NaNoWriMo – done

      No Comments on NaNoWriMo – done

I know November is not over yet, but I have reached the 50,000 word count, so I’m done with NaNoWriMo! I have never been so tired of writing in my life! I will most assuredly take a break for a week or so.

I almost didn’t finish. Friday I pushed very hard and hit the 41,000 word count, only to be rewarded by a melt down. As I reread some of what I had written, I was horrified. My plot didn’t flow, the characters were flat, and to up my word count I had started doing really silly things. The worst was having the main character of my story go to story time at a library, and then writing into my story what the character would hear.

When it hit me that I had trashed my first draft I almost cried. All I was doing was giving myself a lot more work to do in the rewrites. I decided that NaNoWriMo wasn’t worth it. So I put away my computer, ran a nice warm bath, and decided to chalk it up to a lesson learned. I evidently was not capable of writing 50,000 words in one month.

But then, as I relaxed in the bath, a miracle occurred. I realized why the holes in my plot existed, why the characters were flat, and even better I realized what I needed to do to fix it.

I was revived and energized. I stayed up until 2 a.m. Saturday morning fixing my novel.

I am glad I did. I once again feel good about what I have written, so instead of being distrait, I look forward to finishing this novel.

But most important, I have silenced that little voice in the back of my head that tried to convince me that I was setting myself up for failure.

I would give an evil little laugh myself, just for the fun of it. But I’m too tired.

NaNoWriMo halfway point

      No Comments on NaNoWriMo halfway point

It is time for a little update on my progress with NaNoWriMo.

I have not finished writing for the day, but my current word count is 27,408. So take that, you sneaky little voice in the back of my head that said I couldn’t do it! I did not get sick, and I am way, way past the 3,000 words you predicted.

Where is that evil little laugh now?

There it is! There is the laugh.

Why the evil laugh, when I just told you that you have failed? My writing is coming along just fine. I am right on target. Slightly ahead as a matter of fact.

Oh. I guess you are right, I am far from finished. But no, just because I took a few minutes to write on my blog does not mean I have given up.

Does not!

Sorry, got to go. I’ve got loads more writing to do. I am on a mission to prove that little voice wrong.

A little help from my friends

      No Comments on A little help from my friends

The oddest thing happened to me this morning. I got my cup of coffee, started my computer, and sat down to write.

Only, when I reread what I wrote the day before, I was horrified. WHAT HAD I BEEN THINKING! It was horrible, the worst I have ever written.

I know that because of NaNoWrimo I am rushing through, but it was almost as if I hadn’t even written it myself. It did not sound like me.

Is that whispering I hear? Jupiterians, is that you?

Hello Jupiterians! I haven’t seen you for a while, I thought you might be gone for good. I’m happy to see you back.

What do you mean, maybe I won’t be so happy?

Why are you so upset? What do you need to tell me?

Oh.

Well, I can’t say I am happy that you deleted everything I had written and rewrote it for me. I appreciate the sentiment, but I would rather you let me do my own writing.

I don’t care if you think what you wrote is better. I have a right to do my own work.

Yes, that is how I want it!

Well, fine to you too.

Don’t cry, Jupiterians. I don’t hate you. I can fix it.

Yes, I promise I can. I always save a copy outside of my computer every day I write. I can retrieve that one and start exactly where I left off yesterday.

Ah, the sound of giggles. Everything is back the way it should be.

A mind of its own

      No Comments on A mind of its own

I was told it could happen, but I didn’t think it was true.

I was warned about it, but ignored the warning. In my ignorance, I believed it could never happen to me.

Yet it did.

My little baby book, the newborn creation that I began just yesterday, already has a will of its own. A strong one.

It took me two full years to write my last book, mainly because I wrote it in first person, and it was hard! So when I finally finished the last word, I vowed to stick to the much more intuitive third person. I never again wanted to struggle with those strange verb tenses that rear their ugly heads with first person writings.

Yet, as I reread what I wrote yesterday, I noticed that it just didn’t flow. Something wasn’t right. The voice, well, the voice was missing. Which, I suppose, is okay, since it is just a rough draft. Only…well…why not make even that first rough draft as good as it can be.

Especially since, as I thought about the story I planned, I realized that I didn’t need to try to give the story a voice, it already had one. I could hear it loud and clear. It was talking directly to me.

So today I rewrote yesterday’s writings–in first person. It slowed me down a bit, and I’ll have to scramble a bit more to reach my 50,000 words in one month goal, but it was worth it.

Wish me luck!

1st day of NaNoWriMo

      No Comments on 1st day of NaNoWriMo

I just finished my first day of writing.

word count: 2470 (not bad!)

I created an outline, so I know basically what will happen in each chapter, and exactly how the story will play out. I also began the first chapter.

I’m satisfied–for today.

P.S. I haven’t seen hide nor hair of the Jupiterians for a while. I hope they keep their distance until the end of November!

NaNoWriMo officially begins

      No Comments on NaNoWriMo officially begins

It’s almost 8 am, November 2, and I am now officially beginning NaNoWriMo.

Why the late start? Why did I not begin on November 1st?

Well, it just didn’t seem right to start on a Sunday. Sunday is family time, and long ago, in a far away land, when I first began to be serious about writing, I promised that I would never neglect my family for my writing.

So my additional challenge is to get most of the 50,000 words done during the week days. I might cheat a few times and sneak in a little writing on the weekends. But only a little. To make up for Thanksgiving.

Yum! I love a good challenge, and a good turkey.

Let the writing begin!

NaNoWriMo

      No Comments on NaNoWriMo

November is almost here, and so is the National Novel Writing Month. Every year I say I’m going to participate, and every year I don’t remember about it until halfway through the month.

But this year is different. This year I’m all signed up and ready to go.

Except…well, I have discovered one problem. I’m a chicken.

Every time I’ve mentioned to my family that I plan to write 50,000 words in one month, a little voice in the back of my head does one of those evil laughs. You know, something like ‘bwa ha ha ha ha’.

It is so distracting. And scary. It is like having Vincent Price living in my head.

I hate to admit that I’m afraid of that little voice in the back of my head. Although I shouldn’t be, it is a powerful little voice, and it has had a lot of practice telling me what I cannot do.

I suppose I should be thankful that the voice is now focused on NaNoWriMo–it seems to have forgotten about all the other parts of my life. Yesterday it said, “you’ll never be able to write 50,000 words in one month, why even try?” The day before it told me, “anything you write that quickly will only be trash, so give it up now and don’t waste your time.” Today it is saying, “you’ll be sorry if you try it, you’ll get all cranky and you’ll only write 3,000 words and you’ll get sick.”

Hmmmm. Now that I think about it, the voice seems to be getting desperate, like it believes it will fail. And if it fails, that means…

50,000 words, here I come!

Now for the sun

      No Comments on Now for the sun

Done!

Just half a minute ago, I finished rewriting the last word on the last page of the last chapter. Of the Department of Temporal Adjustment, of course! Possibly to be known as the DTA, possibly by some other title.

I am ecstatic, jubilant, and so, so happy.

The sun is shining brightly–at least in my head. As I look out the window all I can see are clouds.

Go away, naughty clouds, I don’t want you around today. I am too happy to put up with your depressing grayness.

Let that glorious sun shine through.

I don’t need it personally, I have loads of internal sunshine.

I would just like to share this feeling with the rest of the world.

A writer

      No Comments on A writer

Tuesday, October 6th 2009, I learned something wonderful. I learned that my husband truly believes in me.

He’s always been supportive, but being supportive isn’t the same as truly believing. Especially since he has known me for more than 25 years, and he is well aware of each and every flaw I possess.

When I began to write, my husband supported me in my ‘little hobby’. He helped me carve a little time out of the week, bought me a computer, and listened as I talked of plots, characters, and sentence structure.

After I completed the first book writing was no longer a hobby to me, but a passion. To my husband, it stayed my ‘little hobby’.

But yesterday he said four wonderful words that let me know he has had a change of heart.

He was telling me about his class. At the start of the year he had written a letter of welcome to all his students, and on Tuesday he decided to check to see how carefully they had read it.

After asking various questions and receiving the appropriate answers, he asked his class, “What does my wife do?”

One bright student answered, “She’s a writer!”

My husband paused in his story to tell me that he told the student that the answer was correct. Then he went on to say, “I never even told them you are also a librarian, you’ve made the transition.”

Have you ever heard four more beautiful words? You’ve made the transition! My wonderful, smart, not-easily-impressed husband now thinks of me as a writer.

I am happy. He believes in me.