This week’s post is something a bit strange.
I have been in an all consuming mood regarding ‘The Shapeshifters‘, NaNoWriMo, and a few of other ongoing projects…
Like the upcoming 48 hours read-a-ton (you can know it all on VLook) and register to participate here…
While planning to write a draft during next month’s NaNoWriMo, I figured I should have things better planned out. Yes, I mean it like this. I should have planned the plan! Or maybe I’m just nervous with the whole thing.
It’s my first big English writing project; I’m kind of contemplating the thought of making it a trilogy; and wanting to put this story into paper, after so many years in my head. I guess I am a tad nervous about it!
At the same time, there’s a lot of ideas regarding NaNoWriMo, and things I want to do, before the first day of November arrives.
Things I want to do, in order to feel more at ease with working on this project, uninterruptedly for a month… and then some.
Let’s start by listing some thoughts and try to get my grip on what’s going on.
First,
I want to start by confessing that I think I botched my NaNo projects page. It looks like this… [minus the ‘let’s be buddies!’ part]
I had a Portuguese project, from last year. Then, I created the English project for Camp NaNoWriMo this July. And then I created a new project for upcoming November’s NaNoWriMo.
Maybe I should have created a new goal… but wouldn’t it be Camp NaNo, instead of November’s NaNo? I don’t know!
Question: Do you have some thoughts on the matter?
Second…
I have written, and added some scenes, contemplating the major plots, transversal to the three books in the trilogy. [Seeds are evolving here and turning into sprouts.]
Organising these scenes has been my main prep activity for some time. All of my nights for the last three weeks, minus a day, due to a medical appointment.
I wanted it to be easy and perfect, and to be able to fix all the things I had messed up in the Portuguese drafts. Instead it just feels like a big mess.
More of a mess than before because, now I also have my english to contend with.
I am planning for a three act structure more openly now. For this book and the trilogy. [Just got myself into a big, three parted mess, didn’t I?]
While trying to visualize it all I got a bit confused… I am a visual planner, and I need to have some sense to where I am going… even if it’s a three year’s long project. I need to plan!!!
Third…
I am planning to make a billboard out of my 3 act structure. There is no way I can see the story just with my cards. Even if I’m using A5 cards! I need to have a sense to where all of these bits and pieces fit in.
[Thank you, Universe! for I am a crafter, and have plenty of supplies, including a children’s roll of paper from IKEA!]
With a huge billboard in toe, I expect it will be a long, crowded November, in all of my writing corners of this small house.
Fourth…
I am still hesitant in my working hours for this project.
I have been using during/after dinner time to write my scenes, but I don’t know if it’s the best fit for me. I prefer to write in the mornings. Usually I am more tired in the afternoon and in the beginning of the night, and less aware of idiotic writing (not exclusively) decisions.
But if I choose to block two hours, first thing in the morning, I’ll have to get up at 6… again. This means that by 9:30 pm I’ll be praying for rest and not getting any. I have a child. She doesn’t abide to my sleeping needs.
Scheduling two hours on a middle of the day would be complicated. Conflicting activities will always be a given.
And who says I can write 2000 in two hours? Every day? For a month? I write kind of slowly and usually cut too much of the fluffily prose that would serve a word count, but doesn’t make a decent writing product.
I am still mulling over this one… but it probably will affect my blogging consistency, and I’ll just end up writing during small increments of time, all day long.
Fifth…
I wanted to make a reminder for myself… but, this time, put it in front of me.
I thought maybe a banner. Why? You may ask…
To help me focus, and get in mood for this project, and to remind me of my most immediate goal, and to just feel some support of the objects-displayed variety.
At the same time, I hope it would serve as a reminder for other people, in the apartment, to accommodate my November’s writing needs. But that’s just wishful thinking.
Sixth…
Deciding on my writing spot.
I now have four possibilities… five, if I count the living room couch. I’ll be alternating between them, I guess.
These are: 1. The kitchen table. 2. My desk in my(shared) office. 3. My bedroom desk. 4. My child’s desk, in her bedroom.
Choosing a spot to write will be intimately connected with the day of the week, and at what time I’ll be working on this project. But I have choices and this is kind of a novelty for me.
I have written entire books on my couch. I have revised books from my bed. I have layered story cards on the spare bedroom floor (before my child’s arrival).
And there were times I didn’t had a proper desk to write on, nor one suitable office chair to sit comfortably. Proofs are pains all over my back and legs. But, even though it wasn’t healthy, I still miss sitting cross legged, writing on my lap.
Now…
Now I have this list, and my thoughts a bit more organised. I have been taking notes, parallel to writing this article, because putting stuff into paper, even if virtual paper, always helps me make sense of my to-do’s.
