IWSG: NaNoWriMo time again and a look back #ResurrectionBlogfest

IWSG is hosted by the awesome ninja captain Alex J. Cavanaugh. Please click here for a list of participants.

It's NaNoWriMo season again. So I'm typing my fingers off in rewriting The Phoenix Prophetess. When NaNo comes around, I think back to my previous NaNos. I've been participating since 2009 and so far have won NaNoWriMo every year. I hope this won't be the year that I don't. I must admit I'm worried about it. Typically, I block off my schedule so all I have to do is write, but this year I'm working on publishing The Nightmare Collection and working on blog tour posts and the like while trying to do NaNo. So to say that I'm insecure about NaNo this year--and everything else I need to do--is an understatement.

To give myself inspiration, I joined the Resurrection Blogfest hosted by Mina Lobo at Some Dark Romantic. The goal is to find a post from something from your first year of blogging that you believe deserves some TLC, or that you're especially proud of and wish to showcase, or simply has sentimental value for you. And since I needed some NaNo inspiration, here is a post I posted on November 30, 2009. 

Monday, November 30, 2009

NaNoWriMo Day 30: First Draft of VIRTUOSO finished!

Yesterday, on November 29, I completed the first draft of VIRTUOSO. The novel was 68,176 words long, 25 chapters (prologue + 24 chapters), and 302 pages double-spaced. VIRTUOSO is the first book in the Riverwood Trilogy. I plan to write book two next year and book three the year after that. I do not know if I will continue to use the Riverwood Trilogy as my NaNo 2010 and NaNo 2011 books yet.

I was more excited in finishing VIRTUOSO than I was finishing THE PHOENIX PROPHETESS back in September. When I finished VIRTUOSO, I was absolutely thrilled and excited. When I finished THE PHOENIX PROPHETESS, I was wondering what in the world I had gotten myself into. Of course, Prophetess was my first novel ever completed, so perhaps that is what made it so different. I'm really proud of myself. I've written two novels in less than a year's time. I honestly never thought I would be able to finish one novel.

I have also created a little book cover for VIRTUOSO. Here it is:

I believe the picture I found is just perfect for the novel. Several times, Nadia compares her life to a jigsaw puzzle, and she is a violin virtuoso. The cover art is mainly just for me, but I thought I would share it.

On other writing news, now that December is heading in tomorrow, I need to get back to real writing life. *laughs* I have 2-3 short stories I would like to write for by the end of December. Plus, I will begin doing my rewrites/edits for THE PHOENIX PROPHETESS and begin on the plot outline for THE PHOENIX SORCERESS. I need to read through my previous short stories as well once more and send them out again next month. Fun, fun!

I still like the picture of the puzzle violin, and it's amazing how much Virtuoso will change when I get back to rewriting it. It started out as a YA Paranormal, book one of a trilogy, to YA Contemporary, standalone novel. And I never did get The Phoenix Prophetess rewrites done until this NaNo. Hopefully. *crosses fingers*

Have you looked back on old blog posts to see what you'd hope to do or look back on those small accomplishments that meant the world to you? Please be sure to visit the other Resurrection Blogfest members as well as the other IWSG members.

And I would like to dedicate this post to my guinea pig Abby. She passed away on Saturday. I had her for almost five years, and she was almost six years old.

January/February 2007 - November 3, 2012