Category: Work in Progress

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NaNoWriMo Work in Progress

NaNoWriMo: Day 6 & DST Ends

I didn’t get a chance to write for NaNoWriMo until the end of today. My clock currently says it is 12:36am, but since Daylight Savings Time is supposed to end in a few hours, I figure this post still counts as Day 6.

Everyday continues to surprise me with how life is so powerful and amazing. Little details now ring louder for me than before; life is not passing me by day in, day out. I’ve spoken with some friends recently and we just can’t believe that it’s already November and that the year is nearly over.

My total wordcount for today: 10,215 words. I was afraid of falling behind so I decided to keep typing for a little more. Hey, it helps to have a little edge. The Twitter feed for NaNoWriMo Sprints helps with some random prompts/actions, although I have yet to “officially” participate in a sprint. It’s just good to have that extra bit of motivation.

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friends My San Francisco Chronicles NaNoWriMo Who I Am Work in Progress

NaNoWriMo: Day 5 & i live here: SF Opening

Yikes. I am writing this after midnight because the server was not responding earlier. Well, anyway, you get the point–this is about Day 5.

I did not write as much today; only made it to 1,083 words for today, but I’m still slightly ahead of the recommended total with 9,035 words. I was able to get myself writing for twenty minutes straight though, although I was slightly distracted a couple of times.

I still am not sure where I am going with my novel though. I know, no plot, no problem, right? It is just comforting to me to see that I am making more effort to write each day, even if everything doesn’t really make sense. First drafts are perfect for babble.

Today was a day of a lot of tasks, and then, to make the evening wonderful, I went to my friend Julie’s “i live here:SF” opening reception. I had participated in the project last October, and my, have the times changed! It was so delightful to see all of her prints up in the sprawling studio space and just meeting up with new and old friends. I was reminded of how I was inspired to get back to my writing again.

I will write a follow-up to my “i live here:SF” story when it is time to leave.

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Internet NaNoWriMo news Work in Progress

NaNoWriMo: Day 4 & Other Thoughts

So all the NaNoWriMo world is upset over what Salon.com’s Laura Miller had said about the month’s endeavor. There’s already enough commentary out there about why NaNoWriMo is great, so all I’ll say is this: just goes to prove that, again and again, people are afraid of what they do not know. They would rather bash it, dismiss it, etc. rather than open their eyes and minds to educating themselves about unfamiliar topics. We can say this about anything that’s been happening in the world: the story of the mothers denouncing one mother’s child for dressing as a woman for Halloween; my landlord last year for blasting and blaming my brother and me about a problem in our apartment that she was unfamiliar with; and so forth. What we need more of these days is just open minds and education. Get out of that comfort zone. Really learn and try to empathize.

But enough about that. Seems like I really hit the pavement running on Monday, but the past couple of days my word count has been more or less just barely going over the daily target of 1,667 words. I also find that I can type out a lot of words nonstop in only 10-minute increments; tried for 20 minutes straight today but I could not focus that long. Hmm. Will have to work on that.

The dreaded second week of the month-long endeavor is coming, but I am prepared. My novel so far is actually not as pieced together as the first two years, but that is okay. I know that I just need to get myself writing longer works again since in this past year I have focused more on short fiction. I continue to put off my editing/revising of my completed first drafts, but I know I will get to them soon.

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My San Francisco Chronicles NaNoWriMo Work in Progress

NaNoWriMo: Day 3 & Giants Parade

Let me just start off by saying: I am not a baseball fan. In general, I am not interested in spectator sports. Therefore, I never jumped onto the bandwagon when the San Francisco Giants got into the World Series and then won it all. I don’t even know who the players are. And really, I don’t want to act like I’m a “true fan” when it’s not what I’m really passionate about.

With that being said, today was the day of the Giants Victory Parade. Market Street was packed, and too many people were downtown. I briefly visited my previous employer to just say hello to a few students and staff members, and then I was on my way to my old neighborhood: North Beach.

There was supposed to be a write-in today with other NaNo-ers, but nobody showed up. Still, once I entered into the cafe, I was hit with a ton of nostalgia. I sat there click-clacking on my AlphaSmart; attempted to do some creativity exercises from a new book I bought, but I forgot to bring notebook paper. Next time!

Word count today has been less than the previous two days, but nonetheless I am still ahead of schedule. Currently at 6,022 total words. Tomorrow is another day!

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NaNoWriMo Work in Progress

NaNoWriMo: Day 2

Second day into November–I had dreams last night about my NaNoWriMo novel. I was happy to wake up and write again!

One thing I have noticed from today is that I can eke out an average of 700 words in 10 minutes. That’s not bad really! So I’ve done 3 10-minute stints today, bringing my wordcount up to 4,243 words.

I’m happy to have My Writing Nook via Google and also my iPhone. So if I feel an itch to add more to my story while I’m away from the computer, I can just type on my phone. Hooray!

It feels nice to write so much again, even if a lot of it is a little strange right now. It’s all just part of the process, and it’s better to write a bunch of crap than to not write (or not try) at all.