I'm actually going to sit this month out because I decided at the last minute to sign up for NaNoWriMo and I'm busy working on that. I thought I would try one more time to finish a draft of my Window Box in Paris story. I tried last November during NaNo and ended up with about 500 words written, then I tried again during CampNaNo in the spring and ended up with even less.
But I was in the mood to write again so I thought I would give it another go. With luck, the third time really will be the charm.
I hope you all have a wonderful month ahead. And to those in the US like me I wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Each month the IWSG team asks a question for participants to answer if desired. This month's question is: Win or not, do you usually finish your NaNo project? Have any of them gone on to be published? I've only participated in NaNo twice and I finished once and didn't even make it through the first week the second time. The novel I finished went on to be published as The Ghosts of Aquinnah. Last year I signed up determined to work on my story inspired by my trip to France called A Window Box in Paris. That went nowhere, to say the least. Now I'm participating a third time and I'm once again planning to write A Window Box in Paris. But I think I will have very different results this year as the story is totally different! Only the title and two characters remain from last year's ideas. I was never totally sold on the story I was trying to write last year but this one feels like it wants to be written.
And, I got a wonderful surprise and a burst of inspiration when I won the Encouragement Award for the October WEP challenge!! 🙌😃 My story, The Apartment, was connected to A Window Box in Paris and featured one of the main characters as a child. I never intended to write anything about the character's childhood until I started trying to think of ideas for the October hop. The way the piece came together makes me think the full story is meant to be told. So I'm excited for NaNo and feeling confident that I'll have a repeat of my first experience instead of my second one. Best of luck to everyone else who is participating! 😃😄
I'm taking a break from the IWSG and from blogging this month because I am participating in NaNoWriMo for the first time in several years and want to focus on writing as much as possible. I hope everyone is doing well and I wish you all a great November!
For my fellow NaNo participants, if we're not already buddies and you want to be I am JulieAF over there. I'd love to be buddies. Good luck and happy writing!!
I decided to sign up for NaNoWriMo this year in the hopes of finally ending my seemingly endless writing slump. The last time I did NaNo I wrote the story that became The Ghosts of Aquinnah, so I'm hoping I will have the same success this time.
I'm writing a historical mystery that I've been kicking around in my head for years, but got new inspiration for after my trip to Paris over the summer. It takes place in both Cincinnati and France during the World War I era, and it's called A Window Box in Paris. One of the things I loved most about Paris were the beautiful flowers in window boxes all over the city, like this one:
The buildings were already so gorgeous, and these boxes added even more to the city's already considerable charm. So I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that when the end of November rolls around I will have typed "the end" on the first draft of this story!
Anyone else taking part in the NaNo craziness this year? If so, let's cheer each other on. :)
The big news today though is the release of Cling to God by Lynda R. Young. Congratulations, Lynda! I'm happy to have the opportunity to help spread the word about this release. Here is all the info:
Cling to God: A Daily Devotional.
by Lynda R Young
Release date: October 18th, 2016 Published by Freedom Fox Press
Tagline: Cling to God in the chaos of life…
Blurb: Cling to God
is a book of devotionals for every day of the year. The aim is to
encourage Christians in their faith, to help them think about their
beliefs and learn more about God. The devotions are short and
inspirational so that people with busy lifestyles will still be able to
spend time with the Lord each day. It will appeal to a wide Christian
audience, to those new in their faith as well as those matured beyond
milk and honey.
Author Bio: Lynda R Young writes devotionals,
articles, and speculative short stories. In her spare time she is also
an editor, game developer, artist, and dabbles in photography and all
things creative. She lives in Australia with her sweetheart of a
husband. You can find her here: Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads
I've been tagged for the U Got the Look meme a few times now and had been meaning to post about it but, as my mind seems to become more scattered each day, I kept forgetting to do it. Last week I was tagged by the wonderful Annalisa Crawford, so I decided to hurry up and do the post before I forgot yet again.
Annalisa was a fellow NaNoWriMo participant this year and decided to use her NaNo project for the meme. She suggested that those she tagged do the same, so I thought that could be a great way for me to get back to my project and start the editing and re-writing I've been putting off since NaNo ended.
If you're not familiar with this meme, the rules are to find the first mention of the word "look" in your manuscript and then post the paragraph(s) surrounding it. I didn't have to go far to find the first use of the word in my ms, as my first "look" was on the second page.
“We can’t get to you, boy,” the man yelled. “We’ll sink ourselves.” Christopher looked down at the currents swirling around the submerged deck of the wrecked ship, and his heart sunk. It was no mystery why the rescuers couldn't come any closer. The currents could easily pick up their boat and slam it into the wreckage. “Come to us!” The man held up a boat hook. “We’ll get you!” Christopher knew there was nothing to do but let go and fall into the churning waters. In a way it would be a relief, as he couldn’t hold on to the rigging much longer anyway. He stared at the men in the boat and then glanced back down at the sea. Within seconds, he dropped into the waves below.
Thanks to Annalisa for tagging me! I'm terrible at picking out people to tag as I think it's impossible to choose, so I'm just going to send out a general tag to everyone who comes by here and wants to do the meme. I always love reading everyone's excerpts.
Last week was crazy here as it was the end of the semester at work and I made the terrible mistake of trying to switch to a new internet and cable service at home. At first I thought the switch went very smoothly, but I should have known that was too good to be true. After several heated phone calls, numerous attempts to hook up various wires and cables, and time wasted booting and rebooting modems that didn't work, I ended up going back to the internet I already had. It's safe to say the week was a complete fiasco.
As a result, I ended up taking an unplanned hiatus from the blogosphere and fell way behind on my blog reading, so I'm anxious to get caught up as much as possible this week.
Also, Lisa Regan will be here tomorrow as part of her blog tour for her debut novel Finding Claire Fletcher. Lisa's going to be talking about when she knew she wanted to be a writer. I'm excited to have Lisa here, and I can't recommend her book enough.
I hope everyone had a good weekend and I'm looking forward to catching up with everything I missed last week.
I'm super excited today because I actually finished my NaNoWriMo novel, The Ghosts of Aquinnah, with a few days to spare! I've been doing the happy dance ever since I sent in my text to the word verification program on the NaNo page.
My brain is fried and I am feeling like a total zombie after a frenzied writing weekend, but I'm still so excited to have actually finished a draft of my novel. I know I will have TONS of revising and editing to do but I never dreamed I'd have a draft done so quickly. Signing up for NaNo turned out to be a fantastic motivator for me.
I've neglected nearly everything else this month and I know I have a ton of blog reading to catch up on, so it will be nice to get back into a more normal routine now.
Even when I signed up for NaNo, I honestly didn't believe I would be able to get the whole 50,000 words written in the month's time frame, especially since I have always been a procrastination queen. So I realized I can now add something else to my list of things I've learned since starting this blog almost two years ago.
What else is possible? Finishing a novel in a month!
We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~ Thornton Wilder
Happy Thanksgiving!
I am checking out of the blogosphere for the week to enjoy the holiday and to continue to work on my NaNo project. I was really excited to cross over the 30,000 words mark today!
Next week, Moxie Writers Susan Oloier and Rebecca Green Gasper will be here as part of the Speak Out Against... Blog Tour. Please stop by on Wednesday, November 28th to hear from Susan and Rebecca and learn more about their books Break From You and Outcast.
Until then, good luck to all of my fellow NaNoers and a very Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends.
I'm briefly stepping out of my NaNo cubbyhole to help celebrate the cover reveal of Cherie Reich's latest, The Nightmare Collection. Congratulations, Cherie!
Nightmare Collection cover
Nightmare Collection spine
Cover art by Nicemonkey at
Dreamstime.com. Cover design by Aubrie Dionne. Bookworm logo for Surrounded by
Books Publishing created by Cherie Reich.
I was lucky enough to get an ARC of The Nightmare Collection and it is a great, suspenseful, and spine-tingling read. The tagline, A Legend is Hungry Tonight, is creepy and spooky all by itself.
Here is all the info on both the book and the author:
Book Description:
A legend is hungry tonight.
A child monster will get its first taste of blood in Nightmare at the Freak Show. Four friend will enter the forest on
December night, but only one can survive in Once
Upon a December Nightmare. Almost ten years after Cassie's December
nightmare, the monster awakens to hunt again in Nightmare Ever After.
A self-proclaimed bookworm, Cherie
Reich is a writer, freelance editor, book blogger, and library assistant living
in Virginia. Her short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies. Her
e-books include the horror series Nightmare,
a short story collection with authors Aubrie Dionne and Lisa Rusczyk titled The Best of Raven and the Writing Desk,
the futuristic space fantasy novelette trilogy Gravity, and The Foxwick
Chronicles, a series of fantasy stories. She is a member of Valley Writers
and the Virginia Writers Club.
Congratulations again to Cherie! I'm closing in on the halfway point for my NaNo story so I'm heading back into my writing cubby. I hope everyone has a great rest of the week! :)
Today is a big day in blog land, as it's the official launch of M. Pax's latest book, The Renaissance of Hetty Locklear. But the launch is just the start of it. Mary is also hosting the blogosphere's first ever jousting tournament. Several knights are participating in the tournament, and the contest lasts all week. Stop by here to cheer on the knights and you'll be entered into a drawing to win one of five ebook copies of The Renaissance of Hetty Locklear.
Before I get to all the scoop on the Hetty launch, I have to share an update of my NaNoWriMo progress. I'm really excited, as I met my goal for the weekend and actually made it past the 20,000 word mark. 20,506 to be exact. I'm thrilled and feel like I'm really getting into my Ghosts of Aquinnah story as I go along. Signing up for this challenge has been a fantastic motivational tool for me so far. So here's hoping I make it past the halfway point this week. To my NaNo buddies, I hope you had a productive weekend as well! :)
And now back to today's big launch. Here is everything you need to know, courtesy of M. Pax herself.
The Renaissance of Hetty Locklear
A New Adult Urban Fantasy, The Renaissance of Hetty Locklear
is the first book in a new series. And it’s now out! The main character, Hetty,
is a twenty-two-year-old, stumbling about in an effort to become a full-fledged
adult. She struggles with self-esteem, weight, relationships, and making the
transition between college and the real world.
Graduation from community college
isn’t the magic elixir Hetty Locklear counts on for becoming an adult. Her
parents, who work the Renaissance fair circuit, insist she spend part of the
summer with them. Hetty doubts pretending to live in the Middle Ages will help
her find her way.
To make it worse, an entity
haunts her at her dead-end job, warning her of a dangerous man she doesn’t
know. The ghost leads her to a lover who has a lot of secrets. He pulls her
farther into peril and into a strange, hidden world of genetic experimentation.
New Adult Urban Fantasy with
a contemporary sci-fi twist. Mature content.
This month's insecurity topic is an easy one for me, as I'm totally insecure about finishing my NaNoWriMo project now that I've started it! I planned to really amp up my word count over the past weekend but unfortunately I didn't even come close to my goal. While I'm ashamed to say it, I actually wasted several hours on Sunday afternoon watching the always pathetic Cincinnati Bengals. What can I say, I'm a glutton for punishment.
I'm now doing my best to stay on track with my goals for this week and continue churning out the words and pages of my novel. So far I'm really glad I signed up for NaNo as it has been motivating for me, but I can't deny I'm also kind of frazzled by the whole thing. 50,000 words seems a LONG way off!
Today is also the day of the Resurrection Blogfest, hosted by Mina Lobo to celebrate her first anniversary of blogging. Congratulations to Mina!
To participate in the fest, all we had to do was "resurrect" a post from our first year of blogging. The post I decided to share is just one that makes me laugh because, to my continued surprise, it has consistently been the most popular post on my blog ever since I first wrote it. I never would have imagined how many people search google for "Sesame Street Vampire," "Counting Vampire," and "Vampire Von Count." But now I know.
I'm also sharing it because I still love Count Von Count, and I never tire of his counting. :D And because it's a reminder of how much I enjoyed participating in the A-Z in April Challenge in both 2011 and 2012. I encourage everyone who is interested to give the 2013 challenge a try. You won't regret it!
And so here it is, the post I came up with in April, 2011 when I was totally desperate for a "V" word.
****
V is for Von Count
I was originally going to use vampires for my V post, as I love vampire
characters and stories. But then I really couldn't think of much to
write beyond the fact that I love vampire characters and stories. So, I
decided to write about the first vampire character I ever loved, Count
Von Count.
The Count rocks, and I still totally love him. I found this clip on
youtube, and I love how he enters the scene with his cape half over his
face. I also love the crazy laughter, and the lightning and thunder.
I read that in later years The Count was toned down and made friendlier,
over concerns that children were frightened of him. I don't know if
that's true as I wouldn't have still been watching Sesame Street then,
but if so it seems kind of a shame to me. Maybe I was a weird kid, but I
was never frightened of The Count. I thought he was awesome.
It's kind of funny though, as I have mild OCD and can be compulsive
about counting. It's nothing debilitating, but it's just something I've
always done, counting things like steps and tiles, etc. When I watch The
Count now I can't help but feel like the poor guy has a really bad case
of OCD, and that's why he can't stop counting. Regardless, I've no
doubt he helped generations of kids learn about numbers, and how to
count.
I'd like to write my own vampire story someday, and have been kicking
ideas around in my head. I don't know if it's possible, but I hope I can
find a way to work in some sort of homage to my first vampire love,
Count Von Count.
****
Thanks as always to Alex for hosting our monthly insecurity meeting and congratulations again to Mina on her first blogoversary! And to my NaNo friends, how are you all doing? I hope you are maintaining your sanity while also meeting your goals. :)
