30 Day NaNoWriMo Meme

 

Here's the Tumblr 30 Day Meme that everyone fills out for the month of November.  It may be camp (and I'm not sure if there's a summer version - not that the change in month should really make a difference) but it should still work.  Feel free to use it, answer them in the comments section as I fill them out every day of April, or message me your answer on Tumblr.  Feel free to follow me on Tumblr as well.  If you message me about writing, NaNo, or this blog, I will follow you as well.  Good luck next month!

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?

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

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

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

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

Day 6 - What is your one biggest stressor related to forcing yourself to write at least 50,000 words in a span of 30 days?

Day 7 - Where’s your favorite place to hunker down and write?

Day 8 -List your current, most up-to-date word count.  Are you satisfied with your progress thus far?

Day 9 - Have you told anyone else you’re doing NaNo this year?  Who?  What was their reaction?

Day 10 - How does your love of writing manifest in non-NaNo months?

Day 11 - Ever tried collaborative writing (such as play-by-post roleplaying)?  If so, what do you think of it?

Day 12 - Imagine you’re behind in your word count goals (even if you’re not) and are going to pull an all-nighter to catch up.  Screencap a playlist of inspirational music you would use to get you up to speed.

Day 13 - Name a male character from your novel.  Describe him through the point of view and words of the female character you introduced in question 3 (if they never interact, pick another female character).

Day 14 - Is the sexuality of your characters a large part of your novel’s story?  If so, are there characters who deviate from the heterosexual “norm”?  In what way?

Day 15 - Do any of your characters have a disability or mental illness?  If so, how does that affect their development throughout your story?

Day 16 - At around the half-way point, it bears mentioning that most of us wrimos have other obligations beside simply hitting that elusive word count.  What else do you have going on in your life (work, school, children, neurotic pets, etc.), and just how much are you shafting it to win NaNo?

Day 17 - In what time period is your novel set?  Is it in this world or another?

Day 18 - Who is the antagonist in your novel?  What drives their actions?

Day 19 - Which authors or books have inspired your own writing the most, and why?

Day 20 - If you could meet one fictional character from any book you’ve ever read, who would it be, and why?

Day 21 - With about 10 days left to this arguably traumatic experience, what are your plans and goals for your novel, should you successfully complete it?

Day 22 - If you’ve participated in or won NaNo before, what happened to your other novel efforts?  Still in the revision process/querying publishers/scrapped it immediately/etc.

Day 23 - Do animals play any part in your story?  If so, how do they add to it?

Day 24 - Is religion featured in your novel at all?  If so, which ones?  If it’s/they’re your own creations, describe it/them and how it/they play(s) a part in your characters’ lives.

Day 25 - What are the names of at least two of your main characters?  How did you choose their names?

Day 26 - Was any research involved (historical or otherwise) in your NaNo prep? 

Day 27 - What’s your word count now?  Are you satisfied with your progress or panicked that you won’t have enough time to finish by November 30?

Day 28 - Name one thing you shafted all month in favor of participating in NaNo.

Day 29 - Name one thing in which you indulged as a treat to keep yourself motivated and writing that you wouldn’t otherwise have done.

Day 30 - Share a link to either your NaNo profile or a location on the internet where your story can be found.  If someone offered to beta read for you, would you be willing to do the same for them during the subsequent editing process?

Breaking News...

Jake's grandfather is back home from the rehabilitation center, which means a lot of things.  First, that means that he's done a lot of recovery since he went into the hospital.  He can walk again (though he is still very weak) and he can help feed himself.  They are both very slow processes but we are all very patient with him.  As for me, I feel like he accomplishes little victories everytime he does something for himself and when he walks with us or stands up by himself.

It also means that (since he needs a lot of assistance), homelife just got a  tad more complicated.  It's day two since he's been back and we're already developing a schedule (which is so awesome).  We are working on a routine for him so that he can get the most out of his day.  I am developing a routine for myself (it resembles the summer routine that I had when I was here last summer - get up, clean the kitchen, sweep, mop, dust, coffee, write, make breakfast, help with meds, etc.).  The health care specialists and therapists from Caring Hearts are supposed to stop by today to see what he needs from home and see about getting a therapy routine for him as well.  Although it may not seem exciting, the family is very excited.  I have to admit, I am thrilled and excited as well.  

The most recent news is that Jake's aunt is going back home, which means that Jake and I will be here with his grandparents by ourselves (alone for only a week though).  While last summer, that wasn't a problem at all (I would go with Jake's grandmother while he stayed at home with his granddad), it's a bit more complicated now that it takes two people to help his granddad move around, changed, and other daily ritual things.  We'll make it work though.  Just as long as we keep our priorities straight, it should work out fine.  Anyway, the dormatory will be in full effect soon.  We're anticipating a visit from Jake's cousins, aunt, and Jake's dad as well.  I'm excited to see everyone and for everyone to see just how far Jake's granddad has come since his stint at the hospital a couple months ago.  It was looking pretty bleak when he came out of there but now it's a whole new story.

In addition to all that, I'm also going to be "home" a lot more which means that I'll be at my computer doing frequent writing sprints.  I will no longer be able to write for sprints longer than two hours but if I plan it right, I should be able to get some good word slinging in.  My goal for now is to get at least one short story done every week and to continue to work on my novel idea (working title: Holland Manor).  I really want to title it with a pun on the word manor.  "Manor of Speaking" or "Family Manors" or something...

Wish me luck!

Today's prompt:

Base a short story on the phrase "There's more than one way to skin a cat"

Caching Florida

Knot a Pine #13

On our way home from the Health Center of Pensacola Jake, Tigre and I often hit a couple cache spots.  It's helped us explore the streets of Pensacola a bit and learn a few basic geocaching tricks.  We rarely get to go exploring deep in the woods but it's still fun.  I love the feeling of finding a tiny container and signing our name on the logsheet.

Bullseye

The "treasures" that we find aren't anything to write home about but I still like to trade items when we can.  We've gotten mardi gras beads, army men, plastic footballs, bracelets, scissors, etc; we've left firemen figurines, army men, bracelets, money, McDonald's toys, and Burping Tuna stickers.  It's not about the treasure though.  It's about honing my ninja skills and it's about the journey.  It's about exploring the town that we're vacationing in.  It's about feeling the orange, clay-rich dirt on our fingertips.  It's about looking amongst the Florida flora.  It's about the things that we experience on the way.  Teamwork. 

 

 

Cantonment is A-1

We're looking forward to coming back home and hunting around our hometown.  Camping and hiking are our favorite passtimes.  Caching in the beautiful woods of the Pacific Northwest will soon be on that list as well.  The excitement will be the same but the feeling will be different.  Geocaching in the Washington rain should be a unique experience for sure.

Newest short story prompt: 

What kind of treasures do you find while geocaching?

The worst

I'm having a fantastic day.  I'm feeling inspired.  I have an ice cold can of sugar free Red Bull at my side.  It's beautiful outside...  The worst part about today is my uncomfortable wrist pain in my right arm.  I have on a brace while I'm typing away but I don't like to keep it on for long.  What's worse than a writer developing an allergic reaction to caffeine?  Whateverthefu...is happening to my wrist.  That's what's worse.

Today's writing prompt:

Watch a half an hour of TV and examine the commercials closely.  Use one of them as inspiration for a new story.

Ready, set, go.

Cache Cow

Jake and I went geocaching on Sunday and had a blast despite the fact that we didn't actually uncover any caches*.  Upon further inspection, two (of the three that we went searching for) were stolen and the last one was micro and ...to my knowledge... got eaten by Cthulhu or someone's mother in law.  I'm not sure which.

Speaking of mother-in-laws.  Today's writing prompt comes from Awesome Writing Prompts:

Writing Prompt #567: Do As I Say!

Write about someone who is completely and utterly awful in every way imaginable.  Maybe throw in a unicorn or a narwhal.

All righty, Word Slingers of the Free World!  Good luck!

*Note: I must find myself a few small stuffed cows -- that I shall name "Cache Cows" -- to trade with the small items when Jake and I go geocaching... 

Prompt-ly

When I google "writing prompts" I get a plethora of sites that guarantee to get rid of your writer's block.  Unfortunately, I find a majority of those prompts to be...boring.  

I take the time to journal before I switch to fiction mode.  I journal to get rid of the lingering thoughts in my head before I do work.  Because of that, I don't want to write down what I ate for breakfast (using every sensory detail I can).  I don't want to write about the most vivid dream that I've had within the last five years.  I don't want to write about my mailman and what he does over the weekend.  What I really want is to jump-start my imagination.  I want a writing prompt to challenge me to come up with something worth reading.  Make me connect the unconnectable.  I want to play seven degrees of separation.  I want to play with my reader's emotions.

After scouring the vast wastelands of the Internet, I have compiled a list of my favorites and have every intention of posting my favorites here so that I can savor their flavor for years to come and share them with you.  I bet you're salivating at the thought of these tasty morsels of writing inspiration, aren't you?  Can you taste the bacon? I should trademark that question as my catch phrase.  What do you think?

Today's prompt:

Instructions for Maintaining a Successful Dictatorship in the 21st Century

Ready, set, go!

Note: Since I don't remember where I got this prompt from.  If I took it from your site and you would like credit, send me a message and I will link your site to this post.