A November Wrap-Up

I am so very glad that it is December. Of course, I love November and NaNoWriMo and all things writing related. However, I am so glad to get back to a more relaxed, normal writing routine. I'm still writing everyday and will continue to do so. It's just that I'm not in a frenzy to write thousands of words per day. Well, I go for at least one thousand but that's quite different from the three thousand to six thousand I was writing per day in November. There were a couple of days that had less than that but not many. So, with the crazy writing schedule I managed to write an entire first draft of a novel. As many times as I've won NaNoWriMo I hadn't ever achieved this particular goal. It was my intention to do so this year and I am so pleased that I did. On top of that, I LOVE the story itself. I will definitely be editing this one and trying (and succeeding!) to get it published. Once the main novel was completed at around seventy-seven thousand words I started a second one and that is what I am will work on through December. My final word count for November is 100,207 words!

Last week I also participated in The Christmas Spirit Read-a-Thon. I finished Sandra Brown's Mean Streak and liked it a lot. I read Janet Dailey's A Cowboy Under My Christmas Tree which was okay. I also started Christmas Jars by Jason F. Wright. I am loving this book and will probably finish this one tonight.

I am pleased with the success of November. And now I am ready for all the family time and fun of December and Christmas! We started in on the fun last week but now that it's actually December it really kicks in around here. Enjoy the festive month everyone!

A National Novel Writing Month Update

This morning I validated my NaNoWriMo novel and ‘won’. I put won in quotes because on their site and for the challenge winning means writing fifty thousand words during the month of November. In my personal opinion any amount of writing that someone does is a win. I love NaNoWriMo and according to their rules, I won this morning with slightly over seventy-seven thousand words. Of course, I will continue on with my daily writing and during November I will add it to my total on the NaNoWriMo site. There’s no reason for it any longer but I like to do this during November.

The funny thing is when I was done validating my novel this morning I was nowhere near my personal daily writing goal. I had several moments of complete blank. What was I going to write now? It’s not that I don’t have ideas for books. I do but I’m not ready to write them yet. I feel that it needs to be the right time to write some books. And the stories I have made notes for I am not ready to tell. So I was left sitting in front of my computer having a minor freak out. I didn’t want to sit her looking at a blank page and melting down, though. What did I do then? I organized my desk a little bit. I went on Twitter. I checked my e-mail. I read some of the book I am currently enjoying. Then I spent a little time with my husband and we went to get our kids from school. Then we went as a family to see his mom and had dinner. I even did laundry when we got home this evening. I know, it all sounds so normal. Right? The thing is – this is exactly what I needed to do. I needed to take a break and walk away from the computer and focus on my family and get a few mundane chores done. And guess what? I have a new story idea that I am ready to tell now. In fact, I have already written the beginning of it. Now I will settle my very tired and slightly cranky children. Then I’ll come back and write in the fresh and shiny story a little more tonight.

How about you? Are you participating in National Novel Writing Month? How is it going for you? What do you do when face with a blank page and the horror of not knowing what to fill that page with?

Peaceful

I thought I might be stressed out trying to do both National Novel Writing Month and National Blog Posting Month at the same time. I admit that I have had my moments of stress but overall, not so much. What I am finding is that I am feeling very peaceful and accomplished about both undertakings. I haven’t missed a single day of writing (THANK YOU WriteChain!) or blogging. And, in fact, if the evening goes well I will make the fifty-thousand words for NaNoWriMo at the Write-In I am going to attend tonight. So, not only am I feeling peaceful, I am also excited! This is the fastest I have ever reached the 50k mark. I think I mentioned in a post last week that I am aiming for one-hundred thousand words this November. I reached that goal last November but was on a challenge and therefore not planned out at all. For something this enormous, I work better with a plan. By plan, I mean having a goal each day as to word count. I’ve set it up so that I would hit the 50k today, then write three-thousand, five hundred words per day for the next ten days and one-thousand, seven hundred for the last ten days of November. That will put me right at (possibly a tiny bit over) the 100k mark. I set it up this way so that by the time my kids are out of school for their Thanksgiving vacation – I will be back to an almost normal writing schedule. When they are home I like to spend as much time with them as possible. So yes, I am feeling happy and peaceful. I hope and pray this continues.

I have even been crocheting and reading still! I started a new blanket project which I will tell you about in a blog post later in the week.

How are you doing with your November goals?

End of Week Recap

This is the end of week one for National Novel Writing Month. I’ve written nearly 35,000 words and by the end of the night will have reached at least that much – as that’s my goal. I’m happy, so, so, happy that the words are flowing so agreeably. However, there has been a tradeoff this week with other things. Let’s see, I let the dishes go, I let the laundry go, I let my sleep go. A couple of days ago by husband let me know he wasn’t so happy with this so I cleaned up our house and did some laundry. I did more laundry today – although it isn’t folded yet. But hey, at least it’s clean and dry. Also today, my body said, don’t be stupid and shut down to make me sleep for a good long time. Now I feel so much better than I did last night. And I am re-thinking my ‘let it go’ (no, that’s not meant to refer to Frozen) attitude. I’ve decided that it’s more important to me to keep everything running smoothly for my family and myself than it is to reach 100,000 words by the end of this month. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to try because of course I am. It just won’t be at the expense of my family or my own sleep – and therefore health.

Also this week, I have managed to post each day for the blogging challenge National Blog Posting Month. I really want to keep this up and I hope that I manage to do so. Of course, yesterday I made a ‘Wordless Wednesday’ post and it was Thursday. Oops. I also completely spaced going to Bible Study yesterday. Again, oops and another part of the reason I have to give myself a break and aim for the 100k but not to the exclusion of all else.

I just read about a CAL (Crochet-a-Long) that the wonderful Lucy at Attic24 is casually hosting through November and December and possibly into January, if necessary. I really want to do this CAL. For one thing, the blanket she’s created for the CAL is gorgeous but it will also be easy enough to do with all of the other things going on at this time of year. So, I will be joining in on that and posting the progress of my blanket once a week. She’s posting her progress on Sunday’s. So I think I’ll do the same.

How has your week gone? If you are participating in NaNoWriMo or NaBloPoMo how has the first week been? Has it gone the way you’d hoped it would or has it been better? Hopefully it hasn’t been worse but if so, tell me about that, too.

Finally, I am going to a write-in (a group of writer’s hammering out words together for NaNoWriMo) tomorrow at Ikea. Yes, Ikea. Apparently this is a thing in Sweden. So my region here in Southern California is going to give it a go. I’m a little freaked out about it but excited at the same time. Plus, there’s the reward of meatballs at the end. I’m so going to get some!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Three Days In

We're at the end of day three of NaNoWriMo 2014 and I've written nearly 16,000 words. That's CRAZY, right? I say it is but in an entirely crazy, cool and wow kind of way. I know there are people out there who have written even more than this in the past three days but this is epic fast writing for me! Even better and more exciting to me is that the story is really good. My NaNo novels haven't always been so good in my opinion. In fact, in all honesty, a couple of them have been truly atrocious. Not this one though, I am thrilled to say. I just home this lasts through the month. I don't need to keep up this insane (for me) pace but I'm rolling with the inspiration while it's striking. An extra nice thing is that I haven't neglected anyone or anything else in my life. Oh wait, that's not entirely, one hundred percent true. I do have a couple of loads of laundry to do and there are dirty dishes in my kitchen sink. And guess what? I don't care so much about those things right now! My husband and our kids are happy and my word count is nice and cushiony at the moment. I am a happy, frantically writing (and apparently babbly at the moment) person! Life is such a fabulous journey!

National Novel Writing Month 2014

It’s November first and for many of us, myself included, that means the beginning of the annual event that is known as National Novel Writing Month – also widely known as NaNoWriMo. This is the sixth time I’ve participated and I’m off to a great start. I began writing at midnight and didn’t go to bed until I surpassed today’s goal of 1, 667 words. That’s the number of words you want to write every day in November in order to reach the 50,000 word goal by the 30^th.

Last year I wrote over 100,000 words. That wasn’t my goal in the beginning, though. I reached my 50k on I think the 12^th last year and was challenged to go for 100k. I did it but suffered for it afterward with a nasty cold that lasted for a couple of months. So this year, I’m planning to hit 100k again but I’m starting with that goal. That means I need 3,333 words per day until the 30^th. It’s doable. I know it is but I admit to still feeling a little nervous about it. Maybe that’s a good thing, though. In fact, I’m sure it’s a good thing because my competitive soul thrives on a challenge and nerves often add to that for me. It sounds weird but it’s true.

How about you? Are you doing NaNoWriMo? It’s not too late to sign up and start if you wish to give it a go. It’s an amazing experience! If you are doing it are you challenging yourself in any extra way? What are you writing? I’ll tell you about my novel in another post! Whatever you’re doing this November, I hope you are happy and well.

Editing

Editing. For some reason this is an emotional and frustrating topic for me. I know editing is a must for me as a writer. It’s a must because I am not perfect and I make mistakes in my writing. I also have to edit because when I’m writing and don’t want to stop to research something, I will make a note to myself within the body of the story to deal with whatever it is during editing.

I’m terrible about editing, though. I will put it off and put it off. The thing is though; I’m upset with myself for letting some stories go without editing for so long. I started editing my NaNoWriMo 2013 manuscript last month. Does that tell you something about me and editing? I put it off for over nine months. Then I finally, FINALLY started editing it with the intention of finishing it during September. Did I finish editing the manuscript? Of course not! Why? WHY? I ask myself in complete frustration. Editing is a part of the process toward becoming published. I know this but I am LAZY about editing. I need to get over it and just DO IT!

I have decided to make editing a part of my daily Write Chain. In addition to my daily writing I must also edit for at least thirty minutes. I am making this commitment to myself and to my writing process. I have to implement the structure or I am going to continue to be lazy about editing. I’ll keep putting it off and that’s no longer acceptable to me. This should have help me finish editing last years NaNo manuscript before I write this year’s.