Books Read in November 2012

Childs, Laura

- Stake & Eggs

Fiction.  Suzanne and the girls at the Cackleberry Club are up to their elbows in events around town, but one evening while Suzanne is working late, she hears the buzzing of a snowmobile and goes out to investigate.  What she finds would make anyone lose their supper.

Evanovich, Janet

- Notorious Nineteen

Fiction.  Stephanie Plum is back at work trying to apprehend bond jumpers, but as usual, she finds herself embroiled in some explosive situations before she can find the missing clients.

Galenorn, Yasmine

- Shadow Rising

Fiction.  12th in the Otherworld/Sisters of the Moon series.  Another wonderful episode in the lives of the three D’Artigo sisters and their extended family.  This time, they go up against Gulakah, but they also have to deal with all of the ghosts and other spirited creatures he sends forth to create havoc.  Can they get them under control?

NaNo 2012 Finished

I finished it, but I don't like what I wrote.  I had planned to continue the novel I began during last June's camp, but my characters had other ideas and ran off into the forest to hide from me, so I started something new that I didn't like at all, but it's done.  Now I can go back to working on last year's NaNo novel, as my muse for that has been steadily tapping on my window for the past week.

NG Geno 2.0 Results

I got my National Geographic Geno 2.0 DNA results back on November 21 (they received my samples on 10/22)  Here they are compared to Ancestry's DNA results:  

Geno 2.0 - 

24% Northeastern Asian (Lani)

22% Mediterranean (Richard)

19% Southeastern Asian (Lani)

13% Northern European (Richard)

8% Oceanian (Lani)

5% Southwestern Asian (Lani)

4% Sub-Saharan African (Richard)

4% Native American (Richard)

Ancestry DNA -

44% East Asian (Lani)

27% Southern European (Richard)

7% Eastern European (Richard)

6% Pacific Islander (Lani)

16% Uncertain (Richard)

What I know via my genealogy research - 

Lani's side:

Filipino/possibly Spanish

Hawaiian

Chinese

Richard's side:

Basque

Spanish

Cuban

Puerto Rican (Spanish/Taino/African)

Norwegian

possibly some French

The boundaries for the different regions vary on both tests, but they seem to say pretty much the same thing.  National Geographic obviously has more people who have taken the test around the world, so they were able to fine tune the percentages.

The funny thing is, they also say that I'm 3.5% Neanderthal and 4.4% Denisovan (which is another offshoot of the hominids that left Africa way before modern man)  I keep picturing Fred Flintstone as my ancestor peddling his car down the road, complete with sound effects.

I know it doesn't change who I am, but I find it all fascinating.  It gives me more cultures around the world that I want to learn about :)

For those of you who don't know, Lani and Richard are my birthparents.

I'm thinking of taking the 23andMe DNA test, which gives you medical information, but that will have to wait until I have a few more bucks in the bank, it's quite pricey!

Books Read in October 2012

Bevill, C.L.
- Veiled Eyes
Fiction.  Wow, action-packed paranormal fantasy about a woman, a mysterious clan who lives by a lake, and a giant catfish.

Lavid, Linda A.

- Teddy Bear

Fiction.  Short story about a middle-aged man pining after the young wife who has left him, only to finally being able to let her go and get on with his life.

Mittlemark, Howard & Sandra Newman

- How NOT to Write a NovelNon-fiction.  Humorous tongue-in-cheek look at the 200 most common mistakes made by hopeful published authors.

Finally caught up!

I've been feeling so guilty, because I was so far behind on my NaNo story.  It was stressing me out, which is a bad thing for numerous reasons, one of them being that I was getting depressed, which makes me sleep more, which makes me stressed out even more, because I'm not being productive!  Whew!  

But I'm doing better now.  The time-off I've spent since the last time I worked on Avienne wasn't doing me any good, and my characters seem to have run off to play in the forest without me, and they won't tell me where they are.  So while I'm hunting them down, I decided to just get SOMETHING down for NaNo, and in doing so, I have finally caught up, and my stress has greatly lessened.

One thing that has helped me is that I've been writing from 10pm to midnight every night, except Sunday, when I had a show to watch on TV and typed from 9-10, then 11-midnight.  I'm getting at least 2,000 words done a night that way, sometimes more.  I'm also crocheting at least five rows a night on an afghan I'm making my mom for Christmas.  Maybe there is something to having a schedule.  So far, it seems to be working for me.

I also suggest that anyone attempting NaNoWriMo invest some time in getting to know some good Writing Buddies.  They're invaluable!  Not only do they understand what you're going through, they're available as cheer leaders, beta readers, and resources, and you might just find yourself with new friends who will last beyond the one-month-long craziness that is NaNo.    

I've even managed to save some time to read one of my favorite authors, Yasmine Galenorn's most recent book, "Shadow Rising", another offering in her wonderful Otherworld series.  

Getting more out of NaNo

I'm getting a lot more out of my NaNo experience this year.  I've figured out basically how Scrivener works (awesome writing program, btw), I know what I'll be working on and have some plot points already sketched out, and I'm even more active on the messageboard this year.

There are two swaps that I'm involved in, a Tea Swap with a woman in the US, and a Goodie Swap with a woman in Australia!  Fun!  I'd love to participate in the local write-ins, but my laptop is in the boneyard, so maybe next year.  I would like to take the train and attend the Night of Writing Dangerously in San Francisco sometime.  I hear a lot of craziness goes on during that event.

Avienne (Spirit of the Clans, Book 1)

Back when I began this novel during June's NaNo camp, I pictured it as a trilogy, with Aliyah growing up and returning to the Felisene in the first book.  But I got 50k words into the story, and she's still 4-years-old, and then I got stuck and couldn't decide whether to advance her to her teenage years, then advance her again to adulthood.  So I wrote something else for August's camp.  Now that NaNo is here again, I'm going to continue the fantasy, beginning when she's an adult and including a few flashbacks to her teenage years, and this phase of her story will be told in one volume.  I'll have her story continue in the 2nd book where she will resolve the issues in her own clan.  Subsequent volumes will revolve around other stories related in time and space but still separate.  

I'm looking forward to continuing her story and getting back into mad-writing mode with all the craziness that NaNoWriMo evokes.  I have some awesome writing buddies this year and look forward to sharing and caring with them.

In the meantime, I'm trying to, at least, finish reading "The Story of Norway" before the end of the month, although I also need to read "The Scarlet Letter" ick.  That's the one book from high school I could not get through, and yes, when it came time for me to write the report on it, I read the first 50 pages and the last 20 pages and wrote the darn report...the only time I cheated in school.  I still feel guilty, but it still doesn't make me want to read that book!  And to compound my feeling of guilt about it, when my grandmother learned that I was supposed to read it in school, she gave me a 2nd printing copy of "The Scarlet Letter" that had belong to her mother, Rosie Belle Tinsley, who had traveled with it across the plains in a covered wagon.  It's a family heirloom, and I will always treasure it because of that.

19 days and counting!

NaNo's coming up again, and I think I'll be ready on time.  I'm continuing the story I began last June during NaNo Camp.  It's a fantasy about a young orphan who is being raised by an enemy clan.  I originally planned this as a series, but 50k words into the story, my character was still the same age.  It's time for her to grow up, which is where I'll be starting in November.  

Books Read in September 2012

Allen, Sarah Addison

- The Peach Keeper 

Fiction.  Slightly magical tale about two men, two women, and their grandmothers, and a mysterious man whose special powers has the entire town up in arms...before and after his death.

Allison, Dorothy

- Dorothy Allison: A Psychic Story 

Fiction.  VERY boring story written by the psychic about some of her cases.  (Thought it was about the author Dorothy Allison when I bought it.)

Andrews, Ilona

- Magic Bites 

Fiction.  Shapeshifters, vampires, necromancers, all sorts of beasties all fighting for a spot as the top dog.  Heroine Kate is hired to sort through all the rumors and lies to solve the murder of her mentor.

Arthur, Keri

- Darkness Unbound 

Fiction.  Risa Jones, half-werewolf and half-Aedh visits the hospital at the bequest of her mother to check on a young girl in a coma.  Upon arriving there, she knows immediately that something is very wrong.  When faced with dealing with the girl’s grieving parents, she makes a promise to herself that she will find the person responsible for the girl’s condition.  In her quest, she meets two “men”, both of whom want something from her.

Ashley, Jennifer

- Pride Mates 

Fiction.  HOT!  Kim Fraser, rising star of her law firm, takes on a case involving the murder of a woman by a shifter.  In her zeal to prove his innocence, she takes on a mysterious, dangerous feline shifter and proves herself to be his equal.

Atherton, Nancy

-Aunt Dimity’s Death 

Fiction.  Engaging tale of love and loss and true happiness as Lori and Bill delve in the mystery of Aunt Dimity’s many secrets.

Blackwell, Juliet

- In a Witch’s Wardrobe 

Fiction.  Trouble finds Lily at the Paramount Theater during an Art Deco Ball.  A young woman’s soul becomes trapped, and Lily runs around town trying to help her, while at the same time colliding with Sailor in an unplanned way, and the SFPD is trying to track down a group of anti-witches who are seeking to harm all in their path.

Childs, Laura

- Bedeviled Eggs

Fiction.  Suzanne and the girls are busy at work in their cafe and with all of the events they have planned.  In the midst of everything, a promising mayoral candidate is murdered on the steps of the Cackleberry Club, prompting Suzanne to hone her sleuthing skills to find his killer.  Suzanne is sounding an awful lot like Theodosia in the Tea Shop mysteries.

Christie, Agatha

- The Secret Adversary 

Fiction.  1st in the Tommy & Tuppence mysteries.  Tuppence runs across her childhood friend, and as they’re both out of work, she suggests they begin their own enterprise, Young Adventurers, Ltd.  Tommy readily agrees, and in less than a day, they’re off on their first adventure, one that will take them from a shipwreck to the British courts.

- Peril at End House 

Fiction.  Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings appear again in this story.  Hercule has supposedly retired from crime fighting but is tantalized by the attempted murders of a beautiful young woman into sleuthing once more.

Cornwell, Patricia

- Cruel and Unusual 

Fiction.  Kay is the Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Virginia.  Her professional life and her personal life seem to keep getting entangled.  A convict on death row dies, but suddenly murders start happening that imitate the crime for which he was charged, and strangely enough, his fingerprints are found in one of the victims’ homes, although he’s been locked up for 10 years.  Kay, and her detective friend, Marino, need to pool their resources to solve the crime, before anyone else dies.

- The Body Farm 

Fiction.  Kay’s life becomes more complicated when her niece, Lucy, takes on an internship with the FBI.  At the same time, a murder case in North Carolina of a young girl needs solving, and the working and personal relationships between Kay, Marino and Denton get very complicated and strained.  Kay has to juggle watching out for her niece, watching her own back and trying to solve the murder.

Dams, Jeanne M.

- The Evil That Men Do

Fiction.  Dorothy Martin and her ex-copper husband, Alan Nesbitt, are on holiday in the Cotswolds in a charming town called Broadway.  As usual with Dorothy, she becomes embroiled in a mystery involving a rock star, a counselor, an abusive man, and a wonderful new companion.

Evanovich, Janet

- Wicked Business 

Fiction.  Lizzy wants nothing more than to bake her cupcakes, but trouble seems to follow her around in the form of Diesel, her sometimes protector, sometimes bedmate, and always hot guardian, along with his sidekick, the willful Carl.

Gaynor, Hazel

- The Girl Who Came Home 

Fiction.  Heartwrenching tale of travelers on Titanic, from a group of 14 Irish men and women traveling to America to start a new life, to a brave steward who provided missing links from the past, to a young contemporary girl, great-granddaughter of one of Titanic’s survivors who connects with her great-grandmother in a very personal way.

Stockett, Kathryn

- The Help 

Fiction.  Gutwrenching at times, heartwarming at times, this tale of racial differences in Mississippi homes in the early 1960’s will drag you down into the bowels of racism and lift you up into the light of hope, as it tells the tales of black maids and their white employers.

Books Read in August 2012

Alderman, P.J.

- A Killing Tide 

Fiction.  Kaz returns to her hometown of Astoria, Oregon to find her brother accused of murder, and the whole town keeping secrets.

Arlington, Lucy

- Buried in a Book

Fiction.  1st in a series about an ex-journalist who wants to be a literary agent, her teenage son, who wants to raise goats, and her mother, who reads tarot cards, all living in a quaint little town with all sorts of interesting characters.

Blair, Annete

- Cloaked in Malice 

Fiction.  Maddy owns a vintage clothing store that comes complete with a drop dead handsome ghost.  She also has an FBI agent boyfriend who is slightly overprotective.  Maddy’s great talent?  She’s a psychometrist.  Someone who receives visions when touching clothing, in her case, vintage clothing, a talent that not only helps her solve mysteries, but also gets her into trouble.

Freethy, Barbara

- All She Ever Wanted

Fiction.  Standalone mystery set in California.  Four girls meet at college and become sorority sisters.  They’re best friends, but one of them ends up dead, and another is suspected of murder.

Galenorn, Yasmine

- Night Seeker

Fiction.  The battle between Cecily Waters and Myst continues, as she discovers her new powers and reconnects with her father, Wrath, King of the Rivers and Rushes.  Can she save Grieve from his bloodlust and connection with Myst, or will the effort cause him his life?  

Lavene, Joyce

-Wicked Weaves 

Fiction.  1st in the Renaissance Faire mystery series.  Jessie is working as an apprentice to a master basket maker, a Gullah woman with secrets.  Those secrets start coming out, and Jessie and the village bailiff, Chase, join forces to try and solve them.

Waiwaiole, Lono

- Wiley’s Lament 

Fiction.  Rather gritty tale of murder and revenge and a father’s love, full of up-close action.

Finished!

2,234/51,398/50,000

Oops, forgot to post that I finished the other day.  The challenge, but not the story.  I don't like it at all, so I doubt I'll ever finish it.  I'm looking forward to November's NaNo, just have to figure out which story to write, but at least I have some time to think about it.  In the meantime, I'm trying to get caught up on my reading goal.  I'm at 76 books now, but my goal is 150 by the end of the year.  Not sure I can make that if I'm taking another month and half off for writing.  I can't read and write at the same time.  If I read, I feel guilty for not writing.

But...I'm 3 for 3 wins for NaNo, so far, and I'm happy about that :)

Day 26 - So very close

6,578/49,164/50,000

Less than 1,000 left!  I might actually get more than 50k done this month.  The last two NaNo's, I barely got more than 50k, but I still have 5 days to write.

Day 25 - Break over

22,018/42,586/50,000

Finally!  I've had days of no writing and ended up about 8,800 words behind, but I finally got my act together and pushed through, so now I'm not only caught up, I'm over a day ahead of schedule!  Tired and needing sleep.

Day 12 - Going well

1,483/20,568/50,000

I didn't write much today, but I am on track and hope to write a little extra tomorrow, so I'm ahead.  No stress that way :)

Day 11 - Touching on the dark

3,900/19,085/50,000

It's going well.  I'm starting to barely touch on some dark stuff, but I'm not ready to dive right in yet.  Skirted a couple of issues that I might come back to later, but we'll see.

I think we've lost three cabinmates.  Two never showed up, and one only posted once or twice, but nothing in over a week.  It would be nice to have a full, active cabin like in June, but oh, well.

Haven't decided what to do for November.  I got stalled in Avienne pt 2, but I need to redo a lot for pt 1, and I won't have time until this month is over.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll end up writing something totally different in November, but I'd really like to get something finished, even if I don't plan on submitting it.  The piece I'm working on now will take a lot of editing, not just for technical issues, but for content, as well.

Day 9 - Caught up

6,960/15,185/50,000

I finally got caught up to where I need to be to finish on time.  This writing is flowing pretty easily, as I have tons of information to write about. I'm looking forward to getting back to Avienne pt 2 and to Chrysallis, but one thing at a time.

Day 7 - Unstuck, rerouted

5,257/8,225/50,000

Pop went the cork!  I'm unstuck!  Apparently, getting past whatever it is I need to get past to be able to age my character is going to take some time, which I don't have if I want to win Camp NaNo.  So...since I'm rebelling anyway, I decided to write a series of essays instead, and it's going well, so far.  I finished Day 6 only 1,777 words behind schedule, so I should be able to catch up today.  Feels good.

Day 6 - Majorly stuck

2,968/2,968/50,000

Ugh!  Stuck.  I haven't written anything since Day One.  My muse has up and gone on vacation.  I don't know if it's still the age thing that I'm stuck on, or if I'm just stuck about what to write in her teenage years.  I only have a couple of plot points for that time period, then I skip ahead to her as an adult, and at the moment, I can't seem to work up the interest in writing that yet, even though I have a lot of plot points ready to go there.

In the meantime, another story idea hatched in the middle of the night that sounds fun too, but again, it's about a young child discovering her roots.  Me again!  

My therapist thinks that if I write about me growing up and walk my way through the dark stuff, that I'll get unblocked and be able to age my characters, but I really do not want to get bogged down in all that darkness.  I guess I'm trying to work my way around it, but she thinks I need to plow straight through it.  It's a boring story to me.  It's over and done with, and I just want to move on from here, but says that probably won't work.  The way I see it is, why take myself through that again?

I really want to win Camp NaNo this month, so I just need to write SOMETHING.  

Books Read in July 2012

Brown, Renni & King, Dave

- Self-Editing for Fiction Writers

Non-fiction.  Very informative book about self-editing.  Easy to understand and ruthless.

Exum, Wallace L.

- Murder at Hogans Corner, Washington 

Non-fiction.  True story of the murder of Virginia Barsic.  A woman in her 50’s whose only mistake was in opening her home to six teenagers.  She didn’t deserve what they did to her.

Harris, Charlaine

- Real Murders

Fiction.  1st in the Aurora Teagarden series that takes place in Georgia.  Librarian Roe Teagarden is a member of Real Murders, a club that discusses...real murders.  Suddenly, the club members are being picked off one by one.  Who will be next?

- Shakespeare’s Landlord 

Fiction.  1st in the Lily Bard series in Arkansas.  Survivor of a disfiguring rape, Lily moves to a small town to get away from her past.  In her daily job as cleaning woman around town, she meets a bevy of odd characters, one of whom just might be a killer.

Kimberly, Alice

- The Ghost and the Dead Deb

Fiction.  2nd in the Haunted Bookshop series.  Pen and Sadie invite an author to read at their bookshop.  Her book is about a true crime that involved a friend of hers.  Suddenly, the reading is interrupted by a violent outburst, and people start disappearing.

O’Connell, Glenys

- Naked Writing

Non-fiction.  Absolutely useless book about writing that had lots of typos.  Only thing worth keeping was the last chapter on querying and submitting manuscripts.

Pickard, Nancy

- The Virgin of Small Plains 

Fiction.  Intricate mystery that takes place in a small town in Kansas, where an 18-year-old mystery awaits to be solved.

Richards, Emilie

- Blessed Is The Busybody

Fiction.  Agate Wilcox is the wife of a minister in a small town.  One lovely day in their small town, the front door of the parsonage opens, and the naked body of a young woman is found on the doorstep.  Aggie is determined to find out who she is and why she has been left at her door.

Stabenow, Dana

- A Cold Day for Murder 

Fiction.  Tough Alaskan woman fights to survive the harsh elements while solving a murder.

Day One of August's Camp NaNo 2012

2,968/2,968/50,000

Day one went slowly.  I stressed myself into a depression day before yesterday, because I still hadn't come up with an outline for this second part of my novel.  I couldn't figure out how to transition my character from 4-years-old to a teenager, without jarring the reader with a Part One and Part Two.  I was also blocked, because I had so much fun writing her as a child and didn't really want her to grow up, although she has to.  It was suggested to me that I had invested so much of myself in my character, that I was creating the block because of the rough years I had growing up.  That made a lot of sense, and after that discussion, I felt better about the writing.  I decided to jump right in and start writing her as a teen and deal with the transition after the end of the month, unless I can figure it out before then.  That worked, and I finally got into writing.

Less than 24 hours

August's Camp NaNo begins in 22 hours and 37 minutes, and I still don't have an outline!  I didn't use one for the first half of the book, since I wasn't aiming toward a specific ending, but now that there will be an ending to the book, I feel like I need to rein myself in and work to an outline.  I'm thinking that another 50-70k words should finish this book, since rewrites will bring the total down a bit, and I'd like to end up with over 100k.  I'd like to get everything done on this book by October, so I can start concentrating on the next book in the trilogy for NaNo in November.  

10 Chapters edited

Finished editing all ten chapters of part one.  Have corrections to make and scenes to write and probably one scene to delete.  I'm happy with the story and my writing, and I'm planning on having the changes done before the end of July.  I also need to outline part two of the book.  Last time, I used plot points rather than outlining, and I'm trying to see which way works best for me.

Finally editing

I certainly enjoyed my week and a half of pleasure reading, but I finally got started on editing this morning and finished the first chapter.  Made some notes that I'll have to reconcile later in the novel, but I'm happy with my writing.  With some short term memory loss, reading it is almost new, which is wonderful.  Only have the first 4 chapters printed (Dad's printer blew a gasket on me), but hopefully that will get fixed so I can print the other 6 chapters out.  It's easier to catch and note the edits on paper than it would be online.  Lots of my own shorthand symbols.  I'm looking forward to getting some plot points down on paper for the second half of the book.  I think I'd like to end up with around 120k words after editing.  Not sure I can write all that in August, but we'll see.  At least I have a couple of months before I need to write again in November.  That should give me time to write and edit the rest of this book, before I start the second book.

Reading when I should be editing

Yes, I know.  I'm supposed to be spending this month editing my June Camp novel, but I've missed reading for pleasure so much in the past 8 weeks, that I was going through withdrawal.  So, here it is the 7th of July, and I've already read 8 books since I won Camp NaNo.  But, I haven't forgotten about my book, I've been cogitating on it all along and have worked out some of my worldbuilding issues.  It seems to be a neverending task.  And I've made some notes for fixes that I need to make in the manuscript.  I did go through the first three scenes and edit them.  It's kind of funny, because although I know the story, I've already forgotten details, so reading them as I edit is surprising.  I just need to set aside a couple of hours everyday to edit so I quit procrastinating.  Yah, I know.  Quit blogging and edit!

Genealogy Bucket List

1. I want to go to Cuba and Puerto Rico to see where my paternal grandparents came from, to dance to their music and eat their food.


2. I want to go to the Basque Country of Spain and France to walk the streets where my ancestors walked, to sit through a service in the churches they worshipped in, to taste the food they might have eaten, to hear the language they spoke, to see the ancient buildings they saw, and hopefully to meet some relatives.


3. I want to go to Norway to visit the country of the Vikings where my last name originated, and to see the stunning Northern Lights.


4. I want to go to the next Oneha ohana reunion in Hawai'i.


I'm sure there will be more items for my bucket list.

Books Read in June 2012

Dereske, Jo

- Savage Cut

Fiction.  1st in the Ruby Crane series.  A forgery expert moves back to her hometown in Michigan after her daughter’s auto accident.  She tries to pick up the pieces and heal her daughter while trying to solve a murder and start a new romance.

Dullemond, Tom

- The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy:  Volume One 

Non-fiction.  Covers Roots of Fantasy, Worldbuilding, Race Creation Plot Construction, Medieval Clothing and Food, Mythology, Religion, Martial Arts, Humor, Research and Marketing

George, Anne

- Murder on A Girl’s Night Out

Fiction.  First in the Southern Sisters mystery series, about two 60-something sisters living in Alabama, who end up involved in two local murders.

Morris, Tee

- The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy: Volume Two 

Non-fiction.  Covers Myth Busting, Writing Short Stories & Novellas, Worldbuilding, Writing YA, Mystery and Fantasy, Romance and Fantasy, Government, Magic Systems, Herbalism, Shared World Writing, Writing Arthurian Legends, Self-Editing

Day 28 AND I'M FINISHED!!!!

8,608/50,229/50,000


*does naked happy dance and doesn't care if the neighbors are watching*  I'm DONE!  Wow.  Well, I finished the challenge, but not the book yet.  Still lots of work to be done on that, but I'm taking the rest of the day OFF!  That's 2 out of 2 NaNo challenges so far.  I'll spend July editing and rewriting, then I'll try to finish the book during August Camp.  I'm a happy cat today :)

Day 27 and OMG ONLY 4 DAYS LEFT!

1,485/41,621/50,000


Oh, holy cow, I JUST realized that we only have four days left to write, and I still have over 9k words to go.  Major stress is setting in.  I finally got to write the big scene I'd been planning that is so important to the story.  It went really well, had some good surprises for me, but now it's over and I have no idea what to write next!  I have plot points figured out, but they come later.  THINK!  I have to sit down and have a convo with my characters.  Surely they know what comes next.  Right?

Newfound family member

Today I received an email from my 8th cousin 2x removed who lives in England!  We're both descended from the same Basque guy, my 9th GGrandfather, and his 7th GGrandfather.  Exciting, right?  I think so.  

Day 23 & 24, The ritual

3,357/40,136/50,000


Having a good writing day, but I don't think I'm done yet.  Came to a pivotal scene in the story, and it turned out well.  The next scene will be fun to write.  I love writing dream scenes.

Day 22, Caught up again

3,290/36,779/50,000


Did well this morning.  Had another surprise plot point that will bring more conflict (ooh, conflict!) into my story.  Learning a LOT on www.absolutewrite.com gosh I thought I wrote pretty well before, but I'm just learning how much I don't know about the craft of writing.  Everyone's been very helpful, and I spend part of every day on the site.    Still working my way through The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy Vol 1.  Most of the info about medieval armor and weaponry I learned back when I played Ultima Online.  Kind of miss that game.

AncestryDNA Results

Got my autosomal DNA results back from Ancestry.com today.  They were a bit surprising:


44% East Asian (Filipino, Chinese, Taino Indian)
27% Southern European (Spanish, Basque)
 6% Pacific Islander (Hawaiian)
 7% Eastern European (?)
16% Uncertain (?)


I'm surprised that East Asian was so high.  My maternal grandfather was Filipino/Spanish, and my maternal GG grandfather was Chinese.  Taino Indian comes from my paternal grandmother's side from Puerto Rico.


Three of my grandparents have Spanish blood, so I thought that percentage would be higher.  I expect the Cuban and most of the Puerto Rican shows up as Spanish blood.


Eastern European?  I have no clue, but I'm really looking forward to finding out where that comes into the mix.  More research coming up!


Uncertain?  What's that, alien blood?  I suspect my paternal grandmother is part African, as her parents are listed as "mulatto" on the Puerto Rican census.  My father's last name, "Corpion", originated as an Old Norse word for "raven", and the Norwegian Vikings did invade Southern France where one of them apparently married, or at least, had a son with a Basque woman, from whom I am descended.  

Days 20-21, Wrote just a little

1,702/33,489/50,000


Wrote just enough on the 20th to cover my daily quota, but I got busy on the 21st and didn't write anything at all.  Will get back to it tomorrow.

Days 16-19, Finally caught up again

3,478/31,787/50,000


Wow, my sleep patterns got messed up again, and I spent the last three days just trying to stay awake, much less trying to write.  I used up my buffer of extra wordcount, but I got back to writing today and finally got caught up.  Not sure how much of what I wrote today will end up in the final draft, but it works for now.  Hopefully, I can start building up my buffer again this afternoon.

Days 11-15, Where have I been?

5,686/28,309/50,000


Okay, first off, I have NOT been lazy, although I did take a few days off from writing.  I was not neglecting my novel.  Worldbuilding took over my life, and I got a lot worked out.  I finished reading the 2nd volume of The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy by Tee Morris.  It was so full of really helpful advice.  I gave it 5 stars!  I'm now in the middle of volume 1 of the same title, by Darin Park & Tom Dullemond.  Don't ask me why I read them out of order.  I just happened to grab the 2nd one first.


Had a great day of writing today.  I'm in the middle of another story-within-a-story, and I find them so fun to write!  They up your wordcount AND add so much to the novel.  This one is a tale told to the children of the clan by a warrior about when he was young and went with his father on a trading journey and sailed on the ocean for the first time in his life, landing on an island and meeting members of a very different clan.  So fun!


I passed today's writing goal and might have written more, but my eyes wouldn't let me.  They're tired.  One hour of sleep just doesn't cut it anymore.  I'm old.  I need rest.


When I write at night, I get stopped periodically by my cat, who insists that he must receive cuddles and reserves the right to fall asleep on my chest.  If I ignore him, sometimes he attacks, and sometimes, like the other night, he rolls around and around on my bed, making little kitty "play with me" noises.  Next thing I heard was THUD!  I turned around to find him glaring at me from the floor.  Goof fell off the bed again, but somehow, it's MY fault!


Of course it is.

Day 10 & 11, Good progress

3,994/22,623/50,000


Didn't add much to the word count on Sunday, but I had a good day today.  The story is writing itself, and my characters keep surprising me. I'll have some major rewrites to do on the roost itself.  Their technology is further advanced than I'd first imagined, which is interesting.  Still haven't decided on the horse issue.  Hopefully, I can figure that out soon.

Day 9, Surprising new plot points

2,630/18,629/50,000


Wow, so I was wondering what to write today, when suddenly an entire new sub-plot popped up and bit me on the butt.  Very exciting, and it'll be very integral to the whole story, bringing in both warmth and conflict for the two girls.  Still having fun with it!  Our whole cabin is doing great.  


Oh, need I explain that during Camp, you can choose to be part of a cabin with other writers?  It helps.  It gives you people to commiserate with and to find encouragement from, and adds a feeling of connectedness to the process.  Real people we can reach out and "touch" when we need a break from writing.

Day 7 & 8, Back to writing

3,518/15,933/50,000


Got back to writing during the night and this morning, and it went well.  Told a story within a story, which is kind of neat.  I got to step outside the original story for a little while and write something very different.  The couple days I spent planning really helped move the plot forward and even brought in another conflict to resolve.  The stats say that I should be finished on June 25, but I expect to write until the 31st anyway.  There will probably be more days ahead that I don't get any writing done.

Day 6, Another word-less day

0/12,415/50,000


Got busy today, and I'm still trying to nail down the world of my novel.  Was struggling a bit trying to figure out how progressive the clan should be and questioning at what point in history pigs were domesticated, then I suddenly realized that just because my genre is fantasy, that doesn't mean it has to take place in some medieval-based world!  I can do whatever I want with it, so I'll be making a few small changes here and there, but not a lot.  I did manage to make some notes in my Writing Journal while sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's office, so my day wasn't entirely lost.

Day 5, Didn't write a word!

0/12,415/50,000

Okay, so I didn't write a word today.  I just couldn't get in the mood for some reason.  But I did manage to do some planning and realized that I need a better idea of what goes on in the world of my novel, and the daily life of my clans and what their strongholds look like.  I did some research on fighting tactics, and came up with two weapons my birds will use.  Now, I need to do the same for the cats.

Day 4, Took a wrong turn

1,920/12,415/50,000


Wrote well after midnight and again when I sat down again in the afternoon, but then I wrote myself into a wall.  I ended up in a place that I didn't want to be in, and I wasn't sure how to get out of it. Thought about it all day.  Tried several times to go with the flow, but it didn't work.  BUT around 11pm, I finally figured out that I need to back up just a little bit (only 1-1/2 paragraphs, thank goodness!) and take a different path.  Will be spending part of tomorrow in planning, but I think it'll be a good day now that I've figured out my next move.

Day 3, Missed my daily goal...Oops!

1,627/10,495/50,000


Well, I ran out of time, so I didn't meet my daily goal before midnight, but I'll keep writing tonight.  Slept in and piddled around all day, and even though it was nice and quiet, no kids yelling and screaming outside 'til 11pm like last night, I just wasn't in the mood to write until about 10pm.  I did have to stop and take a break for awhile, when Tyger decided he needed cuddles.  He's now howling out the window.  Oh, he's a cat, not a dog.  He just howls.  He has a little black girlkitty next door who comes to visit him every day.  She's out there now.

Day 2, well done

3,798/8,868/50,000


Met my word count goal for the day and am very pleased with the way the novel is working out.  I took the evening off to just relax.  Tomorrow, I start at a pivotal point in the story, which should get quite intricate, so I wanted to wait and get a good start on it in the morning, since the writing will be pretty intense for quite awhile.

Books Read in May 2012

Balzo, Sandra

- Grounds for Murder

Fiction.  Maggy Thorsen, owner of Uncommon Grounds coffeehouse, finds herself elected to manage the local barista competition.  The first round goes well, then suddenly the coffehouse belonging to the wife of her arch-rival goes up in flames.  What can happen next?

Baty, Chris

- Ready, Set, Novel!

Non-fiction.  Loaded with tips and exercises to help a writer prepare to write a novel.

- No Plot?  No Problem!

Non-fiction.  Guide to writing a novel in 30 days by the creator of NaNoWriMo.

Bell, James Scott

- The Act of War for Writers

Non-fiction.  Excellent guide for novel writers who want to get published.

Childs, Laura

- Agony of the Leaves 

Fiction.  Theodosia attends an even at the local aquarium, only to find herself face to face with the death of someone once very important to her.  Can she solve the murder without ending up in the grave herself?  Doubtful.

Gifford, Lazette

- NaNoWriMo for the New and the Insane (ebook)

Non-fction.  Tips for surviving the National Novel Writing Month.

Hawes, Jason

- Ghost Hunt 

Non-fiction.  Interesting csemi-fictional ollection of ghost stories that highlight paranormal investigations performed by the T.A.P.S. team.   The second part of the book includes investigation tips and a guide to the equipment commonly used. 

Marnham, Patrick

- Wild Mary 

Non-fiction.  Fascinating biography of author Mary Wesley, born in 1912 and publlished her first novel at the age of 70.  Between 70 and 84, she wrote 9 award-winning novels, mainly based on her own extraordinary life in England, between and during the two world wars.  She was no shrinking violet!

Wesley, Mary

- Not That Sort of Girl

Fiction.  Rose Peel lives at Slepe with her husband Ned, who has inherited the large home.  They have a comfortable life together, although she is haunted by her first love, and Ned finds himself with a long-timer mistress.  Cam Rose bear to be parted from her love, Mylo, over and over through the years?

Camp NaNo2012 is underway!

5,070/5,070/50,000


I did it!  I wrote 5,070 words the first day of camp.  My goal was 5,000, so I'm very happy.  That's a lot of writing for one day, at least for me, and I doubt I'll be able to keep up that rate.  I think I'll try for 3,500 each day, though I'll be happy with 2,500.  I'm trying to get a good buffer up front, because I know that there will be days this month that I don't get to write.


The writing is going well.  There's a lot already that I want to rewrite, but other than making notes in my Writing Journal, I'm not letting my inner editor take charge.  I'll wait until July for edits.


Sometimes I feel like I'm writing too quickly, not taking enough time to fill in the details, but I'm so concentrated on getting the story down in the first place, some of the detail will just have to wait.


Everyone in my cabin is doing really well, and I hope we can encourage each other to stay stimulated.

In good shape for Camp to begin

Still working on my char profiles and thinking up minor conflicts to come up during my story.  I've finally decided on the major conflict, which should be interesting to write.  I'm missing my cozies, but I'm so excited for Camp to start on Friday, and I'm trying to fill the time I'm not working on it by messing around on Facebook (can't let my crops go to waste!), checking the various genealogy boards, and reading Damn You Autocorrect.  Oh, the odd conversations I'm missing by not having an iPhone!  Ah yes, and watching reruns of NCIS and Golden Girls (can't miss my girls!)

As for NCIS, I have a crush on all of them.  I'd love to be BFFs with Abby and have wild and crazy sleepovers where we braid each other's hair, eat clowny cakes, scare up a ghost or two, and watch old black and white horror pics.  I'd want Tony for a brother, believe it or not.  He's too pretty boy for me, but you can count on him when the going gets rough.  Timothy McGee would be my boyfriend (I'm crazy about him!), and Ziva would be my lover (hot!).  Gibbs, he would have to be my father, although I'm sure he would drive me crazy with his rules.  Ducky would be the eccentric uncle who still lives in that gorgeous Victorian mansion (where else?), and Jimmy...I guess he'd be my slightly awkward, but lovable, cousin.