Tag: NaNoWriMo

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words and witchery

This week I finished the zero draft of The Blood Witch!  It is currently in the hands of my first beta reader. No matter how many times I finish writing a book, it always comes with a thrill of accomplishment.

This book was born two years ago while at Sirens.  The main character, Thána Alizon, came to me fully whole.  I knew who she was, what her backstory was, and where the story would take her.  I wasn’t sure how we were going to get there, but that’s what the writing process is all about, getting from here to there.

Thána took a back seat for a while as I worked on another project, which got shelved last November when I decided to make The Blood Witch my nanowrimo project, just to see if I could get it up on its feet.

NANO was a success, pushing The Blood Witch to within spitting distance of the final climax and resolution.  December, however, when I wanted to be writing, there were a bazillion obligations and stresses that kept me from writing.  The same for January.  I guess the blessing in not working right now was that it afforded me the time to finish.  I wrote the last ten thousand words over the course of about two days.

Of course, writing a book is only the beginning.  The hard work comes after the last word is on the page.  There’s beta readers/critique partners who are the first to see the raw manuscript, a first edit pass, a second edit pass, then comes submission time, and this time around I plan on querying agents to try a more traditional publishing path, which I’ve never done, so I have no idea how long that will take.

Once the agent sells the book to a publisher, there’s another round or two of edits, cover design, etc.  It can take a year to go from purchased manuscript to a book out in the wilds.  The road is long, and the pay isn’t great, if you get paid at all, unless you manage to hit it big.

But, the satisfaction in finishing that zero draft is still there, even if it never sells.

Happy Thursday, Readers.  I’m out of coffee, so I guess that means it’s time to get some stuff done on the job hunting front.

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nano, holidays and other manic things

So, November was an interesting month.  I chose to focus on The Blood Witch for NaNoWrMo, dedicated my morning makeup routine time to writing, and spent at least four hours every Saturday and Sunday writing.

On November 29th, I hit 50K and breathed a sigh of relief.  I’m really fond of a lot of what I wrote in November, and yeah, some of it sucks and will end up heavily edited or cut, but that’s not what matters.  With a deadline, even self imposed, I set myself to powering through even the plot spots that were stymying me and making me back off the story.

It isn’t all fixed, and I still have a lot of ground to cover, but I know how the story works from here to the end, and I even know how we transition to the next book and a vague idea of what happens in it.

If you can’t tell, I am not a big outline and plotter kind of person.  I kind of pants it mostly.  I find that if I sit down and plan it all out, my brain decides we’ve already told that story, time to move on.

I got to spend a good day with family on Thanksgiving, even if the oven at their place decided to decorate my hand TWICE.  Ouchie!  And, with that the run up to the holiday season is upon us.

Tomorrow is my brother’s birthday.  On Sunday I’ll be heading up to help my mother decorate for Christmas (and recruiting help from the younger generation).  My presents are all bought and I’m just awaiting delivery for some of them.  I have some baking and such to do, and I’m crocheting in the evenings, handing out scarves and hats to the homeless as I walk to/from work.

And yes, still writing.  My goal is to finish this zero draft before the end of the year and find a critique partner/beta reader who can help me with plot holes and inconsistencies and such.  December is such a crazy month!

I hope that you find some time in it to do something you love and spread a little kindness.  Happy Tuesday, Readers!

 

Photo by Mark Rabe on Unsplash

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the road ahead

Yesterday was a momentous day in the land of The Blood Witch as I got across the 40K words mark.  I had hoped to be further along, but well…life.

Being a writer who has to hold down a day job and who lives alone, thus is responsible for all of the housework and grocery shopping and laundry, etc…sometimes mean that writing goes very slowly.

However, I can see my way to the end of this book.  I’m probably just over half way there, so the 50k for nano isn’t going to be the end of the book, not by a long shot.  But, I’m further along than I was and know how to get from here to there, where there is the end of the first quest.

And it leaves plenty of story line for the second quest.

I’m hoping to knock out a few thousand words today before I need to get out to get a few things at the store, do some food prep for the week and other fun things, like making some pumpkin pie bread to take to work this week.

I’ve also decided to take some time off between Christmas and New Years this year to go visit my father in Tucson.  I haven’t been down that way in a while.  I’m thinking that it would be a good time of year to do so.

Now then, I need more coffee and should probably eat before I sit down to make the words.  I hope your Sunday is wonderful, Readers, and filled with kindness.

 

Photo by Cassie Boca on Unsplash

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time to make the words

I’m sitting here on Sunday morning, in my nice flannel PJs, sipping on some coffee and working on waking up enough to write.  Today’s writing agenda is to start/finish chapter thirteen, get the plot moving and step up to the next thing on the vague sort of journey in my head.

Of course, being a working woman with no one to help with other important things, today’s agenda also includes laundry doing, kitchen and bathroom cleaning and tons of other fun house chores.  There is the added bonus of having Monday off, so I get extra writing time this weekend.

Yesterday I worked in sprints of twenty five minutes, twenty five cleaning, twenty five writing.  I may up that to forty-five minutes each today, see if it gets me out of the weeds.  I’m also going to be making some beef stew, once I get the kitchen clean up that is.

Meanwhile, this is what is keeping me company through this whole weekend.  The album just dropped this week, from my friend Steve Carlson and his friend Jensen Ackles (yes, that Jensen Ackles).  I’ve known this was in the works for a while, and have been looking forward to it anxiously.  It was totally worth the wait.  If you like a little gothic southern rock mixed with a heavy does of blues and jazz notes and some AMAZING vocals, check this out.  You can get it on Spotify and iTunes and probably a bunch of other places.

If you dig it, you can check out the band’s website for cool merch and to get the album on vinyl.  Someone find me a record player!  My favorite is probably Drowning, but I love Cannonball and Sounds of Someday too.  Hell, I love it all, so I’ll be over here with the volume cranked up to 11 while I clean.

Happy Sunday, Readers.  Time to make the words.

 

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there will be blood

National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWrMo.  I’m pretty sure every writer I know has done it at least once.  I’ve played a few times, but never found it super productive, and so I haven’t done it in a few years.

However, a number of my Sirens sisters are doing Nano this year, and I’m hot on working on the Blood Witch novel, so I figured it would be a good way to enhance my focus to finish my zero draft by the end of the month.

If you are interested in being buddies on NaNo, I’m NatalieJCase over there.

I’m usually better writing under deadline, rather than being left to my own pace.  I tend to dawdle and procrastinate!

I’m also giving Scrivener another trial.  So far I’m meh on it, but as I build up some of the notes and such I may like it better.  I just started chapter eleven this morning!

I had forgotten how much I loved these characters.  I hope you will love them too!

With that note, I am off for more coffee and to get this work day started.  Be safe and be kind, Readers!