Did it. Reached my goal with time to spare. Actually, I passed the 50K mark last Wednesday, but then the Thanksgiving holidays happened, and I didn’t write another word until today, Monday. But who cares. Makes me feel good, and that’s what matters. Now all I need to do is keep plugging away every week. Even 1K words a week will get me another 50K by next year’s Nano, and more importantly, I might actually get this damn thing finished.
I don’t normally comment on issues in the current news, but something about the ongoing brouhaha at Penn State bothered me enough to voice my concerns. My issue is not really with the sordid details of the incident, which are horrifying in themselves, but commonplace enough to dismiss with a shake of the head. (My apologies to all those involved and affected. I mean no disrespect.) What really struck me in this affair is the reaction of the students at Penn State, all those football supporters, Nittany Lions fans and other knee-jerk flag wavers, at the official firing of Joe Paterno. Rioting on the campus! Overturned vehicles. What, is this Tahrir Square? What is is it about large than life figures that brings out such ridiculous emotions? I mean, the man was not directly responsible for anything, but he knew, and procrastinated, and all down the line, everyone in authority worked to save their own skins and preserve the legacy of the sports franchise that defines Penn State. We put our idols on pedestals and scream bloody murder when they are toppled, forgetting that they are also human beings, flawed, like the rest of us. Same with our politicians and other celebrities. Must be some innate human condition that we are incapable of overcoming. We’re not talking isolated incidents here, but concerted action by masses of people, who are defending the idealism of a notion or an institution, and are unable to distinguish between the institution and the individuals representing it. Reminds me of the OJ incident. I guess we don’t like damaged heroes.
Scribbler
All those pundits doing NaNoWriMo who said that the second week was the hardest are right. The initial euphoria is over and the struggle sets in. It’s easy to fall behind on daily word counts and the weekends, which seem like the perfect time to catch up, are strewn with procrastination prone pitfalls for the easily seduced. Count me among that number. I wrote not a word this Saturday, and then had to scramble the make up for lost words on Sunday. I’m still ahead, but with a headache every day trying to make sure I maximize my word count.As the days go by, I realize that there will be other days where I write little or nothing, and the only thing I can say to others in similar situations is – write extra while you are writing. You will thank yourself for it later. On a more practical note, if you find you need some background for the scene you are current;y writing, write it as if the needed material already exits, then go back to a suitable point in the narrative and add it. I do it on the fly, while writing the scene. You’ll find that writing in that background information is easy because you know what you need. Make the incident as elaborate as you need. You can always edit it later, and your word count will go up by the number of words you added in the background incident. It may be just to bring in a small fact, or to introduce a specific item or idea. Works like a charm, and you can write in blissful abandon knowing you are grounding your work as you go. Cheers!
Going to see ‘jolting Joe’ Bonamassa at the Beacon tomorrow night. Pumped about this show. It’s amazing that I have every single one of this man’s albums and this is the first time I’ll be seeing him live. Really looking forward to a night of good blues. Joe’s always hot. Hope he’s totally on, tomorrow night.
NanoRebel 2011
Three days in and I’m doing well. I think knowing where I’m going with this actually makes a difference. Let’s see how I deal with the first weekend. Traditionally, weekends are the time to catch up, but, for whatever reason, my weekends seem to be spent procrastinating. Hope I can get at least the minimum done. Otherwise, the cushion will have to carry me over.
SYNAPSEONFIRE 