Month: October 2018

Musings

[Blog] NaNo Cometh

Faith Hakimian

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Six days! Six days until NaNo starts! Six days to get all that last minute planning in, six days to enjoy the fleeting treasure known as free time before the words swallow it all. Six days until we get to begin this wild creative rush.

I’m excited, friends. Nervous, too, but that’s how you know you’re doing it right.

Naturally, standard rambling blog posts will be on hiatus for the duration of the month, replaced by scraps and snippets (or longer bits!) from my great big Tanner and Miranda project, tentatively titled something fun and ridiculous like “Trouble on the New Frontier” or “The Tanner and Miranda Chronicles”. I’m not sure. Titles are hard.

What about all of you? Who else is doing NaNo this year, and what are your projects? Let me know down in the comments!

Musings

[Blog] Autumn and Winter and Early Sunset

Faith Hakimian

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As happens at this time of year, the days grow shorter and darker and the nights grow longer and I remember once again that this is my favorite time of year. Those who know me know that I can, at times, be a bit of a homebody– and these cooler, quieter days are made for staying at home with friends and family, for drinking tea and hot cider, for sitting in front of a crackling fire and maybe talking or maybe not as the mood takes us. The fireplace is a little harder to come by down in California, of course, but we find ways to make do. And I think that’s why I love it when the sun sets early. It makes it easier to just sit, to just relax together.

Musings

[Blog] The Pantser (somewhat) Tamed

Faith Hakimian

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I’m watching November approach with the usual levels of excitement and trepidation. I’ve participated enough times that the 1667 word/day goal no longer sounds absolutely insane, though the looks of concerns every time an innocent bystander stops long enough for me to tell them about the chaotic glory that is NaNoWriMo, the looks of concern they give me when I say the phrase “fifty thousand words in thirty days” remind me that this whole undertaking is a little bit nuts.

Fun, for sure. But also nuts.

And usually, I go into it with minimal levels of planning. By which I mean that I have a single sentence synopsis and rough ideas for most of the main characters when writing starts on November 1. And so far, it’s worked pretty well.

I wonder, though, if this year will be different. With one exception, it’s easily the most established story I’ve chosen to work on for the month. It’s also going to be a substantially different format and far more episodic than I’ve done in the past, and honestly, I don’t know if that’s going to make it easier or harder. Or neither?

I’m not saying I’m planning everything out. Maybe it would be a good thing if I did, but I haven’t managed to do it yet, and with less than three weeks before writing starts (!!!), I can tell you right now that it’s not going to happen. But instead of needing one big plot (which I kinda still do if I want to string all these stories together in a sensible manner), I’m going to need a bunch of smaller plots to get me from point A to point B.

Only time and writing will tell how that’s going to work out for me. Wish me luck?

Musings

[Blog] NaNoWriMo 2018 is on its way!

Faith Hakimian

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I’m so excited! And mildly panicked, but that’s part and parcel. It’s October and that means NaNoWriMo will be here before we know it, and I’ll descend into the madness that is an average of 1667 words per day while still maintaining a ghostly semblance of normal life.

If you read the comments on last week’s post, you may already know this, but my project for this year is going to be a compendium of Tanner and Miranda stories, roughly compiled into an overarching story. That’s the plan, at least! We’ll what actually happens.

Regardless, my plan is to post bits and pieces more or less as I write them– parts I particularly like and do a decent enough job of standing alone– so look for that starting next month, and watch as I slowly lose my grip on reality and what it means to have a normal sleep schedule. I mean, that part isn’t exactly my plan, but I’ve done this crazy thing enough times to know what’s coming.