Monday, November 28, 2011

40,000 Word Mark

November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, so I've been pounding away at trying to finish my 50,000 word novel by this coming Wednesday at midnight.  This is my third attempt, and by far the closest I've come to actually completing this thing.

The Thanksgiving weekend put an abrupt halt on my efforts, and now I find myself with 10,000 words left and three days to write them in.  I have to crank out at least 3,400 words a day to finish, but I don't think that it's going to be too difficult.

The story in the novel might not be finished by the 50,000 word mark, but the goal is 50,000 words.  After that, pushing myself to keep going until the end of the story won't seem nearly so hard.

Almost there.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Why Was I Watching Gossip Girl?

What's wrong with me?  Why would I watch a soap opera aimed at teenage girls?  Is it because I'm secretly a teenage girl at heart?

No, it's because my wife sold some Audrey Hepburn pillows to the set designer of Gossip Girl and they were in the episode that aired on Nov. 21st.



My wife and I watched the entire show, scouring each shot to see where her pillows were used.

It was a blink and you'd miss it moment, which was excruciating, since the pillows were always just obstructed enough to not be clearly seen.  I was able to pull two screenshots of them from the show:

You can see one of them on the couch.


And here it is again, just under Blake Lively's arm.

I think we both hoped that they'd be displayed more prominently, but I'm super proud of my wife.

She sells her handmade pillows on etsy and can be found here: Regan's Brain

Maybe someday they'll show up in a show that we're big fans of ... I'm looking at you Mad Men.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

23,000 Words and 27,000 More To Go

I was behind in the count, I took a day off, which soon became three days.  Two days ago I decided to play catch up.  I wrote 9,000 words in two days.  My head hurt, my eyes were sore, and best of all, I discovered some really great things.  New aspects jumped out, several characters introduced themselves, and grabbed me by the shirt and pulled me into dark tunnels where secrets lie.

It's only been fourteen days, sixteen more to go.  This NaNoWriMo attempt is on schedule with 23,431 words and counting.  Wish me luck.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Comic Book Day


In the last year, I've really been turned on to the possibilities of the graphic novel.  I got pulled in by a nice little series called Echoes by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Locke and Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez, and since then there have been a few others series that have grabbed me.  The comic or the graphic novel is almost a combination of screenplay and storyboard, with the movie laid out right in front of you.
That being said I've never been a fan of superheroes, so most of the things I read are not the big legacy comics.

This week I picked up two series I follow, and a third book on a whim.

The Unwritten is a fantastic series that plays with the idea of what would happen if literary characters came to life in our world.  It's written by Mike Carey and Peter Gross.

PIGS is something new that a friend got me into.  It's only on its third issue, but it's intriguing as hell.  What if a Soviet sleeper cell had lain dormant in the US for forty years and was suddenly activated?

The third book that I grabbed is called Operation Broken Wings, 1936 by Herik Hanna.  It's set during World War II and just looked interesting.  We'll see if it's any good.

What Comics do other people follow?  I'd love to hear.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

9,000 Words In

I've been working on a story for a graphic novel collaboration.  The idea is there, but it's the execution that I've been having trouble with.  I've written screenplays before, but a script for a graphic novel is a little different.  There are panels involved, and as a first time comic writer, it's a little daunting.

So NaNoWriMo came along, and I jumped in head first.  I used the comic idea for the novel as a way to explore and brainstorm the story and the world in which it takes place.  Working in a structured way, and putting down words daily, has gotten me exploring dynamics in my story that I wouldn't normally have gotten into.  I'm now over 9,000 words in, and the whole thing is opening up to me in an amazing way.

I'm excited about where it's going, and hope that eventually I'll have something amazing to show you.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

NaNoWriMo time

Every year I think about doing the National Novel Writing Month challenge.  I've even tried it twice before, as the two partial novels on my hard drive can attest to, but I've never actually finished the challenge.  This year is going to be different.  I'm lacking something in my life right now.  Some kind creative spark that I need to sustain me through the doldrums of another Minnesota winter.  I find myself bored by work, frustrated by a lack of creative outlets, and ready for something to energize me in a way that I desperately need.  When I'm writing, I'm happy.  When I'm not, I'm crabby and tightly wound.

I got an email from NaNoWriMo today, and I jumped on it.  So far I've written 5,250 words.  I need to average 1,667 to finish the 50,000 word challenge by the end of the month.  This is the year I do it.