Now that NaNoWriMo is nearing its final hours, I'm relaxing with a cup of hot chocolate, admiring my winner's certificate, and getting on with all that editing and revision I need to do. I'm working on my 2003 NaNoWriMo novel, which was originally called "A Curious Woman Wants To Know". However that is embarrasingly redundant, so I'm now calling it "Curious Woman". But that's also just a working title. I'm hoping to come up with something different.
I wrote that novel hoping it would be for adults, but since two of the main characters are children and two are teens, I'm now thinking that in revision I could slant it toward the YA market. It is about a homeschooling family living in a logging town during the 1990's. If anyone local is reading this, you can be sure that town is named Happy Camp. All the characters, however, are fictional. A few of the events are not. The MC for the book is the family, and the enemy is the world at large, and things that happen to make families unstable. .#
Tuesday, November 28, 2006 ( 11:35 PM )
NaNoWriMo 2006 - I Won!
I reached 50K last night. Here's my winner's certificate: .#
Sunday, November 26, 2006 ( 11:22 PM )
Nearly done with NaNoWriMo
I'm releived to be nearly done with National Novel Writing Month this year. I took it easy and didn't force myself to try to be the brightest or the best. No more 100K stuff, at least, not this year or last. My best day this year, I wrote 3,336 words. Tonight I wrote 3,132 words in 1 + 1/2 hours. Easy. And now my total is 45,675.
That was the good part. The bad part is that I've written the entire plot I had in mind and still have another 4,325 words to write. I have no idea what to put in there. I'm thinking that tomorrow I might go over the ms. and insert descriptions. Maybe I'll find room for another scene or two, a new sub plot, or something! Maybe I need a prologue or an epilog. We'll see. One way or another, I expect to finish NaNoWriMo either tomorrow or the day after. .#
Saturday, November 25, 2006 ( 11:56 PM )
Only 7,457 more words needed
I'm almost to the 50,000 word goal. All these 3000+ word nights have turned things around for me. Also I finally got involved with the word wars on the NaNoWriMo forums, and am getting a lot done painlessly that way. I'm now at 42,543 words after having added 3,286 words this evening. .#
ISFJ
I've been scanning the NaNoWriMo forums tonight and came across a thread about the Myers Briggs personality types. I've always wanted to take that test, and this link was posted, which led me to this quiz.
Your Type is ISFJ - The Protector Guardian Introverted 67% Sensing 38% Feeling 38% Judging 11%
Qualitative analysis of your type formula You are: * distinctively expressed introvert * moderately expressed sensing personality * moderately expressed feeling personality * slightly expressed judging personality
I'm amazed by the accuracy of the Heiss description. I haven't read the others yet. And now I must get back to work on my novel! .#
Friday, November 24, 2006 ( 11:08 PM )
Another NaNoWriMo Update
I haven't updated recently - I've been busy doing so many other things. Lately I've been trying for 3,000 words daily - except yesterday, Thanksgiving, when I was out of town all day.
My work in progress, The Legend of Kao Pao, is now at 39,257 words. I added 3,014 words this evening, and at this rate should be done in a few days. I've got only 10,743 more words to write. .#
Purple Prose
I recently finished reading The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. Then I looked at the reviews on the Amazon site and noted that one said the book was full of purple prose.
What's that? I wondered, though I thought it had to do with his descriptive talent. Since I wasn't sure I looked for more information in Wikipedia's article, Purple Prose, which states that the term originated with the poet, Horace, who lived from 65–8 BCE.
He wrote:
Inceptis grauibus plerumque et magna professis purpureus, late qui splendeat, unus et alter adsuitur pannus, cum lucus et ara Dianae et properantis aquae per amoenos ambitus agros aut flumen Rhenum aut pluuius describitur arcus; sed nunc non erat his locus. Et fortasse cupressum scis simulare; quid hoc, si fractis enatat exspes nauibus, aere dato qui pingitur?
Translated: Your opening shows great promise, and yet flashy purple patches; as when describing a sacred grove, or the altar of Diana, or a stream meandering through fields, or the river Rhine, or a rainbow; but this was not the place for them. If you can realistically render a cypress tree, would you include one when commissioned to paint a sailor in the midst of a shipwreck?
I like this definition: "Modern critics use 'purple prose' to refer to any writing that is undermined by its overstylized and formulaic nature."
And for the record, I enjoyed the descriptiveness of Crane's writing, and didn't think it detracted from the novel at all. It is a skill I wish I had more of. .#
Sunday, November 19, 2006 ( 1:12 AM )
NaNoWriMo Progress Report
I'm past the half-way mark on The Legend of Kao Pao, finally. Also I'm weary from having just written another 2183 words. Whoever thinks writing isn't hard work is not a writer. The new total word count is 27,243. I'm 54.5% done.
I've also been continuing my fourth revision of The Scribe of Irohila. I'm on chapter five now. I didn't get much done this week, but at least did a few paragraphs today. .#
Friday, November 17, 2006 ( 9:15 PM )
Online Office
I've put my online office back on the site using a new type of message board. The last one, a phpBB board, was hacked. Please check it out and drop me a line to let me know you were there. If you have any writing or webdesign questions, I'm available to answer them to the best of my abilities. .#
Brevity and Simplicity
Say all you have to say in the fewest possible words, or your reader will be sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words or he will certainly misunderstand them. -- John Ruskin .#
49.1% done with NaNoWriMo
I'm almost to the half-way point. Tonight I added 2,092 words and my new total is 24,535. I always wait and do this in the evening. I guess it is the most natural writing time for me. I'm busy most of the rest of the day.
Today my main character, Raoli, had a problem with one girlfriend and climbed a tree with another one. Not too much excitement until the end when they noticed the village was about to be invaded. That's always disturbing.
The novel is only about half-way done. I'd better come up with some new plot twists soon.
I'm almost done reading The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. And today I picked up another book while visiting Nadine down at the Family Resource Center. She has a shelf full of children's novels. I asked her if they get used much, and she said no... which made me feel slightly sad. I was secretly asking to find out if she could use my collection of middle grade and YA novels. But since hers aren't getting used, I'm probably going to list them all on Amazon. I listed three books there earlier this year and two of them sold quickly. I have a goal of getting rid of about half my books during the next six months. If they don't sell on Amazon, I'll give them to the local second hand store. .#
Monday, November 13, 2006 ( 11:50 PM )
I'm 2/5 done with The Legend of Kao Pao!
Yesterday I was out of town all day long. Bob and I drove down to Redding to do some shopping. On the way home the rain was extremely heavy, then we ran into heavy snow and high winds for ten or fifteen miles near Mt. Shasta. By the time we got to Yreka it was only rain again. Bob drove slow on the last 64-mile section of our journey, from Yreka to Happy Camp along the Klamath River Highway. It rained heavily most of the way, with some snow fluries. We saw slushy-looking snow accumulating alongside the road in the Seaid Valley area.
Enough with this weather report!
I'm excited that after writing nothing yesterday, I wrote 3023 words this evening. I didn't start until after ten. Bob and I played backgammon and watched a movie before that. We watch a movie almost every night. (I have no TV reception.) Tonight we watched "Constantine", which was intense and very impressive.
My new total for the novel: 20612 words. I'm 41.5% done! .#
Saturday, November 11, 2006 ( 11:25 PM )
35% Done!!
The writing went better this evening. I added 2061 new words, bringing the manuscript total to 17589. I got excited about the conversation Raoli was having with Benaloki and Annellan (Benaloki's wife). We got to the heart of what was bothering Raoli.
Writing happens easily when we're in the middle of dialogue. I just finished chapter eight.
Yesterday I finished editing the fourth chapter of The Scribe of Irohila. I plan to work on that revision project more this coming week.
I also started reading The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. He was 25 when he wrote it, and the descriptions are wonderful. Good thing he wrote when he was young since he died a few years later. .#
Friday, November 10, 2006 ( 11:52 PM )
Writing continues
I'm still slogging along, writing more on The Legend of Kao Pao. I feel hopeful about the novel, and came up with some great plot developments today thanks to the help of a critique group friend and my boyfriend, Bob.
I wrote 1,736 more words, bringing my total to 15,528 words. I'm 31% done with the 50,000-word NaNoWriMo goal. .#
Overused Plot Devices
Editor Deborah Stevenson wrote about children's literature plot devices she'd like to have an extended vacation from. I am happy to report I haven't used any of them. .#
Thursday, November 09, 2006 ( 11:59 PM )
Catching up
I wrote 2081 words today, bringing my NaNoWriMo total to 13792. I'm still 1211 words behind, but at least I wrote more than 1667 words today. If I keep doing that for a few days, I'll catch up.
So far the manuscript is not boring. Today my MC led the village in cleaning up from a major mudslide. He got back some of that respect he lost by insulting village traditions. .#
Wednesday, November 08, 2006 ( 11:27 PM )
Good Progress on The Legend of Kao Pao
Despite my many challenges this year I'm still making adequate progress on this novel. I added 1295 words today even though I spent most of the day out of town, in Yreka. My new total word count is 11711. .#
Tuesday, November 07, 2006 ( 9:37 PM )
10416 words so far
I added another 1869 words today. I'm still a little behind the 1667 word daily level, and way behind what I wanted to write (2500 daily) so I'm a bit worried, but not anywhere near the panic level.
Today I added 1816 words and am up to 8547 total. This means I'm behind by about 1455 words... meaning that if I had been writing the bare minimum of 1667 words, I'd be at 10002 words already. I was slow at NaNoWriMo last year too. Last year my slowness was because of a content writing job I was working on. This year it is because of several factors - one being the amount of time I'm spending with my boyfriend. Another being a two week workshop I'm enrolled in that will be taking a lot of my time.
Last night I started reading New Directions in Dream Interpretation, a collection of essays edited by Gayle Delaney. So far my reading of the first essay has given me a lot of insights that are new to me.
I p-u-s-h-e-d myself to catch up, so I'd have at least 1,667 words for each of the four days since the beginning of the month. 1,667 is the minimum number of words needed per day to be able to write a novel of 50,000 words within a month.
Today I wrote 2946 words, and my total word count now is 6,731.
After finishing chapter two and starting on chapter three, I realized the scenes for chapter three were way too early in the novel. The first two chapters take place during winter, and the subject matter of the third chapter can't take place until springtime. I therefore switched things around in the outline and wrote new outline material for an intervening chapter.
This morning I also edited chapter two in The Scribe of Irohila. I'm looking forward to resolving some of the revision problems I face with that manuscript.
Another year has gone by, and here I sit at my desk again, writing a novel. I do this sporadically, not as regularly as I wish I could. But there's consistency in putting out at least one new novel first draft every year. I know I can take time to sit and pound out words, build up paragraphs, and create a new work of art.
But an essential ingredient is missing. I haven't been able to get my writing revised well enough to feel confident about sending it to an agent or publisher. I've stumbled around this process for years, somehow stubbornly refusing to make the progress I need. And time is getting short. I must do what I set out to accomplish, now.
Now is the key word. I've been waiting for this moment. I've trained myself to revise, to edit, to polish my works and make them shine. I can do it now, whereas six years ago when I started writing my first drafts, I froze at the thought of revision. Now I'm not afraid. I can cut entire paragraphs without remorse. I can do the work that needs to be done.
All this is driven by my yearning for the sunrise of my writing career. Until now, I've been working underground and behind cover. But when I sail my ship on the lengthy journey of manuscript submissions, I'll be seen by those whose eyes and hearts matter. And the sun will start to rise toward its zenith.
I fell short of the mark today. My goal is 2500 words daily, but I wrote only 1144 words. I'll have to make up for it on another day. My boyfriend, Bob, was nice and gave me time to work on it, but I had a hard time concentrating on the work. Plus I decided today that I needed to do some work on characterization. I wrote a list of all my characters for this novel (so far) and gave each of them at least three characteristics. Some got more. It was all very important work, but it detracted from my writing time.
About this character list - I feel it is vital because I've written other novels and gotten confused midway because I'd forget what name I gave a character, or what the person looked like. In one novel I had a little dog and kept forgetting whether I'd made it black or orange. I think it is currently black.
I've been doing practice writing sessions too and have started a great collection of flash fiction pieces. I'm really excited about this. My short-short fiction is much better than it was a few years ago. Maybe someday I'll have enough of this to share in some type of format - a book of short stories, or a chapbook... something like that.
I started the day by starting a new revision of The Scribe of Irohila. I've forgotten if this is the fourth or fifth revision. I'll call it the fourth. I managed to cut a lot! I took out one entire long paragraph. I think that book I've been reading - The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman - has given me a lot of insight on what needs to be changed.
Anyhow, I felt I got a lot of writing work done today while at the same time spending a lot of time with my boyfriend. It was a nice balance, and I won at our backgammon match tonight, so I'm having a good time.
Today my car stopped working, and I don't even care. I think it needs a starter or something attached to that system. I've got someone working on it, but this intense west coast rainstorm is slowing that process down. Looks like I might be doing some walking in the rain, but I'm okay with that. Walking is good for me and I have a raincoat and umbrella.
A few months ago I decided to delete some of my other websites. I'm trying to simplify my life. My Literature For Kids site is now history and I doubt it will be resurrected. The reason why is that it wasn't making me any money, and it was way too hard to get a new children's literature site to the top of the search engine listings. There are just too many of them.
Consequently I have some articles to transfer to this website, that used to be on Literature For Kids. A few days ago I added my article, Themes In Children's Fiction. There's more to come.
Though I'm starting my 2006 NaNoWriMo novel as of November 1, I have many other things to do this month and I don't want to slow my momentum just because I'm planning to write a novel. For example, I just finished the first read-through and edit of my 2002 NaNoWriMo novel, The Seagull Rebellion, and am enthusiastic about doing a fourth revision on my 2001 NaNoWriMo novel, The Scribe of Irohila. So I'll probably be doing that in my spare time while I'm using the same characters to write my current novel, The Legend of Kao Pao. You can see my daily progress notes on my blog.
I'm also ready to start expanding this website. I'd like to include a page for each novel I've written, a section for books I've read, and helpful information for writers. That work is in progress now. You can expect to see changes here soon. .#
I'm At 2,641 Words
I've reached my goal for the first day. I decided to write a minimum of 2,500 words daily for twenty days or until finished.
Twenty chapters with at least 2,500 words in them will make a book of more than 50,000 words.
I'm now at 2,641 words, and it is not even 5pm yet! Maybe I'll write more later today. That would help as I might have to take tomorrow off.
Wouldn't you know it - I sat down to write and my neighbors decided this was the time to pump up their stereo volume! They apparently got new sound equipment after selling their marijuana crop this last month. One of them has a 215 so this marijuana was grown legally, by the way.
I borrowed one of my boyfriend's CD's - it is called Infinite Pool by Tom Kenyon. We got it from a New Age bookstore in Mt. Shasta City about a month ago. It is a sound healing recording. Kenyon's website says this: "This recording can be quite helpful when doing inner work, psychological clearing, or while engaged in the exploration of altered states." Well I put that music on and didn't have another thought about my neighbor's new stereo capabilities. I breezed through more than one thousand wonderful words while listening to it.
This is it! The NaNoWriMo season has begun, and like thousands of other novelists, I'm excited. I stayed up until midnight last night so I could write the first paragraphs of The Legend of Kao Pao. My current word count is only 651 words - but I expect to add a lot to the manuscript today.
page at Amazon.
