Fail

I realize that I completely failed at least at one of my new year's resolutions. The one where I would post at least twice a week. Yeah... I guess I should've said once every other two months or something. But I have an excuse! You probably saw this coming, but I swear that it's a semi-valid excuse that will hopefully get me in the clear.

The past two months have been pretty crazy for me.

Sounds like an everyday doctor's note, right? But I'm serious. I've had work (which you already know about) and I started school on January 18, so that added to the time suckage of my life. Then when you add in a social life and a wildly active reading/writing life, you find out that all of the other little things you always wanted to do just don't seem as important as sleep at the end of the night. It's really been a crazy start to 2011.

But with that excuse out there, and a sincere apology to those who have probably already forgotten about this blog and will be confused when they suddenly get a notification that the rambling author's journey has just posted another entry about what she PLANS on doing, I hope that it will be enough to draw you back in.

If you follow my other blog though, Suspiciously Apt Book Reviews, you've probably seen several posts since I normally don't cut reading time out of my life. There are a few good book reviews from the past couple of months that might interest some of you. I just put one up that covers BEFORE I FALL by Lauren Oliver. It's one of the greatest books I've ever read, I'm not kidding you.

But back to what this blog is SUPPOSED to be about (this will be short for tonight):

I have finally made a decision on which idea to write a novel about (only took me what? a year? And that's only as far as any of you have been reading this). I can't tell you much about it yet since it's still a tentative development, but I know that it's definitely what I want to do. The real journey starts tonight. Who has time to wait for NaNoWriMo, right?

See y'all next week! (Double dog promise you!)

Writing Until Your Fingers Fall Off

... is very interesting to say the least.

Technically, that's a lie though. Since all of my fingers are still intact. But still. It was a close call.

So, I figured it was time for a NaNo update of some sort. It IS, after all, my first year actually attempting all of this. Let's talk about what I've learned so far from this particular grueling month of novel writing:

1. Updating your word count every 50 or so words is NOT necessary, but it IS completely and totally fun.

2. Pep Talks from the staff of NaNoWriMo and/or amazingly accomplished authors can either be very helpful or very riddle-like.

3. I now know why they say to start from scratch on your novel.

4. When participating in a massive, national self challenge like this, you'll find very little time to read (I'm very serious on this one. I finished a book in 10 days. Normally I would've finished three times as many).

5. When adding writing buddies and being shown each of their word count status thingies, you can become very competitive.

6. Week Two is cursed.

7. You will question yourself and your novel various times through-out the process. Supposedly this is normal.

8. John Green says that you are probably just writing a big folly, but that that's okay because follies can be turned into pretty darn good novels. Of course not in one month. More like three years. But still. <-- Helpful AND riddling!

9. The evil blinking cursor on word needs to lower it's expectations. Seriously.

10. And lastly, when you are behind on your word count it becomes difficult to complete any other task without thinking "I should probably be writing instead of this". Blog posting shouldn't count, right? Technically I AM writing. It just won't be added to that meticulous word count widget. Darn the world!

There you have it. Ten things so far that I have learned from NaNoWriMo-ing. It's really not all that different from trying to write a book every other month out of the year, except for the fact that you have a set deadline and if you win you get street cred. And a PDF winner's certificate. I was mistaken about the shirt. I thought I could win a shirt. *sad face*

What I like the most about it?
-It allows you to suck. Horribly. AND it forces you to write.

What I like least about it?
-The competitiveness. You either feel awesome because you're way ahead or totally low because all of your friends are ahead of YOU now. Go them! Boo you!

Now... Back to writing... orrr maybe imagining thyself inserted into the computer screen on Word and snapping that evil cursor in half. Eh... Probably both.

November is Approaching...

I apologize to everyone!

I know I've been out pretty much for the whole month annnd I'm sorry. I've had a lot on my plate lately with work and playing ping pong with my storylines and my cats being so darn adorable and entertaining. But all of this is no excuse really! Back to work and on probation, they say...

So the point is I have finally (with the help of immense chocolate candy bars and verbal slapping of a best friend) chosen which idea (path in some blog posts) to go with! Hooray! It's a miracle!

*clears throat*

And with this decision, comes sacrifice...

Has anyone ever tried NaNoWriMo? I've known about it since my junior year when I first took a creative writing class, but I've never entered... until this year. And already I'm starting off on a bad note. You see, the project I chose to do has already been started and I'm 40,000 words into this WIP (Work In Progress). One of the rules to doing NaNoWriMo and winning that famous purple badge that tells everyone you were committed for 30 days and ended up with 50,000 fabulous words is... you have to start from scratch. Blank page. Clean slate. No emotional attachments and slippery expectations, so to speak (or so I've been told). And I refuse!

You see, this would be awesome. It would be completely and totally cool to just say "Pah! Goodbye sticky story hanging over my head! Onto something new!"... BUT I've already done that. About 50,000 times (one for every word in this cool 30 day challenge). One thing I've learned is that it leaves me with... nothing, really. No finished novel. No feeling of accomplishment. Just another excuse to throw in the towel when the next shiny new idea comes prancing across my WIP, leaving it's muddy tracks on the reasons that I SHOULD stick with what I started. I really don't need any MORE reasons and/or temptation to ditch another novel after I've already come so far! After trying to explain/get feeback in the NaNoWriMo forums about this subject, I was told that my only other option was to join the Nano Rebels. My first time doing this and I'm already a rebel... Of course.

Anyway, if any of y'all writers are out there reading this, what are YOUR thoughts on NaNoWriMo? Are you starting with a clean slate? Are you a rebel like me? I'd love to hear your November plans!

Pssst! November's also my birthday month! Yay! Just a random fact...