Where HAVE you been?

Say it like Molly Weasley and I'll be properly chastised. ;-)

You all know I have a crazy busy life, and it keeps getting busier and crazier. I tried to do Nano but didn't even reach the 10,000 word mark. Am I ashamed?

NO!

And I'll tell you why. Every year my kids' school has a Holiday Store in December. This is a safe environment where the kids can come purchase inexpensive (though there are some more expensive things as well) gifts for their families and friends. I had a booth last year and will again this year. Only this year, I decided to sell some handmade things as well as things from our online store.

As a result of this decision, I've been spending my time using this stuff:

To make this jewelry:

And these bookmarks:

 

Now while this endeavor may not be more fun than posting on LJ, it was certainly more fun than my Nano novel.

Over the next several days, I will continue to make bookmarks and jewelry, but I'll also be revising WAM. So don't be offended if I'm not updating much.

Oh, and if you like the bookmarks, take a close look at the first picture. See that bookmark on the far right? Yep, the one with the watch. It's special.

Why is it special?

When I wasn't making jewelry or bookmarks, I was reading. One of the books I read was this:

It's the sequel to THE FARWALKER'S QUEST, and the gold bookmark is one of the prizes in an upcoming contest featuring ARC copies (yep, plural) of THE TIMEKEEPER'S MOON.

But that's all I'm saying right now because suspense is good, right?

Be sure to check back soon for more information about the contest and prizes.

 

Write on.

Want to win a Kindle?

Lisa and Laura are having a contest to celebrate the sale of their book, THE HAUNTING OF PEMBERLY BROWN, and are giving away a Kindle as a prize! Be sure to go check it out and read all the comments that have already been posted.

Congrats on the sale, ladies!

Now I must get back to my Nano novel and see if I can catch up!

Write on.

Are you a Mac or a PC?

I might be splurging on a MacBook Pro!

All my life I've been a PC, but I think I'm ready for a change. Hubby's been telling me for years that Mac is a better computer for the money. He says there are less crashing instances and no viruses. He owned a Mac desktop when we first got married, but I couldn't figure it out (it was an OLD Mac) and didn't find it very user friendly.

When I mentioned I wanted a Mac, hubby stared at me and said, "After all these years and all these computers, you finally want a Mac?"

"Yep," I said. "I've heard good things about the Scrivener program and now that Mac has Word, I'm ready to make the change."

He immediately jumped on the Internet and started showing me all the wonderful shiny MacBooks. What a guy! He wanted to get me one right now, but it would take all our savings. If work doesn't go well, we might need our savings for Christmas. So, we are waiting until January to see if we have enough money. =)

Yeah my laptop still works (in fact, I have two working laptops) and I don't "NEED" a Mac, but I really WANT one so we'll see. =D

This got me wondering what all my friends use and how they feel about their computers. Are you a Mac or a PC? Is your computer a desktop or a laptop?

 

Write on.

Contest and Contemplation

Since it's listed first, I'll start with the contest. I learned about this fantastic contest from Lisa's blog. Thanks Lisa!

Artistq is having a contest to win a piece of her handmade jewelry.

I went to her store (www.silverfreckles.com) and couldn't resist purchasing this:

If you can't read it, it says Write.

When it arrives, I can wear it as a constant reminder to get off the Internet and get busy writing! Apparently I need this constant reminder. So, that's the contest! Go check it out.

And now the contemplation . . .

I have realized there is a reason for the naming of the Internet a.k.a. the World Wide Web.

First of all, you have to realize they've warned us by the very naming of the beast. InterNET. Yeah, nets catch things.

None of us would be crazy enough to walk into a net. I mean, you can see them pretty clearly. So they've added bait to draw us in. Facebook (one of the best baits for me), Twitter, email, online gaming, Myspace, Goodreads, Blogging (yeah, I'm wasting writing time right now to bring you this important message), and even Google (or other search engines). Yeah, there are way too many baits to list here, but you get the idea.

You could rationalize if you're using the search engine for research (or blogging/tweeting/facebooking for making connections), and I suppose you could even count it as time well spent if you're researching for your novel/article/story. But the truth is, you're not writing so it's sucking writing time.

This isn't to say we can't EVER stop writing. Of course we can. But taking a break for an hour or so turns in to three or for when I'm drawn in to the Net/Web. Maybe it's just me and the rest of you have learned to better resist the bait.

They tried to warn us further by calling it the Web, but did we listen? No!

What do webs do? They catch unsuspecting prey. That's us, my friends (if you're reading this, you've already been caught). The baited Net draws us in and holds us in the sticky web.

And just like a regular spider web, there's a spider waiting for you. In this case it doesn't suck your blood, but it most certainly sucks your time.

Oh, you can struggle and maybe you'll get free from the web, but not before the spider has fed on some of your time (even if it's just a few minutes).

I do manage to break free (we all do, I hope) now and then, but precious writing time has already been sucked away.

Anyway, now you know what I've been contemplating. Beware of the Net/Web, my friends. Don't let it trap you for hours and suck your time like it has mine.

Write on (really, stop reading this and go write . . . well, after you enter the contest)! =D

Nano progress

Yes, there has been some. ;-) This is all I've managed for today.

I was hoping I'd get more done, and I still might have time for more later.

 

Write on.

Novel Novel Review

It's that time again. Here's a quick reminder of my rating system

A+--I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend this book. In most cases, I passed it on to my child/teen.

A--I enjoyed this book and I might pass it on to my child/teen.

B--I liked this book, but probably won't pass it on to my child/teen.

C--I thought it was okay, but I won't pass it on to my child/teen.

D--I didn't like this book, and won't allow my child/teen to read it.

F--I hope I never have to go here. =D

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. If you find your book here, don't panic if I rate it below an A. These are my personal preferences and I'm only one small person in a large market.

Okay, here we go.

THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. by Kate Messner

Rating: A+++ (I'll pass this one on to my daughter, my mother, my sisters, my teachers, and anyone else I can corner long enough)

If Gianna Zales doesn’t finish her seventh-grade leaf collection project in time, her spot in the cross country sectionals will be filled by her nemesis. Though she had plenty of time to do the project, Gianna left it until the last minute. It doesn't help her state of mind that her father drives her to school in a hearse, her grandmother keeps forgetting things, and her mother pretends like nothing is wrong.

This fall will be a disaster if Gianna can't pull it together and take her project all the way to the finish line.

The warm up stretched just the right muscles so I was ready to take on the smooth cross country pacing of the novel. I trotted happily along through Gianna's story and enjoyed the scenery along the way. The emotional hills and valleys gave me a satisfying workout, and the cool down in the end made for a perfect run.

Messner not only reached the finish line with THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z., she won the gold and the crowd went wild.

 

Write on, Kate Messner!

Counting . . .

50 (or so) pages of research printed and highlighted

1 Site Counsel meeting attended

3 children picked up from school

1 dinner eaten (hubby cooked, bless him)

3 children's homework checked

11 dogs brought in for the night

1 son picked up from dress rehearsal

1,435 words written on my Nano novel

15 tweets read

1 tweet written

3 (or was it more?) tweets replied to

3 hours past bedtime

1 end of day blog post

1 tired woman

 

And all this adds up to

1 busy day

 

Yeah, so my math is slightly off, but work with me here. ;-)  My pillow is calling to me so I must go--it's never a good idea to keep a pillow waiting too long.

 

Write on.

Nano Time

Yeah, it's kind of like Hammer Time, but without all the cool dance moves 'cause I'm too lazy to get up. ;-)

If you read yesterday's post, you know I spent most of my day fleshing out the idea for the Nano novel and amassing huge piles of printed pages for research purposes. I didn't get any writing on the novel done, but I did write out (by hand so I could refer to it more easily) a synopsis of the story.

And today? Ah, this is the day I begin writing. I'm not going to worry about finding that perfect beginning. Instead, I'm going to dive in and start typing whatever comes to mind (as the character, of course . . . otherwise it'd be a list of things I should be doing instead of Nano).

Scary? Yes. Exciting? Yes. So why am I blogging right now instead of writing? I'm warming up, of course. ;-)

May your word count be tremendous (even if you aren't doing Nano), and may those words be worth keeping during revisions.

Write on.

Have idea, will Nano

Whew! After days of agonizing about what to write for Nano, I've made a final decision. I decided not to use any of my previous ideas and go in a new direction. My sister and I had recently been discussing the option of co-authoring a novel. She had this great idea so the original plan was for her to write it and then I'd work off her initial writing and we'd go from there. Unfortunately, she's not really into the whole writing aspect of things and has been unable for the last month or so to get much more than a basic outline for the main idea.

After speaking with her today, we decided I'd write the first draft for Nano and then we'll consult and conspire from there. She sent me her basic outline which she freely admitted was lacking in anything other than that main idea. From there I started researching and came up with some amazing plotlines that would connect well with the main idea. I'm extremely excited about this.

I kept telling sis that her main idea was great and would make an amazing book, but she didn't see how . . . until I called her with my plot suggestions. The book is going in a different direction than she originally planned, but we both love it and spent a couple of hours phoning back and forth to bounce ideas and add to the thing.

So I've got my research printed out, I've got most of the character names, and now I'm ready to write up a chapter outline. I should be able to dive in to the actual writing of the novel tomorrow.

Yeah, I'm starting the actual writing a couple of days late, but I have faith that I'll still make it to the end in time.

 

Write on!