Almost There!

I just need to toot my own horn a little here. I sat down today with exactly 8800 words left to write to beat NaNo 2008. In a mere 2 hours and 8 minutes, I've crossed 4704 of those words off.

My current total is 45,904 words. Even though being "on track" would have me at 48,343 words, considering that a week ago I still was barely over 30,000... I'm psyched! I've never written at the pace of 2300 words per hour before -- I thought Thanksgiving's 1700 words was amazing.

I wrote a pivotal, exciting chapter today, and while I know it's not perfect, it accomplished its purpose and I'm SO excited. I'm going to take a break to do some Christmas shopping, and hopefully get some more words in before I go to bed tonight, so that tomorrow I can not only meet, but exceed my goal.

I've found a new writing pattern that I think I will adhere to because, at least today, it has proved to be extremely fruitful. If you've ever had a word race with someone, you know that writing for a certain amount of time then stopping tends to help you. A prime example of this is the writer's aid website www.lab.drwicked.com/writeordie. Well, I noticed today that in the first 28 minutes of writing, I had crossed the 1100 threshold. I was, of course, ecstatic, but I had hit a momentary pause in action. So, I took a 3 or 4 minute break to get a drink, stretch, and put on a fan because the office where I write is very hot. Then, I sat down to write for another 30 minutes. I continued this pattern all day, writing only 30 minutes at a time then stopping for a few minute break. Each time I did this, I was able to write the entire 30 minutes practically without stopping, and generate ideas during my short breaks. This will be my new habit, at least until it fails me.

If you're a writer and you're reading this, I suggest you try a similar pattern. If 30 minutes seems to be too much, try 15 or 20. Give it a shot!

Another suggestion I have, and I know I'm not alone on this, is music. It distracts some people, but I like to make a playlist for each character and listen to those songs when I'm writing in that character's POV. For instance, my werewolf/murder suspect's playlist has a lot of Disturbed, Buckcherry, and select Nickleback songs (Thanks, Mandy!). Listening to songs in a certain genre or with a certain theme really helps me keep out *other* distractions like the sound of Guitar Hero being played in the next room, while focusing on the scene at hand.

In other news, I finished Austin's Christmas stocking! I'm almost done with Lillie's. Here's a picture of Austin's, that I sewed by hand after cutting out 89 pieces of felt with dull scissors, and threading teeny tiny needles with colored thread.



That's it for now. If I get more writing done, or anything exceptionall exciting happens later, I'll let you know!

NaNo: The Home Stretch

My current word count is 38,672. I have to hit 50,000 by 11:59pm EST on Sunday. That gives me 3 whole days to write 11,328 words. I had been on track til last week, and now I'm playing crazy catchup. But I wrote 4,000 words yesterday, so if i can keep that up, I'll be set.

Thanksgiving was good. We spent it at my sister-in-law's house, where the whole family gathered for the first time in forever. And we played Phase 10 until 11pm, which was amazingly fun. Then I came home, wrote 1700 words in an hour, and crashed. No Black Friday shopping for the poor!!

That's it for now. Not much to say. MUST WRITE!

... Excerpts coming, I promise. Hang in there, Mandy!!! ☺

Stupid Computers!

So I just wrote a post to check in real quick... then there was an error and it wouldn't take. Now I have to write it all over again. In a nutshell, here it was:

There are 8 writing days left until the end of NaNo, and I'm 4 days behind schedule. Blame it on cooking Thanksgiving dinner for my family, sans Lillie and her mom and dad, last night, and the two days of preparation for it. The dinner went well, although the stupid turkey took over 4 hours to cook when it usually only takes about 2-3, so it wasn't done til everything else was eaten. But I made a kick-ass pumpkin cheesecake. Mmmm....

As far as my book goes, it's coming along. I just haven't had time to sit and write cuz I've been cooking and cleaning and running errands. I've gotten about 50 words in the last couple days. But I've been jotting notes down like crazy, so when I sit down to write tonight and tomorrow I know I can get caught up.

I'm sad that I haven't seen Lillie in a week, and her parents are being idiots so I probably won't get to see her for a while. :( I still don't have a job, which makes the holidays really depressing. And I've had to dip into my money for school next semester/summer so now I don't know if I'll be able to go, since the money I had wasn't quite enough in the first place.... Yay, stress!!!

That's it for now. In the next couple days, Internet-willing, I'll post some more updates, including an excerpt or two! :)

Just Checking In...

Nano, Day 11.

Word Goal at the end of today, in order to stay on pace (1,667 per day) = 18,337.

My total Word Count (wc) as of right now = 16,895.

Somehow, I got behind. But that's OK. I wrote 3,867 today, which is a lot better than the 92 I wrote yesterday, or the 403 I wrote the day before that.


Life has been crazy the last few days. I've had my 6-month-old niece who I ADORE since October 29. She just went home last night :( And we've also babysat my 13-month-old nephew Keegan several of those days. So, 2 babies + a wc goal of 1,667/day... doesn't always happen.

I've been writing and playing online since 10am. It's now almost 6pm. I'm going to sign off for the day and hopefully write 3,106 words tomorrow so be on pace at 20,004. It's been a rough day so I don't have anything special to say, really. Maybe tomorrow...

Thanks for checking in!

What It's Like to Be Me

Here's what it sounds like to be me right now:


Me, to the 6-month-old in the walker who's covered in squash and peas -- Lillie. Lillie. Eat your squash, baby girl. Turn around. Lillie...
Mike (Hubby), to the 13-month-old standing on the back of the walker trying to play with Lillie -- Keegan. Keegan, leave Lillie alone. Let Lillie eat.
Me -- Lillie, don’t grab Keegan's ear.
Mike -- Keegan, that’s the doggie’s bone. Give Chesney back his bone! ... Chesney, get your bone....
Me, to the kitten trying to stick his snout into the jar of baby food -- Charlie, that’s Lillie's.
Me -- Lillie, don't grab the kitty's ear. Be nice. Lillie, eat your squash. Keegan, don’t hit Lillie on the head with the doggie toy.
Mike -- No, Ches, that’s monkey. Get your bone. Keegan has it. Keegan, don’t hit the baby on the head. Give Chesney his bone.

**Keep in mind that all this is pretty much at the same time**
(A few minutes later)

Mike -- Smile Lillie. Where’s that pretty smile? Aww, Keegan’s giving you hugs. Can you smile for the camera? --
Me -- Lillie, eat your peas. Ignore the camera. --
Mike -- Honey, move your arm. She smiled but I missed it cuz your arm was in the way. Lillie. Baby girl. Aww, you gave Keegan kisses. Darn, camera’s too slow. Give him more kisses. --
Me -- Keegan, don’t lay on top of the walker, you’ll get stuck. Charlie, get off Lilile’s head! Lillie, eat your peas!

**This was about an hour out of our day.**


Aaaanyhow....

Writing-wise, I'm sitting at 10,321 words. It's Day 6 of NaNo, which means to be "on track," I should be at 10,002. So, I'm on track! The last couple of days were kind of slumping; I only wrote around 400 words each. Luckily I had gotten ahead on Days 1 and 2 so I never actually got behind.

I'm a little worried, because usually the slumps don't start happening until Week 2, I'm told. But, these weren't writing slumps. They were just life-got-in-the-way slumps. So I think I'll be OK.

Alright. I told myself I'd put up excerpts only after I'd gotten a bit under way. Well, I'm officially 20% toward reaching my goal, and I think reaching the 10K mark is a good enough time to post a short excerpt. So, without further ado.... here is the first look at my fantasy vaampyr novel. I apologize for the formatting issue, but I can't seem to make any indents and the block quote feature makes the lines all wiggy. So, you'll just have to make do if you want to read ---

I stare at the woman on the ground, her red hair cascading around her pasty face like a fan. Her eyes are closed, but I know from memory what color they are -- clear, like running water. Except last night, when I found her at the mercy of the younglings, they were a misty gray color, almost like my grandfather’s.

A ripple of hunger washes over me and I growl at her still body. The Purest. What a joke. She fell so easily, and didn’t put up a fight. I run my hands over the cold skin of her shoulder, pausing just before her sheer sleeve began to cover her arm. Her skin feels different when I touch it with my human skin instead of my wolf skin.

The hunger is pain now, and a moan escapes my lips. Though it’s daytime and I'm in human form, my fangs bare as I snarl at my enemy. Hunched over her like I am, I feel like an animal. I am an animal. I touch the bare skin below her neck, running my fingers through a valley of cleavage and over the hardened material of her corset. The laces tickle my fingertips as I make my way to her stomach, palming it in wonder.

They say she will bear children. She’ll be the first of her kind to reproduce the human way; the vaampyr race will continue until the end of time. She has none of the human sicknesses that have plagued her kind for centuries as the Vaampyr essence mixed with the primitive humans’ -- she is pure.

I laugh, letting the sound reverborate in my chest for a moment before it escapes. "That’ll never happen." I stand, one foot on each side of her, and stare at my psosession. My destiny is fulfilled -- I have found her.

That's all I have for today. I have no real words of wisdom about writing or any profound lessons to teach you. Other than the fact that writing without editing as I go is really working, and I recommend any writer to try it. Whether you can quit cold turkey or you have to ease yourself out of the line editing by only letting yourself edit after you finish xx word count... or whatever... I'm finding that my inhibitions are really let down and I actually LIKE my work. So, give it a try!

For my non-writer readers... maybe I'll have more non-writing related news tomorrow. Later and thanks for reading!!

NaNo. Week 1, Day 2

Off to a great start!! I'd like to get more word count padding to my month, but so far I'm sitting at 4909 for two days' work. And it's not even 2pm yet. I still have more prime writing hours while the baby's sleeping. I've written the first chapter and a half, and introduced the entire ensemble of important people. Two more will be added later, but for now all the main figures are on the floor.

Due to that crappy internet connection I mentioned before, I figured I'd go ahead and blog for today while I can. I wanted to share a couple of lists taken directly from Chris Baty's No Plot? No Problem! Novel-Writing Kit. (I'm sure I'll reference this constantly, since it's kind of the official NaNo book and all.)

The lists are called the Magna Cartas. Magna Carta I is a list of elements I love in novels, while MG II is a list of elements that bore, exhaust, or depress me (shamelessly ripped from said Kit.)

I thought it'd be fun to share my lists with you.

Here's my MGI:

• inner turmoil
• quick pace
• past tense
• "literary" style -- not too casual, kind of "pretty" writing
• witty writing (both characters and the writing itself)
• strong women characters, both main and supporting (unless specifically weak)
• unpredictable
• modern setting (as opposed to, say, Victorian era)
• romance
• love trianges or love with hinderances
• sensitive man (who isn't gay)

Here's my MGII:

• present tense
• overly casual/dumbed-down writing style
• set in earlier times
• predictable
• weak women
• push-0vers of both sexes
• random head-hopping
• heros/heroines who fight their destiny -- it was cool once, now overdone

You'll note that my MGII is mostly the opposite of my MGI. Some of that's... well, predictable.

Here's why I shared this with you --

I've already used 2.5 of my MGII elements. Why the heck would I use something on my MGII list?? Baty's books warn writers that this will happen, but I (like so many others, I'm sure) didn't expect it to happen to me. Seriously, since when do I write in present tense with a casual style? And I think my MC, A, is starting to fight her destiny a bit. Why would she do that when I've imagined her to be this ass-kicking bad-girl with hair to her bum and a body to die for?

I guess this leads to what I've learned so far on my journey to the 50K work novel. Nothing is predictable. Characters WILL take the novel over, no matter how much you don't believe in that concept. I think it really is the sign of a good writer when your characters are alive enough to make their own path in the story. Some people disagree, and that's their prerogative. For me, I'm just excited to get back to my untitled Vaampyr novel and see where A and G will take me next!

NaNo. Week 1, Day 1

It's 7:10pm and I have written... 2604 words today. I'm not letting myself look back over them, because I know I'll try to revise. They probably suck, but I'm trying to be ok with that.

So, NaNo's officially underway and I'm about 1K words ahead of the word count. Woohoo! I'm trying to pad it as much as I can because I know I'll get stuck in a few days.

I've bookmarked Chris Baty's No Plot? No Problem! guide to writingn a novel in 30 days, and the accompanying Novel Writing Kit. Each are very humourous and witty, and layout challenges and issues that might befall me during any given week of this wonderful month we call November.

So far, the biggest issues I have actually come across are:

The title. Right now, everything is being saved as "Vaampyr." If you couldn't guess, my novel is a vampire fantasy. It also has some serious sci-fi elements, and I just hope I can flesh those out alright in the end.

The voices. I have two main characters (herefore refered to as the MCs, or A and G) and each has a first person POV. They toggle back and forward, and already at this point into it, they've toggled more than I thought they would. And each has a completely different voice. G is supposed to be dark and mysterious, and possibly a killer. A is a protector of her people, as well as being their princess, for lack of a better term. So you can see why they need to sound different. I'm not sure if I'm doing a good job or not, but I'll tackle that later.

Moving the plot forward. I'm not "stuck," per se, but this fight scene seems to be taking longer than I thought. And what's with the ceremonial headpiece? Already my story's got a mind of its own!!

Writing from the POV of werewolves and vampires. This might be the trickiest by far. How much "sensing" do they need to do? What kind of "senses" do they have? They each have superpowers, and some human weaknesses, so I'm pretty much free to play with them. But really. I've never written anything like this before, and I already think my werewolf is smelling things too much.

I hope to share with you some of my favorite lines and small passages as I write, but at the moment nothing exceptionally bright is sticking out to me. In due time, my friends.

So far, NaNo's a blast. My dad's supposedly doing it with me, so I'll have to check in on him soon...

In other news, Halloween was yesterday. I'm sure you knew that. Here are a couple pictures from our evening out:

That's it for now. Check back later if you think I might have something remarkably insightful or witty to say!

Thanks for stopping by. Oh, and if you see me around during November, just give me a swift kick in the pants. Chances are, I've already gotten behind on my word count.