procrastination...

       so i'm writing this . . . novel. yeah, it will probably never see the light of day, but it's nanowrimo and it's what a writer's supposed to do. oh, that's right, i was going to be one of those. day three. i met day one's goal yesterday afternoon (yes, day two) just before i went to work. just sitting down to do more today and i'm realizing that i'm over 3,000 words behind and that every day adds another 1,700 or so. not looking good. it gets worse: i have no plan. well, i had this idea for this story, and have had it for quite some time, but it wasn't very solid yet -- still quite vaporous, actually. it was to be a fantasy based on historical events, namely the salem witch trials. i've been doing half-assed research for about a year but have made quite an impressive effort over the last three days, amassing quite a few bookmarks in various books and browsers. but i'm starting to get stuck in all the non-fiction. i have some pretty amazing characters, some my own and some provided by history, but i'm starting to find the true events far too limiting. as the story develops it becomes more difficult to fit it within the confines of salem village, massachusetts in the late 17th century and now i'm considering moving the whole dang thing over to some fictitious town in germany where the witch hunts were arguably the worst -- entire towns of women were convicted and one town had something like 19 priests and 49 children executed for witchcraft, but that's entirely beside the point because i'm pulling what little hair i have left out by the roots! the dang story keeps changing too much and i have 27 days left to write 48,000 words! i don't think it will happen. =( i so wanted to do it, too.

       deep breaths.

       i need an outline. and a pomegranate martini.

       i hate non-fiction. is it wrong to shape history in ways that suit your needs?

       ok, get this. not only is history limiting, it's too big. ha. that's another problem i'm facing -- how to angle it. and how to join the angle of my fantasy story with the angle on the historical. i swear, after this i'm never working with history again.

       can i get an extension on my nanowrimo? i know it's only day three... but my grandma died and my cat ate my homework and aliens ate my babysitter and eric northman . . . sorry, got sidetracked there.

       why couldn't i have wanted to be a computer programmer?