I’m back

I made it through Missouri Hope. The grand total was 135 role-players in 240 roles (some did multiple slots) over three days. In other words, a lot of work. I would call it the most intense weekend of my year, because I tend not to schedule intense work on weekends. I need my weekends to relax and write.

I have to admit the past couple posts were mainly to keep from losing my record, which is either 70 days or 90-something. The record-keeping software on WordPress has a glitch somewhere, and I don’t know whether the higher or the lower number is the glitched one.

Now is time to recover and work on getting ready for November. I will be writing my latest Kringle novel in the month of November with a goal of 50k words. I will not be participating in NaNoWriMo, for reasons I’ve laid out here. The wheel of the year keeps turning, with Homecoming and Halloween soon, then the holidays, and I am carried along with it.

A New Book on the Horizon

A sure sign that I don’t like where a book is going — I lay out the bones of another book.

I just made a sketchy outline of the next Kringle book, which I traditionally don’t start working on until November. Oh, wait, it’s only three weeks until November! This is about the time I start laying out the next book!

Traditionally, I write my books during NaNoWriMo, the international writing movement which takes place during November. I will write in November, but I will not be using NaNo’s infrastructure, due to the controversy around its support of AI for writing. I will have to find other motivational tools. Maybe Written? Kitten! or Pacemaker. Or maybe I’ve outgrown the need for the graphs and awards of NaNo.

I’m also working on the playlist. I make a new playlist for each novel I write, not necessarily to listen to while writing, but to get the feel for the novel in my head. This year’s, for some reason, is tending toward bossa nova, even though it’s set in one of my favorite places on Earth — the alternate version of Starved Rock. There’s a lot of bossa nova Christmas music out there, by the way.

But it’s time to work on prepping the Christmas novel, at any rate.

NaNoWriMo and Generative AI

The controversy in the writing world currently is that the NaNoWriMo organization has issued a statement not only supporting use of generative AI in its events, but dismissing opposing viewpoints as ‘ableist’ and ‘classist’.

To understand the impact of this, let me start with NaNoWriMo. This organization sponsors a world-wide writing festival every November which encourages people to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. Admittedly, 50k is somewhat short for today’s expectations of a novel, but it’s 50k more than most people feel they can write. In 2020, 383,064 people participated in NaNoWriMo, the latest statistic available (Wikiwrimo, 2024). For full disclosure, I have participated in NaNoWriMo for several years.

The issue with generative AI is more complicated. Not all AI is generative AI; that is, not all AI is used to generate or create content. The fear of writers is that generative AI creates content, and it creates it from the materials it’s been trained on, which are existing works. This goes beyond analyzing patterns in grammar use and spelling (which I would argue are acceptable) into creative aspects. In other words, training generative AI is mass plagiarism of ideas without crediting sources. An entity like NaNoWriMo supporting mass plagiarism of ideas seems antithetical to its principles.

In addition, artists and writers fear being replaced by the much cheaper generative AI. The quality of generative AI is not as good as the actual creations of human beings; but if generative AI takes over in commercial outlets, the public will become inured to lower quality. The loss of revenue to real live writers will become the loss of creativity to the wider world.

To address NaNoWriMo’s charge that opposing their approval of generative AI is classist and ableist, it is classist and ableist to assume that people with disabilities or of underrepresented social classes would need to use generative AI to compete in the marketplace of ideas. I suspect that the issue here is a lack of distinction between AI used to proofread and suggest grammar (such as in ProWritingAid, one of their sponsors) and the AI that creates entire segments or whole stories. I see a big difference between supporting a tool for improving form and a system for writing content. If this is NaNoWriMo’s dilemma, then they need to do some soul-searching and make a clear ethical statement as to where the line gets drawn between composition tools and content creation.

This is where I am in my ethical processing of the issue, that use of AI for translation, proofreading, or grammar correction is not at the same level as AI to generate ideas and content. The former is predicated on objective rules; the other on skimming subjective creative works. My struggle to define what is permissable is the struggle of the entire society in dealing with AI.

Wikiwrimo (2024). NaNoWriMo statistics. Available: https://www.wikiwrimo.org/wiki/NaNoWriMo_statistics#cite_note-3 [September 3, 2024].

In the Middle of Writing

Sorry I haven’t written! I am still caught up (and barely caught up) on NaNoWriMo, with 14,000 words left to write.

I finished editing Avatar of the Maker and, having nothing better to do, started a new novel in the Archetype series, Carrying Light.

Sage Bertinelli has been summoned by her Aunt Jeanne back to Barn Swallows’ Dance. When Sage arrives, she finds the collective, Tree-gifted and weary, debating how they will answer the twilight of the life they have known.

Forrest Gray, half-immortal, wants Sage to shelter in the safety of the collective. She, on the other hand, wants to go out into the changed world — and away from her turmoil. The two must look within and without to find the answers.

I didn’t think I would write another book so quickly after Avatar of the Maker, but NaNo calls.

Busy doing NaNo

I’m sorry I haven’t written lately. I have been busy doing NaNoWriMo, and it’s been a wild time. I’ve finished editing Avatar of the Maker, although I will revisit it later when it’s fresh. But I have 23,000 words left to write (or the editing equivalent) to win NaNo. So what am I going to do?

I’m going to lay out another novel in the Archetype universe, tentative title “Carrying Light“. This one takes place ten years after Avatar of the Maker, when the social and economic structures of the US are crumbling. The end of the novel In fact, the first battle in the collapse of the US and the beginning of Whose Hearts are Mountains. So think of it as the prequel to that.

Writing it will be interesting, because one of the main characters is Richard’s. He has a sequel to Gaia’s Hands called Gaia’s Future that needs some editing, and Sage Bertinelli is his main character.

I have a lot of work to do, but it’s fun work. Whee!

Two Days Till NaNo

Two days till NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and I think I’m ready. Mostly ready. Not ready at all.

I’m not writing a new Christmas romance this year because I don’t really feel moved to. I don’t have a plot. I still love Christmas but don’t know what I can say about Christmas romances lately. Maybe I’m getting away from romance?

I’m in renegade mode this year, which means I’m working on something non-novel-writing. In my case, I will be editing the book I just finished, Avatar of the Maker. It needs a lot of help, even before the “put it in a drawer and let it sit for a while” stage. Baird is not developed enough and his disagreements with Leah aren’t developed enough and … trust me on this. I need to revise right now.

Sometimes I win NaNo (50k words or the equivalent), sometimes I don’t. But I always try.

NaNoWriMo

November 1st was the start of the annual National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. This is my 9th time writing a novel (50,000 words or a short novel worth) in 30 days. This means 1,667 words a day. It doesn’t seem so hard when I break it down that way.

I have completed my goal in 6 out of the past 8 NaNos, which is not bad. I hadn’t guessed I’d done that well. The other two years I had extenuating circumstances such as depression and Trump’s election (and also depression). Sometimes I was writing a novel and for one of those years, I was a renegade editing another novel.

I have chosen for the past couple of years to write the consecutive Kringle Chronicles novels. This is ideal because I can write them during the beginning of the holiday season and take advantage of the Christmasy goings-on. (If November seems too early for this, I’m sitting in a Starbucks where they’re putting up Starbucks Red holiday trappings.)

This year’s book, Kringle on Fire, is fighting me tooth and nail. It’s hard because of the characters being foreign to me — a firefighter and a two-year-old are among my characters. They require a lot of research. So the writing is going slowly for someone who’s used to writing 4000 words a day. It’s going to take me the entire month to write this and I’m not sure I’ll finish it.

Time for positive self-talk! I’ve done this before!

Wish me luck!

Writing with my Husband

My husband wasn’t kidding when he said he wanted to co-author my latest romance novel with me. Honestly, I thought he’d beg off on strategizing sessions, but he’s been meeting and working on a brief chapter outline with me. We’ve been through the outline for the first time and are going to add more detail. I rarely make my outlines in this much detail, but with the two of us working on this, I feel we need more guidance.

The way Richard and I work together is that I, with more knowledge of romance writing (and possession of the computer, scrivener, and template), lead and type our responses. Richard largely functions by suggesting ideas, which I reject or accept.

The writing part is going to be mostly me, with Richard critiquing and suggesting as we go along. We’re going to argue because we’re both headstrong. But he has fresh ideas and I have the knowledge and the worldview, so we think we can get the novel done together.

The novel’s plot: two twenty-somethings, one with a toddler, wonder if they can manage adulthood. Their uncertainty is what’s keeping them from falling in love. The theme of the book: You are enough. We are enough. The background: Christmas in a small, quirky college town.

I’m looking forward to writing this.

Writers’ Block

I’ve been suffering from writers’ block lately

I’m trying to finish Kel and Brother Coyote Save the Planet, but I’m dealing with serious writers’ block lately. I’ve been doing marketing stuff in the morning (even if the things I have down the pipeline are stalled) and sleeping in the afternoon. This may mean I’m depressed; I don’t know. But I do know I’ve been staring at that manuscript and coming up with nothing.

This is a job for Camp NaNo

NaNoWriMo, as I’ve mentioned in these pages, is a world-wide event where people attempt to write 50k words toward a novel in the month of November. Camp NaNo occurs in May and August, and it’s a smaller, less onerous event that I like to think of as training wheels for NaNo. You can pick your word count (as long as it’s over 10k) and feel free to work on something other than word count, such as editing. (Note: you can do that for NaNo as well, keeping in mind that 1 hour editing = 1000 words).

I’m going to put Kel and Brother Coyote as my Camp project (plus editing/plotting for another project) to see if it motivates me. Given that Camp (and NaNo) are a combination of gamification and camaraderie, I think I have a fighting chance.

I need a new project

Finishing up these old projects isn’t very motivating. In fact, I would really like to start something new. I just haven’t been inspired lately. I get motivated by relationship between people, and the short story list I have doesn’t seem to do that. (It’s very clever and science fiction-y, because my husband helped me with it.)

I want to write another novel. Real absorption into a world. But I need ideas for that as well.

Give me ideas

If you have any ideas for a romantic fantasy, let me know!

Stages of Writing

I have just gone through the first proofreading pass of the second book in the Kringle Chronicles, Kringle in the Dark. In the book, Brent Oberhauser, self-professed nerd, falls for Sunshine Rogers, who keeps the books for Yes, Virginia, a Christmas charity. Her boss, Jack Moore, receives blackmail letters in the mail and Sunshine finds significant mysteries in the paperwork buried under the category of “miscellaneous”. In a clash of wills, Sunshine and Brent break up to avoid heartbreak later. The two must find a way back together to try to stop the blackmailer and solve the puzzle of Yes, Virginia.

Right now, I rather like the book, being amazed that I could produce something that good in less than 30 days (aka NaNoWriMo project). But that’s just a stage in my writing. Here’s the stages of my writing:

Beginning: Look how effortlessly I write!
After a quarter of the way through the book: I’m just slinging words onto pages. This book is going to be a mess.
Finishing the first draft: Thank goodness it’s done.
Proofing the first draft: This book is actually good!
Finishing the first draft: There has to be something wrong and I can’t wrap my head around it.
Receiving document back from my in-house editor (i.e. husband): No, look it over again. What’s WRONG with it?
Second draft: This book is a mess.
Fast forward to book in hand: This is MY book. Don’t you hurt my little book!

I guess this means I’m a writer.