Thursday, June 28, 2012

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 :)

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

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?

Sunday, June 24, 2012

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.



Friday, June 22, 2012

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.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

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.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

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.

Friday, June 15, 2012

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.

Monday, June 11, 2012

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.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

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.

Friday, June 8, 2012

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.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

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.



Wednesday, June 6, 2012

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.

Monday, June 4, 2012

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.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

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.