25,069, aka More Than Halfway!

NaNoWriMo is over, and my secret goal was to get 25,000 words written. And I DID IT, mainly through a manic marathon of 4,000 words this past weekend.

I’m really quite pleased to have a solid start on my latest novel. I don’t know how long the finished book will be, I haven’t actually gotten beyond where I’d already completed detailed outlining, but I’ve finished most of the research—and whew, there’s a lot of stuff in this book about which I know zilch. 

Preview of "fake" cover of this not-quite-finished
novel, code name: Seven Secrets, an action-adventure 
tale with magic for which I've no teaser 
written. More work to do...

Despite all the impediments—pencil impalements, concussions while re-painting the living room, winterizing my 90 containers of succulents, sanding and water-sealing the deck, eating too much on Thanksgiving—some writing has been accomplished. (Yeah, these are all excuses, I know. But even after pulling the pencil out—I have a scar—I still jotted down the crucial edit I needed. The story must go on.) (Sorry if I’ve grossed you out.) (Not.) ;-)

Anyway, I will continue this novel and post word counts on the NaNo website as long I’m allowed to, which may not be for long (I don’t actually know the rules, too busy writing to read ’em), and we’ll see what happens. 

Of course, I've got two more installments already written in my The Animal Guild series that I've yet to publish, so look for them in upcoming months. Then this latest novel (code name: Seven Secrets) will segue into that world in some very interesting ways.

The future is always exciting, isn’t it?

All for now. Keep writing and reading!

Am I There Yet?

This is what my living room looks like right now:

“Ah,” you say. “She’s found another excuse not to write."

It’s a brilliant excuse, right? But so not true! 

During this NaNoWriMo, I’ve actually hit the 7,000 word mark, which is 6,999 more words than I thought I’d write. It would help if I had finished researching and outlining this next book I’m writing, but this impetus really gets me to focus on the work. And it is work.

Since I’ve first-drafted (very first-drafted) three chapters and am now facing the brick wall of “Need to Research,” I find that I want to research because the characters are coming into their own and speaking in their own voices, and they want me to get moving so their stories can be resolved. (This will sound a little wacko to most people, but you writers will understand.)

So I give a big thank-you to the NaNo organizers, and I give a very special thank-you to my sister who kicked me in the you-know-what so that I could get off my duff and start producing again. 

Keep writing, and then write some more, whew… 

Procrastination II or . . . NaNoWriMo!

Well, I have decided—gulp—to do NaNoWriMo this year (National Novel Writing Month). In fact, I'll be starting this next Saturday, November 1, after handing out all my Halloween candy to weirdly dressed youngsters. 

Am I ready for NaNo? Not on your life. Do I have a solid plot and all my research done? No, and no. So why am I doing this to myself? Because I have a wonderful list of procrastinating activities that keep me solidly on my duff not writing, and because I can research for years instead of writing, and because writing the first sentence of a book is scarier than Halloween. I have been working on one novel since 1998. Yes, 1998. It can be done. But I’ve discovered that I need to write another novel—the one I’ll start on Saturday—before I can write that one. How’s that for procrastination? I really should win a prize. Here is what my notes look like right now:

And since I write long-hand, I will need to type up whatever gets written before I can do a word count for NaNo (more procrastination, heh). Here’s what I’d rather be doing:

Or even this:

But the highest praise goes to NaNo for getting people, young and old, involved in the process and thrill of creation. And if, by midnight on November 30, I have my plotting done and even a few chapters first-drafted, I will be dancing around the room with joy. What a sight.

Check out NaNoWriMo, and keep writing!