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Posts Tagged ‘nanowrimo2011’

Arches National Park and NaNoWriMo Update

Posted in Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , , , on November 5, 2011| 4 Comments »

 

Balanced Rock in Arches National Park in Southern Utah was shown in the opening scene of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." -- Photo by Pat Bean

 

My Favorite Places

The Three Gossips at Arches National Park

 

“What I like in a good author is not what he says, but what he whispers.” – Logan Pearsall Smith

NaNoWriMo Update – 10,313 words

It feels odd to be writing by the seat of my pants, so to speak. While I have a vague, and I do mean vague, plot line in my head, there is no outline. I’m just writing from one scene to the next, filling in all the blanks about the characters’ lives as I go.

I find I’m taking a piece here and a piece there of myself and people I know to bring the imaginary people I’m writing about to life. One of my minor characters, the wife of a more major character, is a university professor at Rice. I was pondering on what to have her teach and came up with English literature, and then thought of the professor at Weber State University who taught a class on Sherlock Holmes, and suddenly that was what she was teaching.

Another example is that I belonged to an informal group of friends in Utah, all uppity old broads like myself. One of the member’s son’s called us the Murder of Crows, and we were so pleased with the name that we adopted it. So suddenly I find that three old broads in the book called themselves The Murder of Crows. A murder, by the way, is what a flock of crows are called.

Perhaps all of this will change when I get past the month and 50,000 words and start rewriting, but pulling these bits from memory is certainly helping the work flow. Just about 2,000 more words today. Whew….

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Grand Staircase – Escalante and NaNoWriMo Update

Posted in Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Uncategorized, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on November 4, 2011| 4 Comments »

 

Hogsback Ridge between Escalante and Boulder on Utah's Highway 12, often called America's most scenic road. -- Photo by Pat Bean

 

My Favorite Places

 

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument landscape -- Photo by Pat Bean

“I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all.” – Richard Wright

NaNoWriMo Update .. 8,326 words

Sitting down in front of the computer for five straight hours today wasn’t going to happen. I was stiff from two hours of physical therapy yesterday to make my old broad body unstiff, particularly my neck and shoulders.

So I did my writing in bits and spurts. I got up to 2,000 new words by 4 p.m., after starting at 6 a.m. Did I mention I was still in my pajamas?

My main character is going to have a dog, and if there’s anything I know it’s a relationship one can have with a beloved pet. So today I wrote a lot about that, along with planting a first clue for my mystery. I’ve always hated it when you read a mystery and there are either no clues – or no red herrings.

Thankfully today, I had nowhere to go and my daughter’s big house al to myself, well except for three dogs, one cat that needs insulin shots twice and day and three aquariums full of fish.

. It also showed me, however, that I tend to get more done on the days I have to do more. I’m finding this challenge very interesting.

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Chincoteague Island and NaNoWriMo Update

Posted in Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , , , , on November 2, 2011| 1 Comment »

  

An ideal spot at the RV park where I stayed for gazing out over the water and watching birds on Chincoteague Island. -- Photo by Pat Bean

One of the Assateague horses, a rare black and white, which I saw from a boat. Dogs weren't allowed on Assateague Island. -- Photo by Pat Bean

 

My Favorite Places

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent.” John Donne

 

NaNoWriMo Update – 3,736 words.

I was at the computer at 6 a.m. this morning and got right at it. No checking e-mail, no stalling until I had just about 2,500 words written. It was 11 a.m. when the goal was met.

I always write better and faster in the mornings. In order to overcome my need to check out every fact I adopted the procedure of highlighting anything that needed to be verified or researched (like actually how to you clean a fish you’ve caught) for checking later, perhaps even after the story has been told.

I’m trying to keep the story moving, and already I’m surprised what I’m learning about my characters. Now I need to go stretch my neck and back. Ouch!

How’s everyone else coming along?

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