A year ago I'd not quite finished the first draft of my novel. If I recall correctly, the bulk of my writing took place near the end of July and most of August 2011. The draft wasn't complete, so I dribbled bits and pieces here and there until I finally felt it was complete in December. Nearly 69k words, a surplus from the 50k I'd been shooting for initially. Thousands of attempts to make something readable--a feat considering I'd sat down at my tiny HP netbook with no story and no direction. Crazy what has happened in my life since then.
This year I'm going into National Novel Writing Month with an improved second draft under my belt. This time, my biggest fear is going into this thing blind again. I love writing, but forcing myself to spend months ripping apart and stitching back together the old with the new feels less like writing and more like playing Dr. Frankenstein. Outlining and planning are two of my weakest points, I'm already aware, but even the crudest of ideas are a step up from blank pages and an oppressive deadline.
Scrivener is a snazzy program for writers who are in the drafting/research phase of a novel. They offered a nice discount for 2012 NaNoWriMo participants (and something like 50% off for those who meet their 50k goal), so I hopped onto that bandwagon. This blustery, miserable day was spent navigating the tutorial in an attempt to demystify the program. Now I kind of have a clue what some of the features do instead of being convinced I'd wasted my dough on something I'd never figure out. Plus, the guy who compiled the tutorial wrote like he was British, which is always fun to read.
Another positive: This morning the name of the next big antagonist came to me, I don't even remember how. Out of curiosity, a few minutes ago I looked up the meaning of her name and it means "heavenly". That's pretty funny because she certainly believes she is God's gift to mankind.
I wish those minor accomplishments were enough to say I was ready for the start of this next journey, but I know it's not.
Two days to make some plans. Scary.
This year I'm going into National Novel Writing Month with an improved second draft under my belt. This time, my biggest fear is going into this thing blind again. I love writing, but forcing myself to spend months ripping apart and stitching back together the old with the new feels less like writing and more like playing Dr. Frankenstein. Outlining and planning are two of my weakest points, I'm already aware, but even the crudest of ideas are a step up from blank pages and an oppressive deadline.
Scrivener is a snazzy program for writers who are in the drafting/research phase of a novel. They offered a nice discount for 2012 NaNoWriMo participants (and something like 50% off for those who meet their 50k goal), so I hopped onto that bandwagon. This blustery, miserable day was spent navigating the tutorial in an attempt to demystify the program. Now I kind of have a clue what some of the features do instead of being convinced I'd wasted my dough on something I'd never figure out. Plus, the guy who compiled the tutorial wrote like he was British, which is always fun to read.
Another positive: This morning the name of the next big antagonist came to me, I don't even remember how. Out of curiosity, a few minutes ago I looked up the meaning of her name and it means "heavenly". That's pretty funny because she certainly believes she is God's gift to mankind.
I wish those minor accomplishments were enough to say I was ready for the start of this next journey, but I know it's not.
Two days to make some plans. Scary.
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