NaNoWriMo win and a writer's wonderings

I did it! I did it! I completed the NaNoWriMo challenge on November 28th. With my busy, busy month, I'm happy to prove to myself that I can do it. Congratulations to all those writers who made it too.

My progress looks like it was flipping me off, but I kept ahead of the curve.

As you can see, it was a month with varied writing days. Do I wish I could be more consistent? Yes. Yet I did write every single day. (Except after I made the 50k mark! I had another project that demanded my immediate attention.) The story isn't terrific. Though rewrites might help it. What I took away from this exercise is that I can write 50k a month. No matter how busy I am with other things, I can take a little time for myself and get the words down. I think I just didn't believe in myself this year. I wanted to remind myself that I can do it.

I've been neglecting a lot of online stuff. My blog and blog visits especially. I miss reading what my blogging friends are up to. That guilt is nibbling away from me. Next year calls for better time management.

I'm also having big issues where my pen name's genre is headed. I have RH (reverse harem) author friends that are right on the trends. I didn't like this year's ones (bully romance and alien abduction romance), though, and the big one they're calling for next year already (prison romance) is just... no. I've been told that my romance is too feminist, but I'm okay with that. More than okay. I won't write that other stuff. Yet it isn't what sells. I'm learning to be okay with that as well.

It makes me wonder if I need to just write in a different genre. I thoroughly enjoy romance. I love the intricacies of relationships and how unique every single one is. I get excited to see where my characters take me on their journey together. Fantasy and paranormal are still my go-to worlds. I like that something extraordinary in a story. Lately, I've been reading a lot of cozy mysteries. They're light, funny, and fun. Some of them have that bit of paranormal and a dash of romance. Maybe... just maybe that's where I might head in the new year.

2019 has been a rough year in my life all around. Even though the next few weeks are booked up and busy, I'm trying to take it easier this month. Friday night Dungeons & Dragons still maintains my sanity. I'm lucky to have such wonderful friends to meet once a week and play with.

Enjoy your friends and family this December. Be kind, laugh a lot, and enjoy the moment.

Writing Life Update

Here I meant to get back into the groove of things, and I stumbled. It's been one of those years I've fallen down a lot on so many levels, but I'm starting to get back on my feet. Little steps, right?

Writing has been slow this year. I managed to get out my Samhain story in good time, but I haven't finished any of the novels I've worked on. That has to stop. A serious writer needs to complete projects. I must stay the course and follow through. To help with that, I'm going to do NaNoWriMo next month. I may lose about nine or ten days due to family stuff, but all those other days can add up big time. I'll be working on a new project for my pen name. A fae story involving a cursed carousel and who knows what else! I'm going to let it surprise me. If you'd like to be my buddy on NaNoWriMo, I'm CRains.

I'm doing great with my reading goals. Mind you, I'm way behind on reading everything I want to read since my TBR list is huge, but I'm nearing 100 books on my Goodreads challenge. I've hit 85!

I just returned from a trip to Canada to visit my family. There are a ton of seasonal events happening this month, and every weekend is busy for me. Life hasn't slowed down all year.

But I have my game nights on Fridays! This has saved my sanity tremendously this year. I finished running The Rise of Tiamat earlier this year. And just this past Friday, we started Curse of Strahd. I'm playing a bard, and I'm obsessed with this new adventure. Good friends creating a story together... There's nothing else like it.

Here's to a productive last quarter of 2019 for all of us!

#IWSG for November 2017

The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is the brilliant idea of Alex J. Cavanaugh. The purpose of the group is to share doubts and insecurities and to encourage one another. Please visit the other participants and share your support. A kind word goes a long way.

This month's awesome co-hosts are: Tonja Drecker, Diane Burton, MJ Fifield, and Rebecca Douglass!

November's IWSG optional question: Win or not, do you usually finish your NaNo project? Have any of them gone on to be published?

I love NaNoWriMo. I'd been doing it for years before my son was born. These days, November has too many family events going on for me to participate, but I still cheer for all the participants.

I always finished my NaNo projects, and the majority of them I finished in November. Were they all good stories? Nope. I have most of them shelved where they will likely stay forever. But I have published one of them, and it is my most highly rated book: Of Blood and Sorrow. It was my 2011 NaNo project. Notice it wasn't published until 2015. A lot of work went into fixing it up and prepping it for release.

This month's insecurity: I'm currently writing the sequel to Of Blood and Sorrow. It's heavy and dark, and oh, how I torture my poor protagonist. I worry that this new book isn't going to be as good as the first. I dropped one of the main characters, and I don't know how readers will feel about that.

I'm also trying to tell myself to be patient. I might be able to finish the first draft quickly, but to polish it up like first book, it's going to take time. I want to set myself a deadline for release in spring of next year, but I know I shouldn't. Not until I'm certain that's realistic. Plus, I want the third book in the trilogy written by the time the second is released too.

IWSG for November 2014

The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is the brilliant idea of Alex J. Cavanaugh. The purpose of the group is to share doubts and insecurities and to encourage one another. Please visit the other participants and share your support. A kind word goes a long way.

It's that time of year again. Nope, not the holidays. Uh-uh, well, yeah, you have to winterize the house too.

I meant it's time for NaNoWriMo!

I really love participating in the challenge, but I don't have time this year. My mom's visiting this week, and then we visit my in-laws the last week of the month. If only I could have a clone to take care of the family visits. (Psst, Alex! Help a gal out!)

I've done NaNo for ten years. I love it, and it agonizes me that I can't do it this year. But I must be realistic about my time management. The two novels I'm publishing next year started off as NaNo novels. Oh yes, they needed a lot of work, but this year has been a year of revising. They're going to shine.

Good luck to everyone who took up the challenge this month. I'm a little envious cheering for you!

Write, write, write!

I'm over at Milo James Fowler's blog talking about being a hybrid author. Click on over and let us know what you think about the various paths to publishing.

Friday Five for October 10, 2014

1. If you missed it, I gave a call for blog tour hosts for my Dice & Debauchery series in the new year. I received such a terrific response! You guys rock. January is filled, but there are a few dates left in February and March if you'd really like to be a part of it. I would also like to thank those that sent me apologies because they couldn't host me because these are erotica books. I completely understand, and you're all so sweet to say you were sorry about it.

2. This week my son has been on fall break, so I haven't gotten any writing done. We've been having some fun. A picnic and time outside at one of the state parks, and building a space robot at the local children's museum. He's happy that I no longer have my cast and I can drive again!

3. Next week, the Twisted Earths anthology is coming out. My short story, "The Ole Saint" is a perfect creepy tale for this time of year. The Untethered Realms authors did a spectacular job with this collection. Each story is awesome. You still have time to pre-order the anthology and receive an ebook from any of the authors for free! Click HERE.

4. Will I do NaNoWriMo this year? I don't know. I'm waffling back and forth on it. Mm, waffles. I'm behind where I want to be with my writing because of my broken wrist, but it's so hard to resist doing NaNo. Maybe I could apply my revisions to it? I need to change my urban fantasy novel from 3rd person POV to 1st. Maybe I could do that in a month?

5. Finally, the Shelfie Blog Hop winners. This hop was so much fun! I love peeking at other people's bookshelves. A big round of applause to everyone who participated and to my awesome co-hosts: Tara Tyler, Heather Gardner, CD Coffelt, M.J. Fifield, Elizabeth Seckman, Rena Rocford, and Vikki Biram. Now on to the winners!

The winner of The 13th Floor Collection is 

Ellie Garratt

The winners of Wilder Mage and Mage Revealed by C.D. Coffelt are 

Eric Juneau and Tyrean Martinson

The winner of an ebook by Elizabeth Seckman is

Alex J. Cavanaugh
(Alex also receives honorable mention for appearing in the most shelfies!)

The two winners of ebooks by Tara Tyler are 

Chrys Fey and Sarah Foster

The winner of Effigy by M.J. Fifield is

Michelle Wallace

And the winner of an interview by Stormy the Weather Gnome at Heather Gardner's blog is 

Carrie Anne Brownian

And the Grand Prize Winner of $40 is Rebecca Bradley!

 

Congratulations to you all! 

 

Have a marvelous weekend. :)

My Writing Goals for 2014

2013 was a great writing year for me, but one that took away time from other aspects in my life. (And how fitting I'm writing this post on the 13th!) I will attempt to make 2014 a year more about balance and organization. I even started off the year with a very clean and organized house. That also includes my online home. Hopefully organizing everything will help me make better use of my time.

Now for my writing goals!

Novel #1 - Revise and query. This is a paranormal romance I wrote at the end of 2011. I didn't like the ending I had scribbled down, and so it sat for a while until I was ready to come back to it. There are hot vampires and some unusual demons. I believe it has a great hook and will be highly marketable. Plus, it made me laugh and cry. That's a good sign.

Novel #2 - Revise and query. With a bit of POW! and a lot more ZAP!, I'll be marketing my superhero novel. I've been a comic book geek since I was a kid, but only recently have I started researching the genre by reading novels. Mine is very different from anything I've read. I hope that's a good thing!

Short stories - Write 6 / Submit 6 for the year. I would love to be able to do one every month, but with working on two novels, I won't have the time. I didn't have any acceptances the last half of 2013, and it depressed me. I was aiming high for an acceptance by a SFWA approved venue, though. I was short-listed a couple of times. That's closer than I've ever gotten before.

The A to Z Blogging Challenge - I've been going back and forth about it, but due to my time restrictions especially in April, I will not be participating in the Challenge this year on this blog. BUT I will be sharing the Challenge with my fellow Untethered Realms writers. We'll each have our days on the UR blog. I'm excited about it. I'm so honored to be a part of this talented group.

NaNoWriMo 2014 - I want to say yes. Let's make it a tentative yes. We'll have to see where I am with my novels in November. The novels have priority this year.

Balance writing, marketing, and home life - Home life comes first. No more grumpy mommy because she didn't get enough sleep. Writing comes in second. I wrote a lot last year, but I spent even more time marketing and networking. This year, I want to set weekly goals for writing. If I reach the goal, I can add extra time to networking, but only if I get my writing work done first. Balance is difficult for me, but I know it's vital to making me a happy person.

Don't forget to check out my post about sticking to your writing goals on the UR blog!

What are your writing goals for the year?

I am a 2013 NaNoWriMo winner!

WOO-HOO!

I pushed myself the last few days before the American Thanksgiving and I made it!

My tenth year participating in NaNoWriMo and I did it.

Congratulations to all those who won too.

The story is nowhere near finished. I left it off right at the beginning of a fight scene. That just makes it easy for me to pick it back up. I love writing action! I suspect this book is going to be near 80,000 words. Maybe more. While I loved writing novellas, it feels good to be writing novel sized stories again.

For those of you still tapping away, you can do it! You still have two days. Write, write, write!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!

Friday Five for November 22, 2013

1. It's been a slow NaNoWriMo week for me. I've been so busy outside my hermit hole, I haven't had much time to write. Yet I'm still in a good place. As of yesterday, my word count is just over 36,000. I would say I could easily finish that before the end of the month if I had until the end of the month. Which I don't. We leave Wednesday to go visit my in-laws, and so I have to finish on Tuesday. The story won't be finished. I have a feeling this will be a long one, but that's okay. If I ever go back to edit it, it will need a lot of fat trimmed!

2. I've had five rejections over the past few weeks. That's affected my writing too. I've had a lot of leftover Halloween candy therapy. My jeans are a bit tight! Come December, I'll send out my short stories and try other places for them. I also have a few stories whose contracts are up. I can find places willing to take reprints for those.

3. I've baked a lot this past week. Cupcakes decorated as turkeys, banana bread, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I had to make a schedule for it. I never thought I'd be a woman that needed a baking schedule! Funny where life takes us.

4. I won't be going out to do any shopping on Black Friday this year. I haven't in several years. I find myself doing more and more shopping online. It's really so much easier. I still have a rocket ship to buy for my little guy. There are some nifty ones on Amazon. Do you find that you do more shopping online these days?

5. Speaking of my brilliant boy, he is an official reader now. Yes, he's 3.5 year old, but he can read. His preschool class is small enough that his teacher can read with him for about ten minutes each day. He read two new books for me on Wednesday while I was there assisting the teacher, and he even corrects himself when he misses a word or doesn't say it right. Next semester, I'm putting him in an after school literacy program which he got special permission to be registered in. He'll get to work with the teacher he'll have next year for school. I'm one proud mama!

NaNoWriMo 2013 - day 16 update

Word count: 28,003

It's been a busy month, but I've surprised myself with how well I'm managing to keep up with the word count. Hopefully I'll reach the 50,000 goal before I have to leave to visit the in-laws for the American Thanksgiving.

The story is a lot of fun. THE UNDERDOGS is a NA urban fantasy. Geeks with magic. And one of them has a goat. Well, the goat was once a cat, but his owner's magic went awry and changed him into a goat.

There's a lot of talking and no romance. It feels weird to me on that level. Yet I did want this to be a buddy story. Except it's focusing on the two friends I didn't expect it would. But it works.

I have my local writers critique group today. So hopefully I'll get a chance to write tonight. I want to make 30,000 before the day is out.

For all those participating in NaNoWriMo, keep writing!

YOU CAN DO IT!

Friday Five for November 1st, 2013 & Ribbon of Darkness cover reveal

1. First, another thank you to everyone who helped and followed along with my blog tour last month. It was a long haul, but so much fun. Don't forget to enter the final giveaway on Clare Dugmore's blog. There's still one chance left to win a signed copy of The 13th Floor Complete Collection.

2. Today is the first day of NaNoWriMo 2013. I'm excited. I'm participating even though I don't have much time to write this month. And today I assist at my son's preschool, so I won't have any time to write the morning or afternoon. Our trick-or-treating was postponed to tonight since we had a huge storm pass through the state yesterday. If I'm lucky, I might get an hour or two to write after he goes to bed tonight.

3. I'll be taking a step back from blogging during November and December. I have a lot of pre-scheduled posts. (It actually doesn't look like I'm taking a break at all with how many there are!) I'll pop in now and then, but two weeks this month will be taken up by family visiting. We're getting in all the family visits this month so we can have a relaxing Christmas without any traveling. We did that last year, and it was fantastic. Our Christmas gift to ourselves to have a stress-free holiday week.

4. I'll be focusing on writing for NaNo this month and revising another novel in December. Then in January, I can fall back into my regular blogging schedule. You know, I still haven't settled into anything new after we lost Google Reader. That will be something I need to do too. A productive chore to do when I'm procrastinating about revising.

5. I will certainly be around in a few weeks for Realms Faire 2013. It's going to be tremendous! There are several events and giveaways planned. I'll be hosting the Drench-a-Wench / Soak-a-Bloke event. It's fast, easy, and tons of fun. I'm also participating in the Joust this year. Please come cheer my champion, Sir Xanthus Ehrensvard, and defeat last year's victor. Click on the badge below for all the details.

 

Now on to Decadent Kane's gorgeous cover reveal!

An old family secret draws Ribbon into an Elven world while Draven is forced to find a way to drag her back home to save Christmas magic.

Release date: December 13th, 2013

Sign up for the newsletter to be notified of publications: http://eepurl.com/FDtsL

Elf legends: Legends generally portray elves harmful to humans and their name comes from ancient Germanic word meaning nightmare. ( http://tinyurl.com/kcsbjtd )

Find out more about the author, Decadent Kane: 

Facebook * Twitter * Blog * Goodreads

The 13th Floor Collection blog tour continues with villains & NaNoWriMo 2013

The bad guys in the 13th Floor series are quite the diverse group. Nick Wilford has been so kind to host me during all my tours this year, and I've talked about each villain in turn. Today he hosts me one more time, and I'm talking about the sympathetic villain.

Yes, I'm going to be participating again this year. I have a busy November outside my writing world, but I just can't miss NaNoWriMo. I love it too much, even if I don't finish a novel. I think it's great to motivate me to push myself when I start feeling sluggish because it's the end of the year.

I'll be doing a NA urban fantasy this year. Its working title is THE UNDERDOGS. And yes, it's about geeks. Geeks who are real life wizards, druids, and adventurers. (It will be more of a buddy story than a romance.) I have a loose idea of a modern day Dungeons & Dragons type of story with a Lovecraftian feel. Small town, creepy folks, ancient monster.

I finished off my superhero romance (my NaNo novel from last year), made notes for more revisions, and sent a few of my faithful readers. After November, I'll be working on revisions for a paranormal romance (my NaNo novel from 2011). I hope to query one or both of these novels in the new year.

NaNoWriMo has helped me write some amazing stories. If you're going to participate this year, good luck! I'll be cheering you along the way and writing like a madwoman whenever I get a free minute.

My 2013 writing goals

The 13th Floor series: This is going to be my main focus for the year. I have four novellas to write, five tours to run, and all the promoting that comes with it. I put myself on a tight schedule for it. Maybe too tight? Being sick has already put me behind schedule. I keep telling myself it will be okay if I'm not rigid and strict with myself, because life happens and self-publishing gives you flexibility. That's why I decided to take that path after all. So yes, you'll be hearing A LOT about the 13th Floor series from me in 2013. How convenient the year matches my series!

The A to Z Blogging Challenge: You may have noticed I didn't schedule a book release in April for this very reason! *winks* I love the Challenge. It was incredible last year. So many original posts from people. I wrote Fearless, and I self-published it. It's been a huge success. (Almost 700 downloads just this month!) I've gotten a lot of requests for another book. You might scream and protest, but Abby, Demetrius, and Tawa's story is done. I'm not going to do another with them. BUT I might do another story about a different Fearless. There are hundreds of these warriors around the world saving children from the monsters. I haven't any ideas yet, but I'm a pantser. It'll come to me!

NaNoWriMo 2013: I considered doing Camp NaNo instead, but November wouldn't be the same if I didn't participate in this challenge. Besides, I have a book tour in June. I have no idea what I'll write, but that's okay. This is one thing I want to do every year for the rest of my life. It doesn't matter if I publish every book or not. It's the rush of the challenge and the creation of a new story.

Short stories: I'm not going to do the write 1 / submit 1 this coming year. It was an excellent exercise and I encourage writers to try it, but I need to concentrate on the 13the Floor series. Yet if I am inspired, I still would like to try to do six in 2013. I would love to get something accepted by a SFWA approved publication. That dream hasn't faded.

Revise and query one novel: I have several completed novels. All of them need to be reworked and polished. I hate revising but love writing first drafts! I want to find them homes. I'm not sure which one I'll work with. This won't be until the latter half of the year after all my work with the 13th Floor series is complete.

What are your writing goals for 2013?

How I did with my 2012 goals

Short stories - write 1 / submit 1 every month

I did it! My stories have gotten shorter as they year went on, but I'm happy with how they've turned out. I've learned a lot about writing short stories and flash fiction this year. Even if I don't get any more accepted, I feel I'm a better writer for having done this challenge.

 

Paranormal romance series

This is my 13th Floor series. I originally intended to write the first drafts of all six novellas this year, but you can never predict how life is going to change. I have the first two written. I planned to write the third this month, but with the holidays and sickness, I'm not going to make it. I'm very happy with how they're turning out and how the overall concept is coming together. This is the series I'm going to use to represent me as a writer. So it's probably for the best that I didn't rush into writing all six of them.

NaNoWriMo 2012

Yay! On November 26th, I reached over 50,000 words! I'm a 2012 NaNoWriMo winner. I wrote a superhero story called "Super Famous." I'm not sure I'll do anything with it, but it was a lot of fun to write.

 

Witch's First Rule revisions

This is a paranormal romance novel. The first in a completed trilogy. I queried the book three years ago and it got a lot of attention, but in the end, agents and publishers passed on it. I could never figure out why. Recently, I realized I was marketing it all wrong. The story started in the wrong place too. I've done two major revisions. The first chapter has been rewritten five times. But I had to put it aside. I still wasn't completely happy with the new beginning. It's starting in the right place now, but I'm not wild about the first chapter. I'm giving myself some time apart from it and maybe next year when I come back to it, I'll be able to write a first chapter that will wow me. I believe the protagonist is unique and her story fantastic, but I need to get it right before I start to query it again.

 

Projects I didn't plan

Fearless. Well, I did plan to do write it for the A to Z Challenge this year, but I never thought it would be so popular or that I would publish it. I'm very happy that everyone encouraged me to do so. Fearless continues to do very well. Thousands of readers have picked it up.

L'il Gal Al and the Zombies of Amarillo. I never thought I'd do anything with this story either. It was originally a short-listed story for an anthology, but was rejected in the end. Since it is on the longer side of short stories, I had trouble finding it a home. I wanted to get another story out there before I started publishing my 13th Floor series, and I wanted something different than paranormal romance. L'il Gal Al was perfect for the job.

 

Join me on Monday for my 2013 goals.

Friday Five for November 30, 2012

1. I'm a NaNoWriMo winner! I didn't finish before Thanksgiving, but a virus attacked me. Knocked me out for two days. I still made the goal with time to spare. I haven't managed to find time to get back to the story and finish it yet, though. It's been such a busy week.

2. Most of my Christmas shopping for the family is done. We're on a tight budget this year. I'm doing a photo theme. We had a family portrait done. It's... um, department store quality. Every family needs at least one cheesy department store photo, right? Everyone's going to be looking at my son anyway. That's what I tell myself. I also made up calendars with pictures of my son on Shutterfly. I love their site. It's easy to use and such prices for products people really love.

3. This past month I've been dealing with a health issue that secretly weighed heavy on me. I have no idea why I was quiet about it and brushed it off even with friends and family. During my recent mammogram, they found a lump. I went in for an ultrasound to confirm it and then had a biopsy done. I told myself and everyone else I wasn't worried. Yet when the results came back that it was benign and truly nothing to be concerned about, I felt so light and relieved. I guess I was more worried than I let on even to myself. I believe it's so important for women to do regular self exams and have mammograms starting at the age of 40. If there's history of breast cancer in the family, they should start younger than that. I also learned that finding a lump is more common than I realized. So many of my friends came out and told me the same thing happened with them. I had no idea. Why do women never talk about this amongst ourselves? There's no shame in it and no woman is alone in it. There may be a month dedicated to breast cancer, but talk still isn't happening as it should.

4. My mom is coming for an early Christmas visit next week. We'll be picking her up at the airport on Sunday afternoon and then going to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Mmmm. There will shopping. A lot of shopping. I'm exhausted already!

5. I've been working on posts for my 1301 blog tour. I'm so excited. I have the schedule locked in and I have fantastic hosts. If you'd still like to be part of any of my blog tours for the 13th Floor series, you can click on the tab above to find the dates for each book.

Here is my 1301 blog tour lineup:

Dec. 13 - Cherie Reich and Livia Peterson
Dec. 14 - Nick Wilford
Dec. 15 - Tania Walsh
Dec. 16 - M. Pepper Langlinais
Dec. 17 - Aubrie Dionne
Dec. 18 - Clare Dugmore
Dec. 19 - Kyra Lennon   and Jackie Felger
Dec. 20 - Shannon Lawrence

Have a great weekend! 

The end is near!

I'm at 47000 words. So close!

I lost two days because I was sick. Some weird Thanksgiving virus. The turkeys are striking back! I'm going to try to push myself today and make the goal. It might also be the end of the novel. Not a long one this year.

Okay. I'm taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

Write!

1301 tour, tabs, NaNo update, and reminders

Thank you to everyone who responded about the 13th Floor blog tours. You guys are awesome! I have the second, third, and fourth book tours filled, but I would love to have a few more for next month. If you have a day open between the 13th and 20th, please let me know. I would greatly appreciate it. I will also happily do a couple of stops on the same day if you're interested in helping with one of the tours next year.

You might have seen I learned how to create tabs on my blog. (Thank you, Stephen Tremp!) I have one specifically for The 13th Floor series. I have all the dates up there for all the cover reveals, release dates, and blog tours.

I'm doing well with NaNoWriMo. I'm over 45000 words, and I'm writing the final battle. I hope to complete the novel by the end of the weekend. For those of you who've hit 50000, congratulations! And for those who are still typing away, keep going. There's still one week left. You can do it!

Don't forget the Writers4Writers Group has their first monthly event on December 6th. It's a great way writers can help their fellow writers.

Next week, the marvelous Kyra Lennon starts her Blindsided Tour. She'll be stopping by here on Wednesday. Yay!

NaNoWriMo 2012 - day ten update

Word count as of last night: 18453

I just managed to get in my minimum word count yesterday. The boy is sick and barely napped. I might have a touch of what he has. I feel drained, exhausted on every level. Though it could be from the week I had.

I'm still having fun with the story. I'm working more on the romantic plot and the big villain is about to make an appearance.

My favorite bit from yesterday: "Me and Jagger? No. No, no, no." Not enough nos in the world to make that point clear. "We're only friends. What he meant, geez, I shouldn't be telling you this, but Irca likes you. A lot. And Jagger has always had a thing for her. So catching you and I together makes him mad because it would upset her. God, this sounds like some bad high school drama."

I finished my revisions of 1301 and sent it off to my CPs and betas. I did some serious changes at the beginning and added more to the end. The meat of the middle remained solid, but I always worry about beginnings and endings the most because they usually leave the biggest impressions.

I have no plans for the weekend except to nurse my poor sick boy and catch up on sleep. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

NaNoWriMo 2012 update - three days in

My current word count: 7142

I've had a good start. If my son naps for two hours, I can write about 2000 words in that time. I promised myself I wasn't going to pressure myself this time around. If I only make the minimum word count or not quite that much, it'll be okay. So far, so good. No NaNo stress.

I'm writing a superhero story called "Super Famous." A young superhero wants international fame, but when her desire for the spotlight clashes with doing what's right, she has to choose what sort of superhero she really wants to be. My protagonist is turning out to be a very strong character and sort of bossy. Okay, really, really bossy! Good thing she's about to be taken down several notches. BWUHAHAHAHA!

I'm also really happy that I've been able to write in the afternoons, because I've been revising at night. It's like I'm doing NaNoWriMo and NaNoRevMo at the same time! (Except I'm working with a novella instead of a full novel.) I'm revising 1301. I'm nearly halfway done. It's been rough. The first two pages took over an hour to edit. It's very different than the original. Hopefully in a good way. I think if I can get it done by the end of next week, I'll be able to make my tentative December 13th release date.

Busy, busy! The clocks turn back an hour tonight. I don't know if I'll get an extra hour for anything. If I'm real lucky, my son will sleep in and I can use that hour for sleeping!

All my fellow NaNomites, keep on going! So many of you have gotten great starts. And if you haven't, don't worry. There's still 27 more days to go!

Sunday high

Carve the pumpkin. Check.

Make cupcakes. Check.

Find a costume from stuff made at home for party. Check.

Finish first draft of WIP before NaNoWriMo. Check.

YES!

I just finished sending out my first draft of my latest WIP to my CPs. You know that high of finishing a story. I'm giddy, nervous, hyper, and hungry. Really hungry.

We had fun at a friends' Halloween party yesterday. I found a bag of old costume pieces in the attic. I could've gone as a lazy pirate. Costume parts from when my husband was a Pastafarian one year. (100 geek points if you know what that is!) I instead took parts from a barbarian costume and went as an urban barbarian. Meaning I wore my normal clothes with skins over it.

My son has another Halloween party at preschool this Tuesday, and then there's trick-or-treating on Wednesday. A busy start to the week and then I'm diving right into NaNoWriMo. And no, I haven't done any more planning for it. Maybe I'll get a chance to do so one evening before Thursday.

My cupcakes didn't turn out too badly. It's harder to sculpt fondant than I thought. It was a good lesson learned. For fancy cupcakes, buy them from the store!

Wicked Wednesday - prepare yourself for November

October is nearly over. I can't believe how this month has flown by. One week until Halloween. My favorite holiday of the year. A night where the supernaturals don't have to hide, but we wear costumes.

First off, I'm in the middle of my new FEARLESS blog tour. Pop on over to Musings of Ellafor a tantalizing excerpt!

November is near, and I'll be participating in NaNoWriMo again. I was going to stick with my current project, but a new idea pushed itself to the front of the queue. A superhero story. Good guys with big flaws and bad guys with even bigger egos. It's going to be so much fun. Superhero romances - which this one will be - fall in the paranormal romance category. It seems weird to me that they do, but they're more than normal human beings.

I won't forget my current project while I'm doing NaNoWriMo. I hope to finish revising the first novella in the series and have it ready to be out at the end of November. Knock on wood. At the latest, it will be out before Christmas.

For my Wicked Wednesday posts in November, I'll be giving you a peek at each novella in my 13th Floor series. Next week on Halloween, I'll officially let you know what my series is about. (Though I know some of you have a clue!)

Good luck to everyone participating in NaNoWriMo! Add me as a buddy. I'm Kalligenia.