:momentum:

After spending damn near the entire month of November writing, I took some understandably needed down time this month. But I've been fearful that I was losing some of the crazy momentum that I gained then, as I haven't really produced anything creatively this month, other than finishing up a last (?) shot from October's photoshoot. It's said that we are often our own worst critic or enemy, and I'm a perfect example of that.

So I set aside an hour to just draw whatever in my sketchbook yesterday, and at times it was difficult to pull images out of my head, which worries me a bit, but also I try too hard to make even sketches be near-finished concept-wise. It's kind of sad that I actually haven't done much sketching this year, especially since I succeeded in filling a sketch-a-day book last year. Just have to work those muscles again.

 

Truth be told, I've been more focused on photography for the latter half of the year, so I shouldn't be kicking myself. And while I'm pleased with the results from this year, and others seem to be as well, I know I still have so much to learn.

What with the year coming to the end there are of course thoughts of what the next year will bring. I'm sure I'll do a review of this one first. I met some goals, and others only partially. But at least I keep coming up with things to talk about or show on here.

The next two Wednesdays are holiday eves, woop dee doo, so  hopefully I'll be able to post even a little something.

:interim:

I gave out copies of the first draft of my NaNoWriMo novel out to the people who requested it last week. No comments about it yet, either they haven't finished or started reading it, or it's so awful that they're afraid to tell me. Nah, I know it's not awful. I shan't bug them about it.

After spending so much of the last month in intense creativity, I was a bit afraid to get a bit lax and feel the need to get on to another project. I went back to the shots from the October photoshoot to see if there were more to work on. I got one more out, seen below, I think that'll do it, for just straight photos, that is. I may use some shots as reference for works in other media. I got 13 good shots out of it, that's a record for me so far!

The photos that I've shared online (on Model Mayhem, deviantArt, and a few other photo sites) have gotten good responses and comments. Also good ones for the shoot that I did in the summer. The model from that one finally got back to me, and curiously her critique has been the only one with negative comments that I've heard so far. I reminded her that it was an extremely rushed shoot, due to a rapidly setting sun and avoiding a police officer, so I couldn't exactly set up each shot perfectly. Oh well, you can't please everybody.

Toni Halliday from Curve, Boston, MA, 1992

In other photography-related meanderings, recently I participated in one of those "post something on Facebook" requests, this one asked for 5 days of black & white photos, and I dug way back in time for mine. It reminded me of how many live shows that I used to go to and try and photograph at (didn't use flash back then either), and of course this makes me want to return to black & white again, like I've said I plan to anyway with the above model. I think I'll try and see what differences there are, if any, between film and digital.

:nanowrimo final week:

Well, somehow I managed to complete the novel for NaNoWriMo, and a day before the deadline. I attempted to do some writing while at Thanksgiving, but no, that wasn't happening there, so I had a lot of catching up to do. I don't think I did anything on Friday & Saturday other than write with breaks taken to eat.

I mainly did it as a creative exercise, to try and use my creativity in other ways. I'm real happy with the results, in that I went into it with the vaguest of ideas and characters and somehow made a story out of it. I don't know how far I'll take this one, I'll certainly try some revisions, but I don't know if it's worthy of shopping around for publication. I'm already thinking of next year, of perhaps finishing the story I didn't complete last time, unless that's "cheating" to have a head start? We'll see.

It was good but also exhausting to focus on nothing but that for a month. I got to know the local Starbucks stores and libraries real well, used mainly for their WiFi, and just getting out of the house. I'd like to try and keep this sort of momentum, if not so intense, for my other creative pursuits.

I'll certainly return to look at shots from the October photoshoot, to see if there are others to work on. I've already got ideas for my next one. I'm pretty sure it'll be all black & white for starters. The shot below has proven to be the most popular one so far in the places online that I've posted it to.

Also finding creativity in music, both in DJing and making a mix for an upcoming party that has been an annual thing amongst people I know since I moved to Boston. Ever since I was younger making cassette ones, even if it was just for myself, I'd go all out on the packaging. That's something I think we've lost in the digital/download age. I certainly grew up dreaming that I'd be making album cover art. Nowadays it's usually not much larger than a CD cover, even with the resurgence of vinyl, so they probably aren't designed with much detail if they're going to be so small. But I still do it:

Another thing I found different, was in selecting songs for the mix, it's different than scanning your collection, reading the spines of them on shelves or seeing the cover art than reading a list of songs on your computer. I'll admit it's easier to preview the songs, but something was missing. And considering how large my collection has gotten, it's overwhelming at times, just trying to figure out what song should be next.

:nanowrimo week four:

In the home stretch of NaNoWriMo now, I'm at 43,500 words tonight, and we're supposed to reach 50,000 by Sunday night, the 30th. I'm pretty confident that I'll make it, although it helps that I won't be back at the dayjob until Monday. I do have to deal with Thanksgiving tomorrow, though. We'll see how the folks deal with me working on the laptop after the meal. But it'll be better than vegging out. I'd probably end up watching MST3K's Turkey Day instead anyway.

With excellent timing, I'm just hitting the real dark part of the story that I've been putting off for too long, perhaps. Why? I've grown attached to the main character, and now I don't want these awful things to happen to her. Crazy how that happens. I've also found that I really enjoy writing dialogue, because it's now flowing from the characters mouths so easily. I've even had random people come up to them just so I can write more. I'm sure some editor will say, "what was the point of that scene??"

I also found myself choosing locales for the visual aspect, thinking, how would this look if it were a movie, but I'm getting waaaay ahead of myself there, of course. I had the main character go to New Orleans for no real reason other than for a change of scenery. Ideally she'd have gone to England, but I've never been there. So I got to revisit my memories of New Orleans with her.

So next week should hopefully be the wrap-up of all this then we're heading back to visual art.

:nanowrimo week three:

For NaNoWriMo I passed the halfway mark of 25,000 words this past week, just at around 31,000 as of tonight, on the way to 50,000 by months end. I fully expect that I'll still be working on it with the laptop at the folks' house on Thanksgiving. 

I had a few other challenges this week, one chapter had a bar fight in it, and I've never really been in a fight, eight years of taekwondo doesn't really count, so I had to imagine quite a bit there. Also challenging was a chapter that involved seduction, and probably too much information for you here, but it's been several years since I could draw from my own life for that, so once again to my fevered imagination. Also challenging since it was from a woman's perspective.

Since I needed to spend every spare moment writing, I've withdrawn from the almighty Facebook for a bit, but truth be told, I was hitting a wall with it as it is. The signal to noise ratio was definitely more noise, and I was getting tired of reading things that I couldn't unsee. I obviously had a lot more time to work without it, and I'd like to see if I can keep that going as much as possible after the writing's done. But it's a sad reality that most people primarily communicate this way, so who knows what I've missed since they don't tell you in person much anymore, and I wonder if my absence was even noticed by many.

I definitely often suffer from the Fear Of Missing Out, and Facebork takes advantage of that. But if I don't see it, then I won't know what I'm missing. I also won't see people showing me how much better their lives are than mine. Oh, there must be a happy medium here. But it's frightening how much power we've allowed social media to have over our lives.

:nanowrimo week 2:

I hit just over 18,000 words tonight. According to NaNoWriMo, I should be at 20,000 to be on track to finish by the end of the month, but I do more writing on the weekends, so I hope to catch up then.

I've taken my laptop out and done the cliche thing and been writing in coffee shops, with varied results, depending on the locations and sometimes the denizens. Thank goodness for headphones. A side effect has been me reeking of coffee, and I don't drink the stuff, so it's more obvious to me. Last weekend I tried libraries, those were a bit better, although I've found that there's a least one crazy person who seems to live there, busy muttering paranoid things and working on their manifestos.

I'm still not sure how it's going to become novel-length, it's kind of writing itself at this point. The two characters I'm using now have quite some banter going on. I've also had to go to some dark places. One scene was with a serial killer, so I had to channel my own Hannibal Lector. Another took place in a hospice and I actually made myself cry, I was remembering my grandmother and other incidents.

Onwards!

:nanowrimo week one:

Technically it's only been five days, but close enough. I'm just under 7,000 words so far. Some people are already above 10,000, but I think perhaps some of them don't have day jobs in the way. I've been taking my laptop to work to do some writing on my limited break time. Every little bit helps.

I also went out with my laptop on the weekend to try to live the cliche and work in coffee shops. I went to various ones, with various success, depending on the ambience and such. Like at work, thank goodness for headphones. I reeked of coffee by the end of the day, though, and I've never drank the stuff.

I'm still setting up characters and themes. Right now if you read it you wouldn't know who the main characters are, although I know at least two of them so far. Still not sure how I'm going to stretch it to novel length. I've definitely read my share of stories that could've been much shorter.

Since a lot of it has to do with extreme emotions, I've tried to put myself in the mindset of the different characters to write them better, and it's not always been pleasant. I've drawn from personal experiences and others that I've observed.

Already my eyes are going buggy from this so I have to pace myself better. Although obviously the weekend will have to be marathon sessions to catch up.