I can’t write vs. I won’t write.

Somehow it is the end of November. I left my job three weeks ago to get back to my own writing (while freelancing, of course) and since then have been struggling with the limitations of my right arm, which has decided that using a computer is not so comfortable. Instead of finishing a NaNoWriMo novel, [...]

Bummer.

I’m having a ton of trouble with my right arm/wrist/hand.
It hurts to type, it hurts to use a mouse, and it just generally hurts. Tendinitis, I think. Too much time on the computer, I’m sure. I’ve been popping Advil and trying to ignore it. I’ve been trying to use my left hand as much as [...]

End, Part I.

I’m 10,000 or so words behind on my novel … but still optimistic about hitting 50,000 by November 30. So my NaNoWriMo widget says my current ETA is Dec. 24, so what? Today’s progress brought that back from Jan. 1, which is what it said this morning.
My mom was visiting this week and I’ve been [...]

The Invisible Circus

I stayed up half the night reading a book. It’s been a while since I’ve done that. I read the whole book in less than 24 hours. I used to do that a lot, but as I’ve gotten older, it happens less and less often. It’s too hard to get up in the morning if [...]

I have no idea what I am doing.

One thing has become very clear (well, one thing besides my excruciatingly slow writing process) in my NaNoWriMo writing so far: I have no idea how to write a novel. I am not experienced with fiction writing.
Nonfiction writing is a different animal, one in which (at least theoretically) cats can’t start talking when the writing [...]

I think I’ve just crossed into another genre.

Well, so here I am on Day 4 of NaNoWriMo, and all was going well, or at least well enough.
I have a main character and in only a few pages she becomes entangled in an intriguing turn of events that will launch her into the rest of the plot. There is mystery! There is surprise! [...]

Yay! NaNoWriMo-ians!

I started writing a novel!
I wrote this morning, before work, and again this evening in a rare extra forty minutes of time between taking the dog out and when Billy arrived home. I’ve made my word count. I feel good. I don’t know where my plot is going, and that’s OK. I’m confident that it [...]