Category: NaNo

In Brief

So, I finished my first edits for the 2YN story (still looking for a title…). I also finished this slash-and-burn edit of Witches. I cut right at 50k words, so I still have a lot to go. I’m also doing a rough outline of the sequel to Witches. And I’m a third of the way through my phase outline for the NaNo 2008 story, which is now tentatively titled A Tempest of Angels.

Started the new day job this week, too. The new place is so much more laid-back than the old one, it’s hard to believe it’s even the same field. It’s much the same, of course (in what we do), but very different as well. There’s been a lot of reading this week (Sadly, not the pleasurable kind.). I even have a test tomorrow. Bet you didn’t know vampires had tests, did you?

Searching for Titles

Good news: I finished the edits on the 2YN story today. Yay! It’s coming in at about 73k right now. I just have to revamp the last two chapters, and I’ll be finished with this draft. That should push it up to around 75k, hopefully. Now I just have to come up with a title. Something about dragons, maybe. I hate trying to come up with titles.

In Witches, I only have 20 chapters left to edit, so I’ll be through on Monday. That’s really cause for celebration. I have to say, though, this isn’t an in-depth, fix-every-little-thing-edit. No. The main purpose of this pass is to shore up some weak areas, and to ruthlessly cut as many words as possible from this 300k behemoth. So far, I’ve cut 42k words. I expect to cut another 15k or so before I’m through with this round, putting me around 57k cut. Which means I cut around 19% of the MS. Not bad. But…I need to cut around 50%, and that leaves me a LONG ways to go. Sigh. I know I’m going to have to cut two chapters that I dearly love in the next round of edits. I just know it. I love both of them, but they’re not really necessary to the story. Sniff. I’ll mourn them when the time comes, then I’ll get over it.

I’ve been brainstorming the new NaNo story. I’m still really excited about it. I know what the first two chapters are about. Sort of. I did have what I think is a really great idea on the name of the used bookstore my female MC owns: Secondhand Lines. What do you think? I’m still struggling to title this story as well (okay, and pretty much all my stories except Through Shadowed Stone). There’s been some great ideas on the NaNo boards, but none that have spoken to me yet. I’m thinking about looking up some Bible verses having to do with angels and seeing if I can twist one of them a bit to come up with something suitable.

The End of NaNo

NaNo word count: 57,117

Word count for the year: 181,284

So, NaNo is over again. Now, I might have mentioned that my personal goal for NaNo was 100k. Needless to say, I missed that mark by quite a long shot. At first, I beat myself up pretty good about it. I mainly did my writing on weekends, instead of my goal of writing at least a little bit every day. It should have been so much easier this year, with a set schedule and set hours, and not having to get up at the crack of dawn. But it certainly didn’t work that way for me. Granted, I have a lot going on in real life right now that is pretty stressful, what with trying to get everything ready to move out-of-state in January (hopefully). But I was still down about falling so far short of my personal goal. Then I actually looked at the numbers and broke them down.

I wrote 51,117 words and only wrote 12 days out of the month. That averages out to 4,700 words a day. But….on seven of those days, I wrote less than 1200 words (and one day only 105), which isn’t much at all for me. So, my average word count on the five days I really put effort into it was 7,600, which cheered me up immensely. Now I feel much better about my efforts, even if I haven’t written anything for almost two weeks now, and I need to get a grip on my story and push on.

I’m determined to hit my yearly word count goal, which is 200k, and that’s only about 19k to go, which should be a snap, considering my weekly goal for the 2YN story is 5k. And I’m still planning on working on the zombie story, and my NaNo story this month. And…that’s pretty much all that’s been going on with me. I did go out of town last week to New Orleans, which is wonderful but sad, and I’ll be writing more about that hopefully later today.

NaNo Day 18

Word count goal for the day: 10,000

Actual word count: 6,017

Total NaNo word count: 56,097

Word count for the year: 181,284

So, I fell a little short today. I’m a little disappointed, but I do realize I’ve had a good word count for the weekend. I’m afraid to force myself to write more, since I don’t want to lose whatever tenuous grip I still have on the story and have it spin out of control. I’m just trying not to stress about the writing. I’m already aware this will need extensive editing, and I have a feeling that Samantha’s voice is creeping into the story, and that’s not quite who Nerina is, so I’ll have to work on that. But otherwise, I’m pleased. I’m currently writing about the Underworld!

I did get a bit of reading done this week. I read Rhett Butler’s People, by Donald McCaig. Now, I was really excited about this book. Gone with the Wind is my favorite book ever. Period. I’ve read it probably 25 times. I’ve read Scarlett several times as well. I don’t like it as well as GWTW, but it’s still not a horrible book, and I thought the characters stayed true. Rhett Butler’s People? Not so much. Frankly, my dear, when I finished it, I wanted to throw it across the room. Aside from a few things I found different from GWTW, there were some other problems as well for me. From the flap copy, I expected it to be told, hmm, from Rhett’s point of view? Well, part of it was. And a big chunk of it was from his sister Rosemary’s POV. Then there were some scenes from Scarlett’s POV. Did I mention a couple of scenes thrown in that, if they actually happened, should have been in GWTW? I didn’t have any problems with the writing itself. No issues there. Just story issues. Did I mention that I didn’t like what the author did with Melly? No? Consider it mentioned. The absolute worse thing, though, was…(spoiler alert)…THEY BURNED TARA! Yes. Can you believe it? I couldn’t. I mean, this is Tara we’re talking about here. If it hadn’t happened right at the end of the book, I would have tossed it. Sigh. But apart from that…Seriously, though, the author is much braver than I would ever be. Can you imagine what kind of nerve it would take to write a sequel to such a classic book as Gone with the Wind? He deserves respect for that, if nothing else.

I also read A Lick of Frost by Laurell K. Hamilton. I’ve been looking forward to this since I heard her read the first chapter at Conestoga back in July. I was a little disappointed it was so short, but I enjoyed it. It resolved some things, and finally answered the question of how she was going to pick just one of Merry’s men to be king.

NaNo Day 17

Word count goal for today: 10,000

Actual word count: 10,236

NaNo word count: 50,080

Word count for the year: 175,267

Woot! I managed to pull another 10k and I hit 50k today! Yay! That’s almost a week later than I wanted to hit it, but still way better than nothing. Now if I can just pull another 10k out of my, ah, hat tomorrow, I’ll be all caught up and back on track to reach my personal goal of 100k.

Brief Update

In short, this week has been another crappy writing week. Some days, it seems like I’ve lost my will to write. I think stress is the culprit, but I’m trying not to let it get me completely down. I started getting up a little bit earlier, so I can get some sort of writing done before I leave for work. That has helped me pick up the odd hundred words or so. Basically, I’ve gotten less than 2k written total all week. But…I intend to get 10k today, which will put me at 50k. And I intend to get another 10k tomorrow, which will put me right back on track to make my personal goal of 100k. I know I won’t be able to hit the requisite 3,333 words a day, but I’m hoping to make those words up on other days, despite the fact that I’ll be going out of town for 5 days next week. I’m determined, though. So, here are my current stats (Not including the 2k I’ve already written today).

NaNo word count: 39,844

Word count for year: 165,031

I’ll be updating this later tonight with today’s progress. How is everyone else doing?

NaNo Day 11

Eh. Not a very good (writing) day today. My family decided to take a last-minute trip to visit my grandmother, and I went with them. By last-minute, I mean that I sat down at the computer, opened Word, and then the phone rang (My mom, calling to ask me if I wanted to go.). I tried to type in the car, and did a little bit (In fact, the only words I wrote were in the car.), but I’m easily distracted and my laptop was not fully charged, so it died in half an hour. Oh well. I did get some writing done. Then, when we got home, we went to a service re-ordaining my dad before he takes his new job. That ceremony was a blessing to attend, and I’m very glad I did. So, I might not have gotten anywhere near as many words as I wanted, but it was still a great day.

Word count goal: 6,000

Actual word count: 874

NaNo total: 38,084

Word count for the year: 163,271

NaNo Day 10, Or, Getting Back on the Wagon

Okay, I must confess. I have not written anything since last Sunday (unless you count the pathetic 105 words I got on Wednesday. Which I don’t. Horrible.). I know, I know. I’m a terrible NaNoer. I skipped five days. FIVE whole days! Arggghhh! It was terrible. The guilt. The shame. The embarrassment. But I have a really good excuse, okay? (Alright, maybe not a really good one, but an excuse, nevertheless.) I was exhausted. The time change always kicks my butt, and I always forget that, so I’m sitting around wondering why I’m about to pass out at seven o’clock. Also, work was horrible this week. (Seriously. Why people feel they have to act like complete morons at work is beyond me. And then they get angry when the have to face the consequences.)

But…I went out on a limb and decided that this weekend, I was going to try to make up the word count I skipped during the week as well as the word count I had planned for the weekend anyway. So, make up 13k, and also write the 12k already planned. (Ambitious, me?) How did I do? Well….excellent today! I’m really proud of my word count, and if I can just do the same again tomorrow (which will be a true miracle), not only will I be caught up, but I will also break 50k. So wish me luck!

Today’s word count goal: 6,000

Actual word count: 12, 507

Total NaNo word count: 37,210

Total word count for the year: 162,397

NaNo Day 4

Goal for today: 6,000

Actual word count: 6,019

Total NaNo word count: 24,598

Total word count for the year: 149,785

It went pretty well today. My characters did a few unexpected things, and I always enjoy that. I thought Nerina was going to be a stowaway, but apparently not. And she’s a bit nosy, too, which I hadn’t realized.

Let’s see, what else have I accomplished in the last week? I made an editing plan for Witches. Unfortunately, that will almost for sure be trashed, since there is the very distinct possibility I will be moving out of state in the next few months. So, that will set me back a bit. Oh well. I think the move is a great opportunity, it just means packing up everything, selling my house, actually moving, then finding a new job, etc. Wonderful. I hate to move.

Did a bit of reading. Patricia Cornwell’s Book of the Dead. I’m a big fan of her Scarpetta series (and only her Scarpetta series), but I’ve been a little disappointed in the last couple of books. This one…was better, but some of the plot developments upset me. I always enjoy trying to figure out who the murderer is, but there wasn’t as much of the mystery stuff in this one. And one of my favorite characters was acting really weird! (Marino, by the way.). On the up side, at least she can’t end the series there. She has to let us know what happens next!

I also finished Touched by Shadows, by Karen Chance. Liked it a lot, even more than the first book in the series. Also Beneath the Skin, by Savanah Russe. That one wasn’t bad. I’ve read the other books in the series, and I like them. I like the whole bat thing that the vampires turn into, and the spying aspect. That’s a nice idea.

I read the first chapter of Smoke and Ashes by Tanya Huff. I put it down after the first chapter. Two problems I had with it: One, it’s not the first book in the series, but normally the author includes a bit of backstory to let the reader know what’s going on, some worldbuilding explanation. Not so much in this one. I never did figure out what the deal was. Two, the scene transitions were a little jarring for me. Actually, there weren’t really any transitions to speak of. Suddenly, it was just a different scene, and I had to keep going back to figure out what was going on (not that I ever really did). So, I had to put that one down. And I was looking forward to reading about the self-taught wizard, too!

NaNo Day 3

I had a good, productive day. I hit my word count goal again. Yay! If nothing else, this teaches me how hard it is to write consistently every day. Sometimes today, the words flowed. And sometimes I had to bang my head on my desk to jar then loose and get them to come out of hiding. But, whether hard-earned or not, they count, and I’m proud of what I did.

Today’s word count goal: 6,000

Actual NaNo word count today: 6,042

Words on zombie story: 940

Total word count for today: 6,982

Total NaNo word count: 18,579

Word count for the year: 143,766