Novel Writing Month

[Young dick c.]

I woke up because I still a cat outside and it's turning cold tonight. In the meantime, two kitten types slipped out the door, so I'm still up for awhile. Thanks for the huge laugh at nearly 1 AM, Ydc. What a super passage!

Damellon, Blonde Madonna, and Martine ~ I'm wondering if you're still up, too. I thought I heard some clicking a couple minutes ago . Keep on keepin' on... you can do this!


~ Lizzy

Lizzy, I hope you got all the cats back, safe & sound. I'm happy you enjoyed the HST excerpt--I felt there was a degree of applicability to this thread; there was a time when I idolized the guy. I believe there is only one book of his I've not read: The Rum Diary; you see, as long as it sits on my desk unread, I'll always be able to look forward to one more book by him. A rather a sad catch-22 I suppose....

How about a couple more quotes by Hunter, here, instead of on the "quote of the day thread?"

I haven't found a drug yet that can get you anywhere near as high as sitting at a desk writing.
HST quoted by William McKeen/1990

I don't like to write. I don't care what in the fuck happens after I write. Once I've got the story in my mind, the rest is pain.
HST quoted by David Felton/"Hunter Thompson Has Cashed His Check"

[lizzytysh]

I heard he was a tad on the odd side. Looks downright bi-polar between those two quotes.

Yes... every one back in safe and sound. Thanks.


~ Lizzy

[Young dick c.]

Gosh, I am certainly side-tracking this thread, am I not? But I've no doubt one of the nano-writing ladies will stumble upon my request a few posts & a page back for the midpoint word-count, & get us back on the right road.

This is, after all, a "writing thread," so in the meantime ... here's a quote by one great author about another/Ydc


From Harper's wayyyyyy back when Kurt Vonnegut was in his prime:
"From this moment on, let all those who feel that Americans can be as easily led to beauty as to ugliness, to truth to public relations, to joy as to bitterness, be said to be suffering from Hunter Thompson's disease."

[Martine]

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[Young dick c.]

Day 17.
Word count just over 19,7500 give or take a few.

I'm way behind now, and running out of ideas. I have maybe another few thousand words left in me.
Rightly or wrongly . . . . ?? does that make sense?
Anyway, rightly or wrongly I've already written the ending, and everything will be heading to a natural close/end at around the 25,000 word count, unless I can think of another 25,000 'filler words' to carry me through.

How's everyone else getting on?

All I can say is this: "better you than me."
Nope, actually I'd never post something that nonconstructive on this particular thread.
Hard for someone whose never been in your shoes to give advice that should be taken credibly, but here are my two cents (or less), MAKE something MAJOR happen between now & your ending. ANYTHING: a catastrophic event, something that goes 3 steps back to negate the last step forward, perhaps out of the blue a new character steps in & her/his presence can have will have a huge outcome on the people & world you are already the lord of, & that initself will require a few thousand words of her/his character development befor s/he starts affecting your plot/theme in a way that will force/allow you to create new sequences of words & paragraphs....

Okay then, advice from the unwanted advice forum ... easy to give from someone who is not there, I realize. Take it or leave it for what little it may or may not be worth.

Regardless, you've done a helluvalot already & you deserve accolades for that. Good luck with whatever happens in your novel.
Ydc

[Young dick c.]

Ladies of the nano-write, it is nearly November 20, do you know whaere your word-counts are?
Ydc

[blonde madonna]

Thanks for asking Ydc she says with a sigh
I stopped writing for a few days but I am back at it again, pushed through 20,000 and on the way to 30,000.
It is rubbish and I will not be posting any of it. I don't reread it (I haven't time for that and it doesn't help anyway) I just think rubbish rubbish rubbish as I write each sentence.

I am over the excuses now, forget exams, being deserted for Japan, heatwaves, domestic chores, lack of sleep, I will keep at it.

Appreciate the pep talks.
BM

[damellon]

Hi there Ydc, Lizzy, Blonde Madonna and Martine

Am afraid I'm not doing so well, either with the word count (23546) or the storyline (run dry). Am feeling tired now and a bit lost for ideas. The pep talks we get from NaNo are very good and they do seem to reflect how I'm feeling, so maybe this is just par for the course. I just don't know now if I can complete the 50000 in the given time. Anyway, I'll keep going and see. Better to have tried and lost than never to....(naw, that's something else...). Good luck Blonde Madonna and Martine over the next 10 days.

[lizzytysh]

I have a feeling that if you read what Ydc said to Madonna and Martine recently, and then rest on it, some out-of-left-field idea[s] will come to you with some new character and then you'll do like Madonna has, get your second wind, and be heading towards 30,000. I can imagine that the three of you are not unique in your exhaustion at this stage. If NaNo's pep talks are suggestive of that, I'd say I know you're not. So, head on in to the homestretch, Damellon. Good on you for taking on the challenge to begin with! An amazing feat from where I sit !!!


Love,
Lizzy

[Young dick c.]

Thanks for asking Ydc she says with a sigh
I stopped writing for a few days but I am back at it again, pushed through 20,000 and on the way to 30,000.
It is rubbish and I will not be posting any of it. I don't reread it (I haven't time for that and it doesn't help anyway) I just think rubbish rubbish rubbish as I write each sentence.

I am over the excuses now, forget exams, being deserted for Japan, heatwaves, domestic chores, lack of sleep, I will keep at it.

Appreciate the pep talks.
BM

If you've got 30 in, you are 3/5 done w/ 2/3 of your time used up. Obviously you don't need to hear it from me, but you pound out two-thou more a day & you cross the finish line! Who cares if it's utter tripe! Honestly, everything I've ever read that was a direct product of nano is! Cross the finish line, then see if you can rip something out worth saving after a few monthes have elapsed; that's my 'take it or leave it' advice, anyway. Keep typing & good luck!

Hi there Ydc, Lizzy, Blonde Madonna and Martine

Am afraid I'm not doing so well, either with the word count (23546) or the storyline (run dry). Am feeling tired now and a bit lost for ideas. The pep talks we get from NaNo are very good and they do seem to reflect how I'm feeling, so maybe this is just par for the course. I just don't know now if I can complete the 50000 in the given time. Anyway, I'll keep going and see. Better to have tried and lost than never to....(naw, that's something else...). Good luck Blonde Madonna and Martine over the next 10 days.

Damellon, I'm sorry to hear that. By this time you are probably over the halfway mark w/ 8 or 9 days left to pound out another 24 or so, but look: they are only words! This is nano & noone gives a dead rat's ass how lucid they are or how much clarity they convey! Everytime a thought, any thought, pops up into your head, attribute it to a character & put it in words & maybe s/he does something or acts something out that gives you a few more thousand words. Three thousand a day might sound tough, but if you don't care what it looks like, it can be done! Gotta weekend coming up pretty soon? Pull an all nighter, or better yet, all night, all day, if you got it in you, one more night before you crash. I betcha that could be 15 to 20,000 of garble right there! I haven't screwed w/ any sleep deprivation psycoses for well over a couple of years now, but back when I used to on a regular basis, at 36 hours I literally would hear voices. Maybe get yourself into that state & let the voices dictate & don't question 'em, just type 'em.

Anyway, I know it sounds tough & I know that it is tough. Do what you have to, & either way, you've already got my respect, & for your part, you've got the washer-woman when you are ready to do something serious.

Good luck. I am pulling for all three of you.
Ydc

[Christine]

Hi Blonde M, hi Dam, just stopping by to say hi to you both........ quite a task you undertook and I'm rooting for you over here (have been since day one). Even if it's beginning to sound like the tyrant's made his dastardly arrival, hang in there - you're on the home stretch. And I've gotta lot of faith in you both.

Winston Churchill: "Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement; then it becomes a mistress, and then it becomes a master, and then a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster, and fling him out to the public."

Martine, good luck to you too.

[Young dick c.]

With day 25 rolling on, I'm hoping word-counts are piling up...?

[damellon]

Hi Ydc
Can you hear the strained silence coming from here? I have to admit defeat at this stage. I'm not going to make it, word-count wise. Thanks for all your encouragement, I really appreciate it. You too Lizzy. Blonde Madonna, Martine - will you guys make it to the finishing line? I have my fingers crossed for you. If it's within reach, do persist. Post mortems after Friday. Good luck to you both.

[lizzytysh]

Hey, Damellon... quality over quantity, in the final count, is its own, sweet victory. So, Congratulations on a job well done! As you said, your primary goal was to get you started writing and this it most surely did. You can best meet your own quality standards by taking your time, and eventually you'll meet their word count, too. "The Tortoise and The Hare" was a childhood tale oft told to us for good reason. Looking forward to more of your washerwoman [just her label, as one word, which I've never seen, is a delight] and her exciting life.

Madonna and Martine ~ What is the nature of your own silence? Best of luck to you both in your final stretch.



~ Lizzy

[Martine]

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