That Writing Thing

I know I haven't talked about writing much here in the past week or so, and that's because I'm giving myself a little distance from my wip, After the Fall, until I finish a tutorial for Flash. I have two chapters left in that book, so I plan to start the second draft this weekend.

Ironic that it coincides with NaNo, no? A lot of my friends are doing NaNo this year and of course a teeny part of me wishes I were too. Just a teeny part though. Instead, I've decided to try to get through the second draft in one month. There are roughly 30 chapters so it should break down okay (aside from the fact that in addition to working by chapters, I also do several passes for particular problems) and I'd love to have a shiny new draft come December 1st.

Giving me a nice kick in the pants, as usual, Erica Orloff's blog post yesterday talked about perfecting your pitch and she critiqued our 45-word pitches in the comments. Even if you aren't at that point yet, it's helpful to see what works and what doesn't, and at 45 words each (or less), it's not too cumbersome.

After the Fall has three point-of-views, and I can't decide which I prefer:

When Greg Vandenberg kills a masked intruder who's attacking his daughter, the community calls him a hero. But the intruder is revealed as his best friend and neighbor and the two families find themselves on opposite sides of the tragedy, both struggling to understand what drove the man to attack.

*****

Becca Vandenberg wakes up to find a masked man trying to rape her, and is saved when her father kills the man. But the intruder is revealed as her neighbor and father of the boy no one knows she's dating, and she fears their secret may have driven the man to attack.

*****

When Carol Stevens hears that her husband had "an accident" at the neighbor's house, she assumes he died of natural causes. But he was killed while trying to rape their friend's daughter, and now she's the only one left to protect her children from a community hellbent on crucifying their father's memory.

What do you think?

NoNoNoNo

As my writing friends are aware, November is National Novel Writing Month, more commonly known as NaNoWriMo, or NaNo, and it's an annual challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. The biggest complaint I've heard (from publishing industry people) is that far too many of those writers then begin querying their novels on December 1st.

Those who know better (ahem *straightens lapels*) write another 20,000 words, minimum, then write several more drafts before declaring the novel complete. I participated for the first time last year and by November 30th I had 63,000 words. I didn't pick it back up until mid-summer, and I finished the first draft last month. Yes, I'm talking about After the Fall.

I've heard a lot of complaints about NaNo -- aside from the querying gripe -- and the most common is that "forcing yourself to write that many words daily" is just teaching bad habits. NaNo's manta is to let yourself write crap (or at least that's how I remember it) and these naysayers seem to think that no one is capable out a high daily output that's not crap.

Well I think that's crap.

Buzz on the street (ie the internet) is that professional writers, those who have a new book or two published every year, regularly write that much per day. 2000 words is roughly 6 pages, and if you're writing a 300-page book (*busts out calculator*) it would take 50 days to write 100,000 words. Now obviously most people won't keep up that pace, but even if you add a month or two extra, the quantity doesn't seem that far-fetched.

What I took away from NaNo is the knowledge that I can write 2000 words per day. Sure, I need to break my writing sessions into two or three sittings, and actually getting up from my desk is important, but I can do it.

That said, this year... I'm not doing it. I'm looking forward to the edits on "nanonovel08", as I lovingly called it while writing last November, and I'm not ready to start a new idea. To all of you who are -- GOOD LUCK!!

Another Pleasant Way to Waste Time

Amy posted a link for wordle.net, a site that created word clouds with any text you paste into the box. The size of the words vary based on their frequency within the text. Needless to say, I had fun with it.

Here's Chapter 8 from The Other Side:


And the conclusion:


I did discover a practical use - I pasted my synopsis and now I can see if the largest words reflect what I think are the most important things from the book. Now I'm no longer just procrastinating!


Because that was so much fun, I opened up my nano draft and tried that as well. Here's the opening chapter from Greg's perspective:


And a different chapter from Becca's point of view. She's a teenager so I think it reflects her fairly well (at least I hope so):




*****

My mom and sister arrive at 2pm today so I'm not sure how regular my posting will be next week. I'm hoping to write several posts and have them scheduled to post each morning, so if I don't reply to comments as often, I apologize.

A Little More on Writing

I kind of forgot to include the whole point of my post yesterday. If you recall, my goal for NaNo was 60,000 words, but I ended at just under 55K. Well, on Monday I finally reached my goal AND passed the 200-page mark. As of right now I'm at 62,500 at roughly 207 pages, but I have a lot of dialogue so I'm sure that's bumping up my page count.

I read through my beta's comments on The Other Side and there are some very good suggestions on how I can make things longer. She suggested expanding several scenes, adding a couple chapters, and getting more in-depth with a few other characters. My main concern there is I wrote it in 3rd person limited, meaning everything is told from the main character's perspective. It'll be a challenge for me to figure out how to tell more about them while staying inside Mateo's head. Regardless of the challenge, I'm excited to get back to work on it.

My next concern is whether I should set aside Nanonovel08 (lol, yes that's the title) or finish it and THEN work on TOS edits. I'm worried that if I stop writing the current wip now, I'll lose my flow and have a hard time getting back into it, but I really want to start querying by February and to do that I'll need to start the edits now. I know I could work on both at the same time, but then I'm concerned the voices will start to merge.

Any suggestions?

It's Finally December

November was a long month! I hit a snag last week with the migraine and didn't write for three days, so I didn't reach my goal of 60k words. I did write yesterday and my final total is 54,613. I really wanted to make it to 55k, but my brain stopped last night and there was nothing I could do to get more out of it. So there we go. I finished NaNo!

Right now I don't think I'll do it again. My main purpose was to figure out more about myself as a writer: how I work under pressure, how many words I can comfortably write in a day, and if a detailed outline helps me. I've discovered I do well under pressure (although I knew that), 2000 words a day is pretty easy for me if I know what I'm writing, which leads me to the outline. I know people are split on who uses them and who doesn't, and I think I'm an outliner. It doesn't need to be overly specific, but the guidance served indispensable.

I still have a lot more story to write. I'm on chapter 22 and my outline has 29 total. My chapters have been getting longer as I go - right now they're averaging 15-20 pages each, so that's potentially another 160 pages. I'm at 180 now, so that should be a good length book. I've discovered a lot of holes where I forgot to include things, and I think the whole thing will wrap up quicker than I intended. (In book time, not writing time.) I've been pretty detailed so far without many time jumps, so a final jump at the end might be jarring.

Anyway, this is probably boring since you don't know my specific story. Sorry. :)

Did everyone have a nice holiday weekend? Are you ready to dive back into things?

I Think This is What They Mean By "Feel the Burn"

As of 8am this morning, I'm 3287 words away from winning NaNo. *does a little dance* As most of you know, my goal is 60,000 words, so I'm actually 13,287 words away from winning. That works out to roughly 2000 per day for the rest of the month. That's been more or less what I've been doing, so it shouldn't be a problem. Except for one thing.

I am getting burned out.

I still like my story but I'm so sick of my story. I like my characters but I wish they would just get on with it. Yesterday I backtracked and wrote a chapter I'd accidentally skipped, so I feel like I'm moving backwards and my characters are regressing.

Regardless of my mixed feelings, I got up early this morning and wrote 600 words. I think this story will be longer than 60k, but I'd like to get as much done as I can by November 30th so I can tuck it away and work on the edits for The Other Side. I don't want to stop my current wip midway through, so the more I can get done now, the better.

On top of this, I've either been bitten by little bugs or I'm having an allergic reaction to something, because I am ITCHY! My left arm, my chest and my chin are driving me bonkers!

How's your writing coming along? Do you have any ailments you'd like to complain about?



ETA: I completely forgot to mention my lips have been swollen for a couple days and are also itchy. I'm trying to narrow down what foods I've eaten.

Halfway There

Today is November 15th, the middle of the month. By NaNo standards I should hit 25k today BUT, overachiever that I am, I hit 30k last night. Yay! I feel a little silly being excited when I have friends who are already finished, but this is a huge accomplishment for me.

This has also been a learning experience for me because it's the first story I've written that has interactions between parents and their children. Not being a parent myself, I can only hope that I'm expressing things in a truthful manner. I'm relying on how I've seen friends and family behave with their offspring, little things they say, small touches that show they love them. I don't spend much time around eight and ten-year olds, so pinpointing their mannerisms is also challenging, but I'm enjoying it.

I still need to pick a title. As of now I have ZERO ideas, but, honestly, I haven't really thought much about it. I'm sure it'll come to me, some turn of phrase that leaps off the page and screams,"This is it!"

I started reading Atonement by Ian McEwan and so far I'm loving it. I've been reading chapters during my writing breaks. I debated which to read because I didn't want my reading material to influence my writing, and this was definitely a good choice. McEwan's style is very different from my and has little danger of influencing me.

And that's about it. Have a great weekend!

Well That's a Relief

(This is post #333! As three is my lucky number, I expect big things.)

Last night I finished Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint, and while it wasn't the most fascinating writing book I've read, it had some valuable insights. Most importantly, to me, it confirmed that the structure I'm using for my current novel is valid.

I writing with multiple POV (point of view) - the father, the daughter, and the widow - plus I'm including occasional articles from the local paper to provide facts about the case. Well, Ms. Kress includes this very structure as one way to do multiple POV.

*wipes forehead* Phew!

A couple friends who are participating in NaNo have included excerpts from their current projects, and while I've been tempted to share, I haven't been able to figure out which passage is best. It probably would've been easier if I selected one scene each day, but now I have 88 pages to choose from.

Let's see... *peruses Word document*

Here's something I wrote yesterday. It's a little long, but I hope you enjoy it.

*****

Music drifted through a door on the opposite wall. The lonesome notes wrapped around Becca's heart and squeezed. She wished more than anything that she could be out there, sitting next to Justin. Soon the music faded and Reverend Kelly's voice filtered into the room. His words were hard to understand, so Becca let the cadence carry her.

Janet reached for Becca's hand and laced her fingers through hers.

They sat in silence until the music began again.

"We should go," Janet whispered.

They crept out the door and checked to make sure no one was watching. People were still seated in the chapel, their backs to them. Becca spotted Justin's dark head in the front row, and assumed the other dark heads were his uncle and grandfather. There were only about thirty people, much fewer than she assumed would be there, and the heaviness in her chest returned.

Janet tugged her arm. "Let's go, Becca."

They tip-toed down the stairs and hurried through the wind to the car. The weather had turned in the past couple days and fallen leaves swirled on the sidewalk. Janet turned up the heat and they waited for the air to warm them.

"We can go ahead to the cemetery. When the hearse arrives, we can get close enough to watch from the car." Janet peered at Becca. "Do you want to get some hot chocolate on the way?"

Becca nodded. She didn't really want anything sweet, but something to occupy her hands would be good. She knew her mom was just trying to keep her busy, to keep her mind off the funeral and everything that went with it, and she appreciated the effort. She was still a little surprised her mom agreed to take her in the first place. "Thanks, Mom."

"It's no problem. That coffee shop just before the bridge isn't too far out of the way."

"No, I mean for this." Becca waved her hands at the church. "For bringing me, for coming with me. I know it's not easy for you either."

Janet's eyes softened and her lips trembled. "No, it's not easy." She studied Becca for a moment, then wiped at her eyes and put the car in gear. "Let's get going before the service ends."

Neither spoke as Janet drove the short blocks to the coffee shop. She pulled into the parking lot and parked near the front door. "I'll just run inside. Is hot chocolate okay?"

Becca nodded.

Janet returned a few minutes later, a paper cup in each hand. She set them on the roof to open the door, then handed them to Becca. "They've already got the Christmas flavors in there. Can you believe it? It's not even Halloween."

Becca mumured a non-answer then sipped her drink. It burned her tongue, scorched its way down her throat. She set it in the cupholder between their seats and stared out the window.

Janet turned onto the road and headed back the way they came.

They drove through town in silence. Becca stared at the familiar sights as if seeing them for the first time. When they passed the church, people were walking out the front doors and heading towards their cars. Becca scanned the faces for Justin but didn't see him. An involuntary shudder passed through her. She hadn't left the house since the attack and suddenly the town she'd known since she was a kid looked darker, more menacing. The store where she used to buy candy, the park where all the neighbor kids would play, all of it was changed. The violence she thought would never touch her had forced it's way into her life and now nothing seemed the same.

The cemetery gates were open and Janet turned the car onto the single lane road. Gravel crunched beneath the tires.

Becca rolled her window down a crack and breathed in the smell of freshly cut grass. The cool air chilled her nose but she left the window open. Nearby, someone was burning leaves, and the sharp pungent smoke mingled with the bits of nature fighting for life in the grips of fall. Soon the frost would come and everything would turn brown, but for now the cemetary still resembled a summer park.

"That tent is probably where they'll bury him." Janet pointed at a blue tent stretched above the earth along the southermost boundary. "Let's wait on the other end until they arrive." The car rolled along the path through gleaming headstones with recent dates, then passed those that had long been forgotten, the names barely legible through weeds and decay. "They'll assume we're here visiting a relative."

Becca stared at the tent in the review mirror. So strange that in one short week – less than a week, really – Justin's dad was dead and would soon be buried. If she focused on it just being his dad, she could almost pretend she'd had nothing to do with his death.

Janet turned off the car. "Let me know if you get cold."

Becca felt numb, but she knew that wasn't what her mother meant. "Mmm-hmm." She took a sip of her hot chocolate and tried to concentrate on its warmth, its sweetness. Despite all that had happened, there were still little things that were good, small sparks of happiness that wouldn't let her sink lower than she already was.

*****

I's Tired

I knew going into this month that it would be a challenge to write 50,000 words. What I forgot is how mentally draining it is. I am wiped out.

I started working out more regularly at the beginning of the month because I figured my body would need the release. It's been going well, and I keep waiting for the burst of energy I normally get, but so far, nothing.

Yesterday I sat down and did more complete character sketches for my main people, including everything that will happen to them for the rest of the story. Then I typed them up and merged them into a more complete outline. The result: an outline that should help me breeze through the rest of the story.

*snicker*

Well maybe not breeze, but at least I shouldn't get hung up on plot points. I was hoping to hit 24K last night, but after three hours of outlining I didn't have much left in me. I still wrote the minimum (1700) and I'm 5500 words ahead of schedule.

How's it going for you? Anyone reading anything good right now?

Me As a Writer

I decided to do NaNo because, aside from wanting to write another novel and partake in the insanity, I wanted to learn a little more about myself as a writer. Until this month I haven't written with concrete deadlines, with someone to answer to if I don't meet my goals - at least not since college...

One of the things I told Ibis I hope to accomplish is see how much I can write in a given day, consistently. We've all had those times when the stars aligned and we knocked out an unbelievable word count, but could I do it every day? While writing The Other Side, a good day was 800 words. I occasionally broke 1000, but anything over 500 was acceptable. Now the minimum is 1667, but of course I can't settle for the minimum and have challenged myself to write 2000 per day. So far I've done pretty well and as of last night I was 5000 words ahead of schedule.

But can I keep it up? We're not quite to the halfway mark and since my goal is 60K, I'm one third of the way done. I think this story will actually be much longer, but for now I'll settle for the industry minimum.

Another thing I hoped to learn about myself is HOW I write best. Through trial and error over the past ten days, I've discovered I can write over 3000 words daily as long as I break up my writing sessions. I seem to be able to crank out 1000 words pretty easily, but then my attention wanes. The past few days, as soon as I catch myself drifting, I backup my work, step away from the computer and read a little. (Currently reading Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint by Nancy Kress - very good so far.) After a chapter or two, I go back to my wip and try for another 1000 words. These breaks are sometimes a little longer, but as long as I stay focused, it's been working.

In the past week I've also started doing a workout video that my friend brought last month, so that's been my second writing break. Nothing is better for me than to burn off steam and get my muscles energized. I can sit back down refreshed, as if I hadn't already written 2000 words earlier in the day.

So what I've learned is this: I can write much more than I thought, but I need to be realistic and do it in sessions. My outline has carried me through when I start to get stuck, so part of my writing time has been devoted to developing what comes next. Spending that extra half hour allows my creativity to flow unrestricted.

Ibis had Saturday off - his first day off in almost three weeks - so I didn't do any writing and we spent the afternoon at a small island near Ixtapa. That, too, helped rejuvenate my mind.

Thanks to everyone for your comments about your attachments to your characters. I'm thinking about making an iTunes soundtrack for my teenage lovebirds to keep me in the mood. ;)

Uggggggggghhhhhhh!

The internet died again yesterday. No warning, just like that. Last time this happened we wrote down the codes so we could fix it on our own, so I pulled out the TelMex folder and followed my instructions. Still nothing.

I called the company, who directed me to a different number, where an automated message said they were working on the problem. I called Ibis, who told me that the entire town was out. The entire town. Are we all hooked up to one line or something? I didn't realize an entire TOWN could lose their internet service.

Oh well, that started at noon yesterday. Ibis woke me up at 6am to tell me the internet was back - even though I was sleeping, I was really excited, trust me - and now here I am.

I'm sure you're all thinking, I hope you used the time to write, and yes dear readers, I did. I wrote my daily goal of 2000 words in those first couple hours without internet (WI), then after a movie break, wrote another 1300 words.

One thing I wanted to ask about - my story has three points of view: the father who protects his daughter, the daughter, and the wife of the attacker (aka the widow). The adult perspectives are pretty "normal" - I'm mostly dealing with grown up reactions to the events. But the teenager... she's really affected me. I've thrown a curveball and now she's dating the son of her attacker, but no one else knows it. So on top of her almost getting raped and her father killing the man, she's also dealing with strong feelings for her boyfriend.

When I say she's affecting me, I mean, I'm feeling that longing that only teenagers can feel. When you feel like the world is against you and you'll do anything to be with the person you love. I had to stop and watch a sappy movie guaranteed to make me cry (Romeo & Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio & Claire Danes - if you haven't seen it, make a point to). Even that didn't get it out of my system, but I did manage to move on to the next chapter.

Do your characters ever affect you that strongly? What do you do to keep going?

Wearing Your Inspiration on Your Wrist

Yesterday I was feeling a bit blah. I managed to write but it took awhile to get myself back into the groove. I kept thinking that I needed something more tangible to keep me going. Something physical that I could see and touch. The online world is wonderful but there's something to be said for life in the real world. That's where I'm writing and THAT'S where I need to be motivated.

Then inspiration struck.

A shirt I'd been wearing had those annoying loops in the armpits that clothing companies insist on stitching into women's clothes, and I finally cut them out. Five years after purchasing it. I thought the color was pretty and tossed the ribbons on my desk in case I thought of something to do with them.

Then I tried to write. I pecked out a few words here and there, then hopped onto the NaNo forums looking for inspiration. That's when I noticed my pretty ribbons were the same blue as the NaNo site. Interesting... I looped one around my wrist and decided to tie a knot (not very easy with one hand, let me tell you).

*drumroll*

Please allow me to introduce my latest creation, the NaNo bracelet:




Are you done laughing yet? No? I'll wait.

*taps fingers on desk*

Ok, stop it.

I didn't set out to make a bracelet for myself, but I've heard of people asking friends to wear a bracelet for a designated period of time as a reminder or whatever of an upcoming event (Jessica Alba gave her baby shower guests bracelets to wear until she gave birth), and thought, why not do that for myself? Wear the bracelet until I finish NaNo? If I get sick of looking at the thing, that's just more inspiration to hurry the heck up and get it done. Genius!

Survey says:




So what do you think?


*****

I updated my blog roll on the right. I deleted a couple that haven't updated in months so if you used to be there and no longer see yourself, let me know when you post again.

So Far, So Good

I recently commented that I believe good and bad things find a way to balance out. If a lot of good comes my way, I can't help but peer nervously around the corner to see what doom is lurking. On the flip side, when a whole lot of bad happens, I get through by convincing myself that if I can be patient a little longer, I'll be rewarded with the ultimate good (story of my life lately).

Saturday was the first day of NaNoWriMo and like a lot of competitors, I flew out of the gates. I didn't plan to start writing until after Ibis left for work, but when I opened the document so it would be ready, the words were there, ready to be written. An hour later I had already reached my daily goal of 1667 words.

Knowing it was only 9:30am on the first day, I dared myself to keep writing. I left the document open (I did backup every hour or so) and added bits throughout the afternoon. Then around four or five I sat down and knocked out another 1000 words. By the end of the day I'd written 3658 words.

All good.

Do you know where this is going? Here, I'll make a list.

Saturday evening:

- I almost hit a dog, then five second later (not exaggerating) three children under the age of five darted into traffic RIGHT in front of me. It was dark and there were no street lights and needless to say I puttered the rest of the way.

- Three minutes later the car stalled while I was on a hill and I started rolling backwards. And this was on a very narrow road filled with cars and people.


Sunday:

- Did a new workout video, then tried to shave my legs. Didn't go so well. (Trying to balance on one quivering leg with a razor in hand is not smart.)

- Then I gouged my ankle with the jagged edge of a pumice stone, causing much blood and anguish.

– After work we went downtown to the plaza to check out the Day of the Dead festivities, but there were no displays. They did have dancers and singers but we ended up waiting for an HOUR for a fried quesadilla so only got to hear it.


All minor things, but I'm forgetting a few. Basically, all my energy/coordination/whatever has been diverted to my brain and the rest of my body is paying for it. Sunday I wrote another 2500 words - still over my daily goal - and while I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep up this pace, I do promise to try.

One funny thing. I've realized that I often forget to describe people and setting. I can picture it perfectly in my head, but for some reason it doesn't occur to me that maybe my readers want to know that part of the story as well. I started concentrating a bit more on including that and something amusing occurred to me:

- I've been envisioning one of my characters (a detective) as Barack Obama.

Current word count: 6145.

NaNo and the Election

Day One! Woo-hoo! Have you started writing yet? Can I use these words towards my daily count?

[ETA: I posted this on Nov 1st but wrote the draft yesterday. I don't know how to make the date reflect that. Hmm.]

[EATA: Thanks Janna!]

I stumbled across Paperback Writer yesterday and want to share this post. It's called "Twenty Bits of Advice from a Pro for the New NaNo'er" and has a lot of good suggestions.

Next, I seem to be wasting all my valuable outlining time to find things on the intrawebs, because I've also found these:

Yes We Carve - Pumpkins go political. The majority are pro-Obama but there are a couple with both candidates, and there's nothing negative.

I love this video, If You Become VP. It's the best "response" video I've seen, set to a tune that I like. There is a bit of swearing so check for little ears or grown-up bosses.



And their follow-up:




Good luck to all the writers and be sure to vote on Tuesday!

Halloween is 'pooky

I'm feeling more scared than normal on this fine Halloween morning, but it's not because of what you think. Yes, there will be a few parties tonight that I still don't have a costume for, but that's not why I'm scared.

Last night I sent The Other Side to my two friends who promised to read and critique it over the next month or so. Aside from the first couple pages, no one has read any of it and I'm anxious to hear what they think. I like the story and I believe it has potential, but it's difficult to judge the quality of your own writing.

Meanwhile, NaNo begins in fourteen hours and I still need to work on my outline. I have about 500 words of notes, plus a paragraph summarizing each of the first five chapters, but I need a bit more substance if I plan to make it through this. One weird coincidence - last night I was reading the Self magazine my friend brought for me and there's a section where they give you tips to make small changes in your life in three, five, or ten minutes. The three-minute tip for November is:

Start Writing a Novel.

(Pardon the laughter. I thought writing a novel in a month was a feat, but three minutes? But I know what they mean.)

The article goes on to explain NaNoWriMo and gives three tips from published NaNo veterans:

• Find a Personal Storyline (write what you know)

• Turn Off That Critic in Your Head (allow yourself to write crap)

• Stay Motivated (write with friends!)


All good advice, and I'd like to pass that along to all my writing friends, whether you're doing NaNo or not.

Happy Halloween!

A Little Panicky

I preparation for NaNo, last night I went through the calendar on my computer and figured out where my word count needs to be each day. I set it up so that I can enter what the actual word count is, followed by a slash and the goal number. Right now they look like this: #/1667. That's day one.

I started freaking out at day seven: #/11,669.

Then day fourteen (halfway mark): #/23,338.

I knew day thirty is 50,000 - that's the whole point of the competition - but when I wrote it out like that, it suddenly struck me how much competitors are expected to write. To give a little perspective, my current wip is stuck at 45,000 words and I started that last MARCH. Granted I wasn't very focused and took week-long breaks several times, but holy cow.

I fixed the plot hole in my other wip yesterday so now I have a couple days to focus on my outline and character building. I'm wrapping up a freelance project this morning so hopefully I can split my time evenly between writing and web design.

If you're doing NaNo, do you already have an outline? Are you ready to go?

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.

A Happy Wednesday

Today is a big day!

First, my aunt Karen is being roasted over at Book Roast. If you've never heard of Book Roast, one week each month they "roast" five authors with new novels, asking silly questions about the book and the author is there to answer questions. I believe there are even prizes! I've already posted and one of the questions involves a haiku with several word prompts.

Second, Ibis has today off and he's promised to install our new toilet paper holder. This may seem like a minor thing but it's amazing how trained your brain becomes about where certain things are, and how long it can take to untrain them. I'd love to have it there before my friend arrives on Friday. :)

Third (and really most important because three is my lucky number), I finished my edits yesterday! I've been averaging about ten pages per day but forced myself to get through twenty-two. Several things tried to distract me, like a huge lightning storm (during which time I turned off the computer) and a huge fire on the hill across from our house (exciting!), but I did it. This leaves me time to do one final run-through before sending it off to my readers in time for NaNo.

Anything exciting happening today?

My Next Story

I finally have an idea for my NaNo novel, and I love it! I want to start now! I've been getting more and more frustrated with myself that I couldn't come up with a decent idea. I keep reading my writing friends' blogs and they talk about how the ideas just overflow, how they have notebooks full of ideas and they can't decide which to concentrate on. Me? I don't have that problem.

[eta: as soon as I posted this I read my cousin Jenna's blog and she talks about her many ideas. I'm so jealous!]

Since I started writing in the summer of '07 I've had a total of three ideas for books, two of which I wrote. The third is an idea based on what could have been my life if we never moved here, Ibis stayed illegal, and was one day deported, but I don't want to be that writer. The one who has one topic and keeps rehashing it over and over. What intrigued me about it was the idea of a family who on the surface appeared just like everyone else, but had a little secret. When that secret emerges, the community turns on them, and they are forced to not only deal with the trauma of the husband/father being deported but also being alienated from their friends. Everything about their lives has changed.

But I don't want to write that story.

Yesterday I forced myself to sit down with a book called Telling True Stories. It's a collaborative piece with 2-3 page articles advising writers how to do everything from interview subjects, to turning your notes into stories, to writing a narrative non-fiction book. The writers use a lot of specific examples so with each one, I wrote down a short paragraph of whatever popped into my head. Once I got my brain going, the ideas came a little faster. I had two pages of notes when I suddenly remembered a news piece I read a couple weeks ago. Here's an excerpt:

A man who woke to the screams of his daughter found a naked intruder in his home. He subdued the intruder after a prolonged struggle, while his wife called police. When the police arrived and the father released the invader, he was unresponsive.

The intruder, wearing only a mask and latex gloves, carried rope, a knife, condoms, and a gag into the house with him. When the mask was pulled off, both the father and the daughter recognized the man immediately.

The home is owned by the invader's uncle and he was an acquaintance of the family he victimized. The case will be sent to the county prosecutor's office but it is unlikely that charges will be filed.

That story stuck with me since I first read it, and I realized I could take it one step further - what if it wasn't just an acquaintance, but a close friend of the family and next door neighbor? Think of the ramifications of one man killing another in defense of his daughter, and how that affects both families. Also, this story has all the social alienation I was drawn to with my deportation story.

So, this is it. I'm very excited and can't wait to get started. I have under forty pages left to edit on my novel, then I can get working!

If This Keeps Up I'll Be Able to Wash My Hair

Thanks everyone for the well wishes yesterday. There were a couple hours of really heavy rain - I had towels draped on the windows and had to wring them out every ten minutes - but otherwise it was business as usual. The temperature dropped to the low 70s and I wore a long sleeve shirt for the third time since we've lived here. Better yet, we slept without a fan! What a nice change from the scorching heat.

Today the sun is back out and the clouds are fluffy white. I don't think this is the last of the hard rain, but for now I'm taking advantage of the nice weather. Since our washing machine is on the deck, it's a little challenging to do laundry during a storm, and I have to jump on it when the sun peeks out.

One other thing I plan to do today? Wash my hair. I think I've mentioned that we don't have hot water. Instead the water temperature is dependent on the amount of sun during the day. It's stored in large black containers on the roof called tanakas and when it's sunny we have hot water. On the flip side, when it's stormy and gloomy, we have freezing cold water. On days like yesterday I try to jump around before my shower so I work up a sweat, but it just wasn't happening. The water was so cold my breath caught as soon as I stepped in and I made the quick decision to skip washing my hair. I typically lather, rinse, repeat every other day but due to the storms I think today is Day #4 sans shampoo. Aren't you glad I'm thousands of miles away? ;)

I only edited three pages yesterday. It's hard to concentrate when you have to wring out towels and mop EVERY ten minutes. I'm hoping today will be a little more productive since my self-imposed deadline is in less than two weeks. Then my BFF will be here, and as soon as she leaves - NaNo!