Big surprise! I’ve been quiet on the website front, because there’s been very little to report. In fact, I felt embarrassed, even though putting up a post might have inspired me to feel more accountable to someone other than myself, and I might have made better progress than I have thus far. But I didn’t, so here we are.
It’s the last day of June, which, if I had been on pace, would mean I’d have 6 completed novels in 6 different genres, and I’d be ready to start tackling the 7th tomorrow. After all, 10 years ago, when I did this last time, I dug deep, and wrote something like 16.5K on that last day to finish on time (which led to me whiffing the ending I had intended, so landing wasn’t quite as good as I would have hoped).
But I only have 3 completed thus far, and only one of those successfully in its intended month. I have a really bad “erotica” novel (after the peer review of part of it, I don’t feel I can technically call it that, but for the sake of argument, we’ll stick with the intent, even if the execution failed miserably), a “romance” (which probably can’t technically be called that, either, but I think it’s a lot closer than the “erotica” and certainly better than what I wrote 10 years ago), and a historical fiction piece (which doesn’t need clarifying, because it really is one).
That means I don’t have a finished mystery, mech anime, or choose-your-own adventure (heist) to add to the pile. What I had hoped to do, staying on pace with one of the latter two, and adding to the mystery, has not succeeded. I’ve still written every day, but once again, how can I hope to gain any ground on being behind if I don’t even write the minimum needed for the current month?
And I really thought June was going to turn it all around. And, admittedly, when I’ve allowed myself the space to work on things, I’ve glimpsed what I could have done, the fun I could have had, and the progress I could have made not only on that novel, but maybe even getting caught up more on previous ones.
I just got in my own way. I wanted to throw in the towel, but I knew that I owed myself the chance to see if it was just because I was behind and wanted the burden off my shoulders, or that I just wasn’t allowing myself the chance to go for it like I should. But since I could go ridiculous with everything, I saw how fun it could be, and chose to save writing until the end of the day, when I didn’t want to wind myself up, so a hundred words (or many times, far less) would have to suffice.
I was looking at this past week as a chance to maybe get back in the saddle properly, to spend a good part of the day making up a considerable amount of ground, and maybe even finish on time once again. But there are some things that I’ve forgotten, of haven’t faced, about myself lately.
I know I’ve said this many times lately, but I just don’t have it in me to write super huge amounts in one day, let alone many days in a row. Yes, I managed to do that for the “erotica” novel in January, but that wasn’t a fair assessment of my abilities, because all I really had to do was write another sex scene, or more food porn, or both, and mix it up with location and positions.
But I can’t really do that as easily when I have the kids to consider. If both of them are going to their morning activities, that occupies me until after 11, and then if there’s something in the afternoon, good luck getting much progress in the morning or early part of the day. Do they want to go to the pool? Go to a store for some reason? (My son has shown an increased interest in crafts and cooking, both of which not only have resulted in us going to multiple stores, but then requires supervision once we’re back home.) Up until the end of September in 2013, I didn’t have kids to consider when I went through this the last time, and then they were at daycare and went to bed earlier, so there was still sufficient time to work around them as necessary.
I thought this about June, but I’m going to let July be the true test of whether I should keep going. My hope is that writing a memoir will result in me spewing lots of words onto the page with relative ease, and that might get me not only on track for that month, but maybe some hope for recovering ground on projects that have passed unfinished. Or maybe I will see that I can still keep going, but I should let what didn’t reach completion sit on the WIP pile for the time being, and potentially return to it, or leave it alone indefinitely.
Even though I’m definitely writing in July, I’m not signing up for Camp Nano again. I don’t need that hanging over me, too. However, I will say that, barring some unforeseen incident, I will definitely still be doing regular Nano in November. It will be my 19th year, and you can bet that there will be no way I’ll allow my winning streak to end.
12 Months, 12 Genres 2 (Electric Novel-oo) is flailing miserably, but even though I’ve had hella mixed emotions throughout the year, and doubts about continuing, I’m still happy I’ve attempted it. At the very least, I’m pretty damn proud of my historical fiction, even if I know there are some parts that need fixing, and that’s without anyone reading it (save the part that I sent to my writing group this week). The “romance” is pretty decent, too. Considering how much I pants some of this stuff, at least I wrapped up pretty much every thread I dangled earlier in the novel, which I can’t say always manage (I’m looking at you, toe sucking from the “erotica” novel).
Anyway, that’s where I am so far in the year. I’ll do my best not to ghost so much, but I make no promises (unless I write in October, because there will be lots of ghosts in that one).