Today I Are A Writer

I went into the city today because I had a D&D date in the evening, but I wanted out of the house early. Upon return from the gym, I packed up my old Windows 98, two-ton Compaq laptop and jumped in the car I drive. I went to Neutral Ground and for a buck, was able to camp out for a few hours and write.

After having the audio produced, and having Matt be continually enthusiastic about making more of them, I found myself confident. Faith in my ability. My Oldest Friend told me I was an INCREDIBLE writer. (Is that the word she used?) I had answered flippantly, but I took it to heart.

An INCREDIBLE writer.

So here I am in NaNoWriMo and I'm am confidently hammering out the novel I've been working on since last NaNoWriMo. Or possibly I've been working on it since 2004's NaNoWriMo. I have at least two drafts of two or three chapters in my Novel folders on my harddrive. They each feature different characters and a different direction for each set, but for me the theme is still the same. This latest version has the staying power that I think I need to complete it this time. Plus, NaNoWriMo only wants us to do a 50K-word novel. Baen Books is looking for a 100K-word submission, (but will consider less if we think our work is "really wonderful".

I'm confident, but will it be "really wonderful"? I do plan on it.

Tonight (this morning) I entered the additional writing from today's session and find I accomplished 1619 words today. I make note of this because My Other Hero is Journaling his word count every day -- (I have him as a Writing Buddy and can see his progress, but reading him is so much better) and his gains are too sexy for me. But he says this about his work;

"If the neighbors ask: "What's that awful smell?" Just say: "Alex's novel. He refuses to flush it."

Yesterday, the longest single work of fiction I'd ever created was called "Outgoing," which clocks in at 13,862 words and which will be published in the February 2007 issue of Asimov's.

Today, at 14,766 words and counting, we have a new champion: an ugly, ugly draft of a young adult novel.

That's right, lovely people. 1912 words for chapter nine. One chapter to go. Suck it, second-week-slump."

See what a sexy beast he is?

And when I previously said to him;
"Alex, this is torture. Not the writing--the reading about the writing without reading the writing. Please, upload an excerpt or SOMETHING. I'm starving, sir ... can you not spare a few crumbs?"

He replied;
"Find yerself a set of magnetic poetry. Throw fifty words against a fridge from a distance of ten feet. Whatever sticks, sticks.

Now read what you've got. That's about how my novel's going, though magnetic poetry's probably got a better vocabulary than I do."

So ... should I believe him? Is he just doing that 'Yes I'm published in Asimov's, but really, I'm not a good writer' humility stuff? Or does he just know that at this early stage, his stuff stinks, but he will be working and massaging it until he stops saying bad things about it, and then it'll be obviously good because, hey, he DID write something publishable by Asimov's after all.

And should I be slurping up that same humble pie too? Should I be feeling this confident? Am I even spelling 'confident' correctly?

For the answer to these and other of life's questions, stay tuned. All I know right now is that I'm having a blast. Let's see how much I do tomorrow ...