15k, I'm on my way!

I went to a write-in at the library today, and despite much talk and revelry, I managed to make 15,008 words as of today. That's with having written a big fat ZERO yesterday.

I'd blame the election, but really I think I just needed a break. I'm exhausted from working so much, among all of the other stuff I've been doing. I really needed a Me Day. Oh, and I forgot. I also made nine (yes, count them, NINE) breakfast quiches for work. Given that I was jumping up and down like a jumping Jack, there's no way I'd have been able to concentrate on writing. It worked out best to just take the day off and make it up today, which I almost did.

Anyway, I went to the write-in thinking to get peace and quiet to write, but there was much chit-chat that took place. Even still, I hit 2739 words, pushing me over the 15,000 words I wanted. I'm still something like 1000 words behind, but I'll make it up tomorrow. It seems that 3000 words really isn't that hard to manage when I get the peace I need.

As for the story, it's going well. I introduced a new character, developed another one that's important but was glossed over earlier in the book, and am having fun building on the morals and ethics of the community Piper grew up in. It's a sad little place, really, but a lot of what's there is put in place to protect them in a very rough world. I like how it's coming along.

More tomorrow. I'm beat tonight. :(

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Non-writing day

Well, I blew my chance at getting any words written today, I think. While I was up at 5:40, I spent my time doing laundry, showering, and surfing the forums. Argh! And I only needed 850 words today, too. *sighs*

Well, I have about 15 minutes. Time for a word war, I guess. Maybe I can get 500 words in that time.

UPDATE: Made 619 words in 15 minutes. Word wars - even with yourself - rock!

No work for you

Well, I managed 10k in my first day of writing by the time I went to bed. It proves that I can do it when I have the time and the initiative.

Today, I wrote a whopping 50 words. Woot! Instead of writing, I spent the day cleaning (my house sparkles!), working (at the bookstore), and having a lovely Samhain party with about 15 people at my house. It started about an hour or so later than first planned, but it was still very nice and ended right on time. AND the house is still relatively clean since most of the party was held outside around a fire.

There's a reason I started so strong. Tomorrow I hope to write a bit before going to work, but at lunch I need to run and get a TB test, and I work at the bookstore tomorrow night. By the time I can write again (Tuesday), that 10k will seem a bit paltry. The good news is that next weekend is mine to do with as I will. I'll meet up with Misty Saturday morning to talk about the SCA and NaNoWriMo, and then I can write at will until Monday morning. I'll make up the word shortage by then, I'm sure. If I can get another 10,000 to 15,000 by a week from today, I'll feel pretty content with things.

Talk soon!

And it starts!!

At midnight last night, NaNoWriMo 2008 began! Woot!! I admit that I did not start right at midnight. Instead, I let the older two boys have the computers while I hovered for a bit, and then went to bed. Fifteen minutes later, I came back downstairs, sent the boys to bed, and then started the novel. Roughly 2500 words and an hour and a half later, I finally crawled into bed. I was up again at 7:45 in the morning, and by the time I walked away at 9:45, I'd added another 3k to my tally. It's not nearly as hard as I thought it would be, but then it's only day one. My goal is another 5k before I go to work tomorrow morning at 11:00. I'll hopefully get about 3k or so tonight, and then tomorrow will be easy sailing at 2k.

The story is coming together in a way that I really like. I'm sort of surprised at how it's working out, and in a good way. Before I'd always tried so hard to have everything planned out with an outline set almost in stone. I'm wondering if maybe that was my downfall. Of course, not having a deadline doesn't help much. Now that I know I can write more than 5000 words in one day, in fact in about three hours, there's no excuse not to write the story I've long dreamed of writing.

Of course, first I have to finish NaNo. :)

The rest of the family has a pathetic start. The twins have written no more than 500 words between them. My daughter has done nothing, and neither has my husband. My only child not doing NaNo has read what I wrote and is impressed. :D

Okay, off to work on the novel. The older boys have friends over tonight so I have to take advantage of whatever time I can get on the computer. Tomorrow is going to be a nightmare, but that's okay. There's always the early morning.

Catch up

Last night my friend Misty came over to the house so that we could work on outlines and other story ideas and stuff. We spent the majority of the time making and eating dinner (bacon & cheddar quiche with dark chocolate brownies), but we also got a bit done on the books. She works nights and had only had a few hours of sleep. I was exhausted because of stress at work. By 10:00, we called it quits, and I took her home.

Two of the kids worked while we did, and while Misty and I struggled to come up with bits and pieces, they flew through creating some neat things for their novels. I had to keep reminding Misty that their inner critics weren't fully developed yet, and it wasn't our fault. Neither of us felt better for that, though. *laughs*

The story. Well, it changes every time I try to figure out the whys and wherefores. Last night I came up with three major conflicts that take place as the story moves forward, and none of them are what I initially thought they'd be. The good news is that I think I've finally come up with the initial conflict that sends Piper away from the village. It's a bit of a cliche, but that can be tweaked later. In the end, none of it may be what I think it is now, but at least I have ideas to work with.

I've also done a good bit of research on caves and caverns so I won't be completely lost on what it looks like inside one. Given how claustrophobic I am, I can't imagine doing personal research, but luckily, I don't have to. Thank you, Google.com!! :D

At one point this week, I set up an Excel spreadsheet to chart the number of words that I want to write per day, how many I have written per day, and what I need to write to catch up. According to the schedule, the novel will actually be 75k words at the end of the month, based on what I think I will have time to write each day. I'm going to keep that schedule for now because I may need that 50% padding come mid-November. I don't think so - I'm really pretty sure I can do this - but just in case life gets in the way....

Oh, and I'm also working on making a few items for my NaNo care-package partner. I'm kind of excited at the stuff that I'm going to send to her. She's out of the country until Friday, so I have time still, and I think I'm going to take it to make sure that her box is filled to the brim with fun goodies and treats. It's just such a fun idea that I want to make sure that my box lives up to the hype. :)

Okay, off to shower so that I can go to Panera to write for a bit. Misty may meet me there if she's awake yet, but if not, I still plan to get a few character sketches done. Ta-ta for now!

Word Wars!

So I did my first word war today. How, you might wonder, could I possibly do that when it's not even November 1st yet! Well, I wanted to see how many words I could write in 30 minutes, so I wrote up a prologue for my NaNo novel. I wanted something on Medwina.

I managed to type up a very well-written (I think) 1,002 word prologue for her. Yay! Even I'M intrigued by her!! And I think that in typing up the prologue I've come up with my ending, too. I'm not 100% positive about that, but it's certainly possible.

Anyway, if I can keep up that pace, that means that for only an hour a day, I should be able to easily do 50k words this coming month. The hard part is that I wrote a beginning, middle and end in 1000 words. What if I do that every day? Does that mean that there won't be any ongoing story to follow? I don't know. Or am I overthinking things again? Nah.. couldn't be! Not me!

This is really going to be fun, though I think my kids are going to kill me before it's all over. To do just that 30-minute stunt I yelled at them to just be quiet so I could get something done. It worked - they shut up - but will it every night for a month? Maybe once they start writing, too. I guess we'll find out then, won't we?

I have a plot! And a name for the witch!

After talking it over with the hubby, I came up with a pretty good plotline that will carry me well into 50k words. And the witch's name is *drumroll* Medwina. She has no last name; simply Medwina, or Medwina the Wise. It suits her, I think. :)

I'll post the plot stuff tomorrow. For now, I'm headed to bed.

Thank you, hubby, for your help today!!! *big wet sloppy kisses*

Wow, was that a wasted week!

No, I didn't answer any of the questions I'd set out for myself. No, I didn't update this blog (obviously). No, I do NOT know what my plot will be anymore because now I'm second-guessing everything I initially came up with (except for the main character and the witch). Gah! THIS is why I never finish a stupid novel!!

I did sit down and come up with a map for Piper's world. That actually bothered me a lot; not knowing where she was from or anything about the world she lived in. Now, I have the name of her town (Penny Hill) as well as a basic map of her known world. It's about the size of Scotland, Wales, and Britain combined, though in a different shape. And while that's all we know so far, there are other lands beyond the mountain range to the north and to the east past the Plains. Piper's people know about the ones to the east, even if they have very little to do with them. Those to the north, however, will be a surprise. Not that that will happen in this particular novel, but it's nice to know these things regardless of whether or not you use them.

Anyway, I'm now seriously waffling on what I want the plot to be. Should she run off on her own after screwing up? Or should she go on an adventure with all of her friends from Penny Hill which results in a major screw-up? The kind of person she is sort of dictates that she run off on her own after a major cock-up created by her own poor choice. While out on her own, she stumbles on the witch in the cave. (Who needs a name, I've suddenly remembered.) From there, who the hell knows what happens? I sure don't. Of course, before this moment, I wasn't even sure THAT would happen!

Do I let it go on its own? Or do I try to create an agenda and force Piper to adhere to it? OR should I just continue to build up the area she'll be traveling in and allow the story to unfold based on the choices that she continues to make? I kind of like that idea. Sort of a "choose your own adventure" with the MC doing the choosing. I know her well enough to guess what she'd do (probably the opposite of what I'd do, but then, she's not me).

I think this blog is helpful for more than just charting my success and failure. It's a good place to throw out all of the crap in my head and figure out where to go with it. The more I let it fester in my mind, the worse it all sounds, but when I put it on paper (or screen) it seems to make more sense.

Now... to name that witch.

Didn't happen

None of the things I wanted to accomplish for NaNo took place today. I, of course, overbooked myself. Plus, I started the new job this afternoon, though admittedly that's not why I didn't get stuff done.

Tomorrow morning, starting at 9:30am, the kids and I will sit down and really look at our plots. A friend was supposed to come work on this, too, but she won't be able to. But I refuse to let this go another day. I WILL be working on this tomorrow. Damn it.

Outlines, Deadlines, and Ideas, OH MY!

I promised myself that tomorrow I would sit down and figure out my outline, what I want my character to learn, etc. Of course, that was before I applied for - and got - my second job. Now, that's going to have to wait until Sunday.

Don't panic! My NaNoWriMo novel is relatively safe. Even with the second job, I'll still have all day Sundays and several nights a week to work on it. It does mean that pulling in 2k words a day is going to be harder, though. And more than likely, I'll have to do 3k or more every time I sit down to the computer, since there will be days that I won't have time to write much. I plan to make Sunday's my "catch-up" days.

Even as I type this I see many many flaws in my plan.... well.. I can only try.

NaNo will be rough

If I can't even keep this blog up-to-date, I can't imagine how I'll be able to keep going on a novel. I suppose it's because the story is important to me... writing out my thoughts on it not so much.

I'm already starting to second-guess my story line. What started out as a simple enough story now seems dull. I'm rethinking what I want Piper to do, how I want her to get there. Rather than just writing what I had in mind, the story is now changing and evolving, and I'm not sure that I know what exactly I'm going to write now. That's what ends up happening to all of my stories. They change before I can get them on paper, and then I get frustrated and just.. quit.

My plan is to sit down this weekend and create an outline. I want to work out the specifics on a few things to give my story meat. I want to figure out what will be the major conflict, how it will be resolved, how it will affect Piper as a person, and what all of this will do to her village and friends.

*sighs* So much to do in so little time! Saturday.... I'll work on it Saturday and get my plan into place. I have to; there's only a few weeks left before November 1!

Thought I forgot you?

While it looks like I've forgotten about this blog, I have not. In fact, I've been ridiculously busy. The family and I went out of town to an SCA event this past weekend, so the week prior to it kept all of us taking care of things around the house. I'm still thinking about the book, but to be honest, I've come up with no major ideas/changes/whatever.

Right now, I'm struggling to stay awake. I'll write more tomorrow.

Time, it is awastin'

I've spent the last few days doing next to nothing. I'm not feeling great and I'm taking care of sick kids. Yesterday it was three of them; today I'm down to one. I've missed work for two days, and I've got a ton to do to make up once I'm there. On top of it, the office manager is crabby about me missing days. Not because I'm chronically gone, but because it means that she can't do her work while she's also covering for me. It's a fair gripe, but what am I supposed to do?

Anyway, back to NaNo. I've been pouring over the forums reading all of the tips and advice I can, as well as coming up with ideas for the story. I'm keeping a notebook of tidbits as I think of them (or borrow them from the NaNo forums), and I'm getting more and more excited. At the same time, I'm getting horribly impatient. I want to start NOW!

Of course, as these things filter through, I realize that my plot is... thin. I want my character to face a very difficult decision, make the wrong one, and then deal with the consequences. The problems brought up:

1.) What does she have to choose between?
2.) Why does she choose badly?
3.) Does the one choice lead to more choices and therefore more decisions? Or is the one bad decision enough to carry the book?

I know what the consequences are. Basically, if she can't make it right, it means the demolition of her entire village and probably lands in the near vicinity until someone else can make it right. My hope is that when she rights the problem, it makes her special in some way, which will lead her on more adventures. (Can we say sequels?)

Oh, those of you following along will notice that I've switched my main character from Izak to Piper. I liked her better, and I thought it would be fun to have a girl heroine for the 9-12 year old group. Maybe Izak will get his own series later, but for now, it's all about Piper.

Okay, my daughter is sick, the house is a mess, and the cat litter needs to be changed. So, I'm off. See you soon!

More plot points come to mind

The idea of this blog is to get me into the habit of writing something every day. Even if it's only a few hundred words a day, it will be easier for me to sit down to 1700 words per day later if I do it a little bit now. Plus, I wanted to keep a record of my first bona fide novel from start to finish.

Yesterday was a whirlwind day. I got off work early only to race around for an hour getting three of the kids together so that we could race to Peoria to see my fourth child run in his cross country meet. We got there in time to watch the last three runners cross the finish line. :( Luckily, he wasn't one of them. :) Then, we grabbed a bite to eat at Hardee's before moving on to Dwight to meet their dad. (He has them for this weekend.) After that, another hour and a half drive back home, with the hubby desperately trying to stay awake and me being no help at all. I think we were asleep five minutes after we pulled into the driveway.

The point of all of that? I barely had time to think of my name, much less the story. However, I did manage to come up with a few ideas on what I wanted my friend Izak to go through. More importantly, I came up with the theme of the whole story: One bad decision can ruin a whole week.

Okay.. off to work on some other projects, including working out a business plan for a small shop my hubby and I want to do to support our SCA habit. (Another post for another time and another topic.)

The Beginning

Okay, actually, the beginning should be considered yesterday. While walking back to work after my lunch hour, I came up with my main character, Izak. As the day progressed, I gave him brothers, a sister, parents, friends, enemies, and a little town in which he could interact with all of them. I have named all of his family and friends, but the town is still a bit foggy, as is the land where it sits.

This is my first NaNoWriMo, and truth be told, my first legitimate attempt at writing a complete novel. I've made stabs at it, even had huge portions written on paper... and yet they've never gone anywhere. I give up on my story - and myself - long before I get even to the middle. My inner critic is a very loud individual that just won't shut up no matter how hard I try to muffle him.

A few years ago, I found out about NaNoWriMo and decided that I would do it. Unfortunately, I always seemed to forget about it until mid-February or so. This year, however, I remembered in June and have made every effort to keep remembering. Now, as we get closer and closer to start time, I not only remember, but am excited to get going. I KNOW I can do this. And on top of that, I KNOW that I can win it. The book may be crap, but the beauty of this competition is that it doesn't matter. What matters is just finishing. I'll spend the rest of the year either revising the book later or writing a new one. Once I finish the first one... just the first silly book... then I know that fear that holds me back will be broken and gone forever.

Anyway, back to my story. Izak is a boy on the brink of manhood. He's intelligent, fierce, competitive, and horribly, horribly shy and insecure. He will of course be forced to deal with that while he works his way through a series of events that he's brought on himself with one poor choice. You'll have to watch this Blog to find out what happens to our young hero.

For now, I'm off to work. Oy... is it Friday yet?