the wrap up

Christmas isn't quite here yet, but on the horizon of a new year I thought I would get a head start on wrapping up 2008.

October - finished the first draft of my FIRST (yes, I said FIRST) novel and did a dance of joy, survived layoffs at the casino I work for, had my boyfriend's ex wife and daughter move in with us, had dinner with an ex-boyfriend who told me I was one of the smartest women he ever went out with (you know it!), spent Halloween preparing for NaNoWriMo.

November - began writing my SECOND novel for NaNoWriMo, continued to write like fiend, went to visit my family in Southern CA for Thanksgiving (got fat), survived more layoffs at the casino I work for, finished my SECOND novel for NaNoWriMo with 8,000 words on the last day.

December - went back to revising my FIRST novel and getting prepared for Christmas.

I won't be going home for Christmas Eve or Day, but we'll be heading to Southern CA the weekend after.

Let me take a minute though to talk about my experience with NaNoWriMo. I didn't think I'd be able to do it. I mean, it took me over three months to write just over 80,000 on the first novel, but then I didn't really give myself a deadline and I knew I would take my sweet time. I've finally decided to call myself a writer and you know what? We procrastinate. It's inevitable. Armed with that information, NaNoWriMo got me to understand that giving yourself an end all deadline would kick that procrastination in the butt, at least for a few days. It also showed that if need be, I can write 8000 words in a day. I don't recommend that and it's not fun by any means, but it's doable. My comfort zone seemed to be 1000 to 2000 a day. But what helped was the support from others in the same boat. Fellow Nanoers, Maura, Shae, and Noreen, helped push me onward. Being able to see what they were doing gave me the necessary shove to get my words up and if any of them were behind, I made sure to let them know they were doing great and to keep it up. I was proud of them all and I was so happy we all could make it there together.

I can now say I have officially written TWO novels in the year of 2008. My biggest accomplishment yet. OK, maybe second to my four year degree in History, but damn close.

I'll save my New Years Resolutions for a later post, but you'll be sure to find more writing on the top of it.

Quote of the Day: To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music the words make. ~Truman Capote, McCall's, November 1967