Epiphany!

I had the biggest epiphany for my novel yesterday! I'm not even sure how the thought came to me. One of those random strings of thought that start with one simple daily bucket list item that sent me on a trek around my imagination and landed in the brilliant idea for a total trilogy! Whew! It was definitely an interesting process of thought. I'm not completely sure of all the details yet, but I definitely have a good premise brewing.

I don't get those often these days. I'm usually inundated with schooling the boys, worrying about bills, trying to figure out dinner, and trying to keep sane. All while failing to attempting to keep up with my domestic goddess duties.

Anyway... I'm excited about this idea! It's going to be quite an undertaking, but I am finally motivated in my writing again!

Project & Photo of the Day

Project of the Day:

Worked on a new idea for a novel.  NaNoWriMo isn't until November, but last year, I wasn't prepared and I didn't make the goal of 50K words.  I still plan on finishing the story, but this year, I want to win, so I've begun working on the outline and some of the research that I will need to have done in order to be successful this year.

Photo of the Day:

Random fun photo taken while playing blocks with my son.

Stuffed full of Leftovers...

Well, Thanksgiving got quite hectic around our house this year.  I hope you all had a wonderful and safe holiday.  We're all amazingly stuffed and we just finished off the last of the leftovers this evening.  Dinner went well, everything turned out delicious!  The stuffing wasn't quite up to my mom's, but it was still good.  The pumkin pie turned out perfect (now that is one thing I got just like mom's!) so perfect, in fact, that I made two more this afternoon. 

I'm terribly behind on the novel... I haven't written anything in days because of all the chaos.  I'm a bit upset that I won't have the 50,000 words done by the end of the month, but I'm happy that I've gotten so much done... more than I've ever had done on a story before... so I'm still excited about finishing it.  I'm also looking forward to next year and plan to try again for NaNoWriMo 2011!  I'm also interested in the Script Frenzy coming in April.

So, in the meantime, I'm working on my 1000 other hobbies that I have.  LOL  Along with the baby, Cub Scouts, the house, laundry, etc.  But I'm always up for a new challenge... I've got December through March to fill up with something until the Script Frenzy.  If you know of anything, let me know. 

Thanks for stopping by.

~Oddyssey

How I Write...

Well, I made it to 866 words last night... er.... this morning.... before I crashed and went to bed at about 4am.  Thankfully the baby stayed asleep and I didn't wake him when I came to bed.  Almost.  But luck was with me... this time.

But I was on a roll with writing and was excited about it for the first time in I don't know how long!  I couldn't stop just because of needing sleep.  Besides, with a two month old, I'm getting used to not getting much sleep.  LOL

So, I've decided to go with my old way of writing.  If you read all the books on 'how to write a book', you get the advise to have a plan, to have an outline, to be organized.  Well, that's not me!  I used to write a lot and would write some really good short stories in school.  But how did I do that so many years ago?  Well, I finally remembered and since the "expert's" advise wasn't working, I figured I'd go back to MY way of doing things.

I let the story write itself.

Let me explain.  I start with a character.  I have a rough idea of his/her background in my head, but it's subject to change a bit as the story develops.  Then I picture that character in my head... what is he/she doing?  Where did my mind first randomly picture the character?  Usually when you think of someone, you pcture them and their surroundings, correct?  Well, I do the same with the character.  Then I start writing and I just let my imagination go.  I basically just "watch" the character and write down what happens.  As the story develops some, then I begin to "see" where the story is going and then write toward that goal.  Sometimes it doesn't work out that way and takes a turn I'm not expecting.  Then I have a decision to make;  fix the dynamics/physics/etc. of what isn't meshing well, or go with it.  I've found that it's easier to just go with it and let it play out in my mind than to try to fix it.  Usually if I try to "fix" it, then the writing usually feels strained and doesn't flow as well.  When I go with it, then it flows better and the plot finds it's own path.  I hope that makes sense.  And if anyone is struggling with writer's block, I hope maybe that can help.

50,000?!?! Are you kidding me?!

Well, I took the leap... huge leap... head first.... and I signed up for National Novel Writing Month for the month of November, those who sign up are dedicating themselves to writing 50,000 words (or more) by midnight of November 30th, 2010.  I didn't come across this site and the challenge until late last night, which puts me behind.  Waaayyy behind.  How far behind?  Well lets do the math.... 50,000 ÷ 30 days = 1666.66.... but 50,000 ÷ 25 days = 2000.... And if you include today, which was my first day on the task and is already O.V.E.R... that's 25 days to write, so I need to write 2000 words a day.  UGH!  And so far I'm at 384, not including this blog entry, since it's not part of my novel, I'm not adding it into the total.  Not the best of starts... which means that in order to catch up, I would need to write 3616 words on Saturday!!!!!!

I suppose I should be writing more on the novel, but I wanted to post on my blog while I was thinking about the horrendous step I've taken.  LOL

Ah well... here goes nothing.......