Last Day For NaNoWriMo

Tags

NaNoWriMo

1,900 words left to write.

I wrote 3,000 yesterday and another 3,000 the day before, trying to catch up.

Tonight, PH won’t be home. He’ll be off playing DnD with some friends. So I have to get Owl his dinner, put him to bed by myself, and then write like a MOFO.

This is gonna be CLOSE.

NaNoWriMo 2012, 20,009 words. Need Encouragement.

Tags

excerpts, fiction, NaNoWriMo, parodies, Twilight, writing

Another snippet from my Twilight parody. I hope it will make you smile.

I grabbed his arm and pulled him aside. I ignored the part of my brain that squealed girlishly at the excitement of actually touching him. It was just his goddamn shirt.

“Listen, I don’t know anything about dating or romance, but I’m pretty sure that it’s not normal to just tell someone ‘I’ll do whatever it takes to make you like me’. It comes across a little desperate, you know? That’s not so hot.”

“You do like me,” he replied frankly, meeting my eyes. “I know that. We have a lot in common. If I take meals at regular times I can keep up with you intellectually, and I’m the closest thing to a friend you have here so far. I know all of this. But I can’t make you feel more for me than that, and I don’t want to force you into anything you aren’t comfortable with. I just want to be helpful to you, to be useful to you, to make you more comfortable, and not less. I want to make your days better, and not worse. So I am telling you now – tell me to jump, and I will ask how high.

“Tell me to carry your books, fetch your lunch, sort your notes, and I will do it. Tell me to leave you alone and not talk to you any more, and I will do that too. Anything you ask… and I will do it. It’s not a plea, it’s not a bribe. It just is what it is, because I am what I am. “

He paused, and looked at me. He was so calm. Not desperate or crazy or anything, just serene and still slightly monotone. He held me with his eyes and I felt transfixed.

“Tell me,” he whispered. “Tell me what you want, anything, and I promise I will do it.”

This is the moment, I thought.

I could tell him “kiss me,” and he would do it. I could see it in my mind’s eye. The students getting off of their buses, the whoosh of cars driving by in the rain, all of that faded into the background. There was just me, and him, and his eyes.

I paused, trying to work up the words. I was trying to reconcile who I was with who I could be. No, Stella Blunt has never been a sap for boys with pretty words (mostly because no boys had ever approached her with pretty words). No, Stella has never done the kissyface stuff. Yes, Stella has always been the “ugh, get a room” type when passing people making out against a locker.

But Stella could change, right?

I opened my mouth, and I seriously thought I was going to be able to do it. My whole life, my whole sense of self was about to change. This could be a moment I would remember for the rest of my life. My first kiss?

Then I felt a spasm of panic and instead my mouth said, “so, what, like if I asked you to step in front of a speeding car, you’d do it?”

And the moment broke, and he smiled and stepped back, and while I was wishing I could grab those words and stuff them back into my mouth, he took another step back and

BAM

A car appeared where he had just been standing, and there was a shout of shock from all the people around us. I heard a wet thud as Howie’s body landed on the pavement.

Oh, SHIT.

13,000 Words In: Another Excerpt

Tags

NaNoWriMo, parodies, Twilight, writing

Hi folks,

I’m still alive, and for once I’m actually keeping on top of NaNoWriMo and enjoying it immensely.

As a “thank you for your patience” and a “please give me encouragement even if you have to lie”, here’s another excerpt from my magnum opus:

By the time I fell asleep that night, I was sure of three things.

1. Howie had some serious issues including, but not limited to, an apparent obsession for a girl he barely knew.
2. He had a medical condition, and I needed to be damn sure I didn’t catch it.
3. I had a crush on him any fucking way. 

NaNoWriMo 2012, Here I Come!

Tags

life, NaNoWriMo, writing

I’m attempting NaNoWriMo this year.

Even though I am exhausted.

Even though my anxiety is clearly still an issue – I spent all night having nightmares about being late for work (because we had a home visit euthanasia scheduled first thing in the morning) and then woke to Owl going “eight! Eight there, Mommy!” and exploding out of bed in a panic because it was 8:15 and I had to be at work in 30 minutes (by some miracle, Owl was highly cooperative and I actually made it).

Even though I may be picking up two new dog training clients this weekend and am experiencing so much anxiety about it that it makes me wonder why I do it.

Even though Owl’s sleep has fallen apart again and we’re having to make a formal sleep training plan again.

Even though we’re planning on potty training him soon.

Because I have had this story idea for almost a year, and I need something like NaNoWriMo to push me into actually writing it.

I’m hoping you guys like the idea – it’s a parody of Twilight, only featuring a heavy-set, intelligent, self-condident girl who moves to the big city of Vancouver and ends up in a relationship with a devoted undead servant, who considers her wish to be his command.

Basically, it’s Twilight the way I think it should have been written.

With zombies.

Here’s an excerpt from what I wrote yesterday. It’s the opening preface: 

Healthy young people don’t expect to die young, and I am not any different in that respect. When we do fear death, though, it tends to come in nightmarish forms – the monsters under your bed, the thing in the closet. Now here I stood, fearing death from the kind of terrifying, ravening monsters that haunt people in nightmares. Except that I was awake, and this was real, and I could very well be killed in a disgustingly gory way.

Maybe I should have gained some comfort from the fact that I was loved. Beloved. Adored. Worshipped, even. When you are in love, you are supposed to hold hands, and face death with serene acceptance. Maybe we could share a dramatic kiss as we died in the tradition of star crossed lovers everywhere.

“Fuck that shit,” I said as my chainsaw sputtered and then began to roar. “Let’s slice off some heads.”

—

What do you think?

Humph

Tags

first person, NaNoWriMo, Torch, writing

Okay, you all make me sad by not answering my questions. If I win NaNoWriMo, it’s no thanks to you!

Maybe I won’t even reward you with the full story about Perfect Husband’s torch bearing. The only teaser I’ll give you is… he was one of the ten.

Yeah.

Take that.

As as side note, I have rediscovered how much I like writing in the first person. All the stories I’ve tried to write in recent years have been in the third person, but as a kid I always wrote in the first person. On a whim, I thought I’d try it again and it’s so much better. I feel so free, just being able to say what was happening and what the protagonist is thinking, without having to stumble over creating coherant sentences full of “he thought that” and “he reflected that” and “he noticed that” and “he held out his hand to him”.

HA.

Help me Nano

Tags

memories, NaNoWriMo, Stories, teens

Okay, I’m woefully behind in NaNoWriMo, considering I haven’t got a story yet and we’re three days in.

Maybe you guys can help me.

I’m trying to put together a story, half make believe and half real, basing the characters on myself and a couple of my friends when we were in our early teens.

It would help me out if you could answer any or all of the following for me:

1. What emotions do you remember most strongly from your early teen years (12-14)?

2. What is one of your strongest joyful memories from that age?

3. What is one of your strongest unhappy memories from that age?

4. Did you or your friends believe in ghosts/claim to have ghosts in your house?

kthanksbai

P.S. More details about the torch relay later.

One week remaining…

Tags

NaNoWriMo

…I still have no idea what to write for NaNoWriMo, and I’m starting to get scared.