Twisters, Write-ins, and April Goal Updates

There are four seasons in Oklahoma, as the saying goes: summer, winter, football, and tornado.

Guess which one this one is!

Go on, guess!

If any of you paid any attention to the weather this past week, you know that Oklahoma and Kansas spent about 48 hours getting walloped by Mother Nature. (Not the ideal way to spend the weekend, just in case you were wondering.)

Thankfully, they had been warning us for days that this weekend was going to be a bad one, and those early warnings are probably why the aftermath wasn’t nearly as bad as it could’ve been.

At least it wasn’t the infamous Quakenado from last November. When both earth and sky are trying to kill you, that’s kind of the point where you just look up and say, “F*ck it, I’ll move.”

On the plus side, I won an award!

Look, it has a shiny star and everything!

I entered the Tulsa City-County Library Adult Creative Writing Contest back in January, and won second place in the Children’s Fiction category for my story, “Benny’s Bedtime Adventure.”

Then I read it aloud! In front of people! And you could barely hear my voice shake! (Public speaking makes me insanely nervous.)

Also, this was a write-in weekend! It was great to see everybody there, and even better, we actually GOT QUIET and WROTE. I was amazed. (And grateful, because ho-damn did I need to make some headway on the ’06 NaNo novel.)

And speaking of, here’s my goal progress for this week:

1. Upload at least another 6 weeks of Barenaked Archive posts.
Two scheduled, four to go.

2. Post at least twice a week (not counting the Barenaked Archive posts).
I’ve done it for two weeks in a row, woohoo! Plus, I’ve got several other posts started (one that’s almost finished), which will hopefully take me through the end of the month.

3. Finish the various critiques and correspondence that I have promised.
I kind of have to un-delete this since I have a couple of critiques in my inbox that I got last week, and I imagine I’ll be getting more by the end of this week, since we have another critique group on April 28.

4. Edit 6 chapters in my 2006 NaNo novel.
Well, I’m just about finished with chapter 6. I’ve hand-written the scene that needs to get added to chapter 4. I don’t want to go back and add it until I’ve finished chapter 6 (and possibly 7), just because right now it feels a little like I’m running in circles where this novel is concerned.

At this rate, the first 3-4 chapters of the book will be lightyears ahead of the rest of it, just based on how much rewriting I’m doing.

I’m hoping that chapter 7′s editing won’t take me as long as these last 3 chapters have, but that’s probably just wishful thinking.

5. Study the craft for at least 15 minutes every day.
I finished Scene and Structure! Huzzah! I’ll probably have a more in-depth look at that later, but seriously, if you’re hitting writer’s block and you’re not entirely sure why, pick up this book. It’s a fantastic resource for novel writers.

I’ve also been reading some of Chuck Wendig’s blog (thanks, Twitter!), which is funny, crude, and eye-opening. So while I haven’t been studying the craft every day, the fact that I’ve made it a priority has been very helpful.

So…how was your weekend?

Tornado picture courtesy NOAA Photo Library.

April Goal Update #1

I wish I had something better to report, one week into April, but alas, I slacked off heavily this past week. I did make serious headway on my monthly freelance articles (I do two articles/month for a paper, and both are due around the 13th), which will help free up the upcoming week.

But the actual goals I have on this list? Not nearly as much progress as I would have hoped.

This week, I will be spending non-work hours on my April goals. Also, I have vowed not to turn on the devil box until I make some serious progress on the items below.

1. Upload at least another 6 weeks of Barenaked Archive posts.
Absolutely nada.

2. Post at least twice a week (not counting the Barenaked Archive posts).
I did last week! Let’s hope I can keep it up.

3. Finish the various critiques and correspondence that I have promised.
Got them done over the weekend! Huzzah!

4. Edit 6 chapters in my 2006 NaNo novel.
Guess who found a scene that needs to be added in chapter 4! Again! This girl right here!

On the plus side, we have a write-in coming up this Saturday, which should (theoretically) give me four solid hours of editing time. Of course, if past non-November write-ins are any indication, I’ll spend three hours talking and get a total of 250 words actually written.

5. Study the craft for at least 15 minutes every day.
Yeesh. I haven’t done this but a couple of times. Maybe that’s because every time I spend more than five minutes reading my current writing book (Scene and Structure by Jack Bickham) I find something else I need to go back and fix in my story. Which means I have to go back and edit previous chapters EVEN MORE.

So maybe it’s a form of self-protection so that I actually accomplish goal #4? Or maybe I should read something that isn’t the Scene and Structure book?

How are you guys coming on your April goals, if you have any? Seen any good movies lately?

(I’m debating between catching The Hunger Games or Wrath of the Titans this week. The former I want to see for obvious reasons. The latter, I have no hope of being anything but Greek history eye candy, but as we know, mythological movies are a weakness of mine. Thoughts?)

NaNoWriMo – Week 2

Wow. I can’t believe week 2 is over, and we’re halfway through the month. That’s not just for NaNo reasons; I have a lot of work-related stuff that needs to be completed before Thanksgiving. Which is a week from Thursday. How did that happen? I don’t recall giving permission for that.

Minimum word count for November 15: 25,005/50,000

My current word count: 31,653/50,000

Adventures in NaNoing: Sunday, November 13, was my highest word count day thus far, with just over 6,000 words logged. I’m thrilled and relieved to have the buffer again. I’m still planning on writing every day, but I have run into a few days where getting much more than 300-400 words just isn’t going to happen.

For example, Friday evening I went out to dinner for a friend’s birthday, which I was perfectly happy to attend, though I didn’t want to stay out till all hours of the night. I can be a semi-hermit one month out of the year, right?

I’ve also spent the bulk of the past week fighting a headache after work, which (understandably) impaired my weekday word count. The past two days I’ve done good with catching up on sleep, though, so hopefully I will not have that same problem going into week 3.

I’ve continued to be impressed with our write-in turnout. Last year, we dropped from about 20 people at the first library write-in to around 10 at the second. This year, I think we actually ended the second library write-in with the same number as last week: 23. Plus, we had another good crowd at the Wendy’s write-in, both in person and online. I can’t express how happy it makes me to see people coming to our events. I think we’ve got a really good group here.

Also, I have to give a shoutout to Lissa for introducing me to Abney Park. When I told her I was writing steampunk this year, she insisted I give them a listen, and lent me some of their CDs.

I. Am. In. Love.

They’ve become the official soundtrack for my story, which is surprising, since normally it’s very difficult for me to listen to music with lyrics when I’m writing (or at least, lyrics in a language I can understand). I will have to acquire more of their music soon; I’ve got at least another 30,000-40,000 words to write on this story.

In moderately related NaNo news, my co-ML bought me some DELICIOUS holiday tea. It’s not caffeinated, which makes it perfect for late-night writing when I don’t NEED to stay up until all hours. And the pumpkin spice tea is a-ma-zing.

Very Short Excerpt:
Remember, this is unedited. Whee!

She tried to take measured breaths, keeping her fury to a manageable level. “You have not answered my question, Mr. Cole.”

His grey eyes flicked from her to Wilson, and then he cleared his throat. “You could have your automaton release me. I’m not going anywhere.”

Genevieve narrowed her eyes. “Were you in my mother’s laboratory?”

His eyes met hers. “Yes.”

Genevieve felt as though her breath was stolen away. He had been in her mother’s laboratory. He had been the one who had run from her. What else did he know? She set her jaw. “Wilson, shut the door. I have some other questions for Mr. Cole.”

NaNoWriMo – Week 1

Well, it’s been one week since November, better known as “The Month That Critic Loses Every Inch of Sanity,” started, and so far it hasn’t been too bad.

Write-ins (wherein NaNo participants drag our laptops and notebooks to a central location and write for a few hours) have been both beneficial and draining — I get an insane amount of writing done at them, but inevitably I want to do nothing but sleep afterward.

My lovely and talented co-ML, Rebekah, is also updating her NaNo progress on her blog. So, I’m going to steal borrow her setup for updates.

Since I’m not trying to hit 100k (I don’t even know if this story will be 100k), I don’t have a personal word count goal that is significantly different from the regular daily goal. So, here goes:

Minimum word count for November 8: 13,336/50,000

My current word count: 17,671/50,000

Adventures in NaNoing: It’s been an interesting week. We have a chat room for our region, which means most evenings you can find a small group doing word wars and sprints to boost word count. It’s nice to have a regular group in there to bounce ideas off of and hang out with, even if it’s just virtually.

We’ve also had our first two write-ins, which were VERY well-attended. (As an ML, that makes me happy!) We had 23 at one and 13 at the other, which is about 3-4 more than the most that came last year. And, thanks to the bloodthirstiness of our writers this year, the character graveyard we built is already well-populated.

Of course, the most interesting stuff hasn’t necessarily come from NaNo, but from Oklahoma’s bipolar weather and apparent desire to kill us all. Over the first weekend, we had three earthquakes strong enough to be felt, including one that was a 5.6, which broke a record for us.

(Yes, I know all you California people are scoffing and saying, “Come back when you have a 7.0 at least.” This is Oklahoma, okay? We don’t get earthquakes. We’re just used to the weather trying to kill us, not the planet as well.)

And speaking of weather trying to kill us, Monday had the added benefit of throwing thunderstorms at us left and right. Because tornadoes and flooding were apparently all we lacked to make this the craziest year ever.

Have I written every day? Oh yes, I have. Some days it’s 3,000 words, others (like tonight), it’s about 600.

And I’ve noticed something: this year seems to be a lot less stressful than last year. Perhaps it’s because I’m not desperately trying to wring every spare word out of my brain. I’m not chasing my story to the finish line. It may sound weird, but I’m just kind of enjoying the ride. And that makes me more happy and excited to write every day.

(Also, taking a brain break to watch Flash Gordon tonight was a VERY good idea.)

Very Short Excerpt:
(Yes, you get an excerpt. You’re special. Normally I hide this stuff until it’s been editing two, three, or ten times.)

She tried, and failed, to keep the irritation out of her voice. “Constable, my mother is an inventor. She’s an introvert. She has a very close, very small, circle of friends. None of them have seen her in three days.”

If her temper bothered him, he didn’t show it. The constable just shrugged and flipped to another page in his notebook, scribbling something. “Is there someone else she may have told where she went? Does she have any servants?”

“No, they are all at the house.” Then a thought struck Genevieve, one that hadn’t occurred to her before, and she felt like an utter dolt for forgetting. “Wilson.”

The constable looked at her, perplexed. “Who’s Wilson?”

A clicking noise echoed from one of the rows of automata, and then, “I am Wilson.”