Another NaNo Widget

Let's see how this works. Not sure it will show all 3 novels. Maybe once it updates?



Doesn't seem to be updating in real time. Will see if it updates around midnight or so, if I'm still up then.

NaNo 1 done; NaNo 2 started

NaNo novel made it to the 50K mark. I almost think this could be split about in half and made into two novels. Switched FMC a bit over halfway through and the plot changed somewhat, but all the characters stayed in and had parts to play. Choppy? Yes. Very. Will need to think on it later. For now I'm starting a new one.

Shadows and Dust is the working title of the new one. Plot bunny jumped up and bit me in the ass yesterday afternoon. Oh yeah, so it was What if? this and What if that? What? Generation ship? Ack! Okay, most of them are dead and only a few left alive. Those few still alive? The oldest one will probably be 19. Know how to run the ship? Nope. Know some things, but will be learning as they go, I guess. I hope they learn, because I know nothing about it.

I think I'm going to ignore TV tonight and try to get some more writing in. And if my computer keeps acting up I may toss it out the window! Not planning on writing on the damn thing but will be using the laptop and it better behave itself. Did nothing but fight with both of them yesterday. Both were cleaned just before November and the desktop twice again now. Laptop has had one more this month.

Oh, and have found a great program to write in. Q10. Full screen, which is nice, but Open Office does that too. What I really love is the word counter. It counts as you are typing. And also has a timer you can set, so it's nice to use for word wars with others or just by yourself. Can change the background color and the font color. Make it sound like a typewriter, which I didn't think I'd like but it's not bad. I felt like I was able to produce more words yesterday by being able to see my word count in real time. Might be a distraction to some but works for me.

Okay, the kids are starting to wake up. Um, that would be the kids on the ship. Guess I'd better get them all up and moving so they can start learning all those new things. Whoo! Let the complaining begin! I just know they will.

Widget

Now this is neat. NaNo widgets



Oh, yeah, I chucked the novel I was planning to do and went with one I have almost absolutely nothing on, other than in my head. Some character names, a short paragraph on them, which most have been changed as I write.

NaNo words wars have helped me bring the word count up to where it is now. Strange, because I've only done a couple of days worth of word wars. I really, really need to begin my writing earlier in the day and keep going with it to get to that, sometimes elusive, 50,000. I do if I want to still try doing 3 of these again this year. One isn't too far behind and would be easy to bring up to speed, but the 3rd one is sitting so far back on word count right now all you can see is dust.

I'd love to get some 10K days in. Managed 2 of those last year and one 11K. About three days of those and this one would be finished. Well, maybe not as far as "The End" but at least to 50K, then I could move on to one of the others. The second would be easy to bring up to the count it needs to be and then if I could do the same with the third one, then I'd only need to write 2,000 for each one per day. Very doable for me since I've been getting at least 5K a day on the one shown in the widget above.

15min word wars works for me. My average comes out to about 500 words each time, give or take, so 4 words wars and, boom! I've got my 2K written.

And that means I need to get my butt in gear and go do some of those, eat lunch, then jump right back into them today.

Here, There, Where?

Interesting posts over at the NaNo site. Have to say too many make me shake my head. I didn't list Vor'Talthat: The Beginning under Young Adult and I guess that's a good thing, even though my group of characters range from around 14 to 19 year olds. Only teens/young adults read YA? Not from all that I've heard. Lots and lots of adults read it and say it's because it's written better than many adult books. I guess mine will stay under SF since it takes place on another planet, and the characters all come from different planets. So that's as close as I can get to a genre right now.

Fantasy. If you write fantasy it must be High Fantasy? Um, no. Just no. There are different kinds of fantasy and not all fall into that slot. Sorry.

And, don't worry about where your novel fits? Wait until you've written it, then decide? Okay, while not bad advise in and of itself, at the NaNo site there are different categories/genres to choose from, so if it doesn't matter then why have any of them listed to check? Certainly nothing wrong with changing it later, but it does feel nice to be able to label it in some way. Yes?

Why are people always asking, "What genre am I?" So they can hook up with whichever forum they can talk about what they're doing. Ask questions of others who are writing pretty much/sort of in the same genre. That's why. To me, anyway. They post in one forum, then it's suggested they might get better answers in "this" one or "that" one. Just seems like a lot of contradictory answers flying around. Or, maybe it's just me. ::shrug:: And, maybe that's why I don't seem to post much there. ::another shrug::

Morning rambling here and haven't had breakfast yet. ::must go do that!::

Outlining for NaNo

I do love Open Office. Set my background to all black, seems easier on my eyes. Font, whatever color is easy for me to look at, too, and some days it changes. White feels a bit too stark to me, a more cream color is nice, although it claims to be a light yellow. And I've been playing with tables, which I think is helping more to set things up and not get lost. Yeah, I do get lost going around the block. ::grin::

So, I have one set up with two (2) columns and maybe something like one hundred (100) rows. Sounds like a lot but I may end up adding more. Right now I've only used 25, but with expansion. Which means I have 25 one sentence for a scene, the below that I expand that scene. Only 8 scenes expanded so far, so I really, really need to get cracking!

I also have some tables, on another page, set one at a time, and I can do a bit of rambling on what I want.

The visual is what I'm liking too with the tables. I can make them pretty. LOL Use colors for the borders and it's more pleasing to the eye. Mine anyway.

On another one I'd like to do for NaNo, I have my tables set up a bit different. Three columns, but not sure how many rows, will need to pull that one up again and check it. Since I might switch POV there I have the character's name in the first column, a sentence or two next to that and then an expansion of those sentence(s) next.

One problem I've come across is sending them from the laptop to the desktop loses the formatting. Might be a way to save and keep it, just haven't looked into that yet.

Yikes, the days are counting down and I have so much to get set up in my outlines! Especially, if I'm going to get from "The Beginning" to "The End" this year, which is the goal for this time around. I won't beat myself up if I don't make that, but it would be nice.

NaNo

It's that time once again. Had to borrow the neighbor's leaf blower to get all the cobwebs out of this blog.

This year I planned on writing a fantasy for NaNo, but changed my mind and am now in the midst of working out something in the YA category. Okay, so I've not gotten very far yet and I'm a sluggard. But, I do have 8 characters lined up. Well, 8 that range from 13 to 19, plus 2 adults at the moment. All but one of the 8 have a psi power, and am stumped to find one for the last player in this group.

Genre is sorta SF-ish, in that it takes place on another world, had nothing to do with Earth or anyone from here. Of course I have no plot, or anything written out yet, and I so need to do that or I'll most likely get stuck early on and not go anywhere with it. At this point I'm desperate enough to try some free writing and see where it takes me. But! I do know the begining and the end! Whooo! Ending could possibly be a set up for another in this world, something I've always wanted to do. That, and write a YA.

Anywho, I do have a title, and a banner with all 8 characters on it.

Vor'Talthat: The Beginning

Now to figure out what's in store for these characters. All I do know is there will be 2 deaths, 1 betrayal, learning to trust and learning to love.

Oh, yeah, and there's all that world building I should do, too. Bad enough that "plot" escapes me most of the time, now I have to build a world. Me thinks someone really, really needs to get their butt in gear, and it isn't the cat either. And why, oh why, did I decide to do these many characters? I started out thinking 7 or maybe 5, yeah, 5 definitely would have been easier and now I'm up to 8 of them. This better be it for the group, as I'll still need some other characters in this story.

::bangs head::

Yesterday's words

Not anywhere near what I hoped for. 490 sad, sad word count. I seem to be having a problem with the story right now. I know where it's going, but yesterday's writing felt really bogged down and not moving the story forward. I had to hunt for my index cards with notes jotted down and, yay! I found them. At least the hunt didn't take me long. I also knew there was one scene that I forgot to put in, so maybe I just need to write that and stick it where it belongs. Who knows, maybe it will turn into more than one scene. I guess I can dream. After that I don't know, unless I just write gibberish until I hit The End.

Played a little bit in Google Docs and found you can make folders. So I did just that and 'lo and behold, while checking what all I had I found something I had I don't remember writing. Okay, all I have is:

A title, but I really, really like it.
Characters: 5 maybe or 4?
Main character: male or female?
Genre: SF or F?
Setting: Other planet or Alternate Universe or Futuristic?

Yeah, I know, not much, but maybe a start. I could possible look into some of my older stuff and use some characters that never went anywhere. Not yet, though. I have enough to get finished before November.

And once again I've frittered most of the day away already. Time to get busy and get something accomplished. If I'm lucky maybe I'll get more words in today or tonight.

No writing/New idea

No writing tonight. Since I broke my glasses I feel tired all the time and there's no way to fix them. So I took the night off. Hopefully sometime within the next week I can get new ones. It's not like I don't need a new prescription anyway.

I did get an idea for something to write in November, though. Jotted some things down. I have 4 characters ::5 if you count the fire entity:: and their basic descriptions: age, hair color, eye color. The main character has a younger sister, which for some reason I wasn't surprised, but when a younger brother popped up out of nowhere, well, that startled me. I mean, where the hell did he come from? Good thing I was sitting on the couch or I might have fell over. Perceptive little thing he is too. I almost know more about him at this point than any of the others. There's also a guy who is a couple of years older than the main character. Is there romance in the air? :Sniff Sniff:: Maybe. Good element for conflict.

This will be a Young Adult, something I've wanted to write for a long time but just never had a good idea for one. I'm really hoping this one takes. So, a YA paranormal. I'm still trying to figure out if and how thriller might be attached to that. YA Paranormal Thriller is something I've been hearing about, but still need to connect the P and T together. I mean, wouldn't paranormal be enough by itself? Thrillers stand alone just fine without falling down. Guess I need to do some more digging around to find out how to connect those two dots.

I'll be doing lots of digging anyway for this to come up with enough meat to see it through and make it a full story.

I still want to get Treasure Trove finished, and after that Shattered Souls. Those two are from NaNo last year so I need to see The End within the next couple or so months on both.

Moving forward

Or not, as the case may be. Did my 2,000 words last night - 2,043 to be exact. I had to change the POV, but had been switching back and forth between the two main characters anyway. I think Kaste has had more time than Devon so far but that can be fixed in rewrites.

My problem is, I feel I'm just dragging the story, and it's not the dreaded sagging middle since the story is past that. I think. Maybe I need to take some time today to put this one into chapters and begin finishing it that way. Checking my notes might not be a bad idea either as those haven't been looked at in quite awhile.

I'm not sure if it's become too serious at this point or not, but it feels a bit like that to me. Before I was pretty much having fun with these two characters and the play between them. Could be it needs some sex to liven it up, but I can't see where that will happen when there are other people around and there's no way to get Kaste and Devon alone. I'm getting the strong feeling that I need to throw a monkey wrench into this about now. Maybe toss in some space pirates to make matters worse, as if knowing they are going to be killed isn't bad enough.

I really, really, really need to work on this during the day and stop waiting until the last few hours of the night. I'd like to get back into a few other pieces as well. I somehow can never manage my time. Good about frittering it away and that's about it.

And, I'd really, really, really like to write The End on this.

Challenging myself

Starting yesterday I set up a calendar and entered 2,000 words to write per day for the rest of this month. I hit my mark last night at 2,017 words. If I can maintain that this month the total will give me around 72,000 words. I have no idea if it will get me to the end or not. I also have no idea if I can do this every day, but I want to up my average until I can hit, well, I don't really have a specific amount set at the moment, but I'm thinking ahead to NaNo.

I'd like to see the end of this WIP too. After that it can sit in the background and wait until I'm ready to begin going through it. I think I may need to go look for some exercises on writing description. I so suck at that and it shows. I could probably do dialogue all day long and not have much of a problem, but describing things, blech, just can't seem to get it in there.

Once I get Treasure Trove finished I might devote more time to Shattered Souls. That's sort of the plan, anyway. Of course I'm still thinking ahead for NaNo, although nothing brilliant has exploded in my head yet. My problem with Shattered Souls is that it's taking me longer to write. I guess the in depth stuff is what's slowing me down, and that seems to be a lot of the story itself. That and working on something that makes me stretch my writing skills, as lacking as they are.

Then there's the two shorts waiting to be finished. One is done, but still in editing mode. The other isn't quite there yet.

Last part of Treasure Trove I wrote yesterday.

“Sorry to disappoint you,” the captain said. “Everyone has been give orders to not harm any of you.”

“Including your niece?” Devon wanted to remind the captain of what he had already allowed her to get away with when she had him alone and away from the others.

“Of course. She will not disobey me. I can assure you of that.”

“You may be assured but, sorry, I don't buy it.” Devon rubbed his ribs to get his point across. Just in case the captain had forgotten so soon.

Last paragraph of Shattered Souls, which was written over two weeks ago. ::hangs head::

His hands covered her fists, his fingers prying hers open in slow movements. Caden jerked but Kane held fast until their palms touched. Shock waves went through her body and she no longer saw Kane standing before her. Instead she saw the past; painful and raw.

Neither have been edited yet so if anyone does read this, please be kind! :)

Off to do some cave chores!

Tracking my words

Just had a thought, this morning, right now. Scary! Not finished with my coffee yet. I think I'll make a track sheet of some kind so I know how much I've written each day, er, the days I get some writing done. Since I work on more than one project this won't have me running madly around and through my files. That way I can see how much wordage I've done in a week or for the month. Since I'm a visual person this might help with a bit more motivation also. If I see really low numbers that could be a kick in the butt.

Now I need to mull over just exactly how I want to do this. I have one I made up for NaNo, but I want something a little bit simpler for this one.

One project sits at over 50,000 and I'd like to have it finished before November when NaNo rolls around again. The other is at a sad 16,000+ and I'd really, really like to see the end of that one. Not because I'm tired of it but because I just want to make it to the end. A sequel to the latter one might be nice to get set up for this November. Now if I can only come up with a good premise for another.

Aha, just had another idea! Since I'm soooo good at putting stuff off, maybe doing a sheet of some sort to list projects I'd like to get finished might be in order. Mainly a few shorts I need to either finish or edit.

Now see, that would be organizing, and my personality test said I am disorganized. I can organize my stuff, the problem is for me to remember where I put it. As my husband is fond of saying, "Please don't put stuff away, because you won't remember where you put it and now we'll never find it." He's right, of course, and we do laugh about it.

Write. Not writing.

I thought I'd get more writing done this week, but it didn't happen. Some writing, and sometimes lots of it, but too many days there was nothing. Mom is here this week and while she isn't more work, I seem to get uptight anyway. It's the Alzeimer's Disease, although, there hasn't been a lot of change from last month when she was here for a week. One week out of each month doesn't seem like much, but it feels as if it drags.

The last few months or so she's had this mantra. That's what I call it. She repeats over and over praying to God for one of her kids to come get her. Hurt more when it first started, not as much now, and I know it's the memory loss, and I'm not sure she realizes she says it either.

Sometimes she knows who I am and sometimes she doesn't. Too often anymore she thinks this is some kind of "home" that people come to and I take care of them. Sometimes she thinks she's only here for the day and someone always picks her up before it gets too late and night descends. There isn't much she enjoys doing anymore. A little crocheting, but nothing like she used to. Television just has no attraction for her no matter what I turn it to, so I don't bother to turn it on unless I want to watch something. She is still fairly addicted to her crossword puzzles, but there are times she seems to get tired of those too.

It's a sad, sad disease. She's told me things she's done that I know didn't happen, but it's best to let her think it did. She'll talk about "her husband" as if he wasn't my dad, which tells me at that moment in time she doesn't know who I am. Her quality of life has lost so much and there's nothing to be done to change that. It's more like she just exists, and not much else.

I miss the talks we used to have. Now you can't keep her attention long enough, so we don't talk like we used to. I have the memories of all our talks; she doesn't. So, I hold those memories because that's pretty much all I have left of my mother.

So, the tension I feel keeps me from writing as much as I'd like to this week. Not to mention it makes me tired. Ah, well, there is next week and the week after that, and. . .

Until next month.

Personality Test

Personality Test

trait snapshot:

secretive, reclusive, messy, disorganized, introverted, unassertive, rarely worries, dislikes large parties, does not like to fit in, does not need to control others, solitary, ambivalent about chaos, tough, leisurely, does not respect authority, not aggressive, observer, abstract, impractical, dislikes leadership, daydreamer, bizarre, does not make friends easily, not a perfectionist, suspicious, rarely irritated, strong physical instincts, unsympathetic at times, risk taker, submissive, weird, sarcastic, strange

K, let's go through these one by one.

secretive: No, not secretive at all. I leave that for others I know.
reclusive: As much as I can be.
messy: Now that makes me sound horrible. My husband is messy. The cats are messy. I get tired of cleaning up after them, so, gee, that makes -me- messy.
disorganized: Hey, there is a method there. I organized. Just can't remember where I put the dang things.
introverted: Knew that one already. No surprise to me.
unassertive: For the most part, yes. Just don't back me into a corner. I take a lot, and I mean a lot! But there comes a time. . .
rarely worries: I worked hard to find that state of mind. Wasn't an easy journey, but certainly worth it in the end.
dislikes large parties: 100% right.
does not like to fit in: Not that I don't like to fit in, not always sure where that spot is.
does not need to control others: I think there's enough work involved in controlling yourself, why bother making your life harder.
solitary: Well, yeah, that kinda goes along with reclusive. Yes?
ambivalent about chaos: What the hell does that mean? I'm uncertain about confusion and disorder? Oookaaay.
tough: Um, not so much. Really. Trust me.
leisurely: Why be anything else? Just makes you uptight.
does not respect authority: Oh, come on. I respect authority. Just don't shove it in my face, please. And, if that -authority- deserves the respect of others.
not aggressive: I can be determined, but in my own quiet way, and pretty much only to myself. Doubt anyone else sees it. I'm also not energetic in any kind of pursuit.
observer: Ha! Funny how everything around me gets past my observation antennae. I'm too much in my own little world to notice much of anything around me.
abstract: Confusion abounds in mind on this one.
impractical: So, so wrong. I'm quite practical.
dislikes leadership: Well, that sorta comes from liking to be alone. I prefer to lead myself -- not lead others, just myself.
daydreamer: 200% right. Was born with that trait.
bizarre: Excuse me? I don't even get this one about myself. Doesn't fit. Doesn't compute.
does not make friends easily: True enough, for a couple different reasons. Part from the way I grew up, and part from getting stabbed in the back more than once. Tends to make one leery.
not a perfectionist: I can be picky about a few things, but on the whole this one is pretty much true.
suspicious: So not me. I leave suspicious natures to others in my family and they are welcome to them as far as I'm concerned.
rarely irritated: Quite true.
strong physical instincts: Ahh, no.
unsympathetic at times: Well, if the person deserves my sympathy then they have it, in spades. I refuse to sympathize with anyone who wallows in their problems just for the sake of getting others to feel sorry for them.
risk taker: Bwahahahaha! Does that answer that one?
submissive: Again, to a point. Depends on the circumstances. Remember that backing into a corner thing above?
weird: Huh? Guess we all get called weird at least one time in our life.
sarcastic: Oh, please. Oops, was that sarcastic?
strange: And there's something wrong with this? Actually I don't find much about myself that's strange. Strange, isn't it?

I know, personality tests are not accurate and I've never to date been labeled correctly. Hmm, maybe that does make me strange and bizarre.

Writing Again

564 words written last night.

Last night I got back into Treasure Trove and was fairly happy with the scene. At least it moved it along. Kaste has found that it's handy to have Stella on her side now. Even after being searched, Stella manages to have a very tiny knife hidden on her person. With a weapon, even one that small, might help them get some valuable information out of Jezel.

I only wrote a little over 500 words, but that's more than I've been doing. One word would have been more than I've done in months.

It's funny, in a strange way. Kaste was created as a character for another novel, a fantasy, but I decided she wasn't really needed in that one. I wasn't sure what to do with her for a time, then when NaNo started getting nearer I thought I could use her for that. The first one I started didn't go where I wanted it to, but at least I didn't have very many words done. So I switched from yet another fantasy with her and dumped her into a space opera. Even though there were times last November that I wasn't sure where this story was going and got stuck a few times, I've had fun with her and Devon. I also discovered that when I got stuck it helped to switch between them for chapters.

It left off where Devon is being held captive in some other area of this big ship and Kaste doesn't know where or if he's all right, but she's pretty sure he is still alive. He has information the captain needs, but since Devon still has amnesia he isn't going to be able to help the captain. Whether the captain will believe Devon can't remember or thinks he's faking it remains to be seen... or written.

I know where I want to take this tonight. Now I'll have to hope it comes off as well written as it is in my head. Kaste will come face to face with the captain.

There's also another character that hasn't made an appearance yet, only been background fodder, so I'll need to flesh her out, right down to finding a name for her. I think she will be entering the story soon.

Coming up with ideas

I like the two characters I came up with for this Space Opera. Not sure what I'll do with it in the end. If I ever manage to get to the "end." It's fun, though. Aaron hasn't made his appearance in this yet, but he is in a few Flash Fiction ones I spewed out. This came about from an exercise.

Setting: A dank cave

Character: A beggar

Conflict: There is suddenly an unbearable smell nearby

It consists of a whopping 1261 words. Sad, it is. And as it stands, Josh isn't really a begger but he had to resort to that role while stranded on a planet he detests. So far, as I skimmed through the paltry words written, it might seem that this is on some fantasy world, but there is a reference that it is not.

The cave part will be coming up soonish to make its appearance. And the "unbearable smell" will be revealed also. And Josh thinks things are bad for him now. Bwaaahahaha! After that Aaron will make his entrance. Drunk as a skunk, but he'll be there for the rescue.

::what the hell is "drunk as a skunk" skunks get drunk?::

I think I need to do some more Flash Fiction in order to tighten up. I've seemed to wander into wordiness a bit too much with this right from the beginning. Writing Flash Fiction does help get rid of excess words, so it's quite the eye opener. Absolute Write has a section for writing it.

Josh ran headlong into a boulder knocking him backwards and he landed flat on his back. He hadn't the strength left to run. Or walk for that matter. But he could crawl. Gritty sand dug under his nails and sifted through his clothes. His skin felt like someone had dumped minute particles of glass all over him. But he still crawled.

Trying something new

Sort of, since I think I downloaded the Avant browser before.

::think I must have been a cat in another life::

Curiosity always gets me. I like to see how things work and if I want to keep them or unistall them -- sometimes they go poof real fast. Will give this one a shot for a bit this time.

Okay, what the freaking hell is going on? Sitting at the bar in my kitchen and I turn around to look out the window and, man! snow is coming down like it's December or something. Almost makes me think I should haul all my decorations out and light the cave up. Yeah, seriously, it really truly looks like that outside right now. This is April! I should be able to go sit outside fer crying outloud. A couple of weeks ago people were walking around in shorts and now it's time for the longjohns again. Sheesh! Those who live in caves hibernate in weather like this. It so screws up my inner season clock.

About the time it does decide to heat up we'll probably get some freaking temps that will cause a meltdown. Guess I need to move back farther into the cave where it's a tad bit warmer.

::/rant::

What to do... What to do!

Crap! Story for NaNo is, well, I'm not sure how to put it. Beginning sucks worse than big time. Later, it sort of settles in, is the best I can put it. But, if I go with where it sort of gets off the ground then what the crap am I going to do with all those other characters in the first part? Chuck them all out? I don't really want to do that but am going to have to do some serious thinking on exactly what to do with them. Whole other story? Ick! Don't really want to go there. Not at this point, anyway. I guess it's a thought for the future, though, and why should I throw away perfectly good characters? So... I guess I'll keep them around. Who knows, maybe they can be their own NaNo coming up.

I do have another story I'd like to do, but if I did it in November I'd be cheating since the thing is already started. But, I love Josh and Aaron! They are fun to write about and hang around with. Yeah, yeah, they aren't real, but still, they are a bundle of fun. What can I say? I've found that Space Opera is a ball to play in. Don't have to worry so much about the science stuff, which I'd fall down under as it is. And to think that these two guys were born from flash fiction! The few of those I did with these two weren't incorporated into the overall story, and most likely won't be. But who knows? There's still a ways to go with them on their adventures.

At this point I can't tell if Josh and Aaron are straight guys or not, and they don't seem to be saying at the moment. But, hey, two space guys who are treasure hunters, well, that leaves a lot to work with, plenty of worlds to explore, and tons of trouble to get into and out of. So, whichever way they lean I'll wait until they let me know.