Friday, October 31, 2008

All Hallows' Eve Rituals



So, now is the time for my October 31st rituals. They are two-fold. First, I have to dress the kiddos up and take them out to acquire enough sugary goodness to rot their teeth before puberty. The youngest will be a pirate. See, he's planned on being a pirate for weeks. The costume is made, right down to the eye patch and plastic sword. Except yesterday he decided he wanted to be a Power Ranger again. Nice try kid.

The eldest has decided that he is too old and too cool for candy begging--although he will deign to take his little bro around to get the goodies. And he will wear a black cape. That's pretty much it. :sobs: They grow up so fast.

The rest of my ritual revolves around NaNoWriMo. Unless you are some hapless soul who wandered in here and can't find the exit, you're one of my writer friends and probably know all about National Novel Writing Month. 30 days. 50,000 words.

Last year I went in with a 50 page outline. This year I only have a 15 pager. I'm a wee bit apprehensive, but I'll manage. I hope.

Naturally I'm staying in the 19th century and continuing to work on Death by Scandal (or Murder by Scandal. I can't decide on a title.) The story is humming along and I have a firm idea of where the next 10K are going. I hope to write them this weekend. Yes, that is absolutely insane. But this year I have a secret weapon.

I have my new office downstairs which means I can write late at night if I want and tonight I intend to hit the ground running...er...typing at midnight. I have a coffee pot and by that time I will be armed with my children's Halloween candy.
What more can any writer as for?

Obligations in November? I have a few. Full time job. Kids in school. The conclusion of soccer season and beginning of basketball. Thanksgiving. Two camping trips planned. A jury trial next week. And those 50,000 words. Piece of cake.

So how about you. Do you NaNo? I want to hear about everyone's project!

7 comments:

Anna Claire said...

Best of luck with NaNoWriMo. I'm doing it too, and have no outline to speak of. And it starts tomorrow. I think that's the scariest part of my Halloween so far...

BTW, I like Death by Scandal the best ;)

Kim said...

I'll NaNo - and here's to hoping I won't be a babbling mess come Dec. 1. I was originally going to work on my current WIP, but it's been cruising along so... My NaNo WIP is something I started last summer, and just couldn't quite get into it. Maybe now I will...

I'm throwing my vote toward Death by Scandal as well! :D

Mary B said...

Yay! I like Death by Scandal myself and I really think it fits the plot. I now have two hours until I can NaNo.

tick.

tick.

tick.

Marian Perera said...

Jury trial? That sounds interesting. Though maybe that's just my love of Twelve Angry Men talking, and it'll turn out to be something like patent fraud.

I forgot that today was November 1st and just wrote a regular blog post, but on the other hand, I'm not NaNoing either. I'm a third of the way through a fantasy manuscript, and it's going to take a lot longer than one month to complete that. :s

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Wow, you have a lot going on this month! How did the midnight writing go? I thought about attempting that, then went to bed at 9:30 instead. The good news is I was up and writing early. :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Mary,

Hope NaNo is going well thus far for you.

I love both titles, but "Death by Scandal" rolls off the tongue easier.

I'd *really* love to see you try to get off jury duty because of NaNo. Can you imagine their faces as you explained that you volunteered for this insanity? :)

Mary B said...

Oh, if only it were jury duty. I'm a lawyer. No, my participation is a bit more mandatory.

Oh, and 6,800 words and some change.