Dear reader,
You may have noticed that I did not post anything about my NoQu project, Murder on the Writerly Wreck. That is because I actually didn't even write it.
November turned out to be an interesting month for me. I was managing the NoQu challenge and website, for one thing, and for another I did a strange amount of things (well, strange for me anyway). For instance, on dragonback I journeyed across the country to visit with a good friend of mine. She and I then met with a band of companions at a (tea) tavern, and as a group we adventured to one of Baron Sanderson's estates - Castle Dragonsteel. Once there, we were tasked with a few quests and met some significant people and fellow adventurers, and these things kept us busy for a time.
Then we did the whole thing in reverse, adventuring back to my friend's land and then I journeyed back across the country on dragonback to return home (though this time my satchel was heavy laden with treasure).
When I came home, I then fell head first into running NoQu and working on some home renovations, which my family and myself were rushing to complete before my sister's betrothed came to visit for Thanksgiving. Then I was helping to host said guest, and then my family and I began Christmas festivities the next day and these have continued since.
It was all a grand time and perhaps the most thorough method of procrastination that I have ever been guilty of, and I regret absolutely nothing.
But now, having had my plans for posting and whatnot quite thoroughly (and willingly) derailed, the best post I have to offer since returning home is a ye olden "monthly wrap up." Not for reading, just in general. So here are some things that happened and here's how they went.
Writing
However, I do now have little to show where writing is concerned. But that little I will now share with you!
First a little background:
This POV is following Thomas, a fantasy writer who is excited to partake in the writing retreat aboard the train Shelley & Dickenson Express. He also happens to be a highly anxious individual, which you will see in the second excerpt I've included in this post.
MoTWW's first paragraph:
"Thrilled" could not begin to describe the emotions running through Thomas - never Tom - as he held the letter in his own two hands and read it for the first time. And the second time. And the third. And the twentieth.
And here's a bit that I just really liked:
When the car pulled up to Union Station, a surge of nausea swept over Thomas. His driver came to a stop right in front of it, the car still running. "Here you go," she said, sounding as glad to be rid of him as he was anxious at the thought of being rid of. "Thanks," he said, twisting his twitching lips into a smile eerily similar to the Grinch's. Had the driver been color blind, seeing Tom's red hair as green, she surely would have noticed the resemblance. Thomas slid out of the car and dragged his suitcase from the trunk, dreading every miserable step closer to the station's entrance. It felt like he was walking in a dense puddle of wet cement that went up to his knees while his heart spun around on a Lazy Susan and his muse poured coffee all over his brain, knowing good and well that it makes him sick.
And that is all I have for you! (Note, all I have for you. I did, indeed, write more than those few words - and I'm actually quite pleased with the first page as a whole - but it is not yet suitable for your lovely eyeballs.)
All in all, I wrote about 5,857 of Murder on the Writerly Wreck, and nothing of Roslyn. To be honest, I've had a very difficult time writing these past few months, both creative writing and writing posts. It's become very difficult and frustrating for me to articulate the things I have in my mind. *I haven't the faintest clue why that's become a problem recently. I have plenty of inspiration and reason to write, even a fair dose of motivation, but I often feel almost incapable of actually writing. Which is odd, because MoTWW is my fun and easy project.
But oh well, I imagine that'll sort itself out eventually. In the mean time, I've just been imagining a lot of things.
*Well actually, I do have a faint clue, but I don't want this to turn into a post breaking down the depths to that subject. Though I do think it's something that is important for every writer, and so I may do a separate post on that at some point.
NoQu
I will keep this section brief, for though this is writing related you can get this information from the NoQu platforms. Still, here I have more freedom to speak on from a personal perspective.
Though I didn't participate in the NoQu challenge much, I was running the program (with heavy help from my friend Geata).
I was glad to see huge improvement this year, in the way it ran, in the interaction it got, in the steps it took towards still more improvements (things which the average participant would be blind to), and other such things.
If you've followed me for some time, or are a good friend of mine, you likely know that I struggle with apathy and frequent creative block. I was worried that one or both of these things would interfere with NoQu, and they certainly did try to.
However, the aforementioned Geata simply did not let me fall into either puddle of despair this year. Knowingly or unknowingly, she is the only reason why NoQu actually began this year (she basically kept poking me with a stick until I did something), and the only reason why things continued (relatively) smoothly throughout the month, especially when I was away travelling and she manned the fort.
So thanks to Geata, NoQu was a success this year. Also thanks to her, I can now really see this program growing into what I dreamed it would be, and I'm now all the more determined to see that it does. Apathy and creative block can rot in Davy Jones' locker.
Reading
Reading was chaos during November. Due to visiting at Castle Dragonsteel, I had to read several Cosmere novels in a very short amount of time. Towards the end of October and beginning of November I read all of Mistborn Era One, then I started on Secret History and didn't finish it, then I started Rhythm of War and finished it while traveling.
I did not read Era Two of Mistborn until my journey home, and miraculously did not get any spoilers for it while at the release party of Lost Metal. I don't know how but I'm not going to complain about it.
Once returning home, I zoomed through Era Two and then hit a brick wall and stopped reading right when I should've begun Lost Metal. I think I may have overdone it and now am burnt out with reading.
I have been craving my comfort reads, such as The Last Dragon and Ranger's Apprentice, but alas, I cannot read either of them. I lost my copy of the former (which is still one of the greatest tragedies I have experienced) and my copy of the latter is packed up (which may be one of the slightly less greatest tragedies I have experienced, but a tragedy nonetheless).
I am hosting a bookclub on the NoQu website for Mammoth by Brian McBride (a book I have been excited to read since before it came out), so I must get over this reading slump quickly.
Well now, I think that's all of the interesting on-topic things that happened during November. It was quite a fun month, though it was so busy and also Rhythm of War traumatized me. But I have no regrets!
I am excited to get back into reading, writing, and NoQu planning when the holidays have passed, but I by no means want to rush said holidays along. I'm quite enjoying this Christmas season, after all.
How was November for you, my friend? Did you participate in NoQu? What are your plans for the holidays? I would love to hear from you.
Otherwise, you will be hearing back from me anon.
Have a lovely, adventurous, and creative day.
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