Item One: After a bit of a break from fiction writing, I decided to sign up as a participant in the National Novel Writing Month project. Have I mentioned lately that I am totally insane?
I made the decision to do this two days ago. That means I have less than two weeks to plan a novel that I will write in one month. Yikes! I know that I normally write really fast, so I am almost positive I can do 50,000 words in a month. What I am less sure about is whether or not I can write 50,000 words on the same novel in a month. I typically work on several projects at a time. Ordinarily, I have one in the drafting stage, one in the editing stage, and one or more "late stage" drafts that I tend to tinker with when the notion strikes. Focusing on only one project for a whole month will be a challenge for me.
I'm ready. I'm working on an outline and back stories for my characters. I'm pretty sure the ultimate result will be pretty different from what I envision now, but at least I've got a plan in the event the Muse bails on me half way through. Not that the bitch would do that, of course.
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Item two: I have been pondering the direction of this Blog. I have read that the "best" blogs have a theme and stick to it. Mine has kind of wandered all over the place. Should I pick one theme to which I must be faithful? Do I want to focus on a theme, and hope to build a base of readers who care about that? Do I want to continue with my free-form, whatever-pops-into-my-mind format?
I haven't decided, but I find it somewhat synchronous that I happened upon the Margaret-and-Helen blog and that Rita Arens posted this item over at Surrender Dorothy on the same day.
On the one hand, I like writing about whatever the hell seems to be important to me on any given day. That is what I love about Helen's shoot-from-the-hip, smoke-'em-if-you've-got-em attitude. On the other hand, writing about stuff that is really personal, especially when other adult and/or teen-aged persons are involved, is both scary and seems to me slightly unfair to the family members who are often being discussed. I am not 82 yet. That makes a difference.
I am leaning toward continuing with the "whatever the hell I damned well feel like writing about" format, with all its pitfalls.
We shall see. The fact is, I am pretty sure that I won't be blogging much at all during November, which will give me time to think about how much structure I want to impose here -- or not.
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Item three: I plan to cast my vote tomorrow, taking advantage of Florida's early voting option. [Even as I say that, I can think of a dozen satirical directions to go with a piece on Florida elections, but it seems like such a cheap shot, even I can't bring myself to go that low.]
I have voted early before. Once a person casts his/her ballot, either by absentee ballot or the early voting option, for that voter the election is over. I have learned in previous elections that the downside to the early voting option is that, even after you vote, the campaign ads and rhetoric continue. In fact, during the last week or so of the campaign the ads reach a crescendo that crashes to a halt only on election day.
What I need to do is avoid all media between tomorrow and election day.
Perhaps that's just as well: I have a novel to plan and to write.
I'll be too busy to pay attention to the last-minute screed on the TV. Geez.... maybe I'm not all that insane after all. I've just found a way to stay out of the last-minute fray.
I have voted early before. Once a person casts his/her ballot, either by absentee ballot or the early voting option, for that voter the election is over. I have learned in previous elections that the downside to the early voting option is that, even after you vote, the campaign ads and rhetoric continue. In fact, during the last week or so of the campaign the ads reach a crescendo that crashes to a halt only on election day.
What I need to do is avoid all media between tomorrow and election day.
Perhaps that's just as well: I have a novel to plan and to write.
I'll be too busy to pay attention to the last-minute screed on the TV. Geez.... maybe I'm not all that insane after all. I've just found a way to stay out of the last-minute fray.
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