NaNoWriMo ’08

26 days; 292 pages; 83,385 words

/ Meg / 7 Comments

nano_screencap

Twenty-six days,
292 double-spaced pages,
83,385 words.

My novel is done! My NaNoWriMo project is complete!

nano_08_winner_largeNow, as people often ask me, does that mean it’s any good? I don’t know. It’s definitely a rough draft — emphasis on the rough — but I know I have something here. It just feels good to finish a book . . . there’s nothing quite like wrapping up a crazed, elaborate tale and writing “the end” evenly at the bottom. I’ve now finished three novels in the past year and feel sincerely accomplished. Now, if only I could track down a literary agent interested in representing a silly 23-year-old chick lit writer in D.C. How many of us could there possibly be, right? I know, a million. But it’s okay — I’ll surge proudly onward and outward! As James Morrison would say, “I’m not lost — just undiscovered.”

My progress this year:

word_count

Victory is within my grasp!

/ Meg / 3 Comments

I’m still waiting to hear something about my audition last Thursday. I know I need to be patient, take a few deep breaths, keep my pulse from accelerating like rapid fire every time I even think about the phone ringing and the producer’s voice popping up on the line. Call backs were Saturday morning, if needed; they came and went. No phone calls, e-mails, updated information on the website. So I continue waiting, thinking and waiting, thinking and waiting . . .

But I have been writing. I got a whopping 8,000 or so words written today, meaning that I’m . . . less than 1,500 words away from the goal: 50,000 words in 18 days! I’m very excited and proud of myself. When I get going, I roll. The story has definitely taken a few twists and turns, and the man I thought my main character was seriously not over her rock star ex-boyfriend but, as it turns out, she absolutely was! I love personal growth! I’m going to keep writing — I’m probably three-fourths of the way through the book, but I’ll need more than 50,000 words to wrap up the whole tale.

And Maryland is currently in the lead for total word count in the NaNo Universe — nearly 13 million words written, as of 9:45 p.m. Nov. 17! Wahoo!

nano_scoreboard

All right, back to Innocence for the evening. Then bed and getting ready for work . . . lots of editing to do tomorrow!

Playing NaNo catch up

/ Meg / 3 Comments

In an effort to stay calm before my audition tonight, I’ve returned to my NaNoWriMo novel. I’ve been slacking a little lately, I know, but that’s mostly because I know I can crank the words out the best under serious pressure. It’s pathetic that one of the whole points of NaNoWriMo is to quickly get a novel out in 30 days — and this is a serious challenge. If the 30 day threat isn’t enough, I have to make it harder for myself: instead of spacing it out and writing a little every day, I have a tendency to write 2,000 or 3,000 words every other day, then sit down and hammer about 10,000 in a single afternoon.

I’m doing all right, though. And I’ve finally hit my stride with my new book! Sadly, it’s another “break-up” novel — my characters are always getting over the really nasty end of a relationship. But since it’s easiest to right from personal experience, I just roll with it! And now that I’m happy and in love again, I can explore that aspect of the aftermath, too. Barf, I know! But it’s fun to see the sunshine after the rain . . . and it’s even more fun to write about it. Break-ups are always the catalyst for something more — something greater.

Here are some fun widgets demonstrating my noveling prowess.
Disregard the sad red squares from the days I failed to buckle down!:

Yes, I’m well on my way!

Wish me luck tonight . . . my heart is in my throat, I’m so nervous! I just don’t want to humiliate myself with my rusty acting expertise . . . we’ll see. Oh, the FEAR!