Wow, I made it!

Hard to believe, but I DID make it this year, despite everything that tried to get in my way. I reached my 50,000 goal more than two hours before midnight. And like a good doobie yesterday, I went ahead and made my yearly donation to Nano to keep it going.

I think this year has been the worst for funding; there are so many people participating, but very few who are willing to even put up $5 to help keep this thing going.

It's not much to ask for a program that has done so much for writers world-wide. I'm one of them, and I've donated at least $25 every year, along with buying merchandise, and this year even making an in-kind donation for their startup as well. Any funds above and beyond what is needed to run Nano is donated to building and furnishing books to libraries in third world countries. This is a good cause and how can I not donate to such a great cause?

I hope others who participated this year will find it in their hearts to donate as well. Even $5 will help. Let's not let Nano fall to wrack and ruin because we were too cheap to help support their funding needs. Without Nano, we'd not be writing novels, and we wouldn't have the fabulous forums to hang out on, and we would not have all the cool widgets and etc. to work with during Nano.

'nuff said. I think I need to catch up on some sleep. Tomorrow I'll continue writing, as I've not finished my story, just my 50,000. I have a long way to go.

35,000 words but it's still early

I realized this past weekend that I'd written 32,000 words on my Nano, which is wonderful. However, in the line of my story, I am only about four days into the storyline itself, which is actually supposed to run about four months.

So I'm looking at this 32,000 words, figuring I'm about 1/10th through my story or less, and who's going to want to read a book that's 300,000 words long?

Hmmm. There's a lot of detail I'm trying to cover. Much of what I'm writing is explanatory; it needs to be explained in order for the reader to understand the story. There is a lot of terminology that the ordinary reader wouldn't understand. This is different than anything I've written before, so it is taking me some time to work through it. It should make the editing process interesting, at the very least.

I am up to 35,000 words as of today. I hope to get to 50,000 this weekend. However, I'm going to be bogged down by family plans that I don't normally make this time of year, so that may limit what I'm able to produce. But I still have until next Thursday, so I'm sure I'll make it, if only barely.

Another Circus!

Tonight we'll go see Ringling's show. This is their last stop before folding for the winter. I missed last year's show because I was in Colorado on business; this year at least I will get to see it. Even though the circus in my book is not Ringling-style, it's still good to see the acts that are out there, and how the "big boys" do it. Ringling is still the biggest of the big boys, although that may be changing.

I'm over 27,000 words in my novel and I'm still in the beginnning of the story. It's only been three days in my characters' lives. This book is going to be huge, at this rate. But I should make my 50,000 for Nano easily, since we still have basically two weeks. I'm buzzing along. Some nights writing is easier than others. But I can produce 2,000 or more words an hour when I get on a roll, so it goes by quickly.

Back Home

Well, I'm back home after a week in Colorado. I didn't get as much writing done as I'd like, but I did put a hurting on it. I'm at about 13K now.

And I have an overbooked week this week, so we'll see how much I actually get done. Today is already booked up for most of the morning and afternoon. Tomorrow night I'm on a panel for a round table discussion, Tuesday night I have to go the library for the Young Nano Writers group that I'm part of, Wednesday is my social night with a local group (and I can't get out of it), and Thursday we're supposed to be at the Ringling show. I guess I can call Thursday research if I have to.

LOL

I have a couple hours this morning so I'm going to write and see how far I can get.

Boy, is this HARD

I've had a lot more trouble writing this year than I have in past years of Nano. I may have burnt myself out a bit early on with the whole research thing. Now I'm trying to catch up.

As of this moment I'm at 9,000 words plus and plenty of time to get out another thousand or two before bed. This is my last night in the hotel with quiet to write, so I should take advantage of that while I can.

Tonight's soundtrack is the CD from Cirque du Soleil's Quidam. Nice music, sucky show. LOL

Lily Lake

Every year when I come to Colorado in November, I make sure I drive up along the Peak to Peak Trail, a scenic highway that runs from Estes Park all the way to Nederland. It is a beautiful drive, and no matter how many times I do it, I still love it.

This picture came from this year's trip. My picture from two years ago ended up on the cover of my second NanoNovel, now published through Lulu (link to the right of my blog). Every time I go, it is different, but somehow still the same. This year the lake was starting to freeze, and there was some snow, but not much. It was snowing over the highest peaks, but only flurrying where we were.

Now, today I start my conference, and tonight I'm going to have to buckle down and do some serious writing. SERIOUS! I am so far behind. Agh!!

Writing and Having Fun!!

I did manage to write last night, almost 2000 words. I'm glad, because I was feeling like I was falling further and further behind. I had a really nice day yesterday, driving around in the mountains with my friends, so it is worth it that I'm behind, but still. At least my altitude sickness is gone this morning, and I feel normal again. Today we are heading into the mountains again, and tonight I should get some good writing done. The rest of the week should yield better results for my writing, as I'll be in a hotel room with nothing to do in the evenings. Yippee for me!

I'm in print!!

The article about me and my erotica appeared in today's Riverfront Times. It's a positive article, and appeared at the top of the Unreal column in the actual paper. This is the FIRST feature of the paper each week, which means I appeared at the very beginning of everything, just past the table of contents pages. That's pretty darned cool.

And I'm also happy that the article spins me and big girls in a mostly positive light. It is said sometimes that prejudice against fat people is the last "safe" prejudice. I don't know about that, but it seems that it's okay to bash fat people.

I, for one, don't care one way or the other. I'm old enough not to have to explain myself to everyone, or to have to justify my human womanhood.

An Excuse to Write

I managed about 3700 words yesterday, despite having a meeting last night that kept me from writing last evening. That's pretty good.

Today I am home again, but not willingly. My van won't run this morning. Well, it runs, but badly. This van has a problem with popping off vacuum hoses, and when it does, it runs rough and won't idle. So, I took it to the shop and hubby brought me home. I really did need to go to work today, though, so this is really a bummer.

But, maybe I'll get another 3700 words in today. That would be good!

Ready, Set, WRITE

The Big Write is HERE!

I hope everyone enjoys the experience. I will try to still post almost daily, but no guarantees!!

So close I can taste it...

We are two days away from the Big Write. After all the anticipation, it's so close we can touch it now. I am prepared to write. Yesterday I had an hour or so before a gig so I parked my butt at the local Bread Co. (Panera Bread) and read through some of my notes and descriptions. I haven't looked at any of my notes or read a circus book for at least a couple weeks. So I needed to get myself refreshed and get my brain back to working on this story.

Speaking of Bread Co., I don't think I've ever noticed how noisy it is in there. I suppose it was partly due to the location (in a more chi-chi neighborhood) and the time of day (late afternoon on a Saturday). But I was glad for my good headphones, because the noise level was quite extreme. Part of that noise was their pseudo-jazzy-I'm-so-hip-it-hurts music on the speakers overhead. I'm sure the people at Bread Co. think that is soothing and encourages a sense of calm, but I found it to be otherwise.

There are other Bread Co.'s near me that I can go to. They have free wireless. And of course the uber-quiet Barnes and Noble is nearby too, and their wireless is free to me because I have business-class DSL at home through ATT. There is also a Borders, but I've not been there yet to see what it is like to work there. I will probably not do much writing at Borders, however, their wireless is not free nor is it value-priced (I don't consider $40 a month for limited access to be a good value). And I need to be online when I work for research and to get to some of my files.

Today I'm fixing a big dinner. It is likely the last one I will fix for quite some time. Everyone is just going to have to fend for themselves around here after Tuesday.

Amok Amok Amok AMOK Part 2

So as I mentioned a couple days ago, the reporter from the Riverfront Times conducted her phone interview with me on Wednesday. As I sat in my car on the parking lot of the local Shop 'n Save, she and I talked about my collection of erotica, published earlier this year through Lulu. I've sold a few copies; I hope to get it marketed better in the coming year. It's just sort of been on the back burner. Sometimes you just have too much on your plate, and something has to wait until later.

Since I have not seen the article yet, I can't really say how the reporter is going to spin what we talked about. Mostly we talked about size acceptance, and I talked a lot about how sex was perfectly normal no matter what your size. I talked about some of my inspirations for writing erotica, including Hanne Blank, and the Story Guy. I talked about how I'd "found" myself after going to chat rooms after my divorce ten years ago, and how I'd met my husband at a dance for big people put on my Ample Romance (now a defunct group).

Depending on the coverage the article gets me, I may need to push my book to the front burner once again. I know there is a market for it, especially since Hanne Blank is pulling away from the plus-sized erotica she has gravitated to in the past.

Finding Time to Write

I'm sitting here in a relatively quiet house that is in a mode of waiting. My husband's last remaining auntie died yesterday and later today we will go to the funeral home. Tonight is the big Halloween Ball we've been preparing for all month. Hubby is off working (cleaning house for a disabled lady) and I'm off work because of the wake. This morning I chaufferred hubby back from the mechanic so they could work on his truck, and finished up the last of the halloween costume details, and now I'm sitting here waiting for 45 minutes to go by so I can rinse the color out of my hair.

Good time to get some writing done!!

I may not get a full 45 minutes done, at least half of that time will be spent catching up on emails and reading the local news, especially the weather. The Cardinals could clinch the series tonight if it would just stop raining and let us play!! No luck there so far, but I'm hopeful.

This week, and especially today's, roller coaster schedule is not unusual for us, really. If it weren't for my ability to write in snatches, I would never get any writing done at all! So if I only have a 10-minute snatch to write in while the biscuits are baking for dinner, or twenty minutes until the dryer is done, or 45 minutes while I wait for my hair color to work, then I'll take that. It's better than no time to write.

I know someday all this "busy" that we have in our lives will be gone and I'll wonder where it all went and what to do with myself. Yeah. Right. Somehow, I think I'll be just fine!

Some More Writing Helpers

I had my interview with the reporter from the Riverfront Times. I'll write more on that in a later blog.

We are less than a week away from the Big Write. I have been remiss in keeping up with this journal, but it's been a busy few days for us around here. And I'm feeling uninspired to write, which isn't a good thing when you're less than a week away from the Big Write! Someone on my NanoWriter's group asked how we come up with our plots and story ideas. Often, I'm a spiral or circular writer; I have a mere germ of an idea that I then build around. Kinda like an oyster with a grain of sand. I take that tiny little kernel of an idea and cover it with layers and layers of scenes and characters and locations and voila, I have a nice little pearl! Many times my grain of sand is so small that it wouldn't mean anything to anyone, in its initial form.

But sometimes we need help getting something to work with. We might have a grain, but no layers and no idea on how to get those layers. There are helpers out there, and hopefully these few will inspire anyone who's feeling uninspired at the moment.

Recipe for a First Draft

FreeStory - Writing Tools

Using Index Cards to Plot a Novel

BellaOnline Fiction Newsletters

Open Directory - Writer's Resources

Killing Time

I'm thankful I'm busy this weekend. The urge to write is very strong, and if I had free time, I'd probably have a hard time trying not to write. It's really hard to have this story flying around in my head every night when I'm trying to sleep. I know that when I write it, it will stop flying around in my head, and it will be easier to sleep.

Fortunately, my distractions this weekend include the World Series (my hometown Cardinals are playing), getting ready for our annual Halloween party, and trying to get costumes done for the Halloween Ball we are attending on Friday. That last thing is enough annoyance to keep my brain and my hands occupied quite well at the moment. LOL

Hard to believe it is still ten days from the Big Write!

Amok Amok Amok AMOK!!

I had an email the other day from a reporter for the Riverfront Times here in St. Louis (an alternative newspaper). She wanted to interview me, mentioned Paganism and that I was a writer. Not sure how she found me.

Anyway, I wrote her back and told her I'd be happy to talk to her. Tonight on the way home from work, she called. I had a nice long conversation with her, mostly in the driveway of my house. She started out asking about the St. Louis Pagan community, hinting that our community didn't seem to have trouble fitting into the community at large. She's right; in general Paganism is accepted here, and we don't suffer from any broad forms of persecution. Most of us can be "out" in many parts of our lives and it works out okay.

So from there we moved on to what I'd written. She was very interested in my written erotica, and how I'd started doing it, how often I wrote it, etc. She seemed even more interested in the fact that my erotica was written for plus-sized girls, i.e., BBW's (Big Beautiful Women). I told her how I'd met my hubby through a local BBW group, and how I'd written an article for a 'zine some years ago that dealt with sex in chat rooms. That and my erotica were published under the name of Clarissa Rounds. The 'zine is now out of print, but the editor of the 'zine, Hanne Blank, has her own book of BBW erotica out there, although it is not written by her.

I talked about my family, my job as a geek at a college, about me being an ordained minister. We covered a lot of ground. At the end, she asked if it would be okay for her to run an idea for an article about me by her editor. Well, that answer would be yes! LOL I did suggest that she narrow down her topic a bit, figure out exactly what she wanted to write about. I am a Renaissance Woman; being a Gemini means I am not just one thing, but many, I suppose.

I wonder what idea she's going to run by her publisher? Wouldn't it be cool if this meant I sold more books?

Name Those Characters!!

I'm always on the hunt for unusual yet traditional names. I know that sounds like an impossibility, but it's not.

I read a lot. Nothing bothers me more in something I'm reading than a boring name. It doesn't have to be an exciting, exotic name, but it needs to be something that fits the character and is "different" than every other Emily, Caitlyn, and Sarah out there.

So when I'm ready to write a novel, I hunt down names for all of my characters before I begin. The process is actually rather involved sometimes; I have my 6,000 Baby Names book, but that's not always enough. I like to feature at least a few characters in my books from countries other than the U.S., and they need ethnic names. There are some great name sites out on the 'net, and I use those to get names for those foreign characters. But for my American characters, the name thing is often a conundrum for me.

I try to think about the character and what it would sound like for someone to say their name in anger, or in glee, or in love. I try to match the character her or himself to the personality and position they find themselves in. Sometimes it needs to be a Biblical name. Sometimes something more unusual.

I am thankful there are so many sources on the internet for names and their meanings. Back in the day, when I was in college, we didn't have computers or the internet. I would look for names in the phone book, or use the first name of an author I liked. I would even use the names of my friends or roommates or professors. And of course bad guys (or girls) got the names of my nemeses (as in more than one nemisis) in grade school and high school.

But it's still a challenge for me. This year's characters are being named as I dream them up, and so far, so good. We'll see.

At least in this day and age with word processors, if I end up not liking a name, a simple find and replace will take care of that little problem.

Dreams

I'm a very potent dreamer. Always have been. Some mornings I wake up tired from dreams that had me in every sort of adventure, mostly unbelievable ones. Sometimes, the dreams are frightening, but mostly, they are just strange casseroles composed of ideas. They come out tasting like something that probably should have been pitched rather than eaten.

Just last week I dreamt I was riding a camel. Uphill. The camel could talk, and his name was Kai. We were going very fast. I was dressed in black Arabic robes like a man. So was the man on the camel next to me. It was sunny and warm, but there were trees. And a creek. And Kai the Camel was telling me stories to keep me entertained, so I wouldn't notice how badly he smelled. I realized that the man on the camel next to me was Jeremiah, the bull hand I'd met in Wisconsin. As we were loping up the hill at a high rate of speed, Kai suddenly yelled, "the saddle is loose, you're going to fall off." I reached forward and grabbed the skin of his neck and held on.

Yeah, like I said. A casserole of ideas. I actually do know a Kai the Camel, but he doesn't talk. He grunts and groans, but he doesn't talk. I've never ridden him, or any camel for that matter. I've also never dressed in black Arabic robes like a man. I've never dressed in any kind of Arabic robes.

The good thing about the dreams is that my mind is obviously working hard on different elements that have been running through my head. Even if I don't use a camel running uphill fast and carrying my FMC, it still means my brain is thinking.

The bad thing about the dreams is how tired I was when I woke up from that one!

Writing Music

We have only fifteen days until the Big Write. It leads me to think about the music I will listen to while writing this year. Music is an important part of how I write; it allows me to cut off the world and focus my mind while the words pour out.

Last year I wrote for thirty days while listening to Transiberian Orchestra's Beethoven's Last Night. Strange and wonderful stuff, it is.

This year, I've got several favorites; I'm getting to be a huge fan of Blue Oktober (the rock group), Matchbox 20, and anything by Josh Groban. Fortunately, I have absolutely every piece of music I own on my iPod, so I'm sure I'll find something worthwhile to listen to. The cool thing about the iPod is that it can run for hours, and when the little Sony Fontopia headphones are in, I basically can't hear anything going on in the house or around me, and I can get some good writing done.

One song that I keep hearing in my head is Tasha Bettingfield's The Rest is Still Unwritten. I know, it's a song about self-improvement, but the lyrics speak to a writer, too. When I sit down to write, the rest is still unwritten, and if I just open the window and look out, I'll get all the inspiration I need to put my story on paper.

Itchy Fingers

Man, do I want to get some writing done!! I've been pretty busy with real life stuff, but always in the back of my mind is the Big Write. Sixteen days!

Every single weekend in October is booked. Either there is a wedding, or a party, or both! I'm glad I did most of my research already and there isn't much left to do to be prepared.

I know some of the people on my Nano Group are already writing. I am just holding my breath and resisting the urge. I can hold out. I have to hold out!