Winning My 8th NaNoWriMo (But still only have 5 books)

Success!  I am delighted to say that I have finished the first draft of the Third Book of the Tales of Uhrlin.  Duffy Barkley doesn't get to be the star of the show as much in this book, but I had so much fun when it finally started coming together.

trying to remain organized

 When I tried to finish this book in November of 2012, I had written the two earlier Duffy Barkley books. They were different though. In spite of being started in a NaNoWriMo push, they really had been developing over several years of playing with my sons and their friends. This third book was the first attempt when my boys were men, and I had lost the companionship of the children who inspired it. Having seen them graduate from High School, I was proud of them, but uninspired to keep developing this fantasy world without being able to bounce ideas of them and have them say, "What if, this happens?"  Plus those first two books are complicated.  There are two worlds, a timeline that moves back and forth through time, characters and more characters and as the years passed, my brain struggled to hold on to the little details that help with continuity.  I know there are programs to help writers build complicated worlds and keep track of the various threads, but what worked, finally for me, was keeping a word document with my notes, a draft post from this blog with every story line color coded so I could see who had been neglected too long, and an open office file to write the actual book.  So I tried to write this in 2012, and in summer and again. There was always something jangling in my brain, tangling the threads and making me have questions I didn't know the answer to, but this time, it was like all that time had been brewing the ingredients, and aging them and when I sat down this month, my fingers raced to get where they already knew they were going.  I have to edit, re-write, and edit again, so I'm not sure when the final product will be available. But I already love this book.  Finally.

Isn't it fun to Nano?

Many moons age, I think back in 2008, when I first discovered the concept of writing a novel in the 30 days of November, it sounded crazy.  But I did it, and then repeated it some more.  Now I love writing that quick and unedited 50,000 words. I know the book is a long way from finished by then. I know it has taken me at the very least, a year, to add enough more to the story, cut the things that don't work, check that I spell characters names the same all the way through, make sure my story actually follows the map, edit the spelling and punctuation and design a cover.  Still the freedom of just sitting down and telling a story, is what I love the most.

This month I am not starting from scratch, but starting at a point where I have two novels I've been working on, and adding a total of 50,000 new words to them.  I am hoping to find out why Duffy and his Aunt and sister have been thrown into the midst of storms and battles and a plague and why I have at least 7 threads going that don't seem to have a resolution yet.  I feel like my characters know more at this point than I do and are all standing around begging for my attention to their story.  Ay least seven voices in my head saying, "Pay attention, This is what happens next!"

That still isn't crazy.

Crazy are those people doing the novel in a day challenge.  50,000 words in 24 hours?

NEVER

but they keep doing it

Write Again

 Today is Halloween and that used to mean candy and costumes and taking the children trick-or-treating.  But I live at the end of a dark country road where trick-or-treaters have never come, unless you count the raccoons and the bear who has been here all week, exchanging the apples on my tree for steaming piles of apple peal laden bear scat.

 Now, my children are not children and what they do at Halloween is up to them, and what I do is watch for midnight and the starting gun for NaNoWriMo!  I get to indulge in the thing I love with a strange obsessive passion.  Storytelling with abandon and speed writing with no editing or doubts until I reach at least 50, 000 words.  I know, technically I can write any time, and often I do, but most of the year there is the lack of a deadline so there is the flexibility which lets me procrastinate and yep, I do.  And when I do write I take less risks and go back frequently and re-read and change and edit.

 November is National Novel Writing Month but actually in needs to admit that it has gone International and world wide.  All around the world, as people Reach November they begin the sleep deprived, insane rush to cram writing a novel into 30 days where regular life insists on continuing in spite of the commitment.  Me, I give up a lot of my extra indulgences, I read a lot less, stay off facebook and my forums most of the time, and as a reward, I bake more and keep the coffee pot filled, and emptied and filled again.

 If you are interested in signing up go to http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/dashboard and join the fun and conversation and tell he world the story that only you have in you.  I have signed up and tried at least 6 times, and I don't always finish, and I never finish with a finished novel, but three times the magic has worked to give me enough that I could put it away until I recover and then open the file again, pick up the threads, add and subtract and eventually end up with a novel I believe in enough to throw our into the world as my small contribution to the beauty of this big blue planet we are lucky enough to share.

Greeting 2012 with JOY

 It has been far too long since I have written a post, but I had an interesting December.  Mainly, it was interesting because my computer died and I was forced to revise my daily routines and interact more with the people in my home and my city, and less with the on-line community I normally surround myself with.

View of Castle Rock at Sunset

 I found my husband and I were talking more, and actually drug out the board games when I could not be on facebook or the 365 project and he could not play World Of Warcraft.

Granted, Christmas usually throws us into a different schedule anyway, and this year it was quite different.  It was my first year with my oldest son, old enough that he did not spend the holiday with me, and the family we have visited every ear for 6 years had a child away at college, a new house and a divorce under way, so it was a change, but still a great holiday, wonderful time with people I love, a lot.

Yes, Christmas

 Christmas here is not usually white, but it is also not usually as warm as it was this year.  it was delightfully sunny and New Years Day actually got to almost 70*

Watching historical slide show at town fountain and Christmas tree

 We went on the first history walk through our little Crescent City, CA and 200 people showed up.  It was hard to hear at times but everyone was in a great mood and it was fascinating to hear about the good and the horrible parts of the town history.  Yes, there was an Opera House but after it was thrice destroyed, by Water spout, fire and tsunami, it is no more.  Yes there was a China Town of 700 that overnight turned into 1 chinese man left in the county, yes there was a holocaust of the Native Americans, yes it is still a town of great beauty and tragedy.

All these are for me, and the ornaments too!

 Medford, Oregon has some large homes along a few streets where everyone decorates and then decorates some more, and they collect canned food and toys from the crowds that come to drive through.

The street looks different through fireworks glasses.

My youngest son is graduating with the class of 2012

 Then my return home after Christmas brought my brother-in-law and his wife to our coastal redwoods and gave us an excuse to get out and enjoy the area we live in.

two way road through Redwoods

My husband and I

So I did not get much done in the way of writing, but I did get my first novel, Duffy Barkley is Not a Dog,  into a free promotion on Kindle and that resulted in 230 downloads from Amazon and 40 more from Amazon UK and then I sold another few copies of the second Duffy Barkley book, Duffy Barkley: Seek Well, and I have reason to hope that at least a few of those copies will result in reviews and recommendation and good word of mouth.

I also found my book listed on a site as a 5-star recommendation for Tweens and older.  That made me smile.

So now, my sister-in-law warns me that the world will change a lot this year.  It can certainly change in many ways for the better, but I am greeting 2012 with joy, life is not easy, but it is worth it.