I've been working a lot of hours at the second job. I do perk up when I get the result on a pay stub - paying bills and picking up a few splurge items at the grocery store. My diet changes when I'm on the go, but I've been pretty good about not buying fast food since my daughter is away at college and no longer working with me part-time on weekends.
I'm actually down a couple pounds so I finally shed my NaNo weight from last year - hey, we meet in Starbucks and Starbucks at Barnes and Noble. Fraps are delicious and full of calories. One Starbucks was trying to help me kick the habit by slipping me a coffee-tainted Frap two separate times. Seems cleaning the equipment is a low priority at that location (I'm the only coffee hater who writes?). I'm torn - it's the closest write in location to where I live, and perhaps they've changed their filthy ways.
Speaking of NaNo - tomorrow, October 1st, I start plotting the sequel to Sucks. I have some ideas, starting with the need to get them out of that house. I have 30 days to expand on that concept.
In November, I hope to still be working two jobs, and my daughter will be home a week during that month. Details aren't known about who is picking up, or if she's taking the train or bus into the area. I may be the last to know.
With this amount of uncertainty about what's happening in November and how much free time I'll have, I'm still participating in National Novel Writing Month - are you? Yes = good. No = why not?
I'm not belittling the feat of writing 50,000 words in 30 days - not everyone can do that. I've heard great ideas at the end of October kickoff party that had me sputtering into a shame spiral. My stories are not going to change the world, unless you want to think if a traditional publisher touches my scribbles, it'll be set back to the Gutenberg days.
One day you're going to write a book? How about starting November 1, 2012 - that day would be great.
The key is continuing to write, even when you think something has gone horribly wrong in your story (such as leaving the electricity on when you've flooded the city - my Neferseshotep doh!). It's the word count, nothing but word count. Start writing future scenes, back story, interviews with the characters after all is said and done ... keep writing. In December, or maybe January or February, that's when you go back and start fixing it up.
I didn't finish Neferseshotep's first draft yet, and it's going to take time to straighten out the 50 thousand and something words I already wrote. I actually had some contraction before I began adding words back in a hundred at a time, and I know it's slow-going because I still have the initial characters together and they're still in New York City. Outline wise, I'm good, but there's some style-tweaking going on. I'm also trying to figure out where some test readers are settling into 'seen this before'/trope expectations that I'm having trouble seeing on the horizon. This is just like ______, then I go look up the established work and scratch my head. I do see some Narnia and Tolkien aspects, but since the characters are not united in a common goal (do some miss that half the characters don't give a rat's patootie?), is this a small scale Game of Thrones?
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