Every Day I'm Novelin'

Almost NaNo time!!!

Fri, 20 Sep 2013 10:40:54 GMT

So ready to begin NaNo. Sure, I won't get a proper start on it until probably day #4 due to travels....but I've managed it while traveling before! I'm totally a "planner" this year, so I have a decent outline and dialogue ideas started. Worse case, if I don't get 50 K words of my Why are YOU Still Single?! re-write, I'll start work on finishing one of the Breaking Waves books. Figure if I can write 10 words for every word in my outline (so far), I'll be OK. I also get to do NaNoWriMo, grad school, and my ML duties! Oy vey! At least ML duties mean I am writing at set times each week.

The beginning of November promises to be a cluster you-know-what... November 1 I'll be going from class in Phoenix, AZ to my hotel just outside of San Diego, CA. November 2 I'll be at the San Diego Zoo and following it up with seeing a friend's band because... how awesome is it that my friend will be in CA same day as I am?! November 3rd, zoo again followed by a drive back to Phoenix for my flight to Ohio on the 4th.

Fun never stops, does it?

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I have the co-power!!

Sun, 25 Aug 2013 10:12:29 GMT

I'm officially a co-Municipal Liason for the Black Swamp Region of Ohio for NaNoWriMo!

Now to do NaNo, grad school, work, and give the appearance that I can keep it all together :-P

I should probably start outlining since I need to get 50K ready to roll and will spend the first 4 days of November traveling or being at the San Diego Zoo!

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JuNoWriMo WINNER!

Sun, 30 Jun 2013 01:44:55 GMT

I won! 50089 words!!! The last 500 were tough... giving myself a break tomorrow and will start on Camp NaNoWriMo for July!!!

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WHOOSH!

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 16:37:40 GMT

The text recovery program that I used WORKED! I have ALL my words back! All I had to do was reformat them! I'll take that over retyping any time!

So yea, still planning massive edits in the future BUT... 14910 words left to go! That seems ridiculously low and extremely doable! Today's a busy day with laundry and baking but I know I can get ahead for being gone over the weekend!!

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Dear Computers: FUCK YOU

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:57:35 GMT

Whenever I'm ahead and feeling good (but admittedly hating my dialog), the computer and my inner editor conspire against me and have another @#$% death match with my files!

Oh, and dummy me uploaded the WRONG file draft to my email repeatedly.

So um... my 32374 word count, 1000 words AHEAD has been brutally thrust into 19362! NOOO!!!

I can come back from it. I've come back from worse!

Good news... JuNoWriMo considers my word count before the loss the official one and to treat it as such if needed. Much appreciated but still... AUGH!!! THIS IS NOT HOW I WANT TO EDIT!!!

I need to write an average of 3700 words PER DAY before June lets out if I want to recover from this one....!!! I CAN do it! I WILL do it!

Meanwhile, just hope and hope that my computer at work has an autosaved copy!!!

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JuNoWriMo... plodding along!!

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 18:26:44 GMT

I'm finally a TAD ahead on JuNoWriMo. I was behind on the 14-16 by a few hundred words, but I caught up and am a bit ahead now. I'll be away all next weekend, so I need to be sure to reach 35K by the 19th so I feel like I have some breathing room when I start back up again on the 22nd.

The story's in a slow spot right now. It's taking a lot to plod through it just because I'm pantsing it until my next part of my drafts kicks in. I'm debating on just starting on that section with unnumbered chapters and fit in the new chapters once I figure it out. Anything to stop the agonizingly slow progress I am making right now. I just now got my average back up to the standard 1667 words per day, but I usually pull around 2000 per day average. Must pick up pace and overachieve again!

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Writing traffic jam

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 08:33:25 GMT

Ugh! I hate hate HATE it when I hit a road block with my writing. First chapters always seem to be the slowest and most difficult to write, especially in this series. I have to balance new material with old material to make sense of what is taking place. It just feels like the start of the book goes so SLOW, and a lot of stuff from book #2 needs to be summed up in book #3 so the story makes sense. Ah, give it some time.... I'll get this. I always do. It also doesn't help that I am using old drafts as a guide and those are getting the snot edited out of them.

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Draft for book #2 down....!!!

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 14:51:33 GMT

I have The Winds of Change all rough-drafted out. Now I am starting on the tentatively titled Rescued. It's kind of where things are a little slower and the changes are positive.

It's also way off what my original draft had intended... some character roles are changed, some are removed, and new people are added. We'll see. I got JuNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo July to figure it all out....

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JuNoWriMo... because I have words to write and need motivation

Sun, 02 Jun 2013 07:34:48 GMT

I may need to set a lower word count for NaNoWriMo since classes and LIFE will be getting in my way in July and to what extent... I don't know. I still plan to do Camp NaNoWriMo in July... so we'll see what happens.

Meanwhile, I want to work on book #2 in the Breaking Waves series, figure out what to do for book #3, weave in a character that was suggested to me, and basically get the series written out and then work on editing and revising as time goes on.

OK... back to the writing process!!!

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It's alive!!!!

Fri, 31 May 2013 13:08:00 GMT

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Now that April is over...

Fri, 03 May 2013 12:27:54 GMT

So... here's how my Camp NaNoWriMo experience went for April....

Basically, you can see the first week started off slow. Its quite evident when I left for the weekend as the stats for the 6-7 remain more or less the same.... was behind on the 7th, rallied on the 8th and worked steadily until I was gone the 19-21. ...

But, notice that dip on the 23? That was the Day of Suck. That was when, backing up my files, somehow, files on the computer and the flash drive decided to have a little deathmatch. Both lost. The drafts on BOTH devices were toast. Gone. All 54001 words vaporized. It was too horrible to be true. In ALL my years of using a computer, I've never seen anything like it.

LUCKILY at about 42500 words, I had emailed the draft to myself. I lost 11500 words in the process but 42500 words was better than 0 words and starting over again. I typed like my life depended on it that 24 hours and ended the day with a deficit of 3662 words. By the 24, I was ahead of the game again. So this NaNo session, I broke 50 K *twice*. I also emailed it to myself every 1000 words so this...never happened again. I spent the 25-26 taking a break from bouncing back from that word loss, playing with cover images, justifying it as past my goal and I had the freedom to play, and then got back to work .... soldiered on.

I've been changing titles. Book #1 is now The Calm Before the Storm (CBTS) and book #2 is The Winds of Change (WOC). I have been getting CBTS ready for self-publishing on Create Space and have to wait longer to get my proof copy because... someone was too cocky making the text for the back cover and didn't check it well enough. So... once I can go in and make changes, I will have to wait a bit before I can order the proof copy. It's all well and good since I didn't want to put it out there until June 1 anyhow. Just frustrates me that I did something so carelessly.

TCBS's summary wasn't easy to write, and my idea of "Shit's about to hit the fan, but I'm just preparing the slingshot" wasn't ideal. So instead, I went with the following:

Life isn't always a beach in Waves, North Carolina...

Summer was the busiest time of year on Hatteras Island and the entire stretch of the Outer Banks. Tourists would come flocking in from everywhere, sometimes mingling with the residents. Everyone seemed to have the same goal: Get away from the mainland, clear their minds, and enjoy everything that Waves and Hatteras Island had to offer.

Fourteen year-old Waves resident Jeromie Greene and his friends Cara, Gayle, and Jody hardly have a care in the world. It's the summer before their freshman year in high school. The days stretch before them with the promise of days full of swimming, surfing, and maybe even a few romances with the constantly changing cast of tourists who visit their island.

Summer resident Doug Henshaw quickly befriends Jeromie and his group and soon, everything starts changing. Confessions, betrayals, and the desire to be accepted begin to dominate the thoughts of Jeromie and his friends. Can their friendships survive as they face the challenges that lie ahead?

I don't take it easy on these kids, either... but life only gets more complicated, and messed up, in the next book.

I'm going to write to a certain point in WOC before I put it away for July's Camp NaNoWriMo. I have enough "seed" material to get through several NaNoWriMo challenges. Expect to see more updates of shiny stuff relating to CBTS before I continue WOC.

As far as book #3 goes in my grown-up, chick-lit series... I'm holding it hostage for now LOL! I ended book #2 (Why are YOU Still Single?!) to a point where it doesn't need to continue, and depending on how into the Breaking Waves series I get, I may/may not continue it. I told my RL inspiration for grown-up series that I NEED more RL inspiration to continue (hence the "holding hostage") but it's tough when schedules conflict so much.

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We have...covers!

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 14:31:27 GMT

Shush, inner editor wanted to play and not write this morning...so I got started on some cover designs. Decided to stick with the same format for all 5 books. All five images are from my personal photos from the area where the stories are set :-)

Book #1 is ready for editing, book #2 is still being written. Books #3-5 will be worked on in subsequent NaNoWriMo projects :-)
( pictures! )

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I did it!

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 06:01:06 GMT

I made 50 K! I'm at a shade over 50 K now but I actually did it... I finally won a Camp NaNoWriMo... and I have plenty more story to go! I think I will get through this chapter, and maybe save the rest for July... or just write until the end of the month and go from there. Who knows? LOL! Story has moved in its own direction and I find the original drafts are making very little contribution to the story since I am changing so much of it. I think the story has grown, changed, and the characters are taking advantage of their new freedoms and whatnot.

There's one direction in the previous drafts where I decided not to go... wasn't realistic. Wasn't right anymore, so I decided just to scare the hell out of him and hope he learned his lesson!

There's still so much left to write, and the you-know-what hasn't even hit the fan yet!

Just because the kids in Breaking Waves live on the beach does NOT mean their life IS one....!

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We have a title... and formatting!

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:54:57 GMT

I decided to call my book Breaking Waves. It does, however, appear that it may need to be a series instead of one massive book spanning four years of these kids' lives.

I also admit I went through and formatted my draft. I know "avoid inner-editor blah blah" but it feels more *real* and solid now that I have some structure to it. I may go through my pictures from the Outer Banks and pick a suitable cover photo. Goodness knows I have plenty!

I'm at 25376 words and in "pantsing" territory now. I've picked up where the last draft left off for the kids' summer, and am now working toward the school year and those months for which I have no drafts whatsoever.

Hoping to get through their first school year by the time the weekend is out. Probably won't, but who knows.

OK, enough blogging, back to writing!

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CAMP UPDATE!!

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:33:51 GMT

Whoa... it's 10 days into Camp NaNoWriMo and I haven't updated.,... for shame! I'm also up way past my bedtime, so screw it... may as well post my progress!

I'm currently at 20570 and writing an average of 2057 words a day... not bad :-)

This is DEFINITELY a mix of using the old texts (planning) and completely departing from them (pantsing). In fact, very little of the actual drafts really even remain. I decided my two main male characters (Jeromie and Jody) not have their falling out and one of the female characters is unsure of her sexual orientation (Gayle). They're dealing with real stuff here, not happy fluffy stuff. Feelings get hurt, mistakes get made, and topics that teens talk about are brought up. I figure my main male character's dad's influence in all of it is helpful. The dad (Jonathan) is a pragmatic kind of guy who gives his sons (Jeromie and Brandon) enough room to make mistakes and isn't afraid to BE the parent, but he's also his sons' #1 person to go to when they have problems.

I definitely have enough material to cover several NaNo challenges, so I am looking forward to it!

As far as catching up to modern days,....

They LOVE text messaging!

Jeromie really likes Instagram.

There's a lot of potential for Facebook drama when Cara and Beth have their big blow-up (that is still about 3 years off in the story).

Still getting the stage set. They've already had a couple dramatic episodes, and more promise to be on their way, especially the next year when Beth makes her way to Rodanthe. That may get covered in this NaNo, it may wait until July. Who knows :-) Either way, I'm really loving the whole re-writing, planning/pantsing hybrid I have going on and while it will require some extensive edits (Not sure how I want to do chapters yet, probably just use numbers), I'm really enjoying this!

50 K is EASILY within my reach with this, and that was the important part. I may not stop at 50 K, depends where I hit it at and how much is left to write. I am just trying to get the kids from the summer before their freshman year in high school until the summer they leave for college.... there's a lot there. My original drafts didn't cover the school year. These WILL. So yea... massive word count craziness ahead!!

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My "Camp" set up, so far!!

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 19:24:28 GMT

Walk through the forest and come to my lovely camp...
( Welcome to my world... )So... now all I need to do is get my ideas more organized through this month and starting April 1... write, write, write!

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Are you ready?!

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:16:01 GMT

I got my "Ready, Set, Novel!" book and filling it up, my Camp NaNoWriMo mug is ready to be filled... got two more Camp-related packages on the way (because I LOVE the stuff and love what it supports) that includes the new t-shirt, the care package, a poster, and the merit badges.

I'm getting involved in the forums, too. Signed up to do a care package swap and a postcard exchange. I think it will be fun to feel more connected with others so it doesn't seem like I'm off to camp all by my lonesome!

I'm just very excited about this, about getting this stories re-written, updated. I was snowed in at work and read through the drafts and I realize how much I miss this cast of crazy kids and now I'm going to rearrange their lives!!

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I love weekends like this...

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 21:16:16 GMT

...and weekends like this are precisely why I stopped making dolls and art for clients. Other than homework, I've had nothing but free time. Free time to lay in bed and read. To order pizza and watch a movie (and not have a craft project for someone in my hands!). Time to do a lot of nothing. Time to play around with reorganizing things. Time to nap when I feel like it. Basically, it's time I am not spending doing stuff for others. Selfish? Sure.

Do I need it? Definitely!

I thought about possibly making dolls again some time ago, but realized I enjoy my days off being just that -OFF. Even with school demands, I don't feel as harried or pressured to do stuff. More I'm away from it, less I am likely to ever go back to it. It's run its course. It was fun. Maybe one day I'll make some because I want to, but at this point? It doesn't seem likely. I mean I don't even know how I managed to find time to do all that extra work for others!

What I find hilarious is how people can't believe I'd do that! People who never paid for my work expect me to keep cranking it out, apparently they're entitled to see what I create but not contribute toward funding that creativity. I'm supposed to offer them custom, pre-made artwork and charge Wal Mart mass-produced prices for it. Yea, that doesn't happen. I love creating, but people like that really make me NOT like doing it.

So from now on, I create for me. I will make gifts for people close to me, but I don't plan to ever again create art for sale or for anyone to commission from me. That part of my art life is behind me for good.

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I should be doing homework but...

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 12:38:39 GMT

Part of me wants to start compiling a "Survivial Guide" for when (being optimistic here!) I am an ML for NaNoWriMo. Just a write-up of what I've learned through doing these challenges and a way to make sure that anyone who participates makes it fun and not stressful. I want to make the local stuff I host into a social "scene" of sorts that gets us away from the meat-market this area has and into an intelligent environment that's also fun and hopefully goes beyond November.

Getting some ideas also for fun games and "party favors" to hand out that won't be too expensive. I still have stuff from when I was an unofficial ML, but I am hoping with my own region and forum, I can get more people to show up because events won't be held in places that are a 45+ minute drive away.

OK, enough ponderings... I guess I'll stare at my homework a bit longer. *Gag*

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Yay!

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 13:59:15 GMT

New Camp NaNoWriMo shirts are out earlier than I expected. So of course, I ordered mine. Should be getting several packages from Office of Letters and Light this week and that makes me happy! In two more weeks I plan to order the new poster (which is adorable!) and the merit badges. I plan to customize a Camp-themed hoodie with them because writing stuff is cool.

I need to get my homework finished today and I'm just NOT feeling motivated to write three essays and finish 2 assignments in addition to all that. But! It needs to be finished. My weekend plans have changed so I will be hitting the books. I feel absolutely awful with the dramatic temperature fluctuations where it can be anywhere between 10-20 degrees different from one day to the next. Welcome to late winter. Blah. At least now, I have the reconfigured nasal passages so I feel better than I did before (I'm not at the doctor almost every week for sinus infections).

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Camp NaNoWriMo is so close yet so far away....

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 21:27:56 GMT

I'm seriously chomping at the bit for this! The site relaunch is March 5 and they're going to have new items in the store, too! I have a list of things I want in the current inventory and I'm definitely getting the new shirt design as well. I love their shirts and it never hurts to add more to the wardrobe while funding a great program. Maybe it's lame to only write during these various writing challenges, but it's more enjoyable and it prevents me from burning out and wanting to kill my characters in stories that don't require any deaths.

I made a new Pinterest board for my NaNo goodies here. I have my wish list items, shopping list items, and web badges.

I am going to do my old drafts for Camp NaNoWriMo in April. so I am purchasing the "Ready, Set, Novel!" workbook in hopes it will help me keep organized and rewire my existing characters to the 2010's.

I had thought about taking a little weekend getaway and getting a cabin for a weekend in April, yanno, to get in the rustic camp-y mood but oy. I know, eccentric to want to do "camp" like outdoor stuff for Camp NaNoWriMo but I think it'd be fun! Well, plus I was also in a pissy mood when I thought of it and liked the idea of staying someplace that did not share walls with other people.

A one-room cabin with no linens and no bathroom costs 2x that of a hotel at some of the campgrounds and places that interested me! Even a tipi was $80 per night! I thought about getting a tent, found some decent priced ones, but then realized that for what I would spend on supplies.... may as well do a hotel. So I will probably "day camp" it at local parks with the laptop. I didn't want to spend a lot of money or drive very far. April weather is so iffy in Ohio. It could snow, storm, and be hotter than hell all in the same 24 period.

July's will be easier... the campground at the lake will be open and I can spend time at my camper on a lake or at a picnic table near the water.

I'm just ready to see the new site, see the new stuff, order said new stuff (and the other items on my list!!) and get my notes and crap together during March so I am ready for fun in April!

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Time for a break

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 14:53:40 GMT

So Book #3 is being set aside for anywhere between 6 weeks (for April's Camp NaNoWriMo), to July (second Camp NaNoWriMo) or until November (NaNoWriMo- the most likely time I will pick it up again). I think it will be good to step away from the story and revisit it at a later date. Debating on whether to show parts of it to its um... inspiration... in a few weeks. I know he's curious!

I did accomplish just over 35K words for orgasm_circlet and will work on weaving the rest together in one of the NaNo months. I left my comfort zone and am now more comfortable writing out the "details" :-) I plan to continue to add them as the story requires when I write the full draft out.

My parents are currently on a road trip and my mom brought Why are YOU Still Single?! along. She says she can't get over how I handled everything in How to Suck at Dating Without Even Trying since 90% of that book was creative non-fiction with names, places, and dates changed to protect the guilty. She says she reads some parts aloud to my dad because they're so funny with how I describe them. My sister really loves Why are YOU Still Single?! and hopes that life will imitate art (don't we all in this book's case?!).

I may start sifting through the binders of notes for my teen novel idea for either Camp NaNoWriMo or NaNoWriMo. These are the binders of stories I wrote as a teen and will be using them to start a more updated and better-written story. I mean come on, internet wasn't even in most homes when I wrote these and I don't think any of my characters would even know what a text message was, and they certainly never emailed anyone! I need to get them out of the 1990s and into this century!! I still need a better title than the original which was simply the name of the town where everyone lived and, thanks to Nicolas Sparks, is also used in another book and movie. The town will stay the same mainly because, unlike Nicolas Sparks, I can actually get the geography right! Well, his whole ferry bit would have been accurate for the post-Sandy state of the island but it was NOT accurate in his book OR the movie from it. It also does not have a "downtown".

Hoping I can be a Municipal Liason for NaNoWriMo because we really don't have a proper one for where I live. The closest one mainly has people from universities anywhere from 45-60 minutes north of me and the next-closest one is an hour away in Indiana. I have several small colleges in my area and I think we'd be better served with our own NaNoWriMo chapter (and not have the ML from 45 minutes away worry about accomodating us). I LOVE going to events and write-ins and I loved that I could attend some that were close to me when I was in Phoenix and Las Vegas (ironically, the events closest to me were when I was on the other side of the country- go figure!). My city needs more of a positive social scene like NaNoWriMo and its respective events. I REALLY enjoyed it out in Phoenix and Vegas and you know what? It was fun to meet up with people that I knew I shared interests with!

I didn't apply to be an ML last year because of my crazy work schedule and being out of town so I didn't plan to do NaNoWriMo at all, much less try and lead it. In fact, I decided to do it in October and threw myself in full-force in about the middle of November thanks to my inspiration. Looking forward to more inspiration in the coming weeks and months :-)

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OMG!!!

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 17:29:01 GMT

OMG folks, I am shaking SHAKING... "How to Suck at Dating Without Even Trying" by yours truly has been selected to go on to the next round in Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award!

Find out if I make it on to the quarter finals on March 12th!!

LOL an author friend of mine said: Congrats on that, though I'm not sure we should congratulate you for knowing so much on the subject

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Had some fun with some soap..

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 21:14:26 GMT

This is my latest endeavor. I have 15 more on the way next weekend when the new batch of rubber fetuses arrive....they're basically peppermint-scented "placenta" soaps with a rubber fetus inside, and of course, they're on an umbilical cord "rope". Yes I am sick. No need to remind me of what I already know ;-) Better yet, my first five have already sold and I am taking reservations for next weekend when I make batch #2!

Click to see full size images :-)

Once I get cleaned up, I plan to run to Hobby Lobby and see about different scents and colors for some other ideas. Yea, I am procrastinating my paper.

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I made the 20K goal!!

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 21:33:52 GMT

I did it! I made it to 20 K in my orgasm_circlet project! Just debating on which NaNo/Camp NaNo to use to weave it all together. I plan to keep writing until the end date of February 14 because... why not? My NaNo word counts are usually well over 75K, so I am not worried about coming up with 50K words more for this story. A lot is going on in her life, and she has some new antagonists this time around.

I really enjoyed this chance to try something different, get out of my comfort zone, and write stuff that I kind of left to the imagination before. If I point out the irony in the writing, it'll give away what happened in book #2, so I will leave it at that!

I've been up too dang long and I have company staying the night tonight before our weekend's debaucheries. Gonna do some cocktails, mani-pedis, and our usual silliness. Art supplies may be involved.

I am rather proud of myself... I got my to-do list finished by 1 PM. My ring arrived yesterday and that improved my mood immeasurably. I'm just sooo ready for a change of scenery and a chance to actually do my hair and make-up and go someplace!

Sunday night I'll be sporting my panda jacket with the full-face hood because I think it'd be a riot to mess with people while wearing what basically amounts to a panda costume. Yea, the chances of me actually acting my age at all times are basically slim to none. I guess it's because I have such heavy responsibilities at work with the well-being of so many kids dependent on what I do, I have to be serious with my PhD... so when I do not have to do either of those things, I let loose and get silly. That includes making panda coats, wearing said panda coats, and terrorizing people while wearing said panda coat. I also make crazy artwork. Or, as I claim, I write fiction so people will do what I want and I can kill them if they don't.

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