NaXXXWriMo

You guessed it! You have stepped into the pornography mode of WriMos... *snort * or not... Okay, seriously... I just wanted to talk about both WriMos and that was the easiest way to get it across... so sue me...

NaBloWriMo



If you aren't a sidebar cruising kind of reader, it's possible you missed it entirely... I always blog almost every day... I am just sort of an exhibitionist and it is how I swing... but in October I formally COMMITTED to NaBloWriMo—writing a blog post every day in October... and while I have a bizillion weaknesses, one of my strengths is that I ALWAYS follow through. If I say I will... I will. (it doesn't hold QUITE the same strength if I share with YOU a commitment I make to MYSELF, but when I commit to YOU...) so here we have it.. I will blog every day...



I've discovered though, that COMMITTING to blogging every day is, in some ways, making it harder. I apologize if any of my themes seem strained... I don't think it is the alphabetical thing—I think it is the HAVE TO every day thing... I don't TAKE the option not to.. but it is always there... I think it is messing with my creative flow or something... or maybe it is editing—that is equally likely—editing and creativity are mutually exclusive... But there we have it... I am committed to blogging... and committed to editing... and should possibly be committed.

NaNoWriMo



So I talked earlier about WHAT I'd write. It is fairly (but not completely) decided that this round will by the YA mystery Player Down. This was in the top three among all of you, but was really CHOSEN for being the most complete concept. Everything else has stuff to work out, or higher stakes for not getting it just right.



Today though, my interest is in WHY WriMo.



Did you know that in the last 14 months I finished 6 novels? That sounds just a little insane, doesn't it? Do you want know know how many novels I've CLEANED in that time? I've done the 3rd cleaning of CONFLUENCE... the first cleaning of LEGACY and two cleans of the Garden Cozy. NONE of them is 'Clean enough'. In other words last year was a WRITING year and it really needs to be balanced by an EDITING year.





But I am not willing to give up the WriMo. Why?



I could say the ideas keep coming. (They do.)

I could tell you it is important to appease the muse. (Also true)

I could tell you how I love the group energy (BOY HOWDY!)



But the reality of it is the unavoidability of my FOMS. FOMS, for the uninitiated, is my deep seeded Fear of Missing Something. What if something COOL happened and I wasn't participating? I couldn't handle that at all! I HAVE TO BE THERE!!!



Plus the five novel ideas and the knowledge that I could not possibly wait until six months from now to start one...



So if any of YOU are doing it, please join ME in doing it... (no matter WHAT your motivation)





http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/534564

NaBloWriMo

You may have noticed my new sidebar... looks something like:



  this. That is because October is quickly approaching.



And this month, one of my fabulous blogger buddies, Heather (who is NotHannah) is holding down the fort, so to speak. I suffer from something called FOMS (fear of missing something) so OF COURSE I am participating, but I'd like to encourage all of YOU to participate, too!



So what IS NaBloWriMo? (It's not actually naughty, at least not by definition) Simply this. Post a blog every day in October. It is good for discipline (and we all can use a spanking now and again) and a great way to increase your network, as there is a fabulous smorgasborg of participants involved.



I participated last year, as a relatively new blogger, and it was my first growth spurt of people I didn't have prior connections to, so I encourage you, especially if you are newish to blogging, to COMMIT.



How?



1) Go http://nablowrimo.blogspot.com/

2) Pick up the button (which I LOVE, by the way--nice and fally! Fall-ee? Fall like? Autumnesque? Yeah... I'm going with Autumnesque.

3) Email: NotHannah (at) comsouth (dot) net



Easy peasy!



Erm... other than that you then ALSO are supposed to write a blog every day in the month of October, but you can do it... get creative!



Obstacles and Excuses Debunked



But I'm GONE



Last year Mari was traveling a significant portion of the time... she dedicated a weekend before she left and wrote about nine blogs, then scheduled them, one a day, so she didn't have to count on computer access from the road/air/Tart House.





I Don't Have Enough To Say



DO! (This is a good test of persistence and creativity and it's good for you). You are allowed to fall back on sharing pics, funnies, telling family stories... whatever you need. You have PLENTY to say!





I Don't Have the Discipline!



DUH! What do you think it the POINT?! Developing discipline! (Erm, other than the making a lot of cool groovy friends part).





I Have to Make Halloween Costumes!



You mean to tell me you are not subjecting your children to the character building exercise of putting together their OWN darned costume? How on EARTH will they survive college without having obtained this scrappy skill? Not that mean? Go behind a grocery store, get a box the size of your child. Buy some paint and make them into their favorite snack. Two hours, tops (unless the cat gets in the paint, but never mind). Crayons are also popular... dress all in same color. Use black construction paper to make color letters, and a cone head.





But I'm Committed to NaNoWriMo in November



Join the club, my friend! This is good PRACTICE (not nearly the same level of commitment, honestly) and a good way to find buddies also doing NaNoWriMo.



So what are you waiting for?

NO WRITING EXCLUSIVES!

I bet you all think I'm going to talk about the strong advice not to offer an agent an exclusive of your manuscript, don't you? While that's probably sage advice, or so I've heard, this is another topic entirely.



I am possibly the most mellow person with ODC you will ever meet. I don't get stressed about clutter, I've never once gone back to check that the stove is turned off, I have been known to kiss rather indiscriminantly... I'm not actually terribly picky about much.

But MAN can I get obsessive!



My current obsession is multifaceted and one many of you can probably relate to. I write. And write. And write. I not only write, but am committed to the idea that I'd like to publish one of my books, preferably sooner than later.



And therein, possibly, lies the problem.



There's this wise Wench I know... (the only one of you I actually saw in person yesterday, I'd venture), who on my Blog Slut post  from a few days ago commented that she was TOTALLY behind the idea, but then listed her obligations and asked where she should find the time. She is part owner in a business and a realtor, so her day job is even more demanding than mine, and her husband works full time, which mine isn't at the moment, though he IS still recovering from pneumonia (3 weeks without smoking! Woot woot!)—so her problems are worse than mine.  I tried to answer in a 'within limits' sort of way, but the thought struck home.



I think I was in denial that in my case there WAS a problem.





Not any more. Never let it said that the Tart doesn't grab her problem by the balls *cough *

Diagnosis



We should start with my diagnosis of FOMS which any long time reader knows: Fear of Missing Something means I don't do anything half ass. If I am IN, I am IN, because otherwise I might MISS SOMETHING and there is nothing worse than that!!!



The problem though, is I have too many writing related activities I am in fear of missing anything on and it has become a time vacuum.  I'm trying to do everything right, and it DOES take a lot of time.



And it's causing me to neglect some things that can't really bear neglecting: My day job, and my children. I work at work, but I find I am doing it in a distracted way, so I'm not as efficient as I NEED to be. I've got a number of deadlines coming up, and I need to put my nose to the grindstone, so to speak. On Parenting, it is more that I am not doing the extra. My daughter has a tendency to neglect her academics if we don't ride her, but because my husband can get sort of mean about how he rides her and because I am more computer savvy for making sure assignments are in and communicating with her teachers, that is my job. It's not a great job for an optimist who likes to believe her child will just pull out whatever gumption she needs and do what she's supposed to, because it hasn't ACTUALLY seemed to work that way. I need to just do it--no matter how time consuming and distasteful it is. I am also the homework help, and the resource finder when things aren't working.



So where do I get more time for those things? Let's see, how am I currently spending it?



The WiP: I am writing again (thank goodness!) at a reasonable pace—the work is flowing. This is a 'from the bathtub' activity and only interferes with anything when my husband and daughter are fighting over her approach to homework and I feel the resentment boil up that I have to get OUT and intervene, but in fact I can hear neither of them is any longer rationale, so really, that is just what needs to happen.



But PAST WORKS: I've sent LEGACY to first readers (got first feedback from Michelle today--Thank you!!!)—that is a waiting matter and no problem. CONFLUENCE is entered in the Amazon contest, also a waiting matter and not a problem. So why am I suddenly so obsessed with getting ILLUSIONS typed up? You've got me there, but I've been acting like it's urgent: note to self: If I ease up here, there is a little time to lend to the other home stuff. So only type on it on the weekends unless the family and the below networking things are met. At this point, it is NOT urgent.



Blogging: The blogging itself is really only about a 20-30 minute affair. I usually (like now) write it between showering and leaving the house in the morning. Sometimes I save it instead of posting because I don't have time to look for good pictures—a five minute break from work type activity (again, like now), but it's DONE. But I could get sucked into reading and commenting on other people's blogs all day long if I let myself.



SO I AM SETTING A TIME LIMIT: 20 minutes of daytime (work break) and then 40 minutes in the evening if there are no contra-indicators (read: children's sporting events, teacher conferences, etc.)





CHATTING: This is a biggie for a FOMS sufferer. I've been okay with Facebook lately, but I've met some really fun people on the ABNA circuit and actually find myself LOOKING for what they are talking about, trying to find the good conversation.



LIMIT: One mid-day, 10 minute catch up, one half hour catch up in the evening. I've made some friends, but some of them are also blogging or on facebook, and I think that is as much weekday time as I have to give it.



I, the Watery Tart, solemnly swear I will try my best to stick to that schedule on the weekdays, and will do laundry and clean the bathroom before I give way to the writing gods on the weekend...

Mysterious Moderation

When I was a kid I would listen to Goldilocks and the Three Bears and hear the phrase 'too soft' and stare in bafflement. What on earth was ‘too soft’? There was (and remains today) no such thing as 'too soft'. Mama Bear had it MADE, in my opinion (except that cold porridge thing). And I guess that expounds the way I live my life. If I like something, there ISN'T a too much. I eat too much. I drink too much. I exercise a lot (see,

the good stuff too—just like with my FOMS). At the moment I probably write too much and network too much. (My family seems to think so, anyway).



But HING, Bloody HING if I'm not only a week away from trying to do something about at least the parts of too much that effect my size and health. It may be madness, but like everything else, I am capable of working a program 'too much'. (I drive those around me nuts, I think). But it is time for the 'too muches' to make a tectonic shift in that direction… get ready, personal plates, for the CHANGE in obsessions!

Calling all Karas!!! Okay, maybe not all of them, but one of them, who hopefully can HELP me with this moderation thing. Hear that, Chica? ONE WEEK.





[*mutters* I HATE MODERATION!]



I already exercise—walking to and from work (about 2 ½ miles each way) and then I TRY to power walk, jog, or use the elliptical machine four mornings a week at a more intense pace. I SHOULD add some weights in there (that used to be an after work thing; now mysteriously [read: pretty darned understandably], I am typing my manuscript after work *scratches head*. I guess the conclusion is that I only have time for so many obsessions, and I don't want to let the writing one go. My stack of typing already grows at a steady rate because I write more each day than I type.





Self Talk Session



You are a Goddess.

Goddesses can learn new tricks.

Moderation is the tricksiest trick there is, so you ought to be able to master it.

Hmph.





But it other non-Moderate Matters...



I finished chapter 27 of LEGACY last night—six chapters to go, should the final action not detour too badly.

Sent a query and got a rejection this week, but my requested twenty pages are in somebody's hot little hands, so there is HOPE.

ANOTHER round of editing CONFLUENCE is under way and seems to be going smoothly. Might actually get it under 150K words (instead of just the 'eh, almost' that I've been CALLING 150K). Say... since 154K has been parading as 150K, can I call 149K 145? Seems reasonable to me.--that blasted moderation thing again.





So I will leave you today with an unModerate Tartism:  If cleavage is good, Naked is divine.

Limed Lemmings

Lemmings are lame. Followers, the lot of them…well… except the one in front, but for the most part. Lame. A friend of mine, I’ll call her Tara, lectured me on lemons once, and assured me lemons are also lame, but there was a surefire way to unlame a lemon… you lime it. So I am going to make an attempt here to lime lemmings.



Bear with me. I’m probably insane, but co-morbid conditions aside, there is a reason for my lemmingness in many instances that I think makes it less lame.



DIAGNOSIS: FOMS



I have dueling drives that have resulted in this diagnosis.



1) Far be it for me to miss out on some great experience just because nobody else has tried it.

2) Far be it for me to miss out on some great experience just because everybody else is doing it.



I’m not a follower so much as I simply refuse to miss out on anything.



FOMS=Fear of Missing Something



I’m the first one at a party and the last one to leave. I did everything I was supposed to in high school (student council, math through calculus, heck, I was even a Junior Miss, but don’t tell them or they may come to revoke it), AND I did everything I WASN’T supposed to do… all the parties, boys, parties…



It’s not a bad résumé for a writer, though you probably won’t see me running for office (too many witnesses), but I’d rather be wagging the dog anyway.



[Do you HAVE a point?]



Do!



NaBloWriMo

Some of you have probably heard of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) where thousands of apparently independently wealthy people write a book in a month. I used to not believe it was possible, but after my LEGACY whirlwind, I now believe it could be done. But even with major inspiration and mojo, that book will have taken me… probably two months for the bulk of it, not to mention all the plotting I did last winter while my writing peeps were critiquing CONFLUENCE (at which time I also wrote the first chapter of what will now be book 2).



But it has been an INSANE pace. No way I could write a whole book in ONE month while still holding a day job (never mind my family).



So for those of us unable to drop life for a month, we’ve been offered a reprieve with NoBloWriMo (which wins hands down for the innuendo alone—exactly the kind of thing a Tart gloms onto). But it STANDS for National Blog Writing Month, whereby a group of us commits to writing a blog every day for the month of October.



If you want to check out ALL the writers blogging for this event, this is where I saw the idea, and Amy has linked us all at the side (and I see two of my Burrowers have joined too! *squeeeeeee*) NaBloWriMo



So I am committed to a daily blog. The only obstacle I foresee is Mari’s visit, as we will be having too much fun, but pic and a paragraph should suffice for a few days. And since she is participating, I figure we can sit in the basement for half hour a day, parallel blogging.

As I prepare to dive in, I’m excited at the prospect of a group activity. I love my other social networking, but only my closest friends check up on me if I disappear (not that I disappear… FOMS, you know…) But my writer’s profile passed 600 friends on FB last week, and it is feeling more anonymous—plus, that isn’t the same level of commitment to all doing something together.





Accounting Tart is an Oxymoron.



It’s true. Probably because my mother is an accountant. I don’t even balance my checkbook (oh, I try. I do STATISTICS , not adding and subtracting. Especially when there is so little adding involved.)



But accountability is another thing altogether. I finished my first novel length work as a fan fiction because people were WAITING for it. Make no mistake… rebel or not… I still don’t like to disappoint. So this group activity is PERFECT, and I think adequately limes the lemmings!



[note to my pre-blogging friends: It’s a good time to dive in! The water is TART!]