NaNo Progress

Leave a comment November 19, 2008 Michael A. Van Kerckhove

Well, it’s going rather slowly. I’m currently at 18,304 words. Just lots to do with school and stuff. But I have some ideas spewed out for some short stories. I did some free writing under a different heading that will be useful for one of the other stories later. Slapping in the free wheeling journaly stuff from this past weekend into my word count will help. I’ll use it for something. A CNF/Solo piece perhaps. Or fodder for a short story. We’ll see….

After I do that, I should go back to my other stories. I think it’s been good to go balls out when I do. But, damn, there’s something about just taking your time and crafting a story, you know. One of the emailed NaNo pep talks calmed nerves and was like If you fall behind, then maybe reset your goals to 25K and be proud of that work (or something like that). Whatever I get in, I’ll be proud of. If I don’t make it, I’m still glad I could reconnect with everything and everyone.

I know I have some beautiful moments and ideas amongst the overwritten gobbledygook.

Right?

NaNoWriMo Time is Nearly Nigh!!!

4 Comments October 29, 2008 Michael A. Van Kerckhove

So, NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month is almost here. 50K words in 30 days. I did this 2 years ago when I was unemployed and not in school. Easy to win that way! Last year was a bust. I couldn’t even begin. I was VERY employed and IN grad school. No way in heckle. For sure.

This year, I am employed, my school involves my teaching, but I’m not taking classes. I think I can strike a balance I hope. However, I am bending the NaNo rules to my will. Here’s my official blurb on my NaNo profile:

Right now, the plan is to make NaNo work for me and my current writerly goals. Cranking out a whole novel doesn’t really make sense to me. So the plan is to take the month to develop some short story ideas and build my repertoire. I may find I also have a solo performance piece or other creative non-fiction in there as well.

While some ideas are a sentence or two, others have a few hundred words of free writing behind them, which could ultimately end up in the word count. If that’s technically “cheating” I guess I’d say that while others are writing and not thinking TOO hard, I’ll be slowing down here and there to edit and shape. So we cool? Between now and then, a few more ideas will probably pop into my head with little to no development whatsoever.

I picked “Literary Fiction” again cos that can mean anything, really. Right? It’ll be a bit of a mish-mash. The current “title story” [Devil Jello] will probably be some sort of twisted Lake Woebegone-esque tale. Others will be…different. We shall see….

All right, onward.

If you’re NaNo-ing this year, I’d love for you to add me to your writing buddy list. Visit my profile HERE.

Since writing that blurb a month ago, indeed a few more story ideas have popped into my head. We’ll see how many I get to, and what would be really cool is that some of them will even have endings! Woot! I’ve already gone to a few gatherings with my local region–I’m a member of the Notre Dame region, which includes peeps from all over “Michiana.” A cool possee. I hope to make it to at least a few more as we get in full gear.

So, wish me luck and I extend the same to you in all your creative endeavors in the final stretches of 2008.

Status Report

Leave a comment October 8, 2008 Michael A. Van Kerckhove

I am currently:

~ Enjoying October–or High Holy Month as I call it. My fruit chutney has been made. Pumpkin bread is in the works. Fall decorations are out. The bike ride to school along the river is amazing–even in the rain.

~ Working to make an upcoming submission deadline. If I don’t make it, I suck, right?

~ Enjoying the new Dar Williams and Shawn Mullins albums–and basking in the afterglow of their concert last month in September. I’d like to post about all that and some other music related items some day.

~ Looking forward to the new Cure and Killers albums! Awaiting the Teddy Thompson album I ordered from Amazon.

~ Working on the Mid-Term exam for my classes.

~ Trying to get through the Raymond Carver collection I picked up in August while visiting my nephew in North Carolina. SO good–it’s just taking me forever to read non-school stuff this semester.

~ Looking forward to eventually reading the new Sarah Vowell book, The Wordy Shipmate. I caught her on Talk of the Nation and The Daily Show yesterday. (Click to watch the clip, seriously!) Tried to get through to NPR, but failed. 🙁 I love her.

~ Preparing for NaNoWriMo 2008!

~ Listening to the Greatest American Hero theme.

~ Going to see The Mushroom Picker at Notre Dame tonight. It has two of my favorite things–solo performance and World War II.

~ Surviving Notre Dame home football weekends at the restaurant.

~ Being annoying by the obnoxious neighbors across the street.

~ Slightly bored with the Election. Can we just get it over with already? Though I am enjoying the Tina Fey as Palin bits. Amazing.

~ Still going through Australia photos!

~ Trying to keep up with everything else.

~ Thinking that should about cover it for now. 🙂