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Friday, October 29, 2010

Nanowrimo 2k10!

So, I may have made a questionable decision.



(This is the image that came up when I google image searched "questionable decision.")
 In fact, I KNOW I've made a questionable decision.

I signed up for NaNoWriMo.

Let's take a quick trip into a day in the life of Sara.

6:30am: Wake up. Feed animals, feed self, make lunch, clean litter box, wash dishes inevitably left over from last night's dinner, get dressed for work.

7:00  7:20am: Leave for work.  If it's a good day, I'm on time and I catch the train.  Train = reading, yay!  Or drive.  Driving = audiobooks, yay!

7:45am to 3:30pm: Day job with small children.

4:15: Arrive home.  Walk dog, pay attention to cats, catch up on email, start prepping dinner.

Then, things get interested.  If it's Monday, I'm off to the gym (ugh) for my hardcore rowing class.  Tuesdays means it's time to take the dog to school.  Wednesdays and Fridays means my second job, coaching swimming.

Oh yeah, we also just bought a house.  Did I mention that?

And now I've convinced myself that in the midst of all of this, I'm going to manage to pull 50,000 words out of thin air.

Sure.  Right.  No problem.

Riiiight.

I actually have completed NaNo twice: in 2003 and 2004, when I was in college.  I was pretty busy in college too--full course load, swim team, working two jobs.  But I also didn't have class until 10am and I used to take naps on an almost-daily basis.

But it feels important to do this.  Now, technically I'm cheating a little bit, since Nanowrimo is meant for people who are beginning a project on November 1st, and I'm in the middle of a novel.  But I say I'm only cheating a little bit, because I really only have the first part of my novel figured out, and I've written pretty much all of that, so what comes next is a big, foggy mystery.  So it's kind of like starting a new project because I'm moving into the phase of my story where I don't know what's going on.

To prep, I'm trying to plan out dinners and things for husband to make, so I'll have some more times in the evening to write.  I also went out and splurged on a whole bunch of new books, which I'll be reading along the way.  I find that reading books in my writing genre is v. helpful, and helps keep me in that epic fantasy mindset.  I purchased Erin Bow's Plain Kate, Leah Cypress's Mistwood, Cinda Williams Chima's  The Demon King, Janice Hardy's The Shifter and Diana Peterfreund's Rampant.  I'm currently reading Alison Goodman's Eon, and I have Tamora Pierce's Bloodhound and Ellen Jensen Abbott's Watersmeet on hand somewhere in TBR piles.

So.  That's me.

What about you?

Are any of you doing NaNoWrimo?

Do you have any other book suggestions for me?  My story is epic fantasy with a political plotline and a female protagonist, and that's what I'm looking to read right now.

11 comments:

  1. I just want to thank you :).
    I've received my prize of the vladimir tod eternally awesome giveaway :D !!!
    I want to thank Sara for her nice postcard and thank you First Novels Club for this awesome giveaway I love all the things in the package :D !

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  2. It sounds like you're organized for it. I'm impressed that you're doing it while working during the day. That's why I'm not.

    I just finished re-reading The Demon King and am starting on The Exiled Queen. I met Cinda at a SCBWI conference in early October. She gave an awesome talk on plot. And I loved The Shifter. I'm planning to read it again before reading Blue Fire. Maybe you should also read Cindy Pon's Silver Phoenix. That has a strong female character too.

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  3. Let's go for it Sara!

    You and me together, in revision by December!

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  4. I am doing it too. So I think we should start a NaNoWrimo club or something :).

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  5. I'm doing Nano, too. I also have a full-time job and after work obligations, so I'm a little nervous about it. I'm cheating also, because I'm using my Nano WIP from last year that has about 18,000 words. I clearly didn't win. :(
    All throughout the month, I'm going to be posting Nano-related things on my blog, if you want to hop over and check it out:
    www.aneverydayangel.com

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  6. Good for you all!!! I signed up last year and it was fun to get involved, but I couldn't complete it with job, kids, and so on. But GOSH, if you can do it with your schedule you put us all to shame.

    Keep us posted on how you do, ya know, in your free time : )

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  7. Sarah, JustMe, Angel--good luck! I know we can all do it! Bring on the coffee and chocolate!

    Ifmary--I'm glad your package made it! Sending things internationally always makes me nervous. Enjoy!

    Natalie-Thanks for the rec! I'll definitely put Silver Phoenix on my list, I've heard great things about it.

    Paula--Haha, I'll do my best! Maybe the FNC will post a weekly Nano check-in, since more than one of us are doing it.

    Janine & Donna--Yeah! Let's go! Get pumped!

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  8. cool. me too.
    for the first time.

    i'm a songwriter, so this novel idea is a stretch to say the least. but i got my words in today. trying to just write write write- like people have suggested. and not worry.

    best of luck to you!
    pls write about it on your blog!!!

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  9. Hey! I tracked down your blog through your profile on NaNo! I think your current reading list is EPIC (lol) for the kind of fantasy you're writing. I LOVED Plain Kate. :)

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