Friday, December 30, 2011

The Finish Line

As my Write-A-Thon comes to an end, I am astounded to realize that I am quite awake and chipper.  I'm sure that once the euphoria wears off after completing this mountain, I will fall exhausted in a heap on my bed and not move for a few eternities.

I cannot find my camera cord (yet another item I abandoned the search for to continue my writing) so I will have to blog in the next few days about the true details of my accomplishments from today's events.  So stay tuned for that.  Trust me I have lots of fun pictures for your enjoyment.  It will inspire you how uninteresting some of these pictures are, but they are fun to document and look back on for my own perseverance, if nothing else.  It gives me something to look forward to, and I will have to take notes when I wake up so that I make sure to recall as much as I can.

Now for the update of my goals for the last half of my marathon: 
1.  Don't give up.
2.  15,000 word total by Write-A-Thon end.
3.  Complete Chapter's 5-8 of E.
4.  Work on first free write once again.  

I did not give up!  Of this, I am extremely proud.  I did take a 3 hour nap just after the midway point of my marathon.  However, the realization struck me that in a writer's perspective, quality should always rule over quantity.  I'll admit that my writing started to taper off the "sensical" route and began to dither quite a bit.  It makes it hard to edit a draft of anything if the writer was three-quarters asleep when attempting to expound themselves.  It would have been too much of a headache for me, and I didn't want to create more work for myself down the line simply to stay awake for several more hours.  I went to sleep feeling confident that I would be able to keep my original goals and actually meet them sans an insanely guttural voice and sunken eye sockets.

My anticipation and assertions were on point.  I not only met my 15,000 word total in total word count of the day (combining my novel and free writes), I also surpassed 15,000 words within my novel, completed chapters 5 through 8 (which I feared I would not be able to do), and was able to work, though for only a short time, on another free write.

I can now end this Write-A-Thon with full knowledge that I can do anything if I've got enough nerve (Thank you for that, Mrs. Rowling) and if I've got enough insanity to think it up. 

Total word count of December 2011 Write-A-Thon: 15,310


Write-A-Thon Halfway Point

I am now approximately halfway through my current Write-A-Thon project.  During one of my breaks, I decided to look up the concept of Write-A-Thons on Google.com.  I was not too surprised to find other write-a-thons in existence, but I was quite pleased to see that none had undertaken a 26.2 hour stint of writing.  Some were only a few hours or days of intensive writing and creativity.  Some were accomplishing entire novels in 26 days!  I may need to try that one.  But none were exactly like mine.  I find it nice because I feel like I've infringed on no existing idea. 

Before I update on my previous goals and establish my new ones, I feel impressed to mention a few things I must remember for my next Write-A-Thon (and a tip for any reader interested in taking this on themselves):

1.  Start in the morning, or rather, when you first wake up after a full sleep.  You will have more effective creativity and writing flow for longer periods of time.
2.  Create more stream-lined official goals with more specific outcomes.  This allows for more efficient use of your time.  Creativity is never the most efficient engine, but it can be more so when you come to the table with a proper idea of what you want to receive out of your given time.
3.  Come to the table prepared.  I've spent too much time looking for things that have turned out to be missing (as in a 3 hole punch, my schematics, and location drawings of important places within my novel).  They were here a minute ago...  I still have not found them and it is slowing my writing down immensely because I have nothing but my own sleep deprived memory to pull from. 
4.  Have a more structured itinerary prepared including breaks to save yourself from burn-out and fatigue.  If you find yourself writing more than following, that's great.  But if you're stuck, a coming break can ease that wall a bit.

And now to update on my previous goals and how those are coming along:

1.  Write a solid hour from a writing prompt.
2.  Complete Chapter 3-8 of E. (Chapters 3 & 4 are complete.  Working on Chapter 5 at the moment.)
3.  Work on E.C.
4.  Do not fall asleep or give up! (So far, I've accomplished this)
5. 5000 words down.

My next goals are as follows:

1.  Don't give up.
2.  15,000 word total by Write-A-Thon end.
3.  Complete Chapter's 5-8 of E.
4.  Work on first free write once again. 

By 8:32 am, I had written a total of 7,720 words with only 7,280 remaining.  This is just over half of my goal.  With my wits only dulling more and my walls becoming ever present, I am already in a scramble to keep up. 

This is slow going, but I know now that a few hours writing in a day is nothing compared to this.  Yes, I do believe myself insane to be doing this.  However, I am enjoying this, no matter the difficulty.  Ask me again in a few hours, I may have changed my mind.  But up to this point, I have been rather a bit of fun.  It is exciting to see a story come to life in front of you.  And even more, your own.

And so comes and goes the halfway point to this insane marathon of writing.  I am off into my mind once again.  Wish me further luck and encouragement.  


1

Thursday, December 29, 2011

It Begins...

...so at 8:03 pm, my Write-a-thon officially begins, giving me an end time of 10:15 pm tomorrow night.  I apologize for the 3 minute delay, but you try explaining to an 8 1/2 month old that Mommy will be working for 26.2 hours straight.  She is my biggest supporter and my largest obstacle.  Missing her hurts already.  And yes, I am being serious.


Let's get down to it.  Goals for this section of the write-a-thon:
1.  Write a solid hour from a writing prompt.
2.  Complete Chapter 3-8 of E.
3.  Work on E.C.
4.  Do not fall asleep or give up!
5. 5000 words down.

I'm petrified, but it's time.  I will update via twitter and Facebook approximately every 4 hours.  My twitter account is bookishbethany, if you are interested in following along and are not a Facebook friend.  Thank you all for your support.  I'll need every grain to defeat this. 

What is a Write-A-Thon?

Okay, so as far as I know, it's something I only just recently invented.  Sure, it may exist elsewhere, but I have no knowledge of anyone else attempting what I am about to attempt, so I'm claiming it as my own mini-revolution.  There are several read-a-thons and novel, blog, journal, or poetry writing weeks, months, et cetera that tens to hundreds of thousands of people take part in every year.  I tend to get busy and either completely forget or simply relent and let it beat me.  So I'm creating my own mountain to scale.

I wanted desperately to follow the National Novel Writing Month this past year in November (or NaNoWriMo to you knowledgeable folks), but school, family, and my own demons kept me from even attempting it this year.  This is my retaliation now that I have a few days before everything starts back up again. 

I was going to await the New Year and ring it in strong.  However (and I do not know how this happened), my husband convinced me to ring out the old year instead.  It made sense when he explained that writing shouldn't start with a specific timeline other than the one we create.  And possibly, it will make me stronger and more eager to take on 2012 if I know that I've accomplished a few major feats in 2011.

So to celebrate the last of this year, I will have a few major accomplishments to look back on and remember fondly (even if at the time, I felt more crazy for doing them than after the fact): having my daughter, our first child in April 2011, going back to school in September 2011 and surviving with a 3.73 cumulative GPA with an infant, and now the Write-A-Thon.  Maybe there weren't several accomplishments, but each of these will significantly impact my future, and that makes me excited to see this old year out with a bang, and ring in the New Year with all the opportunities it could possibly contain!

So what is a Write-a-thon exactly?  I'm glad you asked.  A runner's marathon is 26.2 miles long, from start to finish.  So in respect to that, a writer's marathon is 26.2 hours long.  That's right: 26.2 hours straight (with bathroom breaks, of course) of writing and all the things that go into writing.  And for me, this begins at 8:00 pm tonight (Eastern Standard Time).

In doing this, I hope to jump start my creative mind, opening the doors, forcing the flood gates, and allowing my mind to re-establish its relationship with the writing world.  So come writer's block or no, I will write whatever it is I can in whatever way I can, until 10:12pm tomorrow night, December 30, 2011.  Then I will get some much needed sleep, wake up and go about my day, implementing new goals into my life that will sustain and enrich my writing as much as possible.

I will kick off my writer's marathon with a blog update here, I will update on my twitter and facebook page as often as I can (the goal is about once every 4 hours).  I will also post a midway point blog here at around 9:00 am tomorrow morning, and will complete my writer's marathon with a finishing blog at 10:12 pm tomorrow.  If you were lucky enough to know about this and care to follow me as I take on this mountain, I would be honored and I hope you would enjoy the opportunity to see how much I accomplish and how much I lose my sanity.

Feel free to comment or ask questions, should you have any.  As I said, this is a new project that I've recently created and I will try to fill you in and share as much as I can about what I accomplish in these 26.2 hours of creative flooding.

My next entry will outline more of my initial schedule and goals for this feat.  They may be loose as I've never done anything like this and I have no idea what to expect of myself.  But goals give me a direction, and heaven knows I need some if I'm going to write for 26.2 hours straight. 

For now, I'm going to get a few hours of sleep and I will return here at 8:00 pm.  Join me if you will!

Good luck to me.  Until then, adieu.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

I'm Going to Buy A Zoo

It's been a crazy whirlwind of Christmas, visiting family, relatives, long distance phone calls, dinners, outings, shopping, preparing for the new semester and recovering from the previous semester.  And not once have I felt a moment to myself.  Honestly... it's degrading me a little bit and I've been finding myself in a surly mood that has only compounded upon itself a little more every day.  This helps, though. 

I did enjoy my Christmas very much.  Seeing my daughter experience this time of year for the first time has been exciting, and I'm sure I've been borderline obsessive about making sure everything revolved around her and what made her happy.  Or what I perceive makes her happy.  But this time of year to me has always held a magical dream of happiness and enlightenment which is something I very much want her to experience as well.  So I think I added that stress and diminished my own free time trying to go above and beyond.

Now that things are (slowly) dying down, I am looking forward to the Write-a-thon coming up in my schedule.  This is a new project that I am hoping will kick-start my creativity, my writing mode and voice, as well as give me some new nuggets of wisdom to share.  I'm not completely sure of the details as of yet (stay tuned for those), but it will occur before the semester begins and I know it will probably drive me insane and eventually to an epiphany of creativity for my mind.  But not without a little bloodshed on my part (no, not in the literal sense.  Rituals of that kind are a little medieval to me).

So let me gather together the great minds I need to surround myself with and collaborate with my subconscious on how to go about attempting and outlining my Write-a-thon.  It won't be big to you, but I do believe some preparation is in order.  I'm scaring myself more than I need to, but perhaps that is a necessary emotion.  It's time I move ahead and buy a zoo. 

Monday, December 12, 2011

Writing Is Creating That Feast For the Soul

The best part, for the writers, is getting to lick that batter-filled spoon that no one else will get.  Only we know the secret ingredients that put everything together for them.  Only we know how long, or how quickly, we were able to craft it, and only we know the pain of simmering, baking, or slow-roasting it to perfection.  We're the ones who get burned, who retched after that first batch (which we hid in the breadbox behind Aunt Marva's salted sugar cookies from last holiday season), who sampled the finished product in our sleep thereby birthing the masterpiece before attempting to make it tangible. 

Only we, the writers, understand what it costs of our souls and our thoughts and ultimately, ourselves, to write for someone else to read.  For someone else to sample, taste, and experience.  And we await their response, with bated breath, hoping the best, fearing the worst, and petrified of whatever answer they give. 

I meant to simply make an appearance.  I wanted to announce that I'm alive, though I wish I weren't; rather, that I would choose to skip the week, as it is my finals for the semester.  However, I've been moved to talk about the desire to create and why it is that I love it so much.  It is never easy, and not once have I noticed a painless endeavor in my writing.  Carefree, perhaps, but never painless.  Yet I still love it so. 

I think perhaps that the need to create, the need to share myself overwhelms me and I must write.  Perhaps, even more, it is because for my entire life most everyone claimed they could not understand me, who I am, and how I think.  Perhaps, it is to connect to them, and ultimately, myself.  If I write, perhaps then, they will finally understand me, who I am, and how I think.  Perhaps.  In the meantime, it is nice to keep the mystery about me.  This works to my advantage when I desire the element of surprise.

If only the realm of surprise wasn't so lonely at times. 

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

When I write in French

...I tend to find myself inspired to write in English.  Unfortunately, I am also inspired to write in French, but I never feel like I can fully convey what it is I wish to say in English much less French so the process is much slower and exponentially more frustrating. 

I am counting down the days to the end of the semester eagerly and am now sitting at 12 days and counting.  I find it amusing that I've been wishing and striving to go to school for so long and now that I am 12 days away from the end of this semester, I realize how much I wish I was finished and moving on with more important things.  I feel like I've been in school for forever and now I am just hitting myself with very heavy, very expensive volumes of information and I am exhausted in an old feeble kind-of way.  Yes, I know how literary that sounded. 

I recently turned 29 (ancient, yes) and now that I have a daughter and I am attempting to write my novel, I am finding school more of an intrusion.  I look forward to next semester, however, and I am almost in longing for it.  I have signed up for Creative Writing and Introduction to Literature: Short Story and Novel.  You have no idea the joy this brings me.  Finally, I will feel like I am in my element.  Finally, I will exist alongside books and dust and prissy cats that live under the librarian's desk.  I will be able to read books (textbooks don't count for me anymore) and write about them.  Even more, I will be able to write creatively!  My heart leaps and dances with joy at this thought! 

So 12 days.  I can hold out right? I'm going through writer's withdrawals.  I find myself staying up later and later to research something, anything about my projects and I try to get something onto paper.  More often than not, I don't have time which is more than frustrating.  I cling to the thought that in less than 2 weeks I will have my mind back, my sanity back (someone stole that weeks ago), and my creativity time back.

I will also have my daughter to play with and enjoy.  She will be eight months in two days and I already feel as if I missed so much.  There are too many things in life to obstruct your view from what your heart desires.  We just have to keep working at it until our path is clear.  And this last part is fairly stubborn and mean. 

I promise I will blog more about books and writing when my thoughts are less obstructed.  Until, enjoy Santa's new ride.