NaNoWriMo Diary

“Writing a book is like having an empty pool in the yard and every day going out and throwing in a cup of water to fill it.” - Bethany Ball

This is my second year doing NaNoWriMo aka National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. I got a late start last year and got nowhere near to completing a full novel. It was still a good experience. I took a story that I had been thinking about for years and started writing it down. By doing that I discovered new things and got much farther into the story than I had by just thinking about it. It’s still not finished but I have a better idea of what I need to do to finish it. 

I have new goals for this year. A higher word count than last year. Break last year’s streak of writing seven days in a row. Finish a collection of four short stories.

I've been keeping a journal for the last couple of years. What follows are the notes I took regarding NaNoWriMo this year.

Friday, November 1st

Starbucks before work. Got started on NaNoWriMo. Wrote some more after work. Not as much as I had hoped for. Oh well. Something is better than nothing.

Saturday, November 2nd

Starbucks before work again. Got some more writing done. Drank my first gingerbread latte of the year. My favorite seasonal coffee at Starbucks. It's so good but made me sleepy. I usually just drink plain coffee. Damn you seasonal sugary drinks with milk.

Wanted to meet up with a good friend for beers after work. Still recovering from a cold. Bowed out and stopped in at Starbucks on the way home. Got more writing one.

The new NaNoWriMo website is pretty buggy. Didn't have this much trouble last year. Pretty disappointing.

Sunday, November 3rd

Off today. Slept in. Didn't get any writing done until the evening. Headed to Baird Beer's Takadanobaba Taproom. My favorite brewery in Japan. Got some writing done. Would have written more but I wound up spending a lot of time talking to a new staff member. Good beer, good conversation, got some writing done. Was a pretty good evening.

Monday, November 4th

Day off. Got up early. Well, early for me. Set alarm for 6:30 a.m. Finally got up at 7:00 a.m. Got breakfast at McDonalds. Coffee at Starbucks. Read some Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro manga. Started reading Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Finally got some writing one.

Stopped by my favorite craft beer bar later in the day. Watering Hole in Shinjuku. Got more writing done. Moving forward.

Tuesday, November 5th

Back to work today. Didn't get any writing done before going in. Dinner at Saizeriya after work. Cheap (but delicious) Italian food, cheap red wine, and brilliant writing. Well okay, two out of three. The wine had an effect, I think. It may have loosened me up but...

Wednesday, November 6th

Early shift at work. Tried to get some writing done before work. Didn't really have much time but decided to give it a try. Just jotted some ideas down. Up to this point I had an idea of where I wanted the story to go. Not sure what's going to happen next. Kind of scary.

Did some more writing after work. Was nervous about writing. Heading into new territory. Going beyond what I had thought about so far. Took a while for me to get started. Finally jumped in. After a couple of false starts the words came. The words came and the story moved forward. It felt so damn good. Still have a lot more to do but I feel more confident about it now. 

Thursday, November 7th

Coffee at Starbucks before work.  Got some writing done. Didn’t get up early enough to get a lot done. Not a lot of time but I felt like I had to do something before I headed to work. No dialogue or anything. Just started typing ideas of what’s going to happen next. Or what may happen next. Not exactly sure. It was like sketching. Moving the pencil across the page to see what shapes will show up. Instead of sketching lines on paper trying to find shapes, I was typing words trying to find the direction of the story. It felt good.

Did some more writing after work. Lost all the confidence from last night and this morning. Nervous about where to take the story next. 

Friday, November 8th

Got some writing done before work. Not sure what scenes to write next, how to move the story forward. Started brainstorming and writing down possibilities. That led me to remembering a scene I had thought about last night on my walk home from my station. 

Sat down to do some writing after work. Doubts again about where to take the story. Not sure where I’m going. Focused on brainstorming. Just writing stuff down. Watched Kurt Vonnegut’s The Shape of Stories on YouTube for inspiration. 

Saturday, November 9th

Got a late start on writing. Saw an early show of Joker. Wasn’t expecting to like it but I thought it was brilliant. Started writing in the evening at my favorite craft beer bar. Not a high word count again but got some plotting done which helped move the story forward. Now I have a better idea of what dialogue to write. Finally named two characters. Coming up with the right names was a breakthrough.  

Sunday, November 10th

Worked overtime today. Early start and busy for the entire day. Couldn’t get any writing done until the evening. Was pretty beat and was tough to get started. Once I got going it wasn’t too bad. Was happy that I got something done.

Monday, November 11th

Didn’t get up early enough to get any writing done today. Yesterday was a long day. Went to Saizeriya for dinner and writing. Was stressed at first but was able to overcome it and get started. Once again, I was wondering about how to move the story forward. Once I actually started writing some ideas came to me. Finished up and headed home. Thought of some new ideas on the walk home from my station. Ideas came to me on that walk the last few nights. I just need to figure out how to get to those points into the story from where I am right now.

I realize now that I come up with a lot of ideas on my walk home from my station. Always on the walk home, not in the morning on the way to the station. The walk home in the evening, after work, seems to be the best time for ideas to flow. 

Tuesday, November 12th

Got a good night’s sleep. Got a little writing done before heading to work. I didn’t have much time though, so I almost didn’t write. Then I thought even just a few lines will do. I’m thinking I need to do more of these micro writing sessions if I’m going to increase my word count. That and getting up earlier. Busy day at work. I didn’t have much time during lunch, but I managed to get some writing done. I prefer writing on my laptop but when I don't have much time or I'm on the go, writing on my phone works. Saizeriya for dinner. Got a little more writing done. The micro sessions worked well. It adds up.

Wednesday. November 13th

Micro session at Starbucks before work. Working out of the office today so ate out for lunch. Another micro session. Dinner at Saizeriya. More writing.

Recently it’s been hard to get started. Work has been busy, and I had two one day weekends. Will have a long weekend later this month and will be taking a trip. I’m at a point in my story where I’ve written down most of what I had planned out in my head. At this point what I come up with is all new. Writing every day and trying to increase the word count is a little stressful. One thing that really helped is telling myself, “Just write one sentence. That’s all you have to do. One sentence.” It’s helped. I started telling myself this when I’ve been too tired to write. It’s motivated me to get started. Getting started has often been the hard part. There were a couple of times where I just wrote a couple of lines but in most cases, I’ve written a more. I have a low word count, but I’ve increased it every day and the first story is moving forward. Plus: I broke last year’s word count. Woo hoo! 

Thursday, November 14th

Was planning on writing in Starbucks before heading into work. The building Starbucks is in is closed today. No writing before work today. Too busy at work so no writing at lunch. Good session after work.

Friday, November 15th

Got in a little writing before work. Nothing during lunch. Dinner and writing at Saizeriya. Not as much as I would have liked but I got into a groove. As usual I was hesitant to get started. Tired after work, not quite sure what’s going to happen next, etc. Reminded myself of my new mantra, just write one sentence. It got me to start, and I wrote 302 words. Not a lot but more than none. I hit 5000 words in total. Woo hoo! My next goal is writing for 21 days in a row. Next after that is to hit 10,000 words. I can do this! Next: NaNoWriMo Diary Part 2

Inktober Thoughts

"The muscles of writing are not so visible, but they are just as powerful: determination, attention, curiosity, a passionate heart." - Natalie Goldberg I've been doing the Inktober art challenge for six years. The challenge is to do one ink drawing a day for the month of October. People are encouraged to share their progress on social media. Artist Jake Parker started the challenge in 2009 as a way to improve his inking skills and develop good drawing habits.

One of the things I like about the challenge is that the rules are flexible. Mr. Parker gives alternatives if you find doing one drawing a day too time consuming. Post every other day or post once a week. Whatever you decide to do, just be consistent. 

I was really motivated my first year. I went all in and did thirty-one drawings in 2013. I dropped down to twelve in 2014. I did even less in 2015, only doing three. I brought that up to eighteen in 2016. Then in 2017 shot back up to thirty-one. I did thirty-one again in 2018 and 2019.

There are a number of things that I like about Inktober. It got me drawing more and it got me drawing regularly. Before I started Inkotober I almost always drew in pencil. This challenge got me using a variety of markers, brush pens, and sketch books. This led to me to trying new drawing techniques. I still have a long way to go but I feel the challenge has really helped me grow as an artist. Much more than the shelves and shelves of “how to draw” art books that I’ve collected over the years. Man, I’m a sucker for those books. I get excited when I see a new one, buy it, and then put it on the shelf with the others. Inktober got me to put in the work. 

Inktober does have some down sides. It can be pretty stressful trying to do thirty-one inked drawings. Although the rules are flexible, I pushed myself to do all thirty-one for the last three years. Work, life, and the unexpected can make it difficult to keep going and you can wind up stressing yourself out. Checking out some of the amazing art some people post can be a little demotivating. You have to remember not to compare yourself. I’ve also found that I still don’t draw enough throughout the rest of the year. I need to start carrying my sketchbook around again. 

As October approached this year, I wasn’t sure what kind of drawings I was going to do. I had a vague idea of telling a story one panel a day, but I never got beyond the thinking stage. Then a good friend of mine recommended doing a Yokai a day. Yokai are a class of monsters, spirits, and demons in Japanese folklore. I first learned about them through the anime and manga, Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro by Shigeru Mizuki, years and years ago. The idea grabbed me because there are tons of Yokai and it sounded fun. It also got me reading the English translations of Kitaro which I’m really enjoying. 

I’m looking forward to the challenge again next year. I’m not sure what I’ll be drawing and I’m not sure if I’ll attempt thirty-one drawings again. I am sure that I’ll learn something new though, and I’ll have fun doing it.

Next: My NaNoWriMo Diary 

The Tiger Notebook

“Work inspires creation. Keep working. If you succeed, keep working. If you fail, keep working. If you’re interested, keep working. If you’re bored, keep working.” - Michael Crichton 

One day, years ago when I was so very young, I decided that I wanted to be a writer. So I bought a notebook. It couldn’t just be any notebook though. I chose carefully. 

In those days my parents bought all my school supplies at drug stores like Eckerds, or retail stores like Kmart and Target. I may have been with my parents or I may have walked out of our suburban housing complex and hiked up the hill to the outside world, and entered Eckerds on my own. The memories are hazy, I’m not exactly sure.

What I am sure of is walking up and down the stationery aisle checking out the notebooks. I found a spiral notebook with a photo of a tiger on the cover. It spoke to me. I knew it was the right one. 

I bought that notebook and told myself I was going to fill it with stories. So I started writing one and two page short stories. The first story was titled “A Tale of Two Planets.” Two worlds reach for the stars, meet, and chaos ensues. It was pretty simple stuff, but it was fun. 

I’m not exactly sure why I chose that notebook. Maybe it was because I love animals and I’ve always liked tigers. One of my favorite toys was a tiger figure that I had bought at the Frankfurt zoo. In hindsight though, I think it was also because the tiger represented my fierce desire to be a writer. I really, really wanted to write. 

I quit after three stories. I guess you could say life got in the way. It turned out that I wasn’t as fierce as the tiger on the cover of the notebook. But that’s a story for another time. 

In any case, here I am now. Years later. 

Writing. 

Next: Inktober Reflections 

Going Monthly

“You start by imitating others, there is lack of clarity, there are many reasons to fail. But there is a seed that slowly grows.” - Octavio Paz

When I was thirteen years old I went from drawing one page comics to making my own comic book. My stories were about the adventures of a martian named Green Cheese. I titled my comic Green Cheese Magazine. I drew a couple of one page stories and one longer story. One of the one pagers was a continuing story. I also wrote a fact page about space exploration. Finally, I added a contents page and a cover. The covers were simple affairs. I spent the least amount of time on those. I drew a rocket ship logo in the corner with the name of my imaginary comic book company, Galaxy Comics. I wrote the title and drew in a headshot and some spaceships. I did this all in pencil on notebook paper. Once I had enough for one issue, I put the pages in order and stapled them down the side. When I was done I got started on the next issue. I did this for one year and two months. I made fourteen issues. 

In hindsight I realize that I based the design of my comic book on the Scholastic magazines I was reading at the time. I have really fond memories of the Scholastic Book Club at school. I bought my first paperbacks through that book club. I also bought the Scholastic magazine, Dynamite, regularly. Each issue had a combination of articles, jokes, games, and comic strips. My favorite section was titled Superheroes Confidential which presented the origins of Marvel and DC superheroes in two pages of comics and a fact page. The covers featured characters from popular television shows. 

I still have every issue of Green Cheese Magazine. I went through them all recently and it brought back a lot of memories. The first thing I noticed was the huge influence television had on my storytelling. In the fifth issue I have a story titled “The Six Million Dollar Martian.” The sixth issue has a page of Martian ship designs all with Enterprise like nacelles from Star Trek. In the eighth issue I have a story titled “The Planet Eater” based on the Star Trek episode “The Doomsday Machine.” In another issue I have a story titled “The Space Station Z-1 Catastrophe” based on the first episode of Space: 1999.

My magazine went through some changes. My space exploration fact page became a joke page. That's right, from serious to silly. To me they were both important. I didn’t come up with my own jokes. I copied them from joke books and comic strips. I always added a credit though! When I tired of that I switched to a comic strip page. I cut out my favorite strips from the newspaper and taped or glued them on a page. I was looking for ways to keep the page count up and to make sure I got an issue completed every month. 

I’ve often looked back at this time in my life fondly. But in flipping through all fourteen issues recently something struck me, something that I hadn’t remembered before. Progression. As I put out out more and more issues I tried new things. I included a fold out poster in one issue. Another issue was a special all-color issue written and drawn in colored pencils. The biggest progression was in my art. I tried drawing new angles. I started added more details to panels. In one of the last stories I tried to put in as much detail in every single panel, including a full page battle scene. Nobody was pushing me to do this. I did it on my own.

I have yet to match this kind of creative output. Obviously I had a lot more free time as a kid but I had also had a stronger desire to create regularly. The closest I’ve come is this blog. I’ve been posting now for nine months. As I write this I realize that having some kind of schedule, some kind of deadline, even if it’s self-imposed, really goes a long way in getting creative things done.  Next: The Tiger Notebook

From Playing to Creating

“Imagine it, create it.” - Toni Morrison

When I was about ten years old, I decided to draw a comic. Up to that point I had spent my free time watching TV, reading comic books, and building model kits. I had tried my hand at making a comic book once before, two issues of my own Star Trek comic book. This time was different. It was my own creation and I wasn’t tracing panels from other comic books. Where did this come from? It started with playing outside.

Playing at the neighborhood pool one day, my friend and I pretended that we were defending Earth from an invasion from Mars. We sat on the ground and threw our beach blankets over our heads. Instant jet fighter cockpit. Then we took off and blasted flying saucers out of the sky. We were good, but not good enough. The Martian leader got away to fight another day. 

I named the Martian leader Green Cheese. That’s right, Green Cheese. As in “the moon is made of geen cheese.” But he’s from Mars. Kid logic.

Instead of fighting the Martians again ourselves, we started acting out their adventures with toys. We built airplanes, flying saucers, and a base to be destroyed. When the carnage was complete we rebuilt everything and started over. This was my first exposure to what would become one of my favorite childhood toys, Lego. 

To add to the fun I took some pieces from a board game and used them as the Martians. They fit perfectly in little spaces I made in the ships. 

  

Pretty soon the storyline changed. After a few attacks we modified things. The Martians were no longer the bad guys. They became good guys exploring strange new worlds.

While that was fun, it came to a point where I wanted to do more. I now had the desire to draw comics about Green Cheese the Martian. I found everything I needed from my school supplies. I grabbed pencils, loose leaf notebook paper, and a ruler. I drew eight panels on a page then filled them in with a title, art, and word balloons. One page, one story. It was some crude, poorly drawn, silly stuff. But it was so much fun. As soon as I finished one, I got busy on the next one. I started experimenting with panel sizes. One page stories turned into longer stories, each page ending with a cliffhanger. 

No doubts, no hesitation. Just the drive to create. That’s something I’m trying to recapture these days. 

Next: Going monthly! 

Consuming vs. Creating

“Don’t just plan to write - write. It is only by writing, not dreaming about it, that we develop our own style.” - P.D. James

A good friend of mine recently told me that he was thinking about how he should stop ingesting material and start writing. Consuming vs. creating is something I’ve been fighting with all my life. There’s always something else to read or watch. 

It you really want to create, there comes a time when you need to stop consuming and start creating. But then the doubts start. Do I have enough experience? Will it be good enough? Should I read/watch/study a little longer before I try to create something? 

I’ve learned that you need to just start. You have to have the confidence that you have enough experience, that you have consumed enough for now, and that you have something to say. But it takes takes effort and concentration. It’s much easier to sit back and consume, especially when everyday responsibilities take up so much of our time and energy. 

For the longest time I convinced myself that I would eventually get around to creating. The idea that I would just consume a little more now, and create later was comforting. Then things changed. It’s different for everyone. For me it was getting older and my father falling ill. He recovered but it made me reflect on life like I had never before. Then just as I got started, just as I was getting into a rhythm, the death of my father stopped me in my tracks. It was pretty hard getting started again. Life hits hard. 

Consuming good material is awesome and it serves a purpose. You turn the last page or watch the end credits scroll up, and you think, wow, that was amazing. I get a different feeling finishing my own work. It feels even better. But then the doubt comes back into play. That’s the next thing to overcome. Comparing. Understanding that it can’t compare to what influenced you, and that it’s okay if it’s not as good. The important thing is to finish it. Whatever it is, a story, a comic book, a zine, or a blog post. Finish it. 

Then start the next one.