01 November 2006

Aaargh! I Forgot NaNoWriMo!

I Need Your Help! Scroll to the end of this post.

NaNoWriMo is, for the uninitiated, an acronym of a misnomer.
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Short for National Novel Writing Month (although for a good few years it has most definitely been an International affair), the idea is that you start writing a Novel on November 1st, bypass little things like proofreading, or thinking in general, and do your damndest to rattle off 50,000 words (175 pages) by the 30th.

I played the year before last and my initially supportive Husband quickly tired of always being the one to answer the kids, etc, and generally demanded that I quit by mid November.

I tried last year but life and my own lethargy got in the way so that I never really got started.

I really wanted to give it a shot this year in honour of the few good folks who have, at one point or another over the last two years of blogging, repeatedly told me that I ought to write a book. Alright, they have all long since ceased to make such encouraging noises and I suspect half (or more) have likewise ceased to visit this blog at all, but what the hell.

This is how I need your help. I need a subject. I need a genre.

So, just like the poetry challenge, I need your ideas in the comments here; whether they are just bonkers, off-the-wall challenges (which you know I love anyway), or whether they relate to my past short stories, alter egos or even real life, I just need some ideas, some springboards, a place to start.

PURRLEASE PRETTY PLEASE?

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

subject: blogging friends uncover a way inside the computer-- through a portal opened when Google is working blogger. Inside they discover and are able to rewrite parts of their lives, but their fear that blogger is never down more than a day makes them choose only one event and return to the consequences.

paranormal/fantasy

characters; you've been blogging with them :)

Cheryl said...

Wow thats in-depth!
I was assuming the answers would be more along the lines of

"murder-mystery, Sunday market, mashed potato".

What a mind you have!

Greg said...

*gasps*
Damn, I wish I'd thought of that! Do it, Cheryl!

Jennifer said...

I was going to suggest murder-mystery; unsympathetic cardiologist chokes to death on crow -- who fed it to him?

Cheryl said...

I met two cardiologists. One was lovely, the other might be more likely to die from a nicotine overdose brought about by 200 packs of Camels and forcible anal inserion.

ROFL @ your SOH, Zilla :)

fineartist said...

Wow, Liz has a great one, sort of like the Butterfly effect, maybe, kind of.

Hmmm.

I think I would like to hear more about the chick who went to church and the man who flattered the hell out of her, remember? Long time back you wrote it, it was incredible...I believe he was the devil incarnate, 'course I could be wrong.

I'd like to hear more about them, that story really had my tongue dripping. Gads I'm gross.

xx, Lori

Rain said...

I like Liz's too. Something about blogging would be good also. How about a dozen or so middle aged women who love to blog agree to meet in a city, maybe in Europe, or the US and they have a wild weekend or just a meaningful one and then they have to go home to their normal lives. (sigh)

Unknown said...

paranormal mystery (with a vegetarian vampire)?
the lives and love of a she-werewolf? the complexity of her relationships with a dash of mystery thrown in ie the struggle to find her way back to humanity? Can a werewolf really live in a human world...?

Anonymous said...

You guys crack me up!
Go for it, if you need some creepy bad or two just email me or stylish I like that veggie vampire plot myself. :)

Feel free to make me the villain if you need to.

Anonymous said...

I'm also intrigued by Lori's church going lady.

Why not put them all together as subplots and then hand this finished as a candidate for the Blooker award?

Bart Treuren said...

thanks cheryl, forgot about it myself, damn...

i took your lead last year, but got caught up on the mental disintegration which destroyed any kind of creative input... this year's going a lot better, albeit on an extremely rocky ship... plots and themes abound, just need to tame my mind and my emotions for a while and concentrate (and find a place with some silence to thump away on my laptop...)

keep well :D

Anonymous said...

Cheryl,
Are you writing yet?
Is it a romance. Is she wearing a peasant blouse. Is he wearing an eye patch? Are they on a ship in the 17th century trying to get away from pirates?

beckyboop said...

Liz and Rain's ideas rock. Go, write, create. You can do it!

Unknown said...

So come on, where's the story? Have you started? Can we get a peek?

Cheryl said...

Thanks guys - lots of laughs in all that, but no inspiration - probably because life got in the way in a rather obstreperous fashion.

Job applications, Grand daughter in hospital, tribunal still on its way; allsorts. I did less than 2000 words on day one and then got stuck.

Hugs to you all for the effort and the enquiries.

Kim said...

How is it going Cheryl?

Rigmor said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Rigmor said...

said...

Probably too late to chip in with ideas at this point, hey! It's already the 8th.

I was always tempted to take part in NaNoWriMo, and somehow I never do. Well, in previous years I have had a good excuse, I've been a student and activist and not had the spare time. But this year? I don't think I have the stamina.

I am not sure whether your comments mean that you have given up for this year, but I hope not, so good luck. And enjoy!

(I don't think 2000 words is a bad start at all!)

Angeline Rose Larimer said...

I'm so late. I thought of you and NaNoWriMo, hoping you were giving it a go. There's still time! I mean, who really needs a month? Just a week of no sleep and un-interrupted stream of consciousness. The family will be fine, right?

Your above post about George's wife made me think of Dickens. Weren't the theives picking through Scrooge's stuff when the blanket was still warm?
Elderly AND children get no respect. Odd, considering we were all children onceand are LUCKY if we reach old age.
If you're still pondering, I'd really dig a novel about George's wife.

I've been thinking of you a lot. I've been thinking about how I wish your son would hurry up and invent his time machine so that I can take a peek into the future. I promise not to look at anything else, just my kids. Briefly.
I hope you've been well!

Badaunt said...

Why is NaNoWriMo always in NOVEMBER? It's always an horribly busy month for me.

Not that I'd ever manage it anyway. I don't have the stamina. And I'm useless at fiction. Actually, it's kind of nice to have an excuse.