My book is a mistake

Really. It is. I was surfing Amazon one day, looking at books when I stumbled on one called:

Jessica’s Guide for Dating on the Dark Side

Except, that’s not what I saw. For several seconds, I thought it said:

Jessica’s Guide for Dating on the Dork Side

And I was kind of disappointed that it wasn’t called that (although it looks like a fun book). But I couldn’t get the notion of dating on the dork side out of my head. I wondered: How would someone end up dating on the dork side.

Insert light bulb moment here.

So, my work in progress (progress being one of those relative terms) is all due to a mistake. And because I’m all about preparation, I’ve put together the all important playlist. Sure, I could spend my time doing character interviews and storyboards. Or I could mess around for a couple of hours on iTunes. Priorities, people. Priorities.

Dating on the Dork Side

1. War by Bruce Springsteen
2. Lysistrata by Utopia
3. Is She Really Going Out With Him? by Joe Jackson
4. Hate (I Really Don’t Like You) by Plain White T’s
5. Stupid Boy by Gear Daddies
6. She's so High by Tal Bachman
7. So What by P!nk
8. Famous Last Words by My Chemical Romance
9. Read My Mind by The Killers
10. Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol
11. Heroes by The Wallflowers

Write or Die

Learned of a great tool for writing during NaNo -- it's free (and diabolical). It's a web site called Write or Die. I'm almost to the point where I can't write without it. It makes me laugh but it also keeps me on track and very productive. Wish there was an offline version.

I'll be using it during JaNoWriMo.

Anne AKA smellshorsey

I'm Ready. Are You?

I'm surviving December. That's all I can do. It's snowing like crazy. We've been stuck in the house for ten days. The kids are home. Hubs is home. We're all crazy with so much togetherness.

I've already selected the project I want to work on in January, and it's already prepped. But I didn't finish December's project. So my 50K words will be a combination of both projects.

I'm ready.

Is it January yet?

Prep: Fighting the Urge

Thanks, Marianne for the JaNoWriMo idea! I'm so excited to get started on a brand new sporty tween novel to send to my agent in between SCREWBALL series deadlines.. 

But, I'm probably a little too excited. See, I'm fighting the urge to cheat AGAIN. Except, this time, I promised myself, unlike WriNoNaMo, I won't. Because I don't want to feel yucky when I'm done, like the time when I was six and I bought my dad a pack of Watermelon Bubble Yum (his fave) for his birthday. Then I couldn't resist or wait until his big day. So, I ate a piece and wrapped up the leftover four. 

I will have patience this time is my mantra. 

In the meantime, I'm researching, prepping, interviewing characters, and reading as much as I can in between holiday hoopla and family stuff. :)  Happy Holidays, fellow JaNoWriMoers! 

Preparation Confession

I feel like the kid who hasn't given any thought to what she's going to wear on the first day of school. I suppose I should warn you right now--come January first I'm going to show up in my flannel nightie, I just know I am.

Preparation?

Uh, no...none of that going on here. I hope inspiration will strike on New Year's morning. With my luck, all I'll get hit with is a huge headache, courtesy of the champagne I'll drink to push 2008 into the history books.

But I do have a title! Does that count for anything? Please say it does. I'm telling you, it's all I've got at this point.

Oh? The title? Last First Kiss.

Preparations

Marianne asked us to post our preparations. My preparations will start Monday... that's the official "D-Day" when I'm off work. I've been doing a lot of incubating, though. I'm not sure if I'm going to work on my second novel in my series or try something completely different or go where the wind takes me. I have a few story ideas stashed away, so I'm going to try to meditate and decide what would be best to work on at this intensity.

What about the rest of you?

I'm also really excited to be doing this! Nano was just NOT going to happen for me in November this year. A huge thanks to Marianne for getting this together.

Ten Days and Counting

Well folks... we have at least eleven participants (maybe thirteen, as I just sent out two more invites) and only ten more days! I'd love to hear how everyone is preparing... anyone want to post and let us know? All ideas are welcome.

I'm mostly brainstorming scenes and working through character interviews. I'm fortunate in that the two stories I'll be choosing from are both sequels, so I already know many of the characters. Still, both heroines are new to me, so I'll have to work through those.

I also set up a series of prompts or "dares" to help jumpstart me when I get stuck -- the more absurd the better (and some are quite absurd).

Next?