Meh

So, I guess when I pick up a book, I have certain expectations about what will be in said book. For example, if the cover is mostly pink and has a cartoon woman on it, I expect something light, humorous, and probably romantic. If the cover has a helicopter or an explosion and a person running away with, say, cross hares on him/her, I expect to probably skip it.

When I borrowed Dear American Airlines: A Novel by Jonathan Miles from the library, I expected a scathing, funny account of a character annoyed with air travel. Since this is something we pretty much all have in common, I was eager to get started.

The first little bit was fantastic -- and if the entire novel had stayed with the airport and the guy's ire, the novel would have been perfect. However, the character goes off on tangents, talking about his past, translating another story about a Russian soldier, leaving only about 20% of the book about what I expected it to be about. I almost felt like the author had tricked me: luring me in with one story, and making me sit through two others.

Anyway, it was well written (although I'll admit I skimmed the last half). Go read the excerpt on Amazon.com -- it's very good.

Saved! (or not)

After not writing for about a week, and only picking at it from then on, Morbid Curiosity has been saved sacked. I re-worked the ending into something that actually yields clues (and doesn't upset me). Actually, the ending I came up with was total crap and the whole thing is going in the trash. However, the 50,000 word challenge is pretty well in the toilet -- but that's okay, because at least I'll come out of it with an outline. I'll probably tackle the prose in a month or two and do my own 50k challenge (which I've done twice).

I'm also very excited about my other projects: still working on my short story for Generations, which I hope will be nice and light after writing mysteries for so long. I also remembered I started on a graphic novel of Metropolis, which, after watching the newly restored version on TV the other night, really deserves to be finished.

After all the drama that's kept me away from writing this month, I'm eager to get back to it. Also eager for a pause in drama.

(edited 3:49pm)

A Rebuttal

I've read a few articles like this since the beginning of November: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-gresko/national-novel-writing-mo_b_781313.html

If you don't want to read the article, I'll sum up: A number of people find no value in National Novel Writing Month because at the end of the month, people are not left with a quality product. If your aim is to write crap, why do it?

It's not untrue, but it's a shallow way of thinking about the real goal (at least to me).

1) Practice makes perfect

Go on. Draw it.

Even if you know you're not going to sketch a masterpiece, you  might sit in a park and draw that squirrel over there anyway. Sometimes we do things because we like to. Even if (like me) you want to be a professional writer, any chunk of time I designate for writing is good practice for later, and I might end up with something that turns out well.

2) Mad Skills
By the time I heard about NaNoWriMo for the first time, I loved writing, but I had never gotten to the end of a novel. I'd started and thrown away dozens. NaNoWriMo claimed that not only had a few people written 50,000 words in one month, but thousands of people did it every year. As as challenge to myself, I jumped in, convinced it wasn't possible since every idea I'd ever had fizzled after no more than 20,000 words.

"Silence your inner editor," the website said. That made me as uneasy as the wordcount. After finishing the first chapter of a novel, one of my favorite parts was going back and touching it up. But then I kept working on the first chapter and never progressed. So I tried it. I wrote an outline to help with the time restriction, and on November 1st, started with chapter one. I made plenty of mistakes, but decided to plow through and fix it later.

Every writer has a different method for getting things done. What I learned from NaNoWriMo is what works for me, and I might not have figured it out on my own. Though you will not end up with an industry-ready manuscript at the end of the month (I'm still editing the first novel I did in a month), you will learn things, get a lot of practice, establish a writing routine, and (hopefully) have a good time.

~sigh~

So NaNoWriMo is kind of a bust this year. I couldn't get my story to work with me -- nevermind the fact that I didn't think I wanted to write it in the first place. I got about 9,000 words into it before I dropped the thing. I guess I didn't have enough material to get me through when the murder victim was murdered to when they catch the murderer. And it's even more upsetting because I had such a good time writing those 9,000 words, which ultimately got me nowhere. (Practice makes perfect?)

... So I moved on

In addition to spending lots of time on Photoshop, I got an idea for a short story thanks to a project my dad thought of: three people from the same family, but different generations writing about a common theme and posting their stories on a blog. Sounded like a good idea to me!

And so, the short, non-mystery idea was born. All my other stories have dealt in some way with crime, kidnapping or death (which is all well and good as long as you're standing in the Mystery section at the bookstore!), but this one will have none of that, despite the sort of sinister cover I came up with. In the spirit of not spoiling my story for those of you who will read it on Generations when it's done, I won't tell you what it's about - but I will tell you the group topic has to do with keeping my characters away from home.

1904, here I come!

One of my scene settings is an abandoned subway station in Toronto (pictured above), LITTLE KNOWING that the day after I chose this place, a "secret subway stop" in New York was revealed. While it wouldn't make a good place for my characters to stop, I think I'll be going next time I'm in town. Just take the 6 and stay on past the Brooklyn Bridge stop, and you're freakin' time traveling!

NaNoWriMo Eve!

Alright, you guys, it's NaNoWriMo Eve. If I lived in Australia, I'd be furiously writing right now. But to be honest, when we reach 12am Eastern Time, I'll probably be asleep because November 1st also marks the official end of my vacation.

My novel this year will deal with a time-delayed murder and a possible ghost. It'll also be my first story set in Philadelphia.

While I should have been working on my outline for this coming month, I've been trying to get Awake edited (my Wrimo project from last year - only 2/3rds through it). I'd like to say it's going well, but I guess I'm having my doubts. Regardless, writing helps me escape other stuff, so I've already accomplished something very big for myself.

Keep an eye on the wordcount widget to your right and chart my progress. Feel free to cheer/laugh as needed.

It's NaNoWriMo Season Again...

Since I don't live near family (or extended family or friends), holidays don't mean as much to me now as they did when I was a kid. It's a bummer, because I loved holidays (or the food, get-togethers and presents that came with them).

Trying to pretend that a couple with no children can enjoy, say, Christmas without having anyone to share things with, is kind of a lot of bull (at least in my own experience). The cat would destroy any decorations I put up, and those decorations (if they're not destroyed) would be a pain to clean up in February.

Now, I'm not one of those no-fun people who begrudges YOU of having a nice time with your family, but I realize I need to focus my energy on something different instead of thinking this year might be the same as when I was ten, knowing full well it won't be.

My new holiday: NaNoWriMo.

In one month, it'll be here. The website has already wiped last year clean and gone live with it's 2010 version. The forums are ready for my obscure questions that usually start out, "I promise, I'm just doing research for a novel..."

My only problem is that I'm just not very excited this year. Maybe once I get started or get my outline ironed out, it'll be different. For now, I've been working as much as I can on Awake, trying to get it edited and ready to show to someone - but for whatever reason, it is taking me forever to get through it! I also need to finish editing The Silent Treatment so I can get that thing sent out. I guess the real problem is that I've got so much to work on right now, adding another novel to the mix might not be what I need.

On the other hand, distancing myself from my current projects might bring me back more refreshed when the month is over. I guess I'll see how I feel on Halloween night when I'm sitting in my apartment with a bucket of candy, knowing no kids are coming to my door. I'll probably want a project then.

Connecting

Now Jennifer Weiner is tweeting me!

You guys, it almost looks like I'm becoming friends with real writers. They say getting published is all who you know ...

The book in question in the above tweet, is Room: A Novel by Emma Donoghue. It was released this year, and up until a few days ago when Jennifer Weiner started stalking about it, I'd never heard of the book or the author.

ROOM sounds like exactly the kind of book I'd be interested in: I mean, come on. Mysteriously trapped in a room by someone? Sounds a lot like what I just wrote about in Awake!

As selfish as this sounds, the more support we give our female writers now, the better luck I'm going to have in the future. So, good job, ladies!

Here's a short list of fiction written by women, which I've enjoyed: