52,989 words = a Winner!

National Novel Writers Month, 2010, what an interesting experience. I improved my typing (but not my spelling). Ignored my inner critic, perhaps the hardest thing to do and managed to write 50,000 words + on my middle grade novel, “The Emerald Boots”. It is still very much a work in progress. It still needs some severe editing and elbow grease polishing but the whole story is there.

Much of the novel wrote itself, which was a big surprise. I’ve always heard of the phenomenon where the characters write themselves and emerge with traits you didn’t expect. The plot changes and the challenges I had planned on were far more boring than the ones that evolved as characters and problems converged at the 'The Greater Midwest Traveling Medicine Show'.

I abandoned my characters often: I left Jade and Mr. Diggs swinging from a hot balloon caught in a thunderstorm over Kansas to do the dishes. I turned a lost little girl into the ‘The Girl from the Moon’ on my birthday. I left Jade stuffed into an old tiger’s cage while I fixed Thanksgiving dinner. I found that cats have a wonderful philosophy on life in bed at 3 am during a wind storm. I discovered that the Bernice the Bearded Lady and Ralph the Strongest Man on Earth actually had a thing for each other after my guests went to bed…who knew? And I finished the rough plot and notes and dialog last night during a football game. I don’t know who won; I actually don’t even know who was playing.

But I know that I won as I logged 52,989 words to cross the finish line for NaNoWriMo 2010 (a self-imposed, joint marathon for writers). It’s a good feeling. I don’t think my family thought I could or would do it. I don’t think I thought I could either, but I did!

Now I need to polish, edit, revise, rewrite, sleep, polish, revise and edit some more, then find an agent...piece of cake.

Three more days...

Three more days and 8,075 words to go. I can't believe I'm doing this. I can't wait to revise it into something smooth. I can't wait for life to get back to normal!

Somehow I've managed to keep up with word count with sporadic typing marathons. Somehow I prepared the house for weather blast from the Arctic that hit the Seattle area two days before Thanksgiving and kept us prisoner with sub-freezing temperatures and drifting snow. Seattle doesn’t get snow like this in November. It’s the first time I was hoping for the rain.

The memories of barbequing the turkey three years ago during a power failure and the flavor of charcoal fire-starter flavored turkey haunting my every step as I baked pies and got the house ready for guests, hoping that the driveway would melt before they arrived. Our drive way is 150 feet, a lot to shovel. We did not lose our power however 50,000 of my neighbors did . . . including the grocery stores and gas stations.

Everything worked out fine in the end, although I didn’t write for 3 days. Three more days and 8,075 words to go. I can't believe I'm doing this.

21,477 words on the wall...

21,477 words on the wall,
take them all and
pass them around,
21,477 words on the wall.

It's easy to get lost in a place without time. The last time I looked at the clock...let's see...hummm.....it seems like ten, maybe twelve minutes ago....it was 7:48pm. It is now 9:23pm (Pacific time). When the mind is in the right hemisphere it is not aware of time. The right hemisphere is where creativity lives so I must have had the right address for the last couple of hours.
My, how time flies!

Kate's NaNo Update...

Well, I'm almost to 10,000 (8,773 to be exact) words. It's amazing how these characters invent themselves as I go along. I'm already wondering what will happen next. Do characters in your stories tend to write themselves? Even though I did a personality sketch of each character, I am still discovering their quirks and flaws.

So far this has not been a chore, it's been fun. Only 41,227 words to go. Since this is a Middle Grade novel I probably won't have to go beyond 30,000 words. If I do finish at that count, I guess I'll just start the sequel!

My NaNoWriMo Mascot - NaNo Rhino

Whew, I'm up to 3,562 words for NaNoWriMo this year but a girl can't write all day so I created my own tiny (nano) writing buddy. Meet NaNo Rhino!