brianmostcertainlymay

[brianmostcertainlymay]

[brianmostcertainlymay]

[brianmostcertainlymay]

When Franz Kafka had "Written Nothing"

24 December 1910. It is midnight, but since I have slept very well, that is an excuse only to the extent that by day I would have written nothing. The burning electric light, the silent house, the darkness outside, the last waking moments, they give me the right to write even if it be only the most miserable stuff. And this right I use hurriedly. That’s the person I am.

28 November 1911. Have written nothing for three days.

07 January 1912. If I should now, in the evening, return to my relatives, I shall, since I have written nothing that I could enjoy, not appear stranger, more despicable, more useless to them than I,do to myself.

25 February 1912. I have written nothing for so long because of having arranged an evening for Löwy in the banquet room of the Jewish Town Hall on 18 February, at which I delivered a little introductory lecture on Yiddish. For two weeks I worried for fear that I could not produce the lecture. On the evening before the lecture I suddenly succeeded.

09 March 1914. I have written nothing for a year, nor shall I be able to write anything in the future; in my head there is and remains the one single thought, and I am devoured by it.

03 November 1914. Since August, the fourth day on which I have written nothing. The letters are the cause of it; I ’ll try to write none at all or only very short ones.

20 December 1921. Undeniably, there is a certain joy in being able calmly to write down: ‘Suffocation is inconceivably horrible.’ Of course it is inconceivable that is why I have written nothing down.

And When He "Wrote Nothing"

31 January 1912. Wrote nothing.

01 June 1912. Wrote nothing.

07 June 1912. Bad. Wrote nothing today. Tomorrow no time.

10 August 1912. Wrote nothing. Was in the factory and breathed gas in the engine-room for two hours. The energy of the foreman and the stoker before the engine, which for some undiscoverable reason will not start. Miserable factory.

13 March 1915. Got up at nine o’clock. Didn’t go home for supper, nor to Max’s either, where there was a gathering tonight. Reasons: lack of appetite, fear of getting back late in the evening; but above all the thought that I wrote nothing yesterday, that I keep getting farther and farther from it, and am in danger of losing everything I have laboriously achieved these past six months.

Excerpts from "The diaries of Franz Kafka 1910-1923"

[brianmostcertainlymay]

[brianmostcertainlymay]

[brianmostcertainlymay]

Novelember, Day 30:

The goal for the last day was to come up with a plan for Novelember 2: December Boogaloo. However… I have forty chapters that are in progress. There’s not really anything meaningful that I can do to move the needle on those babies in a month. SO, I took today to come up with a plan, and it’s this: Have these done by the end of 2025 (I’m crying). In planning terms, that means roughly focusing on a chapter a week, which will leave twelve weeks for editing — which is generous.

For planning purposes, the writing portion of The Completion Year will start Sunday December 29th 2024, and end Saturday October 4th 2025. The editing portion will run October 5th through the end of 2025 .

Pros: Chapters are already in progress, and I know where I want to go with each one. Plenty of notes and ideas have been recorded for each. Some won't take as long as others, yay.

Overall, another very successful Novelember!

[brianmostcertainlymay]

Novelember, Day 29:

Chapter 5.07 - 262 words added; made link pink (to tweak).

Coasting to a slow Novelember finish. One more day and it'll be a wrap for 2024!

Something tells me that Novelember 2: December Boogaloo is going to be rough. ::crying emoji here::

[brianmostcertainlymay]

Novelember, Day 28:

1) 5.09 - Secondary character introduced; chapter now complete, 52 words added. 2) 5.11 - Secondary character added to chapter; now complete, 13 words added. 3) 13.03 - 170 words added. 4) 14.04a - 152 words added.

[brianmostcertainlymay]

Novelember, Day 27:

1) Last notes from two different notebooks consolidated. 2) Found snippet for a future chapter; added to notes for the next year, 264 words. 3) 5.07 isn’t long enough to be a chapter but the exposition is needed; doesn’t go with chapter before or after SO…an interlude…? YES, an interlude with the main character talking about it with her brother makes sense. Updated chapter title and road map to reflect this. 4) Secondary character should have been introduced by 5.09; added note to chapter. 5) Secondary character should have been in 5.11; added note to chapter.

[brianmostcertainlymay]

Novelember, Day 26:

1) Looked over the Christmas section, happy with the new chapter arrangement from yesterday. Renumbered as applicable, and reordered the story roadmap accordingly. 2) 5.06 - 157 words added. 3) 5.07 - 60 words added. 4) 15.08c - 131 words added from writing notebook. 5) Consolidated notes from two different notebooks, found a snippet I hadn't used, added to edits file for possible use later. 108 words.

[brianmostcertainlymay]

Novelember, Day 24:

Looked through the in progress chapters, felt inspired to add a bit to the following: 4.15 - 62 words added. 13.03 - 161 words added. 18.04 - 153 words added.

Novelember, Day 25:

Christmas section didn’t seem to flow correctly (eight chapters); rearranged in Scrivener, flow is much better. Haven’t renumbered the chapters yet; I’ll do that once I’m satisfied with the order.

[brianmostcertainlymay]

Novelember, Day 20: New plan! The last ten days of November will be spent prepping for my second annual December event: Novelember 2: December Boogaloo. My plan is to look at four chapters a day in depth. Take notes as I read. What needs to be done? Keep? Scrap? New inspiration as I read?

Novelember, Day 21:

Prepped four in progress chapters as noted above.

Novelember, Day 22:

Prepped twelve in progress chapters as noted above.

Novelember, Day 23:

Prepped the remaining twenty-four in progress chapters as noted above.

Most of these already had plot points and "starting idea" notes in place, so yay, transferred these to the spreadsheet.

I think that I haven't been moving on these because they look exactly like what they are -- chapters that need help, and psychologically, my brain wasn't ready to go there. Plot notes and bullet points at the top of the chapter, some have word count notes from last Novelember (yeah, that's not embarrassing), even worse, at least two have word count notes from Nano 2022!!! Paragraphs in different colors depending on what progress I was making. It's organized chaos.

Even newer plan!

It's time to whip these babies into shape. That's what I'll be doing the last seven days of Novelember, and since it's mostly formatting and re-organizing, I should be able to get all forty chapters done before December Boogaloo, which is when I hope to start getting these out of the seemingly eternal limbo of "in progress." We'll see.

Edited to add: Formatting and cleanup of sixteen in progress chapters completed. If I get the rest of them cleaned up tomorrow, I'll be ready to start writing Monday...perfect, because I'm on vacation next week!

[brianmostcertainlymay]

Novelember, Day 18: Goal for the day: Look over the forty chapters in progress, come up with a plan. Done. The plan: Pick a chapter that’s in progress, write at least 200 new words and record. (This isn’t a great plan. ;- p)

Novelember, Day 19:

Looked over a few in progress chapters to get a feeling for what needed to be done next, came to the conclusion that Day 18 past me was correct -- this was not a great plan. It only made me depressed that there was so much still to be done. :(

Novelember, Day 20:

New plan! The last ten days of November will be spent prepping for my second annual December event: Novelember 2: December Boogaloo. My plan is to look at four chapters a day in depth. Take notes as I read. What needs to be done? Keep? Scrap? New inspiration as I read?

Because I love spreadsheets, I've created one with the following column headings:

No. // Date // Chapter No. // Title // Notes // Current word count // Words added

The Ten Days of PrepVember should -- should -- take me nicely (I hope) into December Boogaloo. No firm daily goal yet for DecBoog, but maybe just...pick a chapter and finish it? I don't know. Actually, that sounds like another not great plan in the making. Hmmm.

[brianmostcertainlymay]

Novelember, Day 18:

Goal for the day: Look over the forty chapters in progress, come up with a plan. Done.

The plan: Pick a chapter that’s in progress, write at least 200 new words and record. (This isn’t a great plan. ;- p)

[brianmostcertainlymay]

Novelember, Day 17:

Pick a chapter that needs edits; record here:

1) 14.01 now complete, 95 words added. 2) 10.07 now complete, 65 words added. 3) 18.10 now complete, 148 words added. 4) 14.10b now complete, 115 words added. 5) 4.14 now complete, 84 words added.

All completed chapters that needed edits, tweaks, etc., are done! Now to start working on the chapters that are in progress. Aiiiii...

[brianmostcertainlymay]

Novelember, Day 16:

Pick a chapter that needs edits; record here:

1) 5.09 now complete, 33 words added. 2) 13.01 now complete, 125 words added. 3) 14.03a now complete, 314 words added.

[brianmostcertainlymay]

November Diary Entries: Franz Kafka

15 November 1910. 10 o’clock. I will not let myself become tired. I’ll jump into my story even though it should cut my face to pieces.

15 November 1911. Yesterday evening, already with a sense of foreboding, pulled the cover off the bed, lay down, and again became aware of all my abilities as though I were holding them in my hand; they tightened my chest, they set my head on fire, for a short while, to console myself for not getting up to work, I repeated: ‘That’s not healthy, that’s not healthy,’ and with almost visible purpose tried to draw sleep over my head.

Excerpts from "The diaries of Franz Kafka 1910-1923"