Thursday, October 30, 2008

A SHARP NUDGE IN THE NETHERS

So: November in a couple of days. 11 days until my birthday, 26 days until the fortnight of kid birthday bashings, and 2 months until the end of the year. And here's me in the midst of a Real Life (tm) driven writing lull. What to do? I'm finding the change in atmosphere from writing predominantly shorts to writing novels exclusively to be a bit of a bore. It's like work, and you know, I started writing as a way to avoid work. I need a way to stay focussed and avoid the lure of trashy true crime documentaries on Foxtel. Again, what to do?

Well, in this case, I've joined Nanowrimo. I generally view it as a bit of a joke, to be honest: a way for people to pretend they're real writers while purging their systems of the millions of bad words they need to get rid of before they can start learning the real lessons writing has to teach you. But, inspired by the example of Simon 'Hal Spacejock' Haines, who undergoes the program every year and now has (at least count) one hundred and seventy two Spacejock novels on the shelves, I've signed my name up and will spend the next month beavering away on new words. It's a bit like joining SFWA, in a way-- no practical use, really, but it'll give me something to focus on when the attention starts to slip sideways. I shan't be posting any buttons or regaling you all with wacky stories of how we all got together at midnight to count pages or whatever, but there it is.

So let's see how we go, shall we?

8 comments:

Unknown said...

So (and if you don't mind quite how high school this sounds), you wanna be (ahem) "NanoBuddies"? I gather that's the term of art for it. I'm doing the nano thing as well, by way of jolting the brain into activity again, and I gather it's quite the thing to have NanoBuddies with whom to commiserate. What do you reckon?

Unknown said...

Ditto.

See? Short, succinct and to the point. I'm saving my verbosity for next month. If I actually end up doing it. ;)

Simon Haynes said...

Word wars here we come. Meet me at the duelling ground:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/NanowrimoUtils/WordWar/84789-428041.png

Unknown said...

Nanobuddies? That'd be like teeeeeeensy tiny little friends that elf-replicate and can be programmed to perform simple tasks.... God, that does sound like High School, doesn't it?

I shall buddy thee along as soon as I work out how. Or, if you've already got that bit worked out, I'm registered under the name CRKing and Lyn is there under Battblush.

Anonymous said...

"Elf-replicate?"

Unknown said...

"elf-replicate"--hee! :)

Unknown said...

Yes. Elf-replicate. Gotta problem with that?


(cheesy grin)

Sean Lindsay said...

OMFG.

NaNoWriMo must be a disease. I'm glad I have insulated myself in my ivory tower.