What if your antagonist is a man-made virus that infects 90% of the world’s population? (a.k.a. the many joys of writing post-apocalyptic fiction)

In re-reading my notes for the manuscript I began writing a few months back, I realized that there just wasn’t enough tension to carry the story. Sure, life was kinda sucky considering a huge chunk of the populace died from a horrible disease. But now, the survivors have started to rebuild. There’s no threat on a daily basis anymore. Those who’re immune are obviously still alive, and those who weren’t are obviously, well, not. So now what?

I recently read a few really great post-apocalyptic novels in the name of “research.” Carrie Ryan’s “The Forest of Hands and Teeth” trilogy, and “Nightfall” by Ellen Connor. (“Nightfall” is also part of a trilogy, but I haven’t gotten to read the second or third books as of yet.) While the FoHaT trilogy is definitely post-apocalyptic, “Nightfall” starts up right in the thick of things. It shows the world starting to go to shit, which I thought was great. I want a little of that in my story as well.

“Nightfall” also gave me some inspiration for a better antagonist (or antagonistic force, since it’s not just one person/entity). In Connor’s novel, something happens to people when they are bit by other people who are “infected.” It doesn’t turn them into zombies, but it does make them into violent creatures who want to bite and infect others (or just eat them, depending on their mood lol). I realized my “virus” that killed off the majority of the world’s population can also do other things (like make people super cunning or extremely violent, etc.). This way, those who are immune to the virus aren’t necessarily “safe” after all. They still have to worry about the people who were infected but who didn’t die.

Now, I must come up with the nitty-gritty of how this virus/disease works. That’s gonna be the hard part, I think. But part of the joy of fiction is being able to just make shit up! That’s why I wanted to write sci-fi in the first place. I’m not stuck writing by the “rules” of the real world. None of that “that would never actually happen” crap. With science fiction, almost anything could happen! It opens up a whole new world of possibilities, which I love.

… BTW if anyone is actually reading this and wondering how I’m doing with my writing goals that I babbled on about in my last post, they were a big bust. I haven’t done any writing in the past 11 days. But yesterday I reaffirmed myself to WW (weight watchers) and today I am reaffirming myself to writing. I just signed up for the Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood’s Winter Writing Festival (yes, yet another writing challenge lol). Hopefully I’ll do much better at this challenge than the other two!!!! I’ll keep ya’ll posted    :)

How to Reach Those Goals (hint: we could all use some support!)

Yes, I know I just did a post about my goals last week. But it’s my party blog and I’ll cry write about goals again if I want to! Because I know written affirmations/reminders can be a huge help, and I can use all the help I can get!

Another thing that can be a huge help in achieving your goals is having a support system. Which is why I’ve signed up for Change Right Now, Kelly L. Stone’s 90 Day Writing Challenge, and ROW80. (I also just signed up for Sparkpeople, which is a FREE weight loss community, but I don’t know enough about it to give a recommendation yet.) Change Right Now is for writers who want to become healthier, both physically and mentally. Participants have been set up into teams, and each team will report their progress each week. I think being held accountable is a great motivator to get my butt in gear! Weight Watchers, here I come (again! LOL)!

ROW80 and Kelly’s Writing Challenge are basically the same (except Kelly’s challenge lasts 10 days longer, lol). You choose how much you want to write, and commit to reaching that goal every day until the challenge is over.  (Most people seem to be going with 500 words a day, from what I’ve seen so far. I haven’t decided on my daily number yet, but I definitely will by Monday!)

Change Right Now is no longer accepting participants, but you can still sign up ROW80 and/or Kelly’s 90 Day Writing Challenge if you’re interested!

For those of you that are more interested in revising your work in 2012, Merilee is holding a challenge at her blog, Not Enough Words. So be sure to check that out! She also has a great post about the importance of having a plan, which I found very helpful…  Another post I read recently that’s chock full of good advice regarding goals and planning is this one from Vicki Hinze. If you don’t already follow her blog, you might want to remedy that situation. She’s got a ton of good info for writers on there.

Well, that’s all for me for 2011, folks. I can’t believe another year has passed us by so fast. I wish all my readers the best in 2012. I’ll be back soon with an update on how I’m faring with my goals and challenges! Happy New Year everyone!

ETA: I just realized I never mentioned the grade I got in accounting II, for anyone who might be interested. I ended up with a C+, which isn't fabulous, but it's what I needed to get to be able to take a class next semester. And it coulda been a lot worse. But, I also ended up with 3 As and a B in my other classes, so that C+ was the worst of my grades! Go me!  ;-)

Where on Earth does the time go? Looking back on 2011…

Today is December 21. We’re less than two weeks away from saying good-bye to 2011 and hello to 2012. How the hell did this happen?

It's the time of year when most of us take a look back and reflect on what we have (or haven’t) accomplished over the past twelve months. I decided to reread a few of my blog entries from a year or so ago, and I found an entry from January where I shared my goals for the upcoming year.  They were:

•  finish, edit/revise and eventually query a (90,000 word) manuscript by the end of the year
•  lose weight (more specifically, lose 25 pounds by June)
•  get control over my spending
•  set up and stick to a blogging schedule
•  get my website operational

As it turns out, I didn’t reach ANY of those goals. I had almost 365 days to get sh*t done, and I blew it. Yes, I did go back to school. Yes, I did manage to complete 33 credits (11 classes) in 12 months, which means I’m only 11 credits away from graduating. But I had over three-hundred days at my disposal, and I couldn’t achieve even one of those five goals I set for myself at the beginning of this year. #completefail

Is it worth it to set the same exact goals for myself for a second year in a row? Is it sensible? Realistic? *shrug* What do I know? But those were my goals nearly a year ago, and they’re still my goals now. With a few minor adjustments for 2012, of course…

• finish, edit/revise and eventually query the post-apocalyptic manuscript I started in November (NaNo 11) by the end of the year
• lose weight (more specifically, lose 30 pounds by the time I leave for the destination wedding I’m going to in Puerto Rico in mid-May – might be a bit more difficult than last year’s goal, but it’s doable if I really work at it)
• get control over my spending  (a.k.a. GET A JOB ASAP and bring my overwhelming credit card debt down to a more manageable amount)
• set up and stick to a blogging schedule (where I’ll hopefully blog a lot more than once a month LOL)
• get my website operational (I’m debating taking a workshop on wordpress for beginners in Feb

I’m also adding one more goal: graduate from NCC with my associates in accounting (which hopefully should happen in December 2012).

As you can see, it’s quite obvious I need to step my game up BIG TIME in 2012... So who’s with me???  ;-)

Why I'm giving up on NaNo already

I quit (just nanowrimo, not writing altogether!). I've decided that my writing needs to go on the backburner right now, unfortunately. The accounting test that I mentioned in my last post? I got a 56 on it. Yep, that's bad. It brought my average in the class down to a D, and I need at least a C in this class or I won't be allowed into one of the classes I'm supposed to take next semester (which I need to take in order to graduate in May). There are only two more tests left to take in this class for the  semester, so if I don't do well on them I am pretty much screwed. On top of that mess, I have a test in my payroll tax class on Tuesday, a test in my income tax class on Thursday, a 2-3 page paper I need to finish by Wednesday night, and a group presentation I have to prepare for and do in class this Friday. So basically school is kicking my ass right now.

And right after Thanksgiving I need to start sending out my resume to any job that looks even halfway decent. My unemployment benefits run out the first week of January (unless the government passes an extension, which I'm so hoping for, but not counting on). I will have ZERO income unless I start working right away. It's not a good situation. I need to fix up my resume and get it out there asap, and then hopefully go on some interviews in December.

So unfortunately I am going to have to forget the idea of writing 50,000 words this month. I fell behind early, and it made me realize that I've got too much going on right now. I should've studied harder for that test I just failed (horribly). I am a slow writer, I can't bang out 1000+ words in an hour like some people can. And I'm way too easily distracted, which is something I need to work on - but not right now lol.

I'm definitely going to keep working on this manuscript because I actually like my story idea and I like my main characters. But I don't plan on having it finished in the next month or two. I did manage to get 8190 words written in the past two weeks (which is probably 8190 more words than I would've written if it weren't for NaNo, heh) so for that I'm glad. As an eternal Mets fan would say, there's always next year! 

How are all my readers who chose to do NaNo this year doing? Are you sticking with it? And those of you who chose not to do it this year, are you regretting your decision or are you glad you chose to skip it this year?

My NaNoWriMo Progress: Week One

Five days into NaNoWriMo and I've written 5,659 words. I'm behind by a few thousand words, but I'm not too concerned... not yet at least. On day one I managed to hit the daily target plus 50 words, which I was thrilled about. I missed the 1667 daily goal on days 2 and 3 thanks to school, headaches and bad moods (not necessarily in that order lol). Yesterday I managed to play catch up and rocked my word count with 2,467 words (yes that's "rocking it" for me!). But today I woke up late, went to the dog park, then out to dinner, to the bookstore, and to the mall. By the time I got home from all of that, I had a nice migraine to keep me company. Two hours (and two excedrin) later my migraine has dulled but not completely disappeared, and has left me feeling exhausted when it's not even 10 pm yet.

I'm hoping I'll start to feel better in a little while, or at least better enough to bang out a few hundred words on my story so I don't have a day 5 word count of ZERO. Also I don't consider midnight to be the end of a day since I never go to bed before midnight. To me the day ends when I go to sleep, so my stats on the nano site are a bit off from my stats on my wonderful Excel tracker spreadsheet. So even if I don't feel better 'till 1 a.m. and don't do any writing 'till then, in my mind they'll still be day 5 words.

Either way I will have to start having more big word count days. This week is going to be rough b/c I have an accounting test on Wednesday that I really need to study for. And I have a group project to work on for another one of my classes, and we have to meet outside of class to work on it (which I'm thrilled about, of course). But at least I don't have class on Friday since it's Veterans' Day. Hopefully having a 3 day weekend will be helpful.

That's about it for me. Anyone else reading this and doing nano? How's your wordcount? And to those who are reading this and not doing nano, how hard are you laughing at those of us who voluntarily signed up for this torture???  *wink*