I love Camp NaNoWriMo! Adjustable word count goals, flexible formats, s’mores? What’s not to love? I especially love Camp now that I have a group of writer friends to work with! I’m thinking writerly camp-outs, star-gazing, singing the Camp NaNo theme song around the campfire…
And s’mores. Lots and lots of s’mores. S’mores…
I might have a problem.
Ahem. Anyway, hanging out with this great group has been a blast and it’s really such an encouragement to be surrounded by people that really seem to get me. And, let’s be honest, at this point I need all the encouragement I can get.
Let’s do a writing recap, shall we?
In November, I vowed to finish my “Changing History IV: Search for the Entwives” first draft. If you’ve been playing along at home, you know that (despite reaching 50K words) I did not accomplish that goal. I’m close. But I’m not quite there. And the words I did write… Well, saying that it “needs work” might qualify for Understatement Of The Year. But that’s okay! That’s what revision is for!
Speaking of revision, during January/February (NaNo’s “Now What?” months) I set the goal of finishing the first draft in January and finishing the rewrites of Parts I thru III of Changing History in February. This seemed like a reasonable goal to me. It was not. I did not accomplish either one of these things. Instead, I got stuck. I got so stuck on Part IV that I couldn’t wade my way out to work on the edits for Part I. I got discouraged. Depressed even. I didn’t want to look at the stupid thing, much less write. It was a slog. I actually gave up and did not write a single thing for the first two weeks of March. I was grouchy and guilt-ridden and frustrated. I was beginning to question my sanity. And I started looking forward to April.
This might sound counter-intuitive. Let me explain.
I usually write out a plan in December for the year ahead. Just a bare-bones sort of month-by-month outline of what I would like to accomplish. And for April, I had set a fun goal of rewriting my 2010 NaNo project as a stage play. I was excited about it. I was going to try something new! It was going to be original! I was going to keep the spirit of Script Frenzy alive! Go me!
And then, as is typical when I have a plan that I’m trying to stick to, my muse struck. With a vengeance. Suddenly my brain was all Melomir, all the time. I found a way out of the hole I had dug myself in Part IV. I got two chapters of Part I rewritten in the span of a few days. And all I could think was, “WHERE WERE YOU A MONTH AGO, YOU FLIGHTY LITTLE #@&%$???”
And then she laughed at me. And gave me a plot twist. I hate her.
So as of right now, Script Frenzy is tabled. I’m setting myself the goal of at least finishing my revisions of Parts I thru III for April. I swear, if I can just get through the first fifteen chapters of Part I, the rest will be smooth sailing, but… we’ll see. Meanwhile, I’m going to continue working on Part IV as the spirit moves me. I’m furiously typing my way through the action-packed plot twist the muse threw at me earlier this week, but when that runs out I’m not sure if I’ll still have enough steam to finish. It would be awesome if I could get this done before April, but I’m not holding my breath. Apparently when I plan, everything falls to pieces. My new motto of the year? No Plans, No Problems! I should get that as a banner to hang over my writing space at home… or a throw pillow…
Maybe I’ll just make myself some s’mores.
FogIsBeautiful 