Tag Archives: NaNoWriMo

A Body In Motion (or: Arghhhh)

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A body in motion tends to stay in motion.

While writing Wolfsong back in April, I wrote every single day, sometimes twice a day, because the story wanted OUT. Out of my mind, onto the page (hey, that’s fine with me!) and I had fun with it. I found myself waking up automatically at 7 am (and I’m a wake-at-noon sort of girl :P ) with the next scene fresh in my mind. I’d boot up Seven, write 1500-2000 words in a sitting, then crash til noon. Then depending on what I had going, I might’ve written another 2k before bedtime. I was Turned On.

Then I got tangled up in a hangup that I thought was a Big Deal…and I stopped writing, put the brakes on and skidded to a dead halt. I fretted, stressed, and worried (but ultimately figured out my problem)…but I didn’t write for a week and a half. And it was so. so. so hard to get back into that story. I was no longer a body in motion, but a body at rest. It sucked, but I powered through it and wrote the rest of the story that month (but still, I whined…a lot).

At this point in time, I’m 90% through my rewrite of Spellbound…alllmost to the point where I get to finish the rest of the book with Brand New Words. But I haven’t written in like, ehhh…almost two weeks. And I’ve found myself avoiding all things writerly. Which is Bad, seeing as I need to get “the Trio”  up by Halloween. Blargh. I know it needs to be done. I just would rather slack :P (I know -tases self- BAD WRITER!)

It’s hard, when you don’t want to do it. When you’re making up excuses (“But I need to clean the bathroom!”) BUT I know if I can -just- get myself back into the habit of writing daily, I’ll be back on the Train of Awesome! (And the soap scum in the tub will wait until I finish that story, I assure you!) …guess I’m headed to Seven to finish up the rest of the rewrite part before NaNoWriMo! XD

Anyone else having trouble motivating to do something? Do you have tips to make Jumping Back Into Writing easier? :)

New Project Feels…Nice

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So I tell myself: Okay. Today, you are going to get back in the saddle and write. I decided to take a break after doing Camp Nano. Okay, true, I failed to hit 50k? Buuuut 50k wasn’t -my- personal goal. Hitting the big, shiny “The End” on my novella was. I hit 42k and The End. I felt time to congratulate myself was in order. So I took a break and started plotting my next few projects and how I’m going to approach them.

Well the project I finally decided to tackle was the rewrite/revision (because not all the words need rewritten, just rewording) of my 2010 NaNoWriMo novel, Spellbound. I wrote 50k of it, plotted out most of the end (but not…the ending? Why not? I don’t remember…) and filed it away because, in that instance, 50k was my goal for that month. I figured I’d get back to it in January and all would be awesome. Not so much. I kept passing it off until a Shiny New Idea came forward…and I wrote that.

Oh well, what’s done is done. Well I’ve decided to rework Spellbound, which is the tale of a desert Wyvern princess and a Magi slave. I’ve figured out character motivations, their goals, and my conflict. I fleshed out the characters a bit (because Spellbound was my first pantsed novel; I jumped into it with wild abandon, not even knowing the characters’ names) and figured out a real beginning. And I ran with it.

Things have changed, but I found (pleasantly!) that I was able to reuse a lot of my ‘old’ words. They just needed…reworded. Some of it has changed, because the plot and pacing is different, but on the whole, it feels nice. It feels nice to be writing again. I figure I’ll run with it through everything I have plotted, meanwhile figuring out my ending.

I’m aiming for 1.5k a night, which will give me…24,000 words by September 30th. Not bad for half a month’s work :) I would like it done by Halloween, right before NaNo 2011 starts up :)

Speaking of Halloween…I cannot wait >3 I love Halloween.

Of course it's a cat :)

Another One Bites The Dust

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So, after burning out of my YA paranormal, Hunger, and taking a long break, I decided I needed to switch it up. Maybe I was just burned out of YA. I decided: Do something adult for once. Well, characters formed in my head and I came up with a plot, and it slowly became my Camp Nano novel, Bonedust.

It was absolutely freeing to write something with no holds barred, where my characters could be as down and dirty as they needed to be, and the violence could be wonderfully bloody :) I just -needed- it. And loved Bonedust for several thousand words. My characters were witty, it was romantic and sexy, and I enjoyed it.

But of course, around 40k, with just a few scenes left on my outline till THE END, my mind started coming up with new ideas. Fluffy YA ideas. I wanted so badly to shelf BD and work on a Shiny New Idea. My bff and crit partner, Sadie Hart, told me I wasn’t allowed LOL. So after a few days of procrastinating, I decided to just…sit down and do it. Get it over with, for better or worse. Ever have that feeling?

So last night, despite the hundreds of breaks I took, I finished Bonedust. It was hard…but yanno? Also rewarding: I finished another book this year. Score! -cue applause- And I can’t wait to put it on my Kindle and re-read it. Once I’ve taken a break from it. I may attempt to publish it…someday. I’m not 100% sure yet. I don’t have to make that decision today. Or even tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I’m considering finishing up my 2010 (yet unfinished but sitting at 50k) YA Nano novel and making that 3 books finished this year. We’ll see!

Officially Under Construction

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As you might be able to tell from the generic-looking preset header…I’m finally getting my blog under construction (cue applause…no? crickets work too!) I’ve figured out exactly how I want my banner to look, I’ve picked out the stock images I’ll be buying, and it’s just a matter of putting all the images together in one final image that I cannot -wait- to finish :) It’s so…me and I’m so excited to reveal it :D

Meahwhile, I’m working on getting two of my YA shorts edited, polished and ready to submit to Smashwords. They will be freebies, to give you a little taste of my writing style. You will be able to find them shortly under the Free Fiction section of My Projects. Descriptions will be up soon, but they’re both romantic and about Faeries. (I’ll admit, I went through an uber-Faerie phase! Who hasn’t?)

And on the Camp NaNoWriMo front…yeah, I’m not gonna finish before the 31st! LOL. BUT I did get a short story as well as most of an adult romance novella (I’ve got about 5 scenes to go before THE END!). I’m gonna work like crazy to see if I can reach the end of Bonedust by August 31st…but as for reaching 50k? I doubt it’ll happen. STILL. I’m proud of myself.

At the same time, I’m working on Wolfsong’s query and synopsis, as well as the plots for  a possible sequel (although it can easily stand alone), and I hope to start sending it out to agents by January 2012.  I’ve been busy, but it’s a good feeling to start accomplishing stuff again.

I need to jump back into my shifter/kelpie WIP, Hunger, and finish it before November, because I do plan on competing in NaNoWriMo again! Probably another full-rewrite, rather than a Shiny New Idea (though I’ve got a crapload of those!) Which would be epic if I won, because that would mean I’d finished…4 books this year? Go me!

But we’ll see. No one knows what the future holds! Anyone else planning on doing NaNo this year? Do you already have your stories chosen, your charrie bios filled out and your plots fiddled with? Or do you wait until November 1st and just jump in?

Long Day Was Long

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First thing’s first: 19k for Camp Nano :) Whoot, ahead of the game by a couple of thousand words, which is making me feel pretty darn good. My goal is to finish my novella-novel (unsure which it is at the moment) by August 31st, rather than 50,000 words. (Okay, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to get 50k! I just don’t foresee my story being that long! Still, I’ve got another novella I need done by Jan, so I may start that :D )

This past week we’ve had my stepsisters for their last days of summer vacation before school starts (I believe they’re going into 10th grade, 5th grade and Kindergarten, respectively). I’ll admit–I’m not a big little-kid fan. They drive me insane and I stress out when the 3 bedroom house is full of 7-10 people (this includes blood family, step family and whatever friends my sibs have over). I typically hide out in my bedroom until they leave, but a week’s a little long to only come out to use the bathroom and eat LOL. So I endured. They were good and I actually -gasp- enjoyed their company…until today, at least, when I woke up too early and before breakfast the 5-year-old was nagging me: “I wanna play Barbie.com!”. Uh, no. Eat your cereal and shaddup! XD (Okay, I’m not THAT mean…kinda)

Then of course we had my new puppy, Remy’s neuter scheduled for today. Mom got up at 6 am, took him to our low-cost spay/neuter clinic some 30 minutes away, and came back. We estimated picking him up between 5-6 pm, giving us time for a nap. Upon learning that the girls’ mom couldn’t come until 6, and we’d be in town then with no one home to watch them, we (read: I) had a little spazz attack. So we changed plans, got permission to drop the girls off at their grandma’s place…and then the clinic called and said we had to pick Remy up between 2-3pm. Cue panic x 2. Add into the mix the fact that long-distance car rides make me anxious (and long-distance car rides + 2 talkative kids under 10 make me even MORE anxious? Yes I’m a naturally nervous person–I’m on meds for a reason xD)

Long, long day.

But in the end? I got some amaaaazing Japanese teriaki chicken on fried rice? To. Die. For. Plus the fact that we swung past my friend’s place and visited for a little bit. The day turned out pretty good ;)

Remy’s home and no worse for the wear; the anesthetic’s already worn off and now we’ve been instructed to keep him “quiet” for 7-10 days. Even though Remy is part doxie, and my other doxies are…well…lazy? Remy is young and spirited and races laps around the front yard on a Flexi-leash every night. And we’re supposed to keep him quiet? LOL. Ohboy. He’s not even been home three hours and he’s wanting to go-go-go. Having a couple of parts removed has not phased him. He looks at me with those big, melty-chocolate eyes and practically says “Moooommmm whyyyyy?” xD So cute. Can’t help but love him <3

See what I mean about melty-chocolate eyes? :D

50k! and Wednesday #ROW80 Check-In

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As I sit here, listening to my brother blare his saxophone in the room above me, I realize: I really would like to stab myself in the eardrums. Okay, maybe not. But I would like to stab him…or shove the sax somewhere I wouldn’t have to hear it ;) Anyway. #ROW80. I am so on the horse this week. Very proud of myself. :)

Not only do I have the drive to FINISH this monster… I also have a short-story idea for two of the side characters…and I’m wading through plot-ideas for the sequel. Which I may attempt for SocNoc by KiwiWriters in June. We’ll see; I utterly failed SocNoc last year. Didn’t even breach 6k. LOL.

So, wordcounts!

Sunday:  I posted Sunday in my Sunday Check-In…but I added a few hundred words, so I felt I deserved to post it today too :D My final total for Sunday is -just- under my goal, at 1,440 words.

Monday: 1,719 words.

Tuesday: 3,056 words. On a freakin’ roll.

Wednesday: 2,419 words and counting. If I write anything else before midnight I will, of course, add to this next check-in :D

Total of 8,634 words for four days. That is a little over 2k a day. WHOOTWHOOT!

And, last night at 3:40 am…I breached the 50k marker! I breached not only 50k, but Wolfsong v2 is now officially longer than the original. I’m gonna guess at the end it will be around 65-68k total. Which will make it my longest novel. Ever. EEE :D -excited wiggle-

Unfortunately, my good mood was spoiled by my printer…who decided it didn’t like the ink cartridge we got it. Derp. I bought the wrong kind. -headdesk- Oh well. Guess my grandmother will have to wait for her Wolfsong update XD How I love loyal fans.