45,000 words and counting

I don't want to predict an early win before the polls close, but I am at 45000 words for my nanowrimo novel, The Pleasure Palace, and anticipate finishing by the deadline Nov. 30th, although I want to finish by Sunday BECAUSE I have been told the server for nanowrimo gets overloaded by folks needing to verify their word count.

It wasn't terribly difficult and I had a lot of support along the way. The nano crowd is fun to be around, too!

Back to writing...

The Progress of Nano

Cafe Pergolesi is an awesome place to write, even though it seems to cater to a younger crowd than I'm used to, unless I am teaching them. I'm at 22,000 words with The Pleasure Palace and, as I said in my last post, am weaving so many wonderful threads into this novel. It is going to need a huge amount of editing and rewriting after Nano is done--I'll probably end up handwriting the whole thing over, then rework it on the computer, but still, this has been truly a huge amount of fun. There's a joyful aspect of creativity that I think sometimes gets lost in the struggle to be published and get one's work out in the world, and that's a tremendously good thing to discover. I've decided that all my characters, though contemporary, are like Victorians on subtle levels (this because I am reading The French Lieutenant's Woman before bed every night and am thinking a lot about that sensibility).

Time to upload words and get to bed on this moonless night. Anticipating that next year's nano will be a horror novel, and not about killer zombie pirates, either. But that's for 2010.

G'nite.

Nano going great!

I'm doing quite well with my nanowrimo page counts in my novel, the working title of which is The Pleasure Palace, and am up to 14,000 words as of yesterday's write-in at Cafe Pergolesi. It takes me a little while to get the page count every day, as I am actually drafting my second book. Parody (in the middle of a love story) can be quite fun and I am amazed at the many threads I can weave into this. It's far lighter than The Strega's Story, though it touches greatly on issues of gender and sexuality, themes I haven't yet tackled as much in my prose.

It's fun to just simply write, and the camraderie of writing with others is also fun on the few occasions I have been able to get over to write-ins. There's a book within a book--the male protaganist, Martin, is a local writer who publishes his zombie and werewolf and vampire stories though a local small press and has a devoted cult following--really, like a zombie cult, just kidding--in his town and immediate environs, shamelessly based on Santa Cruz. In the time frame of the novel, Martin is writing yet another horror potboiler (which we get to read as he works on it). Martin's love interest teaches English and creative writing at the local university and of course, thinks people who write stories about zombies and werewolves and vampires are hacks (which I don't, but she does).

I'm having about as much fun writing Martin's book-within-a-book (which he calls Attack of the Killer Zombie Pirates) as writing the rest of this shamelessly chick lit book (really, the genre is actually--and a bit sexist-ly so--called "hen lit," as the people are in my age group). Heck, why not? And it's fun! It's probably the most fun I've had writing since fifth grade, when I wrote stories AND illustrated them with crayons.

But for now, it's grading time.
Happy writing to all the nano people out there! It's proving to be quite a fun experience!

Halloween, and Nano Begins Tonight

I'm going to be at my troupe leader's birthday bash tonight, and for a bit at my friend Mysteria's house. It's been a low-key Halloween for me; I haven't put up my usual array of decorations this year, but am enjoying all the ones my neighbors and friends have put up this year.

At midnight, it will be the first night of Nanowrimo, y'all! Yes, I am ready for it...the writing amounts to just about six pages a day for me, which honestly is a manageable amount for me. And at the end, I've got--a fluffy-themed novel which will be fun to write and will break the ice of writer's block for me. And there's nothing wrong with sitting in cafes with other people who are focused on the same sort of fun. I mean, having fun writing--what a concept! :)

Time to start working on my costume!
Happy Halloween!

Pure Fantasy and Fluff

Yes, I am doing nanowrimo. Every morning I want to drop out. Every evening I want to start.

The book I am writing is about a woman who finds herself in the process of losing weight healthily in her 40s/early 50s (after years of battling anorexia--an ongoing battle for me, as when I gain a pound, I go into immediate thoughts of three-hour exercise sessions and starvation, even though I don't give in to them anymore). She's trying to find different ways to exercise, and happens upon a bellydance class. Nothing at all like real life for me. Yes, there's a love interest, as so happens. Girl meets boy. Boy meets girl. Girl meets bellydance. Heck, maybe even the guy will take bellydance lessons. The bellydancer is a bit straight-laced and teaches English at a local state university (no, not all ALL based on my real life, even though she will famously struggle with the PowerPoint projector, just like me), but has a best-friend-since-elementary school who works as a salesclerk at a rather interesting store (based on Camouflage in Santa Cruz).

Yes, it's all silly pink marshmallow fluff, but I need something to just write. My creative life has felt so impaired since my sister and mother passed away that I feel a writing marathon in November will help to at least work again.

Notes from the Slow Blogger

Seems everything has slowed down for me since school began. There seems a lot of sadness and subdued-ness among my students--very different from last year. What is it? Just my perception, or something real?

My furlough-docked paycheck came today--the reality of the budget cuts really hits home. And yet, here I am, teaching--the profession I have never stopped loving.

Next month, I plan to do nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month). It's going to be fiction based upon my life as a bellydancer. It's so chick lit that I really ought to just write it on lime green and bright pink paper right now--but there's something to be said for writing just for the sheer fun of it.

A Long Vacation!

Dear faithful readers, I apologize for having been gone so long. It's amazing how summer can creep up on someone, but now summer is over and I am back to work, amidst furloughs and budget cuts as a State of California employee. BUT--what a wonderful, fun, amazing Introduction to Creative Writing class I have right now.

I've a class full of bright, responsive, sharp students--some of whom are English majors! I think English majors are brave souls in this day and age.

Mostly I've been querying with the book, outlining Book #2 (which I am going to at least start during nanowrimo). For those of you not yet in the know, nanowrimo is National Novel Writing Month, and more information about it can be found by clicking the title of this entry. My next book is going to be fiction (easier for me right now), but based on my life as a bellydancer. Yeah, probably chick lit, but I have been in a bit of a writing block and thought I would have some fun.

And there really isn't other news, except that I will be posting on a more regular basis. Even without posting, I know many of you kept coming back here, and for that I am most grateful. I am fine, I had no problems with the wildfires here in Santa Cruz (though recently, one came really too close for comfort), and of course I am still writing and teaching. There's no better life for me, in my personal and humble opinion!

Frank McCourt

Frank McCourt, the author of Angela's Ashes, 'Tis, and Teacher Man, has been reported by his brother to be near death in a New York hospice.

McCourt has always been one of the most inspiring authors and speakers to me. I met him in a very curious fashion one day on the Santa Cruz Pacific Garden Mall, of all places, completely by accident. He was walking out of Palace Arts as I was walking in (we did a simultaneous walk in/walk out), and I apologized for bumping into him! He was quite sweet and gracious. Then I trailed him a little as he walked down the Mall (he was with a friend); people recognized him and he talked to everyone who talked to him, very graciously.

Here's a great video of him talking about writing and stories (there's a tab on the video to watch the full talk if you wish):

Been Away a Bit

I have been away from blogging for a bit, due to simply being a bit lazy. But that's summer for you. Still, I am looking ahead towards work, towards a creative writing course to teach that is full and waitlisted. And really, I've just been enjoying my summer and getting used to a somewhat empty nest. And all that is as it should be.

Scars

I am well recovered from my surgery in June, though it took surprisingly longer than I thought to clear even the moderate anesthesia from my system. Now I have a very ugly scar on my previously rather nice shoulder. I have plans for a small tattoo over it, but am not sure what. I feel it will take getting used to. I keep thinking of how many people bear scars, psychic and physical, and how they become part of our landscape. God knows, I have got both, and I think the grace comes in learning how to bear everything with equanimity. I'm not perfect--when I took off the bandage on my shoulder, I was really sad. I can feel the scar tissue when I dance and need to find ways to keep the skin supple there. But I am glad my tumor is gone--my arm has never felt so wonderful, free of pain and numbness--and that I am okay. I still have work to do in this life, and am grateful I am here.