Some people think writing is a solitary pursuit. In reality, it always helps to… have help.
In my case, here are a couple of my most persistent writing companions.
Justin’s blogging challenge
Beer and Writing
Founders Kentucky Bourbon Stout brewed with chocolate and coffee and aged in oak bourbon barrels.
As soon as I heard about this beer, a limited seasonal beer produced by Founders Brewing in Grand Rapids, MI, I knew I wanted to try it. Doing my due diligence, I learned it was supposed to be released on April 1 here in Austin, and I was prepared to go to my local “beer store” to grab some before they sold out. I’m friends with this particular store, Sunrise Minimart, on Facebook, and that’s how I learn about all of the cool new craft beers that they get.
Except they got the beer a few days early and although they posted an announcement on Facebook, Facebook decided I didn’t need to see that particular post, so by the time I realized what had happened, it was all gone.
It was a fail on the scale of Greek tragedies.
And then, a fellow homebrewer posted a photo on Facebook yesterday with, you guessed it, a four-pack of KBS. I commented on his good fortune, and he let me in on a great secret…
He had purchased extra!
Tonight, instead of writing as I had intended, I spent the evening drinking some amazing craft beers, including the KBS, which was just as amazing as you might expect from a beer with chocolate and coffee and aged in bourbon barrels. Words really can’t do it justice. The coffee is subtle but the chocolate is so rich, and the taste of whiskey is just the perfect compliment to the other flavors.
Oh right, words. I mentioned that I was supposed to be writing.
Well it’s late, and I’ve been relaxing and drinking beer. Most people in my sitiation would say, meh, I’ll skip it for tonight and pick it up again tomorrow. But not me. I signed up for Camp NaNo with the intention of writing every single day, and then agreed to a blogging challenge with a similar goal. It’s only April 3rd… I don’t want to be branded as a slacker on the third day!
So here, with less than an hour to go, I’m squeezing in my daily blog post.
As soon as I hit publish on this post, I’ve got some fiction to write before the clock strikes midnight, so I can log a word count for April 3rd. The good thing is that I’ve already decided that I want to continue to explore the history of one of my protagonists, and have several scenes already floating in my head. I’ve also decided that at some point he’s going to find an excuse to drink a nice craft beer. 🙂
Camp report: Writing by dictation
I got off to a great start with Camp NaNoWriMo! I started writing at midnight last night, then I wrote again at a writers meet up yesterday evening, and as a result had logged over 3000 words for the day.
Then I realized I should do some more writing later, after midnight, which is my normal time to write, so I’d be sure to have writing done for day two. I just didn’t feel like sitting in front of the computer. So I wrote a big chunk by dictating it into the speech recognition doohickey on my iPad and saved it in Google Docs.
That actually works pretty well, especially if you’re writing in first person and don’t need a lot of quotation marks.
It’s actually how I’m writing this post as well, although I’m writing it directly in the WordPress app on my iPad.
At any rate I feel like I got some really good writing done, with almost no typing and absolutely no handwriting. I was able to explore some of the motivations for one of my primary characters, by putting his history in his own words.
So that’s my report for today. If you don’t want to write, then talk to your iPad for a while. And then save it. Score!
Camp NaNoWriMo has begun!
At midnight, I left for camp.
More specifically, midnight marked the start of Camp NaNoWriMo.
Like the month-long NaNoWriMo novel writing month, Camp is also designed to get people to write every day, though this time things are less structured, and you don’t have to write an actual novel in 30 days. You can also set your own word count goal (the official NaNoWriMo goal is 50,000 words, or 1,667 words each day).
I’ve decided to tackle another 50K with Camp, since I was about to write 71K and change last November. My biggest challenge has been deciding what to write. I’m still in the editing process for my NaNo novel and have been struggling with the climax and resolution. I know where I want it to go, but getting there has been a bit more difficult than I expected.
What I have learned in the editing process is that I don’t really know my characters all that well yet. I thought I did, but not knowing how they would handle a complicated issue only goes to prove that they are still strangers in many ways.
Yesterday, on the very eve of Camp, I finally decided that for Camp what I would do would be write vignettes featuring different characters. Backstory, scenes, maybe even full-on short stories. Any character already named in the novel is fair game. After 30 days and 30 new bits, I should know everyone a bit better.
So at midnight I started with one of my main characters, Simon. While I don’t want to get into details about my story or the characters on the blog, suffice it to say he had a troubled childhood thanks to an abusive father, and now, as a graduate student, he’s trying to come to terms with his past, missing family members, and his father’s legacy. That’s not the plot of my novel, but it is what I’m trying to explore within his character. Last night I wrote a couple scenes from when he was 18, just before and just after he started college. It was really fun, seeing him at a different point in time, and learning a little more about what makes him tick.
I’m not sure yet which character I’ll encounter tonight. I’m kind of thinking I want to hang out with Jake, the protagonist of my short story that inspired this novel, The Pink Suitcase. Although he’s not one of the primary characters in my novel, he does have a significant supporting role.
So that’s the report for today from Camp. I’m sure I’ll write more soon.
(ps this post is #1 in what will hopefully be 30 posts as I take part in my colleague Justin’s writing challenge. Join me! 🙂 )