The Madness Begins
by Lynn Daniels on Monday, October 19, 2009 at 3:57 pm
~.~
After my success with NaNoWriMo last year, I’ve decided to take the plunge yet again. Especially since my writing bone hasn’t been working much lately. This time, I’m not going completely off the chain like I did last year with a story written entirely for fun and nothing else (remember Chester & Rube?). I’m taking an idea I’d started and stalled on, and reworking it.
The concept is this:
Dianna Brockton (still a placeholder name — I don’t have her permanent name yet) is overworked, unappreciated, and completely taken for granted by her family. When her husband Russell tells her to quit complaining, that anybody could do what she does, she decides to go on strike. She aims to teach him a lesson — if he thinks anybody can do it, let him do it. Except her family gives her strike the same degree of respect they give her. Strike day arrives, and each family member wants something from her and they want it now.
When Russell demands she drop everything to plan a dinner party for his boss, it’s the last straw. Dianna stands up to him (something she’s never done before), tells him he’ll have to do it himself because she’s leaving town for a while, then hangs up on him. She makes arrangements for her children, packs her things, and leaves.
Now here’s where my current NaNoWriMo concept for the story diverges from my original concept. Originally, she went to an Asheville, NC-like place, indulges herself, finds her self-worth, and returns to her family a stronger woman who demands — and gets — the same respect she’s expected to give. While that concept is great, I started really losing interest in the story once I got her to the day spa and the transformation began. I’m not sure what the problem was, but it completely stopped flowing. So I’m changing it. I’m scrapping everything I wrote and starting all over again.
And I’m adding a magical/fantasy element.
NaNoWriMo (and another visit to the NaNo Dares thread) has given me fresh ideas and newfound enthusiasm for this story. I can’t wait to write it. Because now, instead of going to Asheville, Dianna doesn’t make it to her planned destination (RATS! I suppose I should come up with a planned destination, shouldn’t I?). She stops at a little hotel/motel for a night’s sleep. While she’s checking in, the clerk asks her a few questions that seem innocent, but change everything. The clerk gives her the key to a “perfect room for her”. When Dianna asks about check-out time, the clerk tells her she’ll return when she’s ready. Dianna doesn’t understand that, but too tired to worry about it, she gathers her things and leaves the office anyway.
Once in her room, she drops her suitcase on the bed and does what everybody does when they first walk into their hotel room after a long day of driving. She heads for the bathroom. But when she flips the light on, something’s not right. Something’s just…off. She closes the bathroom door, turns to investigate, and is transported to Wonderland, a world filled with oddities and fantasies fulfilled.
At this point, the story becomes a little Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and The 10th Kingdom. She sees things that her mind knows are impossible. She experiences things that make no sense. She goes from searching for a way back home to wondering why she even wants to go back home to never wanting to go back home to figuring out her place & role in the world, understanding how to exact what she needs and deserves, and being ready to go back home. And along the way, she’s mentored by a black & blue striped zebra named Zippo.
I’m planning to work in a few homages to the stories from which I drew my inspiration, with my own odd twists, of course. But those are still in the planning stages.
So when I’m asked Are you doing NaNoWriMo this year? my answer is a resounding YES, I AM! And I’m really looking forward to it.
Next post: I’ll introduce the cover I made for my story and show you how I made it!
How Will They Get There?
by Lynn Daniels on Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 12:12 pm
~*~
I’ve been dying to do some writing. Not romance or women’s fiction, but I want to finish the crazy story I started during NaNoWriMo. I want to finally close out Chester & Rube. Problem is I’ve hit a wall. 
They’re close. Chester & Rube are so close to the lair of the evil Centipig, they can feel it. Centipig’s footprints are too small for giant Rube to follow, so little Chester has been wandering in what seems to be aimless circles through Thorny Thicket, following prints he hopes will end at the doorway to Centipig’s headquarters. To the place where he’s secretly plotting his coup of Feckerson Forest with the pigapedes. We’re thisclose to the big battle scene that I’ve already decided MUST end in a squish.
I know the entrance can’t look like the entrance to an evil lair. It has to be a place most critters would walk right past and never notice.
My problem is how do my heroes find this entrance without it being a total letdown? Does Chester trip over something… oh, wait. Hey, that might work. Chester trips over something and falls on his bill, his blue felt fedora goes flying. Which makes Chester mad. So after he retrieves his hat, he goes back to kick the offending object. A tree root maybe. Which they probably should have noticed since there aren’t any trees right there. But he kicks this tree root and it moves and reveals the entrance to the lair.
Hm. I should have blogged about this sooner! I can write this scene while LittleDude’s at his doctor’s appointment today.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll complain about how neither Chester nor Rube can actually get into the lair because they’re both too big…
Thinking Random
by Lynn Daniels on Tuesday, March 3, 2009 at 3:09 pm
~*~
The snow’s melting. The kids went back to school today, and SoundGuy and I ran a couple errands. During today’s travels, we could clearly see that our area was more seriously hit than others; one town we went to had almost no snow left at all! But then we came home, turned in to our subdivision, and it was like entering a different land. Suddenly there was snow everywhere. At least the roads are clear. Life is slowly returning to normal, and this weekend will be a warm one.
There’s so much normalcy returning, I’m even back on the ‘net! Is it weird that once I manage to stay off the internet a couple days I start to think of it as a badge of honor to wear proudly? I’ll look at Frankie, think about opening him up, then decide I can make it another day. And another. And another. And another. I start to test myself. Then I start to feel bad.
I feel bad for not blogging. For not posting my Project 365 photos (which I have continued to take, BTW). For not tweeting. For not updating my Facebook page. It’s sad. Yet still happy.
It’s a blessing. And a curse. (Sorry — I had to add that.)
The good news is that during my time off the internet, I learned a couple things. The first one I just discussed. (Seriously, is it really weird?) The next thing is writing related.
Even though I’d set a daily word quota, I’ve discovered that my schedule doesn’t allow for it. Some days, I don’t get the opportunity to write at all. Other days, I’ve got plenty of time to dedicate to my story. So I’m changing my quota thing. Not 500 words/day anymore. For the month of March, my quota will start at 3000 words/week. We’ll start there and see how it works out.
And I did discover what that conversation between Chester and Rube was to be. I’m still in the process of writing it, as Chester can be quite daft at times. But it’s been great fun.
I think there was another thing I’d discovered about myself, but since I took a break in writing this post, I’ve long since forgotten. 
Ah, well.
Life is back to normal. I’ve got a crochet project to finish. Photos to process (Cub Scout Pinewood Derby was this past Saturday!). A story to finish writing. A house to clean. Laundry to wash. Dinner to cook. And a budding headache to stem.
Excedrin, here I come!
Writer’s Lesson #263
by Lynn Daniels on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Photo: Kriss Szkurlatowski
When planning to put a project aside for any length of time, be sure and stop at a point that will make for an easy restart.
In other words, don’t stop at a point where, when you pick it back up to work on it again, you look at it and say What the hell? For me, this is yet another lesson learned. The hard way. But let’s be honest here. Is there really any other way to truly learn a lesson? Even if it should have totally been common sense?
How did I learn this lesson, you ask? Besides the hard way? Well, I’ll tell you. As I mentioned in yesterday’s Do-Over post, today would be my Do-Over start day. The day I’d read through Chester and Rube, and my first day to add 500 words. So I pulled out my printout to get started.
A quick glance at my print out immediately told me something was wrong. 37 pages in lovely Lori Devoti’s ARC format. Since this was a NaNoWriMo project, and I’d won NaNoWriMo, I knew I’d written more than 50,000 words. And something told me 50,000 words would work out to more 37 pages. So, being the logical human being I am, I opened my original file, converted it to ARC, and discovered I was absolutely right (no surprise there — just ask SoundGuy — I’m always right ::snork::). I didn’t have 37 pages worth of story, I had 86. 86!
Next step: print, print, print. Print, print. Print.
As the story was printing, I took a peek at the last page. Just so I’d have an idea of where I’d been planning to go. And suddenly, I had a major What the hell? moment. I had that moment because I had not obeyed Writer’s Lesson #263 (a totally arbitrary number I pulled from the sky, by the way, I really don’t know if there are 262 lessons that should come before). I had not left off at a good stopping point. I had, in fact, left off at a completely crappy stopping point.
In my own defense, I have not done my full read through yet. It’s entirely possible that once I do the read through I will know exactly what I’d intended to come next, which would make the stopping point not so crappy after all. But as it stands? Fragrant, fly-attracting crap. (Not the writing, just the stopping point.)
How ’bout I share?
When Rube the giant dinosaur finished his breakfast, he reached a giant purple dinosaur hand out and halted Chester the duck with the smart blue felt fedora’s spinny time. Chester stumbled around a little bit, nearly falling forward onto his little ducky bill. He saved himself at the last second, then turned to look at Rube with nearly crossed eyes.
“Please sit down, little buddy,” Rube the giant purple dinosaur said. “We need to talk.”
“Oooh. You’re so serious,” Chester the duck with the smart blue felt fedora said, deepening his voice so he could be serious, too. Yet at the same time, he could tell Rube the giant purple dinosaur really was serious, so he went ahead and plopped down onto his little ducky butt.
“Yes, Chester,” Rube the giant purple dinosaur said. “I am serious, because what we’re about to talk about is a very serious subject.”
Chester the duck with the smart blue felt fedora was about to have a little more fun with his giant purple dinosaur friend, but then he looked into Rube’s eyes. The look in Rube’s eyes didn’t welcome any cutting up. The look in Rube’s eyes said he had something very important on his mind, and that Chester seriously needed to sit down and listen. So Chester did just that. He clamped his little ducky bill shut and listened to what Rube the giant purple dinosaur had to say.
I’m off to start my read-through — all the while praying I’ll figure out what Rube the giant purple dinosaur was about to say to Chester the duck with the smart blue felt fedora. 
I Demand a Do-Over
by Lynn Daniels on Monday, February 16, 2009 at 1:04 pm
~*~
I had a plan. I had plans. I knew exactly what I was going to do. But, as usually happens in a marriage, SoundGuy had plans, too. And because I try to always put my family first, my plans got set aside.
I didn’t read through Chester and Rube. I didn’t get restarted on the writing. I put it all in my messenger bag, intending to take it along and sneak in reading whenever I could. A perfectly viable idea. In the meantime, until things got started, I puttered around the house, working to get a few other things done. I worked on projects I could stop on a dime whenever it was time to leave.
Except that time never came. Without telling me, SoundGuy changed his plans. Our plans. Instead of puttering, I could have been reading. I could have been writing. But I didn’t know that, so I was puttering. It’s reminiscent of the days when I used to find out my travel plans from the people we were traveling to see.
Those darned husbands will do it to you every time.
Yes, I’m blaming the fact that I haven’t started working writing back into my schedule on SoundGuy. The blame falls entirely on his shoulders. I can say that because I know he doesn’t read my blog.
Okay, part of the blame falls on the fact my plate’s a little full. The same week I decided to start writing again, I also started back with FlyLady in order to get the rest of my life and household under control. So even if I didn’t get started on the writing front, my house is already starting to look better. My appointments are under control. I don’t feel like everything is sliding around under the radar, making me crazier and crazier by the second. I take comfort in that.
Still, my first declaration got me nowhere. Didn’t work at all. I declare a do-over. I’m trying again. Since the family’s home today for President’s Day, my do-over starts tomorrow. Tomorrow, after I get my morning FlyLady duties completed, I will read Chester and Rube. After I finish reading, I will add at least 500 words to the story.
And this time, the declaration will take.
Chester and Rube Return
by Lynn Daniels on Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 2:14 pm
~*~
First of all, thanks for all the birthday wishes. The family didn’t forget, and I had a yummy steak at Outback Steakhouse last night (which I didn’t have to cook) followed by a quick visit to Best Buy for my gifts. All in all, not bad. Not bad at all.
Now that the birthday’s past, it’s D-Day. Or my version of D-Day. Maybe I should call it W-Day, as it’s the day I vowed to begin adding writing back into my schedule. Today is the day I promised to post my quotas and get started. So here goes nothing.
I’ve decided I’ll start this process by finishing Chester and Rube, my NaNoWriMo project. This is for a couple reasons:
- While writing may be a bit like riding a bike — something you never forget how to do — it is possible to lose the ability to do well. So I’d hate to ease back into writing by writing crap into something I want to submit for publication. Chester and Rube, while a full length story, is not something I ever intended to submit. Even if I did, I wouldn’t know where to start. But it is a fun story, and I had fun writing it, so it needs to be finished.
- Chester and Rube needs to be finished as a tribute to MiniMe. She helped me brainstorm the story, and I think we did a bit of bonding during the course of it. MiniMe deserves a finished story. Plus I promised her we’d go ahead and have it printed through the POD publisher I heard about through NaNoWriMo.
- Last, but most certainly not least, Chester and Rube just needs to be finished. I hate the idea of having yet another half-written story out there.
Here’s my plan. Today, as soon as I finish my chores (gawd — it took me 3 TRIES to type that word!), I’ll be giving Chester and Rube a good read-thru. Mostly to re-familiarize myself with the story and to figure out where I’d left off. Then starting tomorrow, I’ll write. For the first week, I’m setting a 500 word/day quota. I don’t have to stop at 500 words, but I must produce at least 500 words. 500 good words. That’s easy enough, don’t you think?
Then starting a week from Monday (that would be February 23), the quota goes up to 1000 words. Depending on how I do with that quota, I’ll either keep it there for March, or up it to 1500 March 1st.
So there’s my plan. While I’m not giving myself a deadline for finishing the story, I now have daily quotas I must meet. Who knows — that may change to weekly quotas instead. We’ll see.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got chores to finish. And a soccer game to Mapquest.
How Was I to Know
by Lynn Daniels on Monday, December 1, 2008 at 7:41 am
I suppose I should add a disclaimer: not my child
NaNoWriMo 2008 is over. I didn’t realize there would be such a letdown once the NaNo site officially said “NaNoWriMo 2008 is over“. I was riding such a high last night after finishing, reality hadn’t hit me. But this morning…
SLAM!
Suddenly, I’m faced with a big question. What do I do now?
During NaNo, because I’d loafed so much in the beginning, it came down to the wire. I found myself with very little time left and lots of words yet to go. Naturally, I buckled down and spent every available minute writing. Yes, I discovered that hard deadlines work very well for me.
I’ll ask again. What do I do now?
No hard deadlines. Other than my own desire and pride, no real reason to finish Chester and Rube (I absolutely will, though). I’ve got time — not much, but there is some — and no need to fill it all with writing.
Knits 1200 stitches a minute!
Okay, I’ll come clean. Part of me was looking forward to the end of NaNo. I wanted time for my other pursuits, too. Like crochet. I want to start crocheting ornaments for a small Christmas tree I’ve decided to put upstairs.
And knitting. My Ultimate Sweater Machine (my second one — SoundGuy can’t figure out what he did with my first one) arrived early last week, and I’m dying to put some yarn on that baby and make something. I just have to figure out what to make.
But with all the yarncraft I plan to do (and I plan to do a lot), I still want to write. I want to finish Chester and Rube. I want to finish Emma’s yet unnamed story (and decide if her name is going to be changed to Desiree). After having so much fun writing Chester and Rube I’d like to try my hand at another similar-type story. Just for fun.
And since I work better with a deadline, I learned of a site through the NaNoWriMo forums that does NaNo-type challenges all year called Dream Writers. I signed up. I’m not sure yet if I’ll use it, but it could just be the kick I need. Or it might kill NaNoWriMo 2009 for me. We’ll see.
Despite the initial Oh, no. NaNoWriMo is over letdown, it’s starting to look to me like I won’t have trouble finding things to fill my time. How about you?
Happy Butt Wiggles All Around
by Lynn Daniels on Sunday, November 30, 2008 at 9:24 pm
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I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT! I crossed the 50,000 word threshold just moments ago, and am now a NaNoWriMo winner! The sense of accomplishment I’m feeling at this moment is almost comical, considering the story I’m writing is not one I ever intend to submit for publication. I chose this story because I thought it would be fun, because I felt I could let my imagination run wild with it, and because I thought it would be the ticket to making writing fun for me again.
It was all those things. And now I’m a National Novel Writing Month winner!
GO ME!
Thank you, Chester the duck with the smart blue felt fedora and Rube the giant purple dinosaur, for being so willing to put up with all the crazy things I’ve thrown at you. And I promise you that even though we reached our word count goal, I will see this story through to the end and I will make sure you foil the nefarious plans of the evil Centipig and his army of pigapede minions.
Thank you.
P.S. In case you’re curious, the song playing in my headphones when the You Won! NaNoWriMo image came up was “Let Me Let You Go” by Pride of Lions.
Candygram My Big Purple Foot
by Lynn Daniels on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 12:50 pm
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NaNoWriMo Day 25
It’s not looking good for me. Five days left, and I’m not even halfway done. And with my mother in town, my writing time during the day (also known as my alone time) has been drastically cut. But I never say never, and I’m still plugging away. Keep your fingers crossed for me, would you?
In the meantime, Chester and Rube were caught in a tornado but managed to find shelter with a number of other animals in a cave. And I don’t know why I did it, but one of the creatures in that cave turned out to be a landshark, although it’s never actually said.
Very slowly, a figure began to emerge from the dark recesses of the cave. An odd sort of creature, the likes of which Rube had never seen before. His eyes were flat and black and on the sides of his head. His mouth huge, teeth pointed and sharp. His body was long, ending at the point of his nose.
Rube leaned forward. He grabbed Chelsey from the top of his head and put her back on the floor. Setting his jaw, he stepped toward the strange creature. “What are you?” he asked.
“Plumber, ma’am,” the strange creature replied.
“I’m not a ma’am,” Rube said. “And you don’t much look like a plumber.”
“Candygram,” said the strange creature.
“Candygram my big purple foot,” Rube said, his voice hardening with frustration. “Now, what are you?”
“I’m only a dolphin,” the creature said. His head was turned, and he kept one flat black eye fixed on Rube.
Rube the dinosaur was going to contradict yet another answer he was sure was a lie, but the sound of the wind outside the cave stopped him. It howled. It roared. It sounded like it was going to try and tear the cave apart.
I love that I can do strange things with this story and it doesn’t matter.
Now I’m going to see if I can’t sneak in some more writing time and get those loveable critters to the Land of the Larrys.
This Time Chester is Giant
by Lynn Daniels on Monday, November 24, 2008 at 7:11 am
This is so cool! I’ve played with word cloud creators before, but not one the creates in color. Created at Wordle using Chester and Rube as it sits right now:
click to enlarge, opens in a new window
Playtime is over. Back to work.
11:54am ETA: What would talking animals call a tornado if they didn’t know the word tornado?
Random Photo
Twittering
NaNoWriMo
