Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Nano 2013... I'm All In!

2013 have been a strange year for me. The biggest issue has been my complete failure in finding a way to manage my time appropriately. Work has become an ever growing presence in my life, time with my family now has to be scheduled – since the teens would only stop by for clothes and money if I didn’t. Hard for me to believe that there was a time that, while I never had tons of free time, I had at least enough to write some, read some, blog some, and still watch movies, have family time, and do whatever else struck my fancy.

(Now that I think of it, I make some sort of apology/excuse for not posting or visiting almost every time I put something up. Maybe I should just have an “I’m Sorry” tab that people can read. That way I can just link to it every time I post.)

Those days are gone. Not just work, but also things like my house, which seems to be aging worse than I am. Of course, with the house, that means I deal with its aging problems by building new things, adding new features, and generally spending more and more of my money and time trying to make it better.

The latest problem has been the rear deck, always a frightening thing to see, but of late has become a danger to us all. The new one will be up to code, and it should much larger. So yay.

But I’ve really slowed way down on my writing. I’ve probably written less in 2013 than I have since 2005 or so, back when I decided to really start dedicating myself to learning the craft. It’s depressing somewhat. But it is what it is.

So, of course, I’ve decided to try NaNoWriMo again. I think I’ve completed the challenge five or six times now. But I can’t say for sure. I don’t participate every year, and I think I did it for the first time around ’06. So we can do the math and figure out that I’ve missed a few years in there.

It makes me nervous because November promises to be a difficult month for me time-wise. But I’m starting to realize that I can’t just ‘fit’ writing into what I’m doing, I have to force it in, or I won’t do it anymore.

Really, it’s a big moment for me, realizing that.

So, I’m going all in I guess. I’ve got my genre picked out – Urban Fantasy – and my premise all set (It’s actually super awesome, maybe the best idea anyone has ever had about anything*). I've not quite got the plot figured out, which is okay, although I’ll feel much more comfortable if I can get my ending set, so I at least know where I’m going, even if I’m a bit confused on how I’m going to get there.

Please, if you're signed up, add me as a buddy.


*Okay, I know there are arguments to be made for some other things being as great as my novel idea. In my head, the most profound insights ever from humans go something like this:

1)      The premise of my NaNo project this year
2)      Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity
3)      Darwin’s Origin of Species (even if you disagree with his conclusions… it’s damned amazing)
4)      The Scientific Method
5)      Fred Hoyle’s work on the life cycle of stars
6)      Descartes ideas on the nature of the human soul (despite how ridiculously wrong he almost has to be… still a great idea).
7)      Anything Tyco Brahe did, because… damn.
8)      The discovery of the circulatory system.
9)      The germ theory of disease.
10)   Newton’s discovery of Calculus.
11)   And Gravity
12)   Bruno’s belief in alien worlds.
13)   The many world’s aspect of quantum mechanics
14)   Alfred Wallace’s theory of evolution (because he was crazy!)
15)   Lamarck’s theory of evolution (because I have a bet riding on this one)
16)   The standard model of quantum mechanics (pretty cool, but not AS awesome as #13)
17)   My grandmother’s fried pie
18)   The Copernican Principal
19)   The Atari 2600
20)   The first Halo game
21)   The discovery of modern Fertilizer (btw Fritz Haber won the Nobel Prize for this… but he also invented modern chemical weapons… and personally led the “Gas Troops” for Germany in WWI and killed thousands (his wife committed suicide over this and thought him a monster). Four other future Nobel winners served under him – if memory serves (always dicey), he was later convicted of War Crimes. Seriously, this is where the Mad Scientist stereotype comes from).
22)   The electric guitar
23)   Anything Leonardo Da Vinci did (who should probably be higher, but I don’t feel like messing with the list now… just mentally insert him up there ahead of Tyco Brahe – I mean, I don’t recall Brahe making into any Assassin’s Creed Games – then again, Brahe had a pet Moose that got drunk and died after it fell down the steps at a party. So there – also, lost his nose in a duel over who was better at math, and he died because he refused to pee… so, his actual accomplishment, cataloging stars, well, you try doing it so well when you’re partying with a Moose, losing body parts and obsessively trying to hide your data from competitors).
24)   Oh, Assassin’s Creed games
25)   SETI
26)   Playing Cards (I should totally look this up… who invented those things? Because they are amazing)
27)   Kepler’s three laws (might have come a lot sooner, if Brahe weren’t so weird about sharing data – he viewed Kepler as a rival).

Were I to start over from scratch, I’d wager my list would look much differently. Whatever though, as of this moment in time, these are the greatest things that humanity ever came up with. I’d note that my Grandmother has something on this list, so, yay. She is pretty great.

13 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I don't know about gravity, but the electric guitar beats just about any story idea. (And I'm sure you won't dispute that. Won't even ask if you still fit that into your life.)
You're right, you either make writing fit or you just don't do it.
Do the teens stop by for the car?
And I'm going to make you an 'I'm sorry' badge.

Deborah Walker said...

Time, yeh. It's a pain in the ass all right. The best thing that helps me is setting monthly targets.

Here you go: have a gander.

I never seem to meet them, though. Perhaps I should downgrade them.

Andrew Leon said...

I'm all about the not apologizing. I mean, really, who are you apologizing to? And for what? For not doing something your not obligated to do for people you're not obligated to do it for? Unless we start paying you pre-post to do the post, which could be a thing. Maybe I should try that. No, that probably just be another way to watch people not buy my stuff.

However, that doesn't mean you probably won't end up on my list here in a couple of weeks. Or 10 days. Something.

Good luck with NaNo. Braver than I am.
Fly casual.

Cindy said...

No need to be sorry. I've been in a rut too and most likely won't be coming out of it any time soon. I tried this weekend, but failed.

Tonja said...

Fried pie? Yummy.

I am drawn to NaNoWriMo but I think I'm actually just going to unofficially write more in November - by more I mean every day and with the intention to get the thing done. Good luck!

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

I know you'll reach your Novemember goals. I'll be cheering you on.

Briane said...

OH MAN this post was so worth it, even if it made me feel stupid. I only know about 1/2 of the things on your list, PERIOD. I'm totally serious about that. Plus you know how to build a deck? Last week, I tried to fix a light in our spare room and, long story short, we owe the electrician another $112 plus I found out that "Crocs" are not considered a regulation safety shoe if you are standing on a chair and didn't ACTUALLY throw the circuit breaker.

I can't wait to find out what your premise is. I assume "Urban Fantasy" is some sort of code for "I am FINALLY going to write the sequel to 'Dead God'." PLEASE TELL ME I AM RIGHT.

But everything you write is great, so I look forward to your 50,000 words. In the foreword, you should apologize for not having written it before.

Jay Noel said...

You're now my NaNo buddy.

Proud of you! I'm sure you will win this year. NaNo is a great way to get your ass in gear.

Anonymous said...

All in, man -- good luck! I need a national novel REVISING month. About 1/3 of the way through my mss, hoping to get it out to small presses by New Year's.

Tina said...

Thought I'd stop by since so many people said they'd miss you if you were gone. Maybe if enough of us come by in a more regular fashion (I've been a follower...but I follow a LOT of blogs and don't make it to all of them with any sort of regularity...which I should totally apologize for when I do go...or maybe I'll just borrow your "I'm Sorry" button...) then you'd stick around...it's worth a shot anyway.
Good luck with NaNo. Not doing it this year.
Loved your list. Proud that I knew a lot of what you were talking about. I guess that's what you get for being a total nerd. Totally impressed you put calculus on there...math is my all time nerdiest thing since my degree is in math.
So here's my vote for you sticking around and I'll try to be around more.
Tina @ Life is Good

Trisha said...

YAY for NaNo! NOT yay for ageing houses! I hope you get the house sorted.

I'm going to add you at NaNo - my username is yoghurtelf. :)

Maurice Mitchell said...

A lot of guys are doing Nano this year! I hope you rock it out Rusty.

Deborah Walker said...

How's it going, Rusty?