A Sad Start

So far out of the five days of writing I am three behind. In the past few days it has been hard for me to find the time to write, but I have not given up. I have a lot of catchup to do and my goal is to be ahead of schedule by sunday night. I'm able to write a little at lunch every day and a little more when I get home at night. This weekend I'm going to write like my final term paper is due on Monday.

So far nothing of the little I have posted is worth putting up here. Maybe this weekend I'll put an excerpt.

Wish me luck. It looks like I am really going to need it.

Off to a (good?) start

First night of writing and I have reached 1580 words before nodding off. My goal for weekends is 3500 each day, so I am still way short for the day, but as today is still tomorrow for me, I guess I got a headstart. This 1580 took me about 2.5 hours, so if I can write that speed every session I'll be pretty happy.

Also, no cheating. I don't have names with more than one word yet, and I haven't added a talking parrot in the background or anything. Maybe those will happen in the third week when I begin to realize I won't make it without em. :-)

How you guys doing the 24 hour write out can do it I have no clue. I'd be history by now, even if I were making my coffee with Mt. Dew instead of water. Oh well, Dainn and the caravan to Westing can wait until tomorrow to be down for the night.

Read, Set, Panic!

With only an hour and a half until this thing gets going, I just wanted to give some more details of my novel and what I plan to write here.

- My novel is called "Sea of Souls" at least for now. I may change the title to "Fawn" which is the nickname of the main character.
- It is a fantasy
- There will not be a dwarf with an axe, no elf with a bow, and the wizard is a snotty little kid so no beard and walking stick.
- The main conflict: Fawn is a rebord wizard, a super-powerful controller of magic. The world is ruled by a religion "The Covenant" that waits for the return of the wizard (though they don't call it wizard) but has become violently afraid of all forms of magic they don't perform. As such, the Covenant will see Fawn not as the coming of their long awaited leader, but rather as a demon who needs to be killed.
- I have been writing this novel in my head since I was in highschool. Some of my friends who used to play DnD with me back in the 80s may recognize some of these characters. No novel is better suited for NaNoWriMo, because I don't have to do much in the way of outlining or character creation. Plus, I need this novel out of my head and onto paper.

As for the blog...

- I won't be posted every word I write here. It doesn't make sense; most of what I write won't be easy to read, or even make sense. Think of the first draft as one long freewriting exercise. Most of what I write will look silly, and one way or another I will be writing continually for each writing session, even if I have no clue what to say. So you see, you don't want to read it all
- As I come up with some good sections, I'll post them. Also, if I come up with some extraordinarily bad passages, I'll post them as well.
- I'll post daily updates of my word count and some words about my state of mind and progress. Also, if I have any issues with my novel I may post questions here, especially if I actually get anyone to read this thing.

Wish me luck. I'll come up for air at least once every day to give you some status.

My plan: 10,000 words every weekend. The other 10,000 words will be done during the week. There is just no way I can do the 1667 words daily with work, Shinkendo, and my commute. Though I do plan on sneaking in some writing time at work and at the dojo.

A Place for Lies

I have created this blog specifically for my work on a novel for the National Novel Writing Month--NaNoWriMo 2008. This begins November 1st, and I plan to work a little each day to reach the goal of a 200 page novel by the first of December.

The project I will be working on is one I have been mulling over for years. Some of my friends will see parts of it in old games I ran with them, or characters from games run by a freind of mine (who has given me permission to use them). Most though has been aging like wine in my brain for years, or maybe it has turned to vinegar. We'll have to see.

Stay tuned. I will probably be posting raw un-proofed copy here starting November first. It won't be pretty, but I'll figure out a way to mark what is raw, what has been revised, and what may be extraneous or not in sync with the rest of the narrative. I haven't been able to make it far into these NaNoWriMo attemps since I started them a few years ago, so I still have a lot to learn.

If you enjoy what I write, let me know. If you don't. let me know. If you take the time to read what I put here and respond, I'll promise to consider your comments. Thanks in advance.

My regular blog is here.