ThisMonkeyWriteMo or "What The Right Side of My Brain Is Up To Lately"
Those of you you have been reading this blog for a long time (uh... hello? Anybody still out there?) may remember this gem from 2005.
Wow. 2005? Has it really been that long?
Well, life happens, and despite my best intentions, not much has come of the things I planned on doing, which I wrote about in that blog entry.
This year, I've gotten involved in NaNoWriMo (those of you who follow me on Twitter are probably all too aware of this, as I've been updating my word count daily, but you may not know exactly what it is). If you care to know, read on.
NaNoWriMo is shorthand for "National Novel Writer's Month". The short explanation is this: when you commit to doing NaNoWriMo, you commit to writing 50,000 words of fiction during the month of November. That's it. And it doesn't cost a thing!
OK, that's a lie. There's no money involved, but it does cost quite a commitment of time. Already, some of my co-workers are annoyed at how far behind I am on television. (Can you believe I have not even watched the new "V", and have no idea when I will? And that apparently there have been some kind of important baseball games being televised?) I'm that far behind already, and this is only the first week! I envision a future with much less television in my life. That is probably not a bad thing.
So, what's magic about 50,000 words? It's sort of arbitrary, but the guy who started this crazy thing established 50,000 words as sort of the minimum length for a novel. If you want to know more, check out the site I've linked above, particularly the FAQ.
A couple of people have asked me about this undertaking, wanting to know what my story is about, whether or not I'm going to get it published, who do I think I am with these crazy delusions, etc. Well, let's take the second question first. Absolutely not. I don't think I ever want anyone to read this story. It's pretty bad. Even after some heavy editing, I'm pretty sure it will be beyond redemption. But that's not the point. The point is to get the creative juices flowing. Prove to yourself that you can actually create something new. Art for art's sake (even if the first few attempts aren't beautiful).
I have to admit, while part of me is a little distressed at the amount of time its taking out of each day, there is another, rapidly growing part that is starting to remember why I loved this so much when I was younger, before I became a hard core computer geek. The thing I've always loved about programming computers is the ability to create something new. You can read my 2005 blog entry to get an idea about how that's working out for me. Not much has really changed in four years with regard to getting to create new things every day.
On the other hand, it is really a lot of fun to create entire universes in your own stories. For the novel I'm working on right now, I have no outline, no real plan for where its going. I'm just making it up as I go. It's a lot of fun and the right side of my brain is enjoying getting some attention for a change. Already there's been an accidental death, a revenge killing and an arson fire - and I'm only four chapters in!
The NaNoWriMo is a great, fun challenge, but I plan on continuing once this month is over. Probably not with the novel I'm working on now, but something else. I'm going to really start working on improving my writing skills. Mostly for fun, but hey, it'll be nice to have something to fall back on if this whole computer thing just turns out to be a passing fad!
Wow. 2005? Has it really been that long?
Well, life happens, and despite my best intentions, not much has come of the things I planned on doing, which I wrote about in that blog entry.
This year, I've gotten involved in NaNoWriMo (those of you who follow me on Twitter are probably all too aware of this, as I've been updating my word count daily, but you may not know exactly what it is). If you care to know, read on.
NaNoWriMo is shorthand for "National Novel Writer's Month". The short explanation is this: when you commit to doing NaNoWriMo, you commit to writing 50,000 words of fiction during the month of November. That's it. And it doesn't cost a thing!
OK, that's a lie. There's no money involved, but it does cost quite a commitment of time. Already, some of my co-workers are annoyed at how far behind I am on television. (Can you believe I have not even watched the new "V", and have no idea when I will? And that apparently there have been some kind of important baseball games being televised?) I'm that far behind already, and this is only the first week! I envision a future with much less television in my life. That is probably not a bad thing.
So, what's magic about 50,000 words? It's sort of arbitrary, but the guy who started this crazy thing established 50,000 words as sort of the minimum length for a novel. If you want to know more, check out the site I've linked above, particularly the FAQ.
A couple of people have asked me about this undertaking, wanting to know what my story is about, whether or not I'm going to get it published, who do I think I am with these crazy delusions, etc. Well, let's take the second question first. Absolutely not. I don't think I ever want anyone to read this story. It's pretty bad. Even after some heavy editing, I'm pretty sure it will be beyond redemption. But that's not the point. The point is to get the creative juices flowing. Prove to yourself that you can actually create something new. Art for art's sake (even if the first few attempts aren't beautiful).
I have to admit, while part of me is a little distressed at the amount of time its taking out of each day, there is another, rapidly growing part that is starting to remember why I loved this so much when I was younger, before I became a hard core computer geek. The thing I've always loved about programming computers is the ability to create something new. You can read my 2005 blog entry to get an idea about how that's working out for me. Not much has really changed in four years with regard to getting to create new things every day.
On the other hand, it is really a lot of fun to create entire universes in your own stories. For the novel I'm working on right now, I have no outline, no real plan for where its going. I'm just making it up as I go. It's a lot of fun and the right side of my brain is enjoying getting some attention for a change. Already there's been an accidental death, a revenge killing and an arson fire - and I'm only four chapters in!
The NaNoWriMo is a great, fun challenge, but I plan on continuing once this month is over. Probably not with the novel I'm working on now, but something else. I'm going to really start working on improving my writing skills. Mostly for fun, but hey, it'll be nice to have something to fall back on if this whole computer thing just turns out to be a passing fad!
posted by eric at
11/04/2009 11:47:00 PM
2 Comments:
Hey, Eric! I thoroughly enjoyed your blog post. You did a great job of summarizing the joys and challenges of attempting to write 50,000 words in 30 days. I got a kick out of reviewing your post following the Harriette Austin Writer's Conference as well (although the link to the photo doesn't work--can you fix it?) I think it's karmic that you, Stephanie and I are doing NaNoWriMo THIS YEAR, that we made the decision independent of each other, that we're all getting back into "serious" writing AT THE SAME TIME! Let's do whatever it takes to keep up the momentum after November 30th has come and gone, because I believe that if we continue to work hard and hone our craft, we WILL be published writers! In the meantime, keep the blog posts comin'!
Sorry about the pic. Unfortunately it seems to have been lost in the great web fire of aught-five. Well, seriously, that "moblog" that it was linking to was something I quit doing, and I must have at some point deleted the few pictures I had in there without making a copy anywhere, unfortunately. :( I will try looking through some old CD backups when I get home, but I'm pretty sure that picture is gone.
The synchronicity of us all doing this at the same time is a little spooky! I wonder if there's a novel there somewhere ... the Writers of Eastwick ... or something!
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home