The Final Day of NaNo

Good grief this month has been difficult. To think, when I started November, I was doing so well with the writing. Now its the last day and I've still got six chapters to write and all my time is gone. I feel like running away screaming.

I don't honestly know what happened. Last year, I felt so focused. It was honestly the first novel I ever completed. Maybe I'm in over my head with the whole romance thing. Truly, though, this novel is actually starting to feel like a novel. I've just reached that place in the story where everything starts to get interesting.

The last week has been the hardest. I've been cutting a lot of plot from my story simply to get it finished. Otherwise, I'll be sitting there trying to get in all 65,000 words that I planned, and that will most definitely take me another week at least. There have been days where I don't want to do that (ITS CHEATING!) and so I've nearly decided to quit the story altogether as I wouldn't possibly finish in time.

Amazingly, people have been very supportive. Especially people from work, oddly enough. Many of them go to school, and have taken a literary class or two, and understand exactly how much work goes into writing a novel. These are the people that have been pushing me the most to get this done. Why? They want to read it, of course. Simply put, that will not happen. I have gone to great lengths to make sure that this story will never be linked to me, because I'm actually embarrassed by some of the things I have written. Its not that I think they're bad, but they are things I would never say aloud to the people I am closest to. So, I have the pen name ready to go if I should ever get it published. More than likely, though, I will polish it up in the months to come, get a copy printed for myself and call it a done deal. And even in that case, I'll still have the cover printed with the planned pen name.

I have likened the novel writing proccess to that of raising a child before this, and this year has definitely made that analogy stronger. This child of mine has been dificult from the start, though slightly more planned. By the time I got started with it, I was ready to have it done. We fought, we walked out on each other. Even the voices wouldn't cooperate.

I intend to spend my whole day tomorrow (No work for me, YAY!) trying to get it finished. I don't think I will get all sixty thousand some words written like I wanted to in the beginning, but I will get to the point where I can write 'the end' as fast as possible, and keep writing until its time to submit.

That's the plan anyway. If you don't see me on Twitter, its because I'm avoiding the distraction. I'll try to check in before submission though, and you can all kick my butt into gear! ;D

On Nanowrimo, Writing Buddies, and other such things

Ah, November. What a wonderfully frightening month it is. Anyone who loves to write and has at least one other writer friend knows that November means NaNoWriMo.

How can I describe what NaNoWriMo means to me? As a person who's major motto is: what can be done today is better left for tomorrow, Nano is a daunting task and worthy challenge. It gets me to actually do what needs to be done here and now. Or, at least as far as writing goes. Sadly, my poor house will see the adverse effects of this month. Sure, there will be a couple days where I will wake up, look around, and scramble to make it all look presentable, but we all must hope that the house doesn't tumble to the ground in a heap of filth and dust before then.

This is my second year of NaNoWriMo. Sadly, I'm still in editing phase with last year's, "A Place Called Earth." This time around, I went a different path. Romance! *screams and moans of horror* Honestly, this is how I feel about these things. The Romance equation is such a simple one that is repeated in every story in the genre. Sadly, it is sooo much harder to write. I've been pushing over the last couple days to get ahead of schedule, because I know (its so inevitable, just like the love my characters will share.) that when I hit a certain scene (also inevitable) I am going to be so stuck. On the plus side, I may be able to skip said scene for a later time and still get well over 50,000 words for the month. Its just too bad that I think this is CHEATING! Enough of that, though. When that time comes, I am sure all my lovely followers will hear about it. Probably a few times if you follow me on Twitter.

I have this little guy that seems to be my muse for the moment. My writing buddy... my minion. Minion? Isn't that one of those short yellow guys from that movie, Dispicable Me? Why yes, yes it is. I lurves him. I think it is important to have a writing buddy. Sure, he may not be real, but his encouragment is. I'm a writer, it seriously isn't hard for me to imagine the little guy talking to me, saying, "You can do it!" and "Keep up the good work, Haley Jo!" See... now you want one too. Well, too bad! This one is mine! :D

This little guy is the only one in this house who is really giving me encouragement, and quite honestly, feeding my delusions and allowing me to continue harnessing my imagination. And without that, what am I really? Just another person that enjoys reading and wants to be famous but won't do anything about it. Of course, I have about four different pen names, though, so fame is not really coming to me no matter which way you spin it.  And I'm okay with that. I don't need hundreds of people knowing too much about me. Blogging is as much as I can handle, and really, I tend to keep the personal stuff out of it.

And on that final rambling note, I say ado and back to the Nanoing I go. Seems like it needs a catchy little tune to go along with it. Am I right?