Sugar Maples - one of my favorite trees.Becky is one of my first blogger friends since 2007. She is also doing NaNo this year and recently blogged about something I didn't realize just might be a NaNo phenomenon. It's called...
NaNo Nesting!
Do you suffer from NaNo Nesting? Becky's desk is just so and she
even outlined! (Sorry, Becky... I outed you.) It was last NaNo that I wrote my very first outline as well, always believing previously that I was an "organic writer." Organic shorganic. When you are writing fast, you need an outline. You don't want to turn up to your computer and waste precious moments trying to figure out your MC's next motivational turn. But this is not about outlining or organic writing. This is about NESTING and like Becky, I am beginning to feel the pangs of needing to nest...On my list of preparation for NaNo is cleaning my house if you can believe that or not. I want to wash my floors, dust, organize, recycle, get rid of clutter, do a very thorough vacuum in those nooks and crannies sometimes forgotten....
It's not just about the outline, it's preparing for a life event. Like I am saying to my family, Look, I'm not really going to be available the whole month of November. You may see my body sitting here in front of my computer, but I will only be a figment of your imagination. The house is clean now - keep it that way!
That's not to say I won't drag the vacuum or scrub a toilet or sink for the entire month of November. Ewwww. That would be gross! And it's not to say that I won't be there to share meals with my family, help with homework, or tuck my kids in, BUT...
NaNo is like preparing for a birth, isn't it? Becky's already named hers. Me, I'm still kicking around a few ideas but nothing rolls off the tongue quite right.
...If only there was a baby naming book for books...
Do you nest before beginning a new book or a new draft? When I finish a draft, I always purge my office before beginning a new draft. But NaNo just seems, well, bigger. And so my purging has extended beyong these four walls.
What about you? Do you NaNo nest?
(I wonder if next year part of my nesting preparation will include making meals ahead of time and freezing them.... Now, that's an idea! NaNo 2010, look out! By then, I will have this down to a science.)
(I wonder if next year part of my nesting preparation will include making meals ahead of time and freezing them.... Now, that's an idea! NaNo 2010, look out! By then, I will have this down to a science.)
9 comments:
This is my very first year participating in NaNo and now I feel like I need to re-evaluate my prepping! So far I've bought a notebook and started to outline my story. That's it! I guess I need a few years' experience to really know what I should do in my own nesting process :)
Yes, I'm nesting. I'm trying to finish up revisions on my current WIP and get my house in order. I haven't outlined yet, because I've never done so, but based on everyone's, and I mean everyone's, opinion, I should. I've got a meager one in my head, but I'll nail it down next week.
Ha! I've never thought about it in those terms before, but that's a great analogy.
Great post ... and, by the way, that top picture of the sugar maples is GORGEOUS!!!
Julie, welcome! Listen, don't worry. NaNo is different for everyone. Your first year you will find your footing. Just remember, on average, to reach 50,000 you need to write 1,667 words a day. Some days you'll write more, some less. But that helps to have that number in your head. And good luck!
Susan, isn't it so funny that we are all trying to get our houses in order for NaNo? I wonder if NaNo realizes just how much they've affected us writers? And as far as the outline goes, for me, it's just so helpful so you don't waste time with writer's block. That's not to say that your outline can't and won't change. It's loose but keeps you on track.
Amy, are you NaNo nesting? Are you doing NaNo this year?
Hey, Kelly, thanks and thanks! That is not my driveway, btw... but it is a driveway to a house. The story goes, he built it to match identically to a house in France for his wife who was homesick but you can't see it from the road...
Love and NaNo will make you do strange things...
Sheri,
After reading your recent blog entry, I fell into a state of panic. Super-cleaning? Nesting? Outlining? Isn't it enough that I have a revision to finish by Friday and still have 140 pages to go and now I will have to stay up all hours of the night on my hands and knees scrubbing,then dusting, and cooking meals to store in my freezer and . . .
Clearly, I can't live up to your standards, but I vacummed this evening in your honor, right after I came home from the grocery store. The cabinets are well stocked with canned soup and peanut butter and jelly and anything else my sweet husband can eat when he has to fend for himself in the month of November.
Betsy
Betsy, you made me laugh outloud!
I don't mind you quoting me, Sheri. I'm honored!
I'm past the nesting stage and now I'm just...waiting.
Well, get ready to push, Becky, because here....we....go!!!!!!!!
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