It's November Again. . .

This is my obligatory NaNoWriMo post. Thanks to a friend with a GREAT suggestion, I'm not actually doing NaNoWriMo. No offense to those who are diligently preparing to crank out their 50,000 words, but what I've come to realize is that as a writer, I'm already too wordy. I don't need any further incentive to pad my word count.
So thanks to my friend and fellow writer, Vicky G. who is also halfway through writing a book, I'll be doing FiNoWriMo, with the goal of actually finishing the first draft of my WIP by the end of November. This is just about as daunting, but more likely to help me focus and not go off on lengthy tangents that I end up cutting three days later.
Oh yeah, also, November is the month when I'll be doing all my tax classes, and skills classes, and maybe a certification exam too. Should be a piece of cake.

Final update on NaNoWriMo, just a little late

I came here to write a post about Christmas and found this post that I never published.  Better late than never?

December 1st 2010.  National Novel Writing Month is over.  My "novel" is a few hundred words shy of 9000, and a few thousand words shy of the 50,000 word NaNoWriMo goal.  So what do I have to show for the hours I spent attached at the fingertips to my laptop?

It's called Fan-Fic.  For those of you who've never experienced the insanity that is Fan Fiction, let me explain.  There's a website.  FanFiction.net.  It's dedicated to stories that people make up based on other stories, movies, tv-shows, and any sort of work of fiction you can imagine.

For the record, I've been immersed in fan fiction for many years now, I just never wrote it.  I always liked to make up my own stories based on other stories, imagine alternate endings, or different scenarios.  All these years, I thought I was just weird.

I admit, I am weird, but as I've discovered, I'm sure not alone, as evidenced by the hundreds of thousands of stories on FanFiction.net, which led me to realize that compared to some, I'm relatively sane.  What a relief.

This past summer, I read the Harry Potter series for the first time and promptly embarked on a story of my own.  I decided to give a shot at writing it up as a fan-fic, just to get it out of my head and to practice my writing skills before November. 

I got hooked.  NaNoWriMo went on the back burner.  From a writing standpoint, I'm actually pleased.  Unlike NaNoWriMo, where I was obsessed with producing sufficient word count, with fan-fic I have been focused on perfecting my chapters so I can post them on line, for actual readers.  I've taken 7000 words that comprised the beginning and ending of my story, and have fleshed them out to over 30,000 words.  I have, for the most part, accurately translated the product of my crazy mind into a written document.

My last chapter had over 100 readers within 48 hours of posting.  I have no idea how that statistic stacks up in the world of FanFic, but I'm pleased with it.  Readers.  What more can a writer want?

NaNoWriMo 2010 Progress

Word Goal as of Nov. 21st:  35,000
NaNoWriMo novel words written: 8,700
Fan Fiction words written: 17,000+ since Nov. 1st, for a total of 27,700
Hours of Tax Classes attended: 25+
Piles of laundry currently on the family room floor: 4
Number of days I attempted to ignore my fan-fic and focus only on my novel: 7
Number of days I succeeded at this: 0
Number of days I was a complete and utter stressed-out bitch: 7

It's all better now.  I've accepted the fact that I will not be completing NaNoWriMo this year.  I will however, be completing my Harry Potter fan-fic.  I hope all those fangirls appreciate my sacrifice.  :)

Counting Down to November

A very hasty blog post tonight.  Only six days until NaNoWriMo begins, so I still have time to get my house in order, put the finishing touches on a Halloween costume, (and oh yeah, buy candy), stock the fridge, and make sure all bills are paid in advance for November. 

I had started a marvelous blog entry about multi-tasking, but it requires a little editing and I'm feeling too frantic for that, so you're stuck reading this.  And if this NaNoWriMo stuff is boring you, just ignore me for the next month, because IF I squeeze in time to blog, it will only be because I'm having a writer's block crisis or need to rant about word count.

Must go back to work now on my Harry Potter fan-fiction and hopefully get it out of my system before Nov 1st, so I don't feel compelled to write a character into my novel who writes fan-fiction in her spare time.

Any fellow NaNoWriMos out there find me at nanowrimo.org.  My user name is mommia. 

Worthwhile?

I’ll admit as a stay-at-home mom, I often feel like I’m doing nothing worthwhile with my life. Oh sure, I take care of my two young children, maintain the household, keep things clean and organized (yes honey, I really do, just not every room simultaneously) do all the shopping, pay bills etc.

But to claim that as an accomplishment seems a little like bragging that I brush my teeth every day. (I do, twice in fact, and usually at least once before noon.)

I do this writing stuff, which I’m not sure is anything more than an excuse for me to daydream, fantasize, and think of imaginary people with made-up problems.

And then there’s the four or five months of my other identity, as a working mom, a practical dollars and sense tax professional, focused on numbers, rules, real people, real situations and solutions.

And when all three of these cross paths, my life starts to feel a little crazy. I mean, NaNoWriMo is less than a month away, and I don’t even have an outline.

What DO I have?

1. An idea and a few characters.

2. A rough novel from last year with severe holes in the plot.

3. Twelve completed hours of tax classes and 18 hours to go.

4. At least one, and hopefully two tax certification exams to complete sometime in late November.

5. Two children who take turns being too sick to go to school.

6. A lingering cough thanks to two sick children infecting me.

7. An impressive 7000+ words of Harry Potter fan fiction I’ve convinced myself I’m writing as a NaNoWriMo warm-up and which cannot possibly indicate that I’ve regressed to the level of a 15-year-old groupie, because that would be embarrassing.

Why do I do it? Because I want to. Hoping some of it turns out to be worthwhile. (Not the fan-fic, obviously, I know. I mean the other stuff.)