NaNoWriAlmost

You may have noticed that my little NaNoWriMo word counter thingie hasn't updated in a few days.  Well, there's a reason for that!  I took a little NaNo break.  I don't feel I need to justify why I took this break to the internet, but I am anyway, simply because I feel like I need to say it "out loud" (vampire) to remember.

First and foremost, November has been my busiest month.  Ever.  Well, ever in 2012.  We went out of town every single weekend, to my in-laws and Charleston and a JMU football game and Thanksgiving in Brooklyn, where we had tons of plans that didn't really allow for me to have any writing time.  I tried to write as much as I could, and I actually had one good night in Charleston where the words flowed pretty well, but mostly, my brain was humming from all the busy times and I couldn't concentrate.

And this is part of my problem.  I tend to get bogged down in details sometimes, and I can't just put in a placeholder word until I know what needs to be there.  I'll fall down a rabbit hole of researching what kind of clothing a certain character would wear, which turns into researching that time period and hairstyles and small towns and bowling alleys and suddenly, I've wasted an hour without writing a single word.  By then, I've lost my train of thought, and it's like swimming through molasses to get back on track.

My other big issue is that I didn't do a ton of plotting on this, instead choosing the method of writing by the seat of my pants, or pantsing.  I've never pantsed before (that's a bizarre phrase...) but I thought I'd give it a shot.  Unfortunately, I think I've pantsed myself into a corner.  Mostly, I don't think I knew the characters well enough when I started, so it's turned into a bit of a cluster....  These characters deserve better than that, better than me shoehorning them into a situation and saying things they wouldn't ever say.  I became focused on the word count rather than the content, so I'm fairly certain I wrote a BUNCH of scenes just to have something to say instead of writing the story forward.  Also, I get trapped in my own head a lot, and that's where the doubt monsters live, and MAN those bastards will not SHUT UP.  When that happens, especially when all of this happens at once, I shut down completely, and I will lie on the sofa staring at episodes of 30 Rock while eating peanut butter by the spoonful and communicating in a series of grunts, moans, and wails.  It's terrifyingly attractive.

Oh, and I have books to read and reviews to write and a job that tends to demand a lot from me and tons of other personal things that I'm not getting into on the internet.

So I decided to take a step back, at least for a week (which started last Friday).  I'm still finishing this draft, absolutely.  I'd like to have it done by the end of the year, in which I will REVISE it to SHREDS.  To shreds, you say, indeed.  I still adore the story and my poor little MC in all his wall-building glory, but I want to do right by him.  I want to feel like he's earned it, when I definitely don't feel like that right now.

So... that's my story.  I know it's a bunch of excuses for what I said is No Excuses November, but I don't really care.  This is what I need to do for myself, my health, and my sanity.  That's the most valid excuse I've ever heard.

[Fantastic Five Fridays] Five Shows You Were Referred To By Other People

It's Friday, I got a job, I got other things I need to write BUT I was in the mood to blog and The Weekly Enthusiast has yet ANOTHER great topic and so here I am again.  Should I really be writing when I'm the creator of sentences like that one?  It's too late now because here I gooooooooo.

Since I am kind of crazy about TV, I usually choose my own shows and make recommendations to others.  That's why it's so fun when people recommend shows to me.  It's like they know me or something!  Here are my top 5 (except it's really 6) shows as recommended by people who get me.

1. Lost and The Office.  Referred by: The Hubs

Yes, I know that's two shows.  No, I don't care.  I decided to lump these two together because they were both recommended by the same person, and they both seem to be following the same course.  That is, they started out strong but haven't kept that same momentum as the years go by.  We've basically stopped watching The Office but I'm sure we'll put in the effort to see the finale.  It's just... not the same.  Though, of course, I do still love Jim and Pam.

As for Lost, well... the first season of that is one of the best ever.  I kept with it much longer than The Hubs did, though I tried to break up with it in the third season and then Jack was all WE HAVE TO GO BACK and so I said OKAY LET'S GO.  

stinking beardy jack and his jears.

2. True Blood. Referred by: my brother and sister-in-law

During the summer of 2009, I took up residence at my brother & sister-in-law's house while Hubs and I looked for a place to live.  This coincided with the second season of True Blood.  Bro & SIL thought it might be up my alley, so they invited me to come watch it them.  My first episode was Episode 2.02 "Keep This Party Going," which begins with a disembodied arm spurting blood and smacking a character in the face. A character who is chained to a pole in a dank, dirty basement somewhere.  I was like, humna?  Oh, it cracked me up.  True Blood is pretty nonsensical, but if you're read the books... well, you knew that was coming.

Cheers, hookas.

3. 30 Rock. Referred by: my OTHER sister-in-law.

Back when this first premiered, Hubs and I gave this a shot.  It just didn't work for us then.  So I ignored it, despite all the Tina Fey references.  So last Thanksgiving, OSIL is like, Jessica, honestly, you need this.  YOU NEED THIS.  And the rest, as they say, is something about night cheese.

4. Doctor Who. Referred by: my aunt, uncle, and cousins

Technically, they didn't refer it to me so much as they watched when I was in their house and I was like, ooh this looks kind of random, and then they kept on watching it every time I was there and then Christopher Eccelston was on Heroes and I sort of adored him and then it was on Netflix so I thought, what the hey?  I still have so many episodes to watch because Hubs decided to take this show over with a vengeance, but I still love it.

Why, hello there.

5. The West Wing. Referred by: pretty much everyone ever

Everyone needs to watch this show.  It's the best.  The cold opens are some of the most exquisite moments that television has ever given us as people.  Watch it.  CJ Cregg, I love you.

Hermione Effing Granger

This is the quote on my Harry Potter calendar today, and it just hit me in the good way.  Thought I'd share.

"I came here once with my Mum and Dad, years ago.  It's just how I remember it.  The trees.  The river.  Everything.  Like nothing's changed.  Not true, of course.  Everything's changed.  If I brought my parents back here now, they probably wouldn't recognize any of it.  Not the trees.  Not the river.  Not even me."

gif via weasleyfireworks.tumblr.com