National Novel Writing Month

Alright, I'll be honest, here's my two cents on the idea of trying to write a novel in a month: I think it's one of the dumbest things ever conceived. I wrote a novel. It took me a full year to come up with 75,000 words and at the end of that year I was really cranky because all I did was work and write. I felt like I had no time for me and, when I did sneak some quality alone time, I felt like I was cheating. I felt guilty for not writing.

So, when I think of trying to crank out 50,000 words in a single month, I wonder why on Earth I would ever attempt such a thing. It cannot be done (maybe if I were still unemployed - thankfully that's not the case). I would just be setting myself up for failure and why would I do that to myself? (I am merciless when I don't meet the goals I set for myself.)

Considering how much I hate the first draft of that novel it took me a year to write, I can only imagine the crap I can pull out of my butt in a single month. The amount of re-writing required would be enormous and, again, I don't know why I would want to do that to myself.

That being said I do kind of want to participate, if only because half the people I follow online are writers and they're all getting geared up for this. So here's the deal. I currently have two novels going (sort of). One is in the final editing stages, while the other is in the research stages. So, in the spirit of National Novel Writing Month, I will commit to spending at least one hour per day working on one of these stories. As far as a final goal for the month, I want to be finished with the research book I'm currently using and move onto a new one. I have been working through this book for much too long and, if nothing else, I can use this month to motivate myself to finish it and move on. As far as the novel that is currently in the editing stages, it's a one-chapter-at-a-time deal with an online writing circle, so there's no way that's going to be done by the end of the month.

That's all for me folks! See you in a month!

Kushiel's Dart

by Jacqueline Carey

It had been awhile since I had delved into a good fantasy series and this book had been sitting on my shelf, patiently waiting for me to get around to reading it, for WAY too long! I'm so glad I finally dove in to this one and I wish I had done it earlier! I really enjoyed. I really really enjoyed it.

For those of you following along on this blog, this was the book I was reading for Readathon 2012. Although I didn't get through as many pages as I had hoped to in 7 hours of reading, it was the kind of book where I could easily sit for most of a day and lose myself. It's completely absorbing and very suspenseful. The action is pretty much nonstop. I don't think there was ever a moment when I thought, "Okay, can we get on with the story already?"

My favorite thing about this book is the world-building. It's something I've never managed to master in my own writing, so I admire it all the more when other people succeed at it. Carey has an entire continent with different countries and states and people. It's obvious where her inspiration comes from for each area, but I don't think that necessarily makes it any less impressive. The city we start out in seems to be largely based on France. Most of the names and titles are either French or very similar to French, with a difference of just a letter or two. La Serenissima and its prominent families are clearly Italian, the Skaldi are reminiscent of Vikings without the ships, and the Albans and the Dalriada are obviously Celtic. There are even more, but those are the prominent players. I did wonder about whoever drew the map, though. As Phedre traveled all over, I found myself constantly referring to the map drawn at the front of the book, but what I saw didn't always quite match up with what I was reading.

My one complaint would be that it runs a little long. It's almost exactly 900 pages and, after about 700, my interest in a book dwindles and I become anxious to get to the end already. Fortunately the second book is closer to 600 pages so, after a short break, I can get back to this series. That's good because there are so many characters and intrigues that I feel like, after too long of a break, I would have a hard time remembering who was who and which character double-crossed whom.

Readathon 2012!

I DID A LOT OF READING!

Well, actually I didn't get nearly as much done as I had hoped. The readathon was supposed to be a full 24 hours but I limited myself to 8, as that's all I figured I could handle and it's double my previous record for amount of time spent reading in one sitting.

As a newbie to the whole readathon event (I hadn't even heard of it until about a week and a half ago) I got some advice from my favorite place: the internet! In this magical place a veteran of the readathon gave advice. 1) To read short books so you feel more productive by the end of the day. I did not obey this rule. I am currently enmeshed in an epic fantasy and had no desire to leave it. It's very well-written and suspenseful so I had no problem reading this one story for the whole day. 2) To alternate healthy snacks with the unhealthy so you don't feel like dying by the end of the day. I had an apple turnover. That counts for both, right? Cuz apples are healthy?

I would like to add to that my own piece of advice. Get up and move around. At least once per hour, even if it's just to stretch or do jumping jacks or something. I'm participating in a walking competition at work so I spent some time walking circles around my living room to get my steps in. Go multi-tasking! I also found it helped because, not only is it just generally healthy and we should remember to do this everyday, but, in the past, the amount of time I could spend reading in one go was frequently limited by how long I could sit still. Making sure to get my walking in definitely helped with that.

So there it is! That was my experience with my very first readathon. Maybe next time I'll extend it to 10 hours *gasp*!