writing challenge – Of Bears and Boating

On Saturday, I surpassed my Camp NaNoWriMo goal by 4K+ words.

That means I won.

Yippee!

Time for a celebration.

Tequila and Ren Faire, it is.

Don’t judge me.

So, now it’s over. The euphoria that comes with accomplishment is waning, and I am left with the aftermath of writing willy-nilly for a month straight without rereading or editing a single word – just a lot of marking and moving on. A difficult concept for me, and frankly, the thought of facing what I’ve committed to paper scares me.

I did, though – at five in the morning, over my morning coffee. My walk through was brisk. It was all I could muster after four hours of sleep and the realization that I had forgotten to pick up french vanilla coconut milk coffee creamer on my way home. Black coffee sweetened with refined sugar does not make for ideal shitty writing reading conditions.

I hear war stories from the NaNo veterans. They assure me that cringe worthy writing is the norm. After all, NaNo is not about producing a finished product, it’s about a commitment and dedication to the act of writing. I suppose in this context, what I found was on par. It is a bit overgrown in places, a little sparse in others. There are rare bursts of brilliance encapsulated within thick sticky sludge. Anna is still missing her retribution. The fragility of her state of mind is not quite right, and her brother is without a completed introduction scene – again. And the typos – sweet baby Jesus, don’t get me started on the typos.

It is a work in progress, ever evolving. I am not displeased with what I’ve done – it could be worse. I’m far from finished, but I am closer to the end. In the last few days, I have been struck by an idea for a new opening scene. It is something I’ve struggled with for a long time – where does Anna’s story begin? This new scene captures Anna’s inability to cope, her helplessness and hopelessness, her quest for absolution. In other words, Anna hitting rock bottom. I think it works. I hope it works. I’m sure my writing group will tell me if it doesn’t.

On a side note, its inspiration comes from an album that I’ve listened to countless times and never before made the correlation.

It’s all in the timing, I suppose.

So, now what?

More writing, of course.

Anna needs to get her retribution back!

Okay, so I’ve been a little remiss in my blog postings of late. Sure, I’ve given you some groovy pics to tide you over, but I know what you really want – you want to hear all about my writing woes.

Well, guess what?

I’m not having any writing woes at the moment.

What?!?

That’s not to say sitting down at the computer every single day, pounding out a string of words designed to exhibit a measure of cohesion isn’t a complete bitch. It is. On a good productive day, the process only sucks out all of my brain cells; on a bad day – well, let’s just say it leaves me a quivering mass of something that should never see the light of day.

So, let me recap for those who have not had to suffer my temper tantrums and pity parties. Several months ago – I’m going to refrain from embarrassing myself with the exact dates – I started writing a story I entitled Retribution. Anna’s story. I wrote 60K words within the span of a few months, and then it all went to hell. It was so bad, and I hated it so much, that I did the only humane thing I could think of – bonfire.

A few months later, a voice began whispering in my ear. It was Anna. She became my constant companion, her voice needling into my subconscious, demanding I give her the story she deserved. Eventually, I gave in and began drafting an outline – or six. June arrived and along with it Camp NaNoWriMo. I threw my hat into the ring, and by the middle of the month, I had written 26.5K words. I was on a roll.

Then it all went to hell – again. I learned a valuable lesson last summer: Going on a family vacation for a week to Washington D.C., in the midst of an intense writing challenge, is not conducive to success. My fall schedule didn’t help matters either. It was consumed by Geology, Political Science, African-American history, and the Cold War. There was no room for Anna.

I’ve spent the early part 2013 recuperating, trying to find my bearings. For me, the transition from scholarly writing to fictional is a difficult adjustment. I envy writers who can do it and make it appear seamless. At the end of February, I opened my Retribution files again, sifted through scene after scene, made some notes and a few plot adjustments, did a little research. In March, I heard the rumblings of an April edition of NaNoWriMo with an adjustable word count goal. My heart did a little flip-flop. A sign? I think so. I joined without hesitation.

So, where am I going with all of this rambling nonsense?

It is day three of the challenge. I’ve written almost 5,000 words toward my 25K word goal, and I’m feeling groovy.

Write on happy campers.