If only my 401k looked the same.

Yes!  I am a “Winner” once again for National Novel Writing Month (forth time winning). Looking for today’s photo? Here you go.

I wrote 50,070 words in twenty-eight days (I hit the goal last night).

Even though I enjoyed my experience this year, I am glad it is over. Sure, it was fun, but NaNoWriMo is stressful on its own, and it is even worse when you have a bunch of other things going on like I do.

But, I was happy to take a break from the fiction novel I’m rewriting, Drake, to give NaNoWriMo another go.

Why did you partake in National Novel Writing Month? For conditioning.  Really.  I’m rewriting a fantasy fiction novel, Drake, and I felt like I wasn’t doing as well at it as I could be.  So, I took a month off and forced myself to crank out about 2,000 words a day.  When I get back to Drake tomorrow, and shoot for only about 500 worrds or so, it’ll be a breeze.  It is like training for a 5k run by running five or six miles–you get used to the longer haul, so anything less is a cake walk.

Are you going to finish this National Novel Writing Month story? Maybe.  We’ll see.  It was more important that I just get it out of my head, and I had always wanted to try a memior/non-fiction.  NaNoWriMo was a good testing ground.  Even though I had fun, I think I’ll stick to fiction.  But, this did give me a taste of what non-genre fiction would be like.

Are you happy with what you wrote? I enjoyed a few sentences.

…Out of 50,000 words, you “enjoyed a few sentences“? Yep.  That’s how it works. This time around was a bit easier because I was basing everything on my vacation to Disney World last month, but even then there were parts where I wasn’t sure how much I enjoyed what I was writing.  But, that’s the point of NaNoWriMo–just get something down on paper and out of your head.  You may have this great idea, but you’ll never know if it really is or not until you give it flesh and bones.

Would you recommend Novel Writing Month to other writers? It isn’t for everyone, but I always tell people you have to try, and NaNoWriMo is a great way to force yourself to try when it comes to writing.  That’s how I finally got anywhere with writing, and it has opened a bunch of doors for me.  And like any craft, the more you exercise your skills, especially in less than ideal situations, the greater the benefits.  You can sit around and blog or tweet about how you want to write this-that-or-the-other-thing or how such-and-such writer sucks, or you can cowboy up and prove yourself.

Everyone starts somewhere, and NaNoWriMo is a great push out of the door.

—
Daniel J. Hogan is a freelance writer, podcaster, and a photoblogger. He lives in Lansing, Michigan and he ain’t been home to see his baby in about 28 and one half days.  Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

You aren't really clean, unless you're Mickey Mouse Clean™

Yes, National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo) begins today.

What is it? You have thirty days to write 50,000 words.   Crazy, right?

It is old hat for me.  And as such, I decided to give it another go this year–for a fourth time (I’ve “won” each of the past three times).  Read why decided to try again after the break.

Why try NaNoWriMo for a fourth time?

I just got back from a week long trip to Disney world (hence the photo of the Mickey Mouse soap above), and I decided I wanted to take a stab at a humorous “travel memoir.”

Wait, aren’t you already re-writing a novel?

Yep. But, I need to get this stuff out of my head, and NaNoWriMo is a great excuse.  I really wanted to write about a summer trip I took for last year’s challenge, and I did not–and I’ve regretted it ever since.  I need to write this stuff while it is still fresh.  Yes, I took a decent amount of notes, but I didn’t write down everything.

…Wait, this is going to be nonfiction?

Sort of.  Maybe.  I dunno.  It may be closer to satire. Maybe a satirical memoir?  I don’t know.  I hate labels.

My girlfriend and I did spend six days at Disney World, and I took notes.  I may just play it safe and say it is “based on actual events,” but I don’t see it being serious nonfiction (I am anything but serious).  If you want “real” nonfiction, read a cookbook.

Swinging more towards fiction may just be a bit safer for my girlfriend and I (to “protect the innocent” and such).

I have a hard time labeling something when I’ve only written 2,000 words.

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There is a pretty clear divide among some of my writer friends when it comes to NaNoWriMo.  They either like it (or at least approve of the concept), or hate it. I wouldn’t have a finished novel and bit of a freelance writing career without it, so everyone is entitled to their opinion.

I like the challenge of meeting a deadline and proving myself, and that’s why I like National Novel Writing Month.

And like I said, I just need to get this stuff out of my head on into a *shudder* Word document.  If I like what I see, I can keep it, or just show to friends and family.  At least I’ll know, and I won’t be wondering what if like I have been since last year.

Are you taking part in National Novel Writing Month?

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The big news of this past week is that the first draft of my next novel, working title Night of the Lonely Werewolf, is done. Yep, all 94,000+ words of it are finished.  I opted to print the dang thing out (all 499 pages of it, double-spaced at 12 point font) as I go through the editing process.  I’m glad I went this route, because I’ll at least have a hard copy of the first draft, and I like taking notes as I do that always important first read-through.  I may need to invest in more red pens.

I'm oldschool. Markin' up the paper with a bunch of red marks.

This is the novel I started for last year’s National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo).  Not happy that it took me almost a year to write the last 44,000 words after cranking out the first 50k in less than 30 days, but “thems the breaks.”

“Life happened” right after the holidays last year and I fell off the writing horse for a few months–but I dusted myself off and get right back on, spurs an’ all.  Getting that first draft finished is key, after that, things kind of fall in place.  But reaching that final goal of a workable first draft–no matter how good or bad it is–is super important.

I didn’t want to become a writer with a few half-finished novels lying around, so I’m happy that I soldiered on and finished this thing.  The interesting thing is that I got some of my better ideas after that six month dry spell, life’s funny that way.  I actually enjoy editing my novels and watching it change into something even better.

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And here’s your weekly round-up of my various writings infesting other parts of the Internet:

• Lansing’s International Flavor, Capital Gains (11.04.09)
• The Big O Mess at Grumpy’s Diner will put a smile on your face, Examiner.com (11.10.09)
• Photo tour of the Michigan Brewing Company Brewery, Examiner.com (11.11.09)
• Sip some apple cider at Decker’s Coffee Company, Examiner.com (11.12.09)
• This week’s High Noon Fantasy Hockey, IllegalCurve.com (11.09.09)

Jef started things out by drawing Frazz for us, live, on a large easel. I always like watching talented artists draw in person, it is nothing short of magical. Jef and I have known each other for a few years now–I first met him at a similar event in 2005 in Grand Ledge, although at that event he was talking more about censorship (I think) instead of just doing a general (but still entertaining) overview of what he does.

At that event in 2005, I hadn’t started writing The Magic of Eyri yet (I had ideas, but there were nowhere near what the final novel became). He mentioned writing and drawing a children’s book of his own, so after his presentation, I asked him for advice on starting and finishing a novel (and a sketch of Frazz).

He would tell me later that it was what I asked him that impressed him most, although I can’t remember exactly what I said. I didn’t ask the questions that he typically gets (“how can I get rich by drawing pictures” or along those lines). His advice to me, which is something I still follow, is to “just do it.” He told me that I didn’t want to be 80 years old one day and thinking, “hmm what if I had written that novel.” Jef told me to write it and at least i would know–and who cared if it was good or bad, at least I wouldn’t regret not trying.

Shortly after self-publishing The Magic of Eyri in 2007, I dropped Jef a line, thanking him for the advice, which had driven me to start and finish the novel. We had lunch and swapped books: a signed copy of Magic of Eyri for him and a signed Frazz collection for myself. It was great.

Jef Mallet is one of the nicest and greatest men I have ever known–and one of the things I like most about him is that he isn’t afraid to write ‘smart’ humor. He challenges his readers, and he loves doing it.

I love his stories about the comic strip business too. He told this joke about FoxTrot, Bill Amend. Bill used to live in California, but moved to Kansas City–which was where his syndicate was based. The joke went that Bill did this in order to have a whole extra time zone when it came to deadlines. Jef laughed and added that if you knew Bill, such a story wouldn’t be too far from the truth. Jef told this other joke about an artist, who years ago, whenever he’d read about a plane crash in the States, would call his syndicate and say “yeah, my strips were on that plane.”

The interesting thing is that nowadays, Jef doesn’t even have to mail his strips to his editor. He scans them and emails the files. But he added that he’s always up against a deadline–something I can relate to since starting the Magic of Eyri podcast (granted, I’m not doing daily episodes…I don’t even want to think about that).

The other great story he told was of a ‘strip feud (read the comments part)’ with Pearls Before Swine creator, Stephan Pastis. Pastis ran a strip featuring and overzealous cyclist named Jeff (Jef Mallet is an avid cyclist). Jef called Pastis up about the strip and he confused the strip was about Jef–even saying that he added an extra ‘f’ in the name at the last minute.

Jef took the whole thing in stride and in good humor. He kindly returned the favor in a strip after that, referencing Pastis’ previous career as a lawyer. Hilarious stuff.

Seeing Jef again this week was a much needed creative recharge for myself. The next day, I wrote nearly 1,000 words of my current in progress novel, the most I’ve written in one sitting in a long while–and I gotta get this first draft done by October because I want to take a stab at a nonfiction story come this Novembers Novel Writing Month.

I’m working on a novel right now (Night of the Lonely Werewolf, working title) and I’m at about 65,000 words (out of a goal of around 80,000), and I realized I was losing track of where things were going.

I had started this story back in November for Novel Writing Month. I got the first 50,000 words done in 24 days and fell off the wagon for the next six months.  I only recently started working on it (nearly) every day.  The problem with there being such a huge break between working on this thing, is that I forgot where I originally wanted to go with the section of the story I’m currently writing.

However, since it is the first draft, I write whatever feels good/works for the moment and move on, but today I had to stop and think about a few things. I have some plot points I need to make sure get resolved, and I need to figure out how to connect certain plot points to others.

So, I opened up to a new page in my notebook (I try to keep a note book for whatever novel I’m working on and try to keep everything together) and started writing things down. I do the ‘draw a word in a bubble and connect other bubbles to it’ thing–whatever that is called (Brainstorming?).

It helps.  It may not work for everyone, but it works for me. It helps get my thought process going a bit faster, and I think it is because I can see everything before me, “Ok…they’re going here, and this character wants this…Oh, wait, I can have that character do this…” You get the idea.

Doing that helped me work out a couple snags for the section I’m at, and how to link it with what I wrote back in November (and to the rest of the story as a whole).  I know there are computer programs that can do that same process, but honestly I just prefer writing it down on paper–I can get ideas out faster, I think.

And some times, those spur of the moment/top of your head thoughts or ideas can be what your story really needs, especially when you’re working on a first draft.

Well, like the Magic of Eyri before it (NaNoWrimo ’05), it took some time for me to work on it after Novel Writing Month. Problems included the holidays, travel, starting freelance writing, starting the Magic of Eyri podcast and other things in my personal life.

Having finally turned a corner, I’m back on track. I’ve been working the novel every day this week, even if only for twenty minutes or so at a time. At least I’m writing every day. I’m at just under 62,000 words and my goal is 80,000 for the first draft (a fry cry from Magic of Eyri’s 170,000+ words).

The problem with getting back into writing a genre novel (fantasy-horror-detective-steampunk, in my case) after being away from it for so many months is that I kind of forgot some of my ‘rules’ and what my characters were doing the last time I spent time with them.

Being a firm believer in “The First Draft Can Be Crap” philosophy, I tried not worry about that problem and just kept going. Still, it can be challenging–especially when you’re dealing with things like werewolves, magic and pseudo-steampunk technology.  If I were just writing memoirs about high school or something, this would be considerably easier.

While kind of breaking one of my first draft rules (don’t read/edit what I wrote), I’ve gone to the beginning of the manuscript and started reading so I can remember what I was doing back in November/December.

I think it’s a good sign that I found quite a bit of it amusing (which is also what I’m going for, I like writing ‘humor’ into my stories). It also helps that I kept notes during the original writing/world building process. Those come in handy.

This draft is far from perfect, but I want a first draft done by Summer’s end (September).  After that, start work on the always important second-draft.

I’m just happy to have my inspiration/writing drive back again.  The last six months were kind of scary.