Still going strong

So begins my second week of camp.  I'm still on par with my word count (sadly my word count buffer seems to have dissipated.  But I am happy to say that on this day (Day 9 of camp), I have:

1. Swept the dining room and hallway
2. Put two coats of wax on those floors
3. Swept and mopped the tile in the front room
4. Made 2000 words
5. Cooked breakfast for Jake's granddad (and brewed coffee for the house)
6. Washed the dishes 

All of which was before 11AM.  Seeing this momentum on "paper" has reinvigorated me, which is good.  Especially since I just woke up from a 20 minute nap that zapped every ounce of energy out of me.

As far as camp goes, I have felt guilty working on a novel (that I'm not 100% passionate about), and not working on stories that I plan to turn in to publishers and/or literary magazines.  Because of that, I am widening my April writing goals and adding "Finish 5 short stories a week until the end of the month".  I have finished two since Sunday (unfortunately, I'm not very fond of the second one).

Excellent advice, yes?

Good luck Wrimos and fellow word slingers!

Oh shnap, someone's getting serious about her work...

Yep, I made deadline charts and everything...

Talking to fellow writers always gets my motivation up.  Thanks to Devon (*hugs*) for really getting me going during our Skype chat last night.  Camp NaNo will run this July as well (my birthday month!) and I'm pondering the thought of possibly being a rebel that month (or even this month).  While my current story is still new and fresh (I'm only 10k in right now), I'm not used to this genre and, honestly, I'm not sure if I like it very much.  I almost prefer the snappy, fast action and wit of a thriller, suspense, and/or horror story.  I love to read and watch a good story with a happy ending (like The Princess Bride and Stardust), I just don't think that I'm good at writing happy ending stories...

I am glad that I came to this conclusion during the first week of camp.  While, I may not be able to finish this story currently, I am hoping to return to it one day.  I think it's a solid piece.  I just don't think that I'm ready for it yet.  So here's the question: if I switch gears but continue to write toward a 50k goal (like, perhaps a string of short stories for an April 30th deadline), will my previous 10k count toward that 50k goal?  I am still writing, in fact.

Well, either way, I've made myself a submission tracker.  I love duotrope.com but sometimes, physically picking up a pen and writing things down on paper...then looking at them all laid out in front of me...it helps me remember deadlines better.  How do you follow deadlines?

Donuts and Lucky Star

Yesterday (Day four), I decided to take a quick hiatus so that Jake and I could spend some quality time together.  And by quality time I mean, snuggling on the couch watching Lucky Star and eating lemon-filled donuts from Krispy Kreme.  I had enough buffer in my word count to take another day off today but I'm going to save it for an emergency.  




As for today, there will be quite a few distractions today but I'm still hoping to write 3k. (though 4k would be awesome and make me feel as though I made up for yesterday).  I guess I better get to work.  But first...

Day 4 - What genre is your novel?  Why did you pick it?

My genres are fairy tale/fantasy and trashy romance. I picked it because I wanted to do something I've never done before. I wanted to write in a genre that I wasn't comfortable with.  And believe me, I'm not killing off enough characters in my story to be comfortable.  But someone will die.  I'll make sure of it. :P

 

 

Day 5 - Name two songs from your playlist that you feel are connected with your novel in some way, and explain how they are.

My playlist is filled with songs from movie scores.  I have a couple from Disney movies with an "I'm going on an ADVENTURE!" feel to them.  I also have some really outrageous (with a semi-seventies game show feel) songs from an anime series called "Chobits" because they really do give me the feeling that "I'm running from something."  I've chosen a lot more fun and upbeat TV and movie scores this time around because of the genre that I'm writing in.

 

 

For my new wrimo followers on tumblr...

Hello!  I hope that the upcoming fourth day of camp has you being productive and having fun. 

If you would like to do a word sprint, please feel free to message me.  If I'm sitting in front of my computer, then I'm probably up for a word sprint or word war.  :)

OMG, I've been doing it ALL WRONG...

50 Incorrect Pronounciations that You Should Avoid

Here is a non-camp post about pronounciation and how I've been messing things up since I began learning English; which is my second language, by the way. I had to learn it in kindergarten so that I could understand the teachers and...you know, communicate with everyone...

Day 3...Oh my, I'm losing days...

Day 1 - Edit...  I forgot that I did both sessions of camp last summer and I won the first session.  I just didn't finish the story so I don't really consider it a win.  I just hit the 50k mark...  *sigh*

 

Day 2 - What’s the title of your story?  Why did you choose the name you did?

 

The title of my story is "Two Princes."  I'm horrible at names so I just chose the first name to come to mind.  It is a trick, kind of.  There aren't actually two princes going after the princess.  You'll have to read the story to figure it out.  :)

 

Day 3 - Pick one of your female characters.  Introduce your readers to her, from her point of view and her words only.

 

 My name is Princess Firefly.  I hate that I have to put "Princess" in front of my name when people ask me who I am (not that people normally ask -- they know who I am).  Being a princess is not who I am.  My name is Firefly and I just happen to be a princess...which is one of the most pointless roles in the kingship.  I don't even get to pick who I marry.  BUT, since I am the only heir to my father's kingdom, whoever I marry gets to rule my kingdom with me.  Since my marriage will be extremely important, you'd figure that my dad would be all over the guys that I'm dating, right?  Well, he's not.  Probably because he doesn't allow me to date.  In fact, he doesn't allow me to leave the kingdom at all, so even if I did date, I'd have to date one of the noble men in our kingdom and they're all pretty snobby.  I've never met any of the princes in the other kingdoms (or any of the noblemen either).  I guess I expected them to be just like daddy...only younger.  So when I met Prince Elkhorne, well, let's just say I didn't really expect to meet him.  What a bumbling idiot...

So it is the morning of day 3 of camp.  I've already got a rash.  No, I'm serious.  There's a spot on my leg that's all itchy.  I think it's because of the couch that I've set up camp on.  I might need to relocate.  It's a cold, rainy day of camp.  While I expected to wake up and clean the pond filter, I was happily surprise to see/hear the rain, meaning that I get a morning of writing instead.  I'm not sure if it is in my nature as a writer, or if it is because I am from the Pacific Northwest but the rain helps calm my nerves.  In addition, it helps to inspire words in my chaotic brain.  Wish me luck.  I'm hoping to make 3k+ every day.  Yesterday I only made just over 2k (I think).

Day 1...

Day 1 - Have you participated in NaNoWriMo before?  If so, which years and what end result?  If not (or even if so, for that matter), what’s your connection to writing?  Why do you want to participate this year?

This will be my fourth session of NaNo.  I won my initial NaNo experience and lost during camp last year and last year's session of NaNo as well.  This year, I'm hoping to do the July session and the November one too.  I am a writer.  It is my hobby (as in, I don't do it professionally - I don't use my income from writing to pay for food, whiskey, caffiene, or any of the other necessities in order for me to function and live comfortably).  I use the money that I get from writing to by other writing things because it is not nearly enough to live on.  I'm hoping to write more and get better so that I can do it professionally.  I am participating in this session because:
1. I love the atmosphere and comradery,
2. I'm hoping that it will help me develop better writing habits,
3. It is fun, and
4.  I have stories that need to be told or I will die a slow and painful death. 


So far, day one has been going swimmingly.  Which is ironic for me to say because I really don't know how to swim.  So "swimmingly" for me would mean a lot of flailing around in the water.  Er, so how about I don't ever use that term again.  Day one has been going well.  I'm well past my word count goal for today so the rest of my wordage for today will just be word count padding.  

If you are participating as well, I wish you luck!