The Now What Months...

It is almost 6 weeks since I finished my very first novel ever! NaNoWriMo gave me just the right amount of inspiration and motivation I needed to do what I never thought possible. I wrote over 50,000 words and after taking a 5 week break of not even daring to look at one single page of my manuscript, it's time to dust it off, grab my red pen, and start revising my rough draft.

Now that I've written over 50k words I feel like this moment is what I've been dreading even more than the process of writing it. Revision takes more than just fixing grammar, it's also looking at dialog and descriptions, two things I feel I have not mastered in the 30 days I was writing. But the time for excuses have come and gone. I wrote it and it's my job to complete the task. I know there are some who competed who would leave it as is, walk away, and never change one word or comma. Nothing wrong with that. But I do dream of having my book on a shelf in Barnes & Noble one day. Or perhaps finding my book on it's 4th week of being in the top 10 New York Times Bestsellers list.

Not till I got as far as I did, did I ever think it would ever be possible to be on a mission to have a completed book that I would show to publishers and agents and the like.

But before I can even get to that point I am on a mission to revise 20 pages every other day. This will be a daunting task that I will probably procrastinate on for many of the days to come, but my goal is to have a working 1st revision by March 1st.

I'll have further updates and developments then.

Wish me luck!

NaNoWriMo Update! Week 4 (THE END)

You are reading the above correctly! I did it! I crossed the rubicon, I climbed the mighty mountain, I slayed the beast, I rolled the dice of life and they came up sevens! It was NOT easy for one minute. If I had a do-over the first thing I'd have done differently was not have so many days of non-writing take place. I don't think I would have been scrambling to write the last 11K+ in one day if I had dedicated the suggested 1,667 words a day. But hey, it was how this went down and I'm not too mad about it cause, as I said I DID IT!! To be able to write those two damn words, THE END, was glorious. I can't wait to do it again!

My final word count came out to something over 51K as you can see below! I also posted a chart of my progress so you can see the days where I stayed the same because I wrote nothing and those few days where I had writing spurts of over 5K in one day. Everyone is different and this was how I made it through:

So, what did I write you might be wondering? It is such a mess of ideas and story all tossed down on the page I could wonder the same thing but worry not, I wrote it so I'm fairly sure I know what it's supposed to be. As I shared before it started out to be a mystery series whose main character is Sterling Addams. There is a permanent set of seven characters where this novel is told from the POV of three of them. Now, I've never come across a story that does that so it wasn't like I had a guide I could follow when doing this. Most novels that go with a main character writing in the first person will do one, at most two peoples POV. I had to be different and go with three! But I felt it was the best way I could tell the story for right now.

For some reason writing in the third person I was finding very difficult because I'm so used to thinking and speaking in terms of "I" it was hard for me to get out of that habit. Who knows, maybe I'll wake up with morning and start talking in the third person and change the WHOLE structure completely! Between you and me I hope that doesn't happen. It's written and for the exception of a few time line issues, description fixer-uppers here and there, and a WHOLE lot of dialog clean-ups, this is how it's going to stay.

Let's see, I said it's a mystery. I said Sterling Addams is the main character. Anything else I should mention? Hmm, it all takes place within the New York City subway system. I made up Transit District 13, a team of 5 who are in charge of catching criminals underground that no one knows even exist. It's not as easy as you might think to do.

How did I come up with such a convoluted idea? Well, I figured I ought to write about what I know, and I'd like to think I know the NYC subway system since I've used it practically all my life. I enjoy Agatha Christie and while I know I could never tell a mystery quite as good as she does, mysteries have always fascinated me ever since I was little. Whodunits are fantastic. I hope I've created a good one here. It's got murder, computers, drama, and great background stories for each one of my characters. I'm proud of what I was able to accomplish. Much more than I thought I ever could.

Pat on the back for me and the other thousands of NaNoWriMo writers who embarked on the same journey I did. WE MADE IT!! HURRAY!!

Below check out a possible cover...just playing around with Photoshop for about thirty minutes. Simple program I highly recommend.

Oh, and just because it wouldn't be official without it, allow me to share the certificate us novelists get for crossing the finish line as unscathed as possible. Our brains may be mush and our fingers may be cramped, but we are victorious!

I want to thank everyone again who believed I could do it. I had many moments I didn't think I would make it. Especially Friday and yesterday when I got hit with writer's block. I think the idea of actually crossing the finished line scared me more than anything. But I persevered, I carried on, I kept on keepin' on, and here I am! Do you hear that? It's the Rocky theme music playing in the background! Ah the sweet smell of success.

Okay, enough of this congratulating myself. When I begin the editing process (which I don't intend on beginning till December 8th cause I need a break!) I'll share a few chapters here and there of course. Who knows, I just might get published and by this time next year I'll be calling on you all to support by buying my book! A Sterling Addams Mystery coming to a book store near you!

Till November 2014 NaNoWriMo! It's been fun!

NaNoWriMo Update! (Week 1)

I've set out to write a novel. But much more than that, I've set out to FINISH a novel. This would be a HUGE step for me since I've never actually finished any novel that I've started. By my count I've started 3 novels. None of them I really felt were worth finishing and never really held my interest. This year is different. This year WILL be different.

I discovered my problem with writing a novel is my lack of discipline so that is my "CODE WORD OF THE WEEK"! Say it with a loud bellowing voice and it will sound MUCH cooler than it reads.

So, "discipline" when it comes to writing is pretty simple. Training your mind and your schedule around specific times when writing must take place without any distraction whether from outer or inner forces. For someone who has a lot on her mind and a lot going on every single day this is not an easy thing to do. And, it's not like writing a novel is something I've been doing for the last decade or so. In fact, the last "short story" I wrote was almost 2 decades ago! Gosh I'm old! Anyway, so here I am, 7 months away from turning 30 and wanting terribly to write a novel, even if no one but myself and close friends reads it.

As you all might know I never go small with anything I try for the first official time. So, I created a character whose background is way too big and complex for just one book! Her name is Sterling Addams. She is loosely based on a close personal friend of mine (who shall forever remain nameless) who graciously gave me permission to imagine her likeness and personality when I write Sterling's character. Don't try to guess who it is, you never will, and it's not all that important. What is important is the what and the when of this series I've created.

Sterling Addams lives in New York City. She was born in 1962 and if you've ever heard stories of NYC in the 70's you'll understand why the NYPD took it upon themselves to create TD13, Transit District 13. It is a small group of highly skilled police officers whose sole job it is to keep the subway system running as smoothly as possible. This entails solving all crimes as well as preventing them. They also have to make sure no one reports about it to the greater metropolitan area above ground. I start her story in the year 1988. It's not the first case she's assisted TD13 with but I figured it's a great time to delve into a case and allow the main characters to tell a little bit about who they are, how they met, and why they are a part of TD13, essentially devoting their lives to living underground?

Discipline has not been factoring well into my plans however. In an ideal world I should be over 12,000 words into my novel by now. Last night I just barely crossed the 5,000 word mark. With every day I don't make my goal I get more and more discouraged which pushes me further and further behind. The NaNoWriMo stats tells me at this pace I'll be lucky if I reach the 50,000 word goal by January 21st, 2014! I don't give up so easily. It can be done! SO, I write a little at work and every night when I get home from work I will be devoting 2 solid uninterrupted hours to writing. If I find myself on a role of course I'll just keep writing.

Words of encouragement are welcome!

Oh, and one more thing...tomorrow NaNoWriMo is hosting a "Writing Marathon" and I wish I could participate. Unfortunately, I have church obligations all morning into the afternoon, then my monthly family get together is taking place in my apartment immediately after church where I'll be the hostess. So depending on when they all leave and I finish cleaning up I might not be able to participate till after 8pm/ET and that's only if I'm not absolutely exhausted from everything I'll be doing! BUT, after church on Sunday I'll be putting my strict "Discipline Plan" into action!

The Writer....er....Reader in Me?? *NaNoWriMo Again*

I have a confession to make: I've been writing!

And not poetry writing or grocery list writing or whatever people write when they put pen to paper, but serious outline driven, dialogue moving, character building type writing. Why? Well why on Earth not?! In the last 2 years I've already read over 80 books. Now I know for you hardcore book bloggers you can read that many books in 6 months or less without breaking a sweat but for me that is a pretty big feat. I am proud of that accomplishment and I'm already on track for having read over 100 books in just 2 years. Excuse me while I give myself a few pats on the back. *brief pause*

I hope you gave yourself a pat on the back as well for suffering through this blog post AND for reading even more books than I could ever imagine. Now that I've got my reading accomplishments out of the way and under control I thought it was high time I did the one thing I've always been so afraid to do: write a novel. And I will say I'm writing it more for myself than for the purposes of publishing it and seeing it on a shelf in a book store...NOT! I mean duh, who wouldn't want to know their book is on a shelf somewhere collecting dust?

For several decades (I find it sad that I'm old enough to use the word "decade" now) I have had dozens of truly wonderful ideas for a novel but never enough patience, courage, or belief in myself that I could follow through and finish. But something happens to you when you hit that "age" and you look back and wonder what have you done with your life. I read all these books by authors younger than myself and I can't help but think, "that could be me." And FINALLY the light bulb went off! I realized, YES that could and should be me! So here I am, days away from participating in an event that will very well be the start of something great.

That event is NaNoWriMo. I've written about it already, where I give a brief synopsis on what I plan on writing. I encourage you to check it out. This post is just a primer of my life up to this point. A life where I honestly felt I was only as good as the books I read not the words I write. So to everyone who knows how good a writer I am (even though I am VERY secretive with my writing outside of my blog) and have been waiting almost as long as I have for that moment when I can say, "it's finished," the time has come!

I have a determination like never before to write 50,000 words and to see my book on a shelf, even if that shelf is just my own here in my bedroom. The fun will not be found in how I got started or how it ends but in the journey I took along the way.

Welcome to the creation of Sterling Addams... Welcome to my journey...