Way to Go, America

Have you ever seen the movie "Meet the Robinsons?" There's this scene where Michael Yagoobian is discussing his descent into becoming a very tall, very thin, very angry villain who will eventually befriend a bowler hat. He walks down the school hallways carrying a binder with a pretty pink pony, his eyes on the floor, and looking back on this time, comments: "They all hated me."

That's pretty much how I feel, because no one voted on my NaNo ideas. Except I don't even have a pretty pink pony binder, and so the depths of despair darkening my heart yawn ever wider in a chasm that might never close, you guys. This abyss might remain agape forever.

For. Ev. Er.

Nothing could better illustrate that my readers are American than this FAILURE TO VOTE.

What you fail to realize, gentle, non-voting readers, is that your decision to behave like an American has taken away my right to do so by being indecisive and letting other people make my decision for me. This is my roundabout way of saying that I decided which idea to write about for NaNoWriMo - option #3: the Jane Austen continuation in the form of a modern re-make. Partially because I think I might actually have the ability to write a great Jane Austen spin-off. Primarily because it gives me an excuse to read about Jane Austen and re-read her works. Be warned: much Austen-related drooling is likely to occur within the forthcoming blog posts.

And I was able to come to a decision this time, but don't expect this to occur too often, guys. I am, after all, very patriotic.

America!

P.S. The above is only meant to be read in a jovial, joking manner. Although I do think it's a good idea to vote for important things - I mean, how ELSE will we know which is better: Coke or Pepsi?

So, I Was Planning on Blogging More Frequently

Seriously. I made a LIST of blog ideas and everything. I began to get ORGANIZED.

And then... um... yeah.

So, anyway, I'm finally blogging again. And this time, it's about NaNo. For those of you who don't know what NaNoWriMo is, let me briefly describe it:

A magical time that lasts for the duration of November, in which numerous writers voluntarily sign up to torture themselves and spur on the self-inflicted torture of others by agreeing to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.

Now, 50,000 words makes for an awfully short novel. It's really more of a novella when you're finished. It is also, however, a short draft which you can revise and make into something more novel-ly and wonderful. Some great novels that began as NaNo experiments are: Water for Elephants and The Night Circus.

I'm pretty sure you can't sign up for this month of awesome-sauce and sleep deprivation until October, but I recently sat down and did some brainstorming the other day.

You see, I have THREE ideas for NaNo projects this year. I thought brainstorming might help me come to a decision, but I was MISTAKEN. And so, gentle readers, I turn to you. Please, help me decide what to write about by casting a vote. Which of the following ideas sounds more like something you would want to chain yourself to for 30 days?

Option #1: ROAD RAGE

Tokyo Heiress, spoiled rich girl, has a pet peeve regarding proper driving. And when someone doesn't follow the rules of the road, she rams into their car, totaling both vehicles, because her parents can totally afford to buy her a new one, so why not?

Unfortunately, her parents decide to be totally not cool, and after a recent incident, have taken away her driving privileges and hired her a driver.

Unbeknownst to her parents, her driver has worse road rage than SHE does. And he doesn't necessarily follow driving laws himself, nor expect others to - he just wants everyone to recognize that the road is his.

Shenanigans ensue.

Option #2: AS-YET UNTITLED MYSTERY STORY

Female protag. lives on Ideal Street, but ironically deals with the desperate and despondent working as the front desk receptionist of a temporary agency. She herself is seeking different work because, frankly, working at a temp agency sucks and she doesn't make enough money to deal with this shit on a daily basis.

One day, whilst perusing Craigslist and making phone calls to fill a job order, she overhears a murder.

Except that no one believes her, the police having gone to the residence and ruled it as a suicide.

So female protag. will have to investigate this circumstance, herself.

The recently deceased was one of the few workers she actually enjoyed talking to on the phone and in the office. Plus, no one calls HER a liar...

Option #3: The Jane Austen Spin-off

This one will involve research. In case you haven't heard of it, Jane Austen was a few chapters into a new novel when she passed away. Most people call it Sanditon, because that was the residence at which the majority of the novel was to take place. Austen herself, however, was going to call it The Brothers. Basically, my idea is that a young woman finds herself living a life that draws many parallels to Sanditon/The Brothers - kind of a way to resolve/finish/sequel Austen's unfinished novel without actually poorly pretending to be her.

This one could be fun, and it would give me an excuse to re-read Austen, particularly that last work, as it's been awhile since I read it, and I would want to become familiar with it once more. I know that it had to do with hypochondriacs (of which I am one) and would probably place the new novel at a health resort or spa. Obviously, this one is the least fleshed out so far. Although I DO love Austen.

So - which idea do YOU like best? Please let me know in the comments below!

NaNo Update

So now that pretty much everyone who has been writing every day is faring better than me - here's a quick update.

I am currently sitting at 5,858 words.

I got very, excruciatingly sick the second day of NaNo. I'm a big wimp when it comes to illness, and once I began vomiting, I knew I was in trouble. I have the stomach of an ox, if oxen have very strong stomachs. So in between making sure to get plenty of fluids and plenty of sleep, because my body has suddenly decided to get tired at the drop of a hat, it's been kind of hard to get writing in.

Plus, I was really hating what I was writing, though I love my idea, so I started over about a week in.

I'm trying to keep writing every day, but with the more important goal of getting healthy again (I'm still not 100%, or even 85%, unfortunately), I just don't think it's going to happen this November. I'm aiming to finish the first draft by the end of December.

I hope everyone else's NaNovel is going well, and sorry I've been mostly M.I.A. lately.

Any updates? Let me know how your current writing project (NaNo or not) is going!

NaNo 2010

November is once more near, and with it comes the challenge to write a first novel draft of at least 50,000 words.

If you're accepting the challenge, as well, make sure to let me know your username, so we can spur each other on to the final word count. :)

The other day on Twitter, I said I was "outlining" my NaNovel. This was somewhat of a lie, as I suck at outlining, and ended up with just a bit of brainstorming.

My idea this year is to write a story about and entitled "Road Rage."

My narrator will be a young, rich female (currently unnamed) who lives primarily in the Midwest b/c her parents think this is a better place to raise kids. I say primarily, because in the summers, her family vacations in a mansion on their own private island off of the Southern California coast.

With all of that money, she doesn't necessarily have an accurate conception of life and how it works.

I think I'm going to open the novel on an incident in which the female narrator wrecks her car in - you guessed it - an incident of road rage. Her parents fight over the number of accidents she has been in and whether she deserves a new car. (Dad is for; mom is against)

As a result of their argument, the narrator is introduced to Pierre, a guy a few years older than she, who uses a phony French accent around her parents and smokes copiously when they aren't around.

And then...

So what do you think? Do you like the idea? Dislike it? Have any ideas as to names for any of the characters, save Pierre? Do you think first person narrative is a good idea? Or would 3rd person work better?

NaNo: The Final Count

A day late, but here it is...

At the end of NaNo, I had written 44,153 words.

Best NaNo yet, though I still didn't "win."

I might just sketch out where I was thinking of going, and set it away for awhile.

I have a new goal for December: losing some weight. I know this is usually a New Year's resolution, but for personal reasons, I find it imperative to do so now.

I will still be writing, but not nearly as much, particularly as I'm trying to catch up on my sleep and not get sick (everyone seems to be getting ill lately).

All of this, of course, is to provide an excuse for the fact that I probably won't be posting much for awhile.

Last Day of NaNo [Insert Scream Here]

Still horribly behind. I am currently at: 43,253 words.

I have to get ready for work soon, after which I will probably be too tired to type.

I worked hard, and will struggle to get the words count to 45,000, but cannot realistically expect anything above that.

I have written more this NaNo than any of the previous ones, and am currently resenting my "middle-of-the-month whiny bitch" session. I mean, who do I think I am - Bella Swan? (The real answer is no, by the way. I'm not quite that crazy. Yet. I also haven't met a vampire, let alone some weird, "vegetarian" family of good-looking creepiness.)

Okay, I'm off, to write! Running to meet my deadline, with pen in hand, and held out before me, like a rapier. En guarde!

Quick Update

NaNovel currently at 37,733 words.

Terribly behind, headache, must push forward.

Hoping I will not be called into work later.

Over the Half-Way Mark

I made it over the half-way mark on my NaNo novel today!

That's right - I have over 25,000 words (and only a few days to finish about 25,000 more, but trying to think positive).

To celebrate, I came up with the following idea: the Snippet of the Day.

On my NaNo page (username: shellyquade), I will be posting a snippet of my novel which has been written THAT DAY.

Obviously, this is a ploy to attempt to motivate myself to write more every day, so that I have more to choose from. But, if you're bored, or like my writing style on this blog, or bored, you're welcome to check it out.

(I will not be cross-posting snippets to this blog, because I'm paranoid, and don't like the idea of leaving a trail of rough first draft material unless it's a contest entry. Plus, I'm lazy.)

Another NaNo Update

I'm ridiculously behind. Like, about a week behind.

My boyfriend says he's proud of me anyway, because I've been working on the novel basically every day, though I definitely haven't been making much of a dent everyday. But that's what boyfriends are supposed to say if they don't want to sleep on the couch, so while it's sweet, I don't know that I give it much credence.

I just...I don't know how other people do it. I'm a slow writer. In general, if I write 500 words in a day, I think that's a pretty big accomplishment. To consecutively execute 1,667 words each day for 30 days...

Well, I'm still trying. But I'm also trying not to beat myself up for being an inferior writer who has set herself another goal she probably can't accomplish.

The Second Write-In

I have not been feeling particularly well, lately. I'm not very sick, but my lack of energy and drive is astounding.

At the second write-in today, I hit a wall. I felt incredibly tired, went home, took a nap, and got an okay word count today. Not stellar or anything, but...okay.

I will continue to try.

Yesterday's word count: Abysmal

Today's word count: 1,994

This weekend will involve catching up on wordcount

So...I got a little behind yesterday, too.

This is partly because I'm lazy, and partly because I didn't get a dinner break like I presumed, and in which I planned to write.

BUT...I hate it when people make excuses, which is exactly what that is. Dinner break or not, I should have gotten 1,667 words.

Instead, yesterday's word count was: 1,550

NaNo Report on Day 4

Got a little behind yesterday. Slept in today.

Yesterday's word count: 1,368

NaNo Report on Day 3

I don't really want to talk about yesterday. I am tired and disgruntled. As I was washing the filter holder thingamajig (see? this is why I want to be a writer...how could I refuse, when I'm so aware of the technical names for everything), I pushed my coffee pot onto the floor.

This means, of course, no coffee, which makes for a very grumpy Shelly Quade. (You might want to just leave now, before my wrath is transferred to you...)

Yesterday's word count: 1,816 words

NaNo Reporting on Day Two

Yesterday went much more slowly. I feel more awake, though, despite the fact that chamomile is slowly making its' way down my throat (I couldn't resist! It smells so good...), so, we'll see.

Enough talking! I have work to do.

Yesterday's word count: 1973

I Know, I Know, I Haven't Posted in Forever

Isn't it fun, though, when life gets super busy and then November gets here and you realize you committed yourself to writing 1,667 words a day?

By busy, of course, I mean slowly reading Stephen King's It and occasionally opening a word document when you're not working and staring at the screen as the story has halted.

Then again, it's November, which means working on an entirely new story!

I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty tired right now. So let me just report on yesterday and work on the NaNo story.

Yesterday, I woke up about 10:30ish, got my Starbucks, discovered that both Starbucks & Borders were pretty full at the moment, went to Purdue's union and got a little over 600 words done.

Then, I went to my first write-in EVER, regretted not having brought my headphones (while hearing other people talking can be distracting, it creeps me out not to have any sound around me), and wrote over 3,000 words more. So, yeah. Creepy or not, I've gotta recommend attending write-ins, if at all possible.

Yesterday's total word count: 3,801

P.S. If you feel like further procrastinating, Maureen Johnson wrote a blog post about NaNo.

November is Encroaching...

And with it comes the necessity of writing the 50,000+ novel I committed to writing this year.

Any NaNo participants who want to follow my journey, or share their own, are encouraged to leave a comment. (I love comments, considering them to be much like Edward Cullen - sexy, sparkly, creepy little things, strung together to become perfection itself.)

To introduce my work, of which I now have an outline, and character names, I *think* it's chick lit. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure of the genre. It follows a couple of the relationships of a young female protagonist, neither of which was complementary to her, and how she begins to heal from both of these relationships (or at least, one).

How about you? What is your book summary this year? Or vague ideas floating in your head? Or anything else you feel like sharing?