February's Inspirational Quote

"One Hour at a Time"
~ Laurie Wallmark.

Dear Laurie,
You might not recall saying this and perhaps I won't remember the specifics but you are our inspiration for the rest of February and maybe even March.

You and I were on the phone and talking about how hard it is to write a novel and as usual I was whining and feeling sorry for my long-a$$ journey. And you told me about how you were working and how busy you were so you wrote your novel one hour at a time. Astounded I said, "You wrote your novel one hour at a time?" And you said, "Yup." And I thought, "Wow... ... ..."

Often times we think we need - or I think I need - huge chunks of time set aside so I can write. Do you do that too? What if we gave ourselves one hour of each day? If it turns into two, well then fine, but if not, at least you still had your One Hour at a Time. So that is the motto of the month, thanks to ours truly, Laurie Wallmark.

We love you, Laurie!

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Our next Illustrator Meeting

We are all set for our next Illustrator meeting on Monday Dec. 8.*

Please bring:
Your goals from the last meeting; portfolios; dummies; questions and oodles of creativity for Monday night's discussion.

Topics to be discussed: Finding a style (but maybe you have more than one); Achievements from 2008 and where to head for 2009 plus preparing for upcoming conferences.

See you there 6:30pm sharp!


* This meeting is open to HCCWiG members ONLY.
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, December 1, 2008

FINAL WORD COUNT FOR NANOWRIMO

Drum roll please........

If I count all words in this draft at this point, the total count is......

40,829

However, about 7,000 of those words are from a few chapters from my last version that I need to rewrite, but have now run out of time. So, if I only count all the words written from Nov 1 - 30 and don't count those two or three chapters I haven't rewritten yet, than my final word count is......

33,016

But, I am not upset at all that I didn't reach the goal of 50,000 words. I never thought I would meet that goal, although there was a moment when I did believe it was attainable. I have learned far too much to feel sad. I have learned I can...

...write through fatigue
...write through pain
...write through a cold
...write through sick children
...write through sleepless nights
...write after working with 3 year olds
...write while my family is home and doing loud activities
...write in the car with the radio on and the kids in the back seat watching a movie (My husband was driving... Oh and I cannot, however, write while my DH sings. Sorry, THAT is too much of a distraction for me!)

~But most of all, I have learned that I can finish this book and that I will finish this book.
~I have learned that 50,000 words is reachable and that my story will probably wind up being longer than 50,000 words.

I have learned a good set of earphones do a lot more than block out sound. They also work like blinders on a horse and help me to zero in my focus.

I have also learned not to share your story before it is finished and never, never, EVER revise until YOU ARE DONE! Repeat after me.... NEVER, EVER, EVER REVISE UNTIL YOU ARE DONE!

Writing my first novel has been a real up hill battle, learning simultaneously about my novel as I am learning how to write one! Not an easy task at all. But I love what I do. I can't not (double negative, I know...) do what I do. And one day I will make money doing what I do. I believe in my story and I believe in my dedication.

I would recommend NaNo to everyone and anyone who will listen. My suggestions are...
  1. write an outline before Nov 1. Write several. A long, detailed one and a short one. My long one was 31 pages full of detail - what characters were in that chapter, what props, what's foreshadowed, what was the mini conflict, mini resolution, and "disaster" that kept forever pulling my MC to that point of no return, or what I like to call the journey... My short outline was 2 pages long and basically was a few short words - no more than 3 - just sighting he crux of each chapter.
  2. Do your research before November 1
  3. Tell members of your writing group, you will not be sharing pages for the month of November

I want to thank all of you for following my journey and for cheering me on through this process. It was such a thrill to know you were all there behind me and I was behind all of my fellow NaNo writers as well.


My story will not reach The End at word 50,000. And although NaNoWriMo is over, many of us are not done. So, join me in setting a new goal - to reach 50,000 words or the end of your story by December 31st. Let's ring in the New Year with new MSs. So, whose with me?

Again, from the bottom of this writer's heart... thank you! December 31st, here we come!

Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)