Friday, November 2, 2007

NaNoWriMo Day 2 And Reading Decisions

Day 2 of NaNoWriMo has come and gone for me. I think I'm putting away my typing fingers for the afternoon after reaching 4,071 words today. I'm happy with what I've got done so far, so I'm taking the rest of the night off. 16 pages: a prologue, chapter 1, and chapter 2 complete...all rough drafts of course...VERY rough! I posted the first part of chapter 2 on my nano profile if anyone's interested, though keep in mind that serious revisions will have to be made!! But revision time is in December, right now we are supposed to just aim at getting 50,000 words typed by November 30th. For some reason the site took out all of the indentations from my paragraphs and the site is way too slow for me to be bothered with going back to fix it, so excuse that. I've put a link to my NaNo profile in my sidebar, so you can follow my progress there if you so desire :)

So on to reading decisions. I've got my reading all mapped out for the month of November and probably the beginning of December. I'll be finishing up the Classics challenge, 2nds challenge, and Four-Legged Friends challenge this month and into next. Here's what November looks like:

-Finish Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
-The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
-Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
-The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
-Varjak Paw by S.F. Said
-The Bleeding Dusk by Colleen Gleason (yay! I won an ARC :)
-A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
-Watership Down by Richard Adams
-Great Joy by Kate DiCamillo

After that, I devised a system for all of these challenges, lol. Ok, so I wrote down all of the books that I've signed up for to read in 2008 and I've already commited myself to 50 books next year!! I made myself feel better by reminding myself that I didn't sign up for the 888 challenge which would've been a 64 book commitment in itself. So, how on earth would I ever choose which book to read next with 50 books to choose from with all of these challenges?? I went with the obvious answer and put all of the titles in a hat and that's how I'll choose what I'm reading in 2008...I'll pick each book out one at a time from the hat! That way it adds a little excitement to me when it comes to what I get to read next. Ok, it's getting bad, huh?

Now I'll go look forward to a great weekend of football with LSU playing Alabama and the Saints against Jacksonville! Both games should be great!

19 comments:

Susan said...

I've signed up for way too many challenges as well, and was wondering how I'm going to remember to read all those books! I like your method. Picking books out of a hat is a good way to keep it fun.

DesLily said...

well i clicked the link to read your except but couldn't find one.. and it only had your yesterday stats for word count.

gee... will you have room for the next challenge Carl does with all you have signed on for already???.. just wondering :o)

Becky said...

I've signed up for a lot of 2008 challenges as well. I just can't stop myself, I can't say no apparently. Anyway, choosing from a hat may be a fun way for you to decide. :) I'm too moody a reader for that though.

In other news, I'm looking to start Rebecca soon. :) And I've got Great Joy on my list as well.

chrisa511 said...

Susan, Isn't it horrible what we do to ourselves, lol! I figure this way will keep it fun. I'm horrible with making up my mind so I'll let fate do it for me!

Deslily, The NaNo site's been weird since it's been so busy. I did something wrong earlier, but I think I fixed it so everything should work now! Oh yeah, I'll always make time for Carl's challenges ;) I kinda push all the other ones aside when his come along :o

Becky, I can't say no either! It's a sickness I tell you! I'm not a moody reader at all, so this should work for me. I enjoy just about any book I pick up at any time. You'll love Rebecca! It's fantabulous! Looking forward to Great Joy too, but I figured I'd put that one at the bottom of the stack closer to Chrismas ;)

DesLily said...

oh my! I just read the excerpt!! All I can say is.. I'm glad I didn't read your writing BEFORE you read mine! I probably never would have let you read it!

The excerpt is excellent Chris!! You surely have something good bursting forth here!

just a word of warning, such as it is.. i've read in several places that if you put something out there on the web that it's considered "read".. should you ever decide to try to get it published they won't accept "already read material"..fyi.

chrisa511 said...

Deslily, Oh whatever! I wish I could spin a tale as good as yours. You're a huge inspiration for this little foraging into writing for me. I don't know how you're able to create the stories you create, but I've enjoyed them so much and I'll be finishing it this weekend :(

Thanks for the publishing tip. I doubt I'll ever submit this to be published, but if I do I'm sure it'll be revised quite a bit from it's current form! I had never heard of that though! Good to know!

Bookfool said...

Wow, you're really cooking! I got such a late start, today. I overslept and then I woke up with a start; I had a horrible leg cramp. Don't know where that came from, but wow did it hurt. I took a muscle relaxant to loosen it up and went back to sleep. Sigh. But, I'm getting there. Ward and the bumper are tussling, right now. They'd better hurry because that mist is going to knock them both out and . . . you wanted to hear all that, right? LOL

I'll read your excerpt, later on. Gotta finish this scene. It's getting exciting.

Bookfool said...

I hope that didn't make me sound either totally vain or completely off my rocker.

Actually, I think you made a pretty good case for un-challenging oneself. I can't fathom having that many books already scheduled to read. I'm too moody for that. Like Becky. Hi, Becky!! You've got some good reading ahead. The Screwtape Letters is another favorite of mine. You will love it, I guarantee.

chrisa511 said...

Bookfool, I have a feeling I'll be getting a late start all weekend! I got a good start on these first 2 days, but I'm sure I'll be behind come Monday. Sounds like your book's getting fun :D I'm sorry to hear about your leg cramps :( I can't stand those! I haven't had any in years and I'm hoping they stay gone. It's not so bad having that many books scheduled to read because it's basically half of my TBR bookshelf :p So it's all books that I'd be pulling from anyway. I'm really looking forward to The Screwtape Letters! I've heard great things about it!

And whatever, like you could ever sound vain! Now off your rocker...lol, kidding of course. Happy writing!

Nikki in Niagara said...

I'm so envious of The Bleeding Dusk ARC! Lucky you!

I love your picking the title out of a hat idea! I've been putting off taking a big look at all my challenges for the rest of the year and 2008 but I have to bite the bullet soon and see what the damage is and try to come up with a plan.

chrisa511 said...

Nicola, I can't tell you how excited I was to win The Bleeding Dusk! Can't wait to get into that one! I was scared to look at my challenges myself :/ But it was really kind of excited to see everything I have lined up for next year. Definitely at least a half of a years worth of reading there!

Stephanie said...

Congrats on the writing. I'm definitely going to have to follow your progress. It's very exciting!!

You are telling me about the challenges?? Sheesh. I'm still not sure how I'm going to do it!!
And I even signed up for one more! Man. I need to get a life!!

chrisa511 said...

Stephanie, Let me know where you find a life, I need one too :p What the hell, we'd be reading any way, we may as well feel accomplished while we're doing it! ...then again we could end up feeling like complete failure but who knows! :p

Debi said...

What an ingenious system, Chris! Seriously here, I have zero room to be laughing at you...I'm fairly sure my number of books committed to next year exceeds 50 (I'm afraid to actually count), and I don't get nearly as much read as you do.

I LOVED the excerpt from your novel! Oh, how I wish I had that kind of talent! And it sounds like you're moving along a good pace...I've been checking your progress each day as we update Annie's totals. (By the way, her excerpt did the same thing with her indents.)

Anyway, continued good luck! Hope you'll let us read the whole thing when you finish!

chrisa511 said...

Debi, Laugh away, lol...it's quite comical. I've been laughing at myself! My book system has gotten so out of control! What kind of grave have we dug for ourselves, huh? lol..

Glad you enjoyed the excerpt :) It's a work in progress. Tell Annie to click on my profile and add me as a friend! I can't find a "user search" function on the website, so I have no idea how to find people! Since y'all know where I am, tell her to add me and I'll add her. I'd love to read a little bit of hers and follow her progress!

Bookfool said...

Chris,

Looks like you got an early start - I peeked at your total and it's still going up. You go, fella!

Half your shelf? Shoot, I need to send you more books, don't I? If your challenges involve half your shelves, you have maybe a tiny fraction of what I've got, here. Sad, but true. I just became accustomed to buying, for many years, after realizing my library had very few of the books I desired to read.

So, are you still having fun with your Nano? I can't believe how much fun I'm having. It's really nice to be able to just send your characters whizzing through time, whenever things get bad.

chrisa511 said...

Bookfool, I'm having a blast with Nano. It's really been a big surprise to me. I thought it would be a huge stressor, but it's been so much fun and I've found myself craving writing. Never saw this one coming! Glad I decided to go through with it.

I was greatly underestimating when I said half my bookshelf. I have a TBR bookshelf in my room and at last count there were 152 books on it. It's prob up to about 170 now, but it could be much worse! But knocking 50 books off of it next year would be great! I just have to be good and not fill it up again!

Bellezza said...

I LOVED Watership Down, Rebecca and The Screwtape Letters (not in that order). I think you will not be disappointed to complete them. Actually, finish Rebecca first, as you listed. I can't wait to hear what you think of that one!

chrisa511 said...

Bellezza, Oh, I'll definitely be finishing Rebecca first! I couldn't put that one aside. It's such a great book, I'm loving it! Looking forward to the other 2 as well.