just write), it can be a nightmare. For outliners, October is NaNo prep month, where they make lists of scenes and plot out their stories. I think I'll be somewhere in the middle.
Why am I doing it? Because I'm in a weird writing funk, and I think it'll take something drastic like 50K in a month to knock me out of it. I've got a couple of book ideas rattling about in my head. I've picked which to use, figured out some scenes and major characters and plot elements, but I should have outlined it. (Although I've always landed in the middle of the panster/outliner spectrum, so maybe I'm okay . . . I hope.)
So, my beloved readers, here's how this will affect you:
With the exception of a few posts here and there, I won't be blogging much in November unless it's to give a brief update on my madness and/or put up a progress toolbar so I can be publicly humiliated if I don't reach my goal.
I'll be largely absent from Facebook and Twitter. I'll try to keep my e-mail time minimal. (I can't NOT have SOME e-mail. I'm not a caveman.) I may treat myself to a Google Reader fest to check blogs if I've reached my word count for the day.
But if I don't swing by your blog in November, don't feel neglected.
Know it's nothing personal. I'm just feverishly losing my mind as my keyboard smokes.
© 2010 Annette Lyon, all rights reserved
Novembers past used to be the most insane time of the year for me. And that didn't count preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The whirlwind used to be because of my work as assistant director of the Utah Chocolate Show. Even after I pulled away from that (something had to give, and it wasn't going to be family or my writing), the fall was almost always loaded with book promotions (when I had a fall release) PLUS trying to get my latest book polished up and ready for submission.
This year, I have none of those excuses. (Okay, I do have the promotional excuse with THIS beauty, but not the "get that book turned in" one, nor do I have the chocolate show one. ) Oh, and yeah, I promised to get a rewrite back to my editor ASAP. I'll do both. I swear.)
As one writer on the Kindle boards put it, if you're a writer and don't have a good reason to not to NaNoWriMo, you should do it. He says it's "like jury duty." (Only I'll add: more fun. I hope.)
For my non-writer friends, here's what's I'm talking about, a song that explains why November is going to be NUTS.
(It's a song parody on one of my old favorites, "That Good Ol' A Capella." I love the version sung by The Nylons.)
That's the gist.
Basically, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It's when thousands of writers use that month to write a brand-spanking new manuscript in one month: 50,000 words of one, at least.
(That's usually not a full novel unless we're talking a Middle Grade book. My novels range from about 75,000 to 115,000 Still.)
Let's spell it out:
FIFTY.
THOUSAND.
WORDS.
IN.
ONE.
MONTH.
For pantsers (people who have no clue where their story is going and just write), it can be a nightmare. For outliners, October is NaNo prep month, where they make lists of scenes and plot out their stories. I think I'll be somewhere in the middle.
Why am I doing it? Because I'm in a weird writing funk, and I think it'll take something drastic like 50K in a month to knock me out of it. I've got a couple of book ideas rattling about in my head. I've picked which to use, figured out some scenes and major characters and plot elements, but I should have outlined it. (Although I've always landed in the middle of the panster/outliner spectrum, so maybe I'm okay . . . I hope.)
So, my beloved readers, here's how this will affect you:
With the exception of a few posts here and there, I won't be blogging much in November unless it's to give a brief update on my madness and/or put up a progress toolbar so I can be publicly humiliated if I don't reach my goal.
I'll be largely absent from Facebook and Twitter. I'll try to keep my e-mail time minimal. (I can't NOT have SOME e-mail. I'm not a caveman.) I may treat myself to a Google Reader fest to check blogs if I've reached my word count for the day.
But if I don't swing by your blog in November, don't feel neglected.
Know it's nothing personal. I'm just feverishly losing my mind as my keyboard smokes.
© 2010 Annette Lyon, all rights reserved
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