Sunday, November 15, 2009

Me, too & a Question to All JaNo-ers

I, too, am giving up the ghost. My NaNo story just wasn't cooperating, and I refuse to waste my writing time on a story that isn't useable. So, I'm back to editing "Return to Stiller Creek" and working on the new "A Jewel For Geoff" instead.

Good luck to the NaNoers out there!

Also, to the folks here at the JaNoWriMo blog -- is there any reason or interest to keep this blog open? If not, I'm going to shut it down. Though I do admit to having a January NaNo on my mind...

Please let me know?

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Throwing In The Towel

Yeah, I know the month isn't even half over, but I'm so far behind that I don't think I'm going to catch up. I've thought a lot about Marianne's post and I think she's right. At least for this year, I don't think I need to prove to myself that I can write the 50K.

It's not that I don't like the plot I've come up with, or the characters, but right now I feel like I have a big dissembled puzzle in front of me and not enough time to put it together in a way that's going to make me happy in the end. Meanwhile, I have a finished manuscript that needs editing and another that's almost finished that I really like.

I only got to about 11500 words, but for now I'm just going to put it aside and take a look at it sometime down the road. Maybe I can make it into a novella or something.

Good luck to everyone else who are still hanging in there!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Bowing Out

My NaNoWriMo journey is coming to an early end. I need to focus on getting the book completed by December 1st and don't have time to be counting words and thinking about anything else but submitting the best manuscript I can. Good luck to everyone still participating! No matter if you hit 50K or not, you're a winner!

URGH


So... I started writing on my NaNo book again yesterday and ... it sucks. It's boring, it has almost no conflict, and the characters are wooden.

Yes, really.

And, I contemplated and considered and realized -- I HATE editing. HATE it. Especially when there are major plot changes. So the question I asked myself was: do I push through (because I know I can get 50,000 really sucky words) or do I stop, breath, and brainstorm a little bit so that when this thing is done, it's actually something I can use.


Truth?

I want it to be something I can use. So, for the next couple of days, I'm going to stop writing and start thinking. I'm going to consider what my real conflict is (because the one I thought I have isn't one as it turns out), what the black moment will be (because, oddly, I never had one in mind) and how I can flesh out my characters a little better.

I know that's not what NaNo is about. I know I'm supposed to say "Damn the torpedos (or in this case, the plot) and full speed ahead!", but the last time I did that, I got 50,000 words and a story that was shelved, never to see the light of day.

That's just a stupid waste of time. I don't need to prove to myself I can write a novel -- I've done that. I need to use my time wisely. Do I hope I can jump back in and still make my goal? Absolutely. If I know where I'm going, then writing 2000 words or more a day shouldn't be out of the question.

So... that's where I am. Wish me luck.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Hanging on....sort of

Well, I'm still at it. I'm so painfully far behind though, that I'm doubting my ability to finish this.

I revamped the characters, started it fresh and like the story much much better, but there have been so many distractions that it seems impossible to write. Everyone seems to gather in the dining room (ie the office) and they chat and sing and have a grand ole time.

Or I'm running errands. Today it was groceries. Tomorrow it's laundry. Never can catch a break! But at least I can bring a notebook with me tomorrow over laundry. At least I can find some quiet at the laundramat.

Anyway, I'm at 7624 words (sorry, no cute writopia potato guys). I've got a loooong way to go to catch up!!

But one bit of good news... the girls (2 of them) are going over for a sleepover at a friends tonite. So it'll be somewhat quiet.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Back at it

I had surgery on Thursday so haven't written in days. I'm not even sure where I am, but I'll try to figure it out. I'm hoping to write today. I did some revising on paper this weekend, but it hurts to sit at my computer too long so haven't done much typing at all. The book is due December 1 so I'm a bit panicky.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Day Seven: By the Skin of My Teeth

I'm barely hanging on. Am about 1000 words behind again today, but will try to make it up this afternoon, with any luck, plus more. Tomorrow is going to be a long, rough day, so I need to do all the computer work I can today, which will cut into my writing time. *sigh*

Friday, November 6, 2009

NaNo Tool of the Day

This is a great site if you're stuck and want a little something to get your juices going again! It's called The Seventh Sanctum, and has a zillion prompts, ideas, name generators, scene generators and more. Be warned, it's addictive and could be a time waster, but it's also VERY helpful.

Have fun!

Day Six: Let's Play "Change the Hero"

I was writing in my story today and realized I wanted to refer to one of Cori's other brothers, so I pulled up the character list from "Kitchen Matches" -- and it hit me: there was NO possible way Zach could be the hero of my story. See, the whole basis of my H & H's relationship is that they shared a kiss in high school ... and Zach is almost seven years older than my heroine!! So, um, they weren't in school together.

And, to be honest, Nick (the brother who is closest in age to my heroine) fits my hero's character profile much better anyway. So, this morning, I went through and changed all the "Zach's" to "Nick's" and then added in some scenes of Nick being his usual flirty, playboy self.

I didn't get my entire total yet for the day, but hope to hit it again this afternoon. I'm only 500 words short, so it should be easy enough!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Hmmm.... It could work

I had a thought about this wip. I could actually blend it with another idea I had though it would completely change my heroine's personality.

Okay, what do people think of bad girls who are trying to get onto the straight and narrow?

I think that was my problem, my heroine was just a little too nice.

But then I'd have to work everything else around the personality change.

Might be worth it.

Houston.... we have a problem

Okay, I'm psyched that I made it over the 10k mark, but honestly I'm not happy. I have no idea how I'm going to continue with this story. It's like I've hit this big void and I'm asking myself "okay, now what happens?" I seriously don't know. I thought I knew where I was going with this, but for some reason I just don't.

So, even though I'm nearly a week into it, is it too late to dump it and go in a different direction? With a new wip?

This is such a cold cold feeling.

NaNo Tool of the Day

Okay, this isn't so much a tool as a prompt help. Getting stuck and don't know where to go? Then challenge yourself to use the "word of the day" -- and get a giggle from reading it via "Word of the Duh" blog!

I've challenged myself to find a way to use the daily word somewhere, somehow in my WIP. It helps my brain work in a different way, and sometimes encourages me to brainstorm new scenes and new possiblities.

Have fun!

Day Five: Still Hanging in!

I had a LOT of catching up to do, and didn't figure I'd be able to do it. DH got up early this a.m. again (though not as early as he had been, thankfully), but I got about 500 words this morning before that happened.

Then... a miracle. He left to go to his uncle's place for a couple hours, and DD left to do school. I HAD TIME ALONE. Shocking, but true. And I closed all my email windows, closed my website software, told myself it was okay not to do LASR work for a couple of hours and I wrote. And the moment my NaNo Excel report card said "Way to Go!" in the little comments column instead of "Get on It!", I stopped. I am currently just barely at the word count I need to be for NaNoWriMo (1666 words per day), but that's okay. I'll just keep plugging along no matter what. Slow and steady and all that...

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Day Four

I wrote 1481 new words and revised 9 pages. I wished I'd done more, but oh, well... Today is another day.

NaNo (fun) Tool of the Day

Wordle!

Wordle is fun and serves a purpose -- words you use most show up the largest, so you can see if you're overusing something (for instance, if "it" or "was" is one of the biggest words, you know you've got a problem!). I did a Wordle on my NaNo novel as it is so far, and this is what I got:



Thankfully, "it" isn't one of the huge words, lol! In any case -- enjoy :-)

Edited to add: First off, I didn't realize, but Wordle is set to ignore common English words, so "it" wouldn't have shown up anyway.

Second, Judy posted her NaNo Wordle here.

Day Four: Chugging Along

Okay... I made up my word count yesterday, but then this a.m. DH and DD were both up early, so I only got a little over 600 words. Hopefully I can get at least another 1000 later today.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

On my way!

I didn't write as many words as I'd hoped for the first two days, but I suppose anything is better than nothing. My goal is to finish the book by November 16th. At this rate I'm behind 23 pages (bad writing weekend) so need to crank it up a few notches. I may skip around a little rather than write in order. There are a couple of scenes I've been itching to get to!

NaNo Tool for the Day

Help yourself along with a prompt!

Go to this site at least once a day and use the sentence generated (or something very close) in your writing that day: http://watchout4snakes.com/CreativityTools/RandomSentence/RandomSentence.aspx

Or go to Wikipedia and click on "random article" and use that in your story.

Have fun!

Day Three: A Work In Progress

This a.m. was not a banner morning for writing... I hope to get more in this afternoon. But for now:

Monday, November 2, 2009

Calling It A Day

Not bad at all but I better stop before I fall asleep on my keyboard.

So, my total thus far is.....



So, that leaves 42959 words to go. I need to average 1535 a day for the rest of the month.

So far so good.

Off and well, sorta writing...

My goal for NaNo is to finish the manuscript due December 1. It's a sequel to my November 08 release, Rescued by the Magic of Christmas, and will be published in late 2010.

Of course I had an Irish dance feis yesterday and we got a new kitten named Yoda last night so I've been writing on my Alphasmart with no idea how many words I have. I'll be sure to download tonight so I have a word count for the first two days. At least I have a few words. Just need many, many more!

Good luck to everyone!

Melissa

NaNo Tool for the Day

I may not post these every day, but will do what I can.

One of my favorites (though it scares me, too) is Write or Die. I have to admit to being too scared to use it for more than a few minutes at a time, because that way I won't lose TOO much if I mess up, lol.

It's a great site. Check it out.

Day Two: Still Hanging In!

Well.. things aren't going *quite* how I had planned. My DH is getting up at 4 a.m. to go hunting, so my writing time is getting eaten up a little. He's off all week, so I expect this will be the norm. I'll just have to deal.

Even so, I'm still (barely) keeping up with the needed word count:



Uh oh... my word count meter picture isn't showing. So, my word count total is: 3,478!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

End Of Day One



Yup. That's me. Maybe I'll increase my word count before bedtime.

Or maybe I'll just veg in front of the tv and wait for dinner to be done.

I did spend a little time making a collage for my story.


I think it may be a horse story... Haven't written a good horse story in a long time.

NaNo Tool for the Day

Since Ceri mentioned needing it -- the word count widge I use can be found at Writertopia.

And I think it's a potato.

Enjoy :-)

So far....

2628 words.

But I need to stop for breakfast. I hope to add to that total later on.

I need to find my link to those cool raisen (or is it a potato) guy with the word count. :)

Day One: So Far, So Good

I got up early ... thanks to the time change, and wrote!



You?