Time with Tom

Technophile

I own a typewriter.

It’s a decent looking thing. Clean, has a soft hum when you turn it on. The keys seem to work, although if I type too quickly the arms get stuck against one another. There’s even a method for whiting out letters, which is rather ingenious (you shift the tape up to the white portion of it, and re-type. The white will cover the black).

I have to admit, there is a part of me that sort of wishes it was one of the old school mechanical ones. Those iron monsters that weighed 40 lbs and just simply attracted whiskey glasses and cigarette smoke. The kind that you could imagine Raymond Chandler and Dashiel Hammet writing on. Ultimately, I would like to get one, but I’m willing to wait. I have time.

The only other real news is that I totally fucking won Nano Wrimo again. Here, have a thing about that, and then a picture of my typewriter.

Tom

Dust Some Cobwebs

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve been here. I have a great excuse, I promise. I’ve been busy.

No, really.

It’s called Nano Wrimo, and I’ve talked about it here before. And I know Brandon has mentioned it. We’ve been attempting to write a novel (each) this month. I’m up almost at 32,000 words, and Brandon is somewhere, but I don’t know his actual word count. You’d have to ask him.

The novel’s going well. Better than the previous two years, that’s for sure. When I started this back in ‘07, I fell horribly behind, and had to crank out 30,000 words in a week (somewhere around 9,000 the last day, I think). It was nuts. Last year was a lot better, but I still fell behind a few days, which is both very easy to do and very dangerous to do. This year, the most I fell behind so far was one day, and I caught up the next day. I did get ahead by entire days once or twice, which was nice. At the moment, I think I’m ahead by about 12 words, but it’s all good. The plot is insane, the characters are all nutjobs, and I’m not sure some of what I write makes any sense.

So I’m obviously enjoying myself a lot.

The only other news is that I still have the completely used roll of film from the old school camera sitting on my desk, waiting for processing. I have to ask around and find somewhere that’ll do it, because I would love to see how (badly) those pictures turn out. I promise, soon as they’re scanned, you’ll get to see them. Until then, though, you’ll just have to wait.

In the meantime, have some fall pictures from me.

Tom

Shadow of a Ghost of an Idea

November is, oddly, not that far away anymore. Well, sure, okay, it’s far enough away so that we’re still in the summer, and technically have two and a half months to get through (give or take a week).

But!

If you’re a Nano Wrimo writer like I am, it’s not too far away (frighteningly). This time last year, I was beginning the process of collecting notes and thinking about the novel that would become Divine. I was working out character sketches, piecing together the story, and wondering how the villains would push things along. In short, I was beginning the process of being prepared, so that I would be ready for the event. This yeah, I’m in a bit more of a pickle.

I think my problem is that I have too many ideas, but nothing’s really jumping out at me. A kid who accidentally has a super power, a sequel to Divine, a sequel to Mists of Nerrivik, a thing involving poorly defined subjective gravity…just too much is running through my head all at once. It’s getting stuck in the doorway, I think, and nothing’s really getting through (sort of like a Three Stooges sketch, although with pose in place of, say, Moe).

This is a much bigger problem than you may think it is. “So you don’t have an idea? So what? Can’t you just figure that out as you go along?” Well, yes and no. Sure, I can (and I have), but I end up floundering a bit without having a solid idea of my story going into things. And I can’t think up a good story as I go along. Not to mention, there is always the fact that Nano is marathon writing, and going in without notes is a lot like going on a marathon run without training too hard or stretching first. Sure, you could do it, but do you really want to?

When I wrote Mists, I had a couple basic ideas and figured it out as I went along. It was fun, but it was slow going. By Thanksgiving, I was 20,000 words behind, and ended up averaging 6k a day until I finished (on a 9k day, if memory serves). Last year, when I went in with Divine, the most I fell behind was 5k, I believe, and I recovered fairly quickly from that, ultimately writing a novel that hits somewhere around 67,000 words start to finish (and that’s just the first draft).  Everyone I’ve become friends with through this event seems to agree that knowing what you’re going to write for a story before you write it is a great step to actually completing the damn thing on time.

Which brings me back to my quandry. It’s not indecisiveness, exactly. It’s more…not being sure what I want to write first. Although I’m starting to lean toward the superhero kid. I think I could have a lot of fun with that idea, and write a pretty funny story.  And who doesn’t like a funny story?

I think I may be rambling now, so I’ll let you go. Below, I’ve placed a web badge for this year’s Nano Wrimo. If you have any interest in attempting to actually write a novel, you should check their site out. I’ve met some totally awesome people through it.

Tom

Kids With Guns

Today at the Nano TGIO party, I won the “Boston Fashionista Award” for my signature Thinking Hard Hat. My prize included a fake poseable mustache and a pink feather boa. Hellz yeah.

Haiku 166

And at 5:30
I have officially won
Nano Wrimo. Whoo!