The New Widgets are Here!

Okay, so I'm a geek. And maybe a dork. A geedork? Anyway, it's just not NaNo until I can slap a word count widget onto the top of this page. There it is on the right in all of its minimalist glory. During the month of November I will update it daily through my NaNo homepage. As you can see, it keeps track of the cumulative word count, percentage toward completion, and the number of days left in the challenge. Feel free to stop by and mock me if I start to slack off.

Boy oh boy! Things are going to start happening to me now!

Moving Along Nicely...

...on the road to 2010 NaNo-dom. Just finished a rough outline for my next effort in the "month of writing dangerously." This year's novel is a sequel to my 2007 NaNo, Leonard the Great: Dragon Friend (still in editing hell). The working title is Leonard the Great: Boulderhead.

The outline itself is five full pages, divided into nineteen chapters. Most of the descriptions are two or three paragraphs long (per chapter). A few are five paragraphs long, others are only a sentence in length. The idea for this first draft is to get the very vaguest idea of what's going to happen in my manuscript. I have succeeded on that count and am pleased with the overall direction of the story.

I'll spend the rest of October going through this version, revising and expanding the notes I've made. Right now, the story mostly makes sense. Hopefully, it will completely make sense by the end of the month. No guarantees!

I'm not a rigid slave to my outlines, delighting in discovering plot and character elements along the way that I had no idea were coming, but a decent one really helps to get the ball rolling. Although some writers claim they can start writing without an outline, I can't imagine starting something as large and complex as a novel without having a pretty good idea of where I'm headed. Yay, outlining!

Tick Tock

In less than a month, NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) begins. If you've ever fantasized about writing a novel, now's the time to get your rear in gear and finally do it. I started my outline today and hope to have something coherent enough by the end of October to propel me through the month of November.

The goal is to write 50,000 words by the end of the month. My daily goal is 2k a day which gives me a little pad in case I have to miss a day or two during the challenge.

This is my fourth year of doing NaNo and I've had a blast doing it each time. It's harder than it sounds and easier than it sounds at the same time -- and very satisfying once you reach Nov. 30th.

Come on, you know you want to do it.

Here's the link to my personal page.

Roger Eschbacher's NaNoWriMo Page

Stop by and say hi after you sign up.

It's the Writing, Stupid

John Scalzi, one of my favorite sf/f writers, has posted an inspirational exhortation for those who complain about not finding the time to write. Fortunately/unfortunately, I'm afflicted with a severe case of "has-to-write-itis" so I'm compelled to find the time to do so. However, not everyone is so lucky/cursed and for those Scalzi offers a vigorous kick in the pants of the "shut up and write" variety.

My favorite pull quote from his post:

"But if you want to be a writer, than be a writer, for god’s sake. It’s not that hard, and it doesn’t require that much effort on a day to day basis. Find the time or make the time. Sit down, shut up and put your words together. Work at it and keep working at it. And if you need inspiration, think of yourself on your deathbed saying “well, at least I watched a lot of TV.” If saying such a thing as your life ebbs away fills you with existential horror, well, then. I think you know what to do."

Amen.

 

Dude, Still there?

I haven't posted in quite some time because I've been working on whipping Leonard the Great into publishable shape -- deciding that I should just get the darned thing done rather than posting about getting the darned thing done. It's been frustrating and a little embarrassing for me to consistently zoom past posted deadlines, so I'm just going to shut up and write (or, in this case, rewrite).

I will say I'm closer than ever and hope to publish Leonard by -- oops, almost did it again. Further updates will come when I get much closer to pushing the "publish" button. Whenever that is.

Leonard the Great's Revised Cover

Here's the new and much improved front cover for the book. I'm quite pleased with it. Thanks to thoughtful feedback from you guys and some inspired design work by Mike Wykowski, it looks much more like a middle-grade fantasy novel and much less like a historical biography.

One of the cool things that Mike came up with was the addition of images from medieval tapestries as a background layer in the black areas. It's a subtle add that features knights and mythological creatures doing battle -- and it looks really cool!

Thanks to Keith, Tom, Steve and everyone else (except the guy who suggested I add Lindsay Lohan in a bikini) for your extremely helpful notes. I asked for feedback and you delivered -- big time.

Leonard the Great's Cover

Uncomplicated, uncluttered; just the way I like it. I think this cover gives a pretty good idea of what the book is about, too -- a kid doing knightly things.

 I'm very pleased with how it's looking so far, but I'm also (just) smart enough to be open to feedback. Let me know what you think.

Thanks to graphic designer Mike Wykowski for his help in getting it "just right".