Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Busy Week Before a Busy Month

My girlfriend flew home yesterday (we had a WONDERFUL time), then last night we had drinks with a friend from high school that I haven't seen in at least ten years. He's here on his honeymoon so we interrupted the romance for a little get-together. After four days of relaxing and not thinking about anything but what to eat next, I have a lot to do!

As most of you know, NaNo starts this Saturday and I'll have to write 1667 words every day of November. In the next few days I need to put together an outline so that once I start writing I can just concentrate on the story. I don't want to waste time trying to think of what happens next if I can get it organized now. I also have a few more details to wrap up with The Other Side (that's on the schedule for today) before sending it to my readers on the 1st.

In addition, Ibis' boss wants me to design and launch a new website for the hotel by December 1st. I'm excited to do it and figure multiple projects for November will keep me focused, but I still have a minor detail - I need to learn the program. I started over the summer but haven't gone back to the tutorials since August, so it looks like I need to start managing my time better. :)

I'm also working on a site for my dad and the family, so that will fall into place along with the hotel site. AND, my one client here is ready to send an outstanding project to the printer. I'm happy to get that wrapped up, but it's amazing how everything happens at once!

Thanks to my friend who visited, I have a little help. Presents!





(ETA: there's a description of the Writer's Toolbox in the comments.)

She also delivered the 2009 Writer's Market so I can get started with freelance writing. Looks like 2009 will be a busy year for me. :)


(I can't get it to turn, sorry for the sideways picture)

*****

Finally, Colby put together a HILARIOUS video in honor of my blog.

19 comments:

Rachel Burton said...

I'm glad you and your friend had a good visit! I've started to look into the freelancing world, and I think the most overwhelming thing is finding markets. They say to start with your local paper, but so far the Tribune has ignored me. (go figure!) I will crack them one of these days though! Good luck with your busy month.

Zoe Winters said...

Cool stuff!

Yay on Nano. I will probably count my SMS rewrites as my nano. I won't be writing THAT many new words but I think I'm going to do a NanoReVimo. :P

Anonymous said...

The Writer's Toolbox looks interesting. What is it? Is it actually a game? A book? Or writing prompts?

WendyCinNYC said...

That's a LOT of words per day. The quality of my writing goes swiftly downhill after word 800 or so.

Kudos to you for taking the challenge.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Good luck Rachel. I decided to buy Writer's Market in the hopes that I could narrow down the field a bit. I know everything is online but I don't even know where to begin. Hopefully this helps.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Zoe, I think you should be able to use NaNo to suit your needs. As long as you write, it's an accomplishment.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

AC, I meant to explain and I completely forgot! First everything is color coded: blue-protagonist, brown-goals, gray-obstacles, green-action.

The wheels have things like "gets special training", "that idiot from corporate", "to see the world", and "Frank the painter".

The little sticks are prompts like "I decided to only solution was to seduce him". The funniest (to me) is "there were 17 cats living in Larry's basement". That's funny because my former supervisor is a Larry and let's just say he's not one to have 2 cats, let alone 17.

The cards say things like "a can of Easy Cheese" and "the taste of lipstick".

I haven't read the instructional book yet, but considering there's a timer I'm assuming I'm supposed to write short stories with the various prompts. Perhaps I'll follow Janna's lead and post a few.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Wendy, I'm a little nervous about it because I tend to hit a wall around 1000. I'm hoping that the prep work will help keep me focused.

Janna Leadbetter said...

Ooh, I so want The Writer's Toolbox. Looks neat!

Glad you guys had a great time... now get to work!

Stephen Parrish said...

I'm doing NaNo with you. Look for me: I'm registered as "stephenparrish."

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Janna, no kidding. Did you know we had daylight savings this weekend? It feels like 3pm and it's not even noon!

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Stephen, I'm on it!

Anonymous said...

Enjoy your NaNo experience! Don't work too hard, make sure you get some sunlight too!

Robin said...

I'm glad you guys had a good time. I'm getting freaked about Nano, and afraid I won't have enough time. I'm doing an outline tomorrow. How's that for cutting it close? Yikes!

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Robin, I'm hoping to start my outline tomorrow too. :)

colbymarshall said...

One thing I learned from FauxNano: don't get in the hole. Make yourself crank that 1667 a day, because that's WAY easier than getting two days in the hole and having it cranked up. GOOD LUCK!!!

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Colby, I think I need to approach this like I did college. Someone gave me the advice to never fall behind and I didn't. Good tip. :)

Nadine said...

I love the writers toolbox! I hadn't seen that before - what a fun present!

Colby's video cracked me up!!

Jen said...

Wow, what a cool gift, Mel! I'm glad you had so much fun with your friend, too. :)

Good luck with NaNo! It's totally insane and totally fun. :)