I've already worked my way through 3 worlds…

Well – I've managed to get started on three of the stories in my collection. Finishing them is another story.

You see, the key to a successful NaNo experience is keeping your head down, getting the words out and not looking back. Which can be a challenge for the word obsessive.

I never thought I was a perfectionist. But when it comes to writing, it turns out – I am. So, even though things are already getting a little wordy, and I'm still not sure how these stories are going to end, let alone the other ones that I haven't even started yet, all I can do is embrace the madness that is NaNo and keep moving forward.

Baby steps, people. Baby steps.

Words Written - Today: 1,862 | November: 20,047 | 2009: 37,126

It wouldn't be NaNo if I weren't scrambling to finish my outline.

Yup, only 4 days and I'm still not finished. Chalk it up to real life distractions, wavering on my project choice, and a little procrastination.

But I'll be okay. Considering the first time I did NaNo, I had only completed half of my outline and I still managed to "win", I know I'll pull it out somehow. Being somewhat behind trumps the excitement I feel for Sunday. It's like New Year's Day for book geeks, so full of promise. It really does take a completely different mindset than your average writing. Let's hope I can get out of my own way and just let the words flow.

Being fueled by Halloween candy will surely help…

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year? Add me as a friend! And Toronto NaNo'ers on Twitter – tweet you later!

Either way, I did manage to quell my self-doubt about the project. I'm digging my heels in and am currently laying out the plot of each piece. Right now, I'm getting into the motivations of the characters. Sure, sometimes things just happen because the antagonist is nuts – but there has to be a reason for his nuttiness, and that's what I'm trying to weave into the story.

So even though I feel that I'm behind where I should be, I know that by the time I'm finished with all the planning, I'll have a little packet of info for each story and when it comes time to write, I can sit down at my desk every morning, open up my formatted outline and just get down to business.

In other news, Only Our Dust was rejected again. I honestly figured it would be (I submitted it to one of Duotrope's 25 Most Challenging Fiction Markets), so I wasn't too upset about it. Now the task is to find a new market to sub it to. Problem is – most are closed to subs right now.

Still haven't managed to fit #fridayflash into my weekly schedule, either. I do have a cool idea for it – I just need to squeeze it in there somewhere. Since I'm not doing any writing right now, I'm starting to feel that itch, which is both a good & bad thing – with the bad being that creeping grumpiness that comes when I'm not writing…my fellow writers know what I mean.

So…the good news. Even though I'm a bit behind where I should be in terms of outlining, I'll be able to tweak the FD30D method to suit both my own style & my needs; i.e. some of the tasks can be condensed or sidetracked altogether, since I'm doing shorts and not a novel this time around.          

With that being said, I've got 5 or 6 solid ideas. Of course, it's those shaky ones that I seem to be focusing on. Typical pessimist's downfall, I tell you. And here, I thought I was an optimist.

WIP Updates:

WIP #1: NaNo – outlining continues. Hoping to nail down my final ideas by the end of the week, while still working on the actual piecing together of my master plan for each story
    
WIP #2: Only Our Dust has been sent back out to Submission Land. I'll keep you posted…

If you’re a writer participating in WIP Wednesday, post a link to your blog in the comments!

Fellow WIP Wednesday participants:

• Mercedes Yardley – WIP Wednesday: Big Man Ben
• Cate Gardner – WIP Wednesday: Rejecting Headless ABBA Dragons 
• Jennifer Tatroe – WIP Wednesday: Novel Barbie
• Aaron Polson – WIP Wednesday: Scraps
• Jamie Eyberg – One Down

"I wanna say all those things that would be better unsaid…"

- Trent Reznor

So, while it may not be cool or even smart to admit this – I'm scared!

Maybe the reason I've been dragging my heels on my NaNo project is that I'm afraid that writing so many shorts all at once will deplete my short story reserve and come November, I'll be all out of ideas.

Does anyone else have that fear? Wondering if the ideas will just stop coming one day? It's nice to have a notebook with scraps of ideas that one can "fall back on". For the longest time, my ideas have been lining up, patiently (for the most part) waiting for me to finish whichever WIP I happen to be devoting my time to for their chance to shine. But I guess I'm a little scared that this NaNo project could be the end.

Kind of like the Millennium…I won't know until December 1st whether there will be any fallout or not.

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Welcome to Week 2 of my series spotlighting independent publishers, presses, magazines and writers. While the name 'small press' suggests something tiny, mini or even wee, it won't take you long to see that there is an abundance of talent just waiting to be discovered. That's where I come in. I'm here to help. Let me help you discover something (or someone) new, or remind you of an old favourite…

Blood Routes – If you don't feel you've got the time to devote to an honest to goodness paperback, you can still get a healthy serving of the dark & twisted. The online serial Blood Routes is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the talents of Barry Napier. With a slew of recent publishing credits in the works, and his new comic Birdwatching from Mars also in the pipelines, Mr. Napier is going places – fast! Check out Barry's blog for updates & a sneak peak of some of the book art.

Bucket 'O' Guts – New on the scene, B'O'G recently put out a wonderful little chapbook, The Sour Aftertaste of Olive Lemon by Miss Cate Gardner. Don't let the dancing apples fool you – Cate knows how to wield her weird little pen with exquisite artistry. And she does so with dazzling results. See Cate blog at The Poisoned Apple. Don't forget to check out the Featured Gizzard at Bucket 'O' Guts for free monthly-ish fiction.

Got an independent press, emerging writer or indie publication you love? Share it in the comments!

I'm still on the fence about it. Partially, mind you. Like…one butt-cheek's worth. No. Less than that. A toe. Yeah…one toe, my baby toe. I've got my baby toe on the fence about my IWIP. The rest of me is more or less on the verge of diving right in.

It's the sheer volume of work I've set myself up for that's got me freaked out. And it isn't really about the writing part of it, either. I know I can write 10 stories in a month. It's mad, but I can do it. It's the outlining. 20+ characters, 10 settings, 10 plots – oh my!

Maybe I should have started earlier. Maybe my doubts are founded and I'm setting myself up to fall flat on my face. Maybe this, maybe that, maybe the other.

You know what? I'm sick of waffling. I'm giving myself until the end of the weekend. If I don't have the most basic of plots and characters for each story by Sunday evening, I'm shelving the entire project and going to one of my novel ideas. Did I mention I only have maybe 2 novel ideas? Is it just me or does it seem like I'm making it more difficult than I have to?

Oh, well. It doesn't matter to me what roundabout way I come to a decision. As long as I do.

So, there you go. The madness direct from the mind of a writer.You've been warned.

WIP Updates:

WIP #1 – was rejected to the market I submitted it to. Giving it another look-over then sending it right back out

WIP #2 – see above. Still kind of up in the air. I hope the anticipation doesn't kill you…

Did I also mention I've added a handy-dandy section in the sidebar to keep track of my WAC tasks?

If you’re a writer participating in WIP Wednesday, post a link to your blog in the comments!

Fellow WIP Wednesday participants:

• Jennifer Tatroe – WIP Wednesday: Priorities
• Jamie Eyberg – Untitled WIP Wednesday
• Aaron Polson: WIP Wednesday: This is Me
• Mercedes Yardlet: WIP Wednesday: Magic Happens

But don’t let the moniker fool you. While the name ’small press’ suggests something tiny, mini or even wee, it won’t take you long to see that there is an abundance of talent just waiting to be discovered.

That’s where I come in. I’m here to help. Let me help you discover something (or someone) new, or remind you of an old favourite.

This week, I start with a few crafty Canucks…

Northern Frights – Set to release the Shadows of Emerald City Anthology on October 15, I have to say I’m particularly interested to see where JW Schnarr’s Northern Frights Publishing goes. I’m always ready to support fellow horror & speculative fiction writers, publications and presses. The fact that Northern Frights is also Canadian makes spreading the word that much more sweet!

Burning Effigy Press – Another of the Canadian Contingent, Burning Effigy Press is dedicated to bringing fringe fiction & poetry out from the shadows. They are set to launch two new titles at The Word On The Street Festival in Toronto this coming Sunday, including TEMPORARY MONSTERS by Ian Rogers and OPERATION DICKHEAD by Mike Bryant. If you’re a lover of cyberpunk, fantasy, horror and other forms of dark fiction, poetry & prose, head on down to TWOS or check out Burning Effigy’s website for an entire roster of dark delicacies.

Got an independent press, emerging writer or indie publication you love? Share it in the comments!

When we last saw our heroine, she was whipping a wayward plot into shape while realizing the importance of having a few good writerly friends to steer her in the right direction. In this week’s episode of WIP Wednesday, watch as the writer celebrates her progress…but will her jubilation be short-lived?

WIP #1:
Only Our Blood is finished! After taking my buddy Ben’s advice, I tackled the lazy opening scene by looking for the place where the trouble really starts. After tweaking things a bit, and fixing up the passive writing throughout, I am confident it is a much better, more horrifying read. I’m giving this one a few days to rest on the shelf before reading it once more and submitting it.

WIP#2: NaNoWriMo (brace yourselves…this is going to be a long one)

I let the cat out of the bag already on Twitter. My NaNo 09 Project is going to be a collection of short stories.

After going through my Idea File and realizing my list of proposed shorts was more intriguing than my novel ideas, I figured the best way to succeed was to do what piqued my interest (because nothing says #NanoFail more than a story that does not excite you).

So, great! Topic picked! All systems are a go. At least that’s what I thought.

Now that I’m getting into the actual outlining of the project, I realize that, with NaNo already being a crazy ride on its own, trying to come up with say 10 plots (on the presumption that each story will be around 5000 words) and a possible character roster numbering anywhere from 20 to 30+ – maybe those novel ideas aren’t looking quite so bad.

So the question I need to ask myself is this: when faced with what seem an insurmountable task (of my own doing), do I turn and run? Or put on my shit-kickers and kick some shit?

Let’s look at the task, shall we?

Assuming, as I said above, that each story is around 5000 words. Here’s what I need to accomplish:

NaNoWriMo = 50,000 in 30 days
= 1,666 words/day

Or in my case:
= 50,000 words/30 days
= 3 days/story

I’ve proven to myself that I can absolutely do 5000 words in a single day. I did it multiple times in both years of NaNo that I’ve participated.

So, I’m starting to think that is isn’t the actual writing of so many stories that is leaving me feeling less-than prepared; it’s the fact that I need to come up with so many different pieces (and thus settings, characters, plots, etc.). No wonder I feel like I’m setting myself up, not necessarily for failure, but for a tough road ahead, to say the least.

Regardless, I’m forging ahead. I’m stubborn. I’m not one to quit and certainly not one to shy away from a challenge. That doesn’t mean I won’t continue to whine about it. But secretly, doesn’t the challenge make anything that much more exciting (and rewarding)?

If you’re a NaNo’er, have you ever toyed with the idea of doing a collection as your WIP? Any tips?

If you’re a writer participating in WIP Wednesday, post a link to your blog in the comments!

Fellow WIP Wednesday participants:

• Cate Gardner – The Poisoned Apple
• Jennifer Tatroe – Another Place
• Aaron Polson – The Other Aaron

Plot, I can handle. But creating characters out of thin air? I’ve never had a character just come to me, so I often struggle when giving birth to characters in any given story, let alone when trying to make them fully believable, three-dimensional beings.

So, the fact that Day One of outlining using FD30D is “Character Sketch Day” didn’t exactly give me the running start that I would have liked.

I realize that part of the strategy is to continually brainstorm throughout the entire month of outlining, but I can’t help but feel a little lost when my character worksheets are virtually empty.

Granted, I managed to scribble down a few ideas so I don’t feel like today is completely wasted. I just have to keep reminding myself that it really is a work-in-progress, and that I’m allowed to make mistakes and let ideas brew. As long as I’m ready come November 1st, right?

How do you come up with your characters? Are they based on people you know? Do you have a series of questions or brainstorming techniques that help you create original characters every time?