Mein Baby

I suppose my invisible audience would like to know more about my current Work-In-Progress, no?

Well, it is called (at the moment) The Hartigan War. It takes place during the American Civil War and centers around the Hartigan family, a vaguely half-Irish, half-French Southern family.

If it weren't currently in the midst of a massive plot overhaul I would tell you things that happen in the beginning like why my main character runs away from home and how he ends up enlisted in the Union army (I still don't know how he joins the Union army), but basically, the main character's name is Adam. His father is a douche and his mother has just died. Adam runs away with a slave named Aria and they head up north to the New York state area. Somehow Adam ends up in the Union Army where he meets a con-artist named Matthew and STUFF happens. I don't know what because I keep changing it.

What I NEED to do is sit down and write. Just write out what comes into my head instead of letting my inner-editor come in and say, "That's no good. Change it. Change it NOW!" I need to tell her to fuck off.

But not to worry, invisible readers, I shall keep you updated on what happens in my novel and how my hands are or are not functioning.

Happy writing!

Camp NaNoWriMo

I was snooping around on the internet when I decided to revisit the NaNoWriMo website, mainly because I was trying to see if my Scrivener coupon was still good. It is. (Note-to-self, it expires in September.) Anyway, I came across the brand spanking new Camp NaNoWriMo website and signed up. Apparently the site is for those who wish to pull a NaNoWriMo in July and August. I guess you pick one or the other, or both. Either way, I've signed up which means I'll be writing a 50,000-word novel in July and/or August.

Oh, crap.

And I'll be writing it by hand as I just bought this really awesome journal from Barnes & Noble that looks 200 years old and fits the context of my story perfectly. My hands already hurt. I wonder if my hand will even be functional by the end of July and/or August. Well, the point of doing NaNoWriMo is pushing yourself towards that finish line. I did just give myself a deadline for my current WIP, currently titled, The Hartigan War (I say 'currently' because as I mentioned in my previous post, this WIP has gone through more name changes/identity crises than I can count). I've been doodling with it for the past 8 years and I've officially announced my deadline for completion at October 31. Just in time for the next NaNoWriMo.

I imagine that by the time I've finished 3 months of handwriting fury the blisters on my left hand will have their own blister babies, complete with condos and tennis courts. And my brain will either be infinitely stronger during this word production marathon, or it will have overheated and melted out of my ears. Either way, by the end of it I should have one steaming pile of NOVEL that I can call my own. Squee.

Let's see how this one goes.

Bad Habits Re-Emerge but with some Good News

So what if it's 4am and I haven't gone to sleep yet. I've figured out what's wrong! With my writing, that is. As much as I love my Temple of the Red Velvet Jesus novel, those characters are driving me crazy. But I'm finally in the mood to write again and I'm doing everything I can to stay in that mood. But not with Ryan und Forrest for a while. So I've decided to move back to the first novel I ever started.

This is a novel that has gone through more title and plot changes than I can name. It's completely unrecognizable from it's original version from 2003. Literally the only thing that hasn't changed is the time period. Everything else, from character names, to the characters themselves and the plot is entirely different. I guess that's what happens when you've been working on a story for 8 years. Let's see if I can get this one finished by the decade mark.

Here's to a new-found purpose in das writing. Maybe I can finally get to sleep.

Back In It

I'm going to pick up on The Temple of the Red Velvet Jesus again. I need to get this finished. So I can be published and awesome and totally non-gloating by rubbing my book in your face.

And screw Script Frenzy. I'm just not feeling the screenwriting thing anymore. Oh, well.

So after I awake. At some point during the day as I will be very busy doing whatever, I will pull out my manuscript and get to work. Not working on it makes me feel unaccomplished and lazy. And if there's anything I hate, it's feeling lazy. (That's right, I'm a *procrastinating* workaholic. Is conflict, yes?)

At this point I'm not entirely sure how my little fledgling novel is going to end up. I've made so many changes (in my head) that I don't know where it's going. But I look forward to finding out.

I blame Twitter for this sudden desire for productivity. Since hockey season (or at least the Thrashers' season) ended I've been following more writers. There are so many writers on Twitter who either have books out or will have them out soon. I want to be one of those. I want to be published. I want to be something.

But first. I need to sleep.

Here's to dreams of publishing.

Random Glory

A few days ago, I got a new idea for a story. It's about this woman who's trying to figure out the history of everything, etc. It oh so vaguely resembles the Lara Croft series, but not really. Anyway, I was so exited about the idea.

And today, I just found a website explain exactly what my unnamed character is trying to do. It's called The Origin of Language. I haven't started reading it yet, but it seems so interesting and right on the head of what I was trying to do. Way to make my job so much easier. I didn't even go out looking for this, it just showed up on the MyYahoo homepage. Interesting. Sometimes, something good does come out of those irritating modules.

I still don't know if it's legitimate or if this guy's a total nutcase. Either way, it's good luck for my new story.

Hurrah for serendipity!