Oh yeah, and ONE DAY TIL NANO!!
So, in my previous posts, I told you how psyched I was for November 1st. Let me change my mood for you here:
I'm FREAKING OUT!!
I had gotten my major ideas down a couple of weeks ago, then figured I'd just wing it from there. Overplanning can be bad, right?
Then yesterday, my writing buddy (Hi, A.T.!!!!) asked me some questions and I couldn't answer them. And I realized -- I know the main points, but not the order of the main points, the description of my MCs beyond a few things like hair color, the names of the other characters, the time it's set in... anything!
So, the two days before NaNo are officially freak-out days for me. Ahhh!!!! I'm sitting here with construction paper, highlighters, and index cards, trying to get it all written down and tacked into order for when I start writing at midnight tonight. All while talking to A.T. on IM and getting asked MORE questions!!
Speaking of writing at midnight... Lillie is here again, which means I woke up at 5:30am. Which means I don't know if I can make it to midnight and still be awake to write. But I made Hubby promise to take care of the baby so I can write at least 2K words tomorrow morning before he leaves me for his wrestling gig. I'll settle for 1,667, but I REALLY am going to aim for 2K every day.
We'll see how it goes.
In other news, today's Halloween, obviously. IE is NOT done yet -- I'm sitting just under 80K, though, so I'm happy for now. It WILL be done by 12/31!!!! We bought Lillie a pumpkin costume and a couple little "Baby's 1st Halloween" outfits. SO CUTE!!! So, after I freak out some more about NaNo, I'm going to play dress-up and take my mind off of it for a while.
Next time you hear from me, I'll have begun the challenge. I'll keep you updated, and I promise to share those tidbits of writing lessons I learned recently, for those of you interested. And, eventually I'll even share some spoilers from IE and maybe even my NaNo novel, that is yet untitled.
Later!!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Anniversary, Strangers, and ... 7 Days Til NaNo!!
If there’s one night of the year you want your ass to look good and your new bra to fit properly… it’s your anniversary, right? The one night of the year I REALLY want my hair to not be frizzy, and my clothes to not be just a hair too tight.
Yesterday was my 3rd wedding anniversary. And none of the above things actually happened. My new jeans were frumpy, I wore an old bra and an old barely flattering top, and my frizzy hair was in a ponytail. Exciting, right?
Let me tell you, it was a plain Jane night, but we had a good time. We ate at Outback Steakhouse then went to Walmart and bought cookie dough, sweatpants, and popcorn (I'm still wearing my super-comfy sweats!). Went home, cuddled up with all the afore-mentioned items, and watched The Strangers....
Which.
SUCKED.
Everyone said it was SOOOOO good, including Stephen King. As a fellow writer, I adore Mr. King. But, he lied to me. And now the circle of trust is broken. I may never love again :-(
It wasn't scary, or suspenseful, or anything. And I'm getting SO freakin' tired of Liv Tyler (who I have no problem w/ in general) talking in an airy damsel-in-distress voice. She did it in The Incredible Hulk (which I loved) too.
Now that my movie review is over.... 7 days till NaNo!!!!
I'm up to 77K on IE, and there are 6 writing days until the end of the month. Then, at midnight on Nov. 1, I'm starting my vaampyr novel... Yay!!!
I'll check in later with some NaNo tidbits I've been learning. For now, I'm out ☺
Yesterday was my 3rd wedding anniversary. And none of the above things actually happened. My new jeans were frumpy, I wore an old bra and an old barely flattering top, and my frizzy hair was in a ponytail. Exciting, right?
Let me tell you, it was a plain Jane night, but we had a good time. We ate at Outback Steakhouse then went to Walmart and bought cookie dough, sweatpants, and popcorn (I'm still wearing my super-comfy sweats!). Went home, cuddled up with all the afore-mentioned items, and watched The Strangers....
Which.
SUCKED.
Everyone said it was SOOOOO good, including Stephen King. As a fellow writer, I adore Mr. King. But, he lied to me. And now the circle of trust is broken. I may never love again :-(
It wasn't scary, or suspenseful, or anything. And I'm getting SO freakin' tired of Liv Tyler (who I have no problem w/ in general) talking in an airy damsel-in-distress voice. She did it in The Incredible Hulk (which I loved) too.
Now that my movie review is over.... 7 days till NaNo!!!!
I'm up to 77K on IE, and there are 6 writing days until the end of the month. Then, at midnight on Nov. 1, I'm starting my vaampyr novel... Yay!!!
I'll check in later with some NaNo tidbits I've been learning. For now, I'm out ☺
Friday, October 24, 2008
Missing Lillie, Seeing Saw, and 8 Days Til NaNo
Due to a really bad Internet connection, I haven’t been able to post my progress on... well, anything, regularly. So, here’s the sitch:
IE is ALMOST DONE!!!! The first draft, anyhow, which Anne Lamott calls the “shitty first draft,” pardon my French. I’m at 76K words out of an estimated 90-95K. This is the longest I’ve ever stuck with a novel. I hope to finish it by Halloween, and some days I get a killer word count in. But others are pretty bland (91, anyone?!). So we’ll see. Either way, I’ll be really close to finished by the time November starts.
Speaking of November… 8 days til NaNo! (As if you didn’t already know that…) I’m PSYCHED!!! My good ole’ reading dummy and I have been going over the plot. It’s gonna be CrAzY! I keep getting tempted to start writing but I’m not a cheater. So, I think I’ll hatch a plan to take a long nap on Halloween so I can wake up and start writing at 12:01am. It sounds good in theory, anyhow. J
My region’s NaNo Kick-Off party is tomorrow evening. It sucks that I can’t go. But I have good reason – it’s my 3rd wedding anniversary!! I’d show you a wedding pic, but well, when you elope at the courthouse… you don’t really have any. I don’t think we have plans but it would still be pretty rude of me to go chill with strangers during the dinner hour.
In other news, my beautiful niece Lillie spent 6 days with us recently. We just took her home yesterday. I cried so hard when I was packing her stuff up to go, and again after we dropped her off. I’d keep her forever if I could. The way things are looking with her parents, maybe I have a chance… Anyhow, the point is, I miss her terribly. She lives a little over an hour away, and after dropped her off, hubby and I went and had some Mexican food. Then on the way home I wanted to stop in and see her again. But I figured that would make me even sadder, so we didn’t. BTW, Lillie’s 6 month’s old (on 11/5) and the best baby ever personality-wise. I love her to pieces. We took her to get her 6-month pics this week, and I can’t wait to get them back on the 6th. They’re SO adorable!! Lillie’s named after my grandma, who died a year and a half ago. Not a day goes by when I don’t miss her. I need at least one Lillie in my life!!
I saw Saw V last night... stayed up late (I’m getting old!) for the midnight showing. It was SO not worth it. Scott Patterson had a bad toupee, or real hair that looked like a bad toupee… the entire movie was flashbacks, and the ending that Myspace said I wouldn’t believe – it was cheap and not at all the “OMG!” ending I had hoped for. Everyone I went with felt the same way. Man, what a waste of prime sleeping time!!!
I guess that’s it for now. I’m really trying to write a pivotal scene in IE and I’m hitting brainfreeze like crazy. I’ve been avoiding this scene for that reason – it’s been ½ written for a while but I can’t seem to find a way to end it. I freakin’ hate that. Maybe I’ll let my reading dummy help….
Adios, Amigos! Until we meet again – which will hopefully be soon because NaNo starts in 8 days!!
Books I’m reading:
No Plot? No Problem! -- Chris Baty (the NaNo book, but it’s really inspring. Pick it up!)
Will Write for Shoes: How to Write a Chick Lit Novel – Cathy Yardley (IE isn’t exactly chick lit but it’s close enough that for $5 the book was worth it. There’s some valuable advice in there!)
Night Embrace – Sherrilyn Kenyon (just for shiggles!)
IE is ALMOST DONE!!!! The first draft, anyhow, which Anne Lamott calls the “shitty first draft,” pardon my French. I’m at 76K words out of an estimated 90-95K. This is the longest I’ve ever stuck with a novel. I hope to finish it by Halloween, and some days I get a killer word count in. But others are pretty bland (91, anyone?!). So we’ll see. Either way, I’ll be really close to finished by the time November starts.
Speaking of November… 8 days til NaNo! (As if you didn’t already know that…) I’m PSYCHED!!! My good ole’ reading dummy and I have been going over the plot. It’s gonna be CrAzY! I keep getting tempted to start writing but I’m not a cheater. So, I think I’ll hatch a plan to take a long nap on Halloween so I can wake up and start writing at 12:01am. It sounds good in theory, anyhow. J
My region’s NaNo Kick-Off party is tomorrow evening. It sucks that I can’t go. But I have good reason – it’s my 3rd wedding anniversary!! I’d show you a wedding pic, but well, when you elope at the courthouse… you don’t really have any. I don’t think we have plans but it would still be pretty rude of me to go chill with strangers during the dinner hour.
In other news, my beautiful niece Lillie spent 6 days with us recently. We just took her home yesterday. I cried so hard when I was packing her stuff up to go, and again after we dropped her off. I’d keep her forever if I could. The way things are looking with her parents, maybe I have a chance… Anyhow, the point is, I miss her terribly. She lives a little over an hour away, and after dropped her off, hubby and I went and had some Mexican food. Then on the way home I wanted to stop in and see her again. But I figured that would make me even sadder, so we didn’t. BTW, Lillie’s 6 month’s old (on 11/5) and the best baby ever personality-wise. I love her to pieces. We took her to get her 6-month pics this week, and I can’t wait to get them back on the 6th. They’re SO adorable!! Lillie’s named after my grandma, who died a year and a half ago. Not a day goes by when I don’t miss her. I need at least one Lillie in my life!!
I saw Saw V last night... stayed up late (I’m getting old!) for the midnight showing. It was SO not worth it. Scott Patterson had a bad toupee, or real hair that looked like a bad toupee… the entire movie was flashbacks, and the ending that Myspace said I wouldn’t believe – it was cheap and not at all the “OMG!” ending I had hoped for. Everyone I went with felt the same way. Man, what a waste of prime sleeping time!!!
I guess that’s it for now. I’m really trying to write a pivotal scene in IE and I’m hitting brainfreeze like crazy. I’ve been avoiding this scene for that reason – it’s been ½ written for a while but I can’t seem to find a way to end it. I freakin’ hate that. Maybe I’ll let my reading dummy help….
Adios, Amigos! Until we meet again – which will hopefully be soon because NaNo starts in 8 days!!
Books I’m reading:
No Plot? No Problem! -- Chris Baty (the NaNo book, but it’s really inspring. Pick it up!)
Will Write for Shoes: How to Write a Chick Lit Novel – Cathy Yardley (IE isn’t exactly chick lit but it’s close enough that for $5 the book was worth it. There’s some valuable advice in there!)
Night Embrace – Sherrilyn Kenyon (just for shiggles!)
Saturday, October 11, 2008
It's Been a While...
It's obviously been a while since I've written. Nothing really interesting has gone on, so why bore the cyber world with my woes?
Oh, but I did recently get a new kitty!!! His name is Charlie Sheen and he's SO cute! I don't have a lot of pictures but here's one I actually got him to sit still for --
Anyhow, I'm super excited for November to get here... but also wishing October would slow the hell down!!!
NaNoWriMo starts November first and this will be my first year trying it out. I have a story I've been waiting to work on since the summer, and I'm psyched! Now, if I can just finish Isaac's Eyes by Halloween like I'd planned, so that I can concentrate on my newest story....
For those of you who don't know what NaNo is, here's the website: http://www.nanowrimo.org/. In a nutshell, a bunch of wacko writers try to find time in their busy lives to write 50,000 words or more on one novel between November 1st and November 30th. The catch is that you can't have worked on it prior to November 1, so you have to start fresh. It sounds tough but some recent changes in my life have given me lots more free time than I had before. I think I can handle it!!
On other notes, the holidays are fast approaching, which freaks me out. I just made plans for Thanksgiving dinner, which I love to cook for my family, and a Halloween party for adults, which will be far different than the usual kiddy party we throw. I don't even want to THINK about Christmas yet....
That's it for now. Just checking in and all that. I'm going to write more about NaNo as it approaches and through November, and if I happen to learn anything along the way, I'll be sure to share that wisdom with you too!!
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