Me again.
Shocking, I know. Obviously it would only be me as I'm the owner (well, poster) of this site with the lovely, lovely, formerly hard-to-read text. Yep, I fixed it. Mostly just text padding and whatever. I don't want to change the background color though, or else there would be floating islands of white in cream...and that wouldn't look too nice.
Busy doing research on the topics of lucid dreams, double consciousness (I can't really find anything concrete on this that has nothing to do with race, so I consider this a 'self within a self'.), false awakenings, and...well...the author whose style may or may not inspire my next novel (either "Death of A Schoolgirl" or "The Pimple that Ate a Face"), Haruki Murakami.
Though I plunge myself into the world of Japanese-Western surrealism (Next read, "Kafka On The Shore", "Norwegian Wood", and "Dance, Dance, Dance".), I do have a guilty pleasure. Chick lit.
So what chick litty goodness have I been indulging in? Alexandra Potter's 'Me and Mr. Darcy' as well as Aimee Friedman's 'A Novel Idea', which I find extremely jarring as the main male character's name is...well...James.
Why that is jarring? I'm not telling.
Anyway, my word count is currently at 40,000. I'm enjoying looking at my stats page, simply because it shows a high acceleration rate. 10K and I'll have reached my goal...though not necessarily have finished my novel.
At last count, there are twenty-four or so more chapters to go. Divvying up 10K between them is pretty much impossible, as I tend to write long chapters (beating a dead horse until it falls to pieces). Still, despite the length of my chapters, I feel "Memoirs of My Past Life" is still in the bare-bones stage. I'm hoping I can cull all that wordy flesh when it comes down to editing time, filling the novella with DECENT words.
Making every word count. You have no idea how mny times I've broken that mantra this month.
I'm thinking of responding to Dean Alfar's call for short stories open for editing. Basically I joined a Google Group called LitCritters, which gives me a writing community I can throw my stuff (possibly crap but not necessarily) at. I think having a writing community is important, which is why I'm taking great pains to keep feeding Acid to the group I sort-of helped form, Lemon Pad.
Lemon because it was the first word in a Power Memory demonstration held at Brain Master's 2007 Creative Writing Workshop. Pad from 'yellow pad', which was what we were given to write on for the free-writing section of the workshop.
What I submitted...left a lot to be desired. I optimized it, and will be posting it come next post.
Anyway, I have finally reached the last leg of this post. I've gotten a few comments on my high-speed NaNoWriMo prowess, and I've found a lot of people worrying that they can't make the cut this year. So, for those who lag behind and with 15 days left to go, I've compiled my 'Top 10 Ways to Reach the 50K in 15 or so Days."
Previously posted on the NaNoWriMo site:
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"Top 10 Ways to Reach the 50K in 15 or so Days"
1. Chunk...the time. Try writing on set hours. Mine are from 8pm to...whenever I reach my goal. Which leads me to my next point.
2. Set a goal. Today I will write 3000 words. Today I will write 6000 words. Whatever you believe is achievable. For me, I try to write a sold 5K every day, and don't stop until I make the cut.
3. Worship Pomelo Juice. Screw coffee...it doesn't have enough sugar to push your sugar rush buttons. Heavily sugared juice may push you closer to the diabetic brink, but at the very least your flying fingers will help you make the NaNoWriMo count.
4. Wordcount is king. Screw all those grammar lessons you learned in Business English. Who cares if E.B. White and William J. Strunk are spinning in their graves. Verbosity is your friend...though you won't be saying that when you have to EDIT all your work later.
5. Live for the moment. DO. NOT. EDIT!!!!! Your internal editor MAY help the story get going, but after it does that TINY, prerequisite job...murder it. It will resurrect itself, so it's important to keep killing it under the mountain of text.
6. Make a playlist. This usually only helps music-motivated people like me, for whom music is pretty much a drug. But still, it doesn't hurt to have songs that call up your creative juices. My current love is Maroon 5.
7. It is okay to slack off...sometimes. Sometimes you need a break, to do the IMPORTANT slacking off - Assignments, Work, Sleep...etc. It's okay to interrupt your writing schedule to do those stuff, especially sleep. And if you YM a bit, that's fine. If you're too stressed to write, NOTHING WILL COME OUT.
8. The TV is your friend. Uninspired and in search of a plot twist? Channel surf. Chances are you'll find something to include in that hodgepodge of creativity you call your book.
9. READ. Just because you have to write 50,000 words doesn't mean you shouldn't have a steady stream of lit to keep you motivated. Try to read books that inspire you, or are close to the style you're using or will be using. Whatever! Just as long as you keep your head full of novel goodness, it's a-okay.
And finally...
10. We'll be here for you...when your wordcount don't move at all. We'll be here for you...like we've been here before... If it's not going as great as you imagined...the words used to flow and whatever...WE ARE HERE FOR YOU. Take tip number seven and spill how shitty you feel. Sometimes talking to someone can help trigger the brain juice.
May inspiration hit you. Like a big rig.
-00-Final helping hand. One of my NaNoWriMo writing buddies, Barbi (T.L.), referred me to an article that could be of help to you guys.
http://writing.articlesarchive.net/training-your-creative-self-five-tips-for-ultra-creativity.html
Anyway, enjoy. Gosh, this post is longer than I expected.
~ Solan of Solea
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