The second week was indeed the week of the New Woman’s New Look series. And believe me, it was a busy week.
Of course I knew this series is demanding, but really, it drained me! There’s a lot of material to organize – and still I realized I don’t have enough info on a few topics and I need to research more. But I have the skeleton of the series now and I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am about it because this allows me to organize my future work. I also know now that I’ll have four more installments and more or less how long they will be.
The next two installments, those about make-up, are more than just drafted. Beside, make-up was the original idea for the series and it’s where I have more info and material. It was only later on that It occurred to me that it would be interesting to explore not only make-up, but the entire evolution of the woman’s body and looks of it in the 1920s as a social statement.
Writing down what I do have at the moment, I saw that I need a lot more material on the perception of the woman’s body (both on her side and on her critiques’ side) as well as a lot more material on two very new practices of the Twenties: dieting and tanning.
I also see I have very little on bobbed hair and I’d really like to address this subject more in depth. Bobbing their hair was shocking to Twenties’ woman and their contemporaries than today’s people normally appreciate. It wasn’t a fashion thing at all, but – maybe even more that the rest of the new behaviors of women – it was a social statement, and one of the more fiercely opposed to by traditionalists.
No question I need far more material than I have on this subject.
But all in all, I think I’ll be able to post the two article about make-up in December, which will give me time enough to perfect the other two articles for January.
Stay tuned!
I’ve also basically written all the challenges and tags I still have open, with the only exception of the One Day Photo Challenge in Verona. But I’m not particularly worried about that, it will be an easy writing (mhm… last famous words?).
For next week, I’m planning to revise Give in to the Feeling. Though honestly I’m not sure one week will be enough. As I typed it on my pc last weekend, I noticed there is a lot to revise and a lot to actually rewrite in order to smooth down the narration and to make characters’ motives clear. But we’ll see.
I can’t wait to start that part of job!
Instead I’m quite worried about the AtoZ Challenge posts. I did a part of the research before NaNo started, but I didn’t take down all the notes I need in order to write the articles. I still have to take down all the notes from The Jazz Revolution, which is the main structure of the entire series, and read through all the other resources and take down notes as I go.
I really don’t know how I’ll do this. But hey, I’ll try. It is possible that this series will stretch into December, but that’s fine. What I want is having it drafted before the end of the year… and I do think I’ll be able to do that.
All in all, I’ve already written most of the posts I planned to write, which is already a good thing. Maybe I’ll have a little time to sketch up a few other posts, which I really hope. But on the whole, I can’t complain.
What about you? How’s your NaNo going?
8 Comments
Arlee Bird
Not doing NaNo this year. I’ve got too much going on in November and December. Sounds like you’re making nice progress.
I wish you success.
Arlee Bird
jazzfeathers
Thanks Arlee. I can’t complain about my progress, really. But I hope I’ll be able to write at least a part of the AtoZ posts before the month ends 🙂
Anabel
I’m always impressed with how busy you are! That’s a lot of balls to juggle at once.
jazzfeathers
And I always wonder how it is that I get myself messed up all the time 😉
Carrie-Anne
Good luck with the rest of NaNo and your future post plans! I’m going to reach 40K today, and have been at #10 in my local writers’ group Faces of NaNo graph for awhile. I’m still only in the early chapters of my story, not yet the dramatic heart of it all, but I’m enjoying getting to really know and develop some characters who previously weren’t so major.
jazzfeathers
Discovering characters, especially when they ‘just happen’ when you’re not looking, is one of the best things that may happen writing a story.
Hey, 40k words and still introducing. That’s going to be a big story! 🙂
Sara L.
I could have sworn I had commented on this post when it went live… (*scratches her head*) But it’s entirely possible that I forgot to hit “Post.” That’s the kind of week I’ve had so far. (*blushes*)
It sounds like you’ve had a super-productive NaNoWriMo so far, Sarah. Pulling together your New Woman research, working on the novelette, preparing blog posts – that and the other tasks you’ve mentioned are altogether a lot of work. If the A To Z posts won’t be finished until December, then that’s OK. The fact that you’re thinking about next year’s challenge so far in advance puts you ahead of the game. And as long as you focus on staying ahead, you’ll be fine. 😉 Keep it up!
jazzfeathers
Yeah, I’m happy about the work I’m doing. Particularly on the novelette: I’m having such a blast with it, I really didn’t expect it. I hope it’ll turn out good to read too 😉
I don’t see myself writing all the AtoZ posts in November, at this point, but I’m hopping to finish in December, since I’ll have a few extra days off 🙂