Good Morning!!!
I hope that everyone had a happy, happy holiday. I know that I did. My Christmas was filled with all the people I love, including friends from afar. It’s funny how with really good friends, you can go months or years without seeing them and it still feels like no time has went by when you get together.
That’s the way it is with my blog right? No matter how long I drift, when I come back it feels like no time has passed….right? J
Well I have nothing new to report. I didn’t finish the Nano challenge. I got a little distracted…between my accident, my mother’s surgery and the holidays I just didn’t have enough hours. My final total was just under 22,000 words. That’s almost halfway there…and I’m still writing…so that is good too.
I know the question you are all asking…why is it taking so long…? When are we going to get to read one of your really awesome stories? When do we get to go to a book signing….or a totally awesome book release party? I’ll get there. January is my month!!! Less stress at work and a plot line that gets clearer every single day. I had a little bit of trouble really finding my characters. I had a protagonist that changed on me…but with each change the story gets stronger and better. I’m not in a race to get a final polished copy done, because I want to write a good book and when I just write to get words down I spend twice as much time revising than I would have spent if I had just slowed down and thought it through.
On the short story side, my favorite market closed. (Tear). I have a short coming out on Sciencefictionfantasyhorror.com but the editor is very behind and I haven’t been given a date for publication yet. The contract on the other hand has been signed! Woo Hoo. I submitted another short to the half price books writing contest. But I won’t know anything about that until like march. It’s actually more of a poem than a short story but I really like it and I hope that if I don’t get chosen as a finalist that I will be able to sell it to another market. If I do get chosen the bookstore will publish it nationwide!!! That would be completely and totally awesome…and you don’t get royalties or anything because the money made is donated to literacy projects but it’s wonderful publicity, and exposure and I would be totally, totally psyched. (How many times have I said “totally”?)
So that is my update. I will keep writing and putting a tally up on the blog…so that you all know I am making progress. My other goal is to actually attend my writing group this month. I have missed three meetings in a row because of conflicting schedules. But I am forcing myself to attend by posting something for review. So ask me if I went to my January meeting!
Merry Christmas!!
It's been...one week....
ok, I know. I am so flippin far behind. But don't think I gave up yet. I'm determined. Perseverence is the key.
But in my defense a lot has happened in the past week...and I still managed to get some writing in despite it all. Last Wednesday I was in a tiny little accident...that caused tremendous pain in my back and made it extremely uncomfortable to sit in a chair for more than an hour let alone sit and think. That was followed by a Harry Potter infestation. Go Go Gryffindor. (Go see the movie...unless you're like my sister, the only person who hasn't read the books...you'll enjoy it.) Now I am packing to leave town for the holidays. Ha. Don't think I'll get too much writing done, but I am taking my laptop anyway. Since I'm very much a morning person I figure I can sneak a few thousand words in while everyone else is sleeping. And the road should provide much needed time for reading and sleeping.
So that is it...oh my word count right now...21,122!!! Not even half way. Oh Well. Should we take bets on how far I can get before the 30th?
Happy Turkey Day!!!
But in my defense a lot has happened in the past week...and I still managed to get some writing in despite it all. Last Wednesday I was in a tiny little accident...that caused tremendous pain in my back and made it extremely uncomfortable to sit in a chair for more than an hour let alone sit and think. That was followed by a Harry Potter infestation. Go Go Gryffindor. (Go see the movie...unless you're like my sister, the only person who hasn't read the books...you'll enjoy it.) Now I am packing to leave town for the holidays. Ha. Don't think I'll get too much writing done, but I am taking my laptop anyway. Since I'm very much a morning person I figure I can sneak a few thousand words in while everyone else is sleeping. And the road should provide much needed time for reading and sleeping.
So that is it...oh my word count right now...21,122!!! Not even half way. Oh Well. Should we take bets on how far I can get before the 30th?
Happy Turkey Day!!!
Day...Could it really be the 15th?
So this is it. The midway point. It's too bad my word count isn't at the midway point. I can say this much, last week sucked. I didn't think it was possible to suck that much, but it was. There were several days when I got very little words in, others when I didn't get anything done at all. And it wasn't because I'm not talented enough to sit down and crank out 1000 words. I can do that in an hour or less. But it's the plotting, the planning, the trying to weave different story arcs together, and wondering if you've even got a story arc at all. I kept getting forced into situations that I didn't like, and I was forcing the characters to do things they didn't want to do. And somewhere along the way I realized that the real protagonist of the story, wasn't who I thought it was.
Regardless, there has been some major, major reshuffling. The plot line is still the same, but instead of one POV (point of view) there are now three. And the first chapter is now the sixth, seventh and tenth chapter. So much for writing in order. I feel like I am trying to piece together a puzzle. I know what the end is supposed to look like, I have some of the pieces, but not all and I am trying to get everything in its place. The more pieces I get in the right spot the more new pieces I discover. But that's good. At least it allows me to move forward. I know from experience that writer's block, at least when I'm in the midlde of a project, is typically caused by my trying to make something work that isn't supposed to work. Sometimes it takes me a while to see that, to figure out what it is exactly that isn't working, sometimes I take it all apart and put it all together again, just to see what I will get. Some of my best work has been a result of tossing something two days before the deadline and starting over from scratch. I work best under pressure, close to a deadline. The adrenaline fuels creativity. I think. That is my scientific answer.
Anyway, you're goint to love the newly restructured book. It is less of what I like to read and more of what I am, I think, destined to write.
Oh and my word count, after doing 3,837 words today, my total is now 17,934. I can't believe how much I got done today, or how easy it all was. Hopefully the rest of the week will go by as easily as well.
Regardless, there has been some major, major reshuffling. The plot line is still the same, but instead of one POV (point of view) there are now three. And the first chapter is now the sixth, seventh and tenth chapter. So much for writing in order. I feel like I am trying to piece together a puzzle. I know what the end is supposed to look like, I have some of the pieces, but not all and I am trying to get everything in its place. The more pieces I get in the right spot the more new pieces I discover. But that's good. At least it allows me to move forward. I know from experience that writer's block, at least when I'm in the midlde of a project, is typically caused by my trying to make something work that isn't supposed to work. Sometimes it takes me a while to see that, to figure out what it is exactly that isn't working, sometimes I take it all apart and put it all together again, just to see what I will get. Some of my best work has been a result of tossing something two days before the deadline and starting over from scratch. I work best under pressure, close to a deadline. The adrenaline fuels creativity. I think. That is my scientific answer.
Anyway, you're goint to love the newly restructured book. It is less of what I like to read and more of what I am, I think, destined to write.
Oh and my word count, after doing 3,837 words today, my total is now 17,934. I can't believe how much I got done today, or how easy it all was. Hopefully the rest of the week will go by as easily as well.
Day..eight...nine...ten...oops...
Ok, so I fell of the face of the earth for a little while. So shoot me. I have been writing...well kind of... but I've been swamped at work and things all around seem to be a little crazy so I haven't been able to post as regularly as I would like. It's a lot of work getting the totals and then remembering to write the blog entry and update the nano page too. I should be able to count these words as part of my novel. Hell, I should be able to count that 400 page grant I'm writing at work as part of my novel. (ok that was a little bit of an exageration...ok ok an outright lie...)
regardless here are the quick and dirty stats....
On Tuesday I did 1,337 words...woo hoo. On Wednesday I did 0 words. But look at it this way. There's no where to go but up.
My total is 11,352. I need to catch way up. So I am going to go upchuck some todays words!
Ta Ta....
Be sure to check my profile out at the NANOWRIMO website http://http://www.nanowrimo.org/userinfo.php?uid=27420
oh an excerpt from NANWRIMO Chris...
Yep. We've arrived at Week Two. Let the weeping begin.
As you move from the spring wood of Week One into the trying climate of Week Two, one or all of the following are likely to happen: 1) The fun, good-time feel of the first week will evaporate. 2) You will decide that your book is a miserable failure, that you are a creative fraud, and that novels are best left to novelists. 3) You will put 1 and 2 together, and decide to cut your losses and drop out now while the getting is good and the fall TV season is still relatively new.
Make it through the grumpiness and self-doubt of Week Two, and you'll be rewarded with renewed energy and an eerily improved outlook on your novel. Work diligently through this, the hardest week of NaNoWriMo, and you'll see the tangled mess of your story begin to unknot, and your book begin to soar.
I know it's hard to believe. But look at all the work you've done already. You have characters! You have settings! Your manuscript has grown large enough to injure a small dog! Not that you'd want to injure a dog, small or otherwise. But still, you've done more in the last seven days then most writers accomplish in seven months. You've made it through the first huge week of NaNoWriMo.
regardless here are the quick and dirty stats....
On Tuesday I did 1,337 words...woo hoo. On Wednesday I did 0 words. But look at it this way. There's no where to go but up.
My total is 11,352. I need to catch way up. So I am going to go upchuck some todays words!
Ta Ta....
Be sure to check my profile out at the NANOWRIMO website http://http://www.nanowrimo.org/userinfo.php?uid=27420
oh an excerpt from NANWRIMO Chris...
Yep. We've arrived at Week Two. Let the weeping begin.
As you move from the spring wood of Week One into the trying climate of Week Two, one or all of the following are likely to happen: 1) The fun, good-time feel of the first week will evaporate. 2) You will decide that your book is a miserable failure, that you are a creative fraud, and that novels are best left to novelists. 3) You will put 1 and 2 together, and decide to cut your losses and drop out now while the getting is good and the fall TV season is still relatively new.
Make it through the grumpiness and self-doubt of Week Two, and you'll be rewarded with renewed energy and an eerily improved outlook on your novel. Work diligently through this, the hardest week of NaNoWriMo, and you'll see the tangled mess of your story begin to unknot, and your book begin to soar.
I know it's hard to believe. But look at all the work you've done already. You have characters! You have settings! Your manuscript has grown large enough to injure a small dog! Not that you'd want to injure a dog, small or otherwise. But still, you've done more in the last seven days then most writers accomplish in seven months. You've made it through the first huge week of NaNoWriMo.
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