Thursday, October 25, 2007

Phoctober the twenty-fifth

Only one for you today. Is one not enough? Greedy Blogreader!



Still mostly mired in the play: the learning of lines, running of scenes, the design of the printed materials. Sadly, the last is the most time-consuming. There are an awful lot of cooks peering into that particular pot, and the emails seem to be nearly constant.

Somewhere in there I am also trying to plan my NaNo piece. I think I know what I intend to write (although a weirdly intriguing young adult novel [of all things] popped into my head last night and may warrant consideration). The trouble I am having is with the outline. I've never outlined anything in my life. I'm not even sure I think outlining is a good idea for me personally, but I wanted to give it a stab so that I don't have to improvise the whole month as I did last year.

I'm registered and ready to go. I'm here, if any of you have signed up and would like to befriend (or, possibly more accurately, embuddy) me. Last year, I really got a motivational boost from seeing where everyone else was throughout the month. At one point, I realized that if one of my friends crossed the finish line, then I would as well. So the buddy thing is a nice aspect of the month-long struggle that is NaNoWriMo. Sort of allows you to share the pain, or at least to know that you are not alone in your folly.

I think I'm also going to sign up for NaBloPoMo (a blog post each day in November) because I figure I don't have enough on my plate with the play, writing a novel, looking for work, and attempting to have a social life. After the Phoctober experience, I am really looking forward to using words again. You may have sensed from the posts the last few days, where I've become more wordy in my Phoctobering.

Fact is, I love words. First love, head-over-heels, dizzying, distracting love. And next month is all about words, so I'm pretty excited about that.

*****

Other Phoctobering:

All Phoctober posts from this site.

Absolute Vanilla by any other name...

Kyklops really loves vending machines.

Roberta on the finery of autumn.

"Sognatrice" is possibly Italian for "puppies."

Taffiny gives us a portal, a path, and a generous helping of green. (Three different posts)

Jefferson Davis gives us a book, some abstracts from a power outage, the lights of a city, and brings back some misty goodness. (Four different posts)

It isn't too late to join the fun. Just do a photo post, mention Phoctober, and come and tell me about it in the comments.

10 comments:

Taffiny said...

Isn't today Thursday? (Are you trying to mess with us?)

The play sounds intense.

Wow, someone who thrives on being super busy.
(I have heard of such peoples)

Young adult idea, hhmm, I wonder what that would be coming from you.

I would need an outline (thus have one for NaNo), but I have read there are plenty of writers who don't like them, they feel they are too confining/limiting, they like to just jump right in, and see where it goes. Free. Perhaps you are on of those writers.

I don't know what the whole buddy thing means? Can you have more than one? What does it consist of? Do I need to be a good writer to be a good buddy for someone, or is that irrelevant?

I am pleased you are planning on spending more time with your first love. I enjoy reading your words.

Anonymous said...

you have been fascinating me with all these pictures and words, and for that, i thank you.

Unknown said...

Good luck with NaNoWriMo, hope it goes really well - am deeply intrigued by the prospect of a YA novel! :-) I was also thinking of signing up for NaBloPoMo but still haven't made up my mind... I do so detest self created pressure - or other peoples' pressure :-)
And good luck with the play and all that goes with it.

Lane Mathias said...

Relieved at seeing less ominous tree:-)

And social life? What is this thing called social life of which you speak? Does it involve Real Live People?

Sameera Ansari said...

The art one can create with words is greater than any art in this world.I just love them.

Good luck on your play,may it become a blockbuster;and may your novel become a best seller :)

The concept of NaBloPoMo is cool.I had resolved to post at least one post a day in October and with five more days to go,am almost there.Will continue it in the coming month too.

Keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

I did add you as a buddy in NaNoWriMo and I hope you have good luck with that.

I have been lurking here for a while without leaving any comments, but I want to let you know I have been enjoying your photographs.

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

I have added you as a buddy for nanowrimo--hope you don't mind the intrusion. Online friending always seems so strange to me but I think seeing other folks work on their words will certainly help me with my struggles. I've got up a lone picture as well. Glad to read your words and your return to them.

The Moon Topples said...

Taffiny: You caught me. I uploaded the image on Wednesday, and forgot to alter the original time on the post until you pointed it out to me. Thanks. And I suspect that I am indeed a non-outliner. I have writhed for a couple of days now without creating one. I have a sense of where it'll go in my head, but not all of the signposts in place, and no idea what the road in between the posts might look like. Still, last year, I did not even have signposts, so it's an improvement. As for the NaNo buddy thing, quality of writing is completely beside the point. We don't read each others' work or anything (unless we agree to do so separately), just watch the progress of the status bars and maybe send positive messages from time to time.

c.s.: No, thank you. It's very nice to hear that.

AbVan: I hate that sort of pressure as well, but I do tend to be good about meeting it, so that's why I sign up for these things. For the agony and the accomplishment, I suppose.

Lane: It certainly can involve Real Live People, although at the moment, it primarily (for me) involves internet chats and play rehearsals, with a few phone calls thrown in to mix things up.

Sameera: I second your statement on words. Not to measure arts against one another, but words have always been the thing for me. The words involved color any other artistic thing I have ever done, except for the photography.

Struggles: Thanks for disengaging your cloaking device to wish me luck. I wish you the same, although since you seem to be much better at outlining (and drawing maps) than I, I suspect you shall not need much of it. I'll be watching your word count to see how I stack up.

Matthew: It is no intrusion at all. That was why I put in the link to my NaNo profile, in hopes that some of the lovely Blogreaders might be participating and available to help spur me on, and hoping also that i might help spur them on.

The Moon Topples said...

c.s.: Sorry, I meant it to read "No, thank you," but I neglected the italics and appeared to be declining something rather than saying thanks for the kind words.

Memarie Lane said...

I've decided against doing NaNoWriMo this year, but am going to observe the efforts of others. I too have outlining issues. I see the benefits, but when I have followed that route I get bored of the story.