Thinking of Doing NaNo This Year

Usually I find it impossible to do NaNoWriMo. The restrictive rules and timing make it impossible to integrate into an existing writing plan -- you have to start something "new," you can't start ahead of time, etc.

However, this year some things have happened that have completely knocked me out of writing (and pretty much every other project) for a while.  So most of my creative work is on the shelf. I have been concentrating lately on nonfiction -- writing a history of my great great grandmother and her family -- but this requires long, slow, meticulous research and I could use a break from that.

In the meantime -- just as something to break up the long sessions of combing through page after page of census forms -- I rolled a "game story" and had an interesting result.

Actually, it was interesting because it was supremely uninteresting. That is, I rolled elements that, when put together, they were an old cliché.  First I groaned and considered re-rolling.... but as I sat there looking at what came up, I thought;

This looks like an old, lesser-known (and deservedly so) Loretta Young movie.

But to be honest, I kinda like old lesser-known Loretta Young movies, and often wish I could revise the stupid-factor on some of them.

I'm not really writing a Space Thriller.

So, I have decided that I will write this.  I'm just not sure if I'll do it now.In October, I'm doing two things, well, three.  (Okay four, if you count the continued reading through of the Census rolls for Steuben County New York from 1840-1865.)

1.) A cover for proposed book. I have a concept, shown here. It is actually likely to be significantly different.  The title, whether the broken stair fits the story, and I was just noodling with the background there - I'd like something more angular and Mid-Century Modern-ish. (And less Space Opera-ish.)

2.) A drawing of Loretta Young and maybe some others. This is to get my drawing skills back in gear, and to get my mind thinking on the kind of story I'm writing, but also because I want to start drawing "character cards" for another game.  Which means I'll probably do more than one -- a "realistic" one and then some more stylized and caricature things.

3.) An Xtreme Outline for this story.

When the time comes to put up or shut up, I'll decide if I want to do NaNo, or if I have diverted myself enough and I want to get back to the biography of Nancy Ann Vinson, née York, and the Steuben County (and various Michigan) censuses.

See you in the funny papers.