Odds & Ends On A Wednesday

While trolling through blogland earlier this week I stumbled on an event hosted by ReadingAdventures and The Written Word called Blog Advent Tour 2008. These two bloggers are recruiting like-minded people to post about Christmas ~ your favorite memory, what the holiday means to you, a funny story ~ anything Christmas related. Posts start up on December 1 and because I absolutely adore the holiday season, I threw my name into the ring and will now be hosting a Christmas-themed post on December 14th. Do I have any earthly clue what I'll be writing about? Absolutely not. But that's OK, I haven't started shopping yet either so it's fun to pack all the holiday goodies into a few insane weeks.

If you are a blogger too and have interest, head on over to either ReadingAdventures or The Written Word to sign up. I believe they have every day filled (Dec 1 - Dec 24) but they are more than willing to take on several each day. Already I have found a goldmine of interesting blogs just by looking at the scheduled bloggers.

Speaking of the holidays ... 

It seems as though each year the consumer Christmas season starts earlier and earlier (at least most retailers have the sense to wait until after Halloween!). In years past I've resented this tradition greatly. I mean, you have to wait until after Thanksgiving. I am still looking forward to pilgrims and huge feasts, not fat men in red outfits and candy canes. Yet this year, I have found myself drawn into the spirit much sooner than anticipated and it's not bugging me that much. Sure, when I heard Jingle Bells while picking out frozen pizzas at the grocery store this weekend, it was a touch odd. And the Salvation Army bell ringers at the mall weirded me out a lot (plus, call me a Bah Humbug but by the time Dec 24th rolls around I am out of change and the bells start to sound really obnoxious). BUT I did pick up an adorable "marshmallow" snowman at a local crafts store. I had to pick him as my favorite of three. SIGH. I should go back and get the other two. He might get lonely without his buddies.

All right then. Just one more Holiday related odd or end (I should have named this post Christmas Odds and Ends but I couldn't bring myself to do it). An effort has been started by My Friend Amy to save the publishing industry from certain economic doom during the holiday season. Books for the Holidays encourages all book lovers to buy only books this holiday season for those special people on your gift list. I love the idea and hope it actually generates an upturn in book buying but I have to admit, I wouldn't ever buy a book for someone like my brother-in-law for Christmas. He just isn't a reader. Nor is The Husband (though we did read the last Harry Potter book together). Still, I can name at least 7 people on my ever growing list of present needers for whom I could buy books. So, anyway, spread the word and spread the love, buy more books!

Here's the mission statement on the blog:

Our goal is to promote buying books as gifts for the holidays. We hope to share information about different genres and the book publishing industry, as well as help each other find books for even the most reluctant readers!

NaNo Word Count: 7,475

A Bit of Inspiration

Wandering through blogland yesterday I stumbled across Word Nerd's prolific blog and had to stop to read. Boy am I glad I did! Not only is Bethany infinitely diverting, she also offers keen insight to the writing life. What caught my attention, though, was a picture she had posted of a blackboard in her living room (um, how cool is it that her apartment is part of an old school building?). On the board a written message offers inspiration whenever it's needed (passed on from mystery/thriller writer Marcus Sakey). I immediately emailed her and asked for permission to post the picture here. It's also now part of my "writing notebook", printed out and taped inside. And really, no more explanation is needed. 

Thank you, Bethany. 

NaNo ~ I had to stop today and do a little re-vamp on my outline. I don't count it as a day lost but days saved. I know the whole point of NaNo is to write without thinking but I don't work that way. If I don't think, I end up thinking too much and going back and unpicking pages upon pages of work. 

I also went through what I had already written to highlight just dialogue. I do this to make sure my characters are still speaking in the same voice they had from the beginning and to ensure they were progressing in their relationship, becoming more comfortable with each other. I think I'm on the right path. 

Happy Friday!

An Alternate Universe (or NaNo Day 5)

Ever have one of those days when nothing seems like it's normal? 

Like you are driving to work, minding your own business and suddenly you snap to attention to realize that the light you sit at for a good 3 minutes every day is actually green this time and you go right through? And then you get to work and pull into the parking lot next to a car you've never seen before. In fact, you've never seen any of the cars around you. The people walking in with you aren't the usual faces either. And the whole day goes from there. It's your life, it's what you do every day but each encounter seems a little ... off. 

That's been my day today. I don't think I should drive anywhere else. I'm liable to end up west of the Mississippi without any idea how I got there. 

Anyway. 

Today I wrote and worked on my writing playlist. I find that music gets me into the heads of my characters. Here is a small sampling of the songs I listen to while writing Enchanted Temptation. 

(I would provide links to these songs, or at least the artist website but I'm afraid I'll hurt myself or worse, my laptop which is my lifeline these days)

Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now - Joss Stone

Upbeat tempo about two people who find themselves in love but aren't quite sure how to proceed now. 

Temporary Angel - Pat Green

What do you do when you enter into a relationship you thought was a fling and suddenly you're in so deep, you know you won't ever leave? 

Bubbly - Colbie Calliet

This is a "every time" add for me. It's about the moment you realize exactly how the other person makes you feel. It's that perfect moment, before doubt creeps in. 

Songbird - Eva Cassidy

Slow, sultry, Eva. You should just listen to it. 

I realize that's only four songs but I have at least 35 on my list. These are the most prominent though, the ones that really describe Philippa and Finn for me. 

Do you have certain songs you listen to while you write?

 

NaNo Word Count: 4,316

I Am A NaNo Warrior (But Still A Cheater)

Today marks Day Three of National Novel Writing Month. Today does not mark the day that I actually met a daily goal. But I have excuses! Very good excuses. Like my weekend was extremely busy (new phones, new clothes, new puppies ... not mine, thank goodness but who can write when there are two new puppies to adore?). Still, the weekend is over and today is Monday and so I must face the fact that I have committed myself to NaNo. Today I wrote 2,488 words. The daily goal is 1,677. If you write 1,677 words for 30 days you'll reach 50,000. 

50,000. 

The number of words is staggering and yet it's only half of your average single title romance. And we aren't talking 50,000 good words here people. We're talking 50,000 first draft words which are vastly different from good words. At least in my case. Still, I feel relatively decent about them. And don't tell anyone, but I am cheating. I am adding to an existing manuscript. Don't yell at me. I already explained myself. And I stand by the cheating thing. Why? Because regardless of what rule I am breaking, I am writing and writing well. I am in my groove. I have found my manuscript voice and it feels wonderful. Today, for the first time, I realized who my characters really are and suddenly, there they are, alive on the page. In 2,488 measley words, I got there. I found what I was looking for and today, everything looks like smooth sailing. Which is ridiculous of course, but hey, I'm a ridiculous sort of girl. And you know what?

It feels good. 

It feels really, really good. 

It feels like I am a writing warrior. 

So as far as I am concerned, on Day Three of NaNo, I have already won. 

NaNo Word Count: 2,488

Am I A NaNo Cheater?

This year, after lots of serious thought and introspection (yeah, right), I decided to make a decent stab at NaNo. I’ve signed up in the past but always something has prevented me from finishing. Really important things like freaking out because Thanksgiving is at our house and I can’t remember how to cook a turkey (the easiest thing in the world) and so how can I POSSIBLY devote myself to writing 50,000 words in a month when I have to learn how to make a turkey? Or the fact that November is sweeps month on network TV and hello, who has time to write when the mysteries of Jim and Pam are about to be solved? (Which they weren’t, by the way … that was 2 years ago. I think). But this year I am totally seriously devoted. Seriously.

Except I have a problem.

I might have to “cheat” at it. See, the good people over at NaNo have a few rules. Really good, reasonable rules. But one of them is in direct conflict with what I need to accomplish. Here it is:

Do I have to start my novel from scratch on November 1? Can I use an outline?

Yes.

This sounds like a dumb, arbitrary rule, we know. But bringing a half-finished manuscript into NaNoWriMo all but guarantees a miserable month. You'll care about the characters and story too much to write with the gleeful, anything-goes approach that makes NaNoWriMo such a creative rush. Give yourself the gift of a clean slate, and you'll tap into realms of imagination and intuition that are out-of-reach when working on pre-existing manuscripts.

Outlines and plot notes are very much encouraged, and can be started months ahead of the actual novel-writing adventure. Previously written prose, though, is punishable by death.

Punishable by death! Yikes! I can understand their reasoning. When I am in the second draft of a novel, my writing really slows down because I get bogged down by details, have to go back and check voice/tone/humor, have to research all those facts I put notes by in the first draft, etc. But that’s the second draft. In the first, it’s really a free for all, write by the seat of my pants kind of experience. And that’s where I am now - on the rollercoaster. (I really wish it were like June or July or something so I could go to Six Flags and ride the rollercoasters. I know, I know, Fright Fest is going on but I don’t do cold. Ever.) I am experiencing the creative rush now in the first draft of Enchanted Temptation and I am scared to stop. If I stop, if I work on something else for the month of November, I am afraid I won’t be able to rediscover the flow of images, voices and ideas that come with writing the first draft of something in a crazy frenzy. I’ll forget. I’ll forget Philippa’s prickly humor and Finn’s unmasked honesty. I’ll lose all the loose plot threads twisting about in my brain. Right now I have them in my fist, held tight so they fit before they are sewn together. But if I stop, I’ll never remember how they all twisted together before and made sense. Do I have notes? Of course. A huge notebook devoted (I even have a Table of Contents … I’m strange, I know this, but it works for me) to the manuscript with everything I’ll ever need to know jotted down on some random page (hence the Table of Contents people). Unfortunately the notebook can never take the place of the vision in my head. I don’t want to lose my vision.

Do I have other manuscript ideas? Oh yes, hundreds. And I even have another notebook made up entirely of plot ideas. (I really should put them all into a Word Doc. Do you know how badly I would freak out if I lost that notebook?) I know, if I were absolutely FORCED to abandon Enchanted Temptation in the month of November which idea I would work on. But that’s the point. THERE ARE NO REFERRES! I could break all the rules and no one would ever know. Except me. And I hate keeping secrets. So I confess them all in a blog so it’s out there for everyone to see. I am starting to notice a slightly self-destructive pattern here. Hm … .

When I first began writing this post, I was torn. I don’t want to be a cheater but I also need to do what’s best for me. So in the writing of this post I have decided to break NaNo’s rule and become an official NaNo Cheater. At least I am upfront about it though. That has to count for something, right? I’ll enter my word count, and I’ll cheer everyone else on, but I’ll be cheating each and every day too. And I’m OK with that. Seriously.