CED Round-Up: Summer Writing Camp

This week was all about writing and on-site photography. This week I began writing a novel for Camp National Novel Writing Month, the summer version of November’s amazing race to 50,000 words. It is totally nerve-wracking, but what makes it even scarier is that Camp NaNoWriMo goes on for two months! That means that I’ll be writing 100,000 words over the course of two months, and I hope to do it all for the same story, so that in and of itself is absolutely terrifying. But I really want to top myself out this summer, so I am going for it. As a result, however, I have suspended work on my serial fiction The Observer until further notice. In the meantime, enjoy the miniature updates about my novel coming at you in the CED posts!
On the other side of things, I got to attend some stellar events this week – namely, Seattle Zombie Walk and the 4th of July at Gasworks Park! Pictures abound.

List of posts (click and jump!):
Thursday’s post came up short this week – nap time!
Go to Friday’s thrilling first installment of Camp NaNoWriMo!
Go to Saturday’s photographs of zombies in Seattle.
Go to Sunday’s piece on getting serious about novelling.
Go to Monday’s fireworks pictures.
Go to Tuesday’s continued saga of my battle with word count.
Go to Wednesday’s comic-in-progress about VoteBot.

Fri: In the middle of the day, I decided to check in on Camp NaNoWriMo, which I knew was starting up in July, but wasn’t sure whether it had already begun or not. Lo and behold, it had, which meant I was behind! I have been trying to play catch-up throughout the week, but here is a rundown of the ideas for the novel I’ll be writing this month and next.

This summer, I will be writing a novel about Bengalis and Bengali Americans in my first attempt at literary fiction. I want the writing not to be so much about South Asians in particular, but about how people and their relationships are affected by their culture, generation, gender, etc. I am currently writing from a majority women point of view, but the novel does switch between characters’ minds in a quasi-linear narrative form. Ultimately, right now I feel like I’m doing a lot of “telling” and I really want to make the rest of my words count with a bunch of “showing.” That’s where I’m going for right now, so please cheer me on!

Sat: The Washington Bus sends me on crazy missions sometimes. Last Saturday, it was to Zombie Walk Seattle, which has now broken the record for most zombies walking in the United States (perhaps the world, though don’t quote me on that). Thus, I was canvassing and taking pictures the entire time! You can see more of them by liking The Cowation’s Facebook page.

Sun: I got a bit more serious about writing my Camp NaNoWriMo novel on Sunday and really tried to catch up – here are a few of my favorite sentences from that session:

They were all tiny knots, connected by thinner and thinner threads. Aysha would look over her shoulder and see the ghost of her nana walking down the broken path. She would hear her mother call out, in English, to come inside and instantly remember when she was little and thought that the world consisted only of their one street. She could close her eyes and nearly feel the tug of Rehan’s hand as she tried to pull her forward into the treacherous street, right before she was hit by the bus that killed her… She could only trust that it was all in Allah’s plan – and that she could know none of it before she came back to this place and rediscovered it for herself.

Mon: I had a non-standard 4th of July this year – I went out to canvass the 50,000 or so people that converged on Gasworks Park in Seattle, and then took pictures of the amazing fireworks that were shot from boats on nearby Lake Union. Those pictures are up now on Facebook as well, but here are a couple of my favorites. Also, you should let me know what you did on the 4th of July so that I can put it up on this Sunday’s question and response post!

Tues: Fortunately, I had the day off, but unfortunately, I fell asleep for most of it! Still, I approached the Camp NaNoWriMo daily word count goal of 8335 that day – I am dangerously close to being on schedule! Watch out!

Weds: I worked on (you guessed it) a lot of the novel catch-up on Wednesday, but I also started drawing a comic about VoteBot, the loveable Washington Bus robot. Check out the work in progress below.

Check out more of my creations in the rest of the Creative Every Day series.