NaNN movement

Instead of calling my writing WIP (work in progress) "The Novel" or the '08 NaNoNovel, I've updated it to be the NaNN Novel: "Needs a New Name" Novel. But, as my friend Jenny pointed out today, when it gets to an editor and publisher, they will probably rename it, anyway!

Last I wrote about NaNN, I was wondering if I was straying too far with the preparations: research, margin notes, note cards, an outline, and many pages of conflicts or character flaws or things to delete/expand. Shortly after that, I made some section revisions and too scissor and tape and started moving pages around after I reordered the cards. Which was after I wrote down a plot of what has to come before what in order of events for the story to work.

I took a little detour on the web during my writing time with Jenny. You see, a part of NaNN deals with possession and/or multiple personality disorder. I wanted to do some research on those to see where they overlap and where they diverge because in my mystery-ghost story there are questions about just this issue. I was fascinated by what I was finding and then realized that - voila - I had indeed become distracted and lost the focus of the reason I was in that space, with latte and laptop at hand and Jenny on the other side of the table.

So I bookmarked a few things and went back to NaNN with new energy because this little conundrum in NaNN will actually work. And what I saw will be interesting when I get back to reading it more in depth.

The real movement of NaNN today, however, came when I started inserting some section updates I've done elsewhere, as part of an assignment or just working on the novel. Seven major sections have been edited and inserted. I know there will be more rewrites on those, because they were done with different foci and at different points of time in isolation. But it's still exciting to be updating the master document.

And, yes, I have the original safely stored somewhere else.

It is now just over 61k words and growing.

The story is being refined and cleaned up.

I have actually begun the revision process. And it feels great.
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Christi's Distraction

At Writing Under Pressure, Christi wrote about responding to another writer friend's list of questions as a distraction from thinking about her Dermacentor variabilis phobia. You have to click to her site to check out what that is! Anyway, she was tagged with these questions and she answered them from the North Woods. As a distraction.

Since I just wrote about wondering if I was distracting myself (from the Needs a New Name (NaNN) Novel) with research and notetaking, her post caught my eye. Well, her posts always catch my eye - she's a great writer with plenty of insights. I saw the word "distraction" and I was distracted from why I'd logged on to the computer in the first place.

Below are my responses to the questions. Feel free to post to your blog with a link here, or put your answers in the comments section below!

1. Where were you five years ago?

I was working with a group of interpreters to establish a new agency in town after one agency walked all over the community and walked off with money owed for services rendered. After a few months and some stressful meetings and someone pulling a power play built on lies, I left the new agency I helped create. I was starting to do a little art, again, and starting to write creatively, again. I lived in the same house as now with the same partner, but with a boomerang step-child living with us, who is now engaged to a wonderful person and doing quite well on his own.

2. Where would you like to be five years from now?

In five years we will be paying off the house. I want to be writing more regularly and having the rest of my life fitting in around the time left over from that. I want to be giving workshops and attending conferences and going on writing retreats and a residency would be nice. I'm contemplating being done with an MFA by then -- but haven't decided for sure if it's worth the time and expense. I want the Needs a New Name Novel to be published, and a book contract for more. I want to have breathing space and an abundance of income and have plenty of time for sleep and walking and traveling and writing/creating and be comfortable in my skin.

3. What was on your to-do list today?

• 
  Shower.
• Dragon boat practice.
• Brunch with some teammates after practice.
• Take arnica and homeopathic tincture.
• Walk up and down the hill a couple times or so to see how my lungs are doing, with additional walking time.
• Take arnica.
• Shower.
• Pick up a latte or chai on the way to work.
• Type up three student intern observation reports.
  
• Look at REI website to see if they have what I need for the Grand Canyon trip so I can plan what to pick up when I get my shipment tomorrow morning (to avoid those impromptu purchases).
• If I have time, reorder the chapters and sections I've relocated in the NaNN Novel in Google Docs.
• Drink less coffee.
• Eat more vegetables.

4. What five snacks do you enjoy?

• 
  Popcorn.
• Early season Honey Crisp or Jazz or Ambrosia apples.
• Fresh blueberries - especially right off the bush (okay, so they should be rinsed first)!
• Juanita's tortilla chips with a little bit of grated cheese melted on them under the broiler, with double roasted red pepper or mango salsa and mashed black beans.
• Erin Baker's peanut butter granola with Nancy's plain honey yogurt. Or plain Cheerios with soy milk. Vastly different and yet, similar in an odd way.
  

5. What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?

• 
  Write more often and work at non-writing less.
• Travel more: !road trip!; take a month-long vacation and at least a week every three months or so; buy a home in Taos that would also be a group writing retreat, and a condo to share on the Oregon coast.
• Send some money anonymously to some people - some maybe not so anonymously.
• Get an MFA.
• Get all needed repairs on the house; get the yard fixed up properly; replace my 181k+ miles, 11-year-old car with a hybrid.

That's my distraction list. What's yours?
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