Razor's Edge for 6/29/12

Today's Razor's Edge prompt is a character sketch.

Read her dexcription and then choose one of the photos below as the setting for her story.

Write for 10 minutes.


NAME: Freedom Malloy
AGE: early twenties
HAIR: Chestnut, for now; cut just below her shoulders
ENJOYS (partial list): reptiles, all things blue, tango dancing, her vintage institution green scooter, reading, being in high places
DISLIKES (parital list): fizzy water, all things pastel, miniatures, imitation foods, the smell of the overflowing sewer after a hard rain
TATOOS: dragonfly

NaNoWriMo: day 5

I achieved a major goal today in my NaNoWriMo word count. I didn't set out to reach this goal - but I did, nonetheless. (Now, if I were writing this in my novel, I may have chosen to type 'none the less' rather than 'nonetheless' since one gives me a three word count and the other only gives me one. But I digress.)

I passed the 10k mark! I met with writing friends Alexander and Jenny at a cafe tonight. Deb was going to join us, but was unable to make it. There were many college students there, studying for mid-terms and writing papers - and I may have spied a few other NaNoWriters - but I wasn't sure, so I didn't approach them.

My final word count for Friday, November 5th was 10,771.

Yay! Saturday's goal is 10,000 words - so I could let a day skate by with writing nothing and still be ahead. Which I won't do. I know that on the travel to and from the Night of Writing Dangerously in San Francisco days, I will fall behind. So getting ahead now is a good thing. It gives me flexibility.

The biggest news from today, though, is that I like my story so far. I like where the characters are guiding me and I think it's another workable story and could become a published novel - after some editing, of course. It's not quite going where I thought it might in terms of plot - but that's okay. The setting I chose ahead of time - at least as a starting place - and that has stayed true. Parts of the story may take place in other places - which may or may not show up as scenes in the novel; they may just be talked about as having been there. I don't really know where it's all headed - and I think probably not where I thought at the outset.

And, see, that is the beauty of my method. Some people plot and plan and have outlines and character studies. Which is great. But I don't - and it works for me. I go with the characters and when, like tonight, I can get into that flow - it is an amazing journey. Truly I was channeling the characters tonight and my fingers flew. It was a great feeling and I like a lot of what I wrote (I think; I didn't go back and read any of it - but I remember being pleased with dialogue and scenes and such).

Yes. This is working.
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while I wait

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 Have I told you that NaNoWriMo is nearly here?

It's true! Just today; then tomorrow; then the annual writing frenzy begins. At the end of tomorrow. Or maybe it's better to say it's at the cusp where Halloween is over and November begins.

I'm ready - which, for me, means I've made time in my schedule to write. That I'm excited. That my laptop is charged for the big launch because I won't be getting to the write-in site until 11:30 and all of the plug-ins may be in use - but I'll be fine because I have an extended battery - which I didn't buy for NaNo, but when the battery needed replacing I did consider the month of November and the times I may be without an outlet so a long-life battery would be nice to have.

"Ready" to me doesn't mean I have a plot of characters or an outline. Ah, no. I am what they call a "pantser." I am not a plotter. I'm sure you get the picture: by the seat of my pants? Yes - I absolutely understand those who want a plot and to know where the story is going. But that's not my style - and doesn't seem to be my characters style, either. I have no argument.

This year I do have a working title and a setting. The setting is based on a real place and, yes, I've been there. The title and location came from a quickwrite I did in my online writing group.

So, while I wait these final few days, I've done a few other things to prepare. I bought a hot air popcorn popper. Quick, easy, and a much healthier snack than the microwave - besides, I can pour in the kernels and continue to write while it pops: no need to pay attention, shake, smell, etc - waiting for that terrible burn smell. It's obvious when it's done and it won't burn. I bought a whiteboard : the store had 11x17 side on sale, along with thin colored pens - beautiful! Quick notes, reusable - now I just need to get it up before midnight: I haven't decided where, but I will. I bought and hard-boiled two dozen eggs - it's a start! I have my writing dates set up. My laundry is done - I'll need to do more later (duh), but I'm set for the start-up of intensive writing.

And - tada - I made my own desktop calendar! I've used desktop calendars that others have created the last couple years. Some beautiful ones, some fun ones. Then yesterday as I started my search through others' offerings, I was wishing I knew how to make one myself. Then, there it was. One of the designers had put up a template. Aha, I thought! Yes!

There were no instructions. But I still figured it out. It's not as shiny, professional as some - but it's mine. I wanted one to go with my theme, which lets me know where my word count is in comparison to the daily average needed to make it to the finish line as a winner (with 50,000 words). A visual reminder. This year I'm really into visuals. So, here is what I made. If anyone wants to use it - you can. It's free. The photograph is not mine - it's from someone's vacation (I'll go search out where it came from). It's nothing fancy - but it's where my story takes place. And *I* made it. *smile*

The quote at the bottom right of the inset calendar is from Margaret Atwood. I didn't put that information on my copy, since it was only for me and only on my computer. But you need to know that "A word after a word after a word is power" was written by Margaret Atwood, not me! 

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