Monday, November 14, 2011

NaNo Fun

I love NaNo. It's the one time of year that I really let myself go where my writing is concerned. I have a loose outline and jump in. The freedom is frightening for me, but amazing at the same. While I have a general idea of where my story is going, I uncover new things all the time. Two days in, I discovered that my character isn't just a Gate Keeper. She's a Shadow Dancer. She can manipulate the shadows - making them do all sorts of cool things, even fight for her. This trait had been thought to be dead for hundreds of years. It showed up again in her. Yesterday, I found out that she can't wander the halls of the castle at night. In fact, she has to lock her door from the inside. We're talking 20 different locks of various shapes and sizes. Frightening things wander the corridors when the sun goes down. I wonder what they are?

Neither of these things were planned. Both just came out in the writing. You want a great playlist? I've been rocking Michelle Hodkin's for the past three days. I love other writer's playlists because I haven't heard of half the songs (usually) and even when I have, I never thought to add them to my own playlist. It's nice to get out of your usual music rut sometimes. If you haven't read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, you are missing out. It's beyond amazing. I'm hoping her playlist can play a little good luck into my NaNo.

Some of the things that aren't writerly that I look forward to:

The coffee - I always buy at least ten different flavors and it's fun for my tongue!

The candles - I just bought two new soy ones that are working out really well!

Pretty Little Liars - I reward myself for hitting my word count with episodes because I missed Season Two entirely.

Books - It's a GREAT excuse to buy a ton of books. I don't have time to read until the end of the day so I fall into bed with one.


The bad part about reading at the end of the day. I didn't get much sleep last night because of this:
Holy cow. If you haven't read Enclave, pick up a copy. I had to force myself to put it down at 2am this morning. Force. I'm a bit tired today. I just love when I find a book that can keep me up at night. Hunger Games did that (and I was warned not to open it late at night). The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer did that (again, warned not to open it late at night). I can't wait to crawl in with Enclave tonight!

What about you - any good books keeping you up at night? Are you NaNoing? How is it going?

7 comments:

  1. I'm not participating this year, but you sound like you're having too much fun!

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  2. Wow, your WIP sounds interesting, Jennie! I decided not to do NaNo. I work best alone, and I think it would've distracted me. Right now I'm reading Incarceron. A lot of typos, but pretty good!

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  3. Twenty different locks? I'm intrigued! Love when characters reveal completely new things about themselves to you--such a great feeling! I'm now listening to Michelle Hodkin's playlist!

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  4. The Hunger Games trilogy kept me up as well. I had many a sleepless night b/c of those books. What's enclave about?

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  5. So glad NaNo's going well! I'm not participating this year in favor of doing revisions, but I miss it. Maybe 2012 :) And I have never heard of Enclave, but thanks for the recommendation! Looks intriguing..

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  6. I am so tired these days I can't read more than a few pages without getting sleepy. I've been reading Erin Morgenstern's NIGHT CIRCUS for about a month now. It's a great book but it's not meant to be rushed. Mind you, it's not meant to be read as slow as this, either!

    I'm glad NaNo is going well. Go, Jennie, Go!

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  7. Gate Keeper? Shadow Dancer? Twenty locks on a door and frightening things wandering the corridors? Need to know more about this story, please!

    I've recommended this book a lot already this week, but seriously, The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong, the sequel to The Summoning, was even more fantastic than the first book. Once again, as soon as I finished reading (well, the morning after; I stayed up late to finish) I reserved the next, and final, book in the trilogy. So good.

    No NaNo, but brainstorming is coming along. I didn't work on it yesterday (bad Self!), but I have a few index cards worked up, so I think it's time to get serious about playing with the chronology of the plot points I've got and fill in the rest.

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