NaNoWriMo Coming to a Close This Friday...

Yes, Friday is the last day of NaNo. I've been so busy with holiday stuff and household chores that since the 13th, I haven't been able to wrap my mind around my novel to finish it. Seems my brain went on vacation as soon as I hit 50K. LOL

Oh, I think about writing or working on it everyday. I couldn't count how many times I stare at the screen and think...just open the file and get back into the story. What were Wes and Melody up to when you last saw them?

Last night as I went to bed, I was thinking that maybe, just maybe, there's a reason. Maybe it's because I feel that if I work on it now, I'll have a boring, letdown of an ending. Of course, this is the first draft, so it shouldn't matter. I'll be going back to it later to revise and change things up anyway and maybe later I will think of a much more exciting ending, or if not exciting...at least a more gratifying ending.

It's not that I'm not happy with what I've written so far. I'm sure it could be better, but for the most part, I am satisified. Maybe though this year the distraction of holiday decorating and gathering has gotten the better of my writerly side.

I'm all wrapped in up ribbons and bows and sparkling paper and twinkling lights and Christmas cards.

Today though, I need to try my best to put my brain back to work. So I'm off and gone-

Have a good Hump Day!

I'm a winner

My novel isn't done...been just too many things going on the past couple of weeks to work on it since I hit 50K. I'm hoping tomorrow through Friday will give me the opportunity to finish it before the month is over.

Dead on My Feet~

I've been sidetracked from my writing a lot since I hit 50K last week. Saturday I got most of the inside of the house decorated...got the tree up and some of the decorations set out. Wrapped the grandparents and great grandmothers presents, etc.

Saturday we discovered that my fiber optic waterfall village and train piece was messed up beyond repair, so Sunday we got up early and went to Wal-Mart to get another piece for the village to replace it. Dave wanted a firehouse, but we went to both the Walmart in Franklin and the one in Bowling Green and neither had one.

So, I suggested we just get the Bayside Inn or the Victorian House, but no...Dave saw a Lighthouse that was on display, but there were no boxes of them. He went and talked to the lady in the Christmas department and she checked and they had no more of them in boxes, just the display but it was missing adapter was missing and the lady said they threw the box away when they set it out, so it probably got thrown away.

We went and found an adapter for it in Electronics and so they gave us a 10% discount off the Lighthouse. We got home and it wouldn't work, so Dave was finally about ready to take it back when I discovered there was a switch on the huge plug and we just didn't have it set to the right voltages. So now it's working fine, and it looks pretty, but I was getting rather frustrated over the entire fuss he made over getting the thing.

Our skating pond is also starting to mess up and shut itself off already...just got that one this year. If it's on for very long it just kicks itself off...I told Dave that from now on when we pick out a piece for the village, we should just go with the ones that you put C7 lights in because the pond is motorized and already screwed up the first year we've had it and I'm not sure if we can replace the lighthouse light once it burns out or not.

After all the fuss over the lighthouse when we got home, I went out and strung the lights outside and got that done. By Sunday evening my feet were throbbing and felt like they were going to cramp up and my back had this huge burning sensation in the middle that ached so bad...being on my feet too long for a couple of days in a row.

Monday I straightened Chris's room and got his miniature tree up in his room and did some decluttering of his toy box and toy dressers. I put up Koty's mini tree that evening when Dave and Chris were gone to the Cub Scouts Pack Meeting.

I've also been getting caught up on laundry and dishes and straightening the house. Yesterday I spent straightening Koty's "Disaster Zone" of a room. She is the child who doesn't mind chaos and it drives me insane! LOL I still need to go through her toybox and do some decluttering there too. Bed sheets need changing sometime soon, but today my goal is to finish up the laundry and then make my homemade apple pie to take up to my parents tomorrow and then I'm going to get up early tomorrow and fix the mac and cheese so that it will travel hot and may only need to be warmed a little once we get there.

I do intend to get my stamps soon for greeting cards and hopefully add some more to my novel before this month is over...hopefully finish the story by the 30th, especially since things around the house should calm down after Thursday.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and fills up on good food and good company with loved ones.

Here are some pics over on MySpace of my decorations~
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=62433615&albumId=1436465

Have a great day!

NaNo's still going and so is my story...

This novel I did for NaNo this year may well be the shortest of my novels. I feel the end of the story looming closer than I did with the others. It's like that impending feeling you get when you're wrapped up in a movie and don't realize it's almost the end, until it is the end.

My other novels all ran somewhere around 70-80K. This one feels like another 10K could finish it off at 60K. Not sure yet. I know this is just first draft, so it's not like revisions, editing, dumping some things and adding others couldn't bump the word count though. I'm sure when I go back and start reading it I'll find empty spots and realize-

Oops! I meant to mention this or include this scene...

Or it needs beefing up here or toning down there....

The argument didn't last long enough...

But then neither did the love scene....

LOL

Plot holes.

They're kind of like potholes. You HAVE to fill them in with good concrete or asphalt, or the story is going to be like a bumpy ride down a neglected highway. The reader isn't going to want to travel that road again (or any other road you've fashioned) if you don't make sure they have a smooth ride, enjoy the scenery and come to the end of the road and look back and say- "You know what...I'd like to travel that road again someday."

When I love a book, it's because I enjoyed the journey, didn't crash my car into any "plot"holes or find myself grimacing or grabbing at the dash to steady myself during the trip. And a good book will take you smoothly from start to finish. You'll say "That's a keeper" and you'll put that book on a shelf so that you can drive that road again in the future.

It's a beautiful thing.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday! We're over the hump!

50,008K/50,000