Chug Chug Chug

This is the sound of the engine running out of steam, only partway up the hill. How did that damned story go? I forget.... Sometimes thinking that you can ain't enough. You just have to KNOW it in your gut. I talked with Anders today and said, I've had block for 3 days man, 3 days! I don't know if I can do this..I'm at 32,000 words and I only have 10 days left.." And Anders said "Of course you'll make it." And that was that. Now I'm at 38,000 words, sailing right along with some other, underused characters that I enjoyed introducing way back on November 6th or something and they are carrying their part of the story quite happily.

To see how I'm doing, you can check the Official NaNoWriMo link. There's a Facebook dealie that updates my word count on my status, but I don't think I can link it here. I have captured today's pic of my progress for you to admire though, so that's fun.

It is dismal and grey outside, but the cats enjoyed gamboling around chasing leaves. They were happy to get in though, as it's a trifle cold. This time next week I'll be ensconced in my new Joe Job at Stats once more. It is surreal to me that I'm returning. Hopefully I can crank out another 12,000 words before going back so I won't fail the NaNoWriMo :-P

My story shows absolutely no intention of coming to an end neatly at the 50,000 word mark. It's funny, looking back at my "Terra del Meurto" story, when I'd reached 31,000 words over the Labour Day Weekend, that was it. It was done. I was left with the truncated bits of 3-Day novel in my lap, begging to be re-cut, rewritten and finished. I'm not even going to look at that until I finish this. And this has taken on a wondrous life of its own. It is a marvel, living and breathing on the page. The characters are fun and I don't have a clue what they'll do. I've set them up like pins and I keep throwing a ball. Sometimes I miss, sometimes I strike, sometimes the lane extends the length of two football fields. Go figure.

The joy is that barring the quote I've just added (I'm sure Adams would've appreciated the irony!) deadlines seem to be the fuel, fire and combustion I need to keep going. I forget where I heard this quote from ... Robert Genn? That: "A Goal without a deadline is a wish." Fantastic. The more goals/ challenges I have provided for myself, the more I have produced and I am delighted. It is exhausting, exhilarating and thoroughly satisfying work in which to be involved.

I'm hoping the joy and pulse of creativity can keep me sane as I return to the 9-5 drudgery of our modern life. If not, I'll try holding off the crashing and burning until the debts have been cleared up at least.

Cheers!
Suzanne.

PS--thoroughly enjoying reading "Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain; 1960's hardcover edition with illustrations and unabridged. Wonderful language!

Second Week

Apparently according to the NaNoWriMo website, it's the official beginning of Week II of the challenge. My stats are a little over 14,000 words, so that's good. Now all I need is a plot..haha! No seriously, things are going ok. I've introduced my main character, set her in her setting and have peopled her environs with a few cool characters to help her on her way. I have a vague idea of where I want this to go, but so far I'm reliving my old University days. That's fine, I'm sure it'll all work out in the end (I hope.)

Now, I must go and get me some shoes. My sneakers accrued a hole. Which is not good, not when I start my new job in less than three weeks.

More to come. And to all of those who struggle under the burden (or blessing) of creativity... good luck!
Cheers
Suzanne.

PS--If you have the means, get your butt PEI bound for November 9th! It's the official launch of "Chiaroscuro" by Troy Little and IDW Publishing. It should be a fun time. I am very disappointed that I can't attend... :-(

Yes it's that time of the year

I have decided that 2007 is my year for CHALLENGES. In keeping with my self-imposed madness, I signed up for National Novel Writing Month. For more info on what that's all about, please feel free to follow the links.

This year, I challenged myself to complete a french course, which I managed to do. I took up the challenge of getting back into animation, thanks to Nick Cross, that came true as well. I challenged myself to leave my steady job and jump into the well of creativity, and all wise-words and fear be damned! That sorta worked out... I challenged the old self to get in the car and drive East on my lonesome. That was some fun. Probably would be more fun with company, but whatcha gonna do?

The fall's challenges have been in a very creative vein! Labour Day weekend was the 3-Day Novel Contest. Carol Little helped inspire me to enter that (you can check out an awesome article about her and the challenge online in PEI's Guardian!) I completed a 131 pg. novel called "Terra Del Meurta", which as Clay later pointed out reads more like an outline for a really BIG novel :-) I think a rewrite or 3 may be in order. But the cool thing is; I got it done! Hurray Sue :-)

Onto the rest of the challenges.... October 20th dawned beautiful and sunny; the 24 Hour Comics Day had arrived. Five brave souls threw themselves into the fray (Keith Savage, Westin Church, Meaghan Quinn, Suzanne Marsden & Clayton Jacobs) and three came out, including moi! I will be posting info on that all on its own, cause I want to scan in some pics too.

And, because I haven't had enough of grueling creative exercises, I signed up for NaNoWriMo. Basically, you have 30 days to write a novel of 50,000 words (or more.) It's day 6 and I'm clocking in around 9296 words...which ain't too bad. I feel good; my fingers are a little annoyed with me (whaaat? You're doing Data Entry? Whaat?)

Finally, my biggest challenge to date...
Return to Statistics Canada. How is that going to be? Don't know... It is in a completely different Division than I was before, doing work as a Publication Assistant. So--it might even be fun? Mm, you can tell I generally see things in the glass-is-half-full light, right? ;-)

So...there will be more. Sorry for the long hiatus, and thanks for continuing to check in to see if I'm still alive and kickin'. Yeap! Still alive... Still kickin'...

Cheers!
Suzanne.

Mush! Mush you doggies!

(Above are the bills from Canada Post & Staples, respectively from the printing of 2 copies of the old novel AND the cost of mailing it.... :-D)

Hey there compadres, quite a hot day in O-town today. I rarely venture forth into the world if I can avoid, but I had to go to the Post Office to mail my manuscript! I took my jump drive to Staples yesterday, and instead of making me wait a day, they printed it almost immediately :-D Hurray!

The store was a-bustle with about a billion kids and their harried-looking parents. I guess it's back-to-school for all of them. It was nice being able to wend my way through the crowd to the copy desk and retrieve two copies of my... MANUSCRIPT! Haha :-D from the nice girl at the counter. I was trying to explain what the whole 3-day novel thing was to her and she seemed impressed, so that made me feel good. I looked pretty frazzled, but she didn't seem to notice.

Off we went to the Wizard's Tower where Clay found some Palladium stuff and I rooted through the dollar bins... you find interesting things in the ol' dollar bins, discontinued comics, sales etc. I found a copy of Magik #1 for $2.00 or something, but I slid her back in cause I already have it.

Anyway, enough of my thrilling adventures in shopping-land. Here's some pics to describe the fun part of my day, which was fondling my 131 pg baby, trying to ram said-baby into an envelope that was TOO small, giving up, digging up another envelope (way too big), but coping anyway.

I have a few padded envelopes kicking around from MaryAnn Harris, fabric artist and owner of Reclectica, a cool retro jewelery and antique clothing store. She is also the lovely wife of my favourite writer in the whole wide world: Charles de Lint! When I bought 88 vintage sci-fi paperbacks from her in June, the box they arrived in came with a bunch of padded envelopes to protect them (she hadn't know I was picking them up personally and they were all packaged to be mailed!) So, the upshot is, I have a few envelopes with Charles de Lint's name printed on them.

I thought it'd be good luck to use one of his padded envelopes for the transport of my novel to its eventual destination on the West Coast. So, I finally packaged the lil' sucker up, drew a sketch of the main character on the back and trotted off to the the drug store at the Hazeldean Mall to mail it off.
So, now I sit, and plot my next frantic exercise in creative zeal... I recently heard from my buddy Tracy at Abbey Hill Design and will be heading there in October for a week to work on some one-of-a-kind pieces for her. That'll be a blast!

What else? November is National Novel Writing Month, and I feel the stirrings to register for that and throw myself into another fit of passionate creativity. You get an entire month to write, not just 3 days ;-) There isn't a contest fee, and the word count is.. I think 50,000. Might be fun.. though I wouldn't call it a "riot" or "hysterical" (see Troy's Blog!)

Thanks again, everyone who has been behind me all the way, all the great, supportive emails really made the difference. Cheers!
Suzanne.