If there’s one thing I’ve learned on Facebook, it’s that this “bullet journal” thing is popular. I know a lot of people who use a bullet journal for their personal planner or to-do lists or just goal keeping. I’ve always found it fascinating, but I also know I don’t have the time in my day to create my own personal planner each day/week/month (just give me a pre-made planner, thanks. And I’ll likely barely use that too). So it turned into one of those things that I like looking at pictures of when people share the bullet journal pages they create, and nothing more.
Well, here we are. We’re winding down the second day of NaNoWriMo 2012, and at this moment I have 4,057 words logged so far. Woohoo! I’m pretty proud of myself and am getting into the swing of this novel. It took a bit for me to work up the momentum for it partly because A) I’ve been in a pretty nasty writing slump for a couple of months so am vastly out of practice, and B) my main character had to deal with some feelings post-apocalyptic-event before she could move on.
(Of course, if I ever go back and revise this sucker, many of those feelings will probably get cut out, but for now she had to deal with them.)
Anywho, having gotten past my quota for the day, I’m now sitting here watching Doctor Who Confidential from series one, and working on a crocheting project for Christmas. And freezing, because apparently my room must always be absurdly cold (I’m gonna have to break out the fingerless gloves and/or arm warmers and/or Hogwarts snuggie here soon, me thinks).
It feels good to be working on a first draft I’m actually really excited about again. Some of my other half-finished drafts I might return to later, but for now I feel like this is what I need to write for my sanity. I’ve actually found myself thinking about it a lot and it feels really good to be working on a draft that consumes my thoughts again.
In other news, I have this tendency to pick a “theme song” or a few for each of my novels. For the part of my NaNo I’m in now, this is the theme song for my main character, Alissa (for reference, she’s just lost her home, her family, and has no idea if anyone she knows at all is still alive).
I love this time of year. NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month. This is really my writerly Christmas. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside (with a side of insane).
This will be my eighth year. EIGHT YEARS! I can’t even believe it. My first year was the November of my senior year of high school. I can’t even wrap my head around that fact. I didn’t win until 2009, though. Then again last year. I’m hoping this will be the third year in a row I cross the 50k finish line.
In preparation for NaNo, I’ve been doing a few things…
1. I’ve picked out a general plot, the names of my two main characters, and a title. I was starting to panic for a little while at the beginning of October, because I couldn’t think of anything. AND THEN IT HIT ME! And there was much rejoicing.
2. I’ve created a NaNoWriMo 2011 playlist.
3. I’m going to my region’s kick-off party on Sunday!
4. I’ve warned the friends that didn’t already know that I do this that I’m going to do this. They needed warning. Querying and doing NaNoWriMo at the same time. My stress level is going to be nuts.
5. I’ve set a goal to finish my current first draft before November 1. I set this goal today. That gives me three days. HA! We’ll see how that goes.
So, all in all, I’m psyched. I’ll try to keep this blog updated throughout my NaNoWriMo journey.