NaNoWriMo 2012

[Lucian Poll]

Ha! Thanks, Randy. You too. Do you have a juicy blurb for your novella that you care to share?

[Randy D. Rubin]

There should be no problems. Best of luck to you my friend. Sell your novel to the masses, tell the rest to kiss our asses. See, you've inspired me to poetry on St. Party's day.

[Lucian Poll]

Hi, Randy. I've no problem with being your DI. It sounds like a lot of fun! I hope you've given me some killer lines.

I have some news that may have some bearing on your novella (though I hope not). Since we last spoke I've firmed up plans for my NaNo novel, the upshot being that I'm arranging for advertising spots in a couple of magazines over the coming months, Cemetery Dance being one of them.

I hope this doesn't impact on the saleability of your novella. I can't imagine it will, but I thought it better to give you a heads-up either way.

Do keep us informed of my exploits!

[Randy D. Rubin]

Lucian Poll, I just used your name as a character in my seventh novella. You are an Inspector Detective with Scotland Yard. I told you I would, sooner or later, and you said it was all right so...

[Lucian Poll]

Thanks, Terry. It's a massive relief to get the thing out of my head, even in its current "Dear God, did I really write that?" state!

I'll definitely put feelers out for test readers once I've put it through a second draft, likely end-May/start-June. I've also got it lined up for a professional edit. I'll put a call out via the Cemetery Dance group on Goodreads as I got a really good response when I sought opinion there a few weeks ago. Hope to see you there!

In the meantime I've about a million books on my TBR pile to catch up on, and this year's NaNo plot to ferment. Good times!

[TerryE]

Way to go, Loosh! If you need a test/proof reader, just let me know.

[Lucian Poll]

Thanks, Randy. Slurping as I type this!

[Randy D. Rubin]

Well done Lucian. Now you may have that celebratory pint or two and toast to your accomplishment. Congratulations.

[Lucian Poll]

If you can forgive a little bit of self-congratulation, I am delighted to say that I have (finally) finished the first draft of my NaNoWriMo novel! It currently weighs in at around 102,750 words, or around 360-370 paperback pages in old money, so there's a decent bit of story in there.

I'll follow the King method and leave the thing to settle for six weeks, and then pick it up at Easter for Round 2. I hope to have something together for test readings at the end of May/start of June. (And thanks for the kind offers from the CD Goodreads group. You helped me get over the line. )

In the meantime I'd better crack on with some artwork, and maybe start plotting this year's NaNo effort.

[Lucian Poll]

Thanks, Sock Monkey. I hope to see you next year.

Work certainly has a habit of wrecking creativity. The moment I returned to work my word count took a nosedive. But I'm back in the saddle again. I've written, polished and submitted my CD story, so it's about time for me to return to my NaNo novel. It's now highly unlikely I'll get the first draft finished by Christmas, which is a pain, but let's see how many words I can get down between now and then. The central premise is getting some good feedback from a broad mix of people, so I'd be a fool not to see this one through. So, with knuckles duly cracked, let's begin...

Actually, perhaps I'd better read the last couple of chapters again!

[RJK1981]

I know what it's like, Sock Monkey. I'm on call 24 hours a day for 2 weeks of the month, and have a small child that I love to spend time with. Staying up until midnight (my only quiet time) really took a toll by week 2. And it also didn't help that they have it during football season, too.

Yeah, I was not going to stop watching football, that is for sure, lol. Luckily I am a night owl, so staying up past midnight is a regular deal for me, which is when I did a majority of my writing on most of the days.

[TerryE]

I know what it's like, Sock Monkey. I'm on call 24 hours a day for 2 weeks of the month, and have a small child that I love to spend time with. Staying up until midnight (my only quiet time) really took a toll by week 2. And it also didn't help that they have it during football season, too.

[Sock Monkey]

A late congratulations to everyone who kicked butt this year. It looks like everyone made a whole lot more progress than I did! I knew it would be a challenge taking this on in November, but I wished I'd been able to get more done. Unfortunately work took over most of my time. Well, there's always next year!

[TerryE]

Hey RJ, if you don't know the beginning, start in the middle and fill in the rest with backstory.

Also, guys, if you ever want any help with proofreading or critque, I'd be glad to help.

I know that part of the point of NaNo is to turn off the inner editor, but that was hard for me. It always is. It doesn't help that the laptop has a sticky keyboard and spelling errors (which drive me nuts) keep popping up. I avoided doing a complete reread and fix every time I sat down, which was a big step for me, but I still would go back if I needed to set something up, or wanted to make things fit better. At least I don't feel like the whole story will need to be fixed. There was one person on the Maryland page who said she would have to put all of the scenes in order when she was done. I don't get that at all.

[RJK1981]

Hi RJK, congratulations on winning! I had a look at your excerpts. I liked the final excerpt re: the drawing of the smiling face. Nice and creepy!

Thanks, glad you like it. That part is probably my favorite part from that whole scene and is basically the end of it and would likely be the end of a chapter. If I were to have the book published in a serial format I would likely want that to end that part of the serial and leave readers off on that for however long it is between the serial pieces. That whole scene was fun to write and is fun to imagine. How could someone write the words and draw the things he drew with closed eyes and no memory of actually doing it. Then if you think of it, that would be horrible to have happen to you. Knowing you are having these nightmares but never remembering them, and then not remembering anything between putting your pen/pencil to the paper and a knock on the door? I don't know how I would react to that!

The question is, where did that face come from? It doesn't match the writing or the detailed drawing that came before it.

I can even give you what the answer to that question is right now: I don't know, lol! I have a couple ideas, but I still have to decide/discover the answer to that question. Might end up writing more than one version to see how I like my options of who the bad guy (or guys) will end up being.

I may end up going back to my NaNo story and working on that sooner than planned. I still have not successfully begun my short story for CD. I know at least part of the setting and can describe a vital building, but I can't decide how to start it and don't know very much about will happen. I was going to write this one in first person but I may have to get location and character sketches done and then shelve the story for now. Hopefully more will come to me here soon. If not, oh well.