Camp NaNoWriMo’s next session starts in just a few weeks and I’m looking forward to another chance to explore another of my narrative musings. April’s session was very good from a “let’s see if I can pants my way through this” as well as a chance to explore romantic writing as a future path. The good news is that I learned a lot from it. But, at least at this point, it’s a story I won’t be coming back to. While I consider what I did in April to be a full draft, there just isn’t enough interest in it for me to go back and fix all that I know is wrong with it.
This session though, I am going to enjoy – I start work on How to Kill a Cyborg. I’ve been playing with some things things I have been learning and I am really looking forward to my sci-fi police procedural/murder mystery. How ’bout that for a genre? Here’s the blurb I entered on Camp NaNo synopsis section (I’m still not sure “who done it” and I need to add some more about how the cyborg community reacts to her investigation, but I think the kernel of the story works):
Detective Elizabeth “Frankie” Franklin just wants a vacation. She’s been working straight through for two years since joining the homicide division and vlogging her cases to help keep the department’s budget in check has just made it all the harder to get away. She’s finally made time for a Mexican cruise with her husband when she gets called in on a case that requires her particular skills in police work and electronics. A leading member of the cyborg community has been strangled, but none of his sensors showed anyone nearby. With tens of thousands of dollars of augmentation added to his body, no one should have been able to get close enough harm him without leaving a record.
In a completely separate event (but going to be related for me) I’m super-excited to be a part of Brandon Sanderson’s online creative writing class being run by Write About Dragons. I’ve been looking at the site recently and I think they’ve got some good things going. Hopefully, it will all come together because I want to synergize the NaNo camp with the class – same book for each event and use some immediate feedback to help focus the story and my own efforts.
And last is the crunch – I’m halfway through my re-read of Betrayed and have decided that there is a pretty big chunk of structure missing at about the midway point. Easy to fix, but it has been so helpful to read it again after some time off and see it afresh. But that means re-writes will be starting…you guessed it…in July,
So lots of writing to be done.
Grant Michael Gardner 
Grant, I saw this in my mailbox and was struck by pangs of dismay at how very long it’s been since I’ve managed to look at any of your writing (and was also, as I generally am, impressed by your level of industry and dedication to your craft). Third year is by far the busiest and most stressful year of med school , and it’s kicked in with a vengeance; I honestly don’t know when in the next month or so I’ll have time to do almost anything writing-related (other than the one hour a week I now scavenge for revision of “King’s Champion”)–or whether or not it will actually still be useful to you once I do. In the meantime, know that I follow your writerly adventures with interest and enthusiasm, and am eager to get through this year of school so I can once again contribute to them in a meaningful way.
Best-
Sumi
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