You #NaNoWriMo, I'm Taking a Break

'Tis that time of year again. When writers all over choose to accept the challenge to write a novel or what-have-you that amounts to (at least) 50,000 words in a span of 30 days for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo or NaNo). Madness? To some. Inconvenient? Perhaps. November is the official start of the holiday season. And for those with families, in school, or just in general trying to write period can be hard fought without the deadlines. However, deadlines work for many people. Just sayin'.

This year it's been difficult for me to balance my creative, professional, and personal life. In the end 2 out of 3 of these things got more focus with me often saying "I'll catch up on writing later." I've written a bunch: for Fiction Femme Fatale every month, for my blog bi-weekly (if not more) as well. I wrote and rewrote query letters galore and have edited in long stretches or small snippets. Not a week goes by that I don't write something. But in terms of my short story Collection? The headway made isn't as much as I anticipated.

I was considering NaNo. I'd like to focus on revising my Collection OR drafting a contemporary YA book with a male protagonist. I've had the new YA idea since late last year. But, now that I am finished with one YA book do I want to pursue another or really stick to one major project along with several shorter stories/essays on the side?

The upside is that when I was sick of the Collection I went to my YA sci-fi book and vice versa. But now that the YA sci-fi book is out for querying it's mainly the Collection. And I need to consider how I can utilize my time well for either work. I'd like to think that this is the time for me to pull up my straps and steer this Collection to where I've wanted it to be since its inception. Yet a new project with no set guidelines on where to revise or edit or finesse it is a bit more fun in terms of letting go.

Either way I do plan to write. Many December deadlines loom that I must fulfill and frankly if there's time I should utilize it. But this did get me thinking about time management. And a fellow writer Courtney had a month where she went offline. Yup, completely offline with some rules. No social media or internet and barely checking email. While I can't not check email daily because of my full-time job and my pending freelance projects I am thinking it's time for me to make November a Break Month. Meaning NO social media primarily. I'm going to start off with a week of no social media (no Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, LinkedIn, etc.). After that week of going cold turkey I'll set in other barriers such as looking at Facebook twice a day and Twitter twice a day and such. Not repeatedly checking for more information. I'll be limiting my internet use to specific sites (no Buzzfeed or HuffPo as easy distractions). No, I'll be looking more at NY Times, Washington Post, and BBC News. Without FB or Twitter it'll be easier not to look at all these random lists people post online.

The goal for me in November is to prioritize. Maybe I'll end up writing/revising 50,000 words inadvertently for NaNoWriMo. Maybe I'll just do a lot of freelance work. Or I may do a crapton of baking. But my goal is to use less time online just wasting time because it's easy. If I'm going to waste it I won't waste it looking at a screen but going outside, baking, reading, and more than hopefully writing. My goal for November is not just to write but to find a method that makes me get stuff done with as few distractions as possible.

So, happy writing whether you do NaNo or not. Either way I hope your days are productive.

My NYC Midnight Submission, 1st Round (Flash Fiction)

As mentioned in my previous post this past weekend the first round of the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Competition commenced. And it was 48-hours of craziness. Though the Twitter-verse wasn't as rowdy as usual. Perhaps because of the condensed time and the fact that there are only two more episodes of Breaking Bad left! Priorities. Anywho, for the first round my genre was Action/Adventure, my location was a Castle (which completely threw me as I never write about castles--you can thank Disney for that), and my object was a Bucket.

This was my first idea and it stuck. Don't love it but I think I hit all my bases. And of course it's after you hit the send/post button that you start seeing holes. Augh. Ah well. Thoughts/comments welcome.

I present Ascent:

You were always the favorite.

“That’s not true, Jeremy” Mia mumbles to herself, gulping air as she runs up the stairs. Her lungs feel like they’ll burst. Both her legs start to get that jelly feel as she ascends. In the darkness, each heel on a cobblestone step feels like a badge of honor.

Mia’s side brushes against the railing sending a flame from her right. The burn and stink of torched skin and hair are abundant. Jumping up another step she sucks in a scream, not wanting to hear her pain echo. On the upside, the fire provides the only light she’s seen since she initiated her climb.

The temptation to dose her leg with water from the bucket she carries is thwarted by the knowledge of how important it will become. She tries not to have too much water slosh out.

Mia stumbles, a stone gives way. “Pay attention!” she yells at herself. Her hair sticks to her neck and her bare shoulders; her tank top adheres to her skin. The whole castle, well the ruin it’s become, is a puzzle. A puzzle designed to screw her royal. Her father said it was an artifact remade to push present-day soldiers to the brink, to build the best of the best in lieu of older methods. Another stone crumbles and falls screeching before it hits the ground reminding Mia of how far she doesn’t want to fall.

Don’t die.

“Yeah, Jeremy, I’m trying.”

When she said this to him Jeremy didn’t look so sure from his wheelchair. He was her older brother, tall, but no one could tell anymore since he was always seated. He’d made it so far too. Their father was highly opposed to the new methods of testing. But was confident his children would make it out, with a little wear & tear. Then Jeremy returned with broken limbs beyond repair, practically a pretzel. Others came back broken or not at all. The announcement that Mia would be next in line was when her father was found in his office. No note. No reasoning. Just legs dangling, his neck twisted by the cloth tied to a ceiling fan. Mia was glad she hadn’t seen him like that. It wasn’t the Miller way.

Her right leg tucks under her, another cobblestone loosens. Regaining her momentum Mia jerks to the side touching the brick railing, and that’s when something shiny enters her periphery.

Her mind is on Jeremy’s words when she hits the floor. Her chest jams against the stairs inciting a strangled cough. There’s wind against her back and the sound of clothing tearing. A chill hits her skin. Another sting turns into a burn. Craning her neck the pendulum swings back where it came from.

Her attention snaps to the bucket on the step below her, tilted and losing water every second she stares at it. She pushes herself forward avoiding gaps where she senses them.

The castle looked huge when she approached it. A crumbling structure decimated at the top by bombs with pillars and columns’ jagged edges shooting into the sky. She headed inside with no supplies. “You come into this world alone, you leave it alone,” was all she was told.

She wobbles. “Don’t touch anything but the bucket.”

Air gets harder to take in. Her body is an unwanted weight. And that damn bucket. Its rope handles dig into her palm.  Water swishes around. She wants to take a drink, bathe in it, dab her wounds. But she can’t, she needs every bit she has.

Mia gulps tapping down the excitement when she feels the last step, the ground above it flattening under her. Her eyes have settled on the darkness. Her hearing and the cool air on her skin are so much more pervasive now.

They wanted me to fail. They’ll try the same for you.

“There’s always a way. I’ll make it. The Millers will be back on top.”

You’re way too hopeful. Just like Dad was.

“That’s a bad thing. Hope?”

Look where it got him.

The thinning of the air this high up. The sting on her back. The scorching throb on her calf. The overall ache of her legs causing her to tilt backwards almost losing her balance. The parch of her throat. All of it is designed for her to fail, like Jeremy said.

Even lifting the bucket makes her heave, like she’s been carrying a boulder instead of water. She readies it, slowly pouring with each step she takes. Each splash confirms there’s ground for her to continue going forward.

And then the splash stops. The droplets descend lower, revealing just what she thought: a gap in the path.

Her boots slip slightly from the wetness on the stones and she finds the edge.

Her legs are unreliable even bending she feels the tremble shake up through her spine.

A curse filters up through her throat along with a gurgle. She sucks back her fear, her anger, the mucus accumulating and spits. At first she hears nothing but the whistle of the wind up this high. And then there it is. Splat. Her saliva hitting the other end of the path.

She doesn’t know how many feet but if she could spit that far, she could jump it. She throws the bucket, hears it soar and bust on the other side.

Mia steps back, readies herself. Another breath, more burning. Running start and up she forces herself to think, to do. When she lands her knees crack against stone. Her face smacks a sharp edge and wetness lines her cheek.

Her arms automatically reach up to touch the barrier. The sear through the air alerts her too late. “Don’t touch the railing,” she reminds herself and in that same moment she’s met with ultimate darkness. The sharpness imbedding itself and the pain searing through her head is immediate.

Mia touches her eyes but is met with the feathery tip of darts. Once again, someone’s failed.

National Novel Writing Month Begins...Again! (And Update on Bout of Books)

I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo) again. Last year you may recall that I failed miserably at it. You can see my bevy of excuses here. The aim last year was to finish a new idea I had been tinkering with but 1/3 of the way through I just did not like what I was writing and went back to my passion project--yes that short story collection you keep reading about!

This time I have a plan. For over a year I have been mulling over the side story of one of the characters from my collection. In realizing that an additional 'coming of age' story wouldn't work as a short in the collection I decided to write a companion YA contemporary novel centered around this character where the collection ends. While I was away at my artist residency at Jentel I wrote an outline for this YA novel. I've tinkered with it since but have steadily not written a thing (though have made copious notes) in preparation for NaNoWriMo. I figure that since I do love the characters in this collection and this particular character, Kayla, very much (hell, I've been living with them for 4+ years at this point) that it made sense to delve into something I wanted to do and reserve a set amount of time to do it. And having a framework for the story arc(s) will help me so that I won't be scrambling for ideas of what should happen next like I was last year.

Like always the premise for NaNoWriMo is to write a 50k word novel (or more) in 30 days taking place throughout the month of November. There are write-ins where you can participate with other NaNoWriMos and a large online community.

While I anticipate I'll have much on my plate with a full-time job, freelance work, and social outings (it is wedding season after all!) I hope to be able to focus on this piece while also dabbling with others during the month. But we'll see. I aim to get a completion badge dang it!

If you're also on the NaNoWriMo site feel free to tag me. My username is jenn.bakerhenry.

Bout of Books Read-a-thon update

On October 23rd I posted about being a part of the Bout of Books read-a-thon.

Results: I read all three books I had listed and enjoyed Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self and Wonderstruck very much. Eve I was lukewarm about. (You can see my reviews on Goodreads.) But, the kicker is that I read Wonderstruck in 2 hours the day before the read-a-thon officially began. So my total count from October 24th to October 30th was actually two whole books. Not bad, but I could've done better had I had my weekend free for just reading.

Pluses: I met some great people and one of the entrants in Bout of Books organized a Twitterchat a couple days in which was fun. We talked about what we liked about read-a-thons and books in general. Connecting with avid readers and all-around cool people.

There were also some cool giveaways and contests held during the read-a-thon and I think in general it was nice to see other writers and book reviewers sites to see what they were reading, are reading, intended to read and were excited about.

I'd definitely do it again and have already signed up for another read-a-thon, a holiday one, set for December 2nd-4th. So hopefully I'll be able to block off time to actually read.