Nanowrimo, or how I changed my life in 30 days

I had actually planned to blog a little every few days. Ha. I am hardly finding time to comb my hair. I must admit, I unwittingly set myself up. I actually believed that if I did general plotting of VM prior to starting Nanowrimo Nov. 1st, that I would be prepared. That was not the case. I found myself sitting in front of my laptop. I wrote the first scene. Then, nothing. So I decided to write the last scene. That was easier. So, as words finally began to flow, on the second day, I continued writing from the end forward.

I was comfortable and happy with myself, having met my desired number of words for the first two days without much struggle. Then I became over-confident. Family from out of town arrived for the week-end. I had a wonderful time with them all, and really, truly believed that I would be able to 'catch-up' after they left, late Sunday.

Wrong. Not only was I behind in count, I was nearly completely blocked, and by this time, starting to become mildly depressed. In addition, I kept having a need to 'look over' what I had written and 'tweak' it a bit. I knew this was a mistake, but I kept on doing it.

Then a lifeline arrived. A small book, recommended at the Nano site, called "No Plot, No Problem". I almost passed it by, because I did have a plot, and that wasn't my problem. I was curious enough to buy the book anyhow.

The first think I recall it saying that helped me return to sanity was to put all thoughts of editing aside and do no tweaking, no matter how strong the temptation. Then it talked about getting the characters set up and letting them do the work. Well, that is my interpretation of what it said. I realized that by working from the end toward the front I was probably missing out on unexpected developments that might occur from writing in the normal sequence.

However, in my end-writing, I had discovered a character who was not supposed to play a significant part in the novel in terms of being anything other than a catalyst for the climax of the book, who began to take on a life and form of its own. I decided to focus on developing this character.

At that point I began to realize that no matter how many books I owned or how many books I had borrowed from the library and read, that there was much more research I needed to do at almost every turn. One topic is Vienna. I have spent time there, but not long enough to have been able to go into all the nooks and crannies I am referencing in VM. So how was I to write without having researched? Fortunately, my laptop has wireless internet access, and I have found that I am able to put in [markings] for research that needs to be done, and then when I am taking breaks from actual writing, search and find much of the information I need to reference. Otherwise, I can leave the brackets, make a note in my notebook, and track down the book. Genius!

So today, still burdened with the fact that I am at most just barely where I need to be in terms of word count, anticipating another fun-filled week-end with lots of challenges and frustrations, I am exhausted, have consumed too much chocolate (the last round was oreo cookies preceded by a few smokes oysters...) I have pushed down the character that I developed, because he was threatening to take over the entire book, and focused on two characters at the beginning of the book. I just finished a scene and am done for the day. My head is buzzing with ideas for tomorrow.

Why blog?

I have read and/or own every book I can find on plotting a novel, and nothing seems to answer all my questions. So, I decided that perhaps I'm not the only one with questions. Rather than make lists (well, I do that anyhow) and sit in limbo when I reach a temporary dead end, I will open my questions up to others for discussion and maybe help.

I should say that this is not even my first novel. This is a prequel to another novel, that I feel compelled to do a good draft of before finishing the other book. And yes, I've studied novel writing at the Loft in Minneapolis, and am a published writer in nonfiction, so, no, I'm not a novice.

Ironically, after being bogged for a spell, I made a trip to in Sauk Centre. I unexpectedly had some extra time and headed to the Sinclair Lewis Interpretive Center, just off 94 on the way into town. I had been there previously, found myself drawn to the urn that contains half of his ashes (the rest were strewn over the Sauk River) and a wonderful photo of him leaning on an old car on Main Street, with the movie theatre marquee behind him.
This time I found myself looking intently at a section called "Birth of a Novel" and read through his typed plotting drafts, each one more detailed than the last. culminating in "Cass Timberlane". Awesome. And helpful.

However, for me, research is tending to bog me down. When I can't find what I want, I don't find it easy to go to the next thing on my list. So then this blog. Since I am compelled to communicate, it might as well be about these issues.

Take Beethoven. I'm researching his last years in Vienna. He lived in 40-60 different places. I want to know what they were. One would think there might be a timeline somewhere, or some documentation.

I became spoiled researching Mozart, for whom there are such luxuries. There seems to be far less documentation of LVB than there is of WAM. In the Thayer bios (a mess imo) there are countless references to the Conversation Books (CB) but only a few addresses. In addition, the street names have changed, so even when I am able to name them down, I will not necessarily be able to track them down on a map.

Then, I decided to find a documentary bio for LVB (OEDeutsch did one for WAM) but no such thing. I looked for a Beethoven Society and found little in terms of documentation. I searched for the CBs (apparently not yet translated) and could only find a copy of an index for them (which I am now anxiously awaiting).

So what now? Suggestions?