Category Archives: writing

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Whole new vistas of procrastination

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So…. About that NaNoWriMo thing. I know I’ve committed to doing it, and I still plan to, but it starts in a mere 2 days time. I have no plot, officially sending me into pantster mode for the project. To make matters worse, I spent today thinking about anything but my NaNo project. On the way into work I started putting together a concept for an off-center novel about super-heros. No problem, I figured, I get a lunch break right? Nope-asked my wife out for coffee instead (which she paid for – how’s that for progressive! 😉 ) Plus I finally got my twitter polling (there are wheels grinding there to, I can tell you!) That ended the lunch-break writing session. No problem. Still got traffic on the way home right? Erm. Nope. Was thinking about another blog post I preemptively sketched out last night and went into a totally unrelated ditch. Now I’ve got another story idea I need to jot down. Plus, I had some seriously solid ideas on how to fix my War of Shadows story.

I think that so far my NaNo experience has been one of the most inspired moments of my life. So much going through my head, it’s just that none of it is going to result in a drafted novel this month. If anything, it’ll just result in an even more bizarre browser history.

What am I going to do now? How am I going to stay focused? To start, I’m going to write down my ideas and force myself to work on the Steampunk project it’s got to get done dammit! That said, it’s already looking like I might go seriously off the rails. Anyhoo. That’s my update for the day, on to that other bit of procrastinating I need to work on.

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My mind is racing – in the wrong direction

Today I had two meetings. The first was in the morning, which was cancelled, leaving myself and the only other available participant with a free hour. We decided to just screw around in my cube to see what we could come up with. It was hands-down the most productive meeting I’ve had for that group. Actually got stuff done – useful stuff. The second meeting was at the end of the day. It was also productive, but in a completely different manner.  I received clear direction and feedback and had most of my questions answered – AKA: I know where I’m going with that project, how to get there and when. PLUS it’s a fun project. I basically get to re-vamp a bunch of reports for a tele-health system in a newer much more wiz-bang and easy to manage technology. 

The problem is that the day is over and I’m still in full-on programmer mode. I can’t seem to clear my mind of plans for how I might structure the new system. Now, this shouldn’t be a problem, it’s nice to be enthusiastic about work, but it is because NaNoWriMo starts in a couple of days and I need to focus on my personal stuff while at home. If that meeting had occurred earlier in the day, perhaps I would have run it out of my system by 4.

Anyhow, here I am, thinking about queries, data organization, documentation, testing, and all that jazz. I just can’t seem to get back into the right frame of mind for writing and plotting. Not only that, I can feel exhaustion setting in. Won’t be long before I’m too tired to really concentrate. That’s my NaNoWriMo update for the day. I’m trying, but I just can’t seem to get there. Perhaps a run, then maybe?

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Fast Forward

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If for some reason you’ve made the very poor judgment call to actually read this blog with any regularity, then I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking: Holy crap Dave you’ve written two blogs in almost as many days! (I say almost because they were each posted at opposite fringes of two consecutive days). Now, if you’ve made the even bigger judgment error of continuing to read, here’s what’s on my mind:

I’m working on Wine Bottles and Broomsticks – all the way out in chapter 9, if you can believe that. So far, it’s been fun, possibly the most fun writing project I’ve had to date. However, I’m now staring at a problem. It’s not a major problem, like a terrible character or gaping plot hole or a plot that just isn’t going anywhere. Nope. That’s not it at all.

I just reached a stopping point.

Dave?

Yes?

You’re just a little over 30K in and you haven’t even gotten to the main point of action you’re building up to.

You can see why this is a problem for me.

Okay fine, it feels like a stopping point, make 9 a short chapter and move on.

Well, that’s the sticking point.

I really don’t see how – are you making this a bigger problem than it is?

No-no, it’s not like that, what I want to do is fast-forward a few weeks. To this point in the story, things have more or less gone day by day. There haven’t been any major breaks in time, however, I’d like to skip ahead to avoid some rather tedious and unnecessary repetition. I want to jump to a scene just before the action really starts to pick up again. In order to make that work, I’m going to have to recap the previous few weeks of time. I don’t see an awful lot going on in that span of time, and I need some depth of time to pass in order for later elements to really be believable.

I think you may have already made a decision Dave.

No. I haven’t, actually. By skipping ahead, I’m cutting out a lot of time in which I can develop plot and characters, it’s just that outline-wise, I don’t have a hell of a lot to actually drop in there. Not only that, I run the risk of throwing off the pacing and making the end of the story feel rushed. No proper build up.

Okay, you know what, you’re clearly not going to take my advice, perhaps you need to get a second opinion.

That’s a great idea. Any takers?