Thursday also marks my first day off (The Store does not give Frankenstorm Days), begged for by me so that I could have the first day to get off to a great start. Last year, I didn't get started until Day Five. There was some... drama going on so my poor sad little project got bumped. I came raring back though and limped across the 50k line with entire minutes to spare.
It was my third win. My first year, I wrote a chick lit/romance novel. It was an experiment because I often times make fun of chick lit/romance and I wanted to see if I could do it any better. I personally think I did but I'm probably not the most unbiased person on this subject. My second year I tackled the YA urban fantasy genre. This project remains technically unfinished but there's some great stuff (again, according to me) in there and so, some day I hope to get back to it. Someday.
Last year, I decided to write the first draft of the next installment of my fantasy series. I did this because I thought I'd be so much further along with Effigy than I currently am. I thought I'd have Effigy out in the world and be working feverishly to get the second book, Second Nature, done so that it too could be out in the world.
Silly M.J. (Publishing is for competent adults!)
But, alas, I didn't get Effigy out into the world and I haven't even looked at what I wrote last year. I'm printing up a copy of it though so I can look at it because this year, for NaNoWriMo, I'm attempting to write the next installment and I thought it would be good if I knew where I had left off with everything.
Because right now, all I have prepared for NaNoWriMo this year is a stash of sugary sweets, a name for the MC and the genre in which I should write. And I wouldn't even have the last two if I wasn't working on a continuing story. Needless to say, I am going to need
It is with this in mind that I offer those who encounter me in my non-online life this helpful chart:
WHEN IT IS OKAY TO INTERRUPT M.J. WHEN SHE'S WRITING:
1. Hey, M.J., just thought you should know that the building's on fire.
(please note, this also includes other events where if immediate evacuation does not happen, it will lead to injury and/or death)
2. Hey, M.J., just thought you should know that Joss Whedon's here to see you.
So please consult this list when trying to decide whether to bother me during the month of November (or maybe the rest of the year too. I'll let you know) because if it's not one of those two things, I don't want to know about it. This goes for my co-workers too. I know technically I work for The Store but if you come across me writing a scene for my NaNoWriMo project, don't interrupt because you have a customer looking for a small snowflake sweater. You know where the small snowflake sweaters are. Go get it yourself. Just... don't make a mess while you're doing it. Which you're going to do because that's what you do. I mean, I don't know why it's so damn difficult for you to get one single sweater off the top of a stack of sweaters without leaving the whole thing in a jumbled mess but you do it every damn time so, so yeah. Go ahead and interrupt me when you need that small snowflake sweater. We'll all be happier in the long run.
Sorry. I got a little sidetracked there. I'd tell you that it won't happen again but I think we all know that it will.
Anyway, I've got to go. You know how it is... snowflake sweaters to fold, Frankenstorms to prepare for... But if you're participating in NaNoWriMo this year, look me up. I'm using the very clever user name M.J. Fifield.
Be safe, all.