Making a List, Checking It Twice

It's that time of the year again.

No, I'm not planning early for Christmas. I don't do my holiday shopping until sometime in December, and it's usually a whirlwind "must get everything for everyone NOW!" kind of affair. (Unfortunately, it looks like this year's shopping extravaganza may be at the 99 Center. Stupid ankle.)

No, it's NaNoWriMo time again, and like the fool that I am, I'm giving it another shot. (This is all Rosencratz's fault, by the way. She's been excited about this since September and talked me into participating again. Of course she excited; she finished her novel last year, while I sputtered out at a paltry 24,000 words or so for the second year running.)

I'm trying to keep my confidence high, though. The first year I got a little too attached to my plot, and when my character's life went down the tubes, I followed suit. Last year, I decided to make arrangements to move while I was hashing out plot details. This year, I have no intention of going crazy or moving. My ankle mishap has pretty much destroyed what little social life I had, so my distractions should be minimal.

So now, with less than two weeks to go, I'm making up a little "to do" list...

- Come up with a plot. Well, sort of. I'm fully embracing the "No plot? No problem!" motto this year. My plot this year is that I don't have a plot. I'm going to write from the point of view of a NaNoWriMo participant who has no idea what to write about, and tries out ideas until they crash and burn, then selects another one and starts again. (Why yes, I have seen Adaptation one too many times. Why do you ask?) Can I make it work as a cohesive story? Probably not. Can I get 50,000 words out of it? Probably so. Hey, no one ever said NaNo novels had to be good. I'm just more concerned this year with actually finishing something and breaking my losing streak, in hopes that it will motivate me to finish at least one of the other two previous attempts.

Rosencrantz likes my idea, as long as I don't write a chapter where I describe myself as "fat, balding, and pathetic" (a la Donald Kaufman in Adaptation). I'm considering adding it in just to be a smart ass.

- Oh, that reminds me. Watch Adaptation again. I haven't seen it in the last month or so, and there won't be any time to watch it come November.

- Make up a "plot jar." Since I'm going with the whole random plot idea, I've decided to write down any ideas I might have and stick then in a jar. Then when I'm stuck for ideas, I can just pick one from the jar and see how far I can get with it until the wheels fall off.

- Clear calendar of social obligations. Well, most social obligations. Roger Mexico thinks he will be visiting during the Thanksgiving holidays, and seeing as how it's been a year since I last saw him... well, we've got a lot of catching up to do and the book will just get back-burnered during that time. A girl's gotta have her priorities, right? (Of course, if all goes well, the book will be done by then, and I'll actually have something for him to read. I always feel guilty that he usually has a CD of songs he's recently finished for me whenever he visits, and all I have to show for my time are my ramblings on this page, which he could have read online at any given time.)

I'll also be seeing Hamell on Trial at the Southgate House on November 16th. It's a Sunday, and I figure I can get my word quota in before 8:00 pm. Besides, I haven't been to see a concert since going to see Ben Folds at Jammin' on Main back in May. (I haven't really been in the condition to go to any shows lately, which is why I skipped the eight bajillion concerts at Tall Stacks this past weekend.)

I don't really have any other social obligations, except for physical therapy and sweeps month on TV. And I can always tape CSI.

(Of course, I did just find out that David Sedaris is going to be at the Taft tonight. It's not November yet, right? I guess I'll see how exhausted I am from back to back doctor appointments, and then decide.)

- Buy more coffee. I get the feeling that Mr. Coffee will once again become my boyfriend for the month. Well, he and Captain Morgan will have to share me, I suppose. (Lesson learned from previous years: a small amount of alcohol does loosen up the brain, but red wine makes me sleepy when I write.)

- Prepare the writing soundtrack. Of course, since I'm not sure where my plot will lead me this year, I have no idea what type of music will be best. Fortunately, I now have the added option of the mass of streaming radio stations on iTunes (now available for Windows). At this point, I'm limiting myself and staying away from the Music Store. I get the feeling that would wind up being too much of a money and time suckage from my life for the moment. At the moment, I'm too busy exploring all of the Ambient radio stations and looking at the pretty pretty swirling lights on the visual feature. Hopefully that will come in handy to clear my mind when it gets too tied up in knots, but I also fear that I will find myself staring at the screen for hours on end. That wouldn't be good - I have no time for virtual acid trips.

Besides sampling radio stations, I'm also going to experiment with making a few mix CDs. I have a perfectly good CD burner in my laptop that I've never bothered to learn to use (it was an open box product, and I have no instruction manuals), but after browsing through the Help section of iTunes, it seems much easier to understand than the factory installed system. I'll give it a shot. I've got lots of blank CD-Rs, so I can afford to mess up a few while I test things out.

- Attend the Meet and Greet this weekend at Claddagh Irish Pub at Newport on the Levee. There's actually more than a handful of writers in Cincinnati this year, and we're making plans to meet up for socializing and moral support. Sounds like fun, plus the pub has really good fish and chips.

The idea of doing a CD exchange at the Meet and Greet this weekend has been kicked around, so that's providing extra motivation to learn how to use the burner. Although I'm not sure if anyone's going to want to listen to a mix CD of Myo's writing music. I don't want to scare these folks off before NaNoWriMo gets started!

- Schedule some days off in November. I still have a ton of vacation time to use up before the end of the year, and it would probably be for the best if I put it to good use rather than selecting random days in December to sit at home and watch Jerry Springer.

Huh. For someone who doesn't have a social life, I sure do have a lot of things to do.