Orient Lodge

It is a bright and sunny day, a little bit chilly. I woke up early, tossing and turning. Today is foreclosure day. At noon, the house will be sold in an foreclosure auction.

I need to head down there soon to let the court appointed auctioneer in so that the house can be shown to any potential bidders. As I tossed and turned, I thought about how I should write about this. Blog posts here? Right now, my mind has settled on a short story. I’ve wrote parts of it in my head as I tossed and turned.

“It wasn’t a typical foreclosure, but how many of them really are?”

I check my email. Log in to Second Life to see if there are any messages there that I need to respond to. It feels like I’m trying to put this off, yet at the same time, I will be glad when it is over.

I need to get ready now. More later.

Thanks God, National Novel Writing Month is Over. Yup. That’s the party Kim and I went to this afternoon. We sat in a room with about twenty other NaNoWriters and their significant others and talked about what worked and what didn’t in our novel writing experiences. We ate Mexican food, joked about “quotation” marks and misused apostrophe’s. We glanced at the omnipresent televisions in the background and our choice of watching The Nutcracker on Ice, with the great Mice on Ice section, he-man carrying cars and kegs in some bizarre strong-man competition, or wiry men arm wrestling on what must have been the Arm Wresting Sports Network.

Meanwhile, the ice was starting to form on the roads at home. Our ride home was tense, with more slipping and sliding than I would have liked to have seen, yet we got home safely. Now, we need to tune into WFSB and see if Darren Sweeney will declare a “snow day”.

There is a stereotype of novelists as being slightly eccentric and the lunch, at least for me helped reinforce that stereotype. Between the jokes, you could here potential themes for more novels than novelists at the table. It was great fun and inspirations for next year’s novel writing. I hope some of you consider giving NaNoWriMo a try next year.

If it wasn’t for National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo), I might have taken today off and not put up a blog post. But, there is something beneficial about trying to be disciplined in writing, so here is my blog post. It is a collection of random things, of which there are plenty this Thanksgiving weekend.

NaBloPoMo takes its inspiration from National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I wrote my 50,544 word first draft of a novel during the first 18 days of November. I haven’t gone back to start editing it yet. I will start that soon enough. Miranda is back in town for the weekend. Today, she went into New York City to see old friends from camp. She is bringing copies of her novel, Subtle Differences which she wrote last year and published at Lulu press. She will then visit some old friends from school this evening and show them the novel. (If you haven’t gone out and gotten a copy of her novel, please do.) Today’s New London Day has an article about Connecticut participants in NaNoWriMo.

For developments in the Avery Doninger case, I received to emails today. One is the brief that was filed by the defendants. I haven’t read it yet, but people close to the case who have read it suggests that it lacks verisimilitude. Over at the Cool Justice Report, Andy Thibault has an article about Paula Schwartz’s vacation to Aruba postponing an FOI hearing. In other Connecticut news, Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz sent out an email today talking about the success of the “first general election since lever voting machines were decertified in July 2007”. The email also listed the candidates that will be in on the Democratic primary ballot, “Joe Biden; Hillary Clinton; Chris Dodd; John Edwards; Mike Gravel; Dennis Kucinich; Barack Obama; Bill Richardson”

A lot has been going on in Second Life as well. On Monday, I wrote about the latest banking scandal in Second Life. I’ve watched the stock price of LNL fluctuate, and have been buying on the dips. As a general rule, when bad news comes out, people sell in a frenzy. The price drops, and then when people find the news isn’t as bad as everyone feared, the price bounces back. We still don’t know how bad the news about LNL really is, but the price has started to come back and today, Tyrian Camilo wrote a long blog post about the banking scandal and how he dealt with it for his bank.

Also in Second Life, Xavier Mohr announced he was stepping as CEO of Second Life Reports. This brought about a lot of volatility in that stock.

Yet most of my day has been spent dealing with family stuff. It started off by driving Mairead and her friend, Lauren, who is visiting for Thanksgiving to the train station. Then, I dropped Miranda at a friend’s house so she could begin her travels. Next stop was Dick and Leanne’s house. I updated some firmware on my brother-in-law’s computer, tweaked Kim’s phone so she can send text, pictures and videos. Then, it was time of an extended family hike. You can see pictures on my Flickr account.

So, while I haven’t had a lot of time to think out a post shedding any great insights, I’ve sure got a lot of random things to talk about on this day after Thanksgiving.

Last night, at 10:37 PM, I finished the first draft of my novel for National Novel Writing month. When I got close, I started getting cranky. I was so close. If I could just get time to write, without interruption, I would be done. Yet it was the weekend. We were on the road doing politics and visiting relatives. I stole an hour here and an hour there. When we got home last night, I was tired and feeling a little sick, but I powered through and finished my first write through.

As it stands right now, it is 50,544 words long. It is desperate need of editing. I suspect the editing will lengthen it a bit more as I add in descriptions and background that didn’t make it in the rush of the first write through.

Today, Fiona is home sick from school and I’m dragging. I have emails to get through and a few technology tasks. I will probably take it easy today, and start editing tomorrow, unless the call of the novel becomes overpowering.

Saturday. We've driven up to New Hampshire. I have a blogging assignment tomorrow. If everything works out as planned, I'll be gathering with a bunch of bloggers to interview Elizabeth Edwards tomorrow morning. I'm very excited about speaking with her. However, I'm also chomping at the bit to finish my novel. I have 4,763 words to go. This morning, we got off to a late start because I was in the middle of an exciting section. I haven't slept well recently. I toss and turn in bed as the characters act out their scenes for me. I slept a little in the car on the ride up, but I'm still pretty tired. Before I drifted off, I listened to a story on NPR. They were interviewing an author and writing professor. He talked about how writing a novel just takes over your life. I've managed to keep other parts of my life in a little bit of balance as I've written through my novel, yet it has been consuming. Soon, I'll be done with the write through and the editing will begin. I expect that will be even more challenging.

Meanwhile, I get feedback from friends. I get a chance here and there to put up blog posts, and while I'm not officially doing National Blog Posting Month at the same time as I do National Novel Writing Month, but so far I'm getting at least one blog post up each day. I was dubious about getting a post up today. It may not be as compelling as some of my other posts, but at least I'm managing get a post up.

Yes, I worried about whether or not it would come to this. I’ve been struggling with my novel and in my frustration, I killed someone. It was an accident. He was driving home from football practice and I caused him to drive off the road.

It provides a minor subplot that will help me reach the 50,000 words, and actually works well to help develop the characters and set things up for the culmination of the novel.

When I went to my first NaNoWriMo write-in, I was given a cheat sheet. “NaNoWriMo Novel Rescue Companion”. It lists six different things to do in case of a plot emergency. I didn’t really have a plot emergency, it’s just the accident happened. It moves the story along, and fills up the pages. It is close to the first plot emergency idea.

“Give one of your characters a fatal illness.” Okay. It wasn’t a fatal illness. That just wouldn’t have worked. It was a car accident. It was a minor character that I introduced and killed off all in the same chapter.

“Add a talking animal to your novel.” Well, my novel takes place, in part, in Second Life. One of the key characters avatar is a ‘furry’ in Second Life. That is about as close to a talking animal that I can get to in my novel.

“Have one of your characters suddenly discover that they are a superhero.” Well, everyone in Second Life can fly and can teleport. Not quite superheroes, but as close as I can get.

“Have one of your characters suddenly become naked.” Well, there are scenes in the mature regions of Second Life. I’ve got that covered, or I guess I had better say, uncovered.

I’ve now broken 35,000 words, so I’m hoping that with events leading up to the conclusion and all that will happen there, I won’t have any other plot emergencies. The last two suggestions I just can see using.

When I went to my first NaNoWriMo Write-In, an old hand at NaNoWriMo, on hearing that I blog pretty much every day said I would be in good shape for NaNoWriMo. One of the biggest problems is simply getting into the habit of writing something every day. It reminded me of what so many people have said about the discipline of writing. Between blogs and emails, I do write everyday. This month, I’ve written at least one blog entry every day. I’ve written at least one section for my novel everyday. A few days, they were short of the 1,667 word goal, but most days they have been well ahead of the goal.

Over on her blog, purplecar writes that the Nanowrimo theory is not working for her. She says she is very serious about writing a novel and doesn’t want to waste her time writing crap. Will NaNoWriMo be a good use of her time?

Well, I too hope that someday, I will write the next Great American Novel. It would be wonderful, in so many ways, if my current effort turns out to be that, but I’m dubious. I guess I come back to the old advice, hope for the best (Great American Novel), prepare for the worst (an incomplete pile of drek that I delete from my harddrive), and be satisfied with whatever comes.

So, where does the NaNoWriMo theory fit in? Well, I guess there are a couple different thoughts on this. Writing is both a discipline and a love. It is sort of like marriage, and I remember an old philosophy professor once quipping, “It isn’t love that keeps marriage together, it is marriage that keeps love together.” It is the discipline to return to the object of your love when they or it has disappointed you, or when you have been the disappointment.

So, I keep returning to my novel, on the days that I cannot type fast enough, as well as the days when I’ve already brushed my teeth six times. When I do show sections to friends, I point out that it is a very rough draft of a first write through and mostly ask for further ideas about my characters and the plot.

Will it work? The past couple of days were slower, more challenging, but I cranked through. Other days were wonderful and the words wouldn’t stop. As I write this post, I have 22,918 words to go to reach the goal. I still worry about running out of storyline, but I’ve got some great ideas coming.

So, hang in there my fellow NaNoWriMo writers. The discipline is worth it.

The past few days, I’ve been spending a bit of time off line. I’m still managing to get at least one blog post up everyday, and get at least 1,667 words of the novel written each day. I’m holding my own on the never-ending influx of emails. So, it doesn’t feel like I’m making any headway, but it doesn’t feel like I’m losing ground either.

Yesterday, Fiona and I went for a hike in the Naugatuck State Forest. The day before, we went with Kim to Sperry Falls. Both days, Barley came along for a romp in the woods. (See our photos on Flickr.)

Apparently we weren’t the only ones taking advantage of a beautiful fall weekend to take our dogs for a walk in the woods. Heather, whose blog I found via MyBlogLog took her dog, Lily for some walks in the Ohio foliage.

But perhaps these autumnal strolls are good for the writing anyway. Yesterday, I received a NaNoWriMo ‘pep talk from Sue Grafton’. In her email to all NaNoWriMo participants, she writes of her dreams for her novels,

The pacing will be relentless, yet the story will ebb and flow in a manner that will produce both thrilling surprises and quiet moments where the reader can reflect on what's gone before.

This weekend was filled with quiet moments of reflection, and it showed up in the sections of the story. I’m that the pace will quicken before I know it.

Humans, by there very nature, are storytellers. From the gatherings around campfires and drawings on cave walls, to the modern day novel, people have always told stories. The problem with the modern day novel, however, that like so much of media in our recent history, it is broadcast. The writer sits down, writes the novel, revises then novel, tries to get someone to publish it, and eventually, it is out there in a static form, broadcast to anyone that will read it. There is very little interaction between the writer and the audience, except maybe at a book signing or in random hate mail. At least that is how it has always seemed to me as strictly a consumer of novels.

Now, however, I am making my first attempt at writing a novel. Sometime this weekend, I expect to pass the half way mark. I’m not sure where the point of no return is, but I believe I’ve passed it and now have to finish the novel.

During this experience, I went to a write-in. To people who view writing as a solitary experience, a write-in doesn’t make a lot of sense. I know that I write better when I am alone and not interrupted or distracted. A bunch of writers getting together to write, and chat about their writing and eat curly french fries, well that just seems too distracting, and at my first write in, I only accomplished 800 words. I probably would have done twice that if I stayed at home.

Yet, I’m finding that writing isn’t a solitary experience, or it doesn’t have to be. The municipal liaison for NaNoWriMo in my area sent out an email to all of us, encouraging us on. It had various statistics about the average number of words written by various groups of writers and the writers that attended write-ins were the most prolific.

More significantly, I’ve been speaking with friends about my novel. I’ve sent them sections of my first draft and they’ve provided great suggestions. I’ve worried about whether I’m bugging them too much, but they’ve commented about how much fun they are having watching my novel unfold and making suggestions.

Perhaps this returns the story telling process to a little bit more like the stories told around the campfire. The audience asks questions and the story take shape with their participation. If you are doing NaNoWriMo, I would encourage you to get to write-ins and to talk with trusted friends that can give you good advice. It makes the experience all the more fun.

The first snow of the season graces the fallen leaves as I dally in bed. It has been a busy week and I am on overload. Wednesday, I went to ad:tech, and there is still more to write about that. In the evening, I received additional emails about the alleged trademark infringement in Second Life, which deserves much more attention. Thursday, I addressed various business concerns and the never-ending effort to get a little more cash in the door. Last night, I went to a panel, “The State of Student Free Speech” at Quinnipiac University School of Law, sponsored by the American Constitution Society. It was a wonder session that deserves a write up of its own. Through all of this, I continue to work on my novel for National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo, and process the great input I’ve been getting from a small set of friends who are reading the rough draft of my first write through.

I’m not officially participating in National Blog Posting Month, NaBloPoMo, which has a goal of putting up a post every day during the month of November. This is in part because I’ve got too many things going on already, and in part because the goal of putting up a post every day is one that I’ve been seeking for the past few months anyway, and intend to keep pursuing. I only missed one day in October, none in September, and two in August, so I’m in pretty good shape there.

However, on the email side, I’m not in as good shape. The unread emails in my inbox has expanded back up to close to 1400, and for the first time during NaNoWriMo, I didn’t write the 1,667 words for my novel which is the average number of words needed to be written each day to complete the 50,000 words by the end of the month. However, I am still in good shape with the novel. During my first week, I averaged close to 3000 words a day, so I’m currently at 21,306 words and interesting new subplots keep hatching

So, I’m overloaded. I’ll get my blog posts up as soon as I can. I’ll get back to emails as soon as I can, and I’ll try to keep my novel goals on track. Wish me luck.