Today, after finally uploading the rest of the scenes to my writing software, I went back to analyze the plot and subplots for a work in progress I've been on for a while. This wip started as a short story that really wasn't a short story and has fleshed its way to a bona fide YA novel. I've had the critical nagging voice, I've dubbed - well - Ned (for no particular reason), pestering me about some plot points in the middle of the novel. Since my re-analyzed NaNoWriMo novel passes muster for today, I gave my wip a look. I'm glad I did.

This time around I separated, in outline form, the main plot from the subplots in detail and showed no mercy to anything dangling outside the lines, or as a nice to have. I know plenty of writers don't like to do this until they have the scene written out all the way but I just can't bring myself to do it. It has to mostly work from the beginning. The result feels tighter to me. On a previous wip (shelved for now), I knew the plot wasn't working for me when I dreaded writing a couple scenes that bored me. A scene that bores me while writing is guaranteed to do the same to a reader and is worthless. Live and learn....and learn, and learn, and....

The best thing about all my analyzing and reanalyzing (I'm an INTJ, what can I say, the compulsion is irresistible), is that I am confident in two stories that are going somewhere. Less than three days to go until NaNo. I'm ready.

Things that distracted me on the internet today:

~ Pumpkin carving stencils. Time to carve the pumpkins tomorrow and I'm torn between Ariel, the mermaid Disney princess, or Thomas the Tank Engine. Hmmm... wonder if I can have Ariel riding in Thomas the Tank Engine....

~ Twitter. It's an compulsive's nightmare. I finally turned off the notifications because every other second I was looking up at the right corner of my screen waiting for the shiny to appear. Started following Hugh Grant (I hope that's him anyway) today because, duh, he's Hugh Grant and perfection in the male form.

Non-internet distractions:

~ Last soccer practice of the season; too cold and more importantly, too dark. With PDT turning back into PST, our night comes at 4:51pm. Fun times. Only 3 more games to go for 2009.

Accomplishments:

~ Plot analysis, scene upload, laptop software installed and kinda verified - looking at you Windows.

Only a handful of days left until NaNoWriMo kicks off and I am pretty psyched about this year. I've already adjusted my word count meter to 80k instead of 50k which means I need to write 2,667 words per day. Thanksgiving is catered again this year so I can reheat/minimally prep and not have to worry about cooking/cleaning. Small benefit, I suppose, of not being near family to start off the holiday season.

My plot is done, my subplots are nicely threaded, and I have a good feel as to how each scene is supposed to go. November is going to be a good month.


Things that distracted me on the internet today:

~ Everything. :) Absolute Write had me spinning off on a tangent whilst (love this word) I perused the mass of links for urban/contemporary fantasy writers.
~ MSN. Couple too many good articles up this morning. I think I looked at the whole Wonderwall today.
~ Zynga keeps beta'ing nifty games for Facebook users. This morning brought up a theme park adventure game. I fully blame the Sims for all these very cool simulation games we are bombarded with now.

Non-internet distractions:

~ I have company in a week. There is one room on my first floor that I keep the doors closed and the curtains drawn so I don't have to look at the clutter bomb that dropped. Today, I had to make the dent. Bonus - I finally dragged the DVD chest back to the family room where it belongs.

Accomplishments:

~ Nada on the writing front up until now. Tonight I will finish typing my scenes into WriteItNow and put a copy on my laptop.

"Being a writer is like having homework every night for the rest of your life." – Lawrence Kasdan

This.

I will say that I am terrible at backing up my hard drive. I know that I should do it more often than I do and one day I will be sobbing on the floor in frustration when I have to recreate documents lost to a failure. I do have a couple DVDs backed up in September but I operate on an - as remember - basis. Gmail's been getting my bits and pieces of story lately. Still, I really just need to get better at execution. My homework, in addition to writing, will be to throw a RW CD in the drive and just set it off for my writing folder every night.


Things that distracted me on the internet today:

~ #writing on twitter. TweetDeck goes off every 2 - 3 seconds and it's a great big shiny that sends me off in a hundred different directions. It also gave me the above quote which is just fab.
~ Amazon Fresh. Being in the Seattle area has its perks and inexpensive grocery delivery is about as good as it gets. Since the husband is unmotivated to pick up the grocery shopping duties again (and frankly, blows the budget every.time.), I kneel at the feet of the person who made this happen.

Non-internet distractions:

~ Confession: I am a world of warcraft player and I just finished my year long quest for a sweet looking purple drake to fly around on (super fast I might add). With that achievement out of the way, I can focus on others that I put on the back burner and that's what I've been doing. Instead of scene outlining. Bad. But fun.

Accomplishments:

~ Re-entered character bios for the NaNo novel coming up. Not only do I need to remember to back up, hitting the save button before a power failure happens is wise.

Today I'm writing a query letter for a novel that is still outlining. It makes more sense to do that now before I get 60,000 words in and realize my plot fell apart back around the 40k mark. While I don't consider anything written down a waste, I do like to make it count when I can. Being perpetually distracted doesn't help much. Yesterday was a completely non-productive writing day and I need to make up for it. Looking to go well beyond the 50k mark next month so that writing the end of the first draft doesn't become yet another unfinished project.

Things that distracted me on the internet today:

~ Clothes shopping. At least three sales notifications hit my inbox before 9am this morning
~ Leveling up Cafe World on Facebook. My neighbor passed my score and now I have to work double time to close the gap.

Non-internet distractions:

~ Yesterday I got the first hints of the cold that plagued my husband and kids. I'm not quite as bad as they were but it's still distracting.
~ Power failure. This should have made me more productive by shutting down the internet distractions. Alas, my Blackberry is unaffected by power failures and chugged right along.

Accomplishments:

~ I'm not even going to count the partial query letter. Moving along.

Today I was glad to be writing the old fashioned way (pen and paper) because my APC kept clicking and the lights wavered several times. There is still quite a bit of wind out there banging on my shutters; still possible to lose power yet. Spent most of my time this afternoon contemplating motivation. In order to identify with the characters I read about, I need to believe that s/he might really be motivated by - fill in the blank - . I've already discarded some fun motives to the unbelievable factor. Was fun thinking them up though.


Things that distracted me on the internet today:

~ Looking for the text of the health care bill that made it through the Senate Finance Committee.
~ Facebook/Twitter
~ Looking for/downloading apps for my iPod Touch again. The aSleep app was a must get.

Non-internet distractions:

~ Husband still home sick. Not as bad today.
~ Moved my computer closer to the window to try and grab what passes for daylight heading into winter. This puts the howling of the wind right in my ear and it's even more distracting than a blank tab in a browser.

Accomplishments:

~ 3 scenes fully outlined and ready to go into WriteItNow.

Gearing up for NaNoWriMo again this year. I had so much fun last year I couldn't imagine not going for another round. This meant that I needed to take a break from WIP novel to plot and outline a new novel. As if that's a hardship or something... I'm planning on going for more than 50k words if possible. I'd love to have the whole first draft done.


Things that distracted me on the internet today:

~ My iTouch arrived and I had to load all the fun apps that I didn't know existed. (I'm a Blackberry user still resisting the iPhone).
~ Facebook. I'm trying to reduce my checking to break times. If I need a drink, grab a 5 minute check. These farms don't take care of themselves, you know.

Non-internet distractions:

~ My husband is home sick. He isn't all that distracting just laying in the recliner sleeping but I did have to make him soup.

Accomplishments:

~ 2 scenes completely outlined and ready to go into WriteItNow.