NaNoWriMo 2015: Day 30

This is the last day to reach the 50,000 word count to earn all the prizes and discounts at the end of this month-long train ride.

So, just to note that last night I hit 50,000 words - 51,000 words actually, as the damn word validator can't translate OpenOffice documents cleanly so I over-wrote to make sure I cleared the hurdle - for about the fourth time attempting NaNo since 2006.

Yay.

The trick, of course, is to keep working on the novel past all this. After all, this has been a rough-draft stage of writing, and not everything fits well or is even finished.

The novel project - Subway Night - has a few gaps in the early parts and is really only finished up to the halfway point: one of the two major characters is running for her life and the other main character - the sexy vampire - has been taken off the stage by a major threat. I've still got to them back together to continue the story, and have them uncover the MacGuffin Artifact of Doom before it gets used by The Wrong People.

I also got to get a better book cover. Which means a trip up to New York... hiring models... getting permission from the New York Transit office to take photos in the station... money money money... I might have to start a fund-raiser page on Kickstarter or something.

But, again: novel first. Flirt with potential sexy vampire models later.

How did YOUR NaNo writing go?

The Last Week of NaNoWriMo Always Gets Packed Crazy

Just to note, there is something about Thanksgiving weekend being the root cause of this last week of intense novel-writing being more stressful than it should be.

The rule of thumb for coping with a 3-Day Weekend of Mass Distraction is simple:

Let it happen.

Family and friends take priority in the real world. Go and enjoy your Pagan Turkey Sacrifice Day. That's your Thursday, and likely your Friday taken for the most part. Saturday can be optional.

Thing is, there is always time somewhere and somewhen to get your daily word count done without it being intrusive on your commitment to a sane (relatively speaking) social life.

You can, for example, type the word count out on your laptop under the table during turkey dinner.

Just be discreet about it.

You know I will.

What, mom? Whadda ya mean "Do the dishes"?  Now?!

Yeesh. I take it back.

Anywho, if you're anywhere near your 50,000 count finish line, you're good and I wish you best of luck reaching that goal. If you're not as close as you like, just remember you're still working with a rough draft to a new novel that needs your love to make it finish on its own time.

Happy Thanksgiving, and I will see you at the Validation count!

NaNoWriMo Through Time And Space, Specifically This Weekend

Some observations:

1) This is the first year that the Lakeland / Polk County area has its own NaNo Region, and I'd like to think it's been a successful one so far.

We've got an active group of writers who have been showing up for the local Write-Ins, and as a region our challengers have already gotten over the 1 Million word count by Day 20.

2) We're making in-roads in terms of outreach across the county, getting more people aware in places like Lake Wales and Winter Haven.

The best move we've done has been to get a Write-In scheduled at one of the major colleges in the county, World Famous (tm) Florida Southern College. There's a Creative Writing program with their Humanities school, and we've made the NaNo effort aware to them and the feedback we've gotten so far is that the school would like to get involved for it next year.

3) Getting to 40,000 words well before Turkey Pagan Sacrifice Day - AKA the Speedbump - is trickier than it looks for some (cough okay me cough) writers.

KEEP WRITING, NANO-ERS!

NaNoWriMo 2015: I Read the News Today Oh Boy

I received awhile back an email from a local city reporter - Nora Nelson - for Lake Wales FL about NaNoWriMo and what write-ins were. So I emailed back some answers and details about NaNo and what to expect.

I don't live in Lake Wales so I don't get the paper, but when I got to Lake Wales Public Library last night to run the Come Write-In event (which is why the reporter was curious), I checked at their information desk for a copy to check. And sweetness, the article was on the front page of the Nov. 11th issue.

Link here.

I am slipping a little on my NaNo word count - I am currently under the daily count graph line - but I plan on catching up with all the other Write-Ins we have across Lakeland and Polk County.

Keep writing, peeps!

NaNoWriMo 2015 Day 15: Midway Day (Updated)

Say hello Day 15!

In a month of 30 days, that puts us in the midway point. In terms of word count towards 50,000 that means getting to around 25,000 words of your novel.

Among all the things that can happen on a Sunday, finding time to write the daily word count (1667) should not be too hard.

One other number to toss out there before I leave this opening thought: One.  As in, one novel to finish.  We're getting there.

I will add updates when I can.  Good luck.

We're all counting on you.

Update (10:51 PM EST): I know it's late, I'd been distracted most of the afternoon. Something I regret. However, I just got over the 25,000 word count. I hope to get a few more paragraphs in to feel better about this.

Hope you are all writing well!

NaNoWriMo 2015 Update 11/14/15: Write-In Palooza

We are getting up to the halfway point in the 30-day novel writing effort (November 15 is the hump), and I just want to say at this moment: woot.

I am currently at 24,000-plus words.

My sexy vampire hasn't killed anyone yet, but the night is young.

Meanwhile, the Lakeland region write-ins have been getting decent turnouts at the Books-A-Million store. Pics or it didn't happen! From last week:

And for tonight's turnout:

She's using him as a standing board for her notebook

And everybody is hard at work! Except for the guy taking photos. Whoops... (speed types)

Keep writing! Those exploding penguin plot points don't write themselves!

(missing animated GIF of Monty Python penguins exploding. Damn The Man. You get a YouTube clip instead)

WAIT! THAT'S AN EXPLODING EXISTENTIALIST! NOOOooooooo...

It's Friday the 13th! You get a black cat being a krazy kitteh.

It's Mal! Celebrating the 13th as only a black cat can! With a dangly toy fishie.

Now, back to the NaNo writing!

One Of The Traps Of Writing Dialog: Exposition

I'm at that point in my NaNoWriMo story where the main characters are sitting down and talking. I've essentially given over this moment to my sexy vampire character to establish this 'Verse rules regarding vampires as a breed, and the supernatural elements that exist within this urban fantasy.

This can get tricky. While it helps to get the details out about how and why things work in your created world of this novel, you don't want to bog down into details and going off on tangents.

You're supposed to Show Not Tell. Unfortunately, there are times when there is no way to show, when talking about past events for example or establishing the motivations of a character to do what she does.

Given the rough draft nature of this novel - that I am pretty much writing by the seat of my pants - I am going to pretty much put it all out there in the dialog, and I am just going to have to use the follow-up editing process to clean this scene up, make it more active.

Anyway. KEEP WRITING!

NaNoWriMo 2015 Day Seven: No Sleep Til Brooklyn

Actually, so far in my urban fantasy plotline, my sexy vampire heroine never makes it to Brooklyn.

I may yet send her to the Bronx to deal with a recalcitrant gargoyle, but the narrative is still too fluid.

I am, yes, flying by the seat of my pants on this.

I tried flying with someone else's pants, but I tore a hole in the buttocks.

Ow, stop hitting me.

I'll let you know how my word count goes today.

Update: thanks to sharing in two different Write-Ins today, I got over 3,000 words done and am up to 14,300 words total by this seventh day.

NaNoWriMo 2015 Day Two: Oh Hey More Words

At home tonight, looking to get about another 2000 words or so.

I do need to create a better book cover for an example.  But I can live with it for the moment.

There's a Write-In in Winter Haven Public Library this Wednesday Nov. 4th from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm.  And then Bartow Library is hosting a Write-In from 5:00 to 7:30 pm before the library closes.

JOIN ME.

WRITE.

THE NOVEL MOVES.

NaNoWriMo 2015 In Effect. Run For Cover, Folks

There are rampaging writers in your neighborhood!

Well, actually, your nearest Panera Bread restaurants.

But it's the thought that counts. :)

Gotten up to over 2500 words today. May get over 3000 by the end of the night.  Nice count.

I will keep tabs on how my progress goes.  Might get something DONE this year.  I mean really done.