Archive for the ‘about writing’ Category

NaNoWriMo 2012

Sunday, December 2nd, 2012

An after-action report on my participation in National Novel Writing Month –

I had high hopes.  Oh, such high hopes. I had a team of fellow participants to egg me on, both in our community at large and specifically at school.  The latter had even invited me to guest blog, and I posted a bit about my mixed anticipation and intimidation at the work and the goal.

So I started writing on the first of the month.  Just after having caught a nasty cold on the 31st.  I did manage to get to 2600ish words by the fourth, but for more than a week I just barely hauled myself to work, then came home and crashed.  Death warmed over.

Then came Thanksgiving.  And then the 15-page final paper in my course.  And, and, ….  I ended the month with less than 3100 words – not even two day’s scheduled output.

What are the lessons learned?  First, have a stronger, more complete outline and plan before the beginning of the month.  Second, don’t get sick.  🙁  Third, try not to procrastinate my other essential tasks (like school work, or work work) such that they busy out the Eleventh Month.

But the real take-home is – I Just Gotta Write.  “Every day, day in, day out … No excuses, no slacking off” – for 365 days a year.  I hereby announce the start of PerNoWriMulMo – “Personal Novel Writing Multi-Month”.  I don’t have an exact word-count goal – yet – but I intend to Just Keep Writing.

I’ll keep you up-to-date on the results.

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housekeeping

Thursday, December 29th, 2011

I’ve picked a new style for my blog.  Within the limited palette given to me by 1 & 1 Internet, this one is much less cluttered and lays out better on the screen.

Hopefully, less distraction from the layout and more attention to the content.  😀

Posted in about writing, administrivia | 1 Comment »

Specialization

Monday, October 31st, 2011

I have a cherished quote from one of my favorite authors (Robert A. Heinlein), which goes –

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

I recently toted up my score. Not counting the last two abilites (which I hope to not have to test for a   l o n g   time), I can conservatively give myself a 15 out of 19.  I even was able to parlay this quote, and some of my accomplishments, into a self-promotion (one of my assignment for school).

So now a two-fold challenge for my readers – first, how do you score on Bob Heinlein’s list?  And second, create a list of your own of 20 or so things every competent human should be able to do (and of course, score yourself on it).

Put your lists and scores in the comments.  Think outside of the box – remember, “specialization is for insects.”

Posted in about living, about writing | 3 Comments »