Tuesday, November 30, 2010

NaNoWriMo Completed!


I did it! I wrote 50,000 words in 30 days! Actually, I wrote a whole lot more than 50,000 words during the month considering how much crap I post on facebook and the like...but I wrote a novel that is just barely over 50,000 words. So now I am an author. Not a published one, but who cares? I did it! Considering that just three days ago, I still had 12,00o words to write, I am pretty damn impressed with myself. I mean, I wrote about 7000 words today...and all before 2:15pm.

It helps that I no longer have a job. Yes, I am currently unemployed and have been for a whole week, as of tomorrow. What am I doing with myself? Well...spending entirely too much money and having a great time.

The last part of the season on the boat was pretty rough, so I am glad to be taking some time off....though, unless I find the perfect job, I will probably be going back to work on the boat next season. I mean, it's about as close to perfect as I can get right now.

So now that NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, come on, keep up with me here) is over, I've got the GRE's to study for and Christmas presents to make. I am in the process of applying for Graduate School at the University of Maryland and hoping to enroll this fall in their Marine Estuarine Environmental Science program. It sounds like a great program and I think that it's exactly what I need. Plus, it involved research in the Chesapeake Bay, which is one of the reasons I let myself be convinced to move here. As an environmental/marine scientist with an interest in ecology, the interaction of mankind and the largest estuary in North America holds great interest for me. So I might as well study it while I'm here.

Anyway, work is over and I am enjoying my leisure time...which I am going to get back to because I am more than a little burned out on writing at the moment...

Time to start a knitting project and watch some tv on my computer! Woo Firefly!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

NaNoWriMo


And so November begins. Here, I should be writing my novel, but instead, I am updating you. That's love. Or maybe narcissism, to think that you actually care. Either way, here I am!

I am participating in NaNoWriMo this year. For those of you not in the know, it stands for National Novel Writing Month. Yes, that's right, I'm writing a novel. 50,000 words must be written in the month of November, in order to be a successful NaNoWriMo-er.

I am excited, as I have already written just over 4000 words in two whole days. Granted, I've been off work during the entirety of NaNoWriMo thus far, so maybe I'm a little too optimistic.

I think my major failing will be finding the subject matter for 50,000 words. I've got a story, with characters and plot and a general idea of where I want them to end up...but can I make it 50,000 words long? That's the million dollar question. What is the longest I have ever written?? Around 20 pages, and that was a research paper, that took a whole lot longer than a single month to write. But fiction is far easier to write about than the atom bomb, so whatever.

On Sunday, Ariana, CJ, Mike, Chris and I went out for our pretentious author photo session. We got some gems, all of which are viewable on Facebook. The photo here, is the one I have chosen. For now.

Anyway, don't expect much from me this month, unless I am really struggling with my novel and feel the need to get my word on with blogspot instead. I hope that doesn't happen...

Wish me luck!