One down...

Remember that one writing goal I made to write a song based on TheyFightCrime.org? Well, I accomplished it!

Yes, my brother and I wrote a song about suave Russian zombies astronauts and chain-smoking widows living with robots in haunted houses who fight Big Bads named Agamemnon McCulley. It's pretty much awesome. We're even trying to hash out some basic piano/guitar accompaniment, which is made difficult by the fact that, while my brother plays some guitar, neither of us play any piano beyond one-handed Christmas carols.

Anyway, in doing that, I've also begun another of my goals, which was to do a radio drama. We've decided our song is the theme jingle for a radio drama currently temp-titled "They Fight Crime". It is incredibly silly, runs on Rule of Cool and is just plain fun. Plus, it's quality time spent among siblings, if you are able to conveniently ignore the knock-down-drag-out fights that happen when someone talks during someone else's take.

This might never be seen outside of a select circle of family members and friends, but we're having fun with it.

Being held back from writing by writing...

So, there's only four days of NaNo left. I'm about 7k words behind what I should be for this particular time in November, but I swear I will make it. This resolution is helped by the fact that I've been crazily typing, which goes much, much faster than handwriting. (I really do think I could have done this by hand if only I hadn't been quite so busy/lazy this year. Last year it would have been a pushover, handwriting and all.)

Anyway, I feel as though my creative energy is being stifled by NaNo. There is so much I want to be doing, but I have to be NaNoing. And on the one hand, I resent this, and on the other hand, I almost appreciate it. After all, it's only a month and you have to practice disciplining yourself sometimes.

Been reading The Right to Write by Julia Cameron. I've found that there are two kinds of writing advice that I like: the snarky, vicious and personal (Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, "TERRIBLEMINDS" a blog by Chuck Wendig) and the tranquil, almost-New Age (The Right to Write, Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg). And I get through the tranquil, almost-New Age by balancing it out with the snarky, vicious and personal. All of them often have the same things to say, just different ways of saying it.

Seriously, I have so much I want to be writing. Scribbled rants, blog posts, essays, stories, scripts, poetry... I want to make words! Curse you, NaNo, and your guilt-inducing word count deadlines!

On that note, more of the meme:

Day 23 - Do animals play any part in your story?  If so, how do they add to it?

I have goats. Mostly because I needed a source of milk. Because fae apparently hate milk in my novel.

Day 24 - Is religion featured in your novel at all?  If so, which ones?  If it’s/they’re your own creations, describe it/them and how it/they play(s) a part in your characters’ lives.

Meh, not really.  I'm sure there is religion in these people's societies, but it hasn't come up in my novel.

Day 25 - What are the names of at least two of your main characters?  How did you choose their names?

Chevy Lancer and Ian Woon.

"Lancer" was originally supposed to be Chevy's part in the story (based on this trope) and I really like the name "Chevrolet".

"Mr. Ian Woon" is an anagram of "NaNoWriMo". I needed a name, someone on the internet was far more clever than I, and so a throwaway-character-turned-main was christened.

Day 26 - Was any research involved (historical or otherwise) in your NaNo prep? 

"Research"? We have not this word in my country.

And Zoidberg...

Day 10 - How does your love of writing manifest in non-NaNo months?

Lots of writing.  Lots of writing about writing. Lots of thinking about writing. Lots of writing about thinking about writing. 

And whining.