So this is a little bit belated.
In case you hadn't noticed, I lost!!
I got as far as 32333 words. A massive 50-ish pages. Impressive!!
And then it was thanksgiving, and then it was black friday weekend (a ten-hour day friday as well, to say the least) and also I was sick, and also I was sick of writing.
Don't get me wrong, I love my story, I was excited to share bits of it with you loyal reader(s), but I got so just stressed and fed up that I said fuck it.
Tuesday, the 30th, I was sick and called out of 826NYC and didn't write one single word. It was fantastic. It was spiteful and more of a victory than 50k would have been (LIES!)
But now I'm writing a bit again.
11.28.2010
National Novel Writing Month: Part The Third
Day 28 of the challenge is coming to a close and I have a measely 32333 words.
I can only say 3 positive things about this:
1. It was actually a lot more words than I realistically considered myself capable of. When I first started the challenge I thought '50,000 words! Cakewalk!' but inside, my soul screamed "You fucking moron! You don't even know 50,000 words!' and though that didn't make any sense because you can't write a book 50,000 words long and never repeat a word, my soul had a point. 32333 words later and even ignoring the time frame I realize I am actually mentally capable of writing a 50,000 word novel.
2. My longest work at the time was a shitty, pseudo-autobiographical grindhouse b-movie of a novella and clocked in at about 23,000 words. having 10,000 words on that thing and not even being done yet (and being confident that this isn't some pulp piece of shit) is a pretty spectacular feeling. Hell, maybe I'll even surpass the 50k.
3. I can't remember what it was I considered the third positive thing I gained from this experience. But I'd like to believe there is a third thing.
Anyways, though I slacked a bit here and there, and my word count is nowhere near where I should be. I've not given up and I won't quit. I will be proud of whatever word count I reach, and eventually I will have a completed book to be proud of.
I have no excerpt for you because I don't want to give too much away! Sucks to be you!
I can only say 3 positive things about this:
1. It was actually a lot more words than I realistically considered myself capable of. When I first started the challenge I thought '50,000 words! Cakewalk!' but inside, my soul screamed "You fucking moron! You don't even know 50,000 words!' and though that didn't make any sense because you can't write a book 50,000 words long and never repeat a word, my soul had a point. 32333 words later and even ignoring the time frame I realize I am actually mentally capable of writing a 50,000 word novel.
2. My longest work at the time was a shitty, pseudo-autobiographical grindhouse b-movie of a novella and clocked in at about 23,000 words. having 10,000 words on that thing and not even being done yet (and being confident that this isn't some pulp piece of shit) is a pretty spectacular feeling. Hell, maybe I'll even surpass the 50k.
3. I can't remember what it was I considered the third positive thing I gained from this experience. But I'd like to believe there is a third thing.
Anyways, though I slacked a bit here and there, and my word count is nowhere near where I should be. I've not given up and I won't quit. I will be proud of whatever word count I reach, and eventually I will have a completed book to be proud of.
I have no excerpt for you because I don't want to give too much away! Sucks to be you!
11.20.2010
National Novel Writing Month: Part The Second
It's day 20. Ten days remain in the contest and I'm, at the moment of this writing, not even halfway through my book. 24871 words strong - I'm close to half, no bones about it - this is still an achievement for me. I work 40 hours a week, I have a small social life, I have a PS3 that regularly requires my attention, much like a child, and yet I'm still going pretty strong. According to the NaNoWriMo website, I only need to write about 2,500 words a day to actually complete the book on time (assuming my book completes at 50K, which is does not seem so [however, at 50K I'm a winner, finished or not in my book ]) which isn't impossible. I've been polishing off about 3,000 every day, a little more when I write in my notebook at 826NYC on tuesdays.
I'm really happy with the direction the novel is headed in. I've tweaked bits and pieces, I've added and removed bits and pieces and, though it will still require heavy editing, content-wise I confident I have a good piece of work in front of me.
If you read the excerpt from Part the First, you're probably awash with curiosities and a deep interest in the happenings thus far. Provided is another snippet to whet your appetite for more of The Captain.
I'm really happy with the direction the novel is headed in. I've tweaked bits and pieces, I've added and removed bits and pieces and, though it will still require heavy editing, content-wise I confident I have a good piece of work in front of me.
If you read the excerpt from Part the First, you're probably awash with curiosities and a deep interest in the happenings thus far. Provided is another snippet to whet your appetite for more of The Captain.
11.12.2010
National Novel Writing Month: Part The First
So I didn't want to wait until twelve days into writing to inform you all in blog-world about the serious endeavor I'm undertaking. National Novel Writing Month is a month-long celebration of writing in which participants write 50,000 word novels before midnight November 30th. Seeings how I've recently been writing more as of late, with both a novel and a graphic novel miniseries in the works (more on these as they develop), I didn't mind putting that all on hold to torture myself for 30 days.
Between working 40 hours a week, volunteering at 826NYC on tuesdays, my only day off, and having a strong social/drinking life of course adding writing a novel with deadlines is the logical and responsible thing to do to my sanity.
Needless to say it's november 12th, I should be at 20,000 words today and I'm instead at 10,855 and steadily growing as I write this. I'm stressing over this a lot, but I'm still loving the experience. I'm constantly thinking about what to write, putting off video games and sleep to continue working. I plan on catching up with my word count this weekend (with only breaks for football, of course) in between.
As far as the book goes, I don't have a title yet, but it's classified under Satire/Humor/Parody which if you've read my entries here that about covers it.
I won't go into too much detail of what it's about, but there's an excerpt after the jump:
Between working 40 hours a week, volunteering at 826NYC on tuesdays, my only day off, and having a strong social/drinking life of course adding writing a novel with deadlines is the logical and responsible thing to do to my sanity.
Needless to say it's november 12th, I should be at 20,000 words today and I'm instead at 10,855 and steadily growing as I write this. I'm stressing over this a lot, but I'm still loving the experience. I'm constantly thinking about what to write, putting off video games and sleep to continue working. I plan on catching up with my word count this weekend (with only breaks for football, of course) in between.
As far as the book goes, I don't have a title yet, but it's classified under Satire/Humor/Parody which if you've read my entries here that about covers it.
I won't go into too much detail of what it's about, but there's an excerpt after the jump:
10.27.2010
Forgotten Futures
Lauren (over at Hello, You are not here) shot me a link to this flash fiction contest over at New Scientist.
For those of you who are unaware, Flash Fiction is a "genre" of writing that isn't very long (hence the "flash" part).
Having taken a college course on this, I can tell you it's pretty stupid.
I personally don't believe fiction should have boundaries, I don't think one should limit one's self to a specific length (and therein syntax, dialogue/exposition/plot limitations) because, in the end, fiction should write itself. You should never struggle to get something out, never tell yourself you have too many words, or force yourself to choose one specific word over some unnecessarily long and wordy paragraph.
In the spirit of the contest, however, I took the challenge and wrote one up using the 350 word count as a plot device rather than a limitation.
The contest was called 'Forgotten Futures', or how the present looked like "The Future" to the past. Think "The War of the Worlds and Nineteen Eighty-Four as masterpieces of speculative literature, but have somehow or other lapsed into obscurity. Each is a forgotten vision of the future."
At least, that's how I interpreted the task:
For those of you who are unaware, Flash Fiction is a "genre" of writing that isn't very long (hence the "flash" part).
Having taken a college course on this, I can tell you it's pretty stupid.
I personally don't believe fiction should have boundaries, I don't think one should limit one's self to a specific length (and therein syntax, dialogue/exposition/plot limitations) because, in the end, fiction should write itself. You should never struggle to get something out, never tell yourself you have too many words, or force yourself to choose one specific word over some unnecessarily long and wordy paragraph.
In the spirit of the contest, however, I took the challenge and wrote one up using the 350 word count as a plot device rather than a limitation.
The contest was called 'Forgotten Futures', or how the present looked like "The Future" to the past. Think "The War of the Worlds and Nineteen Eighty-Four as masterpieces of speculative literature, but have somehow or other lapsed into obscurity. Each is a forgotten vision of the future."
At least, that's how I interpreted the task:
10.12.2010
Hormonally Vivid Excitations
Gretchen woke up hungover, wrapped in a large quilt. She scratched her head, trying as hard as she could to recall what had happened the night before, but the last thing she remembered was stumbling out of the apartment of the black guy she let fuck her in the ass because she's menstruating and let's face it, pregnancy sucks.
10.10.2010
Memo: When I Become a Super-powered Individual
Since most of the good superpowers have been taken...and we all know that making some second-rate superhero with first-rate abilities never works out (I'm looking at you SubMariner), I've decided to list all the abilities I'm willing to have.
Note to DC and Marvel: If I see any of these in print, Fuck you, I'm suing.
Note to DC and Marvel: If I see any of these in print, Fuck you, I'm suing.
8.06.2010
Wikipedia - International Edition!
Being a foreign language buff, and an immense liar, I've been doing some intense research on different language versions of Wikipedia, and learning things about their cultures and their people through the ever-present language barrier that separates people so.
Here's what I learned:
Here's what I learned:
7.13.2010
This is not relationship advice; and, this is not a love story.
Every day Ted contemplated leaving her. He wanted to walk inside the living room and sit her down. He wanted to tell her it was him, it wasn't her; that she was gorgeous and smart and had a bright future and that some temporal physicist experimenting in spatial dynamics was just holding her back from her full potential.
Rhyme Scheme Family
Artistically my best work.
Probably my most offensive.
I followed this one up the least because, franky, I ran out of funny things to say.
I made all of these in about a day on a whim, and as an entire work, I'm disappointed I couldn't explore more facets of this family and their dysfunctions.
They're aware of them though, and I think that makes them slightly more lovable. I present to you, The Rhyme Scheme Family:
Probably my most offensive.
I followed this one up the least because, franky, I ran out of funny things to say.
I made all of these in about a day on a whim, and as an entire work, I'm disappointed I couldn't explore more facets of this family and their dysfunctions.
They're aware of them though, and I think that makes them slightly more lovable. I present to you, The Rhyme Scheme Family:
6.25.2010
5.19.2010
El Chicas Gordas
One of the mediums I'm most interested in (both creatively and recreationally) is comic books. Now I'm no artist, and as such had never really gotten into the scene until I read a little thing called 8-Bit Theatre and fell in love with a way of making comics without drawin. I've since attempted to make about four different webcomics that NEVER took off because the inside of my head isn't so good.
Now you might recall that previous post I did about a shadow-y guy that I never mentioned again...Well that was serious, that was the melodramatic side of me that takes my shit seriously.
This, however, is the exact opposite:
Now you might recall that previous post I did about a shadow-y guy that I never mentioned again...Well that was serious, that was the melodramatic side of me that takes my shit seriously.
This, however, is the exact opposite:
5.13.2010
The Fab-Tastic "Adventures" of the S.S. Butt
"The Fab-Tastic 'Adventures' of the S.S. Butt" was my foray into nonsensical silly-ness and two-to-three-page-long chapters full of self-referential gibberish that was only partially not gibberish.
Re-Reading this yesterday gave me pangs that I could only describe as joy and laughter, or possibly heartburn.
And lesson number 1 of writing: Don't use a girlfriend's name as a character in a story because she will soon be an ex-girlfriend, and your current girlfriend will recognize that name and force you to change it to HER name, and that name will probably suck in the story.
(I made that mistake, and have yet to face the consequences of it, and have also not changed the name due to laziness.).
Chapter 1: The Origins of the S.S. Butt:
Re-Reading this yesterday gave me pangs that I could only describe as joy and laughter, or possibly heartburn.
And lesson number 1 of writing: Don't use a girlfriend's name as a character in a story because she will soon be an ex-girlfriend, and your current girlfriend will recognize that name and force you to change it to HER name, and that name will probably suck in the story.
(I made that mistake, and have yet to face the consequences of it, and have also not changed the name due to laziness.).
Chapter 1: The Origins of the S.S. Butt:
5.12.2010
In Memoriam: Barkley: Shut Up and Jam.
During about jan of '10 I hopped on the 4chan bandwagon out of sheer boredom.
I uploaded this pic to try and make it the next big internet meme (can someone please tell me how to pronounce "meme"?)
...needless to say it didn't work. The thread disappeared within minutes reaching a maximum of about five or six comments.
I still think it has potential.
I uploaded this pic to try and make it the next big internet meme (can someone please tell me how to pronounce "meme"?)
...needless to say it didn't work. The thread disappeared within minutes reaching a maximum of about five or six comments.
I still think it has potential.
5.11.2010
Spoiler: This story has nothing to do with football.
I've been transferring files from my shitty old Dell Inspiron 2650 onto my custom-built sex machine.
I was reading old IM conversations with girls who definitely had the hots for me though I didn't fuck them.
I perused some comics I used to make (and to this day miss making)
and I found this little gem which I thought was a bit of a dissolution into pornography but hit some of the right notes.
I present:
The Cleveland Browns Have Nothing on My Sea Man
I was reading old IM conversations with girls who definitely had the hots for me though I didn't fuck them.
I perused some comics I used to make (and to this day miss making)
and I found this little gem which I thought was a bit of a dissolution into pornography but hit some of the right notes.
I present:
The Cleveland Browns Have Nothing on My Sea Man
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