Happy New Year, Friends!
We survived!
It turns out that the Mayans actually just got tired of creating a calendar for long after they ceased to exist and made the assumption someone in the future would pick up the slack and extend the calendar before it ended. Luckily, that happened. I bet the Mayans didn’t assume a bunch of jerks would think the world was ending. Unluckily, that also happened.
No Rapture. No end of the Universe. It’s been a rough year for doomsdayers.
NaNoWriMo: A Big Fat NotSoAwesome
I started off strong in November. I managed to write a little bit almost every day – even on vacation surrounded by people. By my birthday I was almost at the halfway point. Then it all fell apart. My final word count was somewhere around 26,400 – just a little over half of the 50k I actually needed to call the project a success.
It turns out I’m really bad at telling people “no” and demanding time for myself. Not really a big surprise, however this is the first time the evidence has been quantifiable. It also probably didn’t help that I became obsessed with buying a new car in the month of November, as well.
Another key learning I walked away with is the type of environment in which I concentrate best. It is true that I can write with people and noise happening around me, however the quality of that writing is complete and utter shit. I write best when I’m alone, it’s quiet, and I can do embarrassing things like read out loud, pace around the room while talking to myself, and have long, involved conversations with my cats about character traits and motivations. Achieving this environment is going to be challenging as nothing in my life at the moment lends to it. I think I’m going to have to become the master of headphones and soothing playlists so I can create the illusion of solitude and somehow train myself to imagine that I’m pacing and muttering without actually doing it.
New Goal
December was fully consumed by our honeymoon on Kauai, taking our niece to Disneyland, and the holidays. December was an awesome month. I wrote nothing. January is going to be a different story (har). The new goal is to have the first draft of my novel finished by the end of the month, pushing editing out until February. Hopefully this means I’ll have something readable by March.
CJ thinks I should publish each chapter on my blog as I finish it. Thoughts? Is that something anyone would want to read? Or would you get bored with it?
Resolutions
About five years ago, I published New Year’s Resolutions on my MySpace blog. (Remember MySpace?) Remarkably, I actually followed through with all of them – perhaps because publishing made me feel more accountable? I’m going to repeat that now and see if it works just as well. Note that the below goals only outline personal goals and does not include professional goals. I need to keep the list from rambling more than it already does.
- Finish the damn book by March. I want to move on to other projects and Thatcher and Saxen cause creativity constipation.
- Write other stuffs. Blogs, new stories, angry sonnets, hate mail, bad jokes, etc.
- Reach my newer and lower goal weight. I’m only about 10 lbs away so I should also achieve this by March.
- Get over my phobia of singing. Currently, if I try to sing in front of anyone vomit wants to come out instead of words. This is a silly fear caused by carelessness on someone else’s part. I want it gone. Singing lessons, here I come. (puke)
- Become a better dancer. Easy. I’ll just dance more.
Ack
This concludes my self-involved ramblings. I promise the next post will be more interesting.
Posted with Blogsy
Hi Meg,
I think that you should write without considering the approval or opinion of other people. In fact, I think that because writing is a creation from within your own mind, you would be the best critic of your own work. You have the talent and ability to create great things. I think publishing each chapter or even letting people read your work before it is done would just cause you stress. I say, finish it, edit it yourself, then turn it over to us :). But obviously I am not a writer and never intend to be published so I have no idea what authors do. I love everything you write, not because you are my beloved cousin, but because you keep me wanting to read the next sentence. Don’t let anything/anyone hold you down! This is YOUR creation not anyone else! I heart you!
<3 Love you, cousin!