GarniGal's Journal:

Decision made, all I had left to do was buckle down and get some words on the paper. It took me a week to stop procrastinating and actually do that.

However, here are my statistics:

Learning Curve started with 15,108 words (I'm guessing it'll be over 100,000 words by the end, but I'm guestimating it to end at 100,000 for the time being). I wrote at my lunch break, and now it's up to 15,218. So, only 110 words, but at least I'm getting back into it. I've got my Learning Curve style back (much different from my The Novel style or my fanfic style) which was one of the things hindering me - Lia should not speak in Buffyisms.

We'll see how many more words I get by the end of the day - I'd like to be up over 16,000.

One good thing - I have at least recognized one of my problems. I expect my first draft to be too readable and complete. I get bogged down in the details - grammar, continuity, etc. I need to remember that the first draft is just that - a draft. So for the rest of Learning Curve, I'm trying to just get the story down, the characters out there, and remember I'll got back and cut and rewrite and tidy up later.

Michelle Rowen

One of the bloggers I read avidly is Michelle Rowen. She's a writer, published and everything, and I loved her first book, and I got to meet her at her first book signing, and... I'm a total fangirl.

Anyway. She is working on the sequel to her first novel, Bitten & Smitten. It's called Fanged & Fabulous and she's got a deadline of August 1st for the first draft. In the spirit of "misery loves company", she's issued a challenge - Write On with Michelle. In other words, she's invited her blog readers to work on their novels with an eye to completing a draft at the same time she finishes her first draft, and blogging the process. Obviously, all this is leading to this: I've signed up.

I really want to be successful at this. I've attempted Nanowrimo twice and didn't finish either novel. I'm hoping that having 4 and a half months instead of just one month will keep me from getting overwhelmed. Of course, the inverse of that is the danger of losing interest after focusing for so long on one story.

Now that you have the backstory, I can start in on my issues. Yes, it's the first day, and I have issues.

1. I haven't decided what to write. It would be nice to start something brand new, something from scratch. It would also be nice to finish something. Anything less than 50% finished is an acceptable project for this. And neither of the projects I'm considering is anywhere near 50%.
Projects under consideration:
1a: Learning Curve - A YA fantasy that I started for Nano '04.
Pros: I'm at about 15,000 words over 4 chapters. I love the idea.
Cons: I haven't figured out the middle.

2a: The Novel - A Chicklit novel that I started a couple of years ago.
Pros: I have 2 very, very short chapters written.
Cons: Not quite sure of where it's going.
Not quite sure if it's going to end up being novel-length.
Love, love the idea. I think it's publishable, but I could easily wreck
it by trying to write it before I'm ready.

2. I still need to work on some fanfic - I want to have a reasonable body of work before WriterCon in July. At the moment, I'm feeling a little like a fraud. I only have 4 stories posted, and one of them is a WIP. A WIP I haven't updated in months. My roommates are awesome writers with great imaginations and great talent. I know I'm going to learn a lot from them, but I would like to have something, some small skill, to offer in return.

3. I don't have an issue number three. Yet. I'll get back to you.