Sunday Snapshot

Okay, you crazy, hazy-brained, cross-eyed Nanowrimoers!  And sane cowards, like myself, who watch you from the sidelines and secretly envy your determination.

What was the last thing you wrote?  Post it in the comments below. It doesn't have to be perfect.  It doesn't even have to be good. It just has to be YOURS.

Here's mine:

The first bird of morning trilled with freshly-wakened enthusiasm somewhere on the castle roofs as Faldur strode down the walkway of the circular courtyard where he had first arrived.  A troop of mounted soldiers waited there, the best of the half-elevjan who served the King, with Mel at their head.  Tall of stature and strong of girth, clad in the King’s armor, their breath steamed in the pre-dawn chill along with their horses’. 

Faldur hoped that as a display of the King’s favor, they would so impress Chalmeth as to make use of their swords unnecessary, but he was glad to have the swords just the same.  He clasped hands with Mel, and then turned to the groom who held Strider for him.  The dory seemed small and lost beside the tall, gleaming horses; the upper curl of his thick horns came only to the nearest one’s withers.  He butted Faldur impatiently.

“We’re going,” Faldur murmured. “We’ll bring her home.”  

Shhhhhhh!!!!!

Be wery, wery quiet. I'm hunting word counts.

It's 6:42 on Thanksgiving morning.  And yes, I'm very thankful for my family, my job, health, a safe place to live and all that good stuff.

But what I'm REALLY thankful for is a still, quiet house.

I realized yesterday that I have over 70,000 revised words.  70,000!!!  And the remainder of the book is still in first draft form, which means I get to do some real writing now.  I am hoping to make a huge leap forward this holiday weekend.

I hope all of you find some quiet space to pursue your private goals between now and Monday.

Shhh!!!  Don't wake anybody up.  And have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Editing The Guts Out of the Story

Did you ever look at something you wrote a long time ago and think,  "Wow, that was really passionate and moving and... I killed it."

That happened to me today.  This morning I grabbed my original notebook for my novel, the one with the first handwritten scenes and the precious syllables of my language, to write in if I had some free time today.  I ended up reading one of the pivotal scenes in the heroine's story.  One of those so-called "candy scenes" that are a pleasure to write because they are so compelling, and which drive the rest of the plot.

It made me realize how much I've lost in the editing process through the desire to be "tight" and "clean."  I just edited the same scene last week for the third or fourth time. I wasn't satisfied with it, but I just moved on.  Because that's what I'm doing now: Moving on.  But now I'm thinking, "Hoooold it!  What happened here?"

Did you ever have one of those moments?  Have you gone back and resurrected the dead?

Where Do You Find the Time?

It's an awfully good thing I'm not doing Nano this year, because I would be so far behind I'd never catch up!  Life has just been crazy.  I just got back from New York again, and was in D.C. earlier this week.  I keep having this insane idea that I'll write in my hotel room, but I get so exhausted by the time I get back in the evening I just fall asleep.

The only writing I got done was for about an hour yesterday while in transit, and half an hour while eating in a restaurant alone on Tuesday.  And that's probably the most I've done in weeks.

I'm looking forward to being with my long lost family this weekend, but I doubt I'll get any writing done.

How in the world do you all find time to write?

What Makes You Feel Good?

I'm taking a break from writing-themed posts this week, as NaNoWriMo is consuming the blogosphere. I haven't time for NaNo this year.  I actually haven't had time for NaNo any years. Anyway, I was editing some recent photos in my camera and just had to share some of the things that make life worthwhile for me.

Like sunrises

And pom-pom covered pumpkins

Cute little puppy faces

 

Finding Darth Vader and Cad Bane in my front yard

A glass necklace, brought all the way from Italy by someone who loves me

The last fall bouquet





Good friends

Beautiful places

And the occasional miniature tree frog.

 

At the end of the day, when you can't think or type or do a single thing more, what makes YOU feel good?