And so it (almost) begins!

Less than 24 hours until the start of November! And it's Halloween!

I am a big fan of fall. The slight chill to the air, the changing colors going from the greens of the summer to oranges, reds, and browns, and who could forget the fantastic food that comes around?? We have Halloween, today, (which is the epitome of hypocrisy, little kids asking strangers for candy, women encouraged to dress (even more) like prostitutes, and it's OK to scare the poor little kids) with it's cider and truckloads of candy (mmm) and coming up on it's heels is Thanksgiving.

This will be the second year we spend Thanksgiving without my grandmother, which is always difficult, but it's starting to get easier. The food, the family, the warmth... it's something I truly enjoy. And, since I'm pregnant, I get a guilt-free card to eat all I want, even a second or third helping of pumpkin pie! ^^

And of course, NaNoWriMo. How could anyone forget that? The month out of the year where it's OK to completely ignore family, friends, life in general, in order to push yourself further into the folds of becoming a writer. Best part? Most everyone understands! Especially once explained. Last year, which was my first year of attempting NaNo, I had lots of people give me funny looks and ask just what the hell was I thinking. Oh they had faith in be, don't get me wrong, but when you think about it, writing 50,000 words or more, in only thirty days, does seem a bit... insane. I spend the entire month of October researching, plotting, and detailing out my world, characters, and little pieces that I need to know in order to write effectively. I feel more prepared this year than I do last year, even though last year I had the entire story plotted out. This year, I have my characters more developed (just last night I found my Bad Guy name -whew!-), and I have a basic idea of where the end of the story will end up, but I only really plotted out the first half. There are so many roads this story could take, and I wanted to leave it up to the characters. So that's what I'm doing.

Which, by the way, totally pisses my Inner Editor off! Muwhahahaa.

For most of November, I will be on doc ordered bed rest, so I have very little excuse not to win this year. Even with an active almost-three-year-old on my back and two little gymnasts in my belly. My goal this year it to actually hit 100k, not just 50k. Yep, that's pretty damn insane, but it's only 3k words a day as opposed to roughly, 1.6k. If I don't hit 100k... well, I'll still have won by hitting 50! So that's my goal for NaNo....

Now... What are you dressing up as for Halloween, if anything? Are you going trick -or- treating? Or just tricking? >:)

19 days until the grand opening of NaNoWriMo 2011!

It doesn't seem like it's been an entire year since I first signed up for this odd writing frenzy, but then, at the same time, it seems like November has taken forever to get here. Perhaps it's because I competed, and won, Script Frenzy this past april, with 119 pages. Or maybe it's because I spent most of the year dwelling on my previous NaNo book. Either way, it's almost time again, and I couldn't be more excited or nervous.

Unlike last year, I will be doing everything via my Mac, instead of stealing Chris's PC. So doing it only on a laptop will be a change in itself, but I will also be on bed rest. I know I said I wouldn't talk much about my pregnancy on this blog, since this is my writing blog, but hey, pregnancy kind of overlaps everything else in life.

In a way, being on bed rest gives me an excuse to constantly write, whenever I want, without having other distractions get to me. None of the 'I think I'll go for a walk…' or 'I can put off writing for a few hours to go to lunch…' because I won't be allowed to do those things. I think the hardest part will be keeping my toddler entertained, and keeping myself away from hulu and facebook. I may even have to have Chris set up a secret password so I can't get online until he connects it for me, and only after I've completed my daily word count. This will certainly be an interesting, but hella fun year!

Right now, I'm waiting on the new NaNo site to finish the final touches so I can add my writing buddies, get my word count widget on my dashboard, and a few other fun things I like to have around. I've completed my rough synopsis, which I will share with you, filled out my novel and author information, and have made it about halfway through my rough sketch of what the book will look like. I've got timelines, fashion timelines, even some random information about logging before there were chainsaws and heavy machinery! I am certainly excited about how much research will be going into this novel (yes, I'm a researching nerd. I love it!) and am finally starting to feel as pumped about writing this as before. I hope this feeling sticks around!

Now… just to find a new shoe box to keep my inner editor in…. Last years got pretty torn up! :D

Anyone else feeling this way?

I don't know if it's just the pregnancy hormones, the stresses of the last couple days, or what, but I seem to have hit a snag in my excitement about NaNo. I've been so excited since I completed Script Frenzy to November to come, but now that it's almost here, I've been hit with a strong case of the "meh"s.

Chris, my awesome hubby and main muse, has been helping me work through a couple tight spots in my story line, but the last few nights, I've sat down and just… stared. Stared at really nothing, my screen yes, but the words weren't really sinking in of what I'd already come up with, and no fresh ideas were forth coming. I think I've settled on most of the character names, but again, mostly "meh", none of the "That is SO their name!" that I had last year. Don't get me wrong, I was am just as passionate about this story as I was with my previous one. Maybe even a little more so, because this time around, I'm writing out of my comfort zone (it is a romance after all. And no making cracks about "I'm a woman so romance is always in my comfort zone"). But it's more than just that, I love the 1880's. I love that era in general. And that's when this story is set, so I already have that fueling my writing, and it's a story that I would want to read. And for the last six months, I've read A LOT of historical romance novels. They're short, sweet, and are great little day passers (since they last me about 3 hours tops). But the stories always seemed to be missing something to me, and now that I'm going to write my own, I have this fantastic new insight. It doesn't matter if others like it, because it's something I would read and enjoy.

I've really struggled this last year with my identity as a writer, and as much as I don't like this new meh-sickness I've developed, it's brought on a positive change in me.

Now, I don't have everything ironed out (there are still a bunch of crinkles and holes in my story!) but that will come during November, I think. Right now, I'm just trying to get the basics penned out and researched, so I don't have to waste time with that during November. I already know that there will be two days that I won't be able to write anything. The 6th (my baby shower) and my ultrasound appointment near the end of November. Thanksgiving… well, I'll probably end up writing because I will have all day to not be in a turkey induced coma :)

Speaking of researching, I got this, supposedly 'awesome', program for my Mac called Scrivener. Now, I had never heard of this before, but was told that it was one of the best writing programs out there, and that it would make my researching, storing, story-boarding, etc so much easier. I wouldn't have to jump between programs for my lists and factoids, and I'd only have one window open so no cluttering up my 15" laptop screen with a bunch of windows. I thought that sounded pretty darn good! So I got it. And I wish I hadn't.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure for someone who has been using it for a while, and knows the ins and outs, it's great. But… Not only am I so confused about how to use this thing, I'm not even sure it would be compatible with my other writing program stuff. Heck, I'm not sure I'm compatible with this thing. I don't know, maybe it's just the first 48 hours of buyers remorse kicking in, and that in a few days, after trying to use it, it will grow on me and become my new best writing buddy. We shall see!

NaNoWriMo 2011

It's almost time again! 30 more days until the glorious opening day of National Novel Writing Month!! I can't explain how excited I am to write again this year, and I've even brought a friend into it as well! So stoked to have another writing buddy (and competitor!).

Now, this year will be especially difficult, but probably not as difficult as it will be next year. As I've mentioned before, Chris and I are expecting twins sometime in February 2012. I've already had a couple of complications, and am technically on house arrest, issued by my doc. It's not bed rest (thank goodness!) but by the time November rolls around, I may very well be on strict bed rest!

I have mixed feelings about attempting NaNo this year, while pregnant. I'm super excited because it gets me back into writing and gives me a chance to focus on something other than last years NaNo project. November last year, while interestingly challenging, was probably one of the most fun times I had all year, and I am thoroughly looking forward to meeting my new characters and roaming through their world as I build it.

On the other hand, I relied heavily on sugary snacks and coffee last year, neither of which I can have this time around. Coffee because it makes my heart have panic attacks (well, palpitations is the proper word for it), and my body is super sensitive to sugar since being pregnant. Seriously. A single piece of candy corn will come back up as quickly as it went down. So no caffeine or sugar, added on top of already exhausted preggo-ness. Hey, twins take a lot of energy to create!

So I have a couple more things stacked up against me this year, but I love being challenged, and I am definitely looking forward to tackling it! I even discovered that apple created (or is supporting, whatever) a widget just for syncing up with your NaNo account and keeping track of your progress on your dashboard. How totally awesome it that?! You can bet your sweet little head I downloaded that! I'm a little disappointed that the new NaNoWriMo site won't be up and revealed until Oct. 10th, but I supposed I can wait. Cue dramatic sigh and hand on forehead.

If the hubs and I calculated our monthly income properly, I will have enough cushion to order some motivation from the NaNo store. Totally excited about getting stuff! They have a bunch of fantastic merchandise, and if you haven't checked it out, you totally should. One of the things I'd love to get, maybe for a week three prize?, is this coffee mug that has their logo and a little quote saying "Keep writing now! (Ask questions later!)". I love it, and it's totally what I need to remember to do. My inner editor likes to try and sneak back in every once in a while. That is of course because I smack him (yes, my editor is a Him. Don't ask me why!) with a bat and stuff him back into his shoebox. (Yes, I keep him in a shoebox during November. Don't worry, it's a very nice shoebox ^^)

I've been spending the better part of the last 6 months (since the end of Script Frenzy) coming up with ideas for this year, and plotting out how those events should play out. I've pointed out before that I am a type-A personality, planted firmly in Perfect and Control country. (If you don't get that reference, go check out The Flag Page Test). I like knowing what I plan on writing, what events I'm planning to put in, all of that, before I even start writing. Granted, a lot of times during the month, things change and I deviate from my initial plan. But oddly enough, I'm ok with that. In fact, I love it. But having a list before starting the month really makes me feel more prepared and comfortable. It let's me know that I have a back-up plan if I get really stuck. Which can, and does, happen!

Now, before I fall asleep, I need to google some 1800's travel systems! And that's about the only hint you're gonna get! Until I feel like giving you another one. -wink wink-