So since I’ve publicly declared that I’m not formally doing the NaNo thing this year, I now have the glimmerings of an idea for a new novel. Naturally.
However, writing a historical from the POV of one of George III’s young daughters means that I’d have to research the period, porphyria, and cross-Atlantic politics. Which in turn means, of course, that it can’t possibly be done in a month. And that’s that.
When you haven’t seen the little charmer in a while, and he turns on the “come hither”, well…
… you just have to give in.
Liam’s with his caregiver today, and will be on Tuesdays for the next couple of weeks while I handle both writing this book and editing another MS. I’m grateful that she can take him the extra day, because after losing last Friday to the holiday-that-wasn’t-restful and yesterday to crap, I really needed a good solid successful day of writing.
Total word count, ESTC: 35,352
Total words today: 1,282
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35,352 / 50,000
(70.7%) |
Seventy percent complete. Yet again I waver between rejoicing and panicking. And yes, I’m already past this week’s scheduled total.
Today was about expanding notes on goddesses into real sentences and coherent paragraphs. I did 820 words last Wednesday that I forgot to record, too. HRH just called and says he’s picking Liam up, because he’s been working only ten minutes away today, so I think I’ll use the bonus hour to plan out what I’ll do tomorrow (elemental meditations, I think).
So last year, I simultaneously had a baby, a book to proof, and a book to finish writing for publication. (Which was not, of course, the plan, as regular readers know.) In defense of sanity, I regretfully declined to participate in the YUL 2005 NaNoWriMo challenge. And since then, I’ve kind of been assuming that of course I’d do it again in 2006. After all, I was previously a winner three years running, finishing on November 20 in two of those years.
At the beginning of this past September, I decided not to do NaNo again. It would just be too much. After all, I had one contracted book, another proposal in with the publisher, and was in negotiation to assume overseeing a series.
Then that proposal, what would have been my next project, was shelved for at least the rest of the year.
ESTC is due Nov 1. And for once, it’s not being rushed into production.
So around the second week of September I thought, well, I might be able to do it, you know?
And then the next morning I gave myself a good smack and said, “Wouldn’t it be nice to write WITH NO DEADLINE for once?”
NaNo did nice things for me in teaching me how I work. It taught me quotas, it taught me cycles, and rhythms. NaNo is fun, for the team aspect, for the satisfaction of watching my numbers climb, for the thrill and smug feeling of passing others and giving them a goal to chase, of finishing if not first then damn close to first among the city. It’s been very gratifying to know I can produce 50K of good fiction in 20 days. But I know now that I can write a full 80K non-fic book for publication in sixty-odd days. And it ends up being a good book, too.
So the nostalgia of it all attracts me.
But being realistic? The thought of physically forcing myself to write for NaNo isn’t fun, because I force myself to write to a deadline as a daily job. I don’t need that kind of shooting myself in the head. I can’t run the risk of making myself hate writing altogether; this is my bread and butter. No thanks.
I think I’m looking forward to November being a month of relaxing writing, for once.
But I reserve the right to change my mind, of course.
Eight comments, with no spam-related words that I could see, were waiting to be moderated today. All of them were from friends encouraging me to go buy the red shoes, for sound reasons. I approved them all, even Phnee’s three repeats, because they are supportive and positive and cheerful.
So here you are, gang:
Voila. I am red shoe’d. And I will wear them to write today.
