Sekrit BoNoProMo Bonus Post

Yes, I summed up my BoNoProMo experience this month only two days ago, but I'm back again, for a couple of reasons:

1. To tell you that I did indeed finish out the entire month, by adding on an hour and a half of writing both yesterday and now today, and

2. Because in truth, I worked on my current fiction project for only a little over 45 minutes this evening before reaching a point where I wanted to ruminate on the next scene before plunging ahead. So, I actually needed the time it's taken to write this final BoNoProMo blog post in order to make #1 above true.

It still isn't easy for me to sit down and start pulling words out of thin air (or even, as some might assert, out of certain nether regions). It never has been - that's why I started this blog in the first place, five years ago, as a New Year's resolution of sorts. So in a way, with BoNoProMo I've come full circle.

Perhaps the writing habit will never fully stick.

But I am confident now that if I do take the time, make the time, to put my butt in the chair, that the words, at least some words, words in sentences that can later be broken apart and then put back together again, which is something that you can't do without words in the first place, those words and sentences, they indeed will come.

And right now, gaining that confidence is good enough for me.

Thanks for reading,

Stephen

Snap Back to Reality (with apologies to Eminem, and a coda from Maya Angelou)

Back to reality, pulled out of the writing, reading, and relaxing hours of a holiday weekend by the inexorable gravity of, well, the work week. Thankfully I was able to keep to my #BoNoProMo schedule with the help of those extra weekend hours, and with only three days left in the month, I believe we will soon be successfully concluding the experiment.

Now the research committee, also known as my inner critic and personal noodge, begins its questioning. So, Mr. Dorneman. You say you've written every day this month, for ten hours a week or more. What exactly do you have to show for all that time expended?

Good question. But first let's look at the project charter. It says here (if I may paraphrase), that BoNoProMo isn't supposed to be about the output, but instead about the process, and about instilling good writing habits, and understanding what does and doesn't work for any given writer.

Well, on the process front, we shall see how much of a habit I've instilled. I have learned that ten hours of writing a week while working full time and dealing with my ongoing pain issues is likely four or five hours too many. I gave up at least a couple of hours of physical exercise each week for writing, and I'd like those back. (The lost television hours, not so much.) But 30-60 minutes per day is looking very doable.

I also found out that given more time to write, and by that I really mean closing the web browser and giving the butt more time in the chair while staring at a blank Word document, that the words will come.

This was never guaranteed, and comes as a rather pleasant surprise.

During the month I've already completed multiple-draft versions of two short stories, both around 3,000 words (10 pages), and multiple drafts of a 350-word flash fiction story. I've written thirteen pages, let's call it a chapter or two, of a new long-form project (The Text That Cannot Be Named). I've started three stories that went nowhere after a page or two each, and a fourth that is the current project, now at four pages and counting. That's a lot of words, at least for me. 

(I'll let others be the judge of their quality.)

Oh, and the weekly blog posts. They count, too. With bonus Transformers pictures.

You remember the official #BoNoProMo writer Transformer, of course:

Well, the picture below is of the above writer's best friend, now turned mortal enemy (or is it the other way around?), a.k.a. The Critic Transformer. Note how the pen has been replaced by some serious cutting equipment.

Let the epic battle begin.

Thanks for Reading,

Stephen

“History, despite its wrenching pain,

Cannot be unlived, and if faced with courage,

Need not be lived again.”

Maya Angelou, 1928 – 2014.

(From “The Rock Cries Out to Us Today.”)

Stay on Target - I Copy, Gold Leader

The home stretch, the final run at the Death Star, Mile 26.2, the end of May, whatever you call it, it's almost upon us. And by IT, I mean the last ten days of #BoNoProMo, of course. 

(Random wacky-but-related aside, when you Google "BoNoProMo," you'll likely come across one or more of my recent blogs in the results, maybe below the fold, but that's still a little cool. But I am particularly amused by the fact that when you click over to search for BoNoProMo Images, you first get various random product brand names painted on walls using that self-same product (Nutella, Colgate). Don't ask why. Then, you may get the image that Grub Street used in Lisa Borders's original article. But what I'm talking about is, if you continue to scroll down a little bit more, you just might find the Transformer image that I appropriated for last week's blog entry. (The self-same image that I am using once again this week because, you know, SEO.)

Apparently, my friends, THIS is the face of BoNoProMo:

End of wacky aside.)

So, how's it going?

Well, thanks to my wonderful wife saying something like "Hey, you want to get some writing done, so how about we go to the airport five hours early and hang out there, instead of having fun sightseeing with my friends?" I am indeed still on track, consistently logging my ten hours a week writing, if not more. And that writing included the above-mentioned airport session being rocked out across a dozen narrow-ruled pages of Old Skool pen-to-paper (and yes, my hand is still tired):

 

So, what do I have to show for all this... activity? (I mean, aside from a hefty pile o' words, which isn't a bad thing in and of itself.)

Well, I already have produced yet another new short story, my second of the month, now ready for my next writer's group meeting. I think this is a stronger story than the previous one I wrote already this month. Why might that be? 

Here's one theory: At the Muse & the Marketplace, Walter Mosley said that each day you write, when you're in the habit of writing every day, you go a little deeper into your own subconscious (and he also noted that each day that you fail to write, you slip a little bit back backwards). I'm not sure if I've gotten very deep under my own thick skin yet, but I think I can see progress.

If my beta readers can't, don't worry. These aren't the droids you're looking for.

I've also produced quite a few pages of something longer, something that, for now, we will only refer to as The Text That Cannot Be Named.

But whatever the results at this point in the month, I know I need to Stay on Target. The upcoming vacation weekend, with us having no serious plans other than to read, write, recover (from traveler's colds), and relax, should help. Which brings me to my...

BoNoProMo Schedule for the Last Full Week of May:

Thursday - Only 1/2 Hour, or possibly Zero (one step back). Because I'm off to hear some live music at the Middle East Upstairs, retro sixties-style rock and more, damn it - anybody with me?

Friday - Two Hours

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday - Five to Six hours, spread out cross the weekend however they fit (Has anyone else noticed these schedules getting less rigid as the month has progressed? Not to mention my increased use of mixed numeric expressions.)

Tuesday - One

Wednesday - One to 1.5, or whatever is needed to add up to the big 1-0. 

That would take us up to the 28th, leaving only the rump end of the month to deal with. I'm not seeing the exhaust port to fire the torpedoes down yet, and that Death Star still looks awful big, but I can tell we're getting close. I'm not going to Use the Force, though.

You're not supposed to Force writing.

Thanks for Reading,

Stephen

Another Week, More #BoNoProMo, Time Banditry and Transformers

Another week, and again I've kept to my #BoNoProMo schedule, more or less, with some minimal juggling around as to which day I wrote one hour versus two, and such.

How is that possible, you ask? (This is particularly asked by those of you who know me well, and/or regular readers of this irregular blog.) Ten hours a week is quite an achievement, he says, patting himself gingerly on the back, considering that I have been regularly going to that pesky full-time day job, you know, the one that pays the bills, and the fact that I really, really like to sleep. Where does the time come from? They aren't making any longer days.

Well, I stole it.

Not like these guys, however.

(If you don't recognize the pic, get yourself on over to IMDB, and consider watching the movie referenced in today's blog title rather than downloading Transformers: Dark of the Moon again.)

I stole it from myself, of course, from evening and weekend activities that I would more normally spend my time on, if I weren't writing as much. And I haven't taken any of it from work hours, with the exception of half of one lunch hour when I sketched out the chapter structure of an urban fantasy novel something that I won't talk about again, unless it becomes something more than a sketch.

Some of those things that I've stolen from in the past week are good for me, and I miss them.

One externality, my wife being out of town, simply gave back a few hours of what would have been quality together time, and I definitely miss that (I wouldn't steal from my wife). I haven't exercised more than once or twice this past week, and exercise is my healthiest stress reliever, on top of all its other benefits. And I haven't read nearly as much in the past two weeks as I normally do. I even shaved off a little bit of sleep.

These are sacrifices.

But other things that I've given up may feel a little like hardships, but on reflection, I think I'm better off without them. Although you may not believe it, I'm spending less time on social media. I still spent plenty of time there last week, however, and you probably didn't miss those minutes that I did take back. I've never watched that much television, but now it's been even less. (However, that also resulted in less Daddy/Ellie time on the couch, and that we both miss.) A couple of hours of random gaming and internet surfing gone, no problem. It all adds up.

Time banditry. It's the only way a writer with a day job can survive #BoNoProMo. And if the habit sticks, well, we'll see who the real Transformer is.

I think that's a fountain pen in his right arm, don't you?

Schedule this new week: 1.5 hours for Thursday and Friday, three hours split somehow between Saturday and Sunday (doing some quick plane travel, which might be good, might be bad for the writing), one hour Monday, and 1.5 each for Tuesday and Wednesday, when it'll be blog time again.

Until then, thanks for reading, and writers, keep on writing.

Stephen

BoNoProMo Update, and What Color is Your Aura?

I do love those Google-powered miniature moments of research that I get to do while writing - "How Much Does It Cost To Start a Taxi Business?" (answer: outside of a big city, as little as $20,000) and "What Do Different Aura Colors Mean" (answer: purple people are natural mystics and good with animals, while reds are energetic and quick to anger). What did we all do before the internet? (bonus answer: accumulate shelves full of reference materials, and make a lot more trips to the local library).

Well, if you've been following along at home, the above rambling probably indicates that I am, indeed, continuing to write. In fact, I've been sticking to my previous-detailed BoNoProMo schedule of ten hours (in total) for May 1-7 pretty closely, although on any given day I might have been plus or minus as much as an hour. The result? One new short story written, of a little under 3,000 words, that will be critiqued come this Friday at the next meeting of the Bay State Scribblers. It's certainly not submission-ready (yet), but I must admit I'm just pleased to have already brought forth something with a beginning, middle, and end. So far, the experiment is a success.

Thanks again, Lisa Borders.

Not really sure what's next in line, however, and that could be a problem. The above-noted Google research was for a story opening that takes place in a setting I like, but the first couple of pages basically consist of two rather boring characters trading some witty dialogue, without any real conflict. Oh, but they're having "relationship issues." Bah. We'll see what happens, but I suspect I'll abandon that piece, and then flail about in my notebooks and (computer) files touching a variety of abandoned story beginnings, odd scenes, dialogue snippets, or character names until something sticks to my (virtual) fingers. I know my own writing style, and I go through a lot of false starts before finding that stickiness. This may be a week full of them.

What's the schedule look like? Well, with Penny happening to be out of town, I can go full-on hermit crab mode if I want, or if I have to, but let's try this on for size:

• Thursday, May 8 - 1 hour.
• Friday, May 9 - 0 hours (writer's group meeting). Maybe sneak in a half hour.
• Saturday, May 10 - 2 hours (somebody's wife's birthday, but we don't celebrate those).
• Sunday, May 11 - 2.5 hours.
• Monday, May 12 - 1 hour (back to work).
• Tuesday, May 13 - 1.5 hours.
• Wednesday, May 14 - another 1.5 hours, and time for your next update.

Hey, if you're a writer participating in #BoNoProMo (follow us on Twitter!), what's your schedule been like? How goes it so far?

(My, there have been a lot of parenthetical digressions in this post, haven't there been? Anyway...)

Thanks for reading,

Stephen