Empty word bag

I’d hoped to generate truckloads of words today, but I was just too tired to keep at it consistently. Tonight I’ll get to bed a lot earlier and hopefully can break my single day record tomorrow.

Although…on the other hand, to quote Michael Stackpole quoting someone else, “My wordbag is empty.”

Our intrepid heros finally got moving today, but now they’re stuck again. They’ve got an enemy to fight (fantasy, after all) but I’m not sure if I can make this a satisfying conflict, since the enemy is a creature that is intelligent but not really sentient.

Maybe I need a plot bunny!

They won’t budge!

A belated update… I submitted my word count and stuff just before midnight tonight.

I’m pleased with the wordcount, but not with the story. I’ve always read about how characters take on a life of their own and do things that you don’t expect them to do. Well I’m experiencing that now…except my characters refuse to get their arses in gear!!! They’re prone to navel-gazing rather than action.

Mind you, I’m not letting that get in my way. The goal was to write a 50,000 word novel in November. NOT to write a GOOD 50,000 word novel in November!!! This is my first NaNo so I’m just focused on finishing. Next year I’ll focus on trying to do something worth reading.

My super-double-secret goal, by the way, is to finish by Nov. 22. Why? Cuz that’s when the XBox 360 comes out!

Grim

So I’m doing things a bit differently tonight. I’m writing this update *before* I work on the novel. I have no idea how many words I’ll manage tonight.

Today was one of the worst days at work I’ve had in…jesus, a very long time. It was long, tiring, frustrating and in the end not very productive. I re-affirmed my boss’s opinion of me that I am a problem employee, which will lead to more angst down the road (of course when I’m unemployed I’ll have a lot more time for writing). Mind you, all I was doing was trying with every fiber of my being to prevent us from making what I felt in my soul was a disasterous mistake. I should take a cue from my fellow workers and just keep quiet, let the mistakes happen and then clean up the mess.

Anyway, on the way home I bought all the fixings for some kick-ass margaritas. Dinner is made and waiting in the fridge (a cold salad). Its 8:30 already so if I don’t write now, I never will.

Time to ignore the rumbling belly and the siren call of tequila, and get writing.

Feelin’ grooovy!

Hello lamp post, whatcha knowin?

Um, anyway. This whole NaNo thing is feeling do-able tonight. I had a nice writing session that felt really, really good. I got comfortably past my goal of 2000 words/day, but the important thing is that I really enjoyed myself.

I got the whole “flow” thing happening. It wuz teh roxx0rzz!!11!

Media gluttony

Last night I took a few minutes before bed to read through two issues of The New York Times Book Review section. As is more or less my custom, I circled volumes that sounded interesting and added them to my Amazon Wish List.

Think about that. At least one book, and often two or three, added to the list every week. And every week I finished reading… about 1/10th of a book.

It was so depressing that I turned on the TV. Well, really I had to turn on the TV. You see, my DVR is at 89% full. I needed to watch some stuff so that I could delete it to make room for more stuff. Then I realized I hadn’t checked the Tivo (DVR #2) lately. Ach! It was filling up as well.

It was all too much, so I headed out for a walk, grabbing my iPod on the way. No sense in wasting the downtime when I could catch up on some of my podcasts. I’m weeks behind on Slacker Astronomy and The Secrets. And I really want to give Unquiet Desperation a chance. But first I had episodes of The Dragon Page Cover-to-Cover, Wingin’ it and Slice of Sci-Fi to listen to.

*sigh*

This is the easy week?

So starting this NaNoNovel has been harder than I thought. Maybe if I had an outline it would’ve been easier.

What scares me is that people say the first week is easy, the second week hard.

I’m finding that I need to have things taken care of before I can really settle in. Dinner dishes washed, cat fed, all that kind of thing.

Things were picking up steam as I finished, though. Maybe tomorrow will be easier.

Random

So I was just in the kitchen at work getting a soda from the machine. On one of the break tables is a box of donuts, empty except for a small crust. As I leave I notice there’s a trail of donut crumbs. I follow it, wondering who the pig is. I turn a corner and the crumb trail stops…and there’s a pair of fingernail clippers on the floor.

Explain, please?

A plot?

With November 1st quickly drawing near, I’ve been starting to panic about a plot for my NaNoNovel. This morning, something hit me that is, at least, a vague outline of what might be a plot. I need to identify the key character and figure out what the conflicts and change will be. But I have a few days to outline this stuff before the writing begins…