October: A photo essay

By Cam

Last week I traveled here:

to do this:

(stirring apple butter, in case you didn’t know)

and eat a lot of this:

which meant I ended up doing very little of this:

but that’s okay because next month is this:

Where I hope to write this:

And come December, I’ll be ready to do this:

Can’t. Wait.

Anyone else planning on cashing out their writing mojo for NaNo next month?

Writerly Wednesday

By Cam

NANO IS DONE. NANO IS DONE. NANO IS DONE. Woo-hoo!!!

And guess what? I’m a WINNER. A big fat winner, winner, chicken dinner.

My ending word count was 50,322. And only a third of them are probably really bad. The other two-thirds are quasi-bad but salvageable. And I have two beginnings in this draft because I couldn’t make up my mind on where I wanted to start the story. Plus, I have about 30K more to add before reaching a conclusion.

Another small hang-up? I had to change my original title, Fortune’s Folly, to Silverslip Society because Fortune’s Folly already exists out there in the romance world. Who would’ve thought that was such a popular title? But no hard feelings because Silverslip Society is waaaaay better. *Insert eye roll here*

Now that NaNo is over, I’m going to get started on an idea that literally woke me up from a dead sleep. I can’t say it was a dream because I really don’t remember dreaming about anything that had to do with my new idea, but all I know is I woke up at 6 a.m. and wrote the first scene on my iPhone–squinting, mind you, since it was pitch black in my room–while Hubs groaned and pulled the covers over his head. I bought new pens, new journals, and I’m ready to flesh out some of this idea. And get this–It’s a YA. I know. I was shocked, too. I guess my Muse channeled some teen angst while standing in line to see New Moon (which I did manage to see a week after its release and have to admit it was a lot better than the first).

As of today, I’ve only written a couple of scenes just to get a sense of my characters. But I already know it’s going to be told First Person POV which is a new thing for me. To say I’m nervous about it would be a major understatement.

I’ll keep you updated on how this story goes. But I’m really excited about it. Like really excited. I told my BFF about it and even pitched the whole story to my Hubs and let him read the scene I wrote that morning. I usually don’t involve Hubs in my writing because to put it simply–he just doesn’t get it. He’s a reader of all things manly, autobiographical, or manual-like. The only fiction he reads are thrillers. Romance is not his cup of tea. YA is definitely not his cup of tea. But I told him about my idea because I love what’s in my head already. Hubs surprised me and got excited about it, too.

Okay…putting on my plotter hat for now. Wish me luck on this new road!

Wednesday Writing Woes and of course, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

By Cam

Well folks, I’m officially on the last leg of NaNo. My current wordcount is 40,056 so I have just under 10,000 more words to write before Dec. 1 rolls around.

I think I can do. No–take that back. I know I can do it. But I’ll admit it was easier in the beginning to get the words down. And really it wasn’t until two days ago that it got hard. My problem is that a chatty muse woke me up at 6am with a brilliant story to tell…in a genre I don’t write. At least not yet. I’ve been hand-writing some scenes in a journal as they come to me just to appease the muse that won’t shut up, but I’m keeping mum about it until NaNo’s over. Then it’s off to another world!

But I wanted to focus on what this month is all about:  Giving Thanks.

There’s so much I’m thankful for, too many to name in this post, but with the help of NaNo I’ve come to realize that there’s still some gusto in me.  Since I seriously started writing in April, I can honestly say I’ve never written this many words before in one piece.  I’ve gotten really close, and I’m sure if you add up all my partially-started stories and put them together in one  document (albeit, a really incomprehensible document), I’d probably have an encyclopedia-length book.

But the beauty of this little thing called NaNo is that it forces you to dig deep and get it all out. November’s been the most trying and stressful month, but also the most complete. November’s filled with lots of coffee, chocolate, Sour Patch watermelons, late nights, mental breakdowns, fits of self-inflicted ego bashing, turkey, and typing. November’s torn me apart and glued me together. And it’s breathtakingly gorgeous. November has reinforced to me that I’ve truly found my own passion.

Writing.

And aside from my beautiful family, writing is what I’m grateful for this Thanksgiving. The gift of words has provided me with more connection to myself than anything I could’ve imagined. I believe it makes me a better citizen, a better wife, a better mother…a better me.

So I raise my glass…er, turkey leg…and say:

Thank you November.

Whew–it’s dusty in here! That NaNo sure is a sloppy houseguest.

By Cam

Okay, okay. I know I’ve been a stranger to my own site lately and haven’t touched my WIP page in, oh, months, but there have been excellent reasons I assure you!

For one, I’ve been busy, busy writing. Short stories, full-lenths, encyclopedias…okay, that last one was a joke and admittedly a bad one. But I have been writing a lot thanks to my new  I-hate-you-so-much-I-love-you boyfriend, NaNo.

NaNo’s like that personal trainer who’s oh-so-glorious physique intimidates you so much you contemplate skipping that first session and eating up the $100 bucks you dished out in the first place. Only to realize that the first session of leg lifts and lunges weren’t THAT bad because hey–your ass looks great and you finally figured out how to apply streak-free bronzing lotion to those now-glam gams of yours. But then after the second and third session, you admit to yourself…maybe that double hour of crunches, pull-ups, and push-ups were a little more than you could chew. Maybe it’ll hurt far worse tomorrow than it does today.

That, to me, is NaNo. And that’s the stage I’m currently in.  I passed the first week when I thought I was doomed to fail because my Vegas trip sidelined my NaNo start by 4 DAYS!!! But upon my return to my favorite little nook in the house (aka: cluttered kitchen table with a cat who likes to claw my leg while I pound out the words), I was able to catch up and pass the daily goals I had set for myself. Things were looking good. I was finally getting that nice personal-trainer-ass I invested so much into (outlines, index cards, new netbook, new download of a no-fuss text editor).

But then came the bloody personal trainer session trite with ab rolls, push-ups, and pull-ups. Otherwise known as dun, dun, dun…

WEEK TWO.

Week Two has infamously been known to cause rampant cursing escapades and temporary insanity card-flashing to many a NaNo writers. On Sunday I thought to myself, “I will not allow Week Two to best me.” Boy was I wrong.

But to be fair to myself (and to the little nugget of sanity I’m clutching on to with two hands and two feet), I started out brilliantly. I was following my outline (almost), coloring my characters (muted gray’s a color, right?), and well on my way to discovering the glorious plot twists and turns I had oh-so-righteously developed. Until the most dreaded thing happened. So dreaded I’m afraid to even write this down here lest it happen again because the evil NaNo overlords have witnessed the agony they’ve caused me and by God, they liked it and want more.

But alas, I think I owe it to you to explain why at this very moment I’m about two strands of hair away from being a newly-vinted bald woman. What? Britney pulled it off…sort of. Okay, not really. But Sinead O’Connor. She was a hottie.

So here it is. Two nights ago I was zipping through my word count at blinding speeds. Wind in the hair. Fingers on the verge of falling off. And Hubs texted me to Tivo a show for him, which at first I was a bit disgruntled about–I was in THE groove–but decided since he was working a double shift and had been so supportive of me NaNoing, that I set the DVR and resumed my writing. I re-read my last paragraph, copied a sentence to move down (because as much as I try, I can’t completely shut off my internal editor. She’s just too damn mouthy.),  cut it from its original place.

And then screamed.

My entire wordcount for that day–oh, around 2K–was gone. Vacationing. Visiting relatives. Visiting the homeless. Whatever. It was nowhere to be found. I checked my auto-save log and not one of the words I had written showed up. Not. One.

I picked myself up from the puddle on the floor (with still a full head of hair at that point), and scraped by to at least get my minimum word count in for the day. But it wasn’t the same. The words I had originally written were brilliant. Okay, maybe brilliant isn’t the right word. But it was better than the crap that’s currently holding a spot in my manuscript.

So that unfortunate incident has created a tailspin, a domino effect, a snowball bruhaha, of my NaNo work. I need to call Stella because I want to get my groove back.

Til next time blog readers (if you’re still there and not mad at me for abandoning you on my quest for NaNo greatness). I hope when I see you next my hair has grown back in. I’ve been shampooing with this stuff they use for horses and…oh, nevermind.

Wednesday WriMo

By Cam

Okay…so in 4 days NaNoWriMo starts. Don’t know what that is? It’s National Novel Writing Month and that means thousands of writers across the world are going to partake in the most motivating writing challenge — to write at least 50K in 30 days. There are a few rules…like, no fair writing one word 50,000 times. And you can’t start until the bell chimes after midnight on Halloween (aka NaNo Eve). Go here to see how NaNo works in 10 Easy Steps.

This is my first time participating in NaNoWriMo and I’m feeling a bit of everything. Excited. Scared. Anxious. Scared. Inspired. Scared. And why am I scared you ask? Well, maybe I’m not scared. But my internal editor sure is! Because that’s my problem. I have an -itis…and it’s called Internal Editoritis. This disease is plagued with all kinds of backspace quirks, re-reading double vision, and red pen spewing. My prognosis was looking pretty grim…until I discovered that during the whole month of November I should–wait for it–SHUT. OFF. MY. EDITOR.

And what’s the recommended treatment for this disease called Internal Editoritis? Well, there’s a lot of nifty tools out there, but I found one that I really think will help me: Write or Die Desktop Edition. I was a huge fan of the online version and would frequently use it to pump out mass quantities of word count in short spurts of time. But since I plan on doing a lot of my NaNo writing on my netbook with little to no web access, this tool seems to be the perfect fit. Especially for NaNo.

In addition to the uber-coolness of Write or Die, I have a list of things I expect will be helpful to me during the next 30 days of craziness. In no particular order they are:

• NaNoWriMo Forums – This is a no-brainer. There are loads of just-as-insane people that frequent these boards with threads ranging from Adopt a (fill-in-the-blank) to soundtracks to get you in the mood.
• Q10/WriteMonkey/RoughDraft – Simple is best. At least during the month of November. Free from all the distractions of typical word processors, these applications are essentially just plain old text editors (with a few bells and whistles). Check out the cool typewriter sounds!
• DeviantArt – This site is full of all sorts of visual inspiration in practically every kind of genre. Take a look. Your muse will thank me.
• yWriter – This is a word processor that breaks your novel into scenes and chapters. Although I don’t plan on using this too much during November, it’ll be handy in December (and Jan, Feb, Mar…) when I edit.
• Google Docs/Dropbox – BACKUP. BACKUP. BACKUP. That is all folks.
• Pandora – For continuous background music based off your favorite tunes.
• Seventh Sanctum – Because sometimes I need a little help generating off-the-wall spells and villainous names.
• Bejeweled – Because breaks are good. But be warned: THIS GAME IS ADDICTIVE.

So there you have it. My tools for a newbie’s NaNo. Wish me luck!

Friday’s Focus – NaNoWriMo

By Cam

Just signed up! This will be my first official NaNoWriMo (although I’ve participated in some of Romance Divas’ monthly WriMo’s just for fun). I’ve been outlining a story I’ve been saving up for November and hopefully it ends up being as good on paper as it is in my head.

The only problem I expect to encounter is the Vegas trip I have scheduled from 10/28-11/4. That’s four whole days of attempting decent word count in a city that’s not really synonymous with the term. Here’s hoping I don’t get ahead of myself!

Now–who’s with me?