IWSG: Have Heart

 

It's the first Wednesday of the month, so you know what that means ... it's time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group meeting. IWSG was created by the awesome ninja captain Alex J. Cavanaugh, and you can find out the other members of the group here.

Have Heart

Since the Roanoke Regional Writers Conference, I haven't been able to get Kathleen Grissom's "What doesn't come from the heart, can't reach the heart" line out of my head. It's had me reevaluated what I write and how I write.

After my critique partners' comments on Act I of Starred, I had to reevaluated the story. The heart is still there, but it needs more. A different starting place, perhaps, and have the characters already know each other. That requires more pondering and simmering. Plus, I still need to solidify the musical I'm writing for it. I hope to get back to this novel in August, unless plans change again.

Then, there is Twelve Days of Foxwick. It's a Fantasy Romance set in my Foxwick world. I was going to write it last year, but I ran out of time. I had planned to start writing it again in April, but every time I think of the story, it makes me feel ill and nervous. I do like the idea of it, but my heart isn't in it. It's not exciting me the way The Loveless Princess does or my short story collections set in Foxwick's world do. So, for now, I'm shelving the idea indefinitely.

Instead, I'm putting my heart in the projects that are calling to me. I hope to have The Loveless Princess finished soon. Well, the first draft, that is. It'll be awhile before it'll be ready for people to read beyond my critique partners. I'm excited to keep working on The Phoenix Prophetess as well as the short stories in Men of Foxwick. I have added Neighbors of Foxwick, a short story collection, to my list of 2013 goals as well, since I may have extra time to start those short stories.

True, it'll mean a bit less to publish this year and will take a few projects longer to be ready, but it'll be worth it. I'd rather take the time to make sure they have heart.

Are you following your heart when it comes to writing?

On a side note, Friday's my birthday, so I'm taking the day off from the blog. So no Friday Flash this week. Also, I'm taking some time off from the day job, so I may be a little slow in commenting. My home internet stinks, so I often don't get online much when I'm at home.

Wednesday's Writing Update: New Review of Once Upon a December Nightmare and more!

 

Happy Wednesday!

I received a new review of Once Upon a December Nightmare. You can read the review here. As a reminder, Once Upon a December Nightmare is still free on Amazon, Kobo, Smashwords, Sony, and iTunes.

Writing and editing this month has been pretty sparse. *sighs* Between the writers' conference earlier this month, having more work at the day job, and a family problem during the first full week of February (it's now okay), it's been difficult to find the energy to write and edit. Thus, I'm behind on this month's goals.

As for Starred, between critique partners' comments and time, I've decided not to edit this novel right now. I hope to work on it again in August.

I still hope to finish editing Part II of The Phoenix Prophetess this month. I also should finish my notes for Part III, which I still need to write. If all goes well, I should be able to complete this goal this weekend. *crosses fingers*

I have started writing "Dragon Spy," story two in Men of Foxwick. I have five more scenes, or around 3,000 more words, to write. I should be able to finish this story before the end of February. I also need to do my third edit of "Blind Scribe," so I can send it to CP #3.

Then, there is The Loveless Princess. Last week, I managed to write through Chapter 9, or one-third of the novella. I still have another 20,000+ words to go before the novella is finished, so it's looking very doubtful that I'll finish it by the end of February, since I still have so many other things I need to do. That's okay. I'm loving the story and what's happening with it, so if it needs more time, then so be it. I would like to reach the midway point with this novella, though, by the end of February.

As for the next couple days, I'm working on friends' critiques and blog posts.

How's your writing going? What do you have going on this week?

Wednesday's Writing Update: Writing and Editing as Always

 

Happy Wednesday!

Is it just me, or are these Wednesdays flying by too quickly?

First, I received a lovely review of Gravity: The Complete Trilogy from Nick Wilford at Scattergun Scribblings yesterday.

Last week I mentioned I finished writing "Blind Scribe" in Men of Foxwick. My first CP read it and got a critique back to me, so I'm making some changes, so I can send it to second CP soon.

On Monday, I finished editing Part I of The Phoenix Prophetess. I've now sent it to my three critique partners, so I'm hoping they'll like it. I'm at the point with Part I where I'm way too close to the story, characters, and writing, so it's hard for me to edit it any more without some additional guidance. Next month, I plan to tackle self-edits on Part II.

My main concerns for the rest of January are writing The Loveless Princess and editing Act I of Starred. I'm a bit behind where I'd hoped to be, but if I can do a chapter/scene a day, then I should be able to finish writing the first thirteen chapters of The Loveless Princess and have Act I of Starred edited by February 1st. We'll see how that goes.

As it is, I know no writing/editing will be done on Saturday, since I'll spend most of the day at the Roanoke Regional Writers Conference and then my sister's eighteenth birthday party Saturday evening. It'll definitely be a busy weekend.

So I guess I should get back to work.

What are you working on this week?

Wednesday's Writing Update: Editing and Gearing up for NaNoWriMo

 

Happy Wednesday! I'm taking a five-day weekend from the full-time job, so I might be a bit slower to respond, so please be patient with me.

 

I've signed up for a couple blogfests in November. The first one is Mina Lobo's Resurrection Blogfest on November 7th. This date also happens to be Insecure Writer's Support Group day, but I managed to combine the two. The goal is to find a post you feel needs some love back from your first year of blogging. You can read more about the blogfest here.

 

The second one is I'm Thankful for my Readers bloghop from November 5-7th. In this one, you give thanks to people who read your work from CPs to beta readers to people who purchase your books. This bloghop is hosted by Vikki and Tara. And isn't that just the cutest blog hop picture?

Thank you, everyone, who has signed up for The Nightmare Collection Blog Tour. I really appreciate it, and I'm now trying to get interviews and guest posts written. It should be a good tour from December 3-7.

On the nightmare front, I am finished editing Nightmare Ever After. I will now use the next few days to proofread it as well as format it. My goal is to upload the formats on Monday October 29th and announce the purchase links on Halloween. There might be a treat for you next Wednesday too. Then, it'll be time to format for the print/ebook versions of The Nightmare Collection for a late November release.

I'm also gearing up for NaNoWriMo. I'm bookworm0753 on the site. This year I'm rewriting my first novel The Phoenix Prophetess, so I've been reading through my pretty crappy first draft. Okay, it's not that crappy, but the rewrite will make it much better and more manageable to edit come next year. I'm taking LOTS of notes, and I'm excited about it but also worried since I have so much other stuff I need to do in November.

On Sunday, I had a major breakthrough with my YA Contemporary novel Starred. I've been trying to edit it, but I only got one scene done. Something was holding me back, and I figured it out. If I can keep up editing a scene a day for the rest of October, then I'll have the first Act done. I'll be on track.

And the plotting for The Loveless Princess is going well.

So what is everyone else up to? Signed up for any blogfests/hops lately?

Wednesday's Writing Update: August Stats and September Goals

 

Happy Wednesday!

First off, I would like to thank everyone who commented on my IWSG post last week. I have decided that Gravity: The Complete Trilogy will have everything and be published everywhere (well, as everywhere as I can get it in print and ebook formats) and the individual ebooks (Defying Gravity, Fighting Gravity, and Pull of Gravity) will have their individual epilogues added to them. I think around the holidays I will try to price match Defying Gravity to free as well. It's meant a lot of formatting, but it'll make things easier for readers and that's what is important.

I have August's stats. My editing was way up, but my writing was way down.

Total Pages Edited: 840

Total Word Count: 3460

Here are my September goals:

1. Get Gravity: The Complete Trilogy published in print and ebook formats. (Please see my announcement tomorrow!)

2. Upload the new versions of Defying Gravity, Fighting Gravity, and Pull of Gravity that include their respective epilogues. (Please see my announcement tomorrow!)

3. Re-publish Once Upon a December Nightmare, which will include the monster's origin short story "Nightmare at the Freak Show."

4. Write Nightmare Ever After, the sequel to Once Upon a December Nightmare.

5. Edit my YA Contemporary Romance novel Starred.

6. Outline Twelve Days of Foxwick.

If I can get that done, then I'll be on track to publish Nightmare Ever After in October before Halloween and perhaps will have a completely edited version of Starred to start querying publishers by the end of October.

Also, Jenn Nixon shared a teaser excerpt of Women of Foxwick on her blog yesterday, C.M. Brown featured Fighting Gravity for Teaser Tuesday on her blog, and I'm over at Rachelle Ayala's today talking about Pull of Gravity.

What are you working on? Do you have some September goals?

Tagged: The Lucky 7 Meme

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I've been tagged by Madeleine Maddocks, Sorcha, and Christine Rains for the Lucky 7 Meme.

The rules: 

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS/WIP
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines, sentences, or paragraphs, and post them as they're written.
4. Tag 7 other authors.

Since I was tagged three times, I'll give you a bit for The Phoenix Prophetess and some from Starred. This is from The Phoenix Prophetess, which is still in edits. It's a shame that beautiful bouquet never gets to her aunt's.

She should buy some flowers for Auntie Fabina’s birthday. She searched through the selection: daisies, roses, tulips, lilies. So many and all so beautiful. She selected two orange lilies, two pink tulips, and one yellow rose.

“How much for the bouquet?” 

The elderly man gave her a gap-toothed grin. “For such a lovely lady, they’re free.”

“Oh no, I insist upon paying.” Heat flushed her cheeks.

Here is the bit from Starred.

My arms lowered, and I tapped the side of his truck in a syncopated rhythm. “You can ask, doesn’t mean I’ll answer.”

“Is the only reason you didn’t audition because of . . . you know?” He didn’t want to say my face, and I didn’t blame him. Sometimes around him, I wondered if he even realized the deformity was evident. He didn’t bring it up like the others, and I was glad he didn’t. It was so much easier to talk to him when we kept up the pretense. But my face stopped me from doing a lot of things. In fact, if I hadn’t been damaged in the car accident, I’d still be in LA instead of New Haven.

I know this meme has been going around, so instead of tagging 7 people directly, if you haven't been tagged and would like to see what your 7 lines are, then tag! You're it.

Wednesday's Writing Update: On Writing

 

Happy Wednesday!

My friend and client Rachelle Ayala recently published her Biblical romance Michal's Window on Amazon. She's doing this awesome giveaway where if you purchase the book before Saturday 11:59 pm, March 3, 2012, then you can be entered into a drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card. It's a wonderful and touching book, so you won't be disappointed. Click here for more details on Rachelle's blog.

My review of Stephen King's On Writing is up on Surrounded by Books Reviews. I enjoyed reading it for the most part. Some advice is golden with the "read a lot and write a lot." I loved the idea of creating your own toolbox to carry in with you with writing. And I really needed the reminder that first drafts should be written with the door closed (and Ideal Reader in mind) and second drafts are written with the door open. Too often I write with the door open, and then nothing gets written. I disagree with his opinion on plotters. It may be because I'm a plotter, but it's how I work and typically see a novel. It's very rare that I start a story without knowing where I'm going, and when I do that, it turns into a hot mess. I also found his views on literary agents antiquated. Then again, a lot has happened in a decade plus.

The Amazon Breakout Novel Award (ABNA) announced its top 1,000 in each category (YA and Adult) from the 5,000 entries last Thursday. They go on the pitch alone. A lot of cool blogger buddies got in. Yay! I did not for Starred. I was a little bummed not to get in with my cool blogger buddies, but at the same time, I'm relieved too. It gives me a chance to really fix the novel I wrote and edited in 21 days.

So March is almost upon us. Besides finishing up my A to Z Challenge posts (26 days of flash fiction set in my fantasy world of Foxwick), I'll be editing The Phoenix Prophetess. If you look to your left in this post, that's the cover art for my A to Z Flashes of Foxwick. Thank you, Aubrie!! I plan to self-pub it in April during the A to Z Challenge, and it'll include a bonus short story from Women of Foxwick (forthcoming 2012). Although I'm really enjoying my space fantasy/sci-fi/space opera (whatever you want to call it), I'm looking forward to delving into some fantasy for a couple months. When I finish Fighting Gravity, I am also going to let it sit for a few weeks before I go back to editing it for its publication on May 1st.

And if you haven't signed up for the A to Z Challenge yet, you should. Go here, now!

Oh, did you know that March is National Novel Editing Month (NaNoEdMo)? Yeah, I found out yesterday. You edit for 50 hours throughout the month, so I signed up. It should be easy for a professional editor, shouldn't it?

I also have new reviews of Defying Gravity and Once Upon a December Nightmare up on Goodreads. Rusty Webb calls Defying Gravity "very guy-friendly" and Christine Rains has called Once Upon a December Nightmare "a nail-biting suspense."

So what are you working on?

Wednesday's Writing Update: Stats, ABNA, and Goals

 

Happy Wednesday!

I have January's stats for you.

Submissions: 0 (unless you count sending Starred in ABNA)

Acceptances: 0

Rejections: 0

Submissions out there: 0 (I'm starting to miss sending stories out there.)

Word Count: 12,715

Pages Edited: 594

I did read, write, and/or edit almost every day in January.

On Friday, January 27th I entered Starred into Amazon's Breakout Novel Award (ABNA). I'm not expecting much with it, since I wrote the novel back in November, but I figured I would give it a shot.

This Monday, I had a new short story idea. It's a shame I don't have the time at the moment to delve into it. *frowns*

My February goals include: 

1. Self-publishing Defying Gravity and going on a virtual book tour with it (February 14 - March 8)

2. Finish writing/editing Fighting Gravity, novelette #2 in the Gravity series featuring Marissa and Phoebus's story.

3. Finish editing The Phoenix Prophetess so I can start querying agents.

4. Write two more stories in The Foxwick Chronicles: Women of Foxwick.

5. Write flash fiction, including the 26 flash fiction pieces for A to Z Flashes of Foxwick, or my A to Z Challenge entries.

I'm trying to stay ahead of things, but I keep feeling like I'm falling behind. Of course, a few of these things on the list can be moved to March as well.

So what are you up to this week?

Wednesday's Writing Update: NaNoWriMo Survivor: Year Three

Happy Wednesday!

My review of Russell Brooks' Chill Run is up on Surrounded by Books Reviews.

Today is the last day of November and the last day of NaNoWriMo. Phew! What a month is has been!

NaNoWriMo Stats:
Day 22: 68505 (I beat my highest word count total in a month.)
Day 23: 68505
Day 24: 68505
Day 25: 68505
Day 26: 68505
Day 27: 70221
Day 28: 73259
Day 29: 75806 (51099 in Starred and 24707 in The Last Prophetess)

So 75,806 words is my grand total, not counting what I get written today (hope to be at 80,000 soon).

I didn't quite finish The Last Prophetess either, but I did get half-way through the 50K (minus 300 words). I should have the first draft completed in early December, hopefully this weekend. *crosses fingers*

This is my third year participating in NaNoWriMo, and I used it to write novels four and five. I believe I've learned quite a bit about myself as a writer while participating in NaNo.

1. I'm a plotter. I plot out my days, my weeks, months, heck, even my years. I have my entire writing schedule mapped out for 2012 already (always subject to change, of course). So with a novel, I need to have the same preparation. I need to know my scenes, characters, world, and timeline so I can sit down and write.

2. I'm a fast drafter. If I have things plotted, then I can sit down and knock out 1,000 words in 30 minutes. I wrote Starred in twelve days and spent three more adding to the scenes and editing. That's amazing to me, and it's my best written draft I have. Then again, I probably have always been a fast drafter. My first novel may have taken nine months from beginning to end, but if you count my actual writing days where I sat and wrote the novel, it's more like six weeks. The rest was doing number one: plotting.

3. I can write every day. Yes, I need to repeat this. I can write every day. True, I took a few days off, but I could've written those days. I should've written. There are no excuses. I should be able to sit down for at least 30 minutes to an hour and get 1,000-2,000 words done. Of course, this is easier, if I have number one completed. :)

4. Most important of all, I love writing. This is what I want to do with my life, and it's made me realize I need to put it at the top of my list of things I get done each day.

5. I don't think I'll try two novels in a month again, but I did learn I am successful at writing scenes out of order.

January 15, 2012 will start my fourth year writing with publication in mind. It's time to get out there and do something with my novels. It's time to self-publish some shorter works (short story collections, novellas). It's time to keep submitting shorter works. Most of all, it's time to get those novels edited and in the hands of agents and possibly publishers.

That's what NaNoWriMo has taught me.

What have you learned about yourself through it? Or if you didn't participate in NaNoWriMo, what did you learn this month?

Teaser Tuesday 11.29.11

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

    BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

4. Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Today is my NaNoWriMo version of Teaser Tuesday. Here are a few lines from my WiPs.

Starred by Cherie Reich

Page 91 (Word Doc, single-spaced)

In less than two hours, I'd be on the stage again.

For the last time.

The Last Prophetess by Cherie Reich

Page 26 (Word Doc, single-spaced)

Could such trust be won back once lost?

 

I didn’t know.






Do you have a teaser? What are you currently reading?

Wednesday's Writing Update: Second Book for NaNoWriMo

Happy Wednesday!

My review for Alfred C. Martino's Perfected by Girls is up on Surrounded by Books Reviews.

When I started NaNoWriMo, my goal was to write one novel from November 1-15 and the second from 16-30. So far, I'm on target to complete my goal.

I have my NaNoWriMo stats.
Day 8: 30029
Day 9: 31466
Day 10: 33739
Day 11: 38123
Day 12: 42437  First Draft of Starred finished.
Day 13: 45117 (Edited Act I)
Day 14: 47630 (Edited Act II, Scene 1 - Act II, Scene 7)
Day 15: 51099 (Edited Act II, Scene 8 - Epilogue) Second Draft of Starred finished.

I can honestly say Starred is my best written first draft, even from the one that took me nine months to write. Maybe the fourth novel is the charm. I'm quite pleased with it, and I think I'll be able to add more words to it in the next few drafts to get the novel between 60,000-65,000 words. Of course, I'll find out if I'm delusional or not when I send it to my first readers. I had hoped to finish Starred earlier than planned, but at least I finished in time.

Now I'm starting novel two The Last Prophetess. It is my goal to reach at least 50,000 words, but it would be awesome if I could complete a first draft of this novel too. I'll have to see how it goes.

How is everyone else's NaNo progress? What are you working on?

#fridayflash "First Hunting Trip"

*Today's #fridayflash involves Jason "Jace" Matthews and his dad as they go out on Jace's first hunting trip. Hunting is a favorite pastime in the county Starred takes place. This is a pre-Starred memory from the love interest of Rose and Mary Beth.*

First Hunting Trip

Jace crouched in the tree stand besides his dad. A breeze carried the scent of decaying leaves and reminded him of their walk through the woods. Rough bark scratched through his coat as he adjusted his stance. His eyes widened at the rifle at his dad’s side. He knew it was heavy in his eight-year-old hands, but he’d been practicing with it at home. Dad even took him to a shooting range, and he had a gun safety course.

He was ready.

Perhaps.

“Do you hear that?”

His dad’s breath tickled his ear, but he strained to listen. At first, he heard nothing, but then there was a faint scuffling sound, like someone brushing against leaves.

“What is it?” He winced at his voice. Was he too loud? Did he scare them way?

Dad put a gloved finger against his lips before pointing between some oak trees.

Jace turned and followed the tip of his finger. His eyes widened at the three deer along the edge of the clearing. They stepped farther into the forest, closer to them.

Dad nudged him, and when Jace looked at his dad, he smiled. He offered the rifle to his son.

Jace eased it into his hands. It was heavy, but he lifted it up so he could peer through the sight.

“Take your time, son. Make a clean kill or none at all. Just like we practiced.” His words rumbled through him.

Anticipation gave him a tingling feeling, as if he had to pee. He focused upon the deer’s body until everything lined up. Clean kill or nothing at all. He didn’t want the animal to suffer. The weight in the rifle seemed to triple as he fingered the trigger. Just right about there.

Boom!

The rifle shot echoed through the forest, hurt Jace’s ears. A flock of birds took off from a nearby tree. The deer bounded away. One, two, three. Uh, oh. He’d missed.

His shoulders sank as he passed the rifle back to his dad.

His dad’s arm slung around him and gave him a quick squeeze. “You were a little high, but a great first shot. We’ll get ’em next time, okay?”

He peered into his dad’s face. Wrinkles crinkled around his eyes. Smile crinkles, he liked to call them. He wasn’t mad or disappointed. Jace started to smile too.

“Yeah, next time.”

Both happy to just be together, dad and son settled into the tree stand and prepared for another long wait.

Wednesday's Writing Update: Still NaNo-ing

Happy Wednesday!

You can read my review of Ali Cross's Become here.

Well, I'm still NaNo-ing, and I think I'm doing well. Here are the day totals for Starred since November 1st.
Day 1: 5625
Day 2: 7515
Day 3: 10091
Day 4: 10869
Day 5: 16023
Day 6: 20605
Day 7: 25005
Day 8: 30029

I still can't believe I'm at 30,029 many words in eight days. My goal for Starred is to finish the first draft by Saturday, so I can start The Last Prophetess on Sunday.

I had a slight breakdown on Day 3 where I panicked and wondered how I was going to write two novels in a month, but things have kept going, and I feel good about where Starred is heading. The random scenes are going well. Some I can knock out in 30 minutes to an hour. Others take me a little longer, but that's okay. I think I'm writing this novel better than any other novel. I suppose by the fourth novel I should know a bit more how I write one. *laughs*

My main concern is now resting with The Last Prophetess. I only came up with the idea for it a couple months ago. I don't have a completed outline and two possible endings. I might have to . . . pants it. Yeah, a planner like me might not have everything as orderly for The Last Prophetess. It worries me. That's why I want to finish Starred a few days early so I can figure out how The Last Prophetess will go.

Wish me luck.

For those doing NaNoWriMo, how's it going? For those who aren't, what are you working on right now?

#fridayflash "Never Good Enough"

*This #fridayflash piece comes from the world of Starred. Mary Beth Fischer is the antagonist, but I wrote a scene showing what drives her forward. Mary Beth is in 6th grade in this piece.*

Never Good Enough

“I got my report card today,” Mary Beth said, skipping into the kitchen with the enveloped report card.

“What did you get, sweetie?” Mama’s knife didn’t miss a beat as she chopped carrots.

“All A’s, except for one B.” I breathed in heady scent of yeast from the homemade bread. My stomach grumbled for dinner.

The knife clattered on the cutting board. A carrot piece bounced off it, fell upon the tiles, and rolled under the counter. The moisture fled my mouth when Mama whipped around and yanked the report card from my hands. Brown envelope shreds drifted to the floor, and Mama held the flimsy paper. I thought she would rip it apart, too, but she didn’t. She moved to the table and set it on top of it as she sank into the chair.

“One B in math. In math, Mary Beth. We went over and over it.”

There was a scuff upon my Mary Jane’s. I rubbed it along my tights. “I tried, Mama. I really did. I messed up on my fractions. I’m sorry.”

“Come here.”

I didn’t move.

“I said ‘Come here.’”

My shoes clicked as I walked toward her. The scuff was still there. “Yes, Mama?”

She grabbed my chin and forced my eyes to meet hers. I wanted to look away, but I didn’t dare. She held on for a moment longer before releasing me into my shame.

“A "B" won’t make you valedictorian, Mary Beth. It won’t win you scholarships. You have so much potential to get out of this town, to do something with yourself. Don’t you want that?”

“Yes, Mama.” I liked New Castle. I loved the small town, but I knew if I told Mama that answer, it wouldn’t be good. She wanted me to better myself. Live in a big city like Roanoke or Richmond.

“Good. Now go up to your room and study that math. I’ll call you down for supper later.” She kissed my cheek and smelled of vanilla.

“Yes, Mama.” I wanted to be a big fish in a small pond.

Instead, I went upstairs to study math.

Wednesday's Writing Update: Ready, Set, NaNoWriMo

Happy Wednesday!

Click here to check out my review of Jessica Bell's String Bridge.

I do have October's stats.
Submissions: 0
Rejections: 0
Acceptances: 0
Submissions Still Out: 2
Total Word Count: 2963
Total Pages Edited: 316

Of course, everything else is on pause now because of NaNoWriMo. My November goal is to write two novels (Starred and The Last Prophetess) and to end up with at least 100,000 words.

If you want to read excerpts and synopses of Starred and The Last Prophetess, click here.

So far, NaNoWriMo is going well. Random.org chose my first two "scenes" to write for Starred. Act I, Scene 8 and Act I, Scene 10. I'm using "scenes" instead of chapters, but it's still standard novel writing. I finished both scenes and used Random.org to chose the next two: Act II, Scene 7 and Act III, Scene 2. I wrote Act II, Scene 7 yesterday as well, but I'm saving Act II, Scene 2 until today and picking two more random scenes.

It's only the start of NaNoWriMo, but I love the randomness of the scene picking. It's like having writing prompts, especially since I already wrote the first line for each scene with my outline. Day 1's total word count was 5,625. That's almost what I wrote in all September and October combined!

My goal for Starred is to write at least two scenes a day and have it be at least 50,000 words. So far, I'm a little ahead. I hope I can keep it up. My planning for novel two needs a lot more work, so a few days ahead of schedule will help me. A lot.

If you're participating in NaNoWriMo, how's it going? If you aren't, what are you up to?

Wednesday's Writing Update: Gearing Up for NaNoWriMo 2011

Happy Wednesday!

I’m still doing my best to catch up on everything before November 1^st. Not everything will get done, but that’s okay. Nothing is so pressing that I can’t squeeze in a few minutes to do it during November or wait to do it in December.

Also, in November, I’ll be a bit slow getting around to everyone. Writing will come first. But I’ll get to everything I can as time allows.

Okay, show of hands, who is doing NaNoWriMo? Good and please be sure to leave your screenname so I can add you as a buddy. I’m bookworm0753.

I’m doing something rather crazy this year. I’m writing two novels for NaNo.

Mock Cover

The first one is Starred, a YA Contemporary. I’m writing Starred very differently. For one, there will be Acts and Scenes, although still written as prose instead of stage directions/dialogue. Two, I’m writing it randomly. There are 30 scenes, and I’m going to use Random.org to choose which two I’ll write a day. If I finish two scenes early one day, I’ll go to the next random scene. My goal is to finish Starred by November 15^th and hopefully have it be at least 50,000 words.

Mock Cover

The second novel is The Last Prophetess, a YA Futuristic Fantasy. The Last Prophetess takes place 3000 years after The Phoenix Prophetess. Blame Apenth for giving me this crazy idea to write the two novels. It’s all his fault. *winks* I plan to write this novel like I normally do with chapters and consecutively. I haven’t figured out how many chapters there will be yet, but I hope to finish it by November 30^th and have it at least be 50,000 words.

Yes, I know I’ll have to bulk both novels up later, but the goal is to get both stories down. In a month. Yeah. It may not happen, but I’m going to try. I’m looking forward to it.

What’s the fastest you’ve ever written a novel, i.e. first draft?