Week number....?

Number 3? It's the 18th so I'm suppose to be at 30k so I'm going to say yes. This is disorienting. I hope you'll forgive me for messing up my regular posting schedule. It's been pretty hectic around here. Everything will be normal when December comes around.

Any who... 30k. That's where I'm suppose to be. Where am I actually at? Just broke 15k an hour ago. This is going to be a long month. Actually, it won't be and that's the problem. It will only make me insane... Even more so than usual.

But it's OK because I think I've figured things out. Today is another of my personal NANO MARATHON DAYS! Last time I tried that I did a ten minute sprint (seeing how many words I can write in that time limit) ever 30 mins. It got me the daily word requirement which is good but I needed more if I'm going to catch up. So I was reminded by someone on the forums about something that Mr. Chris Baty himself said in his book No Plot? No Problem!

He suggested that you take a day where you have time 2 hours of spare time at least three times during the day. Get up early, eat, then write three times in 30 minutes blocks separated by 10 minute breaks. (So 30 mins writing/10 mins break /30 mins/10 mins/30 mins)

After that you can go do whatever you want. Then come back after lunch and do it again and the same after dinner. If it goes well you should get about 6k that day. Awesome, right? I write by hand so I think I'll be doing good to get 4k.

I figure it like this.* At the end of my first round I got 1087 words. If I get that the next two times I'll have 3261. If I get that for the 7 days of my Thanksgiving Break I'll only have 3000 a day to still be able to win.
*This should not be confused with me liking math.

Ugh... This is starting to look improbable. Not impossible, just improbable. But I'm not giving up! And neither should you. Let's keep going! I better get back to work.

Behind after week one.

And so begins week two of NaNoWriMo. Just a really quick update from where I am. You may notice that the title doesn't seem as excited as Day 1 did. That's because it's been a very tiring weekend for NaNo.

I started off fine. I was on track every day and I thought I was doing pretty good, but Friday night I didn't reach my goal before midnight. You see, me and my sister have this bet going on that I will owe her a dollar for every day that I'm behind on my word count. (And just a side note in case she reads this, from where I'm at now that bet seems highly unfair. We will have to rewrite the rules of this thing.) That was when the motivation stopped driving me from that end. I had stacked up all these days that I was doing good and then it stopped. Don't get me wrong, 50000 words is still my main motivation and goal. I'm going to carry on but maybe not so hardcore.

It was a bitter sweet moment losing that four day streak of awesomeness. The next day my allergies caught up to me and I didn't feel like writing a thing. So you know what? I didn't. And it's OK. I told myself that I had 5 hardcore days of awesome so I deserve a day of rest. Sunday was a write-in so I went and wrote 2000 words that day taking me over 10,000 and only a day behind!

Where am I at now? Let's not talk of such things... OK, so I'm at 10,255. Not bad and not great if you like to be on schedule. But who needs a schedule anyways.

Hope you all are doing well on yours. Onward toward 50k! After a piece of 10k celebration pumpkin pie. :)

Day 1!

Whew! I'm wore out.

Surprised to see me? It's Monday you say? Well, I neglected to mention that I will be trying to post here every so often during November to let you know how I'm doing and to see how you're doing! Surprise! And now I'm about to pass out.

Yesterday was Halloween of course so I went trick or treating with some relatives and some little ones. I got home at a pretty good time actually. I had enough time to get comfy with my notebook and a little coffee as I waited for the minutes to pass to midnight with a pencil in my hand. As soon as it hit I started writing. I think I got a few hundred as a head start but now I'm proud to say that I'm ahead! 1774 words on day one. Complete awesomeness for me anyway. I'd say I'm off to a good start.

Anyways, how are you doing?! My NaNo friends, are you on schedule, ahead, behind? How'd you spend your last free day? Non-NaNo friends, how is what you're working on?

Off to sleep while I can now. Keep those words coming!

NANOWRIMO!!

That’s right, it’s that time again. November 1st is coming. For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about let me introduce you to National Novel Writing Month. (www.nanonwrimo.org)

About twelve years ago Chris Baty and a few friends thought it would be fun to see if they could write a novel in a month. That is the day NaNoWriMo was born. National Novel Writing Month is a challenge where you try to write 50,000 words in the month of November. It is NOT a competition. You’re not going against anyone and no one’s going to judge your writing when you’re done. It’s just you and that empty page… or Word document... or typewriter paper.

50,000 words in 30 days. That’s 1667 words a day. That may sound like a lot but let me tell you that it’s not impossible. Last year was my first time participating and I never wrote anything that long. I never thought I could. But I won. It was down to the last hours but I did it. I edited and printed that book out later and I have never been happier to be holding that much paper in my life. I had so much fun doing this.

My friends thought I was crazy, family was cheering me on, and everyone on facebook was confused by all the numbers when I would post my word count. I also discovered an entire group on the site from my city that gets together regularly throughout the month to write. I never knew many people that wrote, people who I could talk to and they know exactly what’s going on because they’re going through it too. I was so happy to find a group of like minded people. I just went to a Kick Off information meeting today and it was great seeing old friends and new faces.

I got so much from doing this last year! Inspiration, motivation, and a manuscript that I never thought I’d have. This month I’ll be all about quantity and not quality. Worrying about making a perfect first draft is what stops people from writing sometimes and NaNoWriMo takes that worry away. If you have ever thought about writing a book, check out their website, sign up for NaNoWriMo and give it a try.

Any NaNoers here already? Are you ready? Are you excited?! I know I am. Well, I’m excited anyways. :)

Come on down! You’re our next contestant on the Price is Write!

(Before I start, I want to say that I’m so sorry for being late on posting this! I went out of town and had the best weekend taking pictures of and with a couple awesome bands that I totally ran out of time.)

I became a fan of reality shows recently. There’s a few of them that I try to remember to watch online when they post them (because my dad doesn’t really like them so I can’t watch them on tv). What I noticed during my video surfing is that there is a game show for everyone. Almost. I’ve seen shows for artists, gamers, chefs, designers, and singers, but where is the one for authors?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think there is one. So that got me thinking, ‘Hey! What’s up with that?!’ Then I thought about it some more and realized that, as insulting as it might sound, writing isn’t that fun to watch. Seriously, I’ve written in public and no one stopped to look at me. I’ve written with at least ten other people around me doing the same and still no one stayed to take pictures. Well, there was one person with a typewriter that I found really cool but that’s beside the point. So I picked my brain a little more and thought about what could make writing interesting to watch and here are some challenges I came up with so far.

Poetry Jam – Contestants must write a poem and perform it in an ‘open mic night’ type of setting.

Children’s Book – Contestants will write a kid’s book and work with an artist to do the illustrations. Kids from different schools will vote on what book they like best and would like to keep in their classroom.

Internet presence – Build the biggest fan base that you can on facebook, twitter, or whatever.

Book trailer – Create a super exciting trailer for any previous or future project.

Book release party – I think this would be the official end of the show event where the winner is named every season. I don’t know about everyone else, but one of the things I think of when I’m daydreaming about the day that my first novel has a date to come to stores is the big ole party I’ll have just before midnight.

These are just a few ideas. Of course we’ll have to switch it up every season so we’ll need more ideas to work with but I’d say this is a good start. If anyone knows someone in the television business (or has a bit more ambition than I do) please feel free to take this idea and run with it. All I ask is that you notify that it’s in the works and invite me to the season finales as a VIP. But we’re still missing a name. How about The Release Date? Authors Unleashed? I don’t know. That’s all I’ve got. How about you? Have any name or competition ideas? Well, while you guys are thinking about that I’ll be working on my acceptance speech for the ‘Greatest Game Show Idea’ award. Don’t worry, you’re all definitely included.

Eat, Pray, Love: One woman’s search for everything across Italy, India, and Indonesia – Elizabeth Gilbert

Elizabeth Gilbert went through a tough time when she and her husband got divorced. She felt as though she needed something more in her life and she set out to look for it. This true story follows Gilbert’s travels from the best places to eat to a medicine man’s home while meeting a handful of the most interesting people.

I thought that this was a fantastic book. It’s an emotional roller coaster just reading it and I can’t imagine actually living the events. What made it even better for me is that I love to travel and traveling alone is something I’ve heard that everyone should do. I was a little leery about that idea, I still am to be honest, but if I were to ever work up the nerve to go that far alone I can only hope that I meet as many funny, witty, and insightful people along the way.

I do have to say that, although it grabbed my attention at the beginning, near the middle it started to slack for me but then it picked back up near the end. But overall it was a great read.

Eat, Pray, Love was also recently made into a movie titled the same as the book. I haven’t gotten the chance to see it yet but I just might have to check it out.

Where were you today?

Nine years ago today two planes hit the Twin Towers in New York. I thought because my usual posting day fell in line with this I would share my account of this event. It might be a little off topic perhaps but it is a story. I’ve seen this done before and I just thought I’d like to have some written account of that day from my view.

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I was still in junior high or middle school back then. Mom was getting ready to drop me off and we were late, as usual. I remember being in my room, just getting dressed, and Mom called to me from the living room. It was something like this:

“Sarah!”

“What?!”

“Come here! Get in here! Quick!”

She probably knew that this would be a historic event of sorts, something that I’d want to remember. So naturally I come running into the living to see the television showing a camera feed of two tall buildings, one with black smoke billowing from it. I don’t remember exactly what I was thinking or what was being said but I do remember watching as another plane came and crashed into the other building.

I went to school and I seem to have a faded memory of radios being on in the classrooms so we could listen to the news. There might have been a television too. What stayed with me the most was a bit of conversation I heard from some classmates.

“What if this is the rapture!?”

“If this were the rapture then we’d all be gone by now.”
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My sympathies go out to those who lost someone that day and overseas.