A Year and Two Novels

Last year was an interesting year in terms of writing. While both of my NaNo attempts were sporadic in terms of meeting daily writing goals, I did get back in the habit of posting the Saturday Story Prompts consistently.

Due to the unexpected arrival of Camp NaNoWriMo in July and August, my summer was much more productive than anticipated (although I did lose the August NaNo rather decisively).

I ended the year with 304 posts, two new NaNo wins (That Don’t Impress Me Much and In Dreams of Trees) and a partially completed short story (The Wolves We Are). Not quite as impressive as I had hoped it would be, but not too shabby nonetheless.

January

Not a bad start to the month, although I did hit only three of the five SSP posts (darnit). I was still getting back into the swing of daily postings at that point, so it was pretty much still “All Model Horses, All The Time!”

Saturday Story Prompts
NaNoWriMo 2010 : A Recap
Saturday Story Prompts
Saturday Story Prompts

February

I don’t think I missed another SSP for the rest of the year, which is pretty darned awesome—to me anyway. Something to be said for baby steps!

Saturday Story Prompts
Saturday Story Prompts
Saturday Story Prompts
Serializing My Brain (or: Muses and other Insanity)
Saturday Story Prompts

March

And here we get the first flicker of the story that will turn into The Wolves We Are… now if it only it hadn’t taken eight months to take off! 😛

Daily Snippit : Urban/Suburban Fantasy
Saturday Story Prompts
Saturday Story Prompts
Saturday Story Prompts
Saturday Story Prompts

April

Lo, things are starting to take off—and will quickly be derailed when Camp NaNoWriMo pops onto the scene in May. *sighs*

Saturday Story Prompts
Stocking the Digital Shelves
Saturday Story Prompts
Saturday Story Prompts
The Wolves We Are : Only Immortal Till You Die
Telling Stories Online
Saturday Story Prompts
Saturday Story Prompts

May

The first hints of NaNo madness show up here, but the OLL was very skimpy with the details, so most of this is pure speculation.

Dreaming to Deadlines
Saturday Story Prompts
Daily Snippit: High/Second World Fantasy
Saturday Story Prompts
Daily Snippit: Urban/Suburban Fantasy
NaNoWriMo vs. NaNoWriAny?
Saturday Story Prompts
Words on Paper
Saturday Story Prompts

June

And lo, Camp NaNo was on the horizon and it was Time To Plot™… something that I still haven’t quite figured out how to do.

From Couch to 50k (or: ??? Days to NaNoWriMo)
Saturday Story Prompts
Day -20 of Camp NaNoWriMo
Saturday Story Prompts
Daily Snippits: Poetry/Songs
Saturday Story Prompts
Camp NaNoWriMo -10 Days
Saturday Story Prompts
Camp NaNoWriMo – July 1st is Coming!
Camp NaNoWriMo – 38 hours and counting
CampNaNoWriMo.org!
Camp NaNoWriMo – 14 hours and counting

July

There is nothing as much fun as writing a book that is meant to be a light-hearted stab at a fantasy cliché. Although TDIMM was supposed to be more of a parody, it turned into a pretty decent first draft of a generic Magical Companion Animal novel—that’s gone a bit sideways.

I’m looking forward to editing this one, but I think that won’t happen until 2013 at this rate…

That Don’t Impress Me Much : Cold, Hungry, Tired
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Things Get Better
That Don’t Impress Me Much : And lo, They Fight!
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Small Magic
July Camp NaNoWriMo – Day 1
Saturday Story Prompts
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Facing the Music
That Don’t Impress Me Much : The First Night
That Don’t Impress Me Much : We Need to Talk
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Meet the Enemy and He Is Us
July Camp NaNoWriMo – Day 2
That Don’t Impress Me Much : A Quiet Night
That Don’t Impress Me Much : And Back to the Beach
That Don’t Impress Me Much : The Aftermath of the War
That Don’t Impress Me Much : An End to the War
That Don’t Impress Me Much : I Make No Promises
That Don’t Impress Me Much : We Have a Plan
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Change is Good
That Don’t Impress Me Much : From the Mouth of Snakes
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Chasing Folly
That Don’t Impress Me Much : The Storm
That Don’t Impress Me Much : More Like Me
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Cavalry Redux
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Ultimatums and Breaking the Rules
That Don’t Impress Me Much : But Why?
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Channel Are As Channels Do
That Don’t Impress Me Much : The First Hatching
That Don’t Impress Me Much : The Enemy is Us
That Don’t Impress Me Much : We Have Ways of Making You Talk
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Kicking You When You’re Down
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Into the Wastes
July Camp NaNoWriMo – Day 7
That Don’t Impress Me Much : There is A Hole In The Bottom of the Sea
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Flight and Fight
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Alice Through The Looking Lake
That Don’t Impress Me Much : I Hunger
That Don’t Impress Me Much : After The Rain
That Don’t Impress Me Much : The Great Spouse Hunt
That Don’t Impress Me Much : The Fledglings Arrive
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Incoming Adventurers
Saturday Story Prompts
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Oaths of No Consequence
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Hatching Caverns
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Mum’s The Word
That Don’t Impress Me Much : From Here to There
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Not According To Plan
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Softpaw and Claire
That Don’t Impress Me Much : The Enemy Unknown
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Farris vs. Baron
That Don’t Impress Me Much : What Not to Wear
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Letters Home
July Camp NaNoWriMo – Day 13
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Try, Try Again
That Don’t Impress Me Much : And Now We Fly
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Death From Above!
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Rescue!
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Now What
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Aaron’s Letters
Saturday Story Prompts
That Don’t Impress Me Much : It’s Almost Hatching Day!
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Graduation Day
That Don’t Impress Me Much : No Future Trees
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Quiet Morning Baking
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Two Beaches and the Blue Ships
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Make New Friends
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Cavalry Has Arrived
That Don’t Impress Me Much : The Clichéd Hatching is Upon Us!
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Baron Watching Hatching
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Escape!
That Don’t Impress Me Much : May Watches the Hatching
Saturday Story Prompts
That Don’t Impress Me Much : And Thus the Future Dies
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Other Fish in the Sea
July Camp NaNoWriMo – Day 24
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Now What (Take 2)
That Don’t Impress Me Much : On The Road to Nowhere
That Don’t Impress Me Much : After The Storm
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Future Trees and Possibilities
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Choices
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Not the Plan
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Of Mice and Men
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Hatching Day at Pine Reach
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Of Hopes and Futures
That Don’t Impress Me Much : The Second Storm
That Don’t Impress Me Much : War is Upon Us
That Don’t Impress Me Much : It’s Just Water
That Don’t Impress Me Much : On The Road Again
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Welcome to Oak Grove
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Being Chosen vs. Choosing
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Welcome to the Academy
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Shunning
That Don’t Impress Me Much : This Was not The Plan
That Don’t Impress Me Much : The Aftermath
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Graduation Day
That Don’t Impress Me Much : It’s A Trap
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Going Home Again
Saturday Story Prompts
The Day After/Before Camp NaNoWriMo
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Delayed Confrontations
That Don’t Impress Me Much : School Daze
That Don’t Impress Me Much : Dinner at the Hatching
That Don’t Impress Me Much : The New Normal

August

There was supposed to be another Camp in August, but I’d run flat out of steam making it to the end of July. Thankfully next year we’ll have a month break, because I’m just not up to back-to-back NaNos! 😛

Saturday Story Prompts
August Camp NaNoWriMo – Day 10
Saturday Story Prompts
Saturday Story Prompts
Saturday Story Prompts
August Camp NaNoWriMo – Day 30
Rebirth of the Writing Desk

September

Time to go a be Meta and start the recovery from August’s slump…

Kickstarting the Muses
Saturday Story Prompts
Saturday Story Prompts
Sorting out the Finished Works
Saturday Story Prompts
Patching Plot Holes (The Wolves We Are)
Saturday Story Prompts
Planning for NaNoWriMo 2011
Write What You Read
Plot Hunting with Net and Honey

October

It’s the month before NaNo (again) and time to start ramping things up—I’m beginning to think that I have more fun in the days before NaNo starts. *ponders*

There was a much livelier group of Real Life folks this time around and there were pre-NaNo Plot-ins to be had (and much encouragement in the Planning Of Things™).

Saturday Story Prompts
NaNo in a Nutshell
The First 10,000 Words
Saturday Story Prompts
When a Story’s Too Big for the Page
Saturday Story Prompts
Crockpot Plotting (or: NaNoWriMo Metaphors)
Saturday Story Prompts
Saturday Story Prompts
The Night Before NaNoWriMo

November

And again we descend into the chaos…

In Dreams of Trees : A Sharp Right at Apple
In Dreams of Trees : Treed
NaNoWriMo 2011 : Day 1
In Dreams of Trees : Clarke’s Second Law
In Dreams of Trees : Friend of My Enemy
In Dreams of Trees : Burning Bridges
In Dreams of Trees : Lost and Found
In Dreams of Trees : Found in Translation
NaNoWriMo 2011 : Day 3
In Dreams of Trees : John and Red [WORLDBUILDING]
In Dreams of Trees : That Long Horizon [WORLDBUILDING]
Saturday Story Prompts
In Dreams of Trees : Of Pomegranates and Favored Sons
In Dreams of Trees : Collateral Damage
In Dreams of Trees : I Hope You Dance
In Dreams of Trees : Practical Applications
In Dreams of Trees : Outsourcing Saves the World
In Dreams of Trees : On The Road Again
In Dreams of Trees : But Why?
In Dreams of Trees : And Suddenly
In Dreams of Trees : Tipping Points
In Dreams of Trees : I Am Become Death, Destroyer Of Worlds
In Dreams of Trees : Summer Nights
In Dreams of Trees : Tendency To Swarm
In Dreams of Trees : The Best Of All Possible Worlds
In Dreams of Trees : The Covenant
In Dreams of Trees : The Next Horizon
In Dreams of Trees : The One With The Angel
In Dreams of Trees : They Didn’t Care
In Dreams of Trees : Till Morning
In Dreams of Trees : Time, Tides, And Man
In Dreams of Trees : Unbroken
NaNoWriMo 2011 : Day 10
In Dreams of Trees : Promises and Lies
In Dreams of Trees : Spark
In Dreams of Trees : Happily Ever After
In Dreams of Trees : So Much For Diplomatic Immunity
In Dreams of Trees : We All Fall Down
Saturday Story Prompts
In Dreams of Trees : Alien
In Dreams of Trees : City of Ghosts
In Dreams of Trees : Telephone Trees and Pictionary
In Dreams of Trees : Sign Language
In Dreams of Trees : Dues Ex Machina En Masse
In Dreams of Trees : Straight On Till Morning
In Dreams of Trees : Technicalities
In Dreams of Trees : Scorned And Covered With Scars
In Dreams of Trees : Blue Needs a Subplot
In Dreams of Trees : A Sea of Grass [PLOTBUILDING]
In Dreams of Trees : Revenge
In Dreams of Trees : For The Good Of The Many
NaNoWriMo 2011 : Day 15
In Dreams of Trees : Aftermath
In Dreams of Trees : A Scurry of Squirrels
In Dreams of Trees : In Sunshine or In Shadow
In Dreams of Trees : Closing The Gaps [PLOTBUILDING]
In Dreams of Trees : Dances With Nuts
In Dreams of Trees : Open Sesame
In Dreams of Trees : The Gilded Cage
In Dreams of Trees : Promises to Keep
In Dreams of Trees : And Then There Was Cheese!
In Dreams of Trees : A Little Chaos Theory
In Dreams of Trees : Give A Dog A Job
In Dreams of Trees : Empty Sets
In Dreams of Trees : And Damn The Consequences
The Internet Never Forgets
In Dreams of Trees : A Ticket To Ride
In Dreams of Trees : A Passing Fancy
In Dreams of Trees : Crossing Paths [PLACEHOLDER]
In Dreams of Trees : This Way To Neverland
Saturday Story Prompts
In Dreams of Trees : Fair Maid Of Mine
In Dreams of Trees : Photographs And Kerosene
In Dreams of Trees : Promises
In Dreams of Trees : Protego
In Dreams of Trees : Choices
In Dreams of Trees : Come Sail Away
NaNoWriMo 2011 : Day 20
In Dreams of Trees : Worst Idea In The History Of Bad Ideas
In Dreams of Trees : Echoes
In Dreams of Trees : A Star To Sail Her By
In Dreams of Trees : A Fair Ways
In Dreams of Trees : The First Law
In Dreams of Trees : The Death Of Time
In Dreams of Trees : And To Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street
In Dreams of Trees : Bedknobs And Broomsticks
In Dreams of Trees : The Last Data Point
In Dreams of Trees : Carry Me Home
In Dreams of Trees : Across Wide Water, Without Sound
In Dreams of Trees : Against The Dying Of The Light
In Dreams of Trees : Almost Superman
In Dreams of Trees : And Beats High Mountain Down
In Dreams of Trees : Gray And Tan [WORLDBUILDING]
In Dreams of Trees : Raptor Santa [PLOTBUILDING]
In Dreams of Trees : Werewolf Bartenders [PLOTBUILDING]
In Dreams of Trees : The Endless City [WORLDBUILDING]
In Dreams of Trees : The City Of Trees [WORLDBUILDING]
In Dreams of Trees : Ones And Zeroes
In Dreams of Trees : Laying The Trap
Saturday Story Prompts
In Dreams of Trees : When A Plan Comes Together
In Dreams of Trees : I Said What I Meant
In Dreams of Trees : And On The Eight Day
In Dreams of Trees : Pawn Takes Queen
In Dreams of Trees : In The Beginning
In Dreams of Trees : Lines In The Sand
In Dreams of Trees : Two Plus Two Is Apple
In Dreams of Trees : In The Pale Moonlight
In Dreams of Trees : All For One
In Dreams of Trees : Ask Me No Questions, I’ll Tell You No Lies
In Dreams of Trees : One Plus One Is Blue
In Dreams of Trees : Never
NaNoWriMo 2011 : Day 29
In Dreams of Trees : Good Intentions
In Dreams of Trees : Ghosts
In Dreams of Trees : Dance With Me
In Dreams of Trees : This Is How The World Ends
In Dreams of Trees : For The Good Of The One
In Dreams of Trees : The City Of Trees
In Dreams of Trees : A Bitter Kind Of Mercy
In Dreams of Trees : The End And The Beginning
NaNoWriMo 2011 : Day 30

December

Unlike previous NaNo’s, I was able to keep writing after the deadline had ended. It was on other projects, but it was still writing… I’m not sure if this means I’m becoming a better writer or if I’m just getting used to the demands of daily blogging. *ponders*

What I Learned from NaNoWriMo 2011
Saturday Story Prompts
Narrowing The Field
Planning Serial Stories for 2012
Saturday Story Prompts
Flinging Words at Paper (The Wolves We Are)
Saturday Story Prompts
It’s Not a Story Till Somebody Dies (The Wolves We Are)
Saturday Story Prompts
Perfect Never Comes

All in all, not a bad year!



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