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.