Yesterday someone asked me how much time I’m spending on writing every day. Stupidly, I said “at least three hours”. Why is that stupid? Because when I actually thought about it later on, I realized that though I may be typing for at least three hours (if you count all the steady runs and take out the breaks), I’m spending a heck of a lot longer working on it. This is my focus for the month – three hours really isn’t enough to justify NaNo as my focus.

How do I spend my other time when I’m sitting at the computer, but not necessarily typing away at the storyline?

1) Research. Although I did as much research as I could before the month started, there are times when I need to know something in order to continue writing, and I can’t just make a note to myself in the manuscript that says *fix later*. Sometimes I can. Sometimes I can’t. In those cases, I research until I have the answer. In fact, just the other day, I spent 10 minutes falling. Yes, that’s right, falling. I was trying to seriously injure my MC, but I wanted to find out the correct order of limbs hitting the ground, and how much force it would take to do the damage I needed. Thankfully, I also had the husband around to ask for input, seeing ask how he’s a karate expert (so says me) and works on falls in his training. This meant I didn’t have to resort to actually injuring myself in the process. Probably a good thing.

2) Trying to make sense of my outline. I outlined the general gist of things during October, but there are still moments/minutes/hours where I’m not entirely sure where things are going. Yes, I could just push through and write nonsense until I figure out where everyone should be – believe me, I’ve done this many times – but other times I’m just so unmotivated because I’m stuck, that I need to sit here and seriously think about how to get character so-and-so from Point A to Point C, with a side detour at Point B.

3) Making coffee. Hey, it takes time. Not a lot of time, but when you add all the coffees up…

4) Doing other work. Unfortunately, I still have some regular work to do. We’ve got a brand new website going up this week (last I heard, anyway), and I’m going to need to keep writing content for it so it can stay fresh, and there are a number of ongoing projects that need to be worked on in the meantime.

5) …reading? Actually, this hasn’t happened yet. I’ve hardly read a thing this month, but I have a plan: in order to edit this NaNo manuscript properly, I’m going to hold myself to a task of reading X number of YA books each week – this is so that I can re-familiarize myself with the genre, and ensure that I’m keeping the correct tone and pacing for the novel. Yes, I’ve read piles of YA books before, and at least 25 this year alone. However, now that I’m writing one… I need to stay in touch with the genre. So while I’m not spending time doing this right now, I’m actually going to have to schedule it in like work. This could be good or bad, depending on whether I can stick to the reading schedule or not (or just get caught up in reading and never get around to doing any work again…!).

And that’s that.

So, if someone were to ask me again how much time I actually spend writing each day, I’d answer: I’m at my desk all day, 9am until 4 or 5pm. I wake up at 7:30 so I can have time to drink my coffee, eat breakfast, and get all my emails & NaNoWriMo forum browsing out of the way before it’s time to buckle down and start writing.

See? That makes more sense. In other news: my caffeine intake has doubled/close to tripled in the last several days. If you’ve been following the Fuel Count, you’ll see what I mean. o_O It has been/continues to be “one of those weeks”.

NaNo Fuel Count

Cups of Black Coffee: 18
Lattes (cafe or home-made): 4
Mugs of Hot Chocolate: 2
Cups of Tea: 5
Cans of Bawls (energy drink): 2
Baked Goods: 7
Bowls of Ice Cream: 1
Mini Chocolate Bars: 17

Tags: coffee, NaNoWriMo, writing

Last night, I didn’t want to write. Really, really didn’t want to write. For some reason, all I wanted to do was sit on the couch and watch re-runs of Seinfeld while eating Doritos and drinking Bawls… which, mind you, I did for about an hour before finally giving in and sitting down at the computer to type.

It was around 10pm when I started, and I knew it was probably a bad scene to start working that late without any extra caffeine in my system. I vowed to make a coffee after my first 30-minute word war, during which I typed something like 1206 words…! I was elated. I had no idea what I’d written, but it didn’t matter… I was going to make word count! In fact, I was so inspired that I decided not to make myself a coffee…

Bad idea. About halfway through my second 30-minute sprint, I fell asleep. I wasn’t a full faceplant, but one of those sleep-nods that are so dangerous when you’re driving someplace when you’re too tired to safely operate a motor vehicle – or, in my case, a keyboard. Stupidly, I continued to type… despite the fact that I sleep-nodded at least twice more before the 30 minutes was up. Miraculously, I still managed to type just over 1000 words – however, if asked right now, I honestly couldn’t tell you what the heck I typed into the story during that time. Ireland could have been invaded by a race of killer space monkeys, I really don’t know, and as I have a policy of not re-reading anything during November… I guess I won’t find out until December.

Moral of the story: Have a coffee anyway. Seriously. Just do it.

Write-In #1: Blue Dog Cafe

The first write-in went well, if you’re not counting things like actually working on our stories. Only 3 of us showed up, but that was alright – we introduced ourselves, talked about our stories, discussed the November writing life, and the other 2 went on at length about Anime North as I nodded politely… lol. I’m not into the anime scene, but I’m well-versed enough to get the general gist of things… at least I recognize names & various series!

Anyhow, I think we each only got a few hundred words written, but as it was our first time meeting each other and we were only there from about 2:30-4pm, I’d say it was a success. Plus, the coffee was great – definitely going back for that again. I figure the next time we get together, we’ll be more productive in the literary way… and maybe a few more NaNo’ers will join us.

NaNo Fuel Count

Cups of Black Coffee: 13
Lattes (cafe or home-made): 3
Mugs of Hot Chocolate: 2
Cups of Tea: 5
Cans of Bawls (energy drink): 2
Baked Goods: 7
Bowls of Ice Cream: 1
Mini Chocolate Bars: 12

Tags: coffee, NaNoWriMo

I passed the 15,000 mark yesterday, and I give all the credit to one of the NaNo forums: Word Wars. Yes, that’s right – it’s a challenge within a challenge!

These word war challenges range from how many words you can write in 5 minutes to the Ultimate Word War Challenge, which has defined boundaries (10k in 5 hours). Last night, when I had no idea whether I was going to make it to my daily goal, let alone 15k, I decided to try one of the word wars and see if it really worked… or at least if it would jumpstart my heavily napping muse.

I tried the 30-minute word war, and came up with 938 words when the timer went off. I was shocked. Astounded. Thrilled. I decided to go again. Another 30 minutes gone, and I was sitting at 987… and I’d passed the 15,000 mark. I couldn’t believe it… I’d written almost 2000 words in an hour?!?! How was that even possible???

It was then that I realized the 10k in 5 hour challenge really isn’t all that unrealistic after all, and that I must – must – try it before the month is out. Heck, maybe even before the week is out. Until then, I’ve decided to set the timer for 30 minutes and start writing, because at that pace? I’ll have this thing whipped.

I hope. Then again, the November schedule gets ridiculously busy (you know, with “real life” things) starting this Monday. So… it should get interesting. o_O

***

Tomorrow: Write-in at the Blue Dog in Brantford. I have no idea if anyone is going to show up, since organizing people is like pulling teeth (no one fraking responds!) … but they have a 9.9 on the local restaurant review website, and they serve fair trade coffee, so if nothing else? I’ll have a nice shiny new pile of words and some delicious pastries and coffee to go with it. Mmm…

NaNo Fuel Count

Cups of Black Coffee: 11
Lattes (cafe or home-made): 2
Mugs of Hot Chocolate: 2
Cups of Tea: 5
Cans of Bawls (energy drink): 1
Baked Goods: 7
Bowls of Ice Cream: 1
Mini Chocolate Bars: 12

Tags: NaNoWriMo

The widget’s in place, but it’s not working yet… other people have had some difficulties with them as well, so it’s not just me. All in due time…

Going into today, I’m sitting at 9,285/50,000. Not bad. I’m ahead of where you’re officially supposed to end Day 5, and will certainly surpass the day 6 total easily… which has led me to consider upping my total for the month.

I’m not sure if it’s possible, seeing as how I have a number of major events coming up, starting next week – however, if I can manage to snag a few 5k days, I could possibly finish the month with 75k. Like I said, I’m not sure if that’s feasible or even if I should try to think along those lines, because all I really want to do with this year’s NaNo is finish my story, regardless of how long it is (beyond 50k, that is). I’m fairly certain that, with the way things are going, I’ll need to write plenty more than 50k to get things wrapped up, even though I initially thought it would be more than enough. Then again, writing a lot means I have more to cut and/or condense later, ultimately making it a better story. I hope. o_O

In other news, I’ve received 2 more free books in the past week. I think I’ll finish them and then post reviews, as opposed to just throwing the covers up on here in my exuberance.

And now, enough procrastinating. Time to get writing… 5k day, here I come!

NaNo Fuel Count

Cups of Black Coffee: 8
Lattes (cafe or home-made): 1
Mugs of Hot Chocolate: 1
Cups of Tea: 3
Cans of Bawls (energy drink): 1
Baked Goods: 6
Bowls of Ice Cream: 1
Mini Chocolate Bars: 9

Tags: NaNoWriMo

I meant to start this from the very beginning, but it’s only day 4… and I think I can remember my totals for the previous 3 days of the month. I’ve also slacked on getting the word count widget up, but hopefully that will get up today. Seriously. I mean it. Mind you, I’m relying on Mr. Husbando to do it for me, as I have absolutely no concept of who, what, when, where, how (but I do know *why*) to get a widget up on a webpage. He’s the internet master, not me.

So for now, I’ll admit that I’m behind (sitting at 4155 at the moment, should have ended the day yesterday at 5001 o_O), but I will catch up today. That’s a guarantee. Screw other work – I have NaNo’ing to do!

Current NaNo Fuel Count

Cups of Black Coffee: 5
Lattes (cafe or home-made): 0
Cups of Tea: 2
Cans of Bawls (energy drink): 1
Baked Goods (cupcakes, cake, pie, pastries, etc.): 3
Bowls of Ice Cream: 0
Mini Chocolate Bars: 4

In other news, I sent off my NaNoWriMo 2008 Care Package to my exchange buddy yesterday… I sent it in an Express Post bubble mailer that claimed it would get to her in one day, so I’m hoping that’s the truth (especially for the amount they charge you). I figured it would be best to get it to her sooner than later, so here’s hoping I get what I paid for. I also hope she likes it… I probably spent too much time going around looking for things, but hey, it was fun! The only thing I was disappointed with was the lack of ghosty-type paraphernelia in the stores, and I went shopping the week before Halloween! Her story is a “bitchier, edgier Ghost Hunter” type thing (I can’t remember the quote exactly) with supernatural themes, and I wanted to find something like a cuddly ghost plushie or a creepy-looking notebook, but these items were nowhere to be found! Weird. I also wanted to send a map of the Toronto subway, since it comes into play in her tale as well, but apparently they don’t sell those in KW. Hahaha. Can’t imagine why.

Anyway, I think the care package exchange was a great idea, and thanks very much to the NaNo’er who put it all together! When the package for me arrives, I’ll post what was inside (and maybe what was in the one I sent, but I don’t want to put it up now in case my exchange buddy happens to find her way to this site before it arrives!).

Now, off to try and catch up with the word count…

Tags: coffee, NaNoWriMo

It’s here! It’s here! It’s here!!!

NaNoWriMo starts today! And I have yet to put up a widget so you can watch my word count progress… however, it might be helpful if I actually made some words to count in the first place.

All in due time… in other words, as soon as I finish this blog post. Time to get writing!!!

Tags: NaNoWriMo, writing

Results are in for the WritersWeekly.com Fall 24-Hour Short Story Challenge! I didn’t win (I didn’t expect to), but I read the winning entries and now have a better idea of how to craft my story for next time.

The biggest bonus for me was reading over the list of common themes throughout the submissions… only to find that I didn’t fall into any of the categories, which means that I was original in my idea, or at least to some degree. I think my fatal flaw was straying a bit from the topic, which I can see after reading the winning stories.

Another challenge is being run in January 2009, and seeing as how the entry fee is only $5… I think I’ll have another go.

Tags: writing, writing contests

I’ve been flipping this idea around like a pancake for awhile now: Should I join a writing organization, or is it just a waste of money/time/emotional energy?

Almost any book on writing fiction and the facets thereof will tell you that joining a writing group is one of the best things you can do for yourself. They claim it’s a wonderful place to dialogue with others that have experience with publishing/agents/etc., and that all your questions can and will be answered. A number of these groups also offer space in their forums for people to exchange their work and have it critiqued by peers. This, supposedly, is the crux of everything for an inexperienced (ie. as of yet unpublished) writer.

So, I looked into a few of them, and most of them sounded pretty good, and like they had decent resources for someone like me. However, I was off-put by one thing in particular that all these organizations share in common: a rather large membership fee.

Yes, I understand that someone has to keep the group organized, and run the website, and get conferences and speakers in place across the country/continent, and so on, but seriously… writers aren’t exactly the wealthiest people on the planet, and typically it seems that you need to join more than one organization to get the full benefit for your writing (ie. a national organization, and then another one perhaps more targeted to your genre or focus). So whose bright idea was it to charge $100 to join???

I don’t know about anyone else, but $100 seems pretty steep to me. The dire financial situation of writers is why things like the Canadian Writers’ Foundation exist, and let’s face it – making any money from writing is rare for most people, let alone enough to make a living off of. For some people, $100 could make the difference between eating for the week or going hungry. Fortunately, I’m not in that situation – I have a husband who brings in the money, while I make a paltry contribution with my freelance writing contracts. Still, like any newlywed couple, we need to be careful with spending… so here’s a quick rundown of the few groups I’ve looked into and what they’re charging for a year’s membership.

Canadian Authors Association (CAA)

Membership Levels: Professional & Associate.

Key Benefits: Networking with writers across Canada; “new writers can develop their skills while established authors can find direction for their careers”; mentorships; “support for Canada’s most prestigious Literary Awards” (yay?); discounts on the annual CanWrite! conference, workshops, contests & The Canadian Writer’s Guide.

Swag: A quarterly members-only newsletter.

And that’s not all…: Grievance resources; a members-only “Virual Branch” mailing list; branch meetings (assuming there is a CAA branch for you within reasonable driving distance).

Cost for membership: $157.50 – no cost difference between professional and associate memberships.

The Word Guild (TWG)

Membership Levels: Professional, Associate, Affiliate

Key Benefits: Online members-only forum; “connection with like-minded people who share your Christian worldview and your passion to use your writing to honour God, and who provide professional, emotional, spiritual, and prayer support”; support for developing local writers’ groups; discount tickets to the Annual Writing Awards Gala; discount on Write!Canada conference, regional conferences, and contests (some with critiques); marketing advice; networking through volunteer positions with TWG.

Swag: Members-only bi-weekly e-newsletter.

And that’s not all…: Professional members get their names posted on the website under a ‘Hire Us’ section, along with cooperative exhibit & promo opportunities, blog posting withing TWG, promotion within TWG’s annual ‘Readers Guide’; grievance resources.

Cost for membership: $99.75 (Professional), $61.95 (Associate & Affiliate)

Romance Writers of America (RWA)

Membership Levels: General, Associate, Affiliate

Key Benefits: Advocacy; writers’ resources (incl. discussion listservs); leadership opportunities within RWA; member-rate contests & discount on National RWA Conference; discounts on certain industry-related products and services; voluntary insurance program.

Swag: Monthly members-only journal; bi-monthly e-newsletter.

And that’s not all…: Members have the opportunity to join special-interest or local chapters of RWA… however, there are almost always extra fees associated with joining these. For example, the ‘Chick Lit Writers of the World’ chapter charges $25 to join, while the Toronto Romance Writers chapter charges an extra $50!!!

Cost for membership: $75 + $25 one-time processing fee + $10 “foreign postage rate” for Canadians (to mail out the journal). No cost difference between membership levels.

I looked into the CAA because I’m Canadian, TWG because I’m Christian, and RWA because I have an almost-complete manuscript that I’m fairly certain would be considered ‘chick lit’… but there’s honestly no way I could afford to join all 3 of these groups. I think the RWA is the worst of them all, since the local chapters even charge to join, though the membership fee for CAA is pretty exorbitant as well. I’m seriously considering TWG, because the focus is on “writers who are Christian” and not “Christian writing”, which I appreciate. Plus, the membership fee is 1/3 of the other two (as an associate, since I’m considered “unpublished”). And their annual conference is held in Guelph, Ontario – that’s well within driving distance, as opposed to the other groups that have their annual meetings in Alberta (CAA) and anywhere from San Francisco to Orlando (RWA).

I’m still not fully convinced that joining any of these groups would be as beneficial as I’m told they are… but I guess you can never be certain until you try. After all, if almost all the writing books I read tell me to join, there must be some truth in it.

Unless, of course, the authors are the ones on staff… in which case, they’re just counting on suckers like me to pay their salary.

Let’s face it: Writers love coffee. Not only do they love coffee, but they love coffee shops with comfortable chairs. And I don’t know about you, but I love it when coffee shops have their ‘feature of the month’ promotions… especially in the fall. I love fall drinks and foods, and I have a strange compulsion to try anything and everything pumpkin-related at the various caffeine-dispensing locales in the community. It also happens when they have almond-related promotions in the spring, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

So, I thought I’d do the curious writers out there a favor, and give you my impressions of the fall flavors from the major coffee chains in my area. You can thank me later.

The Beverages

Second Cup: The description of the Pumpkin Spice latte on the Second Cup website is: “A warm, palate-pleasing beverage with hints of ginger spice and white chocolate. A Canadian fall favorite!” Indeed? Yes, it was warm (I’d hope), yes, it had a hint of white chocolate, and yes, there was pumpkiny-ness about the beverage. But spice? Not particularly. Perhaps a minute amount of ginger, but for those looking for some actual spice in their pumpkin spice (what a foreign concept!), this should not be your drink of choice. However, it was enjoyable – and extremely sugar-laden. If you want a sugary fall drink, this is it.

If I was grading this latte, I’d give it a B+. It wins on being tasty, but loses points for not exactly living up to its namesake.

Starbucks: From the website: “A delicious blend of pumpkin and traditional fall spice flavors combined with our signature espresso and freshly steamed milk, and topped with whipped cream and pumpkin pie spices.” Whipped cream? Check. Pumpkin flavor? Check. Spice? Check. A ridiculously happy barista serving it to you? Check and double check. From the smooth pumpkin flavor to the spicy aftertaste, this truly is a Pumpkin Spice latte. Starbucks knows what’s going on, do you? Awesomeness in a mug, that’s what. I’d drink this all year if I could, but alas, that’s where beauty and sadness converge: the beauty of fall, and the sadness of promotion season. Sigh. For pumpkin and spice, and coffee, this is the latte of choice. Grade: A+.

Williams: Williams Coffee Pub has its own Pumpkin Spice latte and muffin, and I must say the muffin is very tasty. No regrets there… on the other hand, both times I’ve ordered the pumpkin spice latte, something has gone wrong. The first time, I didn’t realize that anything was amiss, other than the fact that the latte was slightly lacking in the ‘spice’ part of ‘pumpkin spice’, and tasted reminiscent of… all their other coffee drinks. It could have passed for their caramel latte, or cappuccino, or whatever else. It really was underwhelming and pretty bland. However, it wasn’t bad (I didn’t say I don’t like their other lattes), so I figured ‘what the hey’ and drank it.

The second time I tried it was when I visited a different Williams, and saw a sign advertising their fall feature Pumpkin Latte… and in the picture, the latte had whipped cream and spice on top. Whipped cream!!! The one I’d ordered before didn’t have any, yet here it was on their official sign!!! Miffed, I decided to try it again, wondering if it would taste better with the extra spice and whipped cream on top. Well… talk about a big mistake. The latte tasted like warm water with a bit of sugar added, which was probably just melted whipped cream. I couldn’t taste any coffee, let alone pumpkin, let alone spice. And my friend Emily, who also ordered one, mentioned that hers tasted very strongly of coffee. Unfortunately, we’d ordered them to go, so we didn’t really have the opportunity to complain… but it seems like someone forgot to add the coffee to mine and doubled hers. Maybe the barista missed her own coffee that morning…? Honestly, I threw mine out after just a few sips. It was disgusting.

Either way, with two bad experiences and the fact that my first try was mediocre at best, I’d say save your money and skip this one. Grade: F. Epic, epic fail. Have a pumpkin muffin and call it a day.

Tim Hortons: Timmy’s doesn’t have a coffee-based fall beverage, but what they do have is a wonderful, amazing, delicious, and fantastical Pumpkin Spice tea. Yes, that’s right, a tea. It has a rich, spiced flavor that lingers on your tongue, and a full bodied pumpkin pie scent that makes you want to just sit there and inhale the curling vapors. And, if that isn’t enough, the pumpkin spice donut is a very tasty addition. The pumpkin spice muffin is fairly good too, but the white goo that they pump into the center might look a little off-putting… don’t worry, it’s just a spiced icing that tastes pretty good, but I’d personally go for the donut over the muffin. But the tea? I’ve already bought one box… I may go back for 4-5 more. I’ll definitely want to be drinking this long after the fall promotion is over and done. Grade (it’s tea, mind you): A+, with another A for the donut.

*Note: according to the Tim Hortons website, U.S. stores offer customers a shot of pumpkin spice flavor for their coffee… why not here????? All our other major coffee chains have pumpkin flavors for their coffee, so what on earth would prompt Tim Hortons not to offer it in Canada??? I think a letter to the company is in order.

The Winner

Starbucks wins with its actually-pumpkiny-and-spicy-Pumpkin-Spice-Latte. The others really don’t even come close, unless you enjoy drinking bland, generic lattes that maybe sorta kinda taste like what they claim to be.

Mmm... the winning Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks.

Tim Hortons also has a winner in its fall tea (and pumpkin donut), which I don’t remember being available last year. If it was, I missed out. I also haven’t seen any of the other coffee chains offering a pumpkin spice tea, so this seems to be a unique item for Tim Horton’s. Kudos to them for that.

Great tea. Very good donut. Decent muffin, but note how they don't show you the top where the white goo is...

And now… I’m craving a delicious hot drink of the pumpkin-related variety. Time to raid the box of Timmy’s tea…