Beyond NaNoWriMo

Well, post NaNo day one. I only wrote about two hundred words today, because I was distracted by Other Things, but I think that's okay. I have plenty more time to write when I get home, whereas I only had today to play with the entire family all in one place.

I got drawn up in a couple of epic games of Pretend with Quail and Toad (oldest niece and nephew, respectively). I don't think I'm flattering myself when I say I may be the best of their relations for said games; having played tabletop RPGs has kept my ability-to-play-an-adventure-on-the-fly pretty sharp, and I tend to jump in with more enthusiasm and crazier ideas than the other adults (save perhaps their father, but he doesn't count because he's Dad). Man, running around with kids is exhausting, but I feel like if I ever have any of my own it will keep me in some pretty dang good shape. Unless of course by the time that happens I am too old to do anything but lay there and complain they have vampired all the energy out of me (that's my actual theory on how kids stay so hyped-up; they literally drain energy from adults and use it for themselves. There's a story in that, I just know it...)

While we were engaged in said silly pursuits (and we did occasionally manage to draw the younger Eel in) the guys were being very manly and playing football. Even my beloved father-in-law (who honestly was always more all-around athletic than any of his sons) got in on that action:

(Old Man Still Got It)

But anyway, back to musings on the whole NaNo thing. The way I see it, I'll try to finish up this proto-draft (seriously, it doesn't even deserve the title "rough") and then let it sit for a month or two in a drawer while I work on something else (like maybe the fabulous/ludicrous idea I had today that I shall call Fire Hacker) (no it's awesome. It could be like AxeCop awesome, pretty sure.) Then I'll come back to it and try to edit it through my tears of mortification until it's in good enough shape to give to a couple of Beta readers. And then I'll be sulky and defensive about the changes they suggest, but because they are carefully selected for their ability to roll their eyes at my BS I will probably actually listen to them and make it better. (Thank the stars for true friends who also happen to be excellent editors). And then I'll probably rewrite it another couple of times, and then possibly I will have something worth submitting for publication. And also possibly a few other fleshed out stories, since by that time it will be 2011 and I'll be done with this project and able to devote more time to developing the ideas that it spawned.

Not to mention my 2011 365 Project. But that's a post for another time...