On a personal note

On a personal note, I decided to go out on a limb and really challenge myself this year.  Shortly before November, I had a dream about four characters who were living in an abandoned warehouse (I later changed this to an abandoned 7-11) during a post disaster, futuristic time.  The four characters, who were not previously known to one another or related in any way, were completely dependent on one another for survival.  One day they decided to stop merely surviving and attend the local community college.  When I woke up, the characters were still so vivid and real, I decided to try my hand at science fiction - nothing too crazy, just four characters in their late teens trying to survive in the not so distant future.  Due to their circumstances, they had very limited access to any technology, so I thought,  perhaps I could pull it off.

Now it is two weeks into NaNoWriMo and I can say without any doubt, I suck at science fiction.   (I know, I know, you’re surprised!)  In  fact, I’m so bad at it, that I’m lagging farther behind in my wordcount than I ever have before.  Today, in order to make up for time, I sent my four characters to Club Retro to attend a concert in which a 1990s Ska tribute band, Unholy Genius, performs.  They play songs from Madness, No Doubt, Save Ferris, and Reel Big Fish.  This scene has been the most fun to write so far and I got 5,512 words out of it.  So much for my career in Sci Fi!

Where did the time go?

Well, it's the end of week two already and I have neglected to update this blog in the crazy rush to get NaNoWriMo 2010 rolling!

We spent two weeks in October prewriting, which went much more smoothly than last year.  My eighth graders consistently griped and complained.  We have to do this again?!  Once we hit November first, the eighth graders were off and running, with double and triple their goals from last year, keeping pace without a problem.

My sevies are struggling a little more than my students did last year.  I've started individual writing conferences and here's the problem:  they are worrying way too much about their stories!  Rather than writing a lot of nonsense, which is what last year's sevies did, this year's sevies are much more concerned about plot (as well as spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.)  Little by little, we're working them out of the worry.  It helps a ton that I have an assistant and a student teacher as well as thirty or so volunteers.  Oh, and a lot of Halloween candy!  Daily wordcount challenges and Word Wars competitions for candy are boosting those wordcounts.   We're entering the second half of NaNoWriMo slightly behind in our wordcounts (me included), but we're gaining momentum and excited for the upcoming week.