ISWG, NaNoWriMo and Where's My Clone?

If you're not familiar with 
the Insecure Writers Support 
Group, check it out here. 

Full disclosure, as I write this in October, I'm neck deep (as in someone else standing on my shoulders and we're talking about their neck), in NaNoWriMo and preparing for upcoming Author Events for all you book-loving holiday shoppers.  I love when you comment and I'm very glad you stopped by, but I can't promise that I'll get to check out your own blog post in a timely manner.  I will get there. Eventually.  

Hence my need for a clone. Has anyone got that process dialed in yet? I've noticed a trend in my blogging habits the past couple years. With the new year, I'm all refreshed and energized to spend blog time with you wonderful people. By the end of April's A to Z, I'm dead. And things only get worse from there. By mid-summer I'm down to once a month IWSG posts. I'd say this is a trend I'm hoping to change with the coming year, but again, I'm not going to make any promises. Maybe this is a sign I shouldn't dive into A to Z this year. Hmm. Things to ponder.

My tiny assistant Bitsy, kept

me warm while selling books

at Pumpkinfest in

Montague, MI.

So what's this NaNoWriMo thing? It's my yearly major writing binge where I join hundreds of thousands of other people around the world by writing 50,000 words in 30 days. Traditionally, that's supposed to be the rough draft of a new novel. This year, I'm aiming for 50K of whatever project my eyeballs and fingers agree on that day. As of this morning, my goal is to work on a total rewrite of 2007's NaNo YA fantasy endeavor that is half finished. I'd like to get another YA title out to accompany A Broken Race. I'd also like to generate a few new short stories to get into submissions early next year. I'd also like to get a million dollars, but as I don't play the lottery, the odds of me productively writing are far more likely.


In the further need for a clone category, I'm also on year 10 of acting as an ML for my region for NaNo. This means I'm organizing and hosting events all month, moderating a forum, writing regional emails and answering questions and encouraging the hundreds of writers in my region. While writing my own project. I also added a few extra tons of insanity and booked three weekend days of author events during November. Because who needs sleep? Can I write in my sleep? We'll find out.

This month's IWSG Question: How has your creativity in life evolved since you began writing?

The dress I made my daughter

for homecoming. She wanted

something 50's housewife.

Oh man, it's been a major evolution. When I first started writing, I had time to paint, draw, do needlework, sew, and more crafts than I could name in the time that I have to write this post. My creative endeavors were all over the board. But since I started writing seriously, about eight years ago, almost all of those things have fallen by the wayside. Though I still enjoy doing other creative things, my brain is stuck in creating worlds, characters, and plots.

I have dipped back into sewing in the past few months. After brushing the mental rust off and a lot of swearing at how hard it is now to thread the damned sewing machine needle even with my glasses on, I think I've got following a pattern and the improvising part of things figured out again. After this next project, which I really should do a post about, is finished, I think I'll put the distracting sewing machine back away. There are so many things I could do with it...but writing calls.

IWSG: October and so much reading

If you're not familiar with 
the Insecure Writers Support 
Group, check it out here. 

When I went on a short vacation at the end of August, I hadn't planned (as usual) to have time to read, but hey, a miracle happened and I did. Yes, we covered my little three book excursion into readingland last month, but it's gotten worse. I've been sucked into an unplanned reading binge. (cue the ominous music)

I haven't done this in a while. And for good reason. All writing stops when I go into reading mode.

Lots of other things stop too, like getting enough sleep, being on time for work, keeping lunch breaks to an hour, maybe hanging out in parking lots in my car for an extra half an hour or longer when running errands... yeah, reading and I have an addictive relationship.

Book shaming time. In the past six weeks, ten days of which I was waiting for shipments of books to arrive, I've read twelve books. And not just short books, 500 to 600+ page books of small type. I even broke down and bought an e-book of one of them because I wasn't near a bookstore at the time. Darn you, J.R. Ward and your Black Dagger Brotherhood.

What makes this series so addicting? It's not your typical paranormal romance. There is a lot going on in the world in which it takes place, lots of action, so many subplots, and lots of well fleshed out POV characters beyond the usual two. Each book ends on a satisfying note, but I had to know what happened next in the greater story. Like. Right. Now. Several of these I read in a day or two. Seriously. And I work full time and have other obligations. Evil damn books! It turns out four hours of sleep is fine on occasion. And...that may or may not be four in a row. Soooooo anyway, yes, I'll be reading the rest of the series soon, but I'm at a good pausing point and I should get back to editing and writing for a little while before November hits.

What started to drive me nuts, because there's always something even when I love a book / author / series. 1. When a word like alacrity gets used a lot, it starts to stand out like sore thumb because it's not a commonly used word. 2. When technology is liberally named throughout a series (like using a Blackberry or hitting send to place a call) and quickly becomes dated.  3. When you read the first book and think certain words and phrases are awesome for characterization, but then realize everyone in the series uses those same words and it's not natural sounding or logical that they would. 4. Overuse of slang. Again, totally cool when a single character uses it because it works for characterization. Not cool when everyone is using natch at the ends of sentences. It's totally not natch.

With reading, preparing for NaNoWriMo, three author events, winterizing my pond before winter this year for a change, still looking for a home for the exchange student we didn't plan on, and getting a head start on sewing my Halloween costume before the week before Halloween... it's been a busy month. From here on out, life only gets more hectic until January. While I'm taking a deep breath and trying not to get freaked out by that last sentence, let's get to this month's Insecure Writer's Support Group question.

How do major life events affect your writing? Has writing ever helped you through something?

When I'm stressed, I don't have any energy left over for writing. I have a hard time even focusing on editing. So things like a divorce, death of friends and family, or giving birth tend to lead to dry spells of weeks or months or even a year or two. You've got to take care of yourself. The words will be there when you're head is back in the game.

Has writing helped me through anything? I guess I'm not in jail for taking my frustration out on anyone in a physical manner. There tends to be a lot of death and violence in my books. Coincidence? There's a good chance there's a connection. There is something to that whole, 'the quiet ones are the ones you have to watch out for' thing. However, I do try to keep it fictional. If you've ever been my boss, you're welcome.