Love this! Project: Rewrite of my 2010 NaNo novel, a middle grade adventure story Goal: Hit 50K before Thanksgiving, but also to not stop until I have a complete story. I've found that I can hit 50K words no problem. FINISHING THE DAMN THING is the tricky part. I'm around for Twitter sprints, but ma...
My SQUEE good news has nothing to do with writing, but here's the place to share it... I GOT A NEW JOB! When I returned from the BransforumFest in Vegas last March, I learned our research center was closing. After a few weeks of number crunching (and crazy amounts of stress), my boss thought he had ...
Holy buckets, Brenda! WAY TO GO!! I remember how awesome I felt when I hit my biggest word day last year during NaNo (just over 8K, thanks to the #1k1h sprints!). I hope you gave your brain some time to rest after that marathon! My Oct is shaping up quite nicely. I have a new outline for my MG story...
Ohh... interesting question. My MG story takes place in a school, so by default, there is potential for many characters. I haven't ever counted, though! Let's see: 1 main character 4 supporting characters 1 antagonist 6 2nd-tier supporting characters a handful of first-name-only students in the scho...
COOKIE!!! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! Hello, friend! Since I thrive in a pressure scenario, I enjoy participating in NaNo. However, SOMEONE GOT A NEW JOB !! Woot! Woot! And naturally, my first day is next Wed, 10/31. Poof! There goes that whole "writing during my free time at work" thing. But ya...
Oh, man. I have a slight TV addiction. Thankfully, I start to trim the list come Nov/December because some are just that bad. Once Upon a Time Revolution* Bones NCIS NCIS:LA Criminal Minds* Supernatural* Fringe* * = shows that I CANNOT miss. Especially those last three. Fringe will end in a few mont...
Oh, man. Guilty pleasure books? Yeah, I have them, too. The plot is recycled. The love triangle needed to end about 8 books ago. The family is so obnoxious and stale that I usually skim those scenes, and the side kick is quite possibly the most annoying character in literary history. But I can't sto...
Lol, Brenda. I thought the same thing. Jane goes back in time!! :) I HATED this exercise, but I cobbled something together that I feel is, well, not a suck-tastic as I thought it would be: 12-year-old David Fitzgerald is trying to survive boarding school in another country, but when he learns he is ...
Word. I'm TOTALLY in. I have 75% of my outline done, but I'm STUCK trying to figure out why my antagonist wants the Shiny Item that my MC is after. Gah! But, I'm going to a retreat center tomorrow morning and staying until Sunday. I'm bringing all my 2012 NaNo stuff with me, and if I can't break thr...
Sommer, I am SO proud of you for taking the leap and going to your doctor to find out more. Most people wouldn't even do that. Consider this the research phase of your novel. You're going to learn some new information and you'll spend some time figuring out how all the pieces fit together. Informati...
I agree 110%, Sanderling. I struggle with beginnings in each story I've written. I agree--if I could just start on page 5, that would be so much easier. So then I try and start there, but feel like it cuts out this gentle introduction between the reader and the story. I'm getting better at it. I wri...
Speaking of running, I'm putting some real thought into another half marathon. This one would be the last weekend in October and the race is a gradual down-hill slope for the first half, so most runners PR the race (personal record). After the hot mess of this spring's half marathon (cancelled due t...