Day 5 NaNoWriMo

This is crazy. It is day 5 and I only have 4007 words. And the worst part of it is that the words are a mess. Misspelling, crappy punctuation, incoherent sentences and thoughts. Tonight was the worst. But I knew I had to stick it out and grind out almost 2000 words or something close to words.
50,000 words in 30 days = 1,667 words a day. Until today I have averaged about 500 at best and 300 at my worst. Last night 300. Right now tonight I should have 8,335 words. As you can see I only have 4007. That means that I am 4328 behind.

Well guess what. I will not only make up the 4328 words that I am behind but I will complete 50,000 words in 30 days and complete NaNoWriMo 2011. WRITE ON!!

Day 1 NaNoWriMo 2011

Well, after working all day I got home and sat down at the computer and as my daughter, Dustin, told me this morning that she was doing, I also just stared at the blank screen. Finally, I started and by 8:20pm about 2 1/2 hours later I managed to crank out 2,026 words. I feel I need to continue on this pace because there is to much happening this month and I know there will be dry day when I will not even stroke a key. The only thing that disturbs me about this process is that I am writing so fast and inaccurately that I feel like I have been writing "goobily goop". Maybe it will get better as I go. Let's hope so, It look and reads terrible right now.

What Point of View to write in?

Well, this is a record for most consecutive day’s blogging…2 in a row. I need to scratch that out because it is not true. I started out good but before I posted this I went down to watch the final game of the World Series and as always I fell asleep before the game was over and woke up, cold, cramped and miserable at midnight.  Maybe this is a start of something promising. I have been toying with my story all day. I know I said yesterday that I was going to write it in the first person point of view but after many failed attempts, in my mind, I have decided that the best way to write the story would be in the third person and have the main character, Johnnie, or whatever name I decide on…I’m still not sure, tell some of the story in diary form. I have also decided that the story will take place at the Battle of Manassas and/or Bull Run. Why? Because I live in Virginia, about 10 to 15 miles from Manassas and if I decide after NaNoWriMo that I want to continue working on this first draft and see if I can get it published I can do all my research close by.

The last time I walked the battle fields of Manassas I was struck by the fact that I could almost feel the history that took place there. It’s hard to explain. I recently had the same feeling at when my wife and I, on a Caribbean Cruise, docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico and toured Fort El Morro. Walking through the different areas of the old fort I could get a sense of how the soldiers of that day worked, eat, slept and tried to enjoy themselves under those conditions.

 OK. 2 days, 11 hours, 23 minutes till NaNoWriMo begins.

No pressure, right?

My NaNoWriMo Story

Well, the countdown clock is now ticking at 4 days, 4 hours and 4 minutes as I write this post. And I am happy to say that I have an idea of what I am going to write about...kinda like a "Novel Idea". My novel is going to take place during the American Civil War and the main character is going to be a 14 year old boy who is Drummer Boy in the Union Army. I am considering writing from the first person. I'm thinking that by writing in the first person I will be able to express, (let's give him a name...Johnny), his feelings better. Stop for a moment and think of when you were 13 years old. What were you doing? Playing baseball and trading baseball cards, skipping school, sneaking your Parents booze, thinking of girls, thinking of boys ( if you are a girl, of course). One thing is for certain; you weren't looking death in the face every day and trying to stay alive.                                               
I know a little about war having served in Viet Nam at the age of 19. That's a 5 year difference. doesn’t seem like much but I think the mind of a 14 year old and that of a 19 year old are quite a bit apart. I'm hoping that there not that far. We'll see. It is going to be a challenge but then so is NaNoWriMo.

Countdown to NaNoWriMo

Well, the countdown has begone. Less than a week till November 1st and the start of NaNoWriMo 2011. To be exact at this moment we have 5 days 9 hours and 35 minutes. Last year I didn't finish. My daughter, Dustin, did. She managed to pound out 50,000 words in 30 days of November. I managed a dismall 6,386. But, this year is going to be different.
So far, I have no idea of what I am going to write. I know it will be a Young Adult Fiction. I love to read YA books. As a matter of fact I just finished Chris Priestley's "Mister Creecher" and I just picked up at my local library Liam Tanner's "Museum of Thieves". But what will I write?
I have been thinking about it for a couple of weeks and it seems that the more I think about it the more confused and uncertain I am. What will probably happen is on Monday the 31 of October, as Trick-or-Treeters are roaming the neiborhood in all types of goolish outfits in search of candy I will be poised at my computer with a plank Word document open ready to start typing my fingers to a nub.
It doesn't matter if I have a plan, plot or draft, on paper or in my head. If I am not at the computer every day the best laid plan, plot or draft will die by the wayside. The key is to be ready each day, pen and pad in hand or fingers on the keyboard and WRITE. Good, Bad or Indifferent. It doesn't matter. The Key is to WRITE, WRITE, & WRITE SOME MORE.
That's my plan and I'm sticking to it. If you are participating in NaNoWriMo 2011 Good Luck and remember, WRITE,WRITE, & WRITE SOME MORE.

Sara's Key

I just found the movie trailer for the book, "Sara's Key". I enjoyed the book very much and I am hoping that the movie lives up the the book. You know how Hollywood can be sometimes, over doing a story with sex and gore just because they think that's the only way to sell the movie.

Enjoy the trailer...I am going to see the movie.

Learning to Swim while Learning to Write

As I watched this interview I began to realize that just like Sara J. Henry said you have to believe in yourself as a writer and those times that you don't LIE to yourself. She didn't say that but that is what I took from it.
I start believing and writing TODAY. Care to join me?

Getting Writing Ready

I have wanted to be a writer since I was a young man. My problem is I am to lazy to apply myself every day to the task of writing. I have no discipline. This blog and the other 4 I have are going to be my new writing tools. Each day I will write something in one of them.
Monday will be for Writing Me Crazy.
Tuesday will be for Tom's Reading Journal.
Wednesday will be for Volcanic Kitchen.
Thursday will be for Lighthouse Journal Devotions.
Friday will be for Fishing with Tommy.

It will be slow going at first but I will dedicate myself to 1/2 hour each day for starters.
See you tomorrow on Tom's Reading Journal..

Les Paul Google song

Click on the link to hear my Les Paul Google song.


http://goo.gl/doodle/I9BnD