Ohbalto Online Welcome to the new blog. Same as the old blog.

December The FirstPosted by dhoffman on December 1st, 2008

Well, it’s December First and I’m pleased to report that no, my brain did not turn off to Nikki and her little adventure when the little hand and the big hand lined up together on the bit twelve on top of the clock.

Which is a nice feeling.

I have to admit that the pressure to “perform” was definitely a nice thing.  The trick now is to continue — while integrating other aspects of life which may have been neglected the past 30 days — and be productive and creative.

I’m about 100 words into Chapter Fifteen and I figure Lions Together has between 5 and 7 chapters before we hit the end of the tale.  That’s a pretty nice feeling, too.  I’m looking forward to seeing how things work out.

Also, I had a cracker of an idea for what could be the next story.  Similar to Lions Together, it’s a title I’ve had in my head for years, only lacking a proper story to tie to it.  This idea might turn into that idea.

I haven’t decided yet — probably won’t decide until I’m actually doing it — if I’ll start this new story or turn myself around to work on the Second Draft / Revisions for Lions Together first.  I’m not sure if my brain and schedule could handle both things simultaneously.

Regardless, I’ll be posting here on this blog.  Site Statistics say that some folks are reading, so I guess I’ll keep it up.

Oh, and once I’m feeling alright with it, I’m going to post a chapter or three in the DOWNLOADS section of this site.  .PDF format, of course, so no funny stuff.  Figure a little feedback on what I’m doing night after night might be a good thing, no?

Winnar!Posted by dhoffman on November 30th, 2008

Just hit 50,039 words and while we’re right at the start of Chapter Fifteen, I think I’m going to count that as a “win” and maybe walk away from the computer for a bit.

Technically, I can still bump my word count up for this thing, so we’ll see if I return.  I’ve got more to say, and I don’t want to fall into the trap of hitting 50k and just letting things be.

i did take a moment to update the graphic over there on the right.  The blue one (which I’ll copy/paste below for posterity or whatever) is automatically generated.  The brown one, which should persist until next year, I had to actually upload.

This is a fun, torturous event, and hey, anything that gets me writing, even in as busy a time as this, can’t be a bad thing.

And, for whatever it’s worth, I also had an idea for the next book, and made some notes on that last night.

This is how it goes, you know . . .

49,998Posted by dhoffman on November 30th, 2008

Neat.

Just like, I think, hitting 29,999, I just happened to look down after writing, “She was sick of it” and saw I was at 49,998 words.

Two more to go and I emerge victorious.

Wooo!

Reeeeach . . .Posted by dhoffman on November 30th, 2008

I just finished Chpater Fourteen and I’m at 49,429 words with the last word of that chapter (presently, “friends”).

I’ve been staring at the screen for a bit, trying to sort out how to get rolling on Chapter Fifteen over here.

/does math

That’s 571 words, total, to go to break 50k.  I guess I could just blather something onto the screen, watch the count go up, and count myself a winnar.

Naw.

It’s ten to 5pm EST, which means I have seven hours (and ten minutes) to write ~600 words.

Easy as pie . . . he said foolishly.

The Home StretchPosted by dhoffman on November 30th, 2008

Boy, this has been a rough couple of chapters.

I don’t know if it’s me, if my attention isn’t what it should be, or if these 4,000 word sessions are beating my brain into submission, but man, it’s coming slowly.

I wrote another 1,500 words last night, then tossed them all this morning.  So far today I’ve written . . . goes to check the word count . . . about 3,100 words.  The total stands just a hair over 47,000 words, which puts us well within reach of the 50k needed to succeed again in this year’s National Novel Writing Month.

Have I talked about NaNoWriMo recently in here?  Let me give it a whack.

Last year I did NaNoWriMo for Beautiful Handcrafted Animals.  I got to about 52,000 words or so and then my brain just shut down.  This year, I used the event to push myself into writing again.

2008 was a rotten year in a lot of different ways.  Writing was just one area of my life that was lacking.

I figured it would be a good exercise but, given all the things I expected to see this November, I didn’t think I’d come nearly this far.  Not by half, you might say.

Well, I cheated a little.  Not “cheated” in the sense of cheating, but I took a week off work and spent a goodly portion of that week pounding the keyboard.  I was in great shape coming out of that week to hit 50k early, but then my brain went on walkabout and Thanksgiving happened and suddenly I was getting up early in the morning for work again.

And yet, here we are.  47,000 words (the ticker on the right says 47,424, if you want to be exact).  I’ve been fighting tooth and nail to get into this part of the story and, sure, I’ve made it through the door, but it hasn’t been easy.

The home stretch is that part of the story that’s supposed to be good to the author.  You’ve sloggd through all the crap, but here’s FINALLY the payoff.  Write the cool scenes.  Have fun with your characters.

And I am.  And it’s good.  But man-o-man, it’s been an uphill battle.

It’s 3:00pm EST and that means I have ~9 hours to write ~3,000 words.  And then tomorrow (or tonight, if things are going nicely — you never know) I’ll have another 10,000 to 20,000 words to finish off the story proper.

It’s a good story.  The First Draft I’m building is going to need EXTENSIVE editing and rewriting.  This is not news, nor is it a surprise.

At any rate, that’s my break for the day.  When I get to 50k, I’ll take another one.