This morning (well, early this afternoon, really, but the French toast with pear/apple compote that NovySan made for breakfast took some time), I had a decision to make.

The response was unanimous.

So, while NovySan wrestled with JavaScript inside, I wrested with NaNoWriMo outside. When I couldn’t stand it anymore, I knitted. And when that got frustrating (one of these days, I swear, I will figure out how to pick up dropped stitches without leaving visible tracks on the fabric), I went back to writing. It took awhile, but I added several inches to Novy’s Doctor Who scarf (and fortunately for me, he doesn’t mind my mistakes – I keep telling him he’s always going to know which end of this scarf I started on, because I’m going to be a much better knitter by the time I’m done than I was when I began. Hell, I already am!), and more than 3,000 words to my NaNo project. Not bad for a lazy Saturday.

Tags: Back Yard, Lemon Tree, Los Angeles, That Would Be Novy's Doctor Who Scarf There

Another 1,600 words on the NaNoWriMo project tonight, give or take 96, and I believe I’ve discovered my inner romance novelist. She says things like, “As he stepped into the brighter light of the room, he got his first good look at the girl upon whom all of his childhood dreams had rested – and found her a perfect stranger.” I’m letting her work, for now – she has some good ideas, and I can always kill her in the morning.

I feel a bit like I’m front-loading the story; if I keep on at this pace, I’m not sure I’ll make it to 50,000 words, even allowing for my current overuse of modifiers. But I’ll describe every dress in excruciating detail if I must. For now, the three main characters have been introduced, and hints dropped about their pasts. If I can just keep anyone from announcing his or her sudden, undying affection for anyone else, at least until the end of the week, I’ll be happy.

Tags: NaNoWriMo, Where the Hell Did That Come From?

NaNoWriMo starts today. NaBloPoMo does, too. So, what did I spend much of the afternoon doing? Writing a short story that’s been nagging me for some time and trying to decide which of my unfinished (and, let’s be honest, barely-begun) projects gets the NaNo treatment this year.

I’ve been thinking all week I’d dive into the WWII horror I’ve been researching for more than two years, but decided this morning that there’s still too much I don’t know. I imagined this manuscript, full of holes where historical details ought to be, and shuddered. Same for the Crimean War steampunk/alt historical romance novel. I’ve still got that piece I started for NaNo 2007, which ties in somehow with my VPXIII submission story and stares at me accusingly from time to time. The vaguely-Venetian project was a possibility, but this afternoon, as I was wrestling with the relationships around which my ghost story is coalescing, I made my decision.

The story’s loosely based on one I read in my Evidence class at UC Hastings. It’s a classic “What If” exercise – the original case, which was decided in England in the 18th or 19th century, involved a man whose child disappeared. He was accused of murder. He talked the court into letting him go out and find the child, and returned with a girl about the right age, who was clearly not his daughter. He was found guilty, and hanged. Soon after, his daughter reappeared. She’d simply run away from home, as he’d said all along. “What if,” I thought all those years ago, “he’d succeeded in the switch?”

Hopefully, in about a month, I’ll know.

Tags: Let's Get 'Er Done This Time, NaNo, NaNoWriMo, What If