Showing posts with label NaNoWriMo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NaNoWriMo. Show all posts
I'm in Trouble
The End of One Road...
And so NaNoWriMo ends for me, one day early. Final word count is 70,191 and 317 pages. How do I feel about it ending? I'm a little sad, but also beaming, knowing that I've written two more novels in The Courier series since the beginning of September. I'm no longer complaining about what I've accomplished this year.
What's next? I've decided to continue the story I started about a highly structured society that exists without creativity. It's titled Nova's Magic and is about a 12 year old girl who discovers her imagination, and as a result she is cast out of her village. I'm not writing it for publication. It's one of those stories this writer just has to tell for herself. And it's a perfect choice to fill in my daily 2000 words because I'm writing it as the story comes to me.
I'm also planning on hitting the editing of The Courier pretty hard through the holidays. I'll be popping in here to complain about my progress periodically, so stay tuned. You'll also find me & R.J. writing about vampires over on the Bloodlegger's blog again, now that NaNoWriMo is over.
But first, I need to do some house cleaning. What are you doing now that NaNoWriMo is over?
I'm a Winner!!
How FUN! Yesterday I copied Cause for Redemption into the NaNoWriMo word counter for my first time ever, and I'm a winner...WHOO HOO!! Such a little thing, but a great feeling knowing that I've finished the contest.
Now I have to finish the novel in the next 5 days. Considering I wrote the second book in 3 days, I'll finish up this book no problem. It'll be interesting to see how many words the final first draft will be. If I stay on track with my goal of 3500 per week day of the contest, it'll be 77,000, but I think I might end up writing more. How do I feel about the storyline? Unfortunately I don't like it as much as book 1 and 2, but it's a much more complicated plot, and cleaning up the manuscript is going to take some time and effort.
And so this leads into two more goals for 2011. I've decided to do the 3 Day Novel Contest and NaNoWriMo again next year. I'm thinking of doing a compilation of modern day fairy tales across contests. It's something I've wanted to do for a number of years, but of course, I'll probably change my mind ten or twenty times before then.
Losing a Character's Image
During the last couple days of writing Cause for Redemption for NaNoWriMo, I've been transitioning Barry's character to more of a leader to his gang of misfits. This morning I've lost sight of his appearance in my head, which used to be very much like Michael Cera. It's making it difficult for me to properly depict him in the story. Has that ever happened to one of your characters? What did you do to get the picture adjusted?
Celebrating NaNoWriMo Word Count at 50010 Today
I DID IT!!
WHOO HOO!!
50,000 WORDS!!
But when I put the total into the word count field there were no fireworks, just me sitting back in my chair smiling, which was reward enough. In this contest, that number stands out like a 4th of July burst of color in the sky anyways.
I reached the end of a scene with a word count of 50,010 and have decided that's enough writing for today. Time for some Thanksgiving planning and maybe a nap after walking the beagles.
Where am I on the progress of the novel? Sure, I reached one goal, but now I have to complete goal #2, finish the story. I feel confident I'll meet that goal as well. I've started changing the ending though. Like yesterday I realized I had way too many characters to contend with so I killed them all in a mass beheading. Barry's now off with another courier who can't stand him, trying to send his father back to his cell. This is not at all how I had written the ending in the outline. But heck, it's all in fun, and I can't wait to see how the new ending turns out.
1 Week to Thanksgiving...Really?
When I went out to get the paper this morning I realized it's Wednesday when I saw the grocery store sale papers--I've been having a hard time remembering what day of the week it is thanks to NaNoWriMo. Then I realized I'm a little behind on party planning.
This year we're staying home instead of traveling to Monte Vista, Colorado for Thanksgiving dinner. Michael's family in Southern Colorado have fizzled out due to relatives moving or dying. Now there are only his memories of fifty or more people gathering for the festivities. Kinda sad, huh? So our party will include: Michael, my oldest son, and me...oh and two beagles and three cats.
Back to NaNo, I've been dreading the whole menu planning and cooking during the contest, and now it's here. I kind of over do it every year with dishes we'd bring down south. Now I have to do the whole meal. Complaining aside, I love cooking, especially holiday dishes, and my son will gladly help, so don't feel too sorry for me. Still, balancing the whipping of potatoes between 3500 new words of Cause for Redemption is the next challenge I'm ready to take on.
How about you? What are you doing for Thanksgiving? What are your family traditions? What are your favorite dishes?
NaNoWriMo and Housework Don't Mix
I'm officially making a list of stupid stuff I've done during NaNoWriMo after this one. I set the timer for cooking the rice and when it went off, I heard it, but dismissed it as a malfunction of the timer. Huh! Yes, I burned the rice.
Did I mention the other one, running the dryer, twice, without moving the clothes from the washer to the dryer.
I might make it through NaNo, but will the house?
Another Happy NaNoWriMo Week
Happy Monday, all! And so starts another week of writing Cause for Redemptio in NaNoWriMo. I took the weekend off, so I was refreshed and ready to write this morning.
Decided to write to 40,000 today, which put me a bit over the daily 3500 goal. Not so long ago I was excited to reach the first 10,000 words written and now I've reached the last 10,000. How time flies when you're having fun!
Good NEWS!! I've reached the half way point of the novel half way through the contest. Now, as long as I can build up to the climax without getting carried away...
I love that I've set the habit for new writing again. Probably my favorite thing about this contest. So I've been thinking about what I'll write starting December 1st, to keep the habit alive. I started a project in a notebook a couple months ago that's in the speculative fiction genre. It's about the loss of creativity and has been a helpful story for me to write while dealing with the writer's block. I've just been writing whatever comes to me with that story, which is refreshing considering how structured I've had to be with a series. I also have another horror novel I started writing years and years and years ago that I've been thinking about quite a bit lately. 15 more days to figure it out.
What I do know is book 4 of The Courier series will be on hold for some time. Editing three books will keep me busy until mid next year. Golly gee, I love the way that sounds.
Have you thought about what you're doing December 1st?
Despite All My Whining About NaNoWriMo
I got this strong feeling this morning, after posting "... Feels like a slow day of writing is abound" that if I don't write my 3500 words today, I'll turn into pumpkin or something. NaNo's setting a habit after only 12 days. Awesome!
So rather than making the pancakes I was craving, I wrote for a half hour before taking the beagles for a walk. Maybe NaNo is good for weight loss too. Oh yeah. Don't remind me. I'm trying to forget about the peanut butter cookie binge earlier this week.
Recharged by Cookies
Gorging on peanut butter cookies yesterday squashed the slug right out of me. I'm feeling recharged for some reason today. Could also be that it's snowing. I've been dying for a snowy day of writing by the fire, and here it is.
I was just looking back at a few of my previous posts during the contest and saw Celebrating 10,000 Words Today. That happened way back on day 3. As of this morning, TRIPLE it. Wow! Another 20,000 words just seemed to fly by.
I've officially written into the second act of Cause for Redemption. Got there yesterday and am really delving into the meat of the novel now. SPOILER ALERT...Vern's back to help Barry capture his father. Vern's one of my favorite characters, so having him join the hunt only helps with the recharge.
With almost twenty full days to go, I've got to wonder when slug mode will creep up on me again. Any other NaNo writers out there needing a recharge, what are you doing to bring the spark back to your writing?
Now back to writing and onward to 40,000.
Reached 1st Burn Out Day
I've officially reached my first day of burnout. Even though I've only written 177 words this morning, I'm still motivated to write. Problem is I feel like a slug. So I expect the words to flow slowly today, maybe finishing up 3500 words by tonight.
Today also marks the 1/3 point towards close of contest. I'm trying not to dwell on it too much. If you read my concerns yesterday, you already known I'm not at the 1/3 mark of the story. So the thought of putting in extra time to write is probably adding to the burnout. I'm not too concerned about catching up. Doing the 3 Day Novel Contest this year taught me how to keep it on track in a much shorter period of time.
Over Half Way There
I also wrapped up the first act of Cause for Redemption today...FINALLY! This scares me a bit because I'm now getting into the meat of the novel and have less days than I expected to do it. So, I expect to be writing through another weekend. Hope it snows.
NaNoWriMo One Week In
How's it going? Just fine. Pressing on, motivated to sit down and write, words are continue to flow, still lovin' the contest...
How does my family feel about me after one week in NaNo? I've officially been compared to the crazy cat lady from The Simpsons. Considering the goofy things I've been doing the past couple days, I can't really argue with them. I seem to be losing all common sense and any attention to detail. I can't comprehend what people are saying to me and have to ask them to repeat it two or three times. Where will I be after three and a half more weeks?
One other thing I didn't expect going in is that I'd be such a hermit writer. Originally, I intended to seek out fellow NaNo writers as a support line throughout the contest. Was even going to hook up with some local writers and go to our Denver launch party (but only until I found out it was way past my bedtime). None of that happened, although R.J. informed me he joined the contest a few days in and he and I have chatted about our progress.
Now it's back to writing. I'm going to try to get to 20,000 today.
Anybody else in the contest out there feeling like me?
Celebrating 10,000 Words Today
How exciting! Over 10,000 words in 3 days!
That's equal to almost 4 chapters and 44 pages.
What I'm really doing is following the advice I got in an email from NaNo. Write hard and fast to start. Besides, I'd really like to take weekends off so writing ahead is a must.
Story's coming out nicely! Lots of fun conflict and action in the first act, although the storyline is slow going. Not exactly what ya want to read at the beginning of a novel to hook you in, but that's what editing is for.
More Courier News
I came up with a new title for the first book, although I'm not totally set on it. What do you think of Bargain for Eternity? Starting to notice a pattern with the titles?
I updated The Courier page (click tab above) with short bits of info on the first three book in the series. Should be adding info soon about book 4. I'm about to start the outline due to all the ideas that are coming to me while writing Cause for Redemption. Let it flow, let it flow, let it flow.
The Courier's website/blog is officially dead as of yesterday. Still have the web address, which now forwards to The Courier tab above.
Switching To Scrivener 1 Day In...Am I Crazy?
I watched the video and was interested enough to download a free 30 day trial. Ten minutes into playing with it I was hooked. So I've decided to use it the next 29 days not only for NaNoWriMo, but to add the 4th draft of book 1 of The Courier. Am I crazy?
Oh, and they're actually selling a half price copy to anyone who wins NaNoWriMo at the end of the month. Another incentive to finish.
NaNoWriMo Begins
- I got up 45 minutes late because Michael decided to sleep in an extra hour this morning. How could I possibly let him do that alone?
- I forgot to set up the manuscript template. Not that it set me back that much. Was just that I found I've made some changes to another manuscript but hadn't applied the changes to the template I use.
- I got really distracted and had fun adding word count and a blow-by-blow in the right column. Oh, and updating my word count on the Nano site, which was running really slow, but that's to be expected the first couple days as we're all so excited to start.
- Had some trouble finding character information I thought I'd transitioned back over to the website where I manage background on novels. I'm really messy about maintaining character profiles, but I found an amazing set of questions about novel characters in Dynamic Characters, How to Ceate Personalities that Keep Readers Captivated by Nancy Kress. Now it's just a matter of creating a template out of it and using it.
- Like in the 3Day, the challenge of filling in backstory on a new novel in a series has reared its ugly head. There's got to be some easy way to carry the info over or create a checklist of stuff the reader needs to know. I guess I'll create it for book 4.
Ready or Not...NaNoWriMo
I'm SOOOO ready!!!! Bring it on!
I'm feeling antsy about starting. Actually think I was ready to start a week or two ago. Probably because I've had the story idea for Cause for Redemption in my mind for a good 9 months. It's been a couple months since I finished the first draft of Warrant for Damnation and haven't been writing anything new but the outline.
Today I had to distract myself from adding more to the outline, so I made a chocolate cake, gluten-free orange cupcakes and rice crispy treats. Kitchen's still a mess. Now I'm ready to kick up my feet, watch a movie and share a bottle of wine.
The State of My Blogs...Again
Drinking Rutherford Ranch's 2007 Sauvignon Blanc. It's ok for a white from California. Still haven't looked up the reason, but they've been producing some really bad whites for the last few years.
Back to blogging. Besides writing about NaNoWriMo over on The Courier novel's blog, I've been publishing more of the story for the past week or so, and I'm SOOOOO sick and tired of having the two blogs to maintain. Why did I separate them? Oh yeah, the whole marketing an unpublished novel thing. You can't see me, but I'm shaking my head.
Anyways, when I started publishing more parts for The Courier today, I had a realization. Okay, maybe I came out of denial. That damn blog and the whole Twitter novel thing has really consumed a lot of my time. Let me also remind you that at one time I also published it on three other writer's websites. Another heavy sigh...
I'm beginning to feel abused, and I'm the abuser. Oh my!
So I'm back here blogging. Only here going forward. That means the NaNoWriMo blogging is moving here. So in case you missed it.
I created a separate account by the name of TheCourierNovels today for use in NaNoWriMo. Add me as a buddy...After coming up with a long list of titles that were really bad, I finally came up with Cause for Redemption today (yesterday) for book 3. With only a few weeks before NaNoWriMo starts I don't even want to think about changing it until after the contest is over, so I added it to my NaNo page today.
Quick update on outlining. It's coming along nicely. I've got the major plot line set and have filled in quite a bit of the detailed outline. Have created quite a few new characters too. Will I be ready to start writing on November 1st? Absolutely!
In closing, I apologize for all my flaky blogging. If you do read here, consider it just a writer evolving.
I'm the author of the award winning novel