Anemone's Song: Or, The Book That Will Give Me Carpal Tunnel

The thing that is most noticeably absent from my blog this year is an entry about writing resolution for the new year. I'm afraid that this is due to many reasons, one of which is that I lost my father early on New Year's Eve, after his short battle with a terminal brain tumor, and I'm just now getting to the point where I can function semi-normally again, instead of just going through the motions of life. The new year started off too badly, too painfully, for me to have any desire to revisit the memories of it with a long post about my writing goals, delayed or not.

So excuse my break with tradition, if you will, and know simply that this is the year of Anemone's Song, a book that I wrote from November 2007-October 2009. A book that I am working feverishly to type up in total so that I can begin editing it.

No, I didn't type it up on the computer to begin with. Not entirely. I am a firm believer in the hardcopy back-up, the ultimate writing failsafe. I have had more than one bad experience with technology to have convinced me of the irreplaceable importance of a hardcopy or two. If you lose everything else, you can always go back to the hardcopy. Yes, you may have lost a lot of the pretty editing, but the story is still there, alive and breathing, to work with. If not for one forgotten hardcopy, years ago, that I unearthed, one of my other stories would not have survived to the present day to etch itself into my very soul.

Today is a day to celebrate. So sit down with your favorite beverage or treat, and share in my happiness, for I am officially 1/4 of the way finished typing up Anemone's Song, at 30,006 words.

Only 3/4 of the book and an unknown quantity of words to go! But I will make it.

My hands, however, may not...

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Just Call Me Grumpy.

1418 words in the past couple of days. Not bad. I just hope I can keep it up. In the meantime, I'm trying to get a job. There is a position I particularly want that I have applied to recently, but I am trying not to get too attached to it in case I don't get it. And, considering the current state of the economy and the fact that a lot of people are out of work, there's a good chance that I won't.

Man, am I pessimistic today, or what?

There's just a lot of things going wrong lately, I guess. I need something to go right. Maybe the weather is part of it, too. There's nothing like cold weather to make you feel like saying, "Bah humbug!" to everything.

Well, I'm going to try to apply to more jobs and do some more writing, if my daughter permits me to. She's gotten a real attitude lately, heaven help us, when things don't go her way. Plus, she's become real clingy. I can't wait for this stage to end.

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If Only All Days Could Be Like This One!

1467 words today. I love days like this, when the writing goes really well. It makes you feel productive, like you have really accomplished something. It more than makes up for the days where you have to struggle so much just to write a single sentence. If only all days could be so easy.

My story is coming along well. I'm beginning to really like how my characters are starting to interact with one another. I just hope I can finish writing this book soon, so that I can start to edit it and try for publication before the year is out.

Well, one thing at a time, right?

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On a Good Writing Streak

928 words today, 516 words before that, and 1000 words before that.

I may not be entirely consistent with sitting down to write every single day, but when I do write, lately, I have been rather productive. Of course, the nagging crew that I signed up for at the NaNoPubYe forums helps. The more people and places I have to be accountable to, the better. I get more work done that way.

So I am happy.

Mostly...

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Goodbye, 2008!

So ends another year, still unpublished. So many goals not attained this year, so many goals added and attained. Successes and failures went hand in hand. Such is a writer's life.

I failed miserably at Nanofimo, depending on how you look at it. I only reached 10,000 or so words for Nanofimo on my 2007 Nano novel. But looking at it another way, that's a third of what I needed to do for Nanofimo, at least.

I may not have reached my 500 words a day goal for the year, but I did get considerably more writing done this year than I would have without that goal. I certainly put my nose to the grindstone a bit more, whenever possible.

Well, goodbye, 2008. I have mixed feelings about you, but I'll toast you just the same. I wrote my first short story in completion during you, and my daughter was born, so there were really good times along with all of the bad. Quite a stormy friendship, but in the end, I guess I'll call you a friend.

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Ostensibly Halfway Finished...

I have 26,710 words on my NaNoWriMo story so far. That's a little more than halfway finished with my novel, assuming that I only write the 50,000 words required to win Nano. And of course, that is really short for a novel, and I seriously doubt that my book will only be 50,000 words. I'm not even into the foreseen middle of my plot yet. I have a lot of work on this after Nano is over, just to complete it, never mind edit it.

But I will happily set it aside on December 1st and take up Anemone's Song again for NaNoFiMo, or National Novel Finishing Month. I hope to finish Anemone's Song in December, but if I don't, it won't be the end of the world. I'm not going to push too hard for it depending on how I feel at the end of November. But it would be really nice if I could finish that, since I want to edit it and get it published.

Well, one story at a time, right? At least this month. *cackles*

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Off to a Darn Good Start...

Nanowrimo has been going really well for me so far. *knocks on wood* This is going much easier than last year. The story is just flowing from me, for the most part. I don't know if it's because I'm just more experienced at Nano, or if I'm not letting myself get as hung up with fixing mistakes and just moving on instead, but something seems to be working.

As of right now, I have 11, 864 words. I am just over a day ahead of schedule. I hope to write even more soon, to give myself a large cushion to fall upon, in case something happens and Eileen doesn't let me do much writing for a day or so. But so far it has been working pretty well. I let her play in the room with me while I type, and it works much better than I thought it would.

The election really got me down, but I'm trying to just move on from that. I may not have wanted Obama for president, but I really hope he does as good a job as people think he will. I hope that at least after all the hype, he can do some good for the economy--at the minimum. But I won't hold my breath.

For now, I'm pushing on with Nanowrimo and pouring even more of myself into my writing. Writing has gotten me through many things, and it will get me through this as well.

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That's One Thing Out of the Way! Now on to Nano!

I did it! Yayness (as my friend Echo would say)! It is 4000 words exactly. Now I just have to call my sister and double-check my cow facts. Then I can send it in for the contest. This is about the best birthday present I could get right now, I think.

Speaking of birthdays, I have to go. My husband is taking me out to dinner to celebrate my birthday tonight, since he can't be with me on my actual birthday tomorrow. He got called in on a DJing job, so he called off of his regular job today to be with me, using a vacation day. Is that nice or what?

Here's to hoping I win!

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Nearing the Finish Line!

I am almost done with my short story, thank heavens! It seems like I've been writing it for eons. I managed to edit it down to 82 words over word count, but I had to change the lackluster ending. It didn't feel right. I wanted something that was quintessentially Wintra. It took me a while to come up with something, but I did.

So now I'm only 144 words over my count for the contest. I can whittle that down easily! Yay! I was honestly beginning to think I could never do it.

Meanwhile, I'm feeling nervous about Nanowrimo. Why? I haven't picked a story idea yet. At first, the problem was that I couldn't come up with one. Now, I have a LOT of ideas...and I can't seem to pick one. *sigh* Will the madness never end?

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