So here we are, with less than 72 hours to go before the start of NaNoWriMo 2010. And I’m still not sure what I’m going to write about.

There’s the rewrite of the story from NaNoWriMo 2008. That’s what I planned on doing all along. But now I’m wondering if the only reason I wanted to write that one was because it won in 2008, so I feel like it has a better shot at winning this year.

The second option is a story that’s sort of semi-autobiographical, but set on a generation starship traveling millions of light years from earth. I came up with the idea for this one over the summer, and have been sort of half-thinking about it ever since.

And then there’s this other one that’s been nagging me, about four friends on a road trip together before (or maybe right after) their last year of college.

There are pros and cons to each of the above. I wonder if the first one shouldn’t be done in a more methodical manner, since it’s fully outlined and I’ve technically written it before. It kind of feels like that would be a good idea. Part of the fun of NaNoWriMo is getting crazy with your story. The first one leaves little room for getting crazy.

The second one has a ton of potential to get crazy, but it’s also more of a hard sci-fi story. I’ve never written hard sci-fi. It’s kind of intimidating. And generation ships present so many potential technological pitfalls and impossibilities that it’s pretty intimidating. But maybe I can just gloss over those parts and come back to them and make sure everything works in the editing phase.

The third one is one that I’m still very unsure about. That could work in my favor or not. I have a general idea of the story, but I’m not sure where it would fit, genre-wise (maybe YA if I changed the ages and made them a bit younger, maybe lit fic, maybe something else). I’m also afraid this one might turn out to be more of a novella, and if the point of NaNo this year is to write 50k words, that could be a problem. Then again, I could always finish the novella (if that’s what it turns out to be) and then start something else to meet the 50k goal.

Honestly, I’ll probably make up my mind Sunday night or first thing Monday morning and then just go with it. Or I’ll have a complete meltdown.

Who else out there still isn’t sure what they’re going to write for NaNo and is thinking about just winging it? Anyone?

Hello?

I can’t believe it’s already almost November. (Where did summer go? And is Christmas really just over two months away? AH!) And of course, November means National Novel Writing Month, better known as NaNoWriMo.

I have a mixed history with NaNoWriMo. I did it first in 2008, right after I began writing seriously again. I finished my second novel in just over 33 days (hitting the 50,000 word mark around November 15th). Then I tried it in 2009, and I got about 14,000 words into it when I gave up. I just wasn’t feeling the story. I think it’s because I tried to take on something too serious and it took all the fun out of it. I’ll probably finish that novel at some point. If it doesn’t depress me too much.

This summer I finally went through my NaNo winner from 2008 (I was afraid to even look at it, for fear that it would be completely unintelligible) and decided it wasn’t that bad. Sure, there was head-hopping galore (though I was surprised that some of it almost worked…almost) and the plot went off on quite a few tangents, but there’s some real potential there, with the general world and the characters especially.

So this NaNo, I’m going to start over on that one, and rewrite it entirely. No cut-and-paste from the original, just a thorough outline and some really well-developed characters.

Now, there are a few things I have going against me this time that I didn’t have last time. First of all, I’m now working full time. Plus, I’m possibly taking on a couple of big (one of them really BIG) projects in the next month or so. Time will definitely not be on my side this year.

Of course, I also have a lot more writing experience. I’ve completed six novel first drafts at this point, and done edits on almost all of them. I’ve grown as a writer a LOT since 2008. I expect (hope?) to walk away from this year’s NaNo with a manuscript that only needs polishing and minor editing (since it will technically be a second draft, anyway).

In the next ten days, I need to finish up my outline (I have it mostly written out, I’m just putting it on index cards so I can properly combine all three points-of-view and make sure everything matches up). I need to make sure I really do know my characters inside and out. And I need to get all this information copied over into Scrivener so it’s all right at my fingertips when I’m writing. Scrivener’s full-screen mode is also helpful when I’m trying to write without getting distracted.

I’m also hoping to post some helpful tips and tricks over the next ten days to help out anyone else who’s thinking of participating this year. Whether I’ll be able to post here every day, plus get my regular work done, plus finish up my own NaNo prep work, plus get ready for my annual Halloween party is anyone’s guess. This might fall by the wayside. So if you have tips/resources/etc. that might be useful to others participating, please share them in the comments here!

And good luck to everyone!

I am just about finished with rewrites on my fifth novel (the first four are still in various stages of development, along with the sixth and seventh) and I’m now approaching the point where there’s little writing or editing left to be done with it. And in all honesty, I’m really happy with the way it’s turning out. My beta readers, for the most part, seem to have enjoyed it, too. By the end of March, it should be ready to go. Read the rest of this entry »

Here we are, on the cusp of a new decade. I will be the first to admit I am wholly unprepared for 2010 (and let’s please call it twenty-ten, NOT two-thousand-ten; after all, we say “nineteen-ten” not “one-thousand-nine-hundred-ten”), but that doesn’t mean I haven’t given it a lot of thought.

Read the rest of this entry »

Staying motivated over the course of any long-term project can be tough. Writing a book is no different. When you’re looking ahead at weeks or even months of writing, maintaining momentum gets tricky. My novels generally go pretty quickly, but this new nonfiction writing project is moving much slower than my previous books. With all the research involved, I’m only managing a couple thousand words a day. Read the rest of this entry »