Previous month:
October 2013
Next month:
December 2013

ROW80-4 - 11/17 -Keeping up

After a slow start, I've managed to work my projected November completion date from a disturbing December 4th back to an occasional November 29. Yay! Still may run out of scenes, but I can always go back after and add more to the existing characters. Or add a few more minor ones. This has been a difficult write for me, possibly because my head is still wandering into edit mode, possibly because I didn't start with a complete enough outline, possibly because I let myself get distracted too much. Oh - and I have an annoying cold, but what else is new? Its fall in Canada.

Continue reading "ROW80-4 - 11/17 -Keeping up " »


ROW80-4 - 11/10 - Running out of story

I was persuaded to do a particular story for NaNoWriMo, even though I didn't see enough for a novel in it. I did an outline anyway, and managed to create some interesting characters and sketch in a number of scenes. I was encouraged. It took me a few days to get my head out of edit mode and into that of first draft, but I managed. Good news is that I'm just shy of 17,000 words, and at this rate will be done my 50,000 by November 30th. Bad news is I've already filled in 18 of 30 scenes. I'm really not sure what I'll write for the rest. I've been told to add more romance and relationships to my stories, less techie things, so I guess that will be my clue. Also could have more description scattered throughout, but that's hard to add all in a rush. Fingers crossed I guess, to see if more story details occur to me as I skim along here.

Continue reading "ROW80-4 - 11/10 - Running out of story" »


ROW80-4 - 11/03 - Stuck?

I think I'm stuck already, on the third day of NaNoWriMo. Not sure why. The last three times seemed to flow pretty well. I had an outline, complete with scene list, character notes, and setting, so just started at the front and went at it for a month. The current story I'm doing was not my first choice, but it is an intriguing story, triggered by a few Flash Fictions I did. Outline is a little sketchy though, so I don't know where it will take me - I can see a number of plot holes already. I don't think that's the problem, though, as I do have a good imagination and a flair for dialogue, so logically should be able to fill in the blanks as I go. I think the real problem is that I've set the bar higher. I spent months going over my first novel, hacking, then tweaking, until it was finally published last month. It's much better than my first draft, which means that now - as I write - I keep second guessing myself, wondering if I've picked the right phrase, trying to add more depth and details to tie it all together. I noticed I also cut way back on doing Flash Fiction the past year - same problem, I think.

One choice would be to focus on marketing my new book and skip NaNoWriMo - but I had to break my streak of three 'wins' so far. Or, I could tell myself to just write, without editing.

Easier said than done.

Continue reading "ROW80-4 - 11/03 - Stuck?" »