It is... finished.

Yay! I'm done! My NaNoWriMo novel is finished. Now before you get green faced, let me explain that this is a middle grade novel, which means that 50,000 words is a tad long. Yes, there are MG books that are that long-and longer, but this one won't be. That doesn't mean there won't be more words to add--there will be as I fine tune my research (questions always pop up about tiny details that you need to have answered). And as I revise, I'll find sections that need more description or clarification.

And before you think thoughts of me being an over-achiever because I finished well before time (this is such a crazy month- WHO picked November? Wouldn't the doldrums of January have been better? Or the emptiness of February? The isolation of March?) Let me tell you that my novel currently stands at 28,741 words.

Don't scream that I'm cheating- I've worked on a short story (which adds another 4,272 words to my  count because hey, it's writing and I had to get it in under deadline and I'm counting it), kept up (pretty much) with my blog posts, and dabbled in a few other things that didn't contribute to my word count. (I didn't add Facebook or Twitter chatter, emails, or texts, even if writing related either.) All that might total up to 50,000.

The purposed of National Novel Writing Month is to write that novel--which I have done so I have achieved the goal. This is an historical fiction and I see it as a two year project. More research,  revisions, and writing are required before I even breathe a word to my agent. Last year's NaNo project, Lethal Dose, is currently making submission rounds, and a middle grade project I finished just prior to starting NaNoWriMo 2014 is with a critique group. I have a lot of work to do.

But that's another facet of NaNoWriMo; to get you used to writing/working consistently. No one does the same amount every day, but to write everyday (okay, I slacked off when I was sick, but there were days I wrote double the guideline of 1,700 words), I have achieved this.

So I'm calling this a win: novel drafted and finished, wrote almost every day.

How is your NaNo journey going?

Char

The Good, The Bad, and the Really Nasty

The Good: I have a great idea for my NaNoWriMo project.
The Bad- I'm stuck on the title and how to connect to the ending.
The Nasty- I'm 3 days behind.

The Good- I'm over my intestinal infection.
The Bad- I have bronchitis, horrible sore throat, and congestion.
The Nasty- all that green gunk coming out of my lungs and sinuses.

The Good- I have antibiotics to clear up the green gunk.
The Bad- I've had so many antibiotics lately my gastro tract feels like I've gotten punched in the gut.
The Nasty- Bathroom issues, 'nuff said.

The Good- I made it through our bell performance at church yesterday with only 2 missed notes.
The Bad- The performance was in the middle of the service so I had to sit, sick, in church while I waited to play.
The Nasty- I forgot my son at church and had to send someone to pick him up.

The Good- It's not snowing.
The Bad- It's a driving, dripping, rain.
The Nasty- Had to go out to doctor's and pharmacist in it.

The Good- I have 2 kitties, a fireplace, and a cup of tea.
The Bad- I have to hunt down the kitties for a snuggle, go downstairs for the fireplace, and my teacup is empty.
The Nasty- I just want to pass out from exhaustion, but there's so much to do.

The Good- (all out)
The Bad- (too many more to list)
The Nasty- It's Monday

Char

Catching Up--and Sprinting Ahead

I'm ahead on my NaNoWriMo word count. By the estimate on the NaNo site, I should be done by November 29th.

I want to be done sooner.

No, I'm not trying to overachieve, or hoping to say I was the first done, or gloat when others talk about the daily word struggle.

I'm antsy. I see the story and I just want it written because there are story ideas lining up, like airplanes on the tarmac, waiting for takeoff.

I don't think I'll live long enough to write all the stories from ideas that are jotted down in my notebooks, swimming in my head, or that invade my dreams. So many ideas, not enough time... Even if I lived to be 100 (and there's a very good likelihood of that since I come from a line of long-lived relatives), I still won't have enough time. Immortality, which is sadly unobtainable, would be the only way I could write down everything. Maybe.

Stuck? Hey, so was I, two days ago. How did I get past it? Did I mull it over while doing something else? No, my garden is nothing but dead stuff and that's usually where I do my mulling. Now it's just a place to be depressed until spring. I can't sit in front of the words on my laptop when I don't know what comes next. That just frustrates me and makes the writer's block seem insurmountable.

So I just skipped it. I went around the blockade, the writer's wall of doom.

There was a scene that would come later in the book so I just started writing from there. Eventually I'll have to stitch them together, but as Aragorn says in The Lord of the Rings when the companies of Middle Earth are about to face doom at Sauron's gate and their courage may fail, "Today is not that day." I'll worry about piecing it all together on a snowy cold day in January when I start serious edits. (December is off limits for editing and writing if I can get away with it. If a book deal comes through that requires revisions, well, I'll hop to it.) But for now, writing that scene has jumped started the creative pulses and the race is on to finish. And as I wrote, my head swirled with how to incorporate the new scene into the manuscript. Sometime it does come together that easily, other times, not.

The successful hurdle of this block has let me stay in the race at my own pace. I'll wait for you at the finish line--unless you beat me there first.

Keep writing, and NaNo NaNo!

Char

Just. Do. It.

Yeah, you're busy. Who isn't?
I understand- you don't like/trust/want any of the candidates offered to win. That's the choice.
You feel your vote doesn't matter. Past elections prove you wrong.
Why did we fight two wars for independence (Revolutionary War, War of 1812- read your history) if you're not going to use the rights you have? That's like spending all your money on a fancy car--and letting it sit in the garage, unused.

Get off your lazy duff and exercise- your body, your mind, and your rights.

In some countries, voting your conscience is a death penalty. Be defiant- VOTE.

Char