NaNoWriMo 2015 is coming up

So nanowrimo (national novel writing month) is coming up. The goal of nanowrimo is to write 50,000 words (standard length of a novel) in the month of November. I've participated for a number of years and I finished twice. However, I have yet to actually complete one of my nano novels. The ones that I managed to get to 50,000 words just sort of died after nano was over and I have never had a chance to go back to them. So this year I plan to cheat (just a little bit).

Now, when I say that I am going to cheat I only mean it in the most technical sense. Don't think too poorly of me (not for this at least). I do plan on writing 50,000 words. I am going to write all of those words in the month of November. However, I am going to use a story that I have already started (the second book in the Knight's Journey series). Now this is technically cheating because you are not supposed to have started your work before nano. Even though I won't count the words I have already written. But hey, I don't get a prize if I win and I'm pretty sure that no one will actually care if I start early. I care, but that's beside the point. No one of significance will care. Hopefully.

Damn, could you imagine if at the end of nano I get approached by some big name publisher and they're all like: "You completed NaNoWriMo and we would like to reward you by offering you an awesome publishing deal! We just need to verify that you didn't break any of the nano rules." Yeah. But that wouldn't happen. But if it does, this blog is a lie and Alex would never break the rules of nano. Never.

There. I've covered my tracks.

Anyways, nano should be really exciting this year because I will not be working during that time. While no work means no money, it also means that I have a lot of free time to write (and look for jobs and do housework). And time to write is a good thing. Every other time I've participated in nano,I was either in school or I was working, so I could only write during my off hours. Now I am free to dedicate the majority of my time to writing during November. Carissa is okay with being ignored for a month (this time there is a reason) and I have no holidays or vacations planned.

I'll write more blog posts during that month too. For a writer, I find it surprisingly difficult to write short blog posts. So I will get into the habit of doing that in November.

That is all.

I made myself jealous

My wife Carissa is often telling me that I should consider publishing or posting some of my short stories. I usually disagree, since I don't feel very strongly about any of them. I prefer writing novels, and most of my shorter fiction was written for my creative writing classes in college. They aren't all bad (though most are and thus will never see the light of day), but even the good ones are just kind of "meh."

But there was one short story that I started a few years ago that I was actually invested in. I had just read a few of Brandon Sanderson's shorter works (he is my favorite author) and I was inspired to try and write something. I had also been playing some Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and decided to try a story about an adventurer who explores ancient ruins in search of treasure. I wrote furiously and did my best to pump out a complete story without stopping to think about it.

Now here is where I need to qualify something. I had alternate motivation to complete this story. It was nearing Carissa's birthday and I thought it would be unique if I presented her with a story as a present (I did have other presents for her, but this is where I chose to focus my efforts). So I was working on a deadline, because her birthday was coming up (I believe I had about 3 days, but one of those was for travel).

So anyways, I was doing my best to write this awesome story from start to finish. I was motivated and I was working very well. I managed to get almost halfway through when I realized that it was going to be a long short story. Not too long, but longer than I could probably finish (think about 20-25 pages single spaced in Word, at minimum). I'm not going to say that I failed, but I didn't finish the story. Instead I found an appropriate break and presented it as part one (Hollywood taught me this). There was more of the story written than what I gave to Carissa, but it wasn't close to being finished. Luckily, I was smart and wrote a brief outline of where the story was headed so that I would never forget.

I set the story aside thinking that I would get back to it soon, and then I never did. In my defense, this was largely due to my work on the Knight's Journey novel, which I then saw through to completion. So, yeah, I finished something at least.

Anyways, I just opened up my old short story and started reading through it. Somehow I was writing really well back then, because I kind of got hooked on my own story. It's a weird feeling when you read your own writing and you start feeling inadequate because it's really good. It's like, damn, I wrote that in two days without thinking about it at all. It shouldn't make me jealous. I'm literally jealous of myself.

So now I'm sitting at the computer and I have vowed to finish this short story because it's really good and because I want to prove that I can finish it. Thank you past me for starting this project and doing most of the work, I'll take over from here and take all of the credit.

I've started reading comics

So I've always considered myself a nerd at heart. I enjoy anime and manga, I've watched a lot of the animated DC/Marvel shows and movies, and I go to Comic Con every year.

I have a lot of general knowledge about the comic book universes, but I've never actually read the comics. I was always more interested in the backstories and overview of the plots, mainly because I thought all (or most) comics were individual issues with self contained stories. I prefer a continuous plot, so I avoided comics.

Recently I started reading the Injustice: Gods Among Us series. Let me just say, it's good. Really good. It's got the kind of story that made me read sixty issues in two days. So now everything I thought I knew about comics has been turned on it's head and I'm in full comic nerd mode. I'm furiously reading the Injustice comics (thank goodness the story is already pretty far along) and I'm watching Teen Titans and Young Justice and wanting to read books like Steelheart and Soon I Will Be Invincible.

So yeah. Hopefully I don't get so caught up in comics that I forget to keep writing my book.