Holy Carp

I just wrote a novel.

I’ve been trying to do that on and off since I was a teenager. There’s probably a dozen or so fitful starts and stabs in there – I don’t even remember some of them unless some random event triggers a memory and sends me down some rarely walked path.

There’s drafts and notes and backstory (oh, SO much backstory) all over the place. But never more than a chapter or two of actual writing.

It’s not a finished product, not even close. It needs editing and ordering and polishing and expansion. But it’s a novel, and I wrote it.

I took on a challenge: write a 50,000 word novel in one month. And here I am, 30 days and 50,101 words later, victorious. I finished something important and challenging that meant something to me. That’s  important, too – even if this novel never sees print, ti will always be something I did. Something I made, created from my own mind with my own work and determination and skill.

I wrote a novel!

Now to rock out to my favorite Beatles song.

Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book?

Approaching the Finish Line

The month is almost over. The 50,000-word goal I set for myself at the beginning of the month is in reach – I’m on track to finish a day early. And the novel is going better than I thought it would. It’s taken on directions and depths I never would have imagined if I’d tried to plan it all out. And I’m enjoying it all more now that I’m not trying to shoehorn it into doing what I want it to do: no amount of will is enough to turn a tomato vine into an apple tree.

I’ve learned things about myself. I’ve learned things about writing. And I think once I’ve done the requisite editing, polishing, and fleshing-out I’m going to have something worth shopping around. So look for that to happen in the first half of next year.

Also look for more writing to happen. I’ve built a habit of writing around 1700 words a day, which is good not only for getting writing Done but for keeping my mind healthier. And I’m enjoying it a lot. Watching a story take shape is a wonderful thing.

I think I’m going to keep doing this.

What I Learned

I wrote over 4500 words today. That’s a new personal best, and puts me 300 words ahead of where I should be for the month. Kind of makes me think: if I could crank out 10k words in a weekend without pushing myself too hard, I could write whole novels in a couple of weeks. First drafts, anyway – what I have right now is good, but it’s in no way ready to publish.

I learned that pumpkin spice pancakes with some caramel apples on top are just about perfect this time of year.

I learned that composing on the iPad isn’t that bad with a wireless keyboard. I’m still not wild about carrying the keyboard around – sort of reduces the portability, IMO – but it’s about as small and light as they come. And it beats trying to do any serious typing on the screen.

I learned that one of my main characters is unexpectedly vulnerable. I got a little closer to unravelling my antagonist’s plot. I discovered that another of my main characters has a very deep dark side. I’m really seeing the value of doing this without a big master plan. I was spending too much time planning it all out. Now that I’m just writing as it comes to me and asking questions instead of imposing answers, it’s gotten a lot deeper and more interesting/surprising than I could have made it if I’d planned it all out. I might figure this writing thing out yet.

And I’m still having a blast. I have a meeting with my boss tomorrow to show him my ideas for completely redoing our training curriculum. My team continues to blow me away with their performance – they’re already outperforming the more experienced teams across the board, and I haven’t even gotten warmed up yet.

Good times, my friends. Good times.

Find A Way

My laptop stopped recognizing its hard drive the other night. That’s the drive containing most of my work, including my novel in progress. Odds are it’s still there, just temporarily inaccessible. I had been keeping my work in progress in my Dropbox, but there were some temporary connectivity issues.

I had one of Gizmo’s favorite toys as a memento up on top of a bookshelf where the Karamazovs couldn’t get it. Dmitri got up there, proving once again how I underestimate him. Now he lugs it around the house.

I haven’t been running in a couple of weeks. I haven’t worked out how to do it around my work schedule. Too dark when I get up, too tired when I get home.

I can feel my stress and frustration rising. And my usual outlet, blogging, is harder sans laptop. I won’t be able to get it fixed for a few weeks.

Problems, meet solutions.

I now have a keyboard for my iPad. With my connectivity issues resolved, I can use it to get back on track with writing and blogging. It’s not ideal, but it’s doable.

My apartment complex has a fitness center with one of those treadmill things. Tomorrow I find out how all that works. And Gizmo’s toy will go someplace safer.

Progress Report

It’s been a bit longer than I’d like. Sorry about that – it’s been a busy week.
Work is starting to get a little hectic. My friend and I were hired because we’re supposed to bring a higher degree of professionalism, skill, and focus to the team. Which we do – nothing against our colleagues, but they’re just not as trained and experienced as we are – but we’re both getting a little overwhelmed with the projects. We barely have our toes moist in terms of knowing how things work, and we’re already being asked to redesign it all. It’s fun, but it’s taking more time and energy than I’d anticipated this early in the game.
The novel is going much better than expected. I’m slightly ahead of schedule for this point in the month, which is nice: I hope to extend that lead this weekend. I’ve exceeded my word count every day so far and not let myself slack off, which is good: it’s nice to build good habits.