Five Things NANOWRIMO has taught me

Approaching halfway through November I'm a wee tad behind schedule on my nanowrimo novel, The Toad Lord. Should I download the Write or Die application? Among other functions it can start eating up your words if you go too long without writing something... I fear it is not for the fainthearted, of which, in this instance, I am definitely one!
While I am a little bit behind (although I should catch up tonight) I have learnt a heap of stuff just in two weeks.

One. If you're going to write fifty thousand words in a month - do not write a novel requiring research! (You might think that was a given... but no, I calmly brushed all qualms aside.) While there is heaps of information regarding my time period for London, or indeed England, Scotland is thoroughly discriminated against. (Please do not bring up the relative population sizes: I will only pout and scorn you.)

Two. If you are doing a novel with historical research DO NOT GO NEAR YOUR PINTEREST account. Of course, all my pinteresting has been for purely research reasons, the assembly rooms in Edinburgh, dresses worn in 1801, toads eye views of the woods, you know, important, neccessary stuff... But as I seem to be pinning one photo on my boards for every ten words I write, it's possible I should consider cutting down. (But the visuals are so important, they inspire me...ah...)

Three. The nanowrimo site has lots of great things for procrastinating with. You can write a hundred words, go and update your word count, check how many words you need to finish that day to complete your month in time, check your writing graph,  compare your word count with all your writing buddies' word counts,  check out any of the articles on writing, check out how your regions wordcount compares to other regions word counts.. and voila, half an hour has gone...

Four. That whole thing about write everyday?
There might actually be a point to it.
I was very good about this in high school. At the beginning of each school year as soon as I got my school diary I'd spend my first few classes writing in how many words I wanted to get written on each days journal page, and when I expected to finish each book. I would then spend further classes (particularly maths in the earlier years before I could drop it) updating the word counts. Normally I came fairly close. Since high school I have not kept myself to such a schedule. But when you think about it, if you only write a thousand words a day - thats 365,000 words a year - which is at least 3 chunky novels. Of course, it's the editing that takes the time... but the writings is so much fun!

Five. I've finally found an almost-team sport that I like. Yay Melbourne Region. We're in it together folks. Give me an M! Give me an E! Give me an L! Give me a B!...
What? Writing our solitary novels, but comparing word counts with other regions is not a team sport? And that whoever reaches the finishing point is a winner isn't the way it works in other (lesser) team sports?
Hmmm. Get you hence! (Yay Melbourne Region!*)

*Technically I should be Australia: all other Regions, but I decided as a Melbourne girl living within a two hour radius I'd scoot into Melbourne Region.

Yet another blog... on Procrastination...

How many blogs have been written on procrastination? A million? A hundred million?
It's what bloggers do when we're procrastinating about something else. It's short. It's quick. It's got that instant sense of gratification. Yay. Words on the computer. Published. Done.
And it lets us avoid what we really should be doing.
And the thing is, what I should be doing* I really, really enjoy. It's one of my very favouritest things in the whole world.
I should be either editing Dragons' Nests or plotting out Toad Lord. Both of which I can't wait to do. Both of which I have been looking forward to all morning. All week. When the kids are asleep I'll get into the story and.... has been a constant refrain.
And yet, now the kids are cherubically sleeping and I'm blogging on procrastination which, as I've pointed out, has been done before a few (million) times.
I love polishing up each sentence and tweaking all the paragraphs in Dragons' Nests to make them more immediate and sharper. I'm looking forward to making something amazing out of the Great Library and fleshing out Mazarine into the 3 dimensional creep she really is (rather than the 2 dimensional creep she is at present.)
And plotting out The Toad Lord - whoohoo! Exciting times. A whole new fresh and wonderful world to dance into. Yay!
But the sky is blue, the kids are both (both!) asleep, the dog lies curled beside me gently reeking... and I'm doing this instead.
Go figure.
And when I finish this I'll just quickly check emails, Facebook, Pinterest, wash the dog, put the laundry on, do the dishes... when what I really want to be doing is getting lost in story.
The human mind is truly incomprehensible.
Let me just go check that email I heard ping on the phone.
Soon, soon, I will be back in the story!

*I'm going to just sidestep the whole dishes, laundry, mopping here. That should clearly be done by someone else. Someone who knows how to do it properly. My vote is on Pixies. 

Plotting & Planning, Plotting & Planning

So. Now that book's (sort of, vaguely, not really) out of the way, I'm starting to think about the big question. What comes next?
It's getting time to put the old manuscript away for awhile and then return to it with unblinkered eyes some time hence, but the big decision remains: what to work on next. (I'm procrastinating on a. editing, b. the dishes & c. taking the kids to the park in the rain here, it's always nice to kill three birds with the same stone.)

I love the excitement of diving into a brand new story, of finally trying to grasp some of those images and conversations that have been swimming around for months or sometimes years. But first to decide.
My choices at present are between some old and new manuscripts.

Choice One: Overly Caffeinated Werewolves (Are Not Pretty) Book Two in the Emporium Sisters' Escapades. Bella's story. I suspect it would pretty much write itself... and be soooo much fun.

Choice Two: The Toad Lord: A re-telling of The Golden Ball or Frog Prince (I have not yet seen the Disney Version & would put it off until the manuscript was finished). I'd be setting it in 16th century Scotland and making it a lot more gritty. I'd also get to use my Toad Lord pinterest board for heaps of visual inspiration, thus strengthening my claim that Pinteresting is working. I made notes for this story decades ago and put it on the back burner. It would be great to resurrect the idea and the perfect place to use lots of lush, descriptive writing. Mmmm.

Choice Three: Sara and the Seven Beasts: Spoilt teenager Sara falls through the sea into another world. Created centuries ago by the seven dancing beasts, it has since become corrupted half the beings have lost memory of their animal selves. Sara & the Princess Lasiale have to wake the sleeping beasts in order to end the oppression of the unchanging and bring harmony back to the world.
This is pretty much half written. I would like to get it finished, and it has some great bits in it...

Choice Four: Searching for Seadragons: 17 year old Zoe retreats to the sea after witnessing a suicide. Over her year by the shore she thinks about who she is and the world around her. Her sister and friends keep interrupting her reflections. This is a rewriting and editing job. I wrote it back in high school and quite a lot of publishing houses (OUP, A&U etc) liked the first few chapters & asked for more... but then declined. Re-reading it, they were right. The ending is completely unsatisfying and I missed the obvious. You know - the guy yelling hey - I'm the one, I'm the one. Now to re-write, scrap the last chapters and add drama and romance. I do love the characters... and lets be honest, it would only be 20,000 words and a rewrite. And fun words. Sea words.

Decisions, decisions. Now let me add to the mix I've decided to do NaNoWriMo - which is when you write a novel (50,000 words) in a month in November, and only Overly Caffeinated Werewolves (Are Not Pretty) or The Toad Lord would be eligible for this, and I have a bit of juggling to do.

Which one next... which one..
Let me ponder, and return to the dishes and my editing, and hey, looks like the rain has stopped for the moment, the playground calls.