Jesterfest - The Novel: Editination

I read through the book

2008-01-06T15:27:00.000-05:00

Verdict: Um, needs work. Definitely!

Have a fantastic day.

I wrote this? Heh!

2008-01-06T14:22:00.000-05:00

"Detective Dodson, you are going to continue to work with the evidence we have, you are going to investigate everything about John "The Amazinger John" Brooks, you will know him like he is your brother, your cousin, your lover. You will become John "The Amazinger John" Brooks. He is our main suspect, but he is also our best lead. Who wanted to frame John "The Amazinger John" Brooks? And why?"

Another one!

2008-01-06T14:11:00.000-05:00

Bigger bang for your Uncle Buck.

It was supposed to be a name of a sketch. Surprisingly appropriate, actually.

Find-and-replace fun

2008-01-06T13:58:00.000-05:00

So, one of my clown characters was named Uncle Buck. However, because I added Uncle after I had written Buck a few times, I did a find-and-replace to change every "buck" to "uncle buck."

So, every time buck shows up in the manuscript, it has uncle before it. Even if Buck is not a proper name. With hilarious results:

He gave her a sound, sexy kiss that made Maddy's knees Uncle Buckle.
"Food," he said, and handed Maddy a Uncle Bucket. "Original Recipe?"
Maddy brought the Uncle Bucket of chicken over and plopped down next to Michael.

I can't believe I wrote that:

2008-01-06T13:45:00.000-05:00

Maddy was a bright shining beacon of love.

It won't be in the final version, don't worry.

Let the Editing begin

2008-01-06T13:23:00.000-05:00

Well. I started to read my novel today.

Here are some things I noticed:

I should have either fewer sex scenes, or more stuff happen between the sex scenes
I should explain clowns more
I need a plot, and a new villain
My characters are too nice
It needs a lot of work
That said, it's not too bad

Going forward I plan to read the rest of the novel and then probably read it again, while taking notes.

Craziness

2007-12-10T23:03:00.000-05:00

Next year. Starting in January. I am going to edit my freaking novel.

Not in a month, not even in two months, but I am going to chip on it slowly but surely throughout the year.

It is time. Time to get back to the clowns. Time to actually read the novel. Time to have fun. And time to freaking finish a project already.

I will be challenged. Because, I don't work well without a deadline. (Usually I work very well if the deadline is given to me by someone else.)

Anyhoo. that's where it's at.

I told my invisible audience. Cool, ain't it.

(Not) Writing

2007-06-03T12:05:00.000-04:00

Script Frenzy started on Friday, and I have not started writing. Yet.

Got to do some homework first

Script Frenzy

2007-05-15T22:33:00.000-04:00

I signed up for Script Frenzy for June 2007.

Smart?

The Book so far, final (for first draft)

2005-12-01T20:23:00.000-05:00

This continues this list

Clowns pistol whipped by other clowns: 1

Clowns forced to play Russian Roulette: 1

Cops rescued by clowns: 1

Number of times the word "very" occurs in the last sentance: 10

Number of couples that hook up in the book: 2 sets

Number of happy endings: 1

By the way

2005-12-01T00:49:00.000-05:00

I'm a winna! Here's the proof:

One more thing

2005-12-01T00:37:00.000-05:00

Edmund and I were featured in an article in Westbrook's American Journal.

I don't see it online yet, but if you live in the Portland area, pick it up!

I might try to scan it for you other dudes!

50,109 - by the skin of my teeth!

2005-12-01T00:11:00.000-05:00

The Obligatory screen shot of progress:

So here is a dirty little secret. My final wordcount was 50,109 according to NaNoWriMo, but was 50,000 exactly according to word:

Interesting Facts:

Final Word Count: 50,109

Words since Saturday Afternoon: 25,683

Computer crashes: 5? 6? So many, I lost count. Really.

Time Novel Validated by NaNoWriMo: 11:53 pm, Eastern Standard Time

Husbands who left fun party at a bar to rush home and let me use his computer, which he had with him: 1

By the way, I'm a winner:

Oh. My. God.

2005-12-01T00:05:00.000-05:00

Guess what happened at 10:00 pm?

Hint: I had one thousand words left for my 50,000 word limit.

Another Hint: I was saving my Novel.

My computer crashed!

Guess what happened again at 10:05, 10:15, 10:20, and a few more times. Yes, you guessed it, my computer crashed AGAIN!

Fortunately for me, I have a wonderful husband, who came home from the countdown party to let me use his computer.

Thank you Edmund. I am lucky to have met you. And lucky to have you.

So, did it work? Check it out, bay-be:

More in a sec.

Stay on target, stay on target

2005-11-30T21:15:00.000-05:00

47,537

2,463 to go

46,099

2005-11-29T23:39:00.000-05:00

The Obligatory screen shot of progress:

Total Words: 46,099

Total Words Today: 3,990

Total Words Since Saturday: 21,673

Words left: 3,911

Woot! Woot!

Home stretch baby. Time for my beauty sleep!

The Book so far, Part 2

2005-11-29T22:38:00.000-05:00

Clowns kidnapped by other clowns: 1

Clowns impersonating other clowns: 1

Clowns Killed: 4

Clowns in a coma: 1

Husbands yelled at: 1

Epic Clown Battles: 1

Sex Scenes: 5?

Flashyback Chapters: 1

Words: 45,247

Words today: 3,138 (and more coming)

Total words on Saturday Morning: 24,426

Words since Saturday: 20,821 (and counting)

Clowns wrongly imprisoned: 1

Ineffectual mayors: 1 (Mayor Timothy Thomas Goldberg)

Character names stolen from Husband: 1 (Mayor Timothy Thomas Goldberg)

Words to go: 4,763

Longest Character Name

2005-11-29T18:33:00.000-05:00

Saul “Professor Doctor Sapper, Esquire the third” Sapper

Thank goodness for clowns!

42,667

2005-11-29T14:32:00.000-05:00

558 words during lunch, 42,667 total

Character from nowhere

2005-11-29T14:30:00.000-05:00

Okay, I just had a character show up, who has apparently been a part of the story for a while. Weird.

Maddy and Michael slept in until ten o clock in the morning, when they heard a loud banging on the door.

“Hey, you guys in there?” it was Stretch, Michael's cop friend from Boston who has not been in the book until just now, but we are going to pretend that he has.

42,109

2005-11-29T00:11:00.000-05:00

Only 7,901 words to go!

The Obligatory screen shot of progress:

Interesting facts, in the last three days I have written 17,683 words.

(About 17,576 of those are crap.)

I have two days left. YEAH! I hope to crank the rest of this out tomorrow!

Some words...

2005-11-28T23:48:00.000-05:00

“Let me take off my make up.”

“No, please keep it on, I am developing quite the fetish for clowns.”

38,102 - Holy Crap

2005-11-28T00:27:00.000-05:00

The Obligatory screen shot of progress:

Today I wrote 6,592 words. Yesterday I wrote 7,084

In less than 36 hours I wrote 13,676.

13,676.

I have three days to write 11,908 words.

I might actually make it to 50,000! Holy crap!

Happy Bars

2005-11-27T20:48:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning this little bar was less than halfway to the 50,000 word goal. Right now I am inching closer and closer to the end.

Looking at this makes me happy!

How to kill a clown, so far

2005-11-27T16:17:00.000-05:00

Real knife that looks like a fake knife

Arrow through the head - a favorite at parties

Beaten with rubber chicken juggling pin

Bang gun with flag that is actual gun

The Book so far:

2005-11-27T12:35:00.000-05:00

Clowns Killed: 4

Epic Clown Battles: 1

Sex Scenes: 4?

Flashyback Chapters: 1

Words: 32,943

Words since yesterday at this time: 8,517

Clowns wrongly imprisoned: 1

Ineffectual mayors: 1 (Mayor Timothy Thomas Goldberg)

Character names stolen from Husband: 1 (Mayor Timothy Thomas Goldberg)

Words to go: 17,067

From the book, what prose, what promise

2005-11-27T11:41:00.000-05:00

Richard laughed, a sardonic staccato cadence that pierced through Warren’s red haze.

what crap!

Where did this come from?

2005-11-27T11:01:00.000-05:00

Sally first visited Richard and the Amazing Zarnos, spreading invective and lies, then she spoke with her father and told him that Richard belongs to this land, and he is the company Lion. We can use him for anything we need to do so.

Just so you know, Sally's father is not in the book. (My book, the book I am writing.) There is no lion, no company.

Just a little message from my subconscious.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

31,510

2005-11-27T01:43:00.000-05:00

The Obligatory Screen Shot of Progress

I wrote 7,084 words today. Can you imagine!

I will work on more catch-up tomorrow! Feeling less sick, and more on the ball!

Bearcats

2005-11-27T00:03:00.000-05:00

Speller fun:

On a tear

2005-11-26T23:59:00.000-05:00

Not tear (like crying)

a Tear (like paper!)

I am kicking ass and taking names. Or something like that.

So far today: 5,171 words

Five thousand, one hundred seventy one

And I still have a few in me.

Total words so far, 29,597

30k, then all the way
30k, then all the way
30k, then all the way

Well, that makes one of us

2005-11-26T09:38:00.000-05:00

Edmund, my dear husband, has been officially branded a winner:

I am a long way off...

Sweetie, I am very proud of you!

Despair

2005-11-22T23:00:00.000-05:00

I am at 23,738.

Today I wrote 815 words.

I need to write 26,272 more words before the end of the day on Wednesday.

Ugh.

Discouraged.

22,923

2005-11-21T20:50:00.000-05:00

Creeping, slowly but surely toward the goal.

The Obligatory screen shot of progress:

Sleep now, sleep.

22,062

2005-11-20T23:03:00.000-05:00

Whew! A good writing day. Finally.

I wrote 3,499 words today, for a total of 22,062

The Obligatory screen shot of progress:

Fun Facts:
I am behind by 11,278. I need to write 27,948 more words before I make the 50,000 goal.*

If I kept writing at this pace, I would reach 50,000 by December 16th.

*And the actual best part of this is that the words I write don't need to be good. They just need to be written. Good thing.

My sexy name

2005-11-20T20:06:00.000-05:00

Get your own.

The Power of Vin Diesel

2005-11-20T15:42:00.000-05:00

One of the funniest things I have seen in a while:

The Power of Vin Diesel

Cool NaNo Chart

2005-11-19T23:35:00.000-05:00

This is a cool NaNoWriMo Chart that was made by the dude knowbuddy at NaNo.

Sweet, eh?

And another thing

2005-11-19T23:01:00.000-05:00

As of right now I am ranked 42nd in the state of Maine!

Yes out of 200 Mainers who are tackling NaNoWriMo I am the 42nd in word count.

(Edmund is 4th. Yes, you heard it here first, my wonderful husband is 4th in the State.)(Gah!)

18,563 & on the mend

2005-11-19T22:55:00.000-05:00

Took a couple of days off from writing. Why, I was stressing out, oh and I couldn't think with this cold that I still have.

Back on track though. Tonight I wrote 978 words for a total of 18,563. I am about 13,110 words behind. But I am still in. All the way, baby.

I desperately need to get to 50,000. Wish me luck!

'Fro

2005-11-19T17:50:00.000-05:00

After years of frustration, which has increased over the past few months, I have finally got my hair permed, again. Lately, I have had to blowdry my hair for it to look good, and frankly I don't like to spend more than a couple of minutes on my coif.

Here is me before:

And Here is me after:

Click Here for a fun Slideshow!

Really Sick

2005-11-18T21:45:00.000-05:00

I am really sick and miserable, so I have given myself yesterday and today off from writing my book. I am not enjoying the sickness thang.

Tomorrow I will write, write like the wind.

And Sunday too.

Today I rest, and ruminate on my dear husband's gajillion words.

More Weird Dreams

2005-11-18T21:42:00.000-05:00

Last night I dreamt about immortal frankenstein-type beings (there are always two, man and a woman, always two) who were 7,000 years old and could travel from city to city in secret passageways.

The secret passageway in my dream was to Minneapolis, and it was located in a local McDonald's garbage chute. (The passageway/portal does not work for mere humans.)

They also had superpowers.

Ice Cubes?

2005-11-17T07:33:00.000-05:00

Weird Dreams last night. Very Weird

The first one that I remember, albeit hazily, was that I was watching a drama set in England with Kevin Kline as one character and some other dude as another. They used to work together, then the crazy one did something bad and the uncrazy one quit. Then the crazy one, as befitting his crazy status, beat the crap out of the other dude.

I can't remember which character Kevin Kline was, crazy or not crazy.

The last picture in my mind was of the uncrazy one driving away, looking like another person (because he was beaten so badly). Weird.

The second one that I remember is one of those dreams where I was "awake" and laying next to my husband. All of a sudden I started shivering, but I wasn't cold. My whole body was shaking. My teeth were chattering. After a minute or so, I had ice cubes in my mouth. I had made ice cubes in my mouth! (I was eating a cough drop at the time.)

17,585 -- Best Lunch Ever

2005-11-16T14:31:00.000-05:00

Wrote 1,108 during lunch today. Awesome!

Obligatory screen shot of progress:

16,477 -- huh, how did I do that?

2005-11-15T23:38:00.000-05:00

So I posted earlier tonight, but I sat down just now and typed another 654 for a total of 1674 words for the day! Yeah...

Not too shabby. I am now only 8,528 words behind. However, tomorrow (in twenty minutes) I will be 10,195 words behind.

I can almost taste the 20,000 words. Almost.

Can't believe I have to make it to 50,000

Is this what you want? Is it? Is it?

2005-11-15T21:59:00.000-05:00

The Obligatory screen shot of progress:

Insert sigh here.

15,823...

New Mantra:
No Plot? NO PROBLEM!
No Plot? NO PROBLEM!
No Plot? NO PROBLEM!
No Plot? NO PROBLEM!
No Plot? NO PROBLEM!
No Plot? NO PROBLEM!
No Plot? NO PROBLEM!
No Plot? NO PROBLEM!
No Plot? NO PROBLEM!

15,249

2005-11-15T14:28:00.000-05:00

ugh. In spite of sickness, I did write about 241 words yesterday. I wrote 446 during my lunch today.

I am so far behind! GAH!

Need to write 9,746 words to get caught up to where I "should" be.

Edmund, however, is at 34,724 - and is going gangbusters!

Stuff + Cats = Awesome

2005-11-14T22:02:00.000-05:00

Stuff + Cats = Awesome
Originally uploaded by lannalee.

If you are bored, go a head and go visit this webpage, http://www.stuffonmycat.com/ (Stuff On My Cat).

Funny!

I surrender to the sickness

2005-11-14T20:13:00.000-05:00

No words today.

None.

I will be trying to feel better soon, and write more on the morrow. Well, actually I will be plotting my novel tonight (I know, I know, I should have plotted it BEFORE I started) All will go toward my word count.

This. Is. Hard.

14,041

2005-11-13T14:11:00.000-05:00

Yeah!!! I wrote 717 words today. So far

Obligatory screen shot of progress:

Paneraific

2005-11-13T13:24:00.000-05:00

Hanging at Panera with the NaNoWriMo crew. Have to leave at 2:30 to meet Edmund at church at 3:00. Will probably come back afterwards.

BTW, Edmund has written 30,422 words so far.

Grr.

(Sloughing away at 13,764)

Sickness

2005-11-12T23:55:00.000-05:00

I should mention that I am not performing at 100% right now. I feel sick. Yesterday I fell asleep in my chair in front of the computer. Today I have a sore throat and just feel like ick.

Icky, Icky, Ick.

Doesn't my body realize there is a deadline?

Buck up!

13,324

2005-11-12T23:44:00.000-05:00

Obligatory screen shot of progress:

Words today 1,901; but as you can see above, I am behind a few thousand, and will be even more behind in a few moments.

That said, I had a good day today. Tomorrow I will be at Panera all day (except for a while in the afternoon.) Maybe I can rack up the rest of the words I need.

Sadly lacking: Plot; believable characters; conflict.

But I did just kill off another clown.

Edmund is working on breaking 30,000 today. Grrrr.

Mumsie

2005-11-12T22:06:00.000-05:00

I spent a lot of time at my parent's house today. They were going up north for the day and asked me to look in on Gracie, their dog. Knowing I had about 3 more loads of laundry to do, and I knew their house was empty, I packed up my gear and trucked over to their house, which is less than a mile away from our house.

Good work done today, and I have some more writing to do tonight. I got another 995 words done, with 1,636 total. I will not catch up at this pace, but we'll see. If I do 2,500 a day until the end I will be golden. But lets not get too excited.

Anyway, my mother has been giving me novel writing advice, and has even offered to help me write the novel (I mean write it for me.) Her advice: describe the clowns because their cosutmes have lots of pieces and are all differnt; describe every item in the room; who, what, where, when, why

I think I'll use her advice...

(does it still count if your mother writes part of your novel?)

Zombies

2005-11-12T20:18:00.000-05:00

zombies
Originally uploaded by lannalee.

I had bad dreams about Zombies last night.

Just thought you might like to know.

12,064 - with a good start this morning

2005-11-12T11:07:00.000-05:00

No update yesterday. Mainly because I had another uninspiring day and I wrote 503 words. That's it. I wrote more than that this morning (641)

Obligatory screen shot of progress:

Fun Facts:

This morning I started the day at 8,581 words behind.

As of right now, I am 7,940 words behind.

To get caught up this weekend I need to write at least 9,607 words by tomorrow evening. Doable? Who knows at this point.

My dear husband, the wonderfully insufferable Edmund, has written 28,822 words since November 1st. He is currently ahead, AHEAD, by 8,818. Good thing he is cute!

Edmund - Panara Last Sunday

2005-11-11T09:38:00.000-05:00

DSCF2600
Originally uploaded by lannalee.

This is what a writer does, WRITE!

He is very cute, isn't he?

10,920

2005-11-10T22:53:00.000-05:00

I wrote 533 words today. Not my best day, however, I could not start writing until 9 pm, so I had a slow start.

I have the next three days off from work, so I hope to catch up this weekend.

Obligatory screen shot of progress:

More later

Running on Empty

2005-11-10T21:28:00.000-05:00

This is the sight I see whenever I turn on my car. Whether I just got gas, or not. An Empty light. An Empty gas tank.

Maybe I should kill someone else

2005-11-09T23:03:00.000-05:00

Just thinking. Maybe I should kill off another character.

Maybe that will be next after I finish the sex scene I am writing....

It's still crap

2005-11-09T22:58:00.000-05:00

If this book is ever published, will need to be rewritten.

Oh, and a plot would be nice.

10,387

2005-11-09T22:52:00.000-05:00

YIppeee!! I wrote 1,139 words today!

I have written 10,387 words since the first of November.

Of course, you know that I have written more than that on this blog, in emails, and at work, but you get the picture!

Obligatory screen shot of progress:

Tomorrow I will be short 6,283. On the upside I only have 39,623 words to go before I hit the 50,000 word goal!

9,749

2005-11-09T14:49:00.000-05:00

I just did 501 words during lunch.

Fun Facts:

I am behind, as of right now: 5,254

I need to write: 40,261 more words to make 50,000

Zero

2005-11-08T22:34:00.000-05:00

No words today. Zero. Zilch. Nada. *Sigh*

Got some other stuff done, but I just have something. Writer's block or something like that.

*Sigh, again.*

This will put me 4,088 words behind today, and tomorrow it will be 5,755.

Good news, I have Friday off, and Saturday and Sunday too.

Having Friday is cool because its a paid holiday, so I will, in effect, be paid for writing.

The other things I did today: Write letters to get transcripts for college, plan Toastmasters goals, and update my virus software.

Bringing my computer to work tomorrow, dammit!

Procrastination

2005-11-08T20:17:00.000-05:00

I have had a life-long talent for procrastination.

Because I had training today and did not bring my computer with me, I did not type during lunch.

I got home at 4:30 - after voting - and have done nothing by do other stuff. I planned out my next few months in Toastmasters, I surfed through the blogs I read every day, in a minute I might look at the course catalog for next semester.

Focus

Write

Write

Write

Hile, Wordslinger

9,248

2005-11-07T22:47:00.000-05:00

So close to the 10,000 word club. So close, yet so far.

Obligatory screen shot of progress:

I wrote 2,061 words today! Still behind by 2,421.

I am falling asleep. Time to quit for the day. Be back tomorrow.

Hile, Wordslinger

2005-11-07T20:56:00.000-05:00

Hile

I am not reading a book this month

2005-11-07T20:36:00.000-05:00

Because I am writing a book!

I am writing a book!

Shit, I should be writing my book right now.

Later. (8,110)

7,810

2005-11-07T13:56:00.000-05:00

I wrote 623 words during lunch, for a total of 7,810.

Fun Facts:

I am currently behind 3,859 words.

I need to write 42,200 more words by Midnight on November 30th.

446

2005-11-06T23:04:00.000-05:00

Number of words I blogged today: 446

(Doesn't count toward my book.)

(2455 + 446 = 2901. Need I say more?)

(and this entire post (36 words) brings the grand total to 2,937) (any questions?)

7,187

2005-11-06T22:44:00.000-05:00

Good news, I wrote 2,455 words today. Bad News, still 2,815 behind.

Oh, and it sucks.

(The book, I mean.)

Bonus: If I write 2,000 words every day for the next 9 days I'll catch up!

Vendor Room at Jesterfest

2005-11-06T21:36:00.000-05:00

This killed a half hour of writing time.

NaNo Tip #4563 -- Turn Off Your Headlights

2005-11-06T20:24:00.000-05:00

So anyway, when I left Panera this evening I went out to my car. Like usual. And I opened my driver's side door. Just like usual. And I clicked the automatic lock to open the back door so I could put my computer in the back seat.

Nothing.

Lesson Number One: When you leave your lights on for seven-and-a-half hours your battery dies. Is dead. Fini. Quit. Done. No more. Dead parrot.

Lesson Number Two: When you marry the right guy, he doesn't mind if you stupidly left your lights on all day, and will cheerfully help you jump your car.

Day 6: 6,875 Words

2005-11-06T18:10:00.000-05:00

Only 3,127 words behind!

Lots of fun, Lots of Dr. Pepper, lots of Hazelnut Coffee.

Lots of bathroom breaks!

Leaving Panera and going home. Will be going home soon, I hope to write more tonight.

Looking and Talking

2005-11-06T15:01:00.000-05:00

So far my characters are looking at each other and talking.

"Blah, Blah, Blah," so-and-so looked at so-and-so, "blah, blah, blah."

AAAARRRGGGH - going slow (5,411)

Industrious Writers

2005-11-06T12:22:00.000-05:00

Sunday Write-In at Panara's

2005-11-06T11:36:00.000-05:00

The recap: It is Sunday and I am 3,603 behind and to be on track by the end of the day I need to write 5,270 words. Doable. But a daunting task.

I was not able to write on Friday or Saturday because I participated in the Toastmasters District 45 Conference as a Humorous Competion contestant and centerpiece designer/creator. I spent Friday evening after work preparing for the conference. Yesterday I woke at 5:50 am and went to Troy's house to blow up 30 helium balloons (he is a balloon twister as well.) We stuffed them all in my car (good thing it is a huge one) and I drove to LA (Lewiston/Auburn, Maine), went to a workshop, made some centerpieces, placed helium balloons, had lunch, went to a couple more workshops, got ready for the contest, had the contest, had a cocktail hour, banquet, listened to a speech, found out I did not place in the contest, hung out in the hospitality room and ended out getting home at 1 am.

Not one balloon popped. (Except by dinner time one of the centerpiece balloons at my table.)

Oh, and my husband Edmund, his word count is 15,579 - and he is 6 days ahead...

4,732

2005-11-03T23:02:00.000-05:00

So tired.

I typed 1,144 words today. Short from the Cumulative goal of 5,001 by 269.

Need sleep, and may not get many words in tomorrow.

Catch Up on Sunday... (fingers crossed.)

My damned Husband

2005-11-03T22:18:00.000-05:00

So, Edmund, my husband is also participating in NaNoWriMo.

Let me get it on record as saying that it was MY idea to join NaNo. I was the one who mentioned it to him, and suggested that it might be a cool thing to do together. After a week (maybe two) Edmund said that he would do it too.

When October 1st rolled around, and we were finally able to sign up on the NaNoWriMo.org site, I was chomping at the bit to sign up and get psyched up to write my first novel. Edmund was a bit more lackadaisical about it, joining up only when my incessent nagging got to be too much for him.

Where am I going with this?

Since Midnight on November 1st Edmund has written 8,512 words. Eight thousand five hundred and twelve.

I have written 4,392 - with hopefully more before I go to sleep.

I am doing well, but Edmund is kicking my ass!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr. Good luck sweetie.

Now more talk about me!

TSTL

2005-11-03T21:48:00.000-05:00

I think earlier today, I made my female protagonist (Maddy) TSTL...

Too Stupid To Live

AAAAARRRRGGGHHHH

It's okay to Suck

2005-11-03T21:46:00.000-05:00

It's okay to suck. My book does not have to be perfect. I can always fix it. Keep on, keeping on, keep writing, keep writing...

It's the process, it's the process

Write, Write, Write, Write, Write, Write

4,034

2005-11-03T13:40:00.000-05:00

Short lunch stint gave me another 446 more words, for a total of 4,034!

Wow. That's all I have to say. Wow.

I have to quit for a while, and I might not get a chance to write tomorrow or Saturday. If that's the case, I will make up for it on Sunday!

Later.

Name Change: Helen Who?

2005-11-02T23:29:00.000-05:00

So I had picked out a name for my female protagonist: Helen. Was thinking of Helen of Troy and my great aunt Helen.

I realized the name was not working for me, Helen was seeming a bit prissy, so today I changed it to Maddy King. Short, sweet and cute. More clown-like. Awesome!

My male protagonist's name is Michael Black (not Mike. He hates Mike.)

Excel Word Counter

2005-11-02T23:26:00.000-05:00

Hey, if you are a NaNo peep and you want a cool way to figure out how you are doing with your cumulative word counts go ahead and check this link out:

http://gotthink.com/nanome/resource.html

This is a spreadsheet that I designed to help me figure out how I was doing on a daily basis.

3,588

2005-11-02T23:23:00.000-05:00

Yeah! I did some great work today, and now I am 254 words over the proscribed goal! Yeah again!

2,573

2005-11-02T14:32:00.000-05:00

Okay, I wrote all during lunch a total of 866. I am now at 2,573, and I just got to the first murder. Fun! Characterization - sucks. Might have to change the protagonist's name. I think that Helen sucks for a name. Okay the whole book sucks.

But I will keep writing.

To go along with the whole 1,667 words a day theme, I have to write 761 more words before I hit my cumulative goal of 3,334 words.

By the way, go me!

"Shakes the Clown"

2005-11-01T23:16:00.000-05:00

So how do you research a novel set at a clown convention? Well, I don't know either.

As part of my research I purchased and watched "Shakes the Clown" on DVD. Well, I purchased it last week and watched it today.

The movie was much like I remembered it, silly, funny and crass (gross even.) When I first saw it I had a problem with the cocaine snorting clowns but it didn't bother me as much this time. Maybe because I am no longer clowning and it has been a few years.

I was hoping it would inspire me for my convention-themed book. But it didn't really. Most of the clowns I know are cheerful, pun-ridden pranksters and not drunk, pissed-off bozos. Now the drunk clowns work for the movie, just not for me and my story.

But all clowns do beat up mimes. That is pretty universal.*

(*not really.*)

(*not really.)

1,707 -- Great Start!

2005-11-01T23:02:00.000-05:00

Of course I wanted to write 10,000 words today, but I finished a very respecatable 1,707. I wrote 627 during lunch and the rest (1080) this evening after I cooked dinner and watched the movie "Shakes the Clown."

Now it is time to go to sleep. I have a very busy rest of the week going on, so I hope I can keep this up!

In order for me to write 50,000 words in 30 days I have to average at least 1,667 words per day. Yeah me, first day and I am ahead. Tomorrow night I twist balloons after work, Thursday I have Toastmasters, and Friday and Saturday I am getting ready for a speech competion and a balloon gig. Hopefully I will find some time to write and/or be able to catch up on Sunday.

As I write I see myself writing sucky things, lurking out of the corner of my eye, I try not to go back and fix them. Let them be sucky. This is a first draft. I can fix everything. And, frankly, I have no idea how the story will unfold, so I am just going to keep going.

It is nice to have rules. No stopping. Keep writing. And all that rot.

I'm a Star

2005-11-01T22:56:00.000-05:00

I was featured in the Boston Globe today, regarding NaNo! It was a great novel and I am very jazzed about this! C'mon, go and read it!

My portion of the article. Click on photo to go to complete article!

(By the way, I said "Will it suck?" instead of "Will it [stink]?")

"Who's your NaNo Now!"

2005-10-09T14:50:00.000-04:00

It is the refrain that someone keeps screaming in my brain:

"Who's your NaNo Now!"

Who is my NaNo?

"Who's your NaNo Now!"

What in the bleep am I doing?

"Who's your NaNo Now!"

Someone's screaming in my brain...

I had a bad dream last night

2005-10-08T13:54:00.000-04:00

I am not sure why, but it was a writing dream: I dreamt that a girl I went to high school with had written a novel, and it was being published.

Maybe I am subconsciously envious of her, because she has had a pretty successful career and overall life since high school. But she also worked pretty hard to get where she is, so it isn't like she was handed anything on a platter. But in my dream I was like, "oh, so now you are going to write a book too, bitch!"

About the Book

2005-10-06T10:58:00.000-04:00

The working title is Jesterfest.

"Insert female protagonist name here" has received the chance of a lifetime - to be considered the best clown in the world, and it's all right in her home town. But the contestants start dying, and she is forced to join forces with a local police detective. Will she be next, will they solve the mystery in time, or will they be too busy doing the nasty?

Or something like that.

I really have to come up with some names for my characters, don't I?

New Favorite Drink

2005-10-06T10:31:00.000-04:00

Mix one package of hot chocolate with fresh brewed coffee. Wait until the coffee cools down enought to drink it. Enjoy.

For extra chocolatey and sweet mix two packages of hot chocolate with the coffee.

So, just what is this NaNoWriMo thing, anyway?

2005-10-06T09:37:00.000-04:00

NaNoWriMo is the cool way of saying National Novel Writing Month. From their webpage:

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

Collage Fun

2005-10-06T08:50:00.000-04:00

On her webpage, Jennifer Cruise discusses the benefits of doing a collage for writing a novel - and also shares pictures of her collages.

This is inspirational pre-writing, not an art project, so it can be as minimal and as sloppy as you want. Barbara and I love messing with paper and glue and paint, so we'll build a working model of a steam engine given the chance. But if you can get the look and feel of your book by gluing half a dozen pictures together on newsprint, you'll be ready to write while we're still cutting and pasting.

So, I did my own collage, something that for me evokes the feeling of attending clown conventions:

Blog Manifesto of Purpose

2005-10-06T08:30:00.000-04:00

... or something like that.

Here I will write about the process of writing Jesterfest - but I will not post the novel. Either it will be good enough to be published or not. If it is good enough to be published, I will try to get it published. If it isn't I won't embarrass myself and future generations of my family by posting it for the Internet.*

*Seriously, I embarrass myself enough already without proving to the world that I am wasting my time writing novels.

Regarding Suckage

2005-10-06T08:22:00.000-04:00

Last Post I said:

It will probably suck.

As a clarification, the "it" in that sentence refers to the book and not the blog. Of course the blog will probably suck too, but that is fine with me, I have a long history of sucky blogs dating from way back in 1998 or 1999. So there.

Novel in a Month

2005-10-06T00:00:00.000-04:00

Starting November 1st, I will be writing my novel, Jesterfest! This will chronicle my saga as I prepare and write my seminal work.

It will probably suck.