This blog is the new home of The Mad Farmer Liberation Front. Within you'll find lots of References to Retrotech (mainly of the typewriter variety) as well as Whimsical and Amateurish Poetry and the occasional Commentary on Whatever I'm Thinking About at the Moment.
A great start already! Is that allowed? Add a few more characters, slot in a plot and padding, borrow dialogue from blog commentary and hey presto! There's your novel.Your Cole Steel will be Hot Metal by the time you are done.
And hey, why not mix things up this year and just take a notebook and pen along? Less hassle than a typewriter, and you may find yourself able to jot something down -- even ideas -- in moments that you wouldn't be able to utilize while typing.
Much of a past NaNo novel was plotted in a hotel room in the half-darkness in a composition book with a hotel ballpoint as I waited for my darlings to fall asleep after a day at Disneyland.
Oh don't worry, this year I've actually planned a novel, and there's such a huge chance that I won't win again (especially since I didn't do it last year...) that I'll join you in flop-sweat and clemens can finish his novel in one week instead of two.
I just decided I'll be participating, because I managed to write 1000 words in about 30 minutes, I wasn't sure if I should NaNoWrite until that decision test. :)
Great post! I do this too, only with me the chances of solving anything by tinkering are practically nil, as I tend up getting flummoxed by the highly intricate mechanisms. I just continue poking about until someone more knowledgeable swoops in and fixes it (and far quicker than I could have!). Ah, procrastination.
Clemens: are you seriously suggesting I write some of my NaNoNovel with a pen? A PEN? They'll take my typewriter away when they pry it from my cold, dead, strangely small and atrophied hands. After, you know, they give me some notice so I can get the typewriter out of its case, dust if off and then clutch it in my cold, dead, etc, etc...
RB and Cameron: that's not bad. I can work with that.
Richard: well, with you, you probably actually can FIX the dadgum things.
Adwoa: please don't take this as arrogance - there's (sadly) no one within shouting distance of me that is more qualified than me to fix a typewriter. And I suck at it.
maschine: welcome aboard! Sounds like as good a litmus test as any.
notagain: I should really read that book again. Thanks for the reminder.
rad: I'll be slinking around the NaNotubes, ready for a mutual round of self-martyrdom if you find yourself as flop-sweaty as me.
I'm just saying that as you wait for the missus to finish doing whatever missuses do in the powder room, you can do a little pen-and-paper jotting down of ideas. My brain likes to dangle ideas in front of me at inappropriate times, which is why I pretty much live with index cards jammed into a pocket.
When anniversary duties are attended to, you can safely neglect your loved ones to peck away at the keys with your gnarled baby-hands, riffing off whatever you happened to scribble down earlier.
Your flop sweat is the fuel for my wordcount. Disgusting, drippy fuel.
ReplyDeleteI have faith in you. I think starting from scratch is your secret weapon. But then I just finished reading "No Plot? No Problem!"
ReplyDeleteA great start already! Is that allowed? Add a few more characters, slot in a plot and padding, borrow dialogue from blog commentary and hey presto! There's your novel.Your Cole Steel will be Hot Metal by the time you are done.
ReplyDelete...guessing it isn't that easy though.
And hey, why not mix things up this year and just take a notebook and pen along? Less hassle than a typewriter, and you may find yourself able to jot something down -- even ideas -- in moments that you wouldn't be able to utilize while typing.
ReplyDeleteMuch of a past NaNo novel was plotted in a hotel room in the half-darkness in a composition book with a hotel ballpoint as I waited for my darlings to fall asleep after a day at Disneyland.
Oh don't worry, this year I've actually planned a novel, and there's such a huge chance that I won't win again (especially since I didn't do it last year...) that I'll join you in flop-sweat and clemens can finish his novel in one week instead of two.
ReplyDeleteThat's good advice about getting sucked into tinkering with mechanical problems instead of actually using these tools. I'll try not to fall prey!
ReplyDeleteYes, turn your situation with tinkering with all these machines into the GREAT STORY that it already is!
ReplyDeleteHere you've got an excellent plot -- just GO with it. The Magical Typewriter TinkerMan On The Road.
All best wishes.
I just decided I'll be participating, because I managed to write 1000 words in about 30 minutes, I wasn't sure if I should NaNoWrite until that decision test. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I do this too, only with me the chances of solving anything by tinkering are practically nil, as I tend up getting flummoxed by the highly intricate mechanisms. I just continue poking about until someone more knowledgeable swoops in and fixes it (and far quicker than I could have!). Ah, procrastination.
ReplyDeleteClemens: are you seriously suggesting I write some of my NaNoNovel with a pen? A PEN? They'll take my typewriter away when they pry it from my cold, dead, strangely small and atrophied hands. After, you know, they give me some notice so I can get the typewriter out of its case, dust if off and then clutch it in my cold, dead, etc, etc...
ReplyDeleteRB and Cameron: that's not bad. I can work with that.
Richard: well, with you, you probably actually can FIX the dadgum things.
Adwoa: please don't take this as arrogance - there's (sadly) no one within shouting distance of me that is more qualified than me to fix a typewriter. And I suck at it.
maschine: welcome aboard! Sounds like as good a litmus test as any.
notagain: I should really read that book again. Thanks for the reminder.
rad: I'll be slinking around the NaNotubes, ready for a mutual round of self-martyrdom if you find yourself as flop-sweaty as me.
I'm just saying that as you wait for the missus to finish doing whatever missuses do in the powder room, you can do a little pen-and-paper jotting down of ideas. My brain likes to dangle ideas in front of me at inappropriate times, which is why I pretty much live with index cards jammed into a pocket.
ReplyDeleteWhen anniversary duties are attended to, you can safely neglect your loved ones to peck away at the keys with your gnarled baby-hands, riffing off whatever you happened to scribble down earlier.