Thoughts on November's End, Anxious Days, Drink of the Holidays

When NaNoWriMo is over, I get really sad. I get so used to writing endlessly on my laptop, that when December rolls around, I have no idea what to do with myself when I sit at my laptop. It just feels so weird to think that this happens.

Sure, I start planning for next year - especially since it's a Post-Apocalypse novel - but I do that in notebooks and with some research. I don't sit and actually put a whole lot of physical words on the page.

So, now,  here I am sitting with a few other members from my write-in, back at our coffee shop. We're mostly writing, or working on other projects. But we're getting together for the community of writers and the comradery of hanging out with fellow writers. I'm really glad this is continuing. It's a fantastic way to break up the week and just spend time relaxing somewhere in an environment that isn't my home.

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Thoughts on Write-ins (again), College Apps (some more ), and Plotting

I've met a lot of great people this year at the local write-ins. Yeah, there have been quite a few that are utterly scary beyond all belief - but really, aren't all writers? However, there are some that truly take the cake.

I'm sure all writers are in their own way, socially awkward. Yet somehow, we get along with each other fantastically. It's always tough to find people in the "real world" that you can converse with about anything and everything, and it still all relates to writing. We all come from different walks of life, but we all hold the same passion for writing and creativity that we just click.

It's a surreal sense of camaraderie that you could only experience on sports teams, or basically any "team" situation. But it's why we're all drawn together like moths to a flame in order to converse about our stories, our characters, and this shared passion that is a complete opposite of our lives.

And here's to hoping it won't end come November 30th.

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Thoughts on Write-ins, Shuffle, and Next Year

In previous years, I could never make it to a write-in. There were plenty of them out there, but I never had a means of traveling to them. This year I can finally drive to write-ins and hang out with fellow writers. There are definitely a lot of great people I've met so far.

That's the best part about NaNoWriMo. The community of it all. There's nothing more thrilling than writing during a word sprint and succeeding in getting the highest word count of the group. Well, not always. I have a terrible  habit of backspacing and fixing the typos. Any writer does. So I've been adjusting to that while writing during sprints for 10 minutes. And wow, I can type really fast when need be.

But actually, I tend to type much faster when writing dialogue. Suddenly my story is full of ridiculous amounts of dialogue that has nothing to do with the plot. Thank you, brain.

And I'm getting a lot written in a write-in. Like, easily 3k in four ten-minute word sprints. It is truly awesome. What's even better, is that I don't realize how many words I've written until the night is over.

Thoughts on Flash, NaNoWriMo, and Epic Halloween Costume

As some of you know, I write a lot of flash fiction. In fact, I pretty much love the idea. But currently Flash Party isn't open for submissions - and hasn't been since the summer.

So I've been mulling over the idea of starting a flash fiction site. I like the idea of writing flash fiction and having somewhere to submit it to. I suppose the only problem would be I can't submit to my own site. That would be unfair.

But I would call it "Flash" and have the Queen song "Flash" playing in the background. Or at least in a small portion of the site. Tis just a dream though.

Thoughts on Anxious Waiting, Essays, and November

Sorry for my serious lack of posts. I'm trying, but lately I've been super anxious.

Perhaps it's that the deadlines are approaching for all the applications. Basically everything is due November 1st. And I'm just frantically checking the Emerson application portal to make sure all that needs to be submitted is there. I'm ridiculous.

Thoughts on Plot Directions, Retirement, and The Ice Cream Truck

Projects are tough to keep up on. In the initial start, I'll have plenty of momentum and easily find time to continue work on what I'm doing; when suddenly I'll hit a wall.

My 2009 WriMo is one of my most complex plots to write in only 30 days. Besides being a romantic comedy, it includes themes of acceptance/tolerance, self-discovery, and more, all wrapped around a homosexual relationship at the heart of the story. I'd written basically to the end, but hadn't quite typed up the ending due to my inability to decide on how it should conclude. So rather than do anything more to it, I printed the entire story out and marked it up with my red pen. While incomplete, it's been read through and edited.