We have a Winner in the 2009 NaNoWriMo!

That's right folk! This morning at about 9:30 CST it became official. I am one of the winners of the NaNoWriMo for 2009. I took the time to read a little of what I've written and even though it's still quite rough. (I think that's why they call it a rough draft). My official word count is 50063.

I really enjoyed writing this book. It truly is amazing how much you can get done in a month when you've got a goal and a deadline. They say that the hardest part of the process is during week two and even though I was pressed during that time, I think the hardest part for me was those last 1000 words. I thought I'd never get done. (The truth is, it really didn't take me any longer to write those 1000 words that it did to write any other 1000 words. It just seemed like it.)

This afternoon I straightened up the house and tomorrow I begin another project but this one won't be as strenuous. Tomorrow I start working on my nonfiction book--WRAPS. It's going to be a much shorter book (75 pages)and the process won't be as intense.(I only plan to work at it for a hour per day.) My deadline for this book is the beginning of the year. This one I will self publish and self promote. I'm going to spend January reworking a lot of When God Turned his Head. By setting goals and deadlines, I am finding that I can do amazing things.

Day 28 of the 2009 NaNoWriMo

The book is coming along quite well, I've less than 4000 words to write and two days to write them in. I'm just coming up for air long enough to write this blog to show that I am indeed working and that I really haven't dropped off the planet. I've missed a few days of writing here and there for various reasons throughout the month but for the most part I have written every day. I've learned so much. I can't wait to finish and bring myself into the 2009 NaNoWriMo Winners circle.

Day 26 of the 2009 NaNoWriMo

we are in the last week of the 2009 NaNoWriMo. I have written over 43,000 words so far. I've just got 7000 words to finish. I must confess, writing pages for my book has been taking most of my writing time so I haven't been working on my blog or on my other writing projects. I've also rediscovered a bad habit that I know is an addictive habit. Freecell. Freecell is one of those things that taught me to never get involved with those game applications on facebook.I can waste two hours easily just playing freecell. I'm not sure why I've suddenly started doing freecell again. Maybe it's because I'm some how stressed out and freecell relieves that stress. I'm not sure.

Yesterday I was able to get extra done on the book and I almost killed of my favorite character. She was one of my supporting characters in this book and one of the main characters in Soldiers Don't Cry. I'm not going to tell you how but I will tell you that she survived the writing session and will go on and probably be part of the next book in the series. I'm not sure if killing of some of my favorite characters is a pathology but it certainly makes for interesting fiction.

Day 12 0f 2009 NaNoWriMo

I was doing so well last week. I was well ahead of schedule when Sunday came and I couldn't write all that day. Monday came and I caught up with most of what I didn't get written on Sunday and finally did get caught up on Tuesday. Today I only need to write about 1000 words to break 20,000 words! Whoo-who almost half way done! Thought I'd better get out here and let everyone know that I'm still plugging away at this novel and that everything is going well. I'm already thinking about the first rewrite. The first draft of any novel is a mess compared to what it ends up. Mostly what I'm writing is the actions of the main characters and the scene setups. Next month I'll begin what I call second draft and that's where I add details. It's still a long way from being ready to publish. I'm not ready to rewrite yet and there is a word count of 1667 still staring me in the face this morning. I love it when the word count is finished by ten o' clock in the morning. That didn't happen yesterday but if I get to work, It could happen today. My husband should be proud of me though, the writing is getting done and so is the housework.

Day six of 2009 NaNoWriMo

The word count continues to go up. This time in record time. I finished my 1667 words before 9:30 am. I've been careful to pace myself this first week. I've been very careful not to burn myself out by doing too much too soon. I'm thinking though that maybe I'll try to pick up the pace a bit next week so that hopefully I can finish the book by Thanksgiving. Wouldn't that be nice. 50,000 words finished by Thanksgiving. Even at the rate I'm going I might be able to come close Today my word count is 10,732. Over 700 words ahead of schedule.

Fifth Day of the 2009 NaNoWriMo

I have been successfully been able to write my entire 1667 quota before 10 am every morning so far. I'm really happy with my progress so far. I've been learning a lot about how to write this first draft efficiently. I am mostly concentrating on creating action and dialogue and I'm not too worried about descriptions and other details right now. today I had to do a little research for the chapter I'm going to be working on tomorrow. There's a ceremony that I wanted to find out. I took a couple of wrong turns and couple of dead ends when researching on the internet but within half an hour I had the information I was looking for. I started taking notes on a piece of paper what I thought I'd need but then changed my mind and just copied and pasted the information right into my chapter for tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll edit the material to fit the story, add in personal details about how my character dealt with the ceremony, what is thoughts were etc. The chapter shouldn't take long to write. It'll be easy to rework the information in such a way that I won't be plagiarizing.

My word count is 9009.

Day Four of 2009 NaNoWriMo

Today I was again done writing the 1667 words by 10 o' clock in the morning. I'm starting to develop a routine that works well for me. I'm hoping that I can continue this pace, not just through the month but beyond as well. I'm finding that writing 1667 a day isn't difficult. Because the book is actually in two parts right now, (Three if you count Elizabeth's diary entries), I actually have to plan what is happening the following two chapters rather than just one chapter. It's almost like writing two different books although later they will merge and hopefully in such a way that you didn't really expect would happen. There are hints in this book in several places but I hope that everyone that reads it will be shocked when they find out what who Head of Stone is.

I would have written in here earlier in the day but I had to catch up on a backlog of emails because my daughter had her dentist appointment yesterday. (no cavities, maybe braces but I doubt it. She just got her front teeth in and they haven't entered their final position yet. Her brother's teeth when they came in were in a worse position but they straightened out just fine.)

I'm glad I've read about how even famous authors had a lack of confidence concerning their writing. Stephen King had thrown Carrie in the trash. Ray Bradbury thought his writing was crap. Puts my own self-confidence or lack of it in context.

Day three of 2009 NaNoWriMo

Today I've completed my third day of working on the first draft of my novel and have completed the third chapter. I have already written 5324 words of my new novel. Over 1/10th of the way to finishing 50k! There's a lot more drama than I expected this early in the book. I'm not having any trouble writing 1667 words a day and today has taken the longest of about 3 hours. My daughter has a dentist appointment this afternoon so I'll be taking her to the dentist.
I was going to write in my blog yesterday but I couldn't because I messed up the password on the internet so I couldn't get on and I had to wait until my husband got home before anyone could get back on. (I don't know the password, can you believe that?) But I did write yesterday and I did get the housework done yesterday and I even took the time to make two loaves of banana bread. The house is clean, there's fresh baking in the house to snack on, and I'm right on target with my book. Life is good.

The 2009 NaNoWriMo Has Begun!

Good morning today begins the 2009 NaNoWriMo. I am happy to inform you that I have already written my quota of 1667 today and it was done before 9:30 this morning CDST. In all the excitement, I forgot to set the clock back so it was actually 8:30 CST. Did I tell you that I'm writing a chapter a day? Each day is a separate chapter of 1667 words. I know they are short chapters but they are just the first draft after all. The best part I think is that I didn't utilize my outline in the word count so I've got a fantastic start to finishing my novel all 50,000 words this month!

If you're just checking this blog out for the first time, and you don't know what NaNoWriMo is, check out my first entry in the blog and check out my eHow article How to Write a Novel in a Month to see what I'm talking about.