Revisiting NaNoWriMo. I finally decided to stop thinking of my NaNoWriMo novel as a piece of work that needed revision and expansion. I hit a block every time. The piece I wrote last year for NaNoWriMo last year is less of a novel and more of an extended (50k!) brainstorming on No Use Wind...

It kind of hurts to phrase it like that, but I learned a lot of valuable stuff from pushing myself to write that last November. I gutted it today, tore it all the way down to the foundations, used a Fast Plotting technique (involving index cards) I learned over at Forward Motion and figured out how to make the plot I stumbled across last November actually *work*. And I did. And it does. I have 36 scenes, I wanted 50 but couldn't work out any others (although some may sneak in when I start the writing), which means my scenes are going to have to be about 2800 words a piece to make it to 100k. Then, I strung all my scene cards into a narrative barebones outline (the very *rough* makings of a synopsis) and it was a little over three single-spaced pages long! Almost 1500 words! And I really like the twists it took, there's actually motivation for some of the stuff that got thrown in there last November. And my characters aren't as prissy. And there are actually subplots: they might need more development, but they're there! I want to actually have something solid to stand on before I start racing to write the actual words again. I'm happy though. Exhausted, but happy.

Today's Word: orphan

She sat on the dock, kicking her feet in the water, watching the ripples spread. Families were like that, everybody affecting each other, no one was alone. No one except her. They were all gone now. She was left here to wait

Today's Word: end

It was over. She should have realized it when he had asked to come over so late. He said that he had something to discuss with her, something serious. She'd ignored the feelings of dread that had accompanied his statement, sure that she was wrong, sure that this wouldn't happen to her, sure that

Fun New Site. AlliKat posted the link to this one. It's called OneWord: It gives you one word at the beginning of each day and then you have 60 seconds to write about whatever that word conjures up in your mind. The word is the same for each person who uses it on any given day, so if you're planning on trying it out, don't read the rest of the post.

Today's Word: floor

She sat on the floor, watching her blood cover the floor. It was stupid really, that she had been shot for just coming home at the wrong time. Burglars should hang a sign or something: "Armed robbery in progress. Do not enter" and now she was dying. It was stupid

That was kind of morbid, but interesting as a warm-up exercise. I could keep going. And I meant the second "floor" to be "hardwood", but my fingers typed something else and I didn't want to waste time to erase.