NaNoWriMo - Week 1

Well I've survived the first week of NaNo madness. I've been steadily keeping my 3k-a-day wordcount and I've just surpassed the 15k mark. Today's wordsprints at our weekly write-in should be great. I feel more productive when I'm writing around other writers.

As for the story, things started out slow and rocky because I was trying to pace myself so I don't end up finishing the story too soon. Added a lot of fluff that will most likely be axed during the editing phase. I wonder how much fluff is written during NaNoWriMo? I think that's sort of the key to victory. It's not really considered cheating if the fluff is relevant to the story, right?

I'm staying patient. There are some parts in the novel im anxious to write but I'm going to wait until I get to it.

NaNoWriMo 2011

Here we go again for another round of NaNoWriMo! I'm an ML again this year for my region, and it looks like there's going to be a large turnout -- perhaps larger than last year! Our kickoff party is this Sunday. I'm really looking forward to meeting old and new WriMos.

As for me, I'll be writing Flameseeker, which is book 3 of my trilogy. I've already outlined and I'm very excited to write it. This will be my first-ever trilogy. I can honestly say that I didn't think I'd make it this far in my writing. I never thought I'd be sticking with it for so long. There are so many stories I want to tell, and so many that have already been written, they're just waiting to be edited. That's always the painful and tedious part of things. I really have NaNoWriMo to thank for all of this. I don't think I'd be writing now if not for the opportunity.

Good luck, everyone on their NaNoveling!

~10k Left

I feel myself nearing the 50k finish line, and yet, I'm feeling myself slowing down. It's becoming harder to write. I've felt this way for a few days, now. I feel as though the story is winding down prematurely, which is what I was afraid of. I ended up creating a battle scene just to draw out the inevitable. Whether or not it'll see the final version is a different story. I  have about 10k words left (according to the chart, I should finish by Aug. 15th), and now I have to figure out what to do with it. I hate adding filler. Especially when it requires me to ramble on about minor things about the story. I think all the 'fillers' will end up being battle scenes -- or enhancements to existing ones. I have to do something soon. I predict the story will be finished in 45k words, which was about the same amount as Firebrand. There is so much story I do want to tell, however; especially since I have a larger cast of characters.

I guess we'll have to see how things go. I'm getting nervous about this! But a little nervousness is good, right?

Halfway Point!

Well, just a little over halfway done (26,762). I've also reached the mid-point of my story. Things are going very well. Did I mention how much I really love the cabin feature? It's been one of the high points of my NaNoing adventures. It's very motivating to have others around you, bouncing ideas and motivating each other to keep going. I really hope something like this will be implemented during November's session, as well.
Onward to 30k!

Summer Camping Madness

I can't believe August is already here and so is round 2 of Camp NaNoWriMo! I have to say, I'm loving the bells and whistles OLL added to the website. The cabin feature is really awesome and fun! I chose to be around people who write in the same genre (fantasy). It's been really motivating and fun to write alongside fellow NaNoers in my cabin. The bugs are still being worked out of the system, but so far it's been nothing to major that it rendered the feature unusable.

Currently, I'm a little over 17k words. I've been writing this story like crazy because I've been so excited and eager to start on it. Firebrand is still being beta-read, so I've had to push back the release date till sometime near the end of August, perhaps. I will be relieved once the first book of the trilogy is finally released and I'll be hard at work with the edits of book 2 by then. I plan to write Book 3 in November's session. After Camp NaNoWrimo, the next big writing event will be GothNoWriMo in October, in which I plan to write a prequel to The Necromancer's Apprentice which will be told from Daggax'iylion's point of view. These are the planned projects for the remainder of 2011. Who knows what I'm going to write in 2012!

Ready for August

Well, I finally made time to validate my novel (again) so I can collect the winner goodies, and wouldn't you know, it made my wordcount go down a thousand words! I don't understand it... Did they change the validator since I used it before? I didn't add or delete any words. Anyway, it made me a little nervous to see that, but I still got over 50k words -- 50,342 is the grand, final total.

In the meantime, I'm hard at work planning out my next novel for August's session. The excitement is happening all over again. I hope to see more participants in my area, and maybe we can do a little more this time around.

I'm also hard at work trying to get my book published before the end of the month. The book will be available in paperback format, first, then I will be spending some time converting it to eBook format.

Good luck to the rest of the NaNoers! Only 5 days left to go!

Camp NaNoWriMo July 2011 - 51,483!

These past few weeks have been pretty busy between writing and real life happenings. But I'm glad to say that I managed to still get my 3,000+ words-per-day goal, regardless. I love maintaining this steady discipline. It's helped me a lot with my writing and working towards a worthy goal. Well, as of today, I've finally reached the goal (and then some!) of 51,483, according to the wordcount validator. This is actually the most words I've written in a NaNoWriMo event since I began in 2009, so I think it's a huge accomplishment for me! Now I have a few weeks to clear my mind and get ready to do it all over again in August. I've already decided on the story I want to tell for the August one -- it's going to be book 2 of Firebrand. I am planning on releasing book 1 towards the end of July, so look for the announcement on the website!

Now, I think I'll take a nice, long, well-deserved nap...

Weekend Camp Wrap-Up

It's been such an awesome and productive four days. As of today, after reaching my daily wordcount, I'm currently up to 12,105 words. I have 37,895 words remaining according to my Camp NaNoWriMo stats. At this rate, if I keep this steady pace, I should be done in about 20 days or so. That's usually around the time I've been finishing my previous NaNoWriMo challenges. On Saturday, I hosted our first Camp NaNoWriMo write-in. Only one person was able to come out, but we made a lot of progress doing 15-minute wordsprints. If you're ever falling behind in wordcounts, I've found that doing 15-minute wordsprints for an hour will get you back on track faster than you realize it. If you write at least 250 words every 15 minutes, you will get at least 1000 words in an hour. Sometimes it's good to set a goal to help you stay focused and on track with your writing. That's one of the things I love about NaNoWriMo -- the competition makes you commit to a goal and stick with it.

I've been reading other blogs and tweets from other NaNoers. Some people already have over 20,000 words! It's amazing that they can write so much in so few days. It's definitely great and inspiring to see everyone's progress through this event. And just think, in less than a month, I'll be doing it all over again for August's session (yes, I'm that insane)!

Thanks and welcome to the new followers of my blog as well as Twitter. Here's to hoping for a successful week 2 of Camp NaNoWriMo!

Camp NaNoWriMo July - Day 1

Camp NaNoWriMo has officially begun! I'm happy and proud to say that I started it off with a bang! Like my previous NaNoWrimo experiences, I've devoted my daily wordcounts to be at least 3,000 words. It's certainly more than the suggested wordcount, but I like to go the extra mile and have a little extra buffer in case life decides to through a monkey wrench in the mix. Furthermore, when I'm on a roll with my writing, I really don't feel like stopping. I started writing at 12 Midnight, July 1st. I will admit, starting that first sentence was actually really hard! I knew what I wanted to write, but I didn't know how to explain it in words. I just closed my eyes, thought of the scene and began writing what I saw. Admittedly, the result made me cringe, but at least I managed to get the words out on paper (or in my case, computer screen).

I'm using FocusWriter to do my NaNoing. I spent the longest time looking for a suitable program that was compatible for both Windows and Linux. The one thing I love about FocusWriter is the 'Daily Wordcount Goal' at the bottom of the screen to let you know how many words you typed for the day. This is all I really wanted in a word processor, and I'm glad I stumbled across this. Moreover, it works on both Windows and Linux, so I can use my eeePC as well as my Windows laptop. I have my NaNoWriMo stuff synched to Dropbox, so I can easily access my project anywhere at any time with any computer. What I also like about FocusWriter is the fact that it's a no-distraction program. That means, once you open up the program, you're presented with a blank screen and that's it. So there's no excuse for procrastinating at that point.

I've been so excited for Camp NaNoWriMo to start, I think I literally wore myself out when I began writing at midnight. I was only a little over 1000 words in when I felt myself drifting off to sleep. All that excitement just caught up with me and I ended up paying for it in the end. All this week, I've been exercising my creative mind, as well as keeping my hands busy so I'd be ready to write on July 1st. not only did I end up cleaning my workspace, I also made a NaNoWriMo advent calendar (special thanks to Leofair). Then, only a few hours before Camp officially started, I got my Camp Care Package in the mail! That was the definite highlight of my day. The care package is so awesome! I especially love the 'twig pen.' It was well-worth the investment. I love The Office of Letters and Light and I will definitely try to donate again when I have the funds to do so.

Tomorrow is our region's first official write-in for Camp NaNoWriMo and I'm excited to meet some new and old folks. It should be a fun experience!

For those who wish to follow me, here's my Camp NaNoWriMo page: www.campnanowrimo.org/campers/knuxchan

Camp NaNoWriMo!

It's been a long while. I'm already excited about Camp NaNoWriMo starting up July 1st. I'll be updating my blog as often as I can during the event. I am strongly considering doing both of the NaNoWriMo events in July and August. It will be the ultimate challenge, but I have plenty of stories that need telling, and what better way to do it than with a motivating event like NaNoWriMo?

My care package has been ordered, and my workspace will be cleaned and ready for my two months' worth of literary abandon. I look forward to reading some of the other fellow NaNoWriMo blogs out there. That's always the most fun and interesting aspects of the event!

See you in 4 days!

My New Website

In lieu of releasing my gothic fantasy novella this spring, I will be launching a new website, www.rmprioleau.com. The majority of my blogging will be taking place there, and you can also find me on Twitter @rmprioleau, as well as Facebook, so please add me! :) I will still be using this blog for all my WriMo adventures; however, it will most likely not be updated as frequently except during those times. I'm hoping to have the website launched this weekend. Thanks for checking me out! :D

Gothic Novel Progress

It's been a while since I updated -- mainly due to the fact that I've been spending quality time revising my GothNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo novels. My gothic one, "The Necromancer's Apprentice," is practically done. I'm letting other people read and critique it, as well as commissioning an artist to do the cover. I've made up my mind to go all out on my gothic novella -- and who would've thought this story would be the one to inspire me? I've never written a gothic-themed novel before; and yet, I felt the story was told exactly the way I wanted from start to finish -- a rare thing, indeed.

My NaNoWriMo novel is a different story (in more ways than one). I've still not finished revising the raw November writing. This story will be considerably longer -- to the point that I will most likely end up making this story into a trilogy of sorts. Editing this thing has been a slow and painful endeavor, and I will eventually find myself writing entire chapters from scratch since I skimmed over tons of information during the November rush.

I can now understand why writers are always working on more than one novel simultaneously. Sometimes I just need a change in mood in order to get my motivation back. Lucky for me, I'm working on two novels whose genres are practically opposite from one another. It's been making the editing process much easier as a result.

"The Necromancer's Apprentice" will most likely be publshed first; I'm already working on an author's website and looking for a way to get it published. I want to avoid self-publishing, if I can; however, I'm not going to completely dismiss that option.

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