NaNoWriMo
The Experimental Memoir, Day 3, Part 1
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 07:42Other years when I've done NaNoWriMo, I've outlined my plot ahead of time. I've done characters studies and considered the setting. While I don't know the exact twists and turns the story will take, I know how the story will turn out what what the major plot twists are going to be. This project is different. Generally, I know the setting very well, perhaps too well. It has become familiar and I've been too likely to over look things. The characters are also mostly people that I know very well. The really journey of discovery is learning more about the setting and the characters.
The Experimental Memoir Day 2
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 19:40Before I go much further, it seems as if I should spend a little time exploring where the idea for this experimental memoir came from. Somewhere along the way, a group of bloggers came up with National Blog Posting Month. The idea was for bloggers to put up at least one blog post a day for the whole month. I started doing this, and I believe its been a couple years since a day has passed without me submitting a blog post.
The Experimental Memoir - Day 1
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 21:02I am not an English lady, preparing a party and planning on getting the flowers myself. I am not an Irishman spending a day in Dublin. I am not writing across the country with my son on the back of my motorcycle as I hunt for the ghosts of my past, or driving a van on the blue highways.
No, I am a grey bearded blogger sitting a cluttered office of a small house on the outskirts of New Haven, CT. I am setting off on my own journey, an experimental version of National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, strongly influenced by these characters from great literature.
Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit, For All The Saints, NaNoWriMo and the storm.
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 06:30Well, we have power back, both at home and at work so today should be as close to a normal day as possible. It is All Saints Day, which has always been an important day to me. It is also the beginning of National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. I am setting out to do a semi-fictionalized autobiographical novel about the month, following, in part, the writings of Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Robert Pirsig, William Least Heat Moon, and others. I will probably be sharing them as blog posts, so my blogging frequency is unlikely to decline, the length of my blog posts is likely to increase, but the variety of topics may decrease. Look for the first post later today.
Now, unto the normal activities of the day.
#NaNoWriMo Pregame
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 10/27/2011 - 03:09It is 3 AM, and I should be sleeping, but an idea has emerged in my mind, and I'm having problems getting back to sleep, so I thought I would share it as a quick blog post and see what people think.
November is National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo. I've taken a crack at it a couple different times, completing 50,000 words the first year, starting off on a wrong track on another year. Last year, as I was transitioning to my new job, I didn't tackle it.
Part of my wrong track was a semi-autobiographical novel about transitioning from being a Wall Street technology executive to being what I am now. At the time, I was in the middle of the transition and not sure where it was leading. It was much more raw and harder to write so I set it aside.
Since then, I've been getting into more and more discussions about living your life as if it were a novel that you are writing. So, I am thinking of writing an autobiographical novel based on what happens during the month of November.
I'm thinking of sharing it as blog posts as I go. That's 1,667 words a day for 30 days. That is less than my average before starting my current job, but more than my average since.
I have a busy month in November, which is both good and bad. It will give me more to write about, but less time to write.
I also have a concern. The people around me, my family, my friends, my neighbors, and my co-workers, haven't consented to be in a online written version of my novel and I don't want to say things that would upset them. On the other hand, it is an important part of the story.
So, I am writing this, partly to ask permission. Let me know your thoughts about what you feel comfortable with me writing about you, if you want to be excluded from the project, or what is in or out of bounds.
