NaNoWriMo: Pushing Forward

As I move into the final week of NaNoWriMo, I can’t believe how far I’ve come since November 1st. Even after a few bumps in the road, revisions for Novel #2 are moving along beautifully! I’m right on schedule with 13,301 words revised, which means my goal of 15,000 words is well within reach.

Despite taking a couple of days off to enjoy Thanksgiving and indulge in a little Black Friday shopping, I didn’t fall behind on my word count thanks to working ahead and planning for a longer writing session on Saturday.

The zeros must be forgiven as there was much fun to be had.

So far, I’m ahead of the game!

Good planning aside, I think revisions went so well this week because I genuinely love the sections I’m working on. Emotions are crackling between my characters and scenes are getting rearranged in more powerful ways. It’s so much fun! I hope the momentum stays with me until the end of the week.

I’ll update this post later this evening with today’s word count.

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How are you doing with NaNoWriMo?

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c.b.w. 2012

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NaNoWriMo: Down But Not Out

Last week had its fair share of good days and bad. While my muse if focused entirely on revising Novel #2, Life had other ideas and interfered on a number of occasions. As a result, I was a little bit behind in my word count total until yesterday.

Ugh. That’s a lot of zeros!

The word count total makes up for the zeros!

I am proud of how much I accomplished in the first half of the week. Every writing session yielded fantastic word counts and I had a lot of fun in the process. I’m at a point in the story that is so much fun to work with and I can finally make some changes I’ve been thinking about for a long time.

Unfortunately, my chart is quite empty for the second half of the week. I don’t like all those zeros, but sometimes it just can’t be helped.

On Thursday, my husband made a wonderful dinner and we watched our favorite TV shows together. I was having such a good time it was eleven o’clock in a snap! With work in the morning, I had to at least try and sleep so my laptop was never switched on.

I planned for Friday to be a no-write day because I knew I’d be totally engrossed in all things Twilight, (and I was right). It was worth it as Breaking Dawn: Part 2 exceeded all of my expectations.

However, I did not plan on Saturday to be devoid of progress. Just as I sat down in my favorite spot at the bookstore to write, my phone rang with news that my father-in-law was in the emergency room.  I packed up all my stuff and left immediately.  He is okay, but we all got quite a scare.

Yesterday, I woke up with a migraine. It’s the first one I’ve had in more than a year, so I was not prepared to deal with it all. Most of the day was gone before the pain stopped. Surprisingly, my muse and I got some work done. Migraines usually leave a trail of dizziness and lack of focus behind them, but my stubborn nature fought past the brain fog. I can’t begin to say how happy I am to break the string of zeros that plagued the tail end of the week.

Despite a few rough days, I am still on track with my word count goal. It’s going to take more than a few bumps in the road and a migraine to stop me!

I’ll update this post with today’s word count later this evening. I’m hoping for another big word count day!

UPDATE: Today’s revised word count is 618. I had to re-work a scene with some additions, while also considering some cuts. It took a little work, but once the necessary changes were made, everything fell into place!

How are you doing with NaNoWriMo?

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c.b.w. 2012

NaNoWriMo: A Tough Week

Last week was filled with hills and valleys, but I’m still inspired and kicking. For the most part, I’ve been able to keep up with my NaNoWriMo schedule, but there were two days that did not cooperate with my writing goals.

The first of those days was beyond my control. I ended up succumbing to a pretty bad sinus infection and headache. When I turned on my computer and everything was blurry, I knew writing was out of the question. I worked on Novel #2 in my head, but as we all know that is not the same thing as actually making the revisions.

The second no-write day was totally my fault. My new obsession with knitting got the best of me and I totally lost track of time. I recently learned how to knit on needles (instead of a loom) and it is far more addicting that I previously thought. My aunt tried to warn me, but I didn’t believe her! There is nothing more lethal to a writing schedule than beautiful Norwegian wool and a new pattern for a cowl. I shall have to be more mindful of that from now on!

Despite two instances of a zero word count, I’m still on track thanks to a couple of writing sessions that resulted in word counts of over a thousand.

Ugh. I hate that zero!

Another zero, but I’m still on track!

So far, I am ahead of schedule with my revised word count total of 6,592. To stay on track, I’ll need to have 7,500 words revised by November 15th. At this point, I’m pretty confident of hitting that benchmark.

I’ll pop in later this evening with today’s word count total. Thanks to everyone for stopping by to leave comments both here and on Twitter and Facebook. Your encouragement is an amazing source of motivation!

UPDATE: The total revised word count for today is 1,476. Yay!

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c.b.w. 2012

NaNoWriMo: So Far, So Good

It’s only been five days, but so far my version of NaNoWriMo is going very well. I’m managing to keep up with the goal I’ve set for myself of revising 500 words a day. While I usually write on a daily basis, I don’t always work on the same thing every single day, which means I’ve already had to make some adjustments to my writing schedule.

Prior to NaNoWriMo, I scheduled three to four days a week for revising around 1,000 to 1,500 words in each session. Any leftover days were assigned to blog maintenance, poetry, and other projects. Switching to 500 words a day in only Novel #2 has meant changing how I do everything inside and outside of writing. I won’t give up writing poetry or blogging, so I’ve had to make sacrifices in other areas, (like crafts and gardening). However, the one thing that has not changed is my deep passion for Novel #2. My evening of writing never arrives quickly enough.

I’m keeping a log of my word count totals each day. Being the organizational geek I am, I was super-excited to have an excuse to make a chart.  Here’s where I stand at this point:

Keeping track of word counts and thoughts.

The day is still young and I expect to add a nice big number to the November 5th slot. Stay tuned – I’ll add that number into this post later this evening.

UPDATE: The word count for November 5th is 1,096. Yay! Another great day of writing!

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How is NaNoWriMo going for you?

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c.b.w. 2012

October Status Report: 2012 Goals

After the insanity of September, I’m very surprised to report that October was just as crazy. It turns out a hardcore writing schedule is harder to switch off than I thought. Rather than sit back enjoy the victory of completing the first draft of Novel #2, I found myself with an incredible urge to keep working. I jumped right into revisions and my muse is showing no signs of slowing down.

While I love the constant inspiration currently flooding my imagination, some of my other goals have once again taken a back seat. This year has a been characterized by an interesting learning curve as I have come to accept the fact that creativity doesn’t always like to stay in the boundaries of organization. The color-coding, to-do list part of my brain has actually lightened up a little bit, so it’s not bothering me as much that I can’t cross everything off my 2012 goals this month. Instead, I find solace in focusing on what I got done!

1) Submit five pieces of writing to contests, journals, literary magazines, or the newspaper.

I didn’t submit anything, but I am working on a story I started in London. It’s something I hope to submit at some point and it’s a nice little project to have on the side for when I get stuck revising Novel #2.

2) Finish minor changes in my first novel.

Novel #2 is keeping its hold on my focus. I haven’t touched my first novel in two months and I don’t suspect I will be for a while. Both the story and characters are silent in my head because they are being drowned out by everything in Novel #2. It’s hard to work on a large project like this when my muse wants nothing to do with it at the moment. So, on the shelf it remains.

Starting word count:  7,975
Ending word count: 7,975
Total word count: 0

3) Work on my second novel. Revise Novel #2.

Much like last month, I can’t stop thinking about Novel #2. After completing the first draft – Yay! – I went back to page one and started revising. This is weird for me because usually I like to let a project sit for a while before returning to it for revisions. Not this time. All I wanted to do was be in the story again and listen to my characters.  I’ve never experienced a pull like that after finishing a writing project, which is why I decided to listen to my tagline and follow my muse. She seems to know where we’re going and who am I to question her?

Starting revised word count: 0
Ending revised word count: 10,865
Total revised word count: 10,865

See NaNoWriMo (Revised) for the goals I’ve set for November on this project. It’s insane, but I’m up for the challenge.

4) Send out five query letters and be ready with a synopsis.

My query letter for Novel #2 has gone through three more revisions. My goal for November is to have it ready to send off to two beta readers.

5) Keep up with my blog.

Despite my crazy writing schedule, I managed to post on a very consistent basis this month. Thank you to my readers for your continued visits. I appreciate all of your comments and “likes.” Your encouragement to keep writing means so much to me.

6) Network more with other writers.

It was a good month on social media! I made an effort to be a little more present on Facebook and Twitter and I have to say it was a lot of fun. My thanks goes to everyone who has stopped by and followed me Facebook and Twitter.

My Facebook Page has grown from 198 to 221 Likes.

On Twitter, my followers have grown from 288 to 425.

To join in the fun, please visit my sidebar to follow me on either network. As I work through revisions, I’ll be posting frequently on both networks with ramblings fueled by extraordinary amounts of caffeine.

7) Inspire other writers to keep writing.

As always, I hope I am a positive presence!

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Happy Halloween! May you have your fair share of jack-0-lanterns and candy! Last year I wrote about the origins of Halloween on this post: Hallowed History. If you’ve ever wondered where Halloween traditions began, you may want to re-visit my spooky history lesson.

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c.b.w. 2012