Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Word Count

This is a sticky word count post for the month of November. Please check the post below for recent blog updates. Thanks. :-)



Writing away,
M.

Friday, November 20, 2009

I'm back on track.

So I kind of came to a stop once I finished my two novels that I was sure would take up all 50k this month. But, I have found a way to get me started again. Haiku! I thought of it last night and I have written several already since last night. So here goes...I am going to write 15k in haiku. I have a little less than a week to complete it because I will be done before thanksgiving. I want to be one of the ones who get the purple bar on the day validation starts. Of course I will keep writing after that to see how much I will end up with at the end of the month but I want to have my 50k done by then. So yes, I am back on track. Haiku people. Haiku!!! LOL!

Writing away,
M.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

I finished my novel!!!

The second one for the month. I now need to come up with a few stories to write to make up for the last 15,000 words. I am so not stressing about it. I am so far ahead of the game and I still plan to finish before Thanksgiving. Once I get started I know I will be able to knock out the rest of the words in no time. I am working on a story that I have wanted to write for years now. I just need to find a story similar to what I want my story to look like to see what kind of words I should be working with. Ahhh!!! So excited and in disbelief. I'll miss Nicole and her friends since after this month I am going back to Andrea for a while, but its all cool. As for now, I'm going to go exercise and then come back and work on my next story. Eeeee!!! I finished another novel!!!


Writing away,
M.

Getting nervous and excited at the same time.

Ok, so I am closing in on the end of my second novel. So I am in a writing frenzy to finish because I just feel it in me to finish. Its just flowing from me after two days of not writing due to a really messed up stomach. But checking my word count, I think my story will come in under 20,000. Very upsetting to me. I don't mind that the novel is coming in short of words, because I will fatten it up in revisions, but I am worried in regards to Nano. I was hoping to at least make it to 40,000 words with the finish of this novel and only have 10,000 words to make up for. But I don't see that happening. I'm very pissy about that. I'm not sure what to write about after this, but I may try a chapter book once I finish this Nicole Merriweather book. I plan on doing some novels with her niece after I finish with Nicole Merriweather's story. I planned to have her story start as chapter books and grow with her readers. So I may just work on her first story after I finish this last chapter. I have plenty of time to do a bit of research, come up with a plot, and knock this story out. Not sure how long chapter books are so I may have to write several stories. I am so not feeling prepared, but I work well under pressure...most of the time. :-)

Ok, just wanted to update you on me and my writing. I will do more posting later on. Hopefully my next post will be me cheering that I finished my novel. :-)

Writing away,
M.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

I finished my novel!!!

The first novel I wanted to complete this month is DONE!!! I literally finished it like half a minute ago. I'm so excited and happy but I also want to cry for some reason. Its weird. Such a mix emotions. Such a different feeling than with my Jumper novel. Wonder why. Oh well, I won't worry about that now. Right now I want to jump into novel two.

I am kind of worried though. My novel only had 21,867 words. I was hoping to get up to 25,000 words but its ok. Whatever words I have left over will go into a short Christmas story I have had in my mind for a while. So I am going to get started on my next novel now and work on it for a bit.

Woo hoo!!! So excited and proud of myself. My second "official" novel done, not counting the one I wrote as a teen in screenplay format. I plan on changing that one still. Its a great story, but it needs a lot of editing. A lot. LOL! Ok, back to writing. Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Not doing so good.

Sure I am up on words that I should be hitting around day 7, but I wanted to be done with the first novel by the 11th. I don't know if I can do that in 6 days. I'm sure I can, but I am not motivated for some reason. I want to write, but I am just not motivated for some reason. I need my morning writing!!! I just can't get up in time because I stay up so late. Ugh!!! Ok, back to writing. Gonna try to get through this next chapter.

Writing away,
M.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Ahhhhhh!!!

There are people who already have a green bar on the 3rd day!!! My writing hero Kateness has already written over 100k. I believe she is going for a million this year, so its understandable she's that far, but ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh nonetheless. Damnit I would LOVE to be almost done. Its not about winning NaNo for me right now. Its about writing the damn novels and getting them out of my head into a story. Tomorrow I will write a lot. I have to. I feel so behind. Tomorrow I will shoot for 20k. I wonder how they do it. Maybe I didn't outline properly. :-( Whatever it is, I wish I knew their secret. Ok, off to bed. Nighters all.

Writing away,
M.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Run out of steam.

And I have barely written anything today. I have been busy working on some busy work my dad has me do once a month. Well I just finished it a little while ago and it took up most of my day. Its almost midnight and I've only written 237 words. :-( I know, I can write a little more tonight and get started early tomorrow, but just so disappointing. I think I will try for tomorrow morning. I will do a little bit more and then hopefully knock out a chapter or two. I wonder how the people who are writing a million words this month do it? I mean sure some people type fast, but my thing is the thinking about their story and putting it on paper or screen. How do they do that so fast? My story is flowing pretty fast, but even I am having issues. Meh. Oh well. Stop complaining right? I will. I will take a little break then see what I can do before midnight and call it a day I suppose and get up early. I have yet to do my coveted morning writing. Miss that. Tomorrow hopefully.

Writing away,
M.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

2,615 words down!

So far so good. And I am working on my extra hour of the day. Turn those clocks back people.

The flow is going very good this year since I outlined. Its truly amazing, and though I have a love/hate relationship with the outline, I will never start a story without one again. Going back to typing now. Just wanted to update.

Writing away,
M.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

The outline is done!



Its done! I worked on it all day and churned out my second book outline. I finished it just a few minutes ago. I love what I have plan and I can't wait for November to start. All I have left to do is tweak some stuff on novel one's outline. Work my outlines more to reflect the theme of my character. Work her brother into the second novel. And then work on the character bios some, but I think I know these characters already like they are my babies. Let me tell you, outlining is a must. I hate doing it, but once I get into it I don't want to be disturbed and its just a wonderful creative flow. So its like a love/hate relationship with it. I can't wait to see how it affects my writing in the end. So the countdown has officially begun. Until then, I need to get some sleep and do some things today to keep my mind off the countdown. Everyone enjoy your day to today and have a happy and safe Halloween. :-)

Writing away,
M.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Outline one is done!!!

It was almost as exciting as finishing the novel. It was kind of weird. So excited to get it typed up. I am wondering if I should do a third outline if I have time. I am worried with the outline that I may hit 50k way before the end of the month and I want to keep going so I don't feel "bored" with nothing to type. In any case I do know what the third novel will be about, so I guess I will outline it for either NaNo or for when I am done with my second novel. I have the "theme" for novel two. Now I will spend the next day working on the outline. Ugh!!! So excited. I can't wait for November to start!!! Ahhh!!! Ok, just had to toot my horn. Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

My incentive.

Photobucket


Yeah its silly, but if it gets me to write, then what's the harm right? :-)

Get it together girl!

I need to scream that to myself right now. I have plenty of time to work on my outlines and I am wasting it by surfing the web!!! Ok, I need an incentive to work on these things. I already see they will help me greatly in writing my novels, but I just hate this trying to come up with the next thing that will happen. I'm trying to force it and well that just doesn't work well with me I guess. Sucks so bad. But I will do it. I will turn on some Christmas tunes...wait...that's it. They have a Bing Crosby cd at Target I want. My mom had the tape when I was a kid and I loved it. I want the cd. If I finish my outline before the 31st for BOTH novels I get to buy the cd without any buyer's remorse. :-) Let's see if that works. Off to outline. Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Outlining is getting easier.

Ok, so you know how in my last post I said that I didn't like the inital first draft writing? I think its because I went into it without an outline. Now the outline for the first novel is coming along nicely. Its literally flowing from me. Problem is, I need a second novel outline before the 31st!!! I'm a little nervous. My sister is taking her driving test tomorrow, so I am taking my pad and paper tomorrow and working on my novel outline. I plan to finish novel one's outline tomorrow and work on novel two's for the last few days of the month. Somehow I think I will be working on outline up to the last minute of the 31st. Its ok. As long as I get it done before midnight on Nov. 1st. Omg I am honestly so excited about this. Can I do it? Will I do it? Will these be the novels to make me a published author? Ahhh!!! So excited. So nervous. So...so happy. :-D Ok, done being a goober now. I need some sleep. More tomorrow. Laters.

Writing away,
M.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Authors on Writing

So, in prep for NaNo, I wanted to read some writer's blogs and found this article through one of them about authors and how they feel about writing. Its shocking to read the different views from the different authors. At some point through the writing process I am all of them. There are times I loathe writing, while other times I love it. A lot of the time I am shocked and amazed at the words on the screen, wondering where I pulled them from.

It was refreshing to see that the feelings I have towards writing are not just my thinking, but are shared by other writers as well. Ok that sentence was odd for me. I don't consider myself a writer actually. I consider myself an attempting writer. Writer in training perhaps? Well, anything but actual writer. I feel a writer is someone who has something published. Until then we are just writers in training. I know other people feel if you write you are a writer, but I just feel you need something published to solidify that claim.

So anyway, the outlines for my novels are not coming along so well. I got lazy this month because I didn't want to face the task of working on the outline. I will have to do that daunting task of writing out all the scenes and character bios and ugh, I hate this part. I mean I like it also. I love coming up with characters and their backgrounds, but it is so hard to. Trying to figure out who they are and sometimes those bitches don't want to talk. Ahhhh!!! I got lucky because I am working on a series and these characters will be repeating for the most part in the other stories and I will only need to make up one or two bios per book for other characters or expand on some older characters as they change and their lives change.

This series I think will have a run-off series near the end of it. I plan to write about my young female character until she graduates. Then I will make her niece the focus of my novel attention who will be starting kindergarten, and my main character will do cameos.

Oh yeah, made a banner for my book. Just was bored one day and thought it would be fun to make one. What do you think?



I will need to make one for the second novel eventually. Not even sure what that adventure will hold yet and I only have a week left!!! Omg!!! Ok, today I will work hard on my outlines. I must have then done by Oct. 31st, since the family is planning a little Halloween moviethon. They know it must be done by midnight because I shall be typing away by then. Ahh, so excited about this. I'm scared too. I want to win. I want to finish both novels. I want to do it so badly, but I just don't know if I will make it this year. Last year was hard for me. This year will be hard also. I won't fool myself into thinking this will be a walk in the park. I guess I'm one of those writers who does not like to write the first draft. I am sure revising will be the fun part for me. But the initial first draft part is hard for me to do. Ughhhh!!! Ok, suck it up girl! Ok, I'm fine...or at least I will be fine. :-) Ok, gotta go, gonna work on some outlining. More laters.

Writing away,
M.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

I finished my novel...



And I feel kind of "blah" about it. I thought I would feel so much more. I mean yesterday I could feel it was coming to an end. And a lot of the things I saw happening in the end didn't for some reason. And I ended it on a cliffhanger, which is about the only thing I knew would happen. I mean I guess its because I know that there is SO much left to do on the story now that the actual plot is coming to me now that I finished it. I know, I know...how can I write a story with no plot? Well it has a plot, but the plot thickened as I neared the end. So now I have to go back in fill it in. Which, what I recently learned, is what all writers have to do. So maybe on my revisions I will get that happy giggly feeling that my story is done. But for now, its about a year's hard work put to temporary rest. I will put it away for a couple of months then come back to it with a fresh mind and attitude. But yeah, that about it. Humm...wait a minute...change everything I just said.

I JUST FINISHED MY NOVEL!!! WOOT!!! WOOT!!! WOOT!!! WOOT!!! *Does Snoopy Dance.*

*Catches breath.* Ok, like literally I just got all excited. Maybe it was a delayed reaction. LOL! I finished it! I'm ready to move on to the next novel. And just, wow. :-D I know there's a lot more to fill in on that story, but for now the bulk of it is out. I've got my notes for when I return to it. And I am ready to move on. Nano, here I come!!!

Writing away,
M.

Monday, October 5, 2009

The race is on!

To finish my first NaNoWriMo novel before November starts. I'm almost there. A couple of thousand more and I should finish it. I am also working on the outline for two novels I will be working on next year. I'm also trying to recruit others to join me this year in writing a novel. Most of them want to do it, but most of them don't want to put in the effort. So I may go it alone. My mom MAY do it with me, but we will have to see. I will up date you more about how my novel is going more tomorrow. Until then, bed calls me. Bye for now.

Writing away,
M.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Friday, September 4, 2009

Sharing what I learn along the way.

Ok, so in reading blogs of writers and agents I am learning a lot of valuable information. Some stuff I already knew, others not so much. It got me thinking about my blog and what I want it to ultimately turn into. I want my blog to be away to reach out to others about my writing, be it readers, writers, agents, whoever. But I don't want my blog to be just about me and my writing. I also want it to be about what I've learned and passing it on.

I'm a searcher and researcher, and I love to find out new information about something new I am learning. But sometimes some of the stuff I find is just by pure luck and some of the blogs I read don't really have a lot of readers or attention but the content is amazing. So I have decided to share the links and information I find as I go along for any one who just happens across my blog and aspires to be a writer like me one day.

For my first helpful link, I found a very interesting blog post on Write Well Me explaining about how writing is a process. I found this blog entry interesting because the way she described most people's mindset on how a writer writes is kind of how I saw it. I mean I have read some information about how you need to take a break after writing your manuscript before you start editing it to get a clearer vision of it. But the prewriting part, although I do make notes, I do it at the same time that I write. I think this is why my stories are not getting written. I need to outline, as much as I hate the thought of doing that, I need it. So I have a fresh notebook sitting next to me, with the title "Jumper" at the top, just waiting for fresh new ideas. I don't know if I should write my other typed notes in it or not. I guess I will, so I'll have them all together. I think better and write better when I hand write things, so maybe hand writing my notes will help me get a clearer idea of where my characters; Andrea, Maxwell, Cameron, and Andy, are headed. Its a crazy tale that I'm trying to write, but I just feel it could work if I could just get it down on paper, or computer screen.

So if you are having a hard time getting your words to flow, I highly recommend this blog post. Its short and sweet, but full of valuable information.

Writing away,
M.

I know nothing about writing.

Ok, not 100% true, but I feel like it is. I am reading some blogs that belong to literary agents and honestly they are just shocking me as to how little I do know about the "biz". I'm glad I found them though, they are helping me, but its just shocking. I really think writing is what I want to try to get into...if my damned novel would just stop being a pain and write itself already, but its still just something so new to me. Its like learning something new for me when it comes to writing. I love learning new crafts, but its always slow for me in the beginning. I guess writing will be no different. *sigh* Back to blog reading and then returning to writing.

Writing away,
M.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Word Update

Ugh! What happens next?!?

Ok, so have you ever had it where you are reading a book and it starts to get real good and then you hit the end of the chapter and the last few words give you chills and you just think to yourself...or out loud like me..."Ahhh I can't wait to find out what happens next!". Yeah, well I just had the feeling from a bit of a story I was reading. Problem is, its a story I am currently writing, so I don't KNOW what happens next, and know will know what happens next until I write it. LOL! I hate that. Sometimes I think my stories are crap but when I go back and read over bits of them I think to myself "Oh man that was genius right there.", and half the time I can't believe I wrote that. So yeah, I have stopped working on the blog story for now and have gone back to my work on my NaNoWriMo story that I am still writing. I'd like to finish it before NaNoWriMo pops up this year. I kept trying to work on other stories because this one wasn't coming to me, but my mind won't let me work on other stuff fully until I give this one my full attention. I can't leave my character's Andrea and Max stuck in the future without any hope of bringing them home. So I am back working their story. Right now I think its time for a fight scene. Ugh, I'm no good at fight scenes. Oh well, if it sucks, that's what editing is for. :-) So I need to make a new counter for my current story I am working on. Gonna do that now. Laters.

Writing away,
M.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Word Update

Word Update

Day one of a new writing challenge.

Ok, so here is my brand spanking new blog for writing. I think trying to put all my interests on one blog was a bit too much. So here I am to post about my writing. Quick note about my title. I didn't know what to name my blog. All the names I wanted were taken. So I decided to use the name the blog layout designer called the layout. I thought it was cute and fitting. :-) Be sure to check out the links at the bottom of the blog to get yourself a cute blog layout.

I strive to be an author and have been doing so for years now. Only one problem. I haven't really tried to get published. Granted I have sent work in several times and never heard anything back from any of the places. So, I am still unpublished, but I have at least made an attempt to get published. But now I want to get serious about my writing and really start submitting my work for publication.

But I have been in a writing funk. I have several stories going and know I need to focus on one. I was working hard on my Nanowrimo story, and I still love the story and characters, I just can't finish it yet because the plot is getting sticky. So what I plan to do is give myself a break from it and try writing a novel that I came up with a little while back. Its going to be a story completely in blog format. I know, its been done before, but this will be a tale of fiction. I am going to be writing it up in a an actual private online blog that I will eventually give a few trusted people access to for reading and editing purposes. So I have decided to start it today and finish it by the end of September. Its not really meant to be overly long, but we will see when I get to the end of September how it will turn out. So I will update here on how things are going with it and posting bits and pieces from the story as well. That's about it for now. More later.

Writing Away,
M.