Nano day Twelve: Yikes

I tried so hard to reach 30,000 yesterday, but my fingers gave up at 29,200 something something.  I'm a little bummed, but who can blame me.  I have the 300 hours of Skyrim sitting in my bedroom that I felt the need to get started on.

I decided to be a breton, though they are pretty much useless with a sword.  In skyrim you can't pick and choose your skill sets, you start with a few and then grow from there so I though "WTF mate" lets go with the magic humanoid and train her to do both well.  And may I say that I have a nack for making beautiful characters.

I also introduced a new character into JAMES last night.  I really enjoyed my "adam and eve" intro with Lily and James, so I decided to keep the Genesis themes going and gave my book a talking snake that kind of sets up the idea that the fairies are bad.  He lives in a fruit tree near an oasis.  So today I'll write over 5,000 if I can stand it, get myself to 35,000 so that I'll only have 15,000 left to go, which will hopefully mean I finish my the end of next weekend. =)

Nano Day Twelve: Short, Sweet, To the Point

I have 4,000 words to write today, and Skyrim sitting next to my xbox - lets get it the FREAK on

Nano Day Eleven: Make a Wish

Today is 11.11.11 - it's time to make a wish.  I always wish on the clock at 11:11, so why can I wish on a day.

I am going to wish that my re-write is better than my draft.  This is getting more and more painful each time I re-read a section.

I am going to wish that the rest of my paycheck comes in today.

I am going to wish that my boyfriend does something overly sweet for me since he's off today.

I am going to wish for Teriyaki Chicken Bowls from costco (and then go make that wish come true)

I am going to wish that agents and publishers like my book just as much as the people who took the time to send me a message on nanowrimo - I love them <3

I am going to wish that I get another good idea, preferably for a book series.

I am also going to wish for a peppermint mocha latte, because I'm broke and I probably won't get it but I want one

Nano day Ten: I'm a slacker

I only wrote 1,000 words last night, despite my vow to do 2,000 a night.  It was nice to have a semi-break though and enjoy some TV with the boyfriend.  I needed a night like last night.  Back to the grind stone today, however, with a 3,000 word minimum before I can move on to some rest and relaxation.

I've decided I will certainly seek publication in the near future.  I am tempted to just think of something easy to write and sellable to get my name out there, however my loving boyfriend won't let me sell myself short.  I'm glad he's here for that, because with out him I'd be writing something crappier than twilight and selling out like crazy.  So we decided to lay an egg and hatch it together about a virus plague.  Also, we decided to write it backwards so book one will drop you into this world and by book whatever you'll understand how you got there.

I also stumbled upon this today

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PeterPan

It's every overused element that is found in Peter Pan, and some character development points that I need to use.  Thankfully, I nailed about 1/2 on the head, the rest are nonexistent.  So...shit.... lets edit some earlier chapters.

Nano Day Nine: Prosperous

I got a fortune cookie that read "This is a very prosperous time in life for you."

My check was almost 500 dollars short -_-

I've decided I need to be an author for a living, I can't handle this job.  I also need to get my teaching stuff finished, because when I'm sitting at a desk all day looking at boobs and putting email addresses into our computer, I don't feel like I'm making much difference in the world.  Not that I hate my work, but this isn't what I want to do

So I've come to this conclusion today (I think I did anyway, my mind can still be changed).  I am going to publish a few ebooks while I wait for James to be perfect and traditionally published.  Romance books, YA scifi books are easy for me to push out.  I'll publish my romance under another name just for the bucks, build my name with my YA books and then BAM! when james comes out, My name is already out there a bit

Naturally, that's assuming I write good books.  I don't like to brag or sound vain, and i'm sure these books will suck the first time round, you know.

Boyfriend and I came up with a good premise that could really turn into something.  Tonight at dinner I will be slowly steering the conversation in that direction.

Nano Day 8 - the first week officially over

So want to know a fun fact?  My counts total this at the end of the first seven days

Total Words Written: 17,064
Words to Go: 32,963
Finish Date: 11/25/2011

My very first nano, it took me the full 30 days to write as much as I have in one week.  My first nano was my pathetic attempt at Harry Potter Fan Fiction.  I was desperate for the next book, so impatient that I decided to write my own instead of wait for it to come out.  I planned each word very carefully, though my sentences and paragraphs through.  It was the first book type of thing I had ever wrote outside of a school assignment.  I am, to this day, proud of it despite how terrible it is.

Maybe today is a good day to kind of go into my history as a writer =)

I won my first award for writing when I was 5 years old.  I wrote a story in my kindergarten class, I told it out loud while my teacher typed it out.  I won the Gamma Kappa Delta and had my picture in the paper. True story.  Maybe when I get home I'll scan my picture in the paper.  Anyway, that's how I knew that I should probably look into story telling as a career.  I thought about writing more seriously when I was about 11 years old and a friend of mine introduced me to role playing games online, where you write out the actions of your character.  I took refuged in these while also completing my first nano.  I won another short story competition in high school, my sophomore year.  Again, another publication for a grade.  Nothing huge happened until my freshman year of college.  I was introduced to a group of English teachers working on publishing a text book, where three of my essays now lie for people to read as examples.  (I looked into it, they are good examples)

My plans for the future?  Do what I love, make people happy, and stay sane =)

Just a Taste

Then again, just as the night before, he heard a loud TICK TOCK come from behind the beach.  Suddenly he knew what he could do to feel more at peace tonight.  He headed back towards his room, quietly but much more quickly than the time before he made he way there to grab the pocket watch he was unable to open before.  It sat there still on his shelf closed.  James grabbed it and made his way out of the room again, and once he was out of the underground house he began to ran up to the cliff side to look at the large clock. 


When he got there he felt goosebumps run down his back.  The two loud noises were indeed the clock moving just a bit.  The hand which used to lie between the two and three was now two notches closer to the three than before.  He started at them, his fingers moving around the watch as though it was on fire in his hand.  Softly he touched it to the larger grandfather clock and nothing happened, he tapped it harder and still it would not open.  Finally, it a moment of ange and rage he rammed it into the wood of the clock, and with another loud TICK TOCK the pocket watched opened.


Out of sheer surprise, James dropped the watch and let it fall into the earth open, it’s time mirroring the time on the larger grandfather clock.  The watch did not tick, nor did it tock, it’s hands lay on it’s face still and unmoving.  As though it might spring up at him, James moved back towards the pocket watch slowly and, as soon as he remember that no inanimate objects can hurt even on a magic island, he picked it up again.  He shut it’s little pocket watch door and was able to open it again with ease, the time remaining the same each time.  As his eyes flickered back and forth between clocks, the sun began to rise as it always does in the same timely fashion.  Perhaps it was a sign, that clocks can say whatever they want, but the sun will always rise and a new day will always come no matter what.

Here's a nice long version of my book

So it has come to my attention that I should post a full plot summary of "James" somewhere, since I feel like the shorter version on my nano profile kind of sucks.  So here it is, in case you're curious

James was the first little boy to wind up on neverland.  Like all the toys and left foot socks, he had been lost and found himself on the island that time has forgotten about.  Slowly, other children find themselves lost here too, all accompanied by a little fairy.  They band together, keeping strong in groups of children and fairies.  A girl, Lily, seems to have been here the longest, but is rather silent and doesn't speak much. Two boys, Starkey and Smee, become the closest friends James has.


The three boys and their little fairies decide that it would be best for the group of kids if they ventured away from their beach and underground home to make a map of the island.  While out they encounter some strange things that neverland holds, giant bugs and monsters, pirate skeletons and the most curious of all is a large clock that sometimes, when your feeling a particularly strong emotion, will go TICK TOCK in the night.


On the same day two strange people arrive on neverland.  Anita is a childhood friend of James and when he see's her memories of his life before neverland come back.  The other strange coming is a child called Peter, who is barely a toddler and can fly unlike any of the other children there.  With new memories emerging, and the clock TICK TOCKING more often, James can feel himself grow taller and older.  The baby also grows and tells everyone he longs for a mother.  Anita takes care of him from time to time, but she is not the mother he needs


Once Peter has grown to a boy who looks about 10, he asks a favor of James.  He wants to return to London to see his family, see what as become of them.  James agrees and the two of them fly back to see their families.  Peter's has moved on, they have another little baby and seemed to have forgotten him.  James' mother still mourns the loss of her son in a big beautiful house that he could have lived in
with a little sister he could have loved.  


They return to neverland and James is filed with anger towards his fairy, who had lied to him about what life in London was like, she said it was awful and she saved him.  James began to confide everything to Anita, and the two grew found of each other, aging into puberty together.  They kissed one night and were seen by her fairy.  Soon after, Anita was banish from the island and was told to swim away forever. When she entered the water, the fairies cast a spell on her to turn her into a fish, however, Anita screamed that she didn't believe in their magic over and over again, slowly the fairies began to die and only half of Anita was fish, the other half was her.  


James then instructed the other children to never go near the lagoon, for Anita's wrath will drag them in and turn them into fish children too.  Peter, however, questioned his leadership and told everyone to play with the mermaids as long as they like.  Peter's cocky attitude about himself had finally hit James last never and the two got into a verbal fight.  After their fight, James had an argument with Flare, his fairy, about everything and killed her in cold blood by looking straight into her eyes and saying "I don't believe in you."


After Flare's death, James begins to age more rapidly.  Suddenly the children of neverland are decided, some who side with James who has been their leader, the younger ones side with Peter and everyone left in the middle leaves with Lily to the Plateau to become the leader of the "indians."  Things escalade with Peter and James until they get into a sword fight, Peter at an advantage since he can fly and it all leads up to James having his hand chopped off.  Peter tosses it over his shoulder and into the open mouth of a crocodile.


From there, you know how it goes ;)

Nano Day 7 - rethinking my goals

So last month I posted about the goals I was going to accomplish during nano and for the rest of the year. Now that we have come to day seven and I haven't really met any of them I think it's time to draft a new set of them.  So here's the things I have been doing, and what i plan to do for the year

1. I have been writing 2,000 words during the work week, and 4,000 over the weekend.  I will continue that.
2. I have been very good about a post a day on the blog, whether it's a prompt or not (which so far it's been not) so I will continue to let my feelings out once a day
3. I still promise to have James finished my April
4. I still promise to have a handful of short stories by the end of the year

And for the rest of these, after nano that is, this will be my writing schedule
1. Monday is short story day
2. Tuesday and Wednesday are devoted to James
3. Thursday will be devoted to a different novel, something new and fresher
4. Friday is reserved for taking a break all together, enjoying my boyfriend or the tv or something.
5. I promise to never take a weekend long break unless I have already made up for it during the week.

And last but least
I promise to keep these promises to myself.  When I introduce myself to people in public, I associate myself as a writer, and until I have a book in my hands that will surely not be true.

I also wanted to use this blog post to say thank you to my boyfriend, who was my rock this weekend and pushed me to write 8,000 words in two days <3 I love you darling.

Nano Day Six: Whats the delete button

I almost did it again this morning.

I have a nasty habit of deleting the parts of my book that I hate and I almost erased my entire first chapter because I thought of a way to expand it into two different chapter.  I might still write them both out today, and once I wrote it out replace it, but I can't delete everything before I do that.

I finally feel like I am over the "boring hump" of my book.  You know that part that you need to have in there but it's not at all exciting to write about.  For me, that's the first few chapters of getting to know the kids on the island.  This morning I finished chapter three, which is their first "adventure" so to say.  Today I plan to push out Chapter Four which is where they meet skelleton pirates who give hook a sword and a hat.

Yesterday was like a dream come true, to see my cover and stuff life that.  I also got a lot of praise through nano mail and I took the time to thank every person for their kind words.  I really do appreciate it.  It also gave me the opportunity to read other synopsis out there and there are some amazing stories.  Maybe I'm just self centered but that is one thing I never took the time to do before; just see what everyone else is writing.

I started today at 10117 and I hope to reach 15000 before work tomorrow.

HAPPY SUNDAY!

Nano Day 5: What's wrong with me

I have the ideal setting to write today

1. clean bed sheets
2. some time alone
3. a beautiful cover to look at for inspiration

So then why can't I get anything out?
Damn you iron chef america, for being so addicting.
my other big problem is that I keep looking at the nanowrimo blog to stare at my cover

Oh well, I'm at 8,000 at this moment and about to move 3,000 words before my boyfriend comes home.

Remember Remember the 5th of november

http://blog.lettersandlight.org/post/12375341368

That link, right there, takes you to the most glorious internet page of all time.

My book was chosen for a cover.

Nano Day Four: Something with more body

My blogs have been pathetic lately.  Seriously, just a word or two so that I can say "look I wrote today."  So for now, lets try something with a little bit more body.

When your sad and bored on the city train, your mind tends to wander.  So today I made up a lovely story about two people who were sitting within my line of sight.  As I was entering the train, there was a man in front of me reading the paper.  He had long hair, chin length, a scraggly beard and a brown leather jacket. Naturally, I didn't say anything to him but we both boarded the train next to each other.  He took a sideways facing seat, and I took a forward facing one.  Normally, the train is totally empty but today there was one guy sleeping with his legs up across the seat next to him.  I sat directly behind him silently judging him for not having a home and taking up so much space so that no one else could sit there.  His entire face was covered by a beanie, a turtle neck and his blue hoodie.

And because I have an over active imagination, this is their story.

The guy in a leather jacket was CLEARLY some kind of supernatural creature hunter and he knew something would be on that train today.  However, he also knew that the creature would sense him if he showed up being his hunter self, so he read the paper instead.  After I sat down behind the guy in the hoodie, he turned into the creature, removing his hoodie and turtle neck and beanie to show me his gruesome face and sharp teeth.  Because I'm a girl and this is my day dream, he naturally came to attack me and the hunter killed him with a cross bow (how else would he do it?!?).


And that's how to pass the time on the train during a Los Angeles Rain Storm.

P.S. I caught up last night, with the help of my wonderful motivational boyfriend who refused to be around me or kiss me until I finished my word count.  I love him <3  So today I need to get my minimum and then some finished.  Good luck my fellow nanoers!

the end.

Nano Day three: Why it rocks to fall behind

I am behind, this morning I was behind by over 2,000 words

now I'm behind by about 800 but I'll be caught up before midnight.

And guess what, when I do catch up people will cheer my name in the streets.  They'll say "That's amazing, she caught up." and it will be so good.

Nano Day Two: never enough coffee

It's a really good thing I work better under stress and pressure.  I feel like once the pressure is on, I can match the intensity in my work for a while and do a better job with it.  Naturally, I can't work like that all the time, but trying to write my novel during my 2 busiest work days has helped get me to a great start.  Not to mention the thrill of knowing I could get in trouble at any moment adds to the danger and excitement.

Yesterday I met a woman who walked into the office talking about a writing contest.  Turns out she's a nano-goer too.  It was awesome to connect with a perfect stranger, and that deserves a short story when the competition is over.  The complete stranger then proceeded to ask a 22 year old girl if she used botox.

I also have a good friend who is doing the competition with me, though I don't think she understood that you can't get a head start in order to balance your schedule better, that you need to start on the 1st and if you don't make 50,000 it's not the end of the world.  Love her to death, but she broke my heart a little.

i'm at 2,292 right now, aiming for over to 4,000 by the end of the work day.

My other big thing today

I came up with another idea *sigh*

I was listening to Hotel California by the eagles, and this is my plan

A man is tracking across country and is driving late at night due to lack of available hotel rooms. He's tired and sleepy and comes across a resort with rooms for the night.  He meets a beautiful woman in the lobby and ends up deciding to stay for a while at the resort.  While he's there he can hear the voice of his wife calling to him, making it hard to cheat, and he can hear the voice of his children.  Once his week is over he tries to leave but he can't.

Because he crashed when he was tired and is in a coma....

However, I can't do anything with this right now until nano is over.

Day one - Too much steam for the boat

I love the first of November - all the enthusiasm I have for the coming month, the plans and the outlines and everything like that.

Now if I can just put this feeling into a bottle and save it for the rest of the month, drink a shot at a time.

Goal #1 - don't loose all the steam before you reach your destination.