In writing:
I hit 90K last night on IE. I only have 5-10K left and I'm DONE with the shitty first draft!! I've written between 3200 and 4200 words each day the last couple of days, and I hope to hit at least 3K again today. It's been slow because my last few chapters all have some stuff already written, which means when I go to finish each scene, I have to redo the old past tense, 3rd person voice since I'm not writing all new stuff in present tense, 1st person. I also added a whole new chapter that was over 3K words, so even though I love it and I feel accomplished, I don't feel any closer to my goal since it didn't cross anything off my to-do list.
My fMC (female main character) is suddenly a bit spunkier than before, thanks to my 30 day forray into a fantasy world where my fMC was a bad ass vaampyr. And me 2nd mMC (duh, male main character) has wisened up a bit and now they have spent the last 3 chapters fighting. The 1st mMC is doing his own thing, heating up my screen, and at this very moment all hell is breaking loose.
It's wonderful. ☺
In life:
I have a job interview for Tuesday! A company I interviewed for back in August just called me back. They want me to come in for another interview for a different position. Maybe I'll like it better than I liked the first position. They gave that one to someone else, so hopefully this one will be a better fit for me. It's just down the road from my house, so it's very convenient. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
Christmas is coming up. Big duh. Shopping is not going well since we have no money. Maybe I'll get this job and get a paycheck right before Christmas? Yeah, that's pushing my luck. We'll see.
My neck has been killing me lately, giving me a really bad headache in one certain spot. So I'm sitting here with one of those ThermaCare heat wraps on it and Icy Hot (mmm my favorite smell!) on my jaw and every place in my neck that isn't covered by the wrap. It sucks and I can't turn my neck. Grrr.
That's about it for now. I was really just excited to share my word count.
While I'm here, I'll share my favorite line that I wrote last night. I literally punched the air and went "Bow!" (or something similar to that) after I typed it. It was just. That. Good.
Standing just outside the bathroom door with tears in his grey eyes is my husband. And it looks like he heard every word I didn’t say.
Now, out of context, it probably sounds weird. How can he hear what she doesn't say? ......
You'll just have to read it to find out ☺
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
NaNo's Over -- Now what??
Well, I did it. I wrote over 50,000 words in 30 short days. It was tough, but I loved it. But now I have this nagging question.... What do I do now?
I picked IE back up and made some drastic decisions about it. Instead of 3rd person, past tense, which has ALWAYS been my preferred writing style, I've decided to switch to 1st person, present tense. I feel like the whole thing flows more smoothly, and readers can connect with the MC much better this way. My opinion was backed up by my loyal reader, Mandy... and I *will* make her pay for the 80,000+ words I now have to revise!!!
So, here's my goal. I want to have IE finished by the new year, the rough draft that is. Then, I'm going to spend January revising her. And revising her. And revising still. And Mandy's going to help. And then I'll revise again.
THEN... my goal, as crazy as it sounds, is to have it revised to the point where I'm not ashamed to show it to people... and submit it on February 2, 2009, to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest, found here: http://www.amazon.com/abna . I know it's a really long shot that I'll have anything actually finished by then, and this contest was part of the reason I wanted the first draft done by Halloween. But it's at least a goal that will keep me moving towards finishing the first draft by 12/31. Even if she doesn't get polished enough to submit by 2/2/09, she'll still be pretty damn close. Case in point: Since NaNo ended, I've already written 5,038 words on IE and done some revision on the tenses that I mentioned earlier. That's pretty good, considering I took the first two days of the month off from writing.
So, there are my writing goals for the forseeable future. I'd love to including finishing Vaampyr in there, but I want to focus on IE first. I WILL work on Vaampyr whenever possible, like when I get burnt out on IE for the day. But IE is much closer to being done than Vaampyr, so it's my main concentration right now.
In the new year, I'd like to finish IE (totally), finish Vaampyr totally and give her a name, start my next novel (hopefully to be a series of novels), and complete at least one polished short story per month. Plus, shop those shorts around. Oh, and I'd like to revise the small stack of shorts I have ready right now, and shop them. AND, I'd like to get the rough drafts of my two Unfinisheds done.... it'll be a busy year, but I'm really getting into writing mojo lately so I think I can do it. Especially since I can't afford to be in school right now, so I have a lot more free time than I have in the last several years.
Nothing new besides all that. Still job-less, still school-less, still Lillie-less... and still pretty upset about all of that. But I'm writing, and that's really important to me right now.
I picked IE back up and made some drastic decisions about it. Instead of 3rd person, past tense, which has ALWAYS been my preferred writing style, I've decided to switch to 1st person, present tense. I feel like the whole thing flows more smoothly, and readers can connect with the MC much better this way. My opinion was backed up by my loyal reader, Mandy... and I *will* make her pay for the 80,000+ words I now have to revise!!!
So, here's my goal. I want to have IE finished by the new year, the rough draft that is. Then, I'm going to spend January revising her. And revising her. And revising still. And Mandy's going to help. And then I'll revise again.
THEN... my goal, as crazy as it sounds, is to have it revised to the point where I'm not ashamed to show it to people... and submit it on February 2, 2009, to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest, found here: http://www.amazon.com/abna . I know it's a really long shot that I'll have anything actually finished by then, and this contest was part of the reason I wanted the first draft done by Halloween. But it's at least a goal that will keep me moving towards finishing the first draft by 12/31. Even if she doesn't get polished enough to submit by 2/2/09, she'll still be pretty damn close. Case in point: Since NaNo ended, I've already written 5,038 words on IE and done some revision on the tenses that I mentioned earlier. That's pretty good, considering I took the first two days of the month off from writing.
So, there are my writing goals for the forseeable future. I'd love to including finishing Vaampyr in there, but I want to focus on IE first. I WILL work on Vaampyr whenever possible, like when I get burnt out on IE for the day. But IE is much closer to being done than Vaampyr, so it's my main concentration right now.
In the new year, I'd like to finish IE (totally), finish Vaampyr totally and give her a name, start my next novel (hopefully to be a series of novels), and complete at least one polished short story per month. Plus, shop those shorts around. Oh, and I'd like to revise the small stack of shorts I have ready right now, and shop them. AND, I'd like to get the rough drafts of my two Unfinisheds done.... it'll be a busy year, but I'm really getting into writing mojo lately so I think I can do it. Especially since I can't afford to be in school right now, so I have a lot more free time than I have in the last several years.
Nothing new besides all that. Still job-less, still school-less, still Lillie-less... and still pretty upset about all of that. But I'm writing, and that's really important to me right now.
Monday, December 1, 2008
So, Did I Win or Not???
Sunday was a day of great pain. I sat in front of the computer for hours. HOURS! Trying to write 4100 measly words. Words that, the day before, came SO easily. By Saturday's standards, this should have taken me less than 2 hours.
Sunday's job was to write the 2nd to last chapter, and try to squeeze in part or all of the last chapter, too. I managed to write about half, or less, of the penultimate chapter, and couldn't even think about the last one. I also filled in a few hundred words on a chapter in the middle that was blank. It felt good to add some meat to it, but I don't think it moved the story along very well.
Before I tell my final word count, how about an excerpt taken directly from the last day of NaNo.
Warning: Spoiler Alert!!!
**Gareth**
I blink, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness around me. Darkness is my home, so it doesn’t take long. There’s a heavy weight on my chest, and I shift my weight underneath it until I hear a moan.
I turn my head to the source of the moan. Aureylia's head is on my chest, blood from an open neck wound seeping into my fur. I groan as I realize we’ve laid here so long that I’ve gone through the change in my sleep. "How in Hades did I sleep through that?"
Her voice is soft and sleepy when she answers. "I was just wondering the same thing. We both did." She pushes herself to a sitting position and stares at me. I can’t read the expression on her face, but the blood dripping over her naked breasts glows in my green tinted vision. She stands, bringing a hand to her neck. "Does your bite hurt as much as mine?"
I frown as I get to my feet -- which, in this form, means standing like the animal I am, on all four paws. "Maybe that’s why I slept so much. I’ve never been bitten by a vampyrus before. And yes, it hurt. But it felt amazing." I wiggly my hairy eyebrows at her, and she chuckles.
"I know." She looks around the cave with a frown. "The sun will be up soon. We both slept through the rest of the day and the whole night. Hades! The ceremony’s tonight and I haven’t caught the killer." She looks down at me through narrowed eyes.
I can’t read her mind at the moment, but her expression says she’s not sure if that statement is correct or not. She still doesn’t trust me. Good; she shouldn’t. A hunger pain rips through my stomach and I growl, baring my teeth in surprise.
She jumps back with wide eyes.
I walk toward her hungrily, unable to stop myself. After being so satisfied last night, the animal in me wants more. And I want it from her. I tilt my head to the side and grin, which I'm sure looks pretty scary coming from an extra large wolf.
In a flash, Aureylia disappears. I sniff the air, only to catch her scent trailing off as she flies out of the cave.
**Aureylia**
I sneak into the vampyre compound invisibly, since all my clothes are ripped beyond the ability to wear them home. Thoughts and memories swirl in my head. Pinning Gareth to the ground, able but not willing to kill him right then. The feel of his hands squeezing my arms. His scent when I found him in the cave, which was a mixture of appetite and anger. He could have killed me, yet I succumbed to him like a helpless human -- if he is the killer, I can understand the power he has over his victims, and it's going to be tough to destroy him finally. The look of hunger in his eyes when I trapped him on the ceiling and his lips grazed my neck. I'm such a fool! How he tasted like salt, but so sweet at the same time. The sound of his heart pounding wildly while he was beneath me, or above me, or beside me; erratic and dangerously quick, yet strangely in rhythm with my own. Oh, Coven, what have I done?
Keep in mind, this IS a very rough first draft. As Anne Lamott says, in Bird by Bird, it's a "shitty first draft."
Anyhow, back to my main point. Yesterday was a painful, painful day. I wrote for hours, yelling at the screen, mapping out the chapter with no luck of writing it, and being all around in a really bad mood.
BUT... I managed to reach 50,302 words!!! I won NaNo 2008!!!
So, now the big question is.... what happens now??
My December writing plans entail:
Finish Isaac's Eyes (first draft)
Finish Vaampr (which is STILL what I'm calling my untitled NaNo novel)
That's it. I REALLY want to add a few more things in there so I can say I accomplished certain things from my 2008 writing goals, but I won't. I'll save them for 2009.
Speaking of 2008 goals, I have a month to do all the things I said I'd do but never did. I'll have to find my list and see what all those things are. It might be difficult to do them without a job... but I'll see what I can do!
I'm off now to reward myself for writing over 50,000 words in 30 days. Until next time...
Sunday's job was to write the 2nd to last chapter, and try to squeeze in part or all of the last chapter, too. I managed to write about half, or less, of the penultimate chapter, and couldn't even think about the last one. I also filled in a few hundred words on a chapter in the middle that was blank. It felt good to add some meat to it, but I don't think it moved the story along very well.
Before I tell my final word count, how about an excerpt taken directly from the last day of NaNo.
Warning: Spoiler Alert!!!
**Gareth**
I blink, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness around me. Darkness is my home, so it doesn’t take long. There’s a heavy weight on my chest, and I shift my weight underneath it until I hear a moan.
I turn my head to the source of the moan. Aureylia's head is on my chest, blood from an open neck wound seeping into my fur. I groan as I realize we’ve laid here so long that I’ve gone through the change in my sleep. "How in Hades did I sleep through that?"
Her voice is soft and sleepy when she answers. "I was just wondering the same thing. We both did." She pushes herself to a sitting position and stares at me. I can’t read the expression on her face, but the blood dripping over her naked breasts glows in my green tinted vision. She stands, bringing a hand to her neck. "Does your bite hurt as much as mine?"
I frown as I get to my feet -- which, in this form, means standing like the animal I am, on all four paws. "Maybe that’s why I slept so much. I’ve never been bitten by a vampyrus before. And yes, it hurt. But it felt amazing." I wiggly my hairy eyebrows at her, and she chuckles.
"I know." She looks around the cave with a frown. "The sun will be up soon. We both slept through the rest of the day and the whole night. Hades! The ceremony’s tonight and I haven’t caught the killer." She looks down at me through narrowed eyes.
I can’t read her mind at the moment, but her expression says she’s not sure if that statement is correct or not. She still doesn’t trust me. Good; she shouldn’t. A hunger pain rips through my stomach and I growl, baring my teeth in surprise.
She jumps back with wide eyes.
I walk toward her hungrily, unable to stop myself. After being so satisfied last night, the animal in me wants more. And I want it from her. I tilt my head to the side and grin, which I'm sure looks pretty scary coming from an extra large wolf.
In a flash, Aureylia disappears. I sniff the air, only to catch her scent trailing off as she flies out of the cave.
**Aureylia**
I sneak into the vampyre compound invisibly, since all my clothes are ripped beyond the ability to wear them home. Thoughts and memories swirl in my head. Pinning Gareth to the ground, able but not willing to kill him right then. The feel of his hands squeezing my arms. His scent when I found him in the cave, which was a mixture of appetite and anger. He could have killed me, yet I succumbed to him like a helpless human -- if he is the killer, I can understand the power he has over his victims, and it's going to be tough to destroy him finally. The look of hunger in his eyes when I trapped him on the ceiling and his lips grazed my neck. I'm such a fool! How he tasted like salt, but so sweet at the same time. The sound of his heart pounding wildly while he was beneath me, or above me, or beside me; erratic and dangerously quick, yet strangely in rhythm with my own. Oh, Coven, what have I done?
Keep in mind, this IS a very rough first draft. As Anne Lamott says, in Bird by Bird, it's a "shitty first draft."
Anyhow, back to my main point. Yesterday was a painful, painful day. I wrote for hours, yelling at the screen, mapping out the chapter with no luck of writing it, and being all around in a really bad mood.
BUT... I managed to reach 50,302 words!!! I won NaNo 2008!!!
So, now the big question is.... what happens now??
My December writing plans entail:
Finish Isaac's Eyes (first draft)
Finish Vaampr (which is STILL what I'm calling my untitled NaNo novel)
That's it. I REALLY want to add a few more things in there so I can say I accomplished certain things from my 2008 writing goals, but I won't. I'll save them for 2009.
Speaking of 2008 goals, I have a month to do all the things I said I'd do but never did. I'll have to find my list and see what all those things are. It might be difficult to do them without a job... but I'll see what I can do!
I'm off now to reward myself for writing over 50,000 words in 30 days. Until next time...
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