Saturday, March 10, 2012

68,000 and counting.

Today I was sitting around staring into space when it hit me. The ceiling fan that is, not the answer to why we're all here. Actually, I'm kidding about the ceiling fan too. Sorry.

What hit me was the fact that without prompting, I have written an astounding 68,603 words in 10 days. When I first heard of the 12in12 challenge I decided to write novellas because I didn't think I could make close to 50K words every month. Now I've basically completed a second NaNoWriMo in five months.

How could I have possibly written so much? Well, for one I have no life. I'm being serious. I work all day from 9AM to 5PM and as luck would have it, my friends work from 3PM to 11PM. The only time I see them is every other weekend when they're off. I know, I suck.

Eventually I get bored of video games (I know, such a horrid statement) and sit down in front of a blank Word document to write. Being perfectly honest, I've played all the games I own and can't find anything interesting.

I've noticed recently though that I tend to write a lot more when I'm stressed. Writing sweeps me up into a different world and I don't have to think about paying bills, buying food or whatever else is making me go crazy.

Though I have to admit, I am pretty mean to my characters the more stressed I am. I get some kind of sick pleasure out of making their lives Hell when mine sucks just as much. Technically my current set of characters is having a lot of good luck recently so I must be in a better mood.

Then again, I did force one of the guys to pretend to be a woman so he could poison and evil Lord. I don't think that would be good luck. But they DID meet the other two members of their growing team while in the Lord's estate so it worked out.

Anyway, back to my crazy word count. I made it my goal this year to write 450,000 words. I just calculated that if I write a mere 12,968 words a month from April to October, I'll complete the goal. This is assuming I make my NaNoWriMO 2012 goal of 200,000.

Technically, I don't even HAVE to complete the 12in12 challenge. I still am though, just because I want a safety net for NaNo. You know, just in case I can't get to 200,000 words. That would be absolutely horrible if I couldn't and didn't have anything backing me up.

Heck, with the pace I'm going at, I might even make it my goal to hit a million words this year. Okay, that's a bit out of my league with my time constraints. I'm not going to shoot myself in the foot with a laser gun just because I'm feeling good about 60K in 10 days.

As for what I'm putting out next: I'll be eventually putting out a 'Fairy Tales Gone Wrong' collection which includes spoofs of Snow White, Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Goldilocks, Rapunzel and a cowardly dragon story. I'm aiming for the end of April but I might still be caught up in my current novel-in-progress. We'll see.

Until then enjoy this little bit of scenery from my current work:

“Nice to meet you Bliant, I’m Archard,” Archard offered a hand to shake.
Bliant took it with a grin and looked vaguely surprised at the powerful grip.
“I’m Noam and the pleasure is all mine, I’m sure,” Noam announced with a wave of his hand.
“Are you a male or female?” Bliant questioned in response.
One of Noam’s slim eyebrows raised and his mouth shifted into a saucy grin. Bliant merely stared at him for a long moment as Archard smirked.
“What do you think?” Noam purred.
“He’s a he, and he can be really weird and perverted, sorry,” Archard interjected before Bliant could respond.
“Aww, cutie-pie, that just took all the fun out of things,” Noam pouted.
Bliant erupted into laughter much to Archard’s surprise and Noam’s pleasure. He clapped the two on the back and grinned.
“I’m a little weird myself, don’t worry,” Bliant explained with a smile.
“How so?” Noam questioned in wonder.
“Ah, well, Bliant means healer in some kind of old language,” Bliant described with a laugh.
“Huh?” Archard voiced in confusion.
Bliant shrugged and tucked his thumbs into the belt he wore. Archard waited somewhat patiently for the reply and wondered if he should ask again. Noam merely looked in interest at their new companion.
“I came from a rich family, more specifically a family of healers. I was the eldest and thus taught to be a healer, not a warrior. I became a warrior after my village was ransacked by bandits. They didn’t live to see the next week. Apparently being a good surgeon translates well to becoming a warrior,” Bliant confessed.
“So, you can hurt someone then stitch them up?” Noam asked for clarification.
“Yeah, something like that,” Bliant agreed with a nod.
Archard grinned and decided he was really enjoying this new adventure. Noam was entertaining in his own respect but having a healer who also happened to be a good warrior on the team would bring something more amusing to the mix. Bliant and Noam laughed when Archard finally spoke:
“Well, the more the merrier,”

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