Three words

For some reason, January reminds me of standing at the top of a high mountain from which I can see far ahead. It's a beautiful view, even though the details are misted in haze. It's 2012, stretching before me and entirely unexplored but beckoning enticingly.

With that image in mind, during our first writing meeting of this year, each member was asked to give three words that could describe her goals for the year ahead. Here are our individual three word choices:

Laura—persistence, finalize, inspire
Beth—consistency, fun, explore
April—adventure, peace, progress
Christine—read, write, achieve
Enyth—write, gather (ideas), organize

I have to admit, I almost chose chocolate as one of mine, but with only three words max, I decided to go with more substantial choices. How about you? What are your three definitive words for 2012?

There is life after Nanowrimo

Check out the link at the end of this post for a great book giveaway over at Write Now! Coach blog.

This year I completed my third Nanowrimo novel. It was definitely a different experience from the last two years.

The first year I flew by the seat of my pants and went in with only a vague idea that I thought would be fun to write about. At that time, I was writing primarily picture books anyway, so it was a good exercise in daily writing. Exhilarated by the competition of my writing group and family, I plowed through and finished with days to spare.

The second year, I decided to write a book for my mom about my grandmother's childhood. It wasn't a great work of literature, and I had to fill in many huge gaps of what we didn't know with my own imagination, but although harder to finish, it was a good exercise in writing and I still finished early.

This year, however, I wanted channel my Nanowrimo effort down more productive paths, but I found the way far from clear.

Having been working on a sci-fi historical fiction MG for more than a year, I decided to write the sequel for it. I wrote scene cards and a rough outline in preparation, wishing I had used Nanowrimo with the first book which was still a work in progress. On day one, I began to pound the keys. By day two, I wanted to quit.

It wasn't that I found the writing so hard. I had my general guideline. I just didn't feel like writing this year. Life in general was pressing on me, and I struggled to keep up. It got worse as I went along, because I wasn't getting enough sleep. By the end of the month I had picked up some virus and was also sick. I assessed. Brain and fingers were still functioning; therefore, I must keep on writing. I cotinued slogging along until I gasped across the 50k mark just in time on the last day of November.

Why was it so hard this year? I'm not really sure. It just was. But now that we're into December, life looks happier. My body is over that awful virus. I've had some good nights of sleep and made it through our big December events. I have over 50k of my sequel rough draft done (although not quite the ending) and I have caught up with other stuff moderately well.

Yes, there is life after Nanowrimo. In fact, it's a wonderful life. Have you found it to be true as well?

: )

Merry Christmas!

P.S. If you're looking forward to making the New Year a profitable one as a writer, swing by the Write Now! Coach Blog for a book giveaway bonanza.

Endings and beginnings: the full circle of writing

You might be looking at the title to this post and thinking, isn't it supposed to be beginnings and endings? Don't beginnings come first? They do. I guess I'm thinking of endings and beginnings right now because I just finished Nanowrimo 2011. It's the ending of a month which has been filled with pushing myself to write beyond my comfort level.

But it's also the beginning of a lot of things, like beginning the next level of editing this new novel as well as beginning some new picture books based on my best PiBoIdMo ideas. The ending of one thing always marks the beginning of something else.

How about you? Were you one of the 230,000 Nanowrimo writers this year? Were you one of the hundreds of PiBoIdMo writers? What endings and beginnings are you experiencing in your writing life this month?

Why November is a crazy busy month

We had a great Thanksgiving. I loved going home for the holiday, which happens to be my favorite. I loved watching the Packers beat the Lions. I loved playing Scrabble and Chinese checkers with my mom and kids. It was just an all-around great few days. An ideal Thanksgiving weekend (except for a very bad cold).

I think I like Thanksgiving best as a holiday because, other than the food logistics, it's a restful holiday during which we take time to remember God's goodness and thank Him for it. Even though it is followed by the potentially stressful Black Friday, this year I stayed in bed and didn't even acknowledge Black Friday's existence other than to request my husband pick up a couple of things for me while he was out.

However, November as a whole has not been stress-free. This month is Nanowrimo. Also, it's PiBoIdMo. Also, I made it into the panel for the First Five Pages Workshop on the Adventures in YA and Children's Publishing site. Also, Examiner.com has been reminding me to submit faithfully.

Then, on top of my normally busy life, I got really sick.

So as November ends, I'm making some quality decisions. I do not plan (at this time) to participate in Nanowrimo next year. It was too hard on both myself and my family. Burning the candle at both ends resulted in becoming sick. I will not do that again. I do plan (at this time) to be part of PiBoIdMo. It's not overwhelming to come up with 30 picture book ideas during the month, and these ideas make great springboards for the following year. I'd also like to use this coming year to finish and polish my two novels and work on some nonfiction ideas for picture books.

So what are your plans for 2011?

Nanowrimo day 7: on the front lines

Nanowrimo day 7 is almost at an end. At this point, we are almost one fourth of the way through the month, and, hopefully, that far through our 50k word goal. Personally, I hit some snags this weekend. Besides housing and feeding ten teenagers (in addition to my own) and a couple of chaperones at my house this weekend, I had to catch up with grading and life in general. I wouldn't have missed a bit of it, but I did have to sacrifice a little of the word quota buffer I'd built up because I was so tired. 

As a result, I am 700 words behind my absolute minimum for today and 2800 words behind my aggressive goal. 

How about you? Where are you in your Nanowrimo journey? 

Vote on my Nanonovel cover

Just for kicks, here are some of my Nanonovel covers for this year's book. Vote for the one you like the best.

Choice A

Choice B

Nanowrimo day 3

It's day three of the writing event of the year (at least for me) which is known as Nanowrimo.

Here's my take on it right now: I already feel like quitting. (Not that I would, you understand. I'll make it to the 50k unless something bizarre happens.) And it's not that I'm discouraged. Mostly it's just that I'm lazy. I'm tired because I've been taking from sleep time to keep my word quota going, but that won't last much longer. At some point, I'll have to get a decent night's sleep.

So forgive me if this is short. I'm over 3400 words and am hoping to add another 2k to it today.

Happy writing.