Tag Archives: novels

NaNoWriMo: Day twenty-six

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With five days left before the end of NaNoWriMo, I thought I’d fill you all in and how it’s all going considering I haven’t said anything on this here blog since day twelve. I am indeed still in the race and still writing. There have been times when I looked to lose it but I’ve held on and may just make it.

With five days to go, I’m sitting at an impressive 42,192 words which leaves me with 7,808 words to go which equals around 1,561 words a day. It is indeed achievable if I keep up the pace.

I have learnt this year that writing isn’t happening at work. I have sometimes gotten a few paragraphs here and there totally no more than 500 words in any one day, but I find it very hard to get lost in the zone.

I write much better in situations where I can just focus and type non-stop and just write what comes to my head immediately without second guessing myself. So most of my writing has been done after work on in large sessions even though on some other days, I haven’t done much at all.

So my 2010 NaNoWriMo campaign has felt very unstable, up and down and all over the place. This goes with the plot as well. At the moment, I’ve run out of outline but have managed to drive my characters to some sort of a finish and it’s in sight even if it will take place after I get past the 50,000 word mark.

There’s a bit of momentum now if only I can find enough uninterrupted time to write. We’ll have to see how it all goes in the next few days.

You can help cheer me on to the finish line by donating to my Equal Writes campaign, where I’m raising money for Equal Love, the campaign group fighting for same-sex marriage rights in Melbourne. You can donate at my GoFundMe page or email me at benjamin@benjaminsolah.com to arrange another method.

NaNoWriMo: Day eight

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It’s day eight of my novel writing campaign and I’m sitting at a pretty comfortable 15,515 words and ought to be at 13,336 words by the end of today. That puts me at 2,179 words ahead of the game, which is a day and a bit. But it could get tighter in the coming days.

I got in 2,600 words on the weekend despite attending two demonstrations, one to replace the coal power station in Hazelwood and another against mandatory detention of refugees. I definitely wasn’t going to miss those in order to keep writing.

Writing at work remains difficult, especially to write for a period uninterrupted, ‘in the zone’ and without fear of being watched and with a few commitments and stuff after work this week, it’s going to be a tight squeeze to keep ahead.

I’m hoping I can sneak in a few hundred words here and there to keep moving along.

If you want to give me a little extra motivation this year whilst supporting a great cause, I’m using my NaNoWriMo 2010 campaign to raise money for Equal Love, the campaign group fighting for same-sex marriage rights in Melbourne. You can email me to pledge a donation or donate on my GoFundMe page.

NaNoWriMo: Day two

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Nearing the end of day two of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), I’ve well and truly filled my head and my muse with a good November buzz and am feeling much better about my project thanks to the Cup Day write-in charge to get out ahead.

Prior to the month starting there was some hesitation as to how I’d go this year. It didn’t quite feel like last year. There were a few factors making me think that it might be tougher. I wasn’t as keen on my idea. Some of the scene ideas seemed patchy and I wasn’t sure whether it would have any stamina.

Also, time wise, this year looked and still does look tighter. I mean, I still not as busy at work but the environment isn’t as conducive to writing. I’ll have to see how that goes but some days the chance to write after work isn’t really an option either. I’m much busier outside of work this year mainly with political activism (which I’m making a point of not neglecting) as well as some poetry events.

I may well write poems in my novel to read and then bring my laptop at the events to write whilst listening, provided the vibe is right for that kind of thing.

Day one was tougher than most years. Turning off the inner-editor didn’t seem to happen as automatically and it wasn’t until today that that really happened. I did finish at over 2,000 words though.

The plan was to get out ahead as quickly as possible and with the month starting on a weekday, the first chance to really stick into the novel was today thanks to the Melbourne Cup public holiday.

Last year’s write-ins were a real boon for me, getting in thousands upon thousands of words. So this year I aimed for 5,000 in one day, a daily personal best. The inner-editor gave up and left sometime between this morning and tonight, packing his overcritical bags and going on holiday, hopefully for the whole month.

The write-ins are a real treat and really make writing so much more motivating and productive whilst being far less isolating. I wish they went on all year round, it would be good to use them to get those short stories out for my collection.

I’m hoping this sets me up for the month to come and will keep updating you all when I take a break between the flurry of flying keys. I’ll be sure to try and check up on others because it’s so motivating to be doing this alongside others.

If you want to give me a little extra motivation this year whilst supporting a great cause, I’m using my NaNoWriMo 2010 campaign to raise money for Equal Love, the campaign group fighting for same-sex marriage rights in Melbourne. You can email me to pledge a donation or donate on my GoFundMe page.

NaNoWriMo 2010: Planning

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My Mac has returned to my office again for another year of novelling and I’ve finally begun to get my ideas down in a kind synopsis/spiel of everything I know so far about the story. I’m sure I’m still forgetting bits though.

I’m using the new preview version of Scrivener 2.0 that was released the other day so NaNoers can get used to it before we start on November 1, next Monday. So far, I can say it’s awesome, shiny and easy to use.

I used the WordPress app for iPhone to write this post and the Hipstamatic app to take the photo. I’ll be posting more photos to my Twitter during next month.

NaNoWriMo 2010 and lack of motivation

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With two major projects out of the way, I’ve been trying to focus on my novella (unsuccessfully) in order to get that out of the way for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) next month. Which has led me to realise that I’m in a very different state of mind this year compared to the last.

I think I’ve done more this year. I’ve just had my short story, ‘Somewhere to Pray’ in Chinese Whispering’s The Yang Book come out on Sunday and my first zine, all edited by me, The Red Pen was launched last Monday with my piece, ‘The Same Place.’ Add to that my work toward my collection Sanity Juxtaposed and my constant work on writing this year, it’s not like I’ve had this drought before NaNoWriMo that has meant I will be itching to come to the page in November.

This is me officially (but tentatively) throwing my hat in the ring for NaNoWriMo this year. It’s not a good sign to be doing this whilst identifying a recurrence in lack of motivation and inspiration but perhaps I can turn it all around in the next three weeks or whatever.

I’ve chosen a kind of ‘fun’ idea for this year based on how fun it has been to write the weird and out there pieces during #FridayFlash. I hope the kind of black comedy genre that I’m stepping into will lead me to take the writing less seriously and just write. I did this in the beginning last year whilst writing Barbarism which gave me some momentum for the rest of the month.

This month whilst trying to muster some motivation to work on the novella, I need to start fuelling myself for November. That means reading books and watching movies, hopefully around the same aesthetic or around the whole Robin Hood tale. It also means immersing myself in the weird and writing more of that kind of stuff with #FridayFlash.

There’s also an issue of time and writing space but perhaps that’s for another post. But those first few thousand words where you begin or restart working diligently on a long term project is often the hardest. I need to give myself a push and just start writing.

Writing: What Projects Am I Working On?

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FoldersI’ve been sick the past couple of days, wasting time at home, and when I’m at home I tend to do less blogging, which is weird. Anyway, yesterday, in my boredom I managed to get moving on my novella again, All Fascists are Zombies!

I was partly inspired by Jeff Sparrow’s blog post comparing writing to work. Beginning to write again after a break hurts, especially those first few paragraphs, but I think I’ve pushed through it now.

So, thought it might be useful for myself (and maybe you too) if I updated everyone on the status of my projects.

Barbarism – The 2009 NaNoWriMo novel

I haven’t touched this since the first few days of December. It’s worrying that I’ve forgotten it. Coming back to it will become harder and harder the more I leave it. But I need to push myself to get some words down for it.

Sanity Juxtaposed – The Collection of Unpublished work from 2004 to 2009

A few weeks ago perhaps, I found someone to do my cover art for this minor project and after seeing the WIP of that last week, I feel like I need to give it more attention and upgrade it to a major project. I’m keeping details of this under-wraps because it’s just too exciting ;)

I’m thinking of SJ like a band’s demo tape or EP and plan to sell it that way. The pieces being in chronological order will hopefully give the reader some impression of my progress as a writer over the years and a taste of my style. Hopefully the first few pieces aren’t sabotaging people’s willingness to give me a go though.

I have all the pieces from 2004 to 2008 but need to gather the 2009 pieces, mostly flash fiction but there’s a decision to be made about what’s going in this, and what good political stuff to keep for my other project, Capital Comes Dripping.

Capital Comes Dripping – The Collection of Marxist Horror

I think this is the project with the most attention at the moment, leaving me able to work on simultaneous parts of it, be it my novella or various short stories.

I’ve also thinking about adding some pages to this blog’s sidebar about ‘Marxist horror’ and what I mean by it in order to conceptualise what I want out of it.

  • All Fascists are Zombies! – the novella – Like I said before, I’ve begun working on AFAZ again and am in the middle of writing a second draft, this time with a nice outline using Scrivener. I’ve become a real fan of rewrites, honing the plot and characters with each draft.
  • My Boss Sucks – short story – I’ve been through so many edits of this. I think it’s time for another rewrite in light of learning more about the main character. I’m struggling to find a market for this piece though that might publish it before it’s added to the collection.
  • The Homophobe – a poem – I’ve submitted this out again after making some changes that really improved the flow. I’ve gotten some promising feedback and the results mean I’ll probably work on some more poetry for the collection too.
  • Evicted – flash fiction piece – I think this needs to be edited and submitted soon in order to get a feeling of what I need to do with it even if it gets rejected.
  • Other short stories – I’ve got a few other shorts and flash pieces in various stages, needing edits, complete rewrites or redrafts. The main ones being one about homophobia and another set in an abattoir, which both are niggling in my head every so often.

I think Capital Comes Dripping is going to be an ongoing project overtime and I plan to submit the various pieces as they’re written in order to give them some miles so to speak. And this will certainly be the main project throughout 2010.

I’ve got a lot on and I think it’s going to be very easy to forget about things so might make these ‘project updates’ semi-regular.

How do you juggle and organise your writing projects? Do you find this kind of update interesting or useful?

Equal Writes Raises $400 for Equal Love and NaNoWriMo

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Some of you may remember my idea to have people sponsor me during National Novel Writing Month last November. Well, it took me a lot longer than I’d hoped but I finally collected most of the donations that were pledged to me.

I sent $200 to The Office of Letters and Light, organisers of NaNoWriMo and $200 to Equal Love, the Melbourne group campaigning for same-sex marriage rights.

Thanks everyone who donated and cheered me on last November. I may do this again this year, and might use the Facebook group, Equal Writes, to rally writers for same-sex marriage in the future.

Best of 2009: Benjamin, the Writer

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I think 2009 has been a big year for me in terms of my progress as a writer, in terms of putting myself out there and becoming known, as well as improving in the actual writing process.

I’ve summarised some areas of progress or highlights for the year.

Festivals, events and the real world writing community

I’ve discovered this year a friendly literary scene in Melbourne around events and festivals. Previously, the contact I had with other writers was mostly online but after attending the Emerging Writers’ Festival, my second Melbourne Writers Festival and some launches, I’ve met some cool people a few times and this has given me a boost.

Novella, All Fascists are Zombies!

Whilst not writing a whole lot at the start of the year, this novella length zombie story with themes of racism and fascism was probably my main project. Whilst longer than a short story, it was shorter than a novel and allowed me to work on something that seemed achievable.

At that point, finishing the first draft was finishing the longest complete draft ever not counting unfinished novels. I’m still working on a new draft.

Blogging and Twitter

Whilst I will publish a post wrapping up 2009 in blogging, I thought I’d mention a bit about it in relation to writing. Alongside meeting some Melbourne writers in the real world, I connected with them via our blogs and on Twitter.

Some of my posts relating to writing and the publishing industry were shared and read amongst writers and publisher types in the city. I’m pretty chuffed with that.

Writer’s group, zine and launch

My first writers group, zine, launch and reading all in one.

The writer’s group was a really valuable experience this year, pushing me to refine my best piece to date, mixing with more writers in real life and gaining some valuable feedback.

The zine experience was totally new and now I’m really curious to explore it further. Producing a zine and launching it was exciting and giving a reading really made me feel like a bona fide writer.

Capital Comes Dripping and short fiction

Aside from work on the novella, short fiction was a major focus this year, working toward completing some pieces that were much more achievable than a novel.

Editing, drafting, submitting and switching between multiple pieces can make it hard to maintain an overall focus. So, around August, when the writer’s group got together, I decided to make a project out of it all and work on the shorts together in a collection, Capital Comes Dripping, a collection of Marxist horror, with the title coming from the famous Marx quote, “Capital comes dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt.”

My focus and motivation improved as a result, before being derailed by NaNoWriMo.

The Reader

I don’t know why, but being interviewed by Lisa Dempster for an article in The Reader and going to the launch is one of the highlights of my year. Perhaps it’s a weird ego thing where I get a rush out of getting my name somewhere.

I guess this goes under events and real life community stuff, but it stands out.

Barbarism and NaNoWriMo

I guess this should really be my number one highlight of the year in regards to writing, and perhaps in all areas. I fucking wrote 50,000 words in a month; half of a novel’s first draft and a massive boost to my confidence.

I showed myself that I can make the time to write if I push myself, that a story can be semi-coherent and it doesn’t matter because I can redraft.

Truths I learnt:

  1. Need to keep reading to keep inspired to write
  2. Redrafting and rewriting is a lot of fun and use it heaps.
  3. There’s a world of real live writers in Melbourne

December Writing Goals: Finish the Damn Thing!

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November was all about National Novel Writing Month, with my novel becoming the centre of my attention – and it still is, or should be. I need to maintain the momentum in December and finish the freaking thing.

November Results

  1. Finish NaNoWriMo

    2. This was the main goal, the centre of my attention, and everything following kind of flowed from that and was subordinate to this goal. So it’s a bloody good thing that I finished it, finished 50,000 words and have a huge chunk of novel, my longest work, to keep working on.

  2. Write every day

    3. In order to maintain momentum, I didn’t want to miss a day of writing and write every day. I managed to do this up until I finished on the 21st and in the last week missed two days of writing. So 28 out of 30 days is pretty damn close.

  3. Write in a new setting

    4. I knocked off this goal in the first week, writing in both a pub and a café. I find writing in these new settings good for motivation because you go to these places with the intention of writing. I should definitely do this again.

  4. Finish The Slap (Cultural Goal)

    5. I really fell behind in reading during November, but in week 3 did do a large chunk, which revived some momentum toward my novel. I’m nowhere near finishing however.

  5. Research something! (Political Research Goal)

    6. Aside from watching a few videos on YouTube about rioting and police brutality, and reading an article on Wikipedia about wheat silos, I didn’t get any major research done.

  6. Write at least three posts a week (Blogging Goal)

    7. Blogging fell way off during November and all of the things said about posting frequency affecting traffic were confirmed true with a pretty major drop in traffic this month. This could also be from not reading other blogs, and not getting the return traffic from that. I did manage to post 2 or 3 times a week, though, not including my 365 Photo Challenge posts.

nullSo for all the goals that I didn’t quite make, November was overwhelmingly my most productive month ever in the history of me as a writer. Hopefully this will mean a great leap forward in consistent writing progress.

I’ll probably write a National Novel Writing Month wrap-up post at some point.

December Goals

December is kind of a silly month where things get busy and time for solitary activities dwindles, but I don’t want to stop doing anything entirely, mainly because I have this unfinished novel glaring at me.

  1. Add at least 10,000 words toward Barbarism – I’d like to add more but I don’t want to heap too much pressure on myself and lead myself to burn out. 10,000 words means at least 500 words a day, 4 days a week and some extra.
  2. Edit and Submit Evicted – This story needs editing and to be sent out in the big wide world.
  3. Write 2,000 words toward a new story – Working on one project all month can be a bit stale so hopefully, inspired by my Political Research Goal, I can get down something fresh to keep keen.
  4. Finish The Slap (Cultural Goal) – End of the year. I need a decent amount of finished books and this one is a bit dense so need to get through it before I never do.
  5. Finish Sexuality and Socialism (Political Research Goal) – Been sucked into Sherry Wolf’s book on LGBT politics and its relation to Marxism. I want to finish it to influence the sexuality elements in Barbarism as well as a short story that has homophobia as a central theme. It’s also pretty short anyway.
  6. Write some ‘Best of 2009′ or end of year type posts (Blogging Goal) – I want to wrap up the year with some posts that sum up 2009 and some of the best moments of it, hopefully tapping into the mood of the season. These posts should be sparser and lighter given people might be busy.

I’m trying to maintain a balance of adapting to the time of year, as well as not giving myself an excuse to slack off and not do anything.

How do you approach the end of year? Do you use the holidays to do more or do you give yourself a break?

NaNoWriMo: Day 30

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Word Count: 53,314

Today is the last day of NaNoWriMo and I’m (unfortunately) far more relaxed than other writers seem to be, having finished the challenge 9 days ago. I think I envy the communal rush to the finish line and am missing my surprising motivation to write thousands of words each day.

The fear I had, that motivation would drop once I passed the 50,000 word mark, has become a reality. I have only written just over 3,000 words since last Saturday and am finding it hard to make time to write.

I’d like to put it down to external factors, like worries in other parts of my life, but I know if I hadn’t hit the target, I would’ve been able to ignore these things.

I really need to push myself to finish the story. The whole thing. I want to finish a novel so badly and this is my best chance yet.

Scott Westerfeld’s blog post was really inspiring this morning and reiterated this need to finish things. I have a lot of unfinished projects at the moment and can’t just go back to another project now that the month is drawing to a close.

Has anyone finished the 50,000 words but still writing? How do you motivate yourself to finish the whole story?