So about those words... (Pages Edited = 13)

Right...it is November...how is that novel writing coming along?  Well...in all honesty...I have not felt like sitting at Panera or Starbucks huddled behind my laptop.  The weather is beautiful...and being outside seems like the best thing for my soul.  There was a time when writing the words was what I needed...but I don't need that any more.  I think it is okay that I haven't been feeling like barfing out new words for word counts.  There is something else I have felt like doing...editing old words.  What?  Yes...editing.  My NanoWrimo Novel from 2009 is still the one I am closest to finishing.  It is the one I carry around with me...all...the...time.  It is always in the back of my car...taunting me to read through it and get it closer to done.  So, that is what I am doing.  My novel...The Accidental Agent...is going to get another rebuff...and then...I will send it to my friend in Texas to read.  I was supposed to do that last January before I visited her on my birthday.  She hasn't asked me about it once.  I think that means more.  I know that she knows I will eventually send it to her.  I know that it will happen...eventually.

Years ago...one of my old bosses called me out on something regarding my writing.  She said that I never finished any of my novels because I was afraid of finishing.  If I finished one, I would have to do something with it.  She was absolutely right.  Maybe the fear is subsiding...maybe finishing a novel no longer seems so impossible...ready, steady, here I go...

November Happiness... (Word Count = 4,030)

I am completely out of my element this November for National Novel Writing Month and it feels awesome.  I have never written a Fantasy before...so the words are coming very slowly.  I'm okay with this.  Rather than count on the weekends to get 10-15K words...I'm getting back to the basics...I will write 2K words a day.  I love the month of November...it gets colder...the fun of the holiday season starts...and I write a crappy first draft of a novel.  I love having to adjust my life to be sure I have time to write.  I love keeping track of my word count.  I love that I can wear all of my boots.  I love that each year I focus on something different.  This year is all about balance...time with gym, time for soccer hooliganism, time for work, time for paying attention to my health, time for writing, time for sleep, time for play with friends and family, and time to just be.  Each year I fear that delving into the writing world will bring back old habits...too much food, too little activity, and too much time in my own head.  I have vowed to not let this happen this year.  I have vowed to not eat my way through my novel writing adventure either.  I think that is why I am focusing on the 2K words a day.  I don't want to put myself in a situation where I have to sit and write for an entire day to catch up.  So here is my November plan...10K steps a day...2K words a day...and time for work, sleep, and play.  I got this.  Happy November!!    

Embracing the Unfamiliar…

Early on I deemed 2014 as the year for shaking things up…it was to be easy, breezy and full of fun.  This year has not disappointed me one bit…and there are still two whole months to go!!  So in keeping with the theme…why would my November writing adventure be any different?  No chick lit novel writing this year…no funny, quirky female characters trying to figure out their life.  This year…I’m switching it up entirely.  Thanks to a thought posed by one of my friends during an 8 mile walk on Saturday.  My entire life…I have been obsessed with dragons.  Yet, I have never written about them or read about them.  This is going to change…well the writing part.  Let’s not expect miracles here…I’m a terrible reader…that is not going to change!!

So I guess I have declared a genre for NanoWrimo 2014…my novel will be a Fantasy.  I need to start googling dragons and shape shifting.  A little mythology.  A little good versus evil.  An epic love element will surely get created too.  I have no clue what I’m doing.  It feels really, really good.  It is all about embracing the unfamiliar with open arms... 

It's the time of the season...for writing...

So...it has been awhile since I have blogged.  But it is indeed the time of the season...for writing.  I was on the fence about whether or not I had another crappy first draft of a novel in me.  Who am I kidding?  Of course I do.  If you put a blank page in front of me...I will fill it.  My one and only party trick.  It is what I do...even if for only one month out of the year.  I never plan.  I just open up a new document, put on my headphones, and let the music in my ears inspire the words that will flow out through my fingers onto the keys of my laptop.  It is a really good feeling.  Like watching soccer.  Like a date with Gym.  Like listening to music.  It just is.

Even if I don't give much attention to my writing throughout the year...it is a big part of what makes me...me.  And in those moments when I think that it is not...I remember this note that my Grandma wrote to me a long, long time ago.  What more motivation does a person need?  So here we go, for the ninth year in a row...I am going to write a novel.  It may never get finished.  It may never be read by anyone other than me.  It may sit on a shelf along with the eight others I have done before.  I won't remember my characters names.  I may not even remember the title.  It doesn't matter.  What does matter...is that I had fun and for one whole month...I made writing a priority in my life.