Nano - Days 2 & 3

Well I didn't end up writing last night. I ended up sleeping for 14 hours. (Think my body needed it? I do.) But I have an extra hour tonight due to the time change and I am going to take full advantage for writing.

For some reason my snippet last time wasn't visible, so I'm posting it again:

"Trevor shifted his rifle strap to a more comfortable position on his shoulder. His job as a senior member of the Night Watch was great, but it always took a good hour or so of his shift to find a way to carry his gun comfortably. Even when he put the strap in the same exact spot that felt so good the night before. Didn’t matter a bit to him. He loved his job enough that any annoyance was worth it.

The sun finally disappeared completely behind the western horizon. Time to do his rounds. Giving the shoulder strap one last tug, he set off down the dirt path that surrounded the village. Three of the Night Watch were on shift at any given moment during the nighttime hours. Their sole job - to keep their people safe from the predators that abounded in the swamps. Alligators were the most frequently spotted and killed a good number of villagers every year. They did have the occasional panther and large man-eating snakes too, but the gators were the worst.

He’d just reached the halfway point of the path when a noise outside of his torch’s light made him freeze and listen. Foliage rustled against something large coming his way. Trevor yanked his gun strap from his shoulder and rammed the butt of it into the hollow above his armpit. His hands trembled momentarily as he steadied the gun and peered through the sight. Nothing would get past him to harm his village. His index finger caressed the trigger. The rustling noise grew louder as the creature approached. He could hear footsteps now. Rapid footsteps coming  straight for him, if the sound was anything to judge by.

No longer caressing, his finger began to tighten on the trigger. The bushes and reeds parted revealing...

Trevor whipped the gun up to point to the sky and released the trigger. Panting with adrenaline overload so fiercely his chest began to hurt, he stared at the two girls who’d burst through the bushes and halted in terror right in front of him.

“Kendra! Serena! What are you doing outside the village boundaries at this time of night? You both know better.” Horror that he’d almost shot these two young females and anger at their misbehavior lent a loud, gruff quality to his voice. He saw them wince, but continued. “Well? Answer me, damn it! What were you doing beyond the village boundaries after dark?”

Made It Through Day One Alive

I made it through the first day of Nano. Since I'm only aiming for 500 words a day, I can say I surpassed my goal yesterday - 1194 words. And yes I am happy about it, but I've also done Nano for enough years to know that this first week is pretty easy-peasy when it comes to knocking out the word count. It goes downhill from there as frustration and life block the words.

Yeah, I think my self-description for the day is pessimistic.

Anyway... Here's a snippet from what I wrote yesterday. Enjoy and I'll see you tomorrow.

-->

Trevor shifted his rifle strap to a more comfortable position on his shoulder. His job as a senior member of the Night Watch was great, but it always took a good hour or so of his shift to find a way to carry his gun comfortably. Even when he put the strap in the same exact spot that felt so good the night before. Didn’t matter a bit to him. He loved his job enough that any annoyance was worth it.

The sun finally disappeared completely behind the western horizon. Time to do his rounds. Giving the shoulder strap one last tug, he set off down the dirt path that surrounded the village. Three of the Night Watch were on shift at any given moment during the nighttime hours. Their sole job - to keep their people safe from the predators that abounded in the swamps. Alligators were the most frequently spotted and killed a good number of villagers every year. They did have the occasional panther and large man-eating snakes too, but the gators were the worst.

He’d just reached the halfway point of the path when a noise outside of his torch’s light made him freeze and listen. Foliage rustled against something large coming his way. Trevor yanked his gun strap from his shoulder and rammed the butt of it into the hollow above his armpit. His hands trembled momentarily as he steadied the gun and peered through the sight. Nothing would get past him to harm his village. His index finger caressed the trigger. The rustling noise grew louder as the creature approached. He could hear footsteps now. Rapid footsteps coming straight for him, if the sound was anything to judge by.

No longer caressing, his finger began to tighten on the trigger. The bushes and reeds parted revealing...

Trevor whipped the gun up to point to the sky and released the trigger. Panting with adrenaline overload so fiercely his chest began to hurt, he stared at the two girls who’d burst through the bushes and halted in terror right in front of him.

“Kendra! Serena! What are you doing outside the village boundaries at this time of night? You both know better.” Horror that he’d almost shot these two young females and anger at their misbehavior lent a loud, gruff quality to his voice. He saw them wince, but continued. “Well? Answer me, damn it! What were you doing beyond the village boundaries after dark?”

Nano is Around the Corner

Well, it's October 31st. Halloween and less than 24 hours to Nano. Do I feel ready? Despite all the prep work I've done (and really enjoyed doing), no I don't feel in any way ready for it. I won't be able to make any of the local New Orleans write-ins because they aren't bus accessible. Those have really helped me in the past,so I know I'll miss them. Also being new to the area, I don't personally know anyone else doing Nano. So I will essentially be going at it 100% solo.

GULP!

That scares the crap out of me. I do have many friends doing it, and they are only an internet click away, but it's not the same as going to the events or being able to call up a nearby buddy and saying, "I'm going insane with this. Help!" or, "Give me the kick in the ass I need to write today." I know that BS will give me the kick in the ass when I need it, but otherwise? I'm on my own.

Time Consumers

Work, outlining for NaNo, taking care of Magnum, and trying to figure out how I accidentally erased my blog background and how to get a new one I like - these are the things that have kept me beyond busy this past week.

I love my job, so work isn't a problem, just a time consumer. My boss has moved me up to 5 days a week in preparation for the busy tourist season (which starts this weekend with VooDooFest) and given me all the busiest morning shifts (yay! means more tips for me!). But she's been out sick for a few days and that left me with having to train the new girl. Not exactly my idea of fun, especially when she has no experience whatsoever in a coffee shop. Or any customer service industry. She's never even run a register before. But she's learning and will continue to learn. I just wish I could train her on some not busy shifts instead of when I have customers lined up out the door and every table filled. I can do one or the other well and in a timely manner (deal with the customers or deal with training her that is), but not both. One will suffer while I focus on the other. Which means the poor girl's training is going to last longer than expected.

Outlining for NaNo has been fun this past week. In the past my outlining was boring. I'd guesstimate how many chapters the book would need, make up an outline with that many bullets and then list 2-3 plot points (major and minor) that would happen in each chapter. A common way to outline, but I hated it. I did it for every story I worked on, but it was like pulling teeth, and I rarely ended up following the outline anyway. So this week I've been trying something different. Instead of one outline document I have three. One is titled Informational tidbits which  just has random (but important) facts about the society and the characters the story centers around. 

The second is a character list. In it I have each of the major and minor recurring characters and have written a one page, almost synopsis of each. In the synopsis I talk about what their relationship is to others in the story, what their main conflict is, and a little bit about their personality. (I really don't care too much about looks and rarely described my characters physically - at least in the first draft. I save that for rewrites when I'm already tearing my hair out.) Here is an example:

Justin - The oldest of Kendra’s siblings and twin to Jordan. Outwardly he has embraced the lifestyle demanded by their society. He makes himself available to all women in the village at all times. Handsome by any standards, old enough to live in the men’s dorm rather than at home with his mother and siblings, and a member of the elite Night Watch at only 19 years of age, he is much sought after by all the women and barely has time to satisfy all the ones who request sex from him. The only issue he has ever secretly had with the laws the original Matrons set up was that fathers don’t exist. Promiscuity is the name of the game in an attempt to make humans once again the dominant species on earth so women rarely know who impregnated them, and if they do, the relationship is not acknowledged. But he loves children and wants to be a part of any child he fathers life. He doesn’t want to be just an “Uncle” as all men of age to live in the dorms are called by children. He doesn’t want his children raised by the community, but by him and whoever the mother is. When he finds out that Serena is pregnant and he is the only possible father, he struggles with what the right choice to make is.

The third is an actual outline, but instead of bullet points for plot points I have these as my bullet points (though more might be added):

1. Characters
2. Setting
3. Emotional connections/growth
4. Conflict

It really seems to be helping me understand what I want to happen better than the other format did.

Magnum too has been a wonderful addition to BS's and my household. We absolutely adore him. Only he has separation anxiety. Which leads him to bark like a maniac anytime we both have to leave the apartment, and we have no idea how to cure him of it. So far I've been dealing with it the same way I did with my daughter when she went to preschool. Can we say "Not working"? Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Same with my problem with the blog background. I am at a loss and could use any help you readers could give me to fix it.

So all of these have been completely occupying my time and leaving me very little free time. Yet, psycho that I am, I am still job hunting for a second job.