The One Month Novel

I'm not sure how these things work, or why, but it seems like this rushed NaNoWriMo pace is churning out the best pages I've ever written in my life. I'm writing a lot in a short period of time and I'm almost constantly writing, so plot twists I've forgotten about in other books don't get forgotten here. The characters are so fresh in my head all day that I don't forget what they look like, even the less important ones. When I stop halfway through a scene I don't forget what I was trying to accomplish there because I'm back working on it in an hour rather than a few days later.

Don't get me wrong, even now I can see things I'll be changing or moving when I edit it, but so far the basic structure of the story is so solid its amazing. The action scenes are clear, the emotions are strong, and that's something I have yet to accomplish before NaNo.

So a big thank you to The Office of Letters and Light.

I think I've found my niche. Write as much as I can as fast as I can... and maybe sleep somewhere in there too. Nah, sleep is for December, ;-)

Toodles

(56,000 words, 15 days.)

My average day as an upublished Author/Stay at home mom...

1. Wake up, after not nearly enough sleep.
2. Chase a 2 yr old around the house to get him to eat something.
3. Facebook, blogspot, and email while Logan watches Cars for the bazillionth time.
4. Stare at my outline like I expect it to talk to me and tell me what's missing.
5. Put Logan down for a nap.
6. Elliptical and loud music for a half hour, then a shower.
7. More staring at my outline, missing actual writing.
8. Write a blog about how much I hate outlines, or possibly just the Quote of the Day!
9. Redo my playlist on iTunes, the ones from yesterday are already old.
10. Close my eyes and think what the songs remind me of, maybe those things will give me an idea.
11. Logan wakes up, more chasing, and more Cars.
12. Realize there's no way my ending can be my ending. It doesn't make any sense.
13. Pound my head into the keyboard.
14. Look up pictures of wolves for inspiration, then realize I just wasted an hour. I already know what wolves look like.
15. Make Logan watch something else, Cars is bugging me.
16. Calm him down when the dryer buzzer goes off and scares the crap out of him.
17. Chase him around for dinner.
18. Facebook and email again.
19. Bath time for Logan. He splashes while I sulk, thinking why I'm even bothering to write at all.
20. Logan's in bed, loud music and elliptical for another half hour.
21. Sit and sweat over the keyboard while I type, and erase everything I think of. Nothing is good enough.
22. Stop sweating, still erasing.
23. Scour the house and pick up all Logan's toys off the floor.
24. Stare off into space imaging my story like a movie, wondering still, what's missing?
25. Pull my hair out.
26. Light bulb. I get one good idea and scribble it several places- whiteboard, post-it, notebook- so I don't forget.
27. Go to bed too late, in preparation of getting up too early again.
28. Wake up a few minutes after I fall asleep, and think of something genius, scribble it down on the notebook by the bed.
29. Fall asleep, and plan to stay asleep this time.
30. I hear Logan crying through the monitor...

Save The Words!

Thanks to the wonderful new Office of Letters and Light blog I've come across this wonderful site by the Oxford Dictionary!

Save the Words tries to bring the "endangered words" of the English language back into style! You can browse the words, click and see their meaning, even adopt a word and pledge to do your part in bringing it back by using it as much as possible!

My word? Succisive. Its an adjective meaning, of spare or extra time. And man do I wish my life were more succisive! I wouldn't be writing this blog and thinking about the fact that I'm supposed to be working out, showering, and making chicken salad at the same time right now.

Toodles!

Newest Form of Procrastination

Two words. Two lovely addicting words.

Veronica Mars.

I know. Its come and gone right? Well that's the only way I do things. For some reason I'll hear about a book, series, movie and it wont sound interesting at all. Give it a year or two, everyone's forgotten about it, and I discover it like Columbus discovering America "for the first time." (That was a little slap to Mr. Columbus in case you didn't catch it. The vikings? Hello?)

Back on track. The evidence? I started watching One Tree Hill in its 6th season. Bones in its 5th. I read Twilight a full 3 years after it was published, and now Veronica Mars.

What can I say, I'm always late to the party.

Seriously though, somebody should have alerted me to what I was missing! All the wit? All the shenanigans? Shame on you!

I suppose all this I hear about the Hunger Games series will follow suit. It just doesn't seem interesting, but give it a few years, I'll be blogging about how awesome it is and you'll be shaking your heads. Come on we'll shake together...


Toodles.

NA....NO....WRI....MO!

Is that the thrill of anticipation I smell? I think it is!

Apparently I've been under a rock this last month or so, because NaNoWriMo has snuck right up on me!

It's a little like when your realize summer vacation is over, and you have to go back to school in a week? Only school, is a free for all shopping trip on the only cruise mall in the world!

IN CASE YOU CAN'T SEE... I'm super excited!

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about... I'll tell you! NaNoWriMo= National Novel Writing Month! Its a month long contest that opens every November first. The challenge? Write a full novel between November 1st and November 30th.

Rules? It must be 50,000 words or more. You have to type more than one word 50,000 times. It hast to be a novel (if you consider it a novel, so do they!) Don't edit! Editing's for December.

And at the end of this marathon of prose, you submit your work for validation of word count. If you've written a full novel by the end of the month, you win! You get a certificate and everything!

I'M SO EXCITED!


See for yourself!

Toodles!

Titles

I am so completely stuck!

Titling a novel is insanely difficult! I know in general, there's a good chance a publishing house or your agent will suggest changing the title for publication, and that can be for any number of reasons. I also know that if that happens to me, all this thinking and thesaurus searching is for nothing, but I'm still trying to find THAT title.

I want a title that gives the same feeling I get when I think of the story. That feeling you get when you read a novel that makes you keep reading. It has to match that and so far I've thought of a lot of good titles, but nothing that has that perfect fit feeling.

I researched articles on titling your story, and know that slapping the first thing you think of on your title page is ridiculous. I heeded their advice. I sat down with my white board and started writing out words that describe my novel, and short phrases. I took those words and looked them up in the thesaurus, I searched Amazon to see what other titles in my genre are named, for inspiration, and still haven't found THAT title. The perfect one.

So what do you think? Its a werewolf based story, and involves a rogue wolf hiding from his pack...

So far I have:

"Borrowed Time"
"Bite of Promise"
"Nowhere to Hide"
and
"Out of Reach"

They're sort of bland... but like I said before, I'm stuck!

Werewolves are Fun!

Took a typing test online just a few minutes ago. Apparently I can type up to 53 words a minute, and that's with random words that made absolutely no sense when strung together. I'm pretty happy with that number. I remember in high school I took a computer class and you had to type 20 words per minute to pass. I couldn't do it without looking at the keyboard, so I sort of cheated.

Shhh. Don't tell anyone.

So 53 is a definite step up. I still cheat sometimes and look at the keys as I'm typing. Old habits die hard, what can I say.

On the writing front, it is so refreshing to work on one type of story for months and suddenly skip to something else, even for a little while. Like a cool bucket of water splashed on the face. (I'm talking about my temporary switch from vampires to werewolves.)

No more fangs for me, at least not for a week or two. It didn't feel fun anymore, and the only reason I write anything at all is because it is so much fun to do! So when it feels like work, I find something else to write about and let me tell you... werewolves are fun!

Go Vampires!

I refuse to believe that people are sick of vampire stories.

That may have something to do with the fact that my novel is all about the fang, but I refuse to admit that as well. ;-)

So, as I said, I refuse to believe it. People will never be tired of vampires. Everyone is probably way done with the "vampire meets girl in high school gym, tries to stay away but cant" kind of "epic" romances. I think they're sick of the goody goody undead who dress fashionably, pretend they haven't been alive for 200 years, and fall in love with some whiny little human.

I know I am...

That's why my story takes place in a time where the better part of North America has been ripped to shreds by them. The love story is more of a love-hate story, and it doesn't develop into something until the very end. And best of all, no whiny little girl. My protagonist will kick the crap out of you if you mess with her, and she'll do it without breaking a sweat.

So there you have it.

I think as long as you take an old story, and add an ass kicking main character, anything is fresh.

In other news I did some more research on literary agents, and am happy to say I have a favorite. I wont say who it is (so you wont steal her!) ;-) but I will say that there will be substantial tears involved if she turns me away.

I'm 2/3 of the way done with my book, and set a goal for myself. I'll submit it to agents by the end of the year at the very latest. September is my birthday, my ultimate goal is to send out my 1st query on my birthday. Call it hoping for some birthday luck.

Can you guess what I'll wish for when I blow out my candles? I bet you can.

Heat Wave

Holy Moses,

I know I've been craving real summer weather to hit us, but apparently, I didn't know what I was asking for. One day it was a somewhat chilly sixty degrees, and then next day it's bordering on a hundred! Unfortunately, tomorrow is going to be even hotter, and two standing fans, a table fan and all kinds of closed up curtains aren't enough to keep the heat at bay.

My computer even seems to be affected, which is the strongest of my annoyances. I'll be putting dishes away, mulling over the scene I'm going to write next and how I'm going to write it, when I'm struck with an idea! And, not any idea but a burst of inspiration that just begs to be written. So of course, as soon as I turn on the computer (a laptop that's on its last leg) it wheezes to life, overheats within ten minutes and shuts down mid sentence.

Of course by the time I'm done griping about the point of having a computer if you cant use it, I forget most of my wonderful, flawless scene I envisioned. Even when I dig around for paper and try to scribble down the scraps of my idea, the magic is lost.

Observation of the day: Heat, inspiration, and bad luck is the worst combination.

Tomorrow I'm heading straight for the notebook and purple pen. Just goes to show you that technology isn't always your best friend... or acquaintance... or even friendly stranger.

First and Foremost

Hello all.

As a new person to the world of blogging I would first like to say "hi" and dive right in. I'm Megan, stay at home mom by day, hard working writer by night. Most nights I get sucked in and end up writing until three am, which is unfortunate for the amount of sleep I get, but most of the time its productive.

I'm addicted to the written word. My favorite place in town has to be the library and I'm surprised that most of the ladies who work there dont find themselves on a first name basis with me. I go in to return an armful of books, only to retrieve another armful from the hold section.

It only makes sense that I would eventually wonder what kind of story I would write myself- if I had the ambition to do so- and consequently stumbled upon an ad in a magazine for the Institute of Children's Literature and enrolled soon after. Its a course that's accomplished through a series of mail in assignments over the time period of a year or so, geared to polish your writing skills, teach you the ins and outs of query letters, and anything else they possibly can by way of support and information.
Currently I'm halfway done with the course, focusing on young adult readers for the moment.

The Institute is great, they have all sorts of resources for you not only during the duration of the course but also after graduation as well. They're all about support and the instructors are helpful and do everything they can to make sure you end up with the knowledge you want and need before the course is done. The mail in assignments are convenient and challenging, and they also allow me to continue to give all my attention to my son, who will be two in October, and requires quite a bit of it.

I recommend the Institute of Children's Literature for anyone who is in a similar position as me in that you have a child to care for or want a more relaxed way to learn what you need to in order to get published. I bet you wont be sorry you did.

Besides writing and the constant thought of someday being published, I spend the duration of my time that is not occupied by mothering either reading, writing, cleaning or wasting my life away on Facebook games. If anyone needs a neighbor on Farmville, let me know. ;-)

Don't let it be said that I live an exciting life. I can only hope that the future lends more by way of fun and less of dull, everyday things. One can only hope.

So there you go. My first post. How did I do?