Wednesday, November 2, 2011

One Challenge Down, Another Takes It’s Place

So about two months ago I committed to the RIP Challenge hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings.

I committed to two challenges: Peril the Third with House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski and Peril of the Short Story with At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft. I completed both, reviews which can be found here and here. And of course there was the group reading of Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman.

I've mentioned before I don't normally participate in challenges but I'm glad I did. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed reading the reviews of others who participated. And even though House of Leaves and At the Mountains of Madness were both challenging in their own ways, they were worth reading. And I really really enjoyed discussing the short stories from Fragile Things. I hope others who participated in the challenge had as good a time as I did. And I hope you readers enjoyed reading some of my thoughts on the book and short story I reviewed for the challenge.

This is my favorite time of year. The air is cool, I can wrap up in my quilt and really enjoy a cup of hot coffee and now that I'm done with one challenge, I’m ready for the next, which will be....

NANOWRIMO!!!

What is Nanowrimo? It stands for National Novel Writing Month! And I’m going to commit to it this year!

The Goal: Write a novel - 50,000 words - in one month!

For the last 2-3 years I’ve flirted with it but never got anywhere. But I believe this year is different!

I have a story that’s been kicking around in my head and I’ve been prepping it for a few months now. I have character profiles, an outline, a beginning, middle and end. So I have something to get started with. And I’m used to writing daily now. I’ve been working on my blog for about four months. And every morning, I’ve been writing three pages of something, anything, as long as I write three pages worth. So I’m used to having a writing schedule. And there’s a local Nanowrimo group who will be meeting up throughout the challenge. Plus, a coworker has signed up and a friend in Oklahoma is a pro so I’m encouraged by them.

I can do this. I just need to quit being so flaky. It’s only 50,000 words in one month. 1666 words a day. Every day. For thirty days straight… No, I will not be discouraged. I’m doing this!

8 comments:

  1. Good luck! I won the last 2 years and I'm going to give it a shot again. (But I haven't started still. Been wrapping up edits I had a deadline for.)

    You can do it!

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  2. Thanks :) And that's great, winning the last 2 years! That is awesome. It helps being in a bigger city this year to attend some write ins and knowing more people who are participating. It'll keep me from being a flake.

    50,000 words, here we come!

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  3. Good luck! (Not sure I could write that fast...!) Thanks for the follow.

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  4. Thank you! And your welcome :)

    I expect to write a lot of crap and then a lot of hand wringing afterwards when I go back to edit. A LOT of editing will be needed.

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  5. Yes, you will be one of the lucky ones to help me during the editing process :)

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  6. Best of the best of luck to you! I so wanted to participate this year, but with a newborn, that was out of the question. Stick with it!

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  7. Thanks! I had a newborn... seven years ago lol

    But I remember the sleepless nights so best of luck to you too trying to get some rest and congratulations :)

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