• I'm more focused on nonfiction right now. (more below)
• Still editing last year's novel. (more below)
• I'm still a bit raw from some friendships I lost after last year's NaNo. I couldn't face running into them again, though I'm not even sure which of us would be more upset. (that's all you get)

Meanwhile, I have plenty of writing projects to keep me busy:

Editing: As mentioned above, I'm in the process of editing last year's NaNo product. I'd like to complete a revision in time to order a professionally printed copy and present it to my best friend for the holidays, since our friendship inspired the spirit (though not the story) of the book.

Blogging: I amd starting a political blog, prompted by friends calling me to ask what I thought about "the latest" and my eyes-wide-open involvement with local Democrats. It's become clearer than ever to me that even well-intentioned politicos can lead voters astray, so I want to attempt a perspective I haven't seen anywhere else. Due to my involvement with an ongoing campaign, I will not announce the site until after the election, but I'll at least post an announcement for friends here.

NaBloPoMo: In lieu of NaNo and to coax myself to build an archive quickly, I am participating in "National Blog Posting Month" this month. All you have to do is post every day for 30 days. Should be good for habit-building and quick learning.

Nonfiction: The big excitement in my writing, though, is the nonfiction project I cooked up in the latter part of summer. I don't want to go into a whole lot of detail here, at least not today, but I figured out the thread I needed to write the book I was born to write, a book full of research and storytelling that delves into race and class. You should see the outline.

Grantwriting: As an extension of the nonfiction project, I will be looking into applying for grants and other sources of funding to subsidize my research (and hopefully some travel, too!). Time to dust off the old DC contacts list and learn a lot about grants awfully fast.

Consulting: On the rather likely chance I won't get financial support while writing the nonfiction project, I'm also going to dust off the old resume and try to put together a website advertising myself as a communications consultant. My favorite part of the campaign has been drafting emails to supporters and media pieces about our candidate. I have made some solid contacts who (I believe) can help me drum up some occasional work next year, and it would be nice to have something to show them.

Suddenly I can't wait to read it again--to see what other eccentricities I picked up from him!

BTW, that was an em dash in the sentence above. It's like a parenthetical but more abrupt and interrupting. I use it a lot in dialogue because it brings realism and rhythm and can say a lot about how the character's mind works--faster than their mouth, for instance. Or their typing.

One little thing I do in my writing (at least with fiction) is to give narrators the power of the em dash. It serves a similar purpose for the narrator as for other characters, with the added bonus of making lengthy passages more conversational, tempering some of my overly cerebral writings, and allowing the narrator quick opportunities to make fun of me, the story, or himself/herself without a lengthy set-up.

In short, long live the em dash! You, too, can discover the wonders of the em dash by typing two hyphens directly between words (no spaces). MS Word will even magically combine them into the pretty single structure I love.

One caveat, however, before you jump on the em dash bandwagon: my liberal use of the em dash has cost me several hundred words at NaNo this year and last, because their word counter doesn't recognize both words beside the dash.

Since you've got me here, I just want to follow up on NaNo. It was great this year. I was busy early in the month but caught up in the last week and finished 50K two days early, just like last year. I estimate needing another 30K for this novel, and I want to add at least as much to last year's novel, which stands at 100K after a year's work. My goal is to finish both first drafts before January 15th, just in case there's a Lulu printing again this year for winners.

My writing pace has improved dramatically. For last year's NaNo, I felt good if I could write more than 300 words an hour. I actually measured my hours this year and was averaging four times that amount. I don't know how much of it was due to having a simpler story and no outline, but I'm hoping to keep that pace up. Two hours a day for the next six weeks ought to make me feel like a writer at last.

One point I cannot overlook is that I told myself last year that I had to finish a draft before the end of the year. To be close to finishing two feels very good, but I worry a bit about overconfidence.

I also worry the stories will suck, but only a little. That's what revision is for. And I'd rather have an unpublished but complete novel than another unfinished endeavor.

And for my own amusement (and to overcome consternation at NaNo's ongoing site issues), here are some word wars (which I am likely losing):

:P

Tomorrow marks the beginning of NaNo 2007, when I will again tackle 50,000 words in 30 days. Seems like a good time to evaluate my progress as a writer, as well as my immediate goals:

• Last year's novel is still in progress. I worked on it off and on throughout the year and just hit 100,000 words this past week. I love the story and the characters, but it still lacks another 50,000 words and at least one rewrite before I can begin to share it with others.
• This year's novel will be an entirely different direction for me. Whereas last year's was an attempt at a millenial bildungsroman posing as flippant erotica, this year's will be more of an philosophical subversion posing as episodic parable. But then, aren't all parables philosophical subversions?
• I wanted to push myself, since 50,000 was rather easy last year, but I now have more time challenges and less direction for my novel. Last year, I was 100% unemployed and stationary in November. This year, I will be taking 30 hours of classes for my upcoming Tax prep gig and travelling twice.
• On the upside, I have a lot more friends doing NaNo this year (even my travelling companions), and having done it once, I know what is necessary. I also know for a fact that my writing pace has picked up over the past year.
• I hope to finish the new one early, then come back to last year's and keep the momentum going through the end of the year. If Lulu continues its tradition of offering NaNo winners a free copy of their novel, I would like to submit a complete draft of last year's novel rather than a (likely incomplete) draft of this year's.

current mood: hopeful

"It is easy for a writer to criticize oneself, particularly when said writer goes unpaid and often procrastinates, but it is not so easy to praise one’s writing. Or at least we probably do not do it often enough. We should. Criticizing writing is very important, especially since the shelves of Barnes and Noble are filled with fluff, but those great writers out there know they have a little something, and a kind word to oneself probably strengthens their writing in the end."

• Imagination. Even when I wasn't writing, my brain overflowed with ideas for plots, characters, humorous bits, tragic twists, and it's very rare that I can sit down to write and not come up with something almost immediately (a problem that happens much more frequently with drawing). It is also, by far, my most unique contribution to writing.
• Language. I love words: big words, small words, obscure words, slang words. I have a somewhat large vocabulary and have been told that I integrate it more fully into my writing and everyday speech than most people with much larger vocabularies. I am also a bit of a grammar and punctuation snob and use them the way a warrior wields a weapon--as an extension of my own body. Of course this is my double-edged sword, because I want to put every meandering thought into every piece and it can weigh things down.
• Perspective. Anyone who knows me knows that perspective is not an angle on my world-view, but my entire world-view itself. On a personal level, my broad perception keeps me balanced and open-minded, but in writing it helps me find the unexplored nooks and crannies that are worth writing about and allows me to delve into and appreciate characters who might otherwise depth.
• Time. My one true enemy, and what lofty feats have been accomplished because there was someone to oppose with them? Time has made me its bitch by giving me great access to its domain, only to prove that I am only slightly more productive than when I had little. But the fact remains that without an abundance of free time and the luxury of self-determination, even what little I've accomplished would still be only a gleam in my computer's eye.
• Il-literature-acy. It's true: for a verbose writer with an English degree from an expensive Eastern college, I am rather poorly read. But, while this has not been exceptionally intentional (I have not so much avoided reading classic literature as failed to seek it out), it has helped me, I think, to retain not only an independent feel within my own words, but also to welcome ideas that might not seem very literary at first. I can draw inspiration in equal parts from Shakespeare, pop music, epic poetry, television reruns, and hopefully not repel too many readers with one or the other. Of course most important is my own personal experience, but if I read too many life-changing books, that's kind of screwed, isn't it? I think I manage to avoid getting choked by common pretense (I'll find my own, thank you) and write for the sake of what I want to say, rather than what I expect others want me to say or trying to match every great work I've ever read. College was a close call, I'll admit, but I took a few years off, and I'm more pleased with what I've written since than anything that came before.

So, weaknesses... procrastination, wordiness, preachiness, character distinction and dynamics, and a lack of surreality (though I'm hoping my next NaNo novel will give me good practice there).

A few weeks ago, I joined a website for publishing user-produced content. It's not much as publishing contracts go, but it's good practice and gives me something on which to focus.

My first article has been accepted and I'm being paid a whopping $4.56 for its publication. It's a movie review I dashed off after seeing the documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated.

The favor I have to ask is that you check it out. You don't have to read it (although you are welcome to if it sounds interesting), but visitors help earn me clout, so future articles can earn me better compensation. In the long run, I don't expect to make much money from it, but it's still a nice incentive to keep writing.

Future articles could cover any number of topics--it's unlikely there will be many movie reviews--and suggestions are always welcome. If you are interested, though, please feel free to check my profile for updates and nudge me if I'm not posting enough. ;)

Here is the link to the article

and here is a link to my profile