NaNoWriMo

So besides my 50 Shades of Grey posts this blog has been very quiet. There's been a reason for this. I have been doing NaNoWriMo (or, more specifically NaNo Camp) this month. The whole point is to write 50 000 words in a month. The goal is a book, but most people don't seem to actually finish the rough draft it's self, just aim for the world count. You haven't heard from me other then the 50 Shades posts because I have banned myself from all the things. No writing if it isn't for my book, no video games, no reading, no drawing. If I was home, I was writing. I've done NaNo before, back in November, which had a huge community focus with lots of write ins where you could meet other writers and talk non-stop about your books and it was wonderful. I "won" in that I hit 50k, but I didn't finish the book. It was an awesome experience, and one I really can't recommend enough. It kicked my ass into gear again with my writing, which was something that I had been neglecting for years.

Going into camp was a little different. I knew what I was getting into, for starters, but there were a few things that threw me for loops. One being I was supposed to be out of town every single weekend this month*. I was also working again, which I hadn't been the first time around in November. I also two days before I was actually supposed to start writing tossed my previous idea (one I had been working on for months) for a new one. I got the thing in surprisingly functional condition in time to start. The last was what really made this hard for me. I knew I could hit 50k. It would mean sleep deprivation, it would  mean driving The Boy insane because no, I can't snuggle, I must write all of the words! And what do you think about this scene playing out this way? The real goal for me was the finish the book it's self. Something that I have been trying to do since I was old enough to write and never have.

This month, I have done it. I have written, start to finish, a book that is actually coherent. 60 000 words. 29 chapters of wizard fights, hell beasts, and Bad Things happening to my cast. I know it isn't done. I know things I want to edit and clean up, and I already have a few proof readers/editors who have volunteered or been voluntold (if you had a friend who went to school for editing you'd offer resume padding to them too!). Despite knowing that this project is far from over, I can't even begin to describe how good it feels to have done it. To be able to say "I wrote a book". This post isn't just me bragging about how awesome I am (though the answer is "Very" for those of you wondering) though.

I know I'm not the only person who is a writer that struggles to sit down and put the damned words on the page. I know this because when I did NaNo the first time in November, I met other people with almost the exact same problem. The whole thing has changed my life, as corny as it sounds. If you love writing but struggle to find the motivation, there is another "camp" in August, and I urge you all to try it out, or wait till November (more of a community then). You can find me on the main NaNo site or NaNo camp as Clevernamepending if anyone is jumping in, I'd love to hear from you!

So now I have a book. I don't think I can get published, but I want people to be able to read it anyways, otherwise what's the point? So, once my book goes through it's editing, I'll be putting it up one chapter a week here, and I hope that you will read it and give me feed back and thoughts on it when it goes up (I'll put up an announcement for it as well as what day it will be updating once the editing is done).

I also want to take a moment to say "thank you" to a few people publicly.

First and foremost, to my very good friend Alex who is the one who turned me onto NaNoWriMo in the first place. Alex has also for years been one of the few people who I can sit down and talk to about writing, and books, and character motivations endlessly and not get strange looks from. Alex, you Mad Scientist you, never change.

Next I'd like to thank Mr. Wildman who I met at a write in back in November and has been stuck with me ever since. He's helped me through so many plot snags, asked me questions I never thought to ask myself about my books and characters, kept me motivated to hit my word goals, and is always up for a write-in (even though I hurt his word count which I still think he is still a little bitter about). I should also thank him for letting me swipe his character from Call of Cthulhu as a secondary character for this book, as he added so much depth to it all for me. So Trevor, I'm sorry if I nerfed your word count while beating you horribly in word-sprints, but thanks for putting up with my antics anyways.

I should also thank one of my on-line friends, mAc, who did something in an RPG to my character that sparked off the whole idea for my book. mAc, you're a bad, bad man, but thank you for the inspiration.

And last, but not least, I should really thank The Boy. He's listened to me not shut-up about writing, dealt with me being totally absorbed on our long car rides every weekend (what, you think I didn't use that time to plot things?), not want to go out (though we still did honest! I wasn't THAT bad!), coming to bed way later then I should because "I'm just going to finish off this chapter first!" and just generally being in "Writer mode" with patience (if not glazed over eyes). I know you always look forward to the end of the month when I NaNo, but thank you for understanding and supporting me throughout it <3.

*One weekend I was supposed to be camping I bailed on because I wasn't feeling well. Every other weekend of June I have been gone Friday-Sunday.