Tag: NaNoWriMo

Getting Real

~ riggledo ~ 2 Comments
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The Editing Stage

So, I finished the first draft of my novel on the day after Thanksgiving.  Many, MANY moons ago, I printed out a hard copy of what I had already done (less than half the finished work) and started editing those pages.  I got through ten chapters before I put that down and didn’t look at it again.  Eventually, I went back to writing with a renewed vigor and determination (and another round of NaNoWriMo to motivate me.)  Since I finished the first draft I decided to go back through those old edits and update the soft copy before I did anything else.  Interestingly, many of those edits had already been done in the soft copy, which tells me, not only that I did them during some other burst of editing, but also that I was on the right track since I thought the same thing more than once.

I finished that last week.

Today, I have before me a completed, fully printed, hard copy of the book; 416 pages, 208 sheets of paper.  And you know what?  For the first time, it looks real.  All double spaced and Times New Roman-y, just the way an agent/editor/publisher wants it.  It feels kinda strange…  Good!  But strange…

My next step is to go through the hard copy, with a red pen, and hopefully a clear, unbiased mind and edit it again.  I know there are sections that need work.  I know that there will be rewrites to be made, but I’m pretty excited about this process all the same.

I’m officially signed up to participate in a writers workshop, starting in February.  There will be real, published, accomplished authors in this group.  To say that I feel out of my depth and a bit self-conscious would be an understatement.  But the leader of the workshop, a published author herself, has already given me very positive feedback on the few pages I sent her last week and I can’t wait to hear more (even if some of it is constructive criticism and not accolades…  accolades would be nicer though…)  😉

The End

~ riggledo ~ 8 Comments

Well, I have some bad news.

I’m not going to be a NaNoWriMo “winner” this year.  You have to finish in order to win…  and in order to finish you have to write 50,000 words in 30 days (this is probably old news to most of you.)

A few weeks ago, I said, that I was going to use NaNoWriMo to work on my book that I’ve been writing for the last three-ish years.  It was kinda of rocky going for a while, with more days of no writing than there were writing.  But this week while on my stay-cation, I hunkered down and worked diligently on the book and had three days were I wrote extremely large numbers of words.  And still I’m not going to be able to finish NaNoWriMo…

Because I finished my book.

Turns out, there were only 34,366 words left to write.

This is, of course just the first draft and now I have to go through and edit, so this project is far from over…  But…

I finished my book!

NaNoWriMoSoMo

~ riggledo ~ 2 Comments

First of all, that sounds like something a Judoon would say.

For those of you who’ve been around here for a while, you can probably guess what most of that means (what I wrote, not what the Judoon said.)  Yes, it’s November again, and that means it’s time for NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month.  This is the month each year when so many people take the month to write 50,000 words.  Fifty thousand words in 30 days.

Well, I’m taking advantage of this time to continue – and hopefully finish – my book that I’ve been working on for several years now.

So for me that makes this NaNoWriMoSoMo or National Novel Writing Month Some More.

You may recall that last November I was busy with school and every spare moment I had was spent studying and practicing and riding along and hospital shifting and generally making myself crazy.  Not a moment could be spared for book writing.  To make up for that I had intended to take a month, June I think it was, to have my own private NaNoWriMo but that didn’t work out too well.  I’m fresh off a solid six weeks of having to work for my pay – something about which I do not approve – and should have more time on my hands now.

I figure 22 days because I barely have time for writing on the week-ends and in 22 days I need to have written 2273 words a day to make the 50,000 words mark.  Of course if I happen to have finished my book in fewer than 50,000 words, then I’ll be OK with not finishing NaNo but that remains to be seen.

I’ll try to post some blog posts here and there as the spirit moves me as well, but for the next little while, I want to focus on my book and hopefully finish the first draft!

Wish me luck!

3; The Best Laid Plans

~ riggledo ~ 4 Comments

By the time anyone sees this, it won’t even be true anymore, but as I write these words, it is my third blogiversary (started with an old – secret – blog).

This is a “big” week-end, as usual, in that today is the anniversary of my first blog post, ever, and in two days it will be my birthday.  This year, is particularly “big” as I am having my very first birthday party ever, tomorrow afternoon.

“You’ve never had a birthday party?” Karin asked me.

“Nope.  My parents didn’t love me.” I joked… sort of.

“Yeah, so I’ve read,” she replied.  Karin is the newest person to have breathed the same air as me and know about this blog.  She, unlike the other four people who have breathed the same air as me and know about this blog, can’t get enough of it.  I like Karin.

I digress.

Tomorrow, I am having the very first Birthday Party I have ever had.  I’m throwing it myself.  It’s kind of pathetic; one should not have to throw one’s own birthday party, but no one else is going to do it.  I decided this was the time to do it because I felt like I had a reasonable number of people to invite that were likely to come.  I invited 43 people, most of them using Evite.  Fourteen of those people haven’t even acknowledged the Evite.  Eight of those people declined.  Eight of them said “maybe”.  Eight of them said yes.  Those eight people include me and Michelle and a friend of her’s from work.  You may have noticed that that’s only 38 people.  The other five people are Michelle’s family.

It would be awesome if all of the “maybe’s” show up.  It would be even awesomer if some of the people who didn’t reply show up.  I’m not holding my breath.  I wish you could be there.   So while this is my first ever Birthday party…  it is also, probably, my last.  Way more trouble than it’s worth.

So this time tomorrow, all the hard work that I have done to make this party happen will either have paid off, or I will be really bummed.  Either way it will be over and I will be glad.

~~~~~

My actual birthday is on Sunday, which I will be spending with Lil’B, who has no idea it’s my birthday and won’t do anything for me.  That’s OK, that’s not what that relationship is about.  But, that means no real special attention for, or on, my birthday.  Oh well.

~~~~~

My last post said that I was going to be MIA for the most part this month, because I had decided to make this my own personal NaNoWriMo.  Today is June 10th (it’s the 11th by the time this get’s posted) and I haven’t written a single word for my novel.  I’ve been very busy with work which has managed to stand in the way of any writing at all, novel or blog.  That kind of sucks, but since that’s technically what I get paid for, I don’t suppose I can complain… much.

So…  Who knows.  Maybe my next post will have a surprisingly good report…