NaNo Day 4 and other musings
Nov. 5th, 2010 09:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaunthieYes, that was yesterday. So far, I've been finishing up late enough at night that I want to go immediately to bed, do not pass go, do not collect blog entries.
I had double the ground to make up on Thursday, as Wednesday's writing time was totally eaten up by a nasty headache. Fortunately I was indeed able to churn out 4,000 words yesterday evening. I'm at 7,454 words as of last night, which means I'm averaging over 1800 words a day so far. At this rate, I'll finish about three days ahead of deadline - but I'm hoping to pick up the pace. Traditionally I have generated a lot more words on the weekends. Which is good, because I could really use a cushion.
It's odd to say "traditionally" - and to realize that I've done NaNo for the three previous years. This is my fourth year participating. On the one hand, I have enjoyed doing so, and gotten a lot out of it, personally. On the other hand, I have distressingly little to show for it. Yes, I have one novel written, edited, beta'd, revised, and just about ready to submit to publishers. On the other hand, that's *one* novel in *three years.* Not exactly a record-setting pace, and who knows if it's actually publishable?
Gah.
Of course I have a day job, and a number of other responsibilities, but sheesh. It feels like I ought to be a lot further along than this.
In other news, I miss local programming - and specific local comedy/satire shows. One of the real drawbacks of mass-media consolidation and the lack of local ownership of TV stations is the extinction of local, geographic-specific shows like J.P. Patches and Almost Live - or heck, even local newspaper cartoonists like David Horsey (who still draws, but now only focuses on national issues, not local ones). There's nothing really like that now, and the New Media hasn't branched out to fill that gap. Which is a shame, because I think a community is healthier when it has common touchstones - and particularly when that common touchstone is a mass way of laughing at ourselves and not taking ourselves too seriously. It's far too easy for us to take ourselves too seriously, and to mire ourselves in negativity. Humans are good at being shortsighted, and at being mean. Humor, whether childlike (J.P.) or satirical (Horsey) or just plain goofy (Almost Live, although they also brought the satire like nobody's business), helps remind us all that we ARE human, fallible, and kind of funny. We laugh at ourselves, and learn something, and improve slightly all at the same time. We have something in common that we can bond over no matter what our other differences are.
Or maybe I just need more coffee.
I had double the ground to make up on Thursday, as Wednesday's writing time was totally eaten up by a nasty headache. Fortunately I was indeed able to churn out 4,000 words yesterday evening. I'm at 7,454 words as of last night, which means I'm averaging over 1800 words a day so far. At this rate, I'll finish about three days ahead of deadline - but I'm hoping to pick up the pace. Traditionally I have generated a lot more words on the weekends. Which is good, because I could really use a cushion.
It's odd to say "traditionally" - and to realize that I've done NaNo for the three previous years. This is my fourth year participating. On the one hand, I have enjoyed doing so, and gotten a lot out of it, personally. On the other hand, I have distressingly little to show for it. Yes, I have one novel written, edited, beta'd, revised, and just about ready to submit to publishers. On the other hand, that's *one* novel in *three years.* Not exactly a record-setting pace, and who knows if it's actually publishable?
Gah.
Of course I have a day job, and a number of other responsibilities, but sheesh. It feels like I ought to be a lot further along than this.
In other news, I miss local programming - and specific local comedy/satire shows. One of the real drawbacks of mass-media consolidation and the lack of local ownership of TV stations is the extinction of local, geographic-specific shows like J.P. Patches and Almost Live - or heck, even local newspaper cartoonists like David Horsey (who still draws, but now only focuses on national issues, not local ones). There's nothing really like that now, and the New Media hasn't branched out to fill that gap. Which is a shame, because I think a community is healthier when it has common touchstones - and particularly when that common touchstone is a mass way of laughing at ourselves and not taking ourselves too seriously. It's far too easy for us to take ourselves too seriously, and to mire ourselves in negativity. Humans are good at being shortsighted, and at being mean. Humor, whether childlike (J.P.) or satirical (Horsey) or just plain goofy (Almost Live, although they also brought the satire like nobody's business), helps remind us all that we ARE human, fallible, and kind of funny. We laugh at ourselves, and learn something, and improve slightly all at the same time. We have something in common that we can bond over no matter what our other differences are.
Or maybe I just need more coffee.
