Archive for the 'NaNo' Category
A Day Late and a Dollar Short
I realize I’m behind, but this week it seems to be the story of my life. I had actually planned to use yesterday as a sort of catch up day, but the kid was home with a stomach ache–of which I am still questioning the validity–and instead I’m even further behind.
My nice little NaNo cushion has been all used up, and I’m behind there too. Grrr. I’m going to see if I can catch up over the next day or so. Or maybe just return to my normal schedule and wrap up Blood and Bone. Hmm, tempting.
On the upside, my author copies of The Curse of Culcraig arrived on Friday. And they look amazing. I’m so pleased. I’d hoped to post a pic, but that may have to wait until later in the week.
Now, I’m off to see if I can get myself organized and caught up. Wish me luck.
Mood: Grumpy
Music: Welcome to the Black Parade, My Chemical Romance
Posted by Dawn Brown @
2:46 pm |
Blogging, Contests and WIPs…Oh MY
Last week I was reading a post at Fiction Groupie (which is fast becoming a favorite for me to read) about blogging, and I realized I’ve become rather lax about blogging regularly. Since the summer, I sort of fell off the whole posting every Monday, Wednesday and Friday wagon. So today, I’m getting back on.
In other news, the contest at my editor’s blog starts today. The prize is a Kindle preloaded with with some great books, including Living Lies by yours truly. To enter, all you have to do is answer the scavenger hunt question and email your answer. I’m scheduled for the 25th.
I ordered my author copies of The Curse of Culcraig last week. The book should be available for pre-order very soon. I will certainly keep you posted.
The NaNo WIP continues to move well. By Friday, I’d hit over 29K putting me well ahead of schedule. Last week, I even got some work done on Blood and Bone which was good. Three chapters and an epilogue left. I’ll be so glad when it’s done.
Off to work now. See you Wednesday. 
Mood: Good
Posted by Dawn Brown @
1:09 pm |
Things Are Coming Together
Lots of good things happening right now.
My editor at Samhain has announced a very cool contest with a great prize for later this month. Also, I’ll be putting together a few contests of my own for the launch of The Curse of Culgraig. So keep checking back to learn more. 
I just hit 19K and change on my NaNoWriMo story. Yay! The good thing about writing at a break neck speed, there’s no time for the self-doubt demon to pop up and tell me that my opening is dull or my characters are flat, or any of the other little nit-picks that would usually have me halting progress and going back to rework or scrapping it altogether. My daily work goal is 2K, double what I normally try to write in a day, and I’m thinking I may try to maintain it even after NaNo is over…but, we’ll see. Ask me again at the end of next week.
I’m neglecting Blood and Bone terribly, but I suspect I needed the break. I’m hoping I’ll be able to get a little more done this afternoon.
The counter and back splash has finally been installed in my kitchen. WooHoo!!! You remember my kitchen, don’t you? That renovation we started back in June, and we’re still working on. But the end is truly in sight. All that’s left is the baseboards and painting the kitchen chairs. And even without those things done my kitchen looks amazing. I promise I will post pics when it’s done.
Mood: Up
Posted by Dawn Brown @
1:51 pm |
Still Plugging Away
I had a bad week and a half there, but things are picking up again. I’ll be interested to see, when I go back and read the MS in its entirety, if the pace lags through these chapters. But I’ll worry about that when the time comes. Right now, I’m just focused on getting to the end. And it is in view. WooHoo! I even managed to hit my word count over the weekend despite the craziness. I’m looking forward to a quiet and productive week.
I’ve been making notes for my NaNo story which I’m really looking forward to. Really, I think I’m looking forward to working on anything that isn’t Blood and Bone.
I’m also battling a cold (’tis the season) but a steady flow of Advil Cold and Sinus and tea keeps me functioning.
Mood: Tired
Posted by Dawn Brown @
12:30 pm |
You Know It’s Not Going to be a Great Morning When…
…the sun isn’t even up and I’m shovelling up garbage off the back deck. The raccoons managed to get into the raccoon-proof green bin (is anything really raccoon proof?) last night, and dragged the contents across the deck. I realized something was up this morning when HellHound wouldn’t come back in after I let him out for a pee. He was too bus enjoying his garbage buffet. Blech!
Writing went well for most of last week, but I was away on the weekend so I’m trying to gain my rhythm again. If I manage to finally finish Blood & Bone before the end of the month, I’m thinking about giving NaNo another try next month.
Edited: I would like to add that my day has improved considerably. As I was about to take DS to school, there was a package in my door. A belated birthday gift. Inside, the entire set of Charlaine Harris’s True Blood novels–I’m so the last person to jump on this novel/show bandwagon. Also, a copy of Romance Sells with my ad for Living Lies in it arrived. The ad looks awesome. Maybe, it’s going to be a better day than I thought.
Posted by Dawn Brown @
12:09 pm |
December is Here
Only twenty-four days until Christmas.
We put the tree up this weekend and watched Christmas Vacation for the first of what will inevitably be many, many times. I even did a little Christmas baking on Sunday. I must admit, Christmas is my favorite holiday. For someone who is not terribly sentimental, this love of all things Christmas is an odd contradiction to the rest of my personality. (Or perhaps I’m more sentimental than I realize.)
So I wound up 8k away from my 50k Nano word goal. I know I said I was giving up, but I was still kind of hoping. Oh well, I did better than I thought was going at the beginning of last week. As to the quality of the writing… Like any first draft there are some good parts and some, well, rough parts. Sigh. That’s what rewrites are for. Today, I really noticed the characters are not well fleshed out. So I’m debating whether I’ll go back to earlier chapters and dig a little deeper, or just keep going forward and fix it on the rewrite. Hmm. Decisions, decisions.
I should finish up with Living Lies this week (hopefully, tomorrow) and I’m moving through edits for Curse fairly quickly.
And since I’m in such a Christmasy mood and Living Lies takes place at Christmas time, I’m thinking about putting together a contest. I’ll announce it next Monday so check back.
Mood: Happy.
Music: Winter Wonderland - Annie Lennox
Posted by Dawn Brown @
6:43 pm |
A Writing Writer is a Happy Writer
And that’s certainly true of me right now. After having to back burner all things writing related while DS was sick, I feel that I’ve really gotten back into the swing of things. Maybe I needed the break.
The WIP is moving a long nicely, leaving me ahead of the game for NaNo. Granted, only by a couple of hundred words, but I’ll take it. Last year by this time, I was already behind on my word count. Now, I am going away with some friends this weekend and that could put me behind, but (touch wood) I’m fairly confident I can catch up next week. I hope.
I’ve started shopping Witch around again. I’ll keep you posted. Blood and Bone is creeping along. Between catching up after the past couple of weeks and NaNo, progress has slowed, but not stilled. So over all, it’s been a pretty good week.
That said, this morning there was no cream for coffee, so I decided to walk Tim’s and buy one (a coffee, that is). But now it’s done and I’m wishing I had bought a second. Oh well, nothing’s perfect I suppose.
Mood: Good
Music: Back to Black - Amy Winehouse
Posted by Dawn Brown @
4:33 pm |
It’s Been A While
Hey all, sorry to have been so scarce lately. The last week and a half has been crazy.
DS came down with a throat infection and just as he was getting over that, he had a reaction to the antibiotic he was taking. He wound up with a rash like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The poor little guy was half out of his mind with the itching. Still, we’re lucky the rash was the only reaction he had.
The rash is fading now, and while he’s still a little itchy, he’s definitely getting better. As for me, between fevers and administering Benadryl, I’m on a four hour a night sleep schedule. I’m zonked.
I have managed to squeeze in a little writing time here and there, but much. So with that in mind, I signed up for NaNo this year. Yikes!! I know, I’m a glutton for punishment. On the upside, 50k will be a great kick in the pants for the WIP. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
Music: One Thing – Finger Eleven
Mood: Good. Tired, but good.
Posted by Dawn Brown @
4:11 pm |
Good Bye NaNo
So today I decided to give up on NaNo. This goes against the grain for me as I typically don’t like to give things up once I’ve dug my teeth in, but I need to face a few facts. Having written a little over 20K, I doubt very much I’ll be able to reach 50K by the end of the month. And I just have too much happening right now to dig in and get it done.
Sigh.
On the upside, I’ve written about twenty pages more than I normally would have in a month. I will of coarse continue to write said story, but back to my thousand words per day. This will give me time to continue rewriting Blood and Bone, catching up on crits that I owe, (thank you crit partners for being so patient.) fixing the last few chapters of Witch and, blech, bookkeeping. (I may need to face a few facts about that last one, but I’ll wait until the new year.)
On the Living Lies front, I’m just finishing up my book blurb. Writing this has proven not all that dissimilar to writing a query or synopsis–except maybe worse. It’s one thing trying to get your work in front of an editor or agent, but quite another trying to convince a potential buyer to shell out X amount to read your book. Oh, the pressure.
I also received my signed copy of the contract yesterday. I put in my filing cabinet with the printed version of the MS, the CD and all my notes from when I was writing it. Then I stared at it while thinking about writing the first draft nearly seven years ago. It was a real full circle moment.
Mood: Content
Posted by Dawn Brown @
1:32 pm |
Out of Practise
Okay, I’m sucking at NaNo.
I have to admit I’m a little surprised by this turn of events. Usually, I write 1,000 words a day on WIP and get it done in about two hours. I’m a pantser and do all my editing after the first draft is complete so I thought NaNo would be right up my alley.
Huh!
If I’d been writing 1,700 words a day (to get 50k I think you only need 1,667 per day, but I was planning on padding a little in case I fell behind. So much for that.) I should be hitting 10,200 words today. I’m at 6,900. That’s more than a little behind.
I of course have a theory. (Don’t I always? or a plan, or a list…)
I think I’m out of practise. After putting the WIP aside over the summer to clean up after my computer crisis, then waiting for NaNo to start, I think I’ve lost my writing stride. Sure, I’ve been rewriting, but that’s not the same as a first draft, as grabbing hold of all those random ideas and putting them down on paper in some semblance of order now is it?
So today, I locked myself in the attic. (that’s where my office is, not as some kind of self-punishment) Just me, laptop and coffee.–ah, sweet nectar of the Gods. No email, no blogs, no Facebook. And a mere three and a half hours later, I had met my 1,875 word goal for the day.
Yes, 1,875 words is what I have to do everyday now to reach 50K by the end of the month. No padding this time around. Everyday until the 30th.
Mood: To be determined
Music: None-My CD player broke.
Posted by Dawn Brown @
8:04 pm |
