2010 was my fifth year participating in NaNoWriMo. The first year, I won. The second and third years, I fell far short. The fourth year, I won again. I'm kind of superstitious, I guess, because it felt like a pattern was coming on, and I thought I was for sure not going to be able to win this year since I won last year.
This seemed especially likely given the fact that I am having some major challenges in my personal life right now.
Still, I decided to give it my best shot. I started off the month with a bang, writing 8500 words the first weekend of November at a writer's retreat in Park City. After that, though, life got intensely busy and hard, and I only wrote a few thousand the next week.
Then, when the 15th of the month rolled around and I had only written 12,000 words, I started to panic just a little bit. Now I would have to write 38,000 words in 15 days. By the 20th, I still had 30,000 to go, and by the end of the 25th, I was just barely past halfway done at 27,000 words.
I thought I was panicking before? Yeah, you don't know panic until you only have 5 days left and you have to still write 23,000 words.
I thought about giving up.
I thought about just saying, you know, I gave it a good try, and at least I've written 27,000 more words than I would have if I hadn't been doing NaNo.
In the end, though, I decided not to say any of that. I decided to say I was going to write those 23,000 words, and I was going to do it by the end of November. Come rain or sleet or blizzard or sun or piles and piles of dirty dishes, I was going to finish.
And I did it. I won. I climbed Mt. NaNo and stood at the peak and raised my arms high and shouted to the world, "I did it! I won despite incredible odds! I am Novelist, hear me roar!"
The book isn't finished to The End, and I'm going to keep pushing through December to finish the first draft. And even what is "finished" is far from being Finished. I don't even know if the story is taking the direction I wanted it to take. I don't know if any of the scenes are any good. I'm thinking of scrapping several characters' names because I've grown to hate them this past month.
Still, I did what I set out to do, and it feels amazing.
Finding Rose - Book Review and Giveaway
Rose is a young woman who is about to be uprooted from her home and taken to Canada with her family, who have been called to go there by the prophet.
Miles is a new convert to the church, a friend of Rose's brother Sean, and a new doctor, returning soon to Montana to start his own practice.
I found both of the main characters likeable. There were moments where I didn't feel they acted in character, but I did find them sympathetic, and I rooted for both of them throughout the book
I also felt Humphreys did a good job of introducing new conflicts and keeping me guessing about what would come next, even if the ultimate outcome was predictable. Understandably so, given the genre, of course.
As much as I enjoyed the book, I was a little disappointed in the quality of the editing. The narrative felt choppy at times, and as a writer, I had to keep re-focusing on the story instead of going into critique mode. The story itself was sweet, though, and I did enjoy reading it.
Overall, I thought Finding Rose was a nice, clean romance, I loved the historical setting and details, and I would recommend it to people who enjoy the historical romance genre.
Want to win a copy? It's easy. Just leave a comment and let me know why you're excited to read Finding Rose. Remember to include your email address. If you tweet about the blog tour, or post about it on your blog or facebook, leave the link in the comments section and you'll receive an additional entry.
Check out the rest of the reviews on the blog tour for more chances to win one of THREE copies of Finding Rose.
November 22 - Tristi Pinkston
November 23 - Alison Palmer
November 24 - Taffy Lovell
November 29 - Ronda Gibb Hinrichsen
November 30 - Amanda Thomson
December 1 - Sheila Staley
More Days of Thanksgiving
Yes, I only made it to 8 days of Thanksgiving. Life got crazy, and Thanksgiving got crazy, and I'm trying to make a mad dash to the finish line for NaNoWriMo, and I just let posting to my blog be one of the things that slid off the radar.
It's not that I'm not thankful for lots and lots of things, though! I have another big post I want to do, but it will take too much time to put it together for now. Because I have to write more than 12,000 words in the next two days.
No, that was not a type-o. I really do have to write that many words in that many days. But I'm going to do it, so that I can have another thing to be thankful for - that NaNoWriMo is over, and that I WON. I'll report back on that on Wednesday morning's post. And then I'll post my last big Thanksgiving post on Friday. Since I'm now planning to get back on my MWF posting schedule. We'll see how that goes. But that's the goal.
I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving!
Oh, and stay tuned because later today, I'll be posting again because it's my day to post on the Finding Rose blog tour.
It's not that I'm not thankful for lots and lots of things, though! I have another big post I want to do, but it will take too much time to put it together for now. Because I have to write more than 12,000 words in the next two days.
No, that was not a type-o. I really do have to write that many words in that many days. But I'm going to do it, so that I can have another thing to be thankful for - that NaNoWriMo is over, and that I WON. I'll report back on that on Wednesday morning's post. And then I'll post my last big Thanksgiving post on Friday. Since I'm now planning to get back on my MWF posting schedule. We'll see how that goes. But that's the goal.
I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving!
Oh, and stay tuned because later today, I'll be posting again because it's my day to post on the Finding Rose blog tour.
Eighth Day of Thanksgiving
As I attended church today, I kept thinking about how grateful I am that I have the Gospel in my life.
I honestly don't think I can do justice to this topic, but I will try because I don't think a series of posts on the things I'm grateful for could be complete without at least the mention of my gratitude for the spiritual blessings I have in my life.
I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father, who has given me literally everything I have, including my life,
I'm equally grateful for Jesus Christ, my Savior, who literally suffered all things and gave his life so I could have Eternal Life,
I'm grateful for the Holy Ghost and the direction and comfort that has come to me through this amazing gift,
I'm so thankful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth, for living prophets on the earth to guide and direct us, and for temples where we can be sealed as families forever.
I'm also grateful that I had the opportunity to grow up with the knowledge of Heavenly Father's plan, the Gospel, and all the things that go along with it. My life is truly blessed by this knowledge and by my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I honestly don't think I can do justice to this topic, but I will try because I don't think a series of posts on the things I'm grateful for could be complete without at least the mention of my gratitude for the spiritual blessings I have in my life.
I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father, who has given me literally everything I have, including my life,
I'm equally grateful for Jesus Christ, my Savior, who literally suffered all things and gave his life so I could have Eternal Life,
I'm grateful for the Holy Ghost and the direction and comfort that has come to me through this amazing gift,
I'm so thankful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth, for living prophets on the earth to guide and direct us, and for temples where we can be sealed as families forever.
I'm also grateful that I had the opportunity to grow up with the knowledge of Heavenly Father's plan, the Gospel, and all the things that go along with it. My life is truly blessed by this knowledge and by my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Seventh Day of Thanksgiving
I bet you thought with me doing these Thanksgiving posts, you'd get a break from hearing me talk about writing and NaNoWriMo.
If you thought that, you would be wrong.
The fact is that my lifelong dream has been to become a published author, but I've run into lots of roadblocks. Mostly of my own building, which makes them all the more frustrating. I've suffered from fear of failure, perfectionism, busyness, distraction, and a crippling case of my-writing-sucketh that has lingered for more than a decade.
I don't know if I can really describe what's happened to me over the last few years that has started to change and soften me, because it's one of those things where a lot of factors have combined together. But I'll make a feeble attempt anyway.
My critique group has helped me hone my craft and increase my confidence that I really can actually write a book.
NaNoWriMo and the accompanying word sprints I've participated in have helped me learn how to write fast, turning off my internal editor and giving myself permission to create now and edit later.
Many of my friends who used to be hopeful authors like me have graduated to being real-live authors over the last few years, giving me hope that maybe if they can do it, I can, too.
People have come into my life who believe in me and encourage me and tell me I can do it.
So, I say thank you to everyone who has helped me feel like I belong in this crazy, wonderful, writerly world. Thank you to everyone who has encouraged me along the way. Thank you to my friends who have pushed me to keep writing when I felt like giving up. Thank you to all of you who have participated in word wars with me during NaNo this year. Thank you to my critique group, for all of the above and more.
When I finally reach my goal of being published, I will have all of you to thank for it.
If you thought that, you would be wrong.
The fact is that my lifelong dream has been to become a published author, but I've run into lots of roadblocks. Mostly of my own building, which makes them all the more frustrating. I've suffered from fear of failure, perfectionism, busyness, distraction, and a crippling case of my-writing-sucketh that has lingered for more than a decade.
I don't know if I can really describe what's happened to me over the last few years that has started to change and soften me, because it's one of those things where a lot of factors have combined together. But I'll make a feeble attempt anyway.
My critique group has helped me hone my craft and increase my confidence that I really can actually write a book.
NaNoWriMo and the accompanying word sprints I've participated in have helped me learn how to write fast, turning off my internal editor and giving myself permission to create now and edit later.
Many of my friends who used to be hopeful authors like me have graduated to being real-live authors over the last few years, giving me hope that maybe if they can do it, I can, too.
People have come into my life who believe in me and encourage me and tell me I can do it.
So, I say thank you to everyone who has helped me feel like I belong in this crazy, wonderful, writerly world. Thank you to everyone who has encouraged me along the way. Thank you to my friends who have pushed me to keep writing when I felt like giving up. Thank you to all of you who have participated in word wars with me during NaNo this year. Thank you to my critique group, for all of the above and more.
When I finally reach my goal of being published, I will have all of you to thank for it.
Sixth Day of Thanksgiving
It's quite late as I write this post. My plan was to write all of these posts ahead of time and have them post at 6 in the morning each day. Maybe even be ambitious and schedule a few at a time so they could just pop up at the prescribed time and I wouldn't have to even worry about it.
That didn't happen, of course.
Even doing just one a day and scheduling them to post the next morning hasn't worked out so well, and as the week has gone on, the time of my posts has continued to slip later and later.
I'm forever thankful that I continue to always get another chance to do better. A lot of people believe in "Second Chances," but I don't think that would be nearly good enough for me. By the second chance, I haven't even begun to learn my lesson yet.
Every new day is another new chance to do better. And so, as I go to bed tonight, having already passed by my second and third and fourth chances to get my blog posting act together this week, I'm grateful that I get an almost infinite supply of 'nother chances.
And of course, this is only one of many, many examples of 'nother chances I get to have every single day.
Every time one of my kids tries my patience, I get to try again to react calmly.
Every time I let the dishes pile up to epic heights, I get to try again to maintain the pile by washing them as they get dirty.
Every time I put my foot in my mouth, I get to try again to have a conversation with a group of people without looking stupid.
And it's a good thing there are 27,000 or so new days in the average lifespan, because I'm really going to need a LOT more than "second chances."
That didn't happen, of course.
Even doing just one a day and scheduling them to post the next morning hasn't worked out so well, and as the week has gone on, the time of my posts has continued to slip later and later.
I'm forever thankful that I continue to always get another chance to do better. A lot of people believe in "Second Chances," but I don't think that would be nearly good enough for me. By the second chance, I haven't even begun to learn my lesson yet.
Every new day is another new chance to do better. And so, as I go to bed tonight, having already passed by my second and third and fourth chances to get my blog posting act together this week, I'm grateful that I get an almost infinite supply of 'nother chances.
And of course, this is only one of many, many examples of 'nother chances I get to have every single day.
Every time one of my kids tries my patience, I get to try again to react calmly.
Every time I let the dishes pile up to epic heights, I get to try again to maintain the pile by washing them as they get dirty.
Every time I put my foot in my mouth, I get to try again to have a conversation with a group of people without looking stupid.
And it's a good thing there are 27,000 or so new days in the average lifespan, because I'm really going to need a LOT more than "second chances."
Fifth Day of Thanksgiving
Can I just say how thankful I am for food?
I'm not talking about having an abundance of food, although I'm certainly grateful that I don't ever have to go hungry.
And I'm not talking about any foods in particular that I'm grateful for, although if I was, chocolate would be on the list. And ice cream. And twice-baked potatoes and tortellini and sweet and sour chicken and hot scones with honey butter melting on the top . . .
*ahem*
Like I said, though, that's not the point of this post.
What I'm really grateful for today is that we have food and we get to experience the joy of eating it and the variety of tastes it offers and the company of those we gather with for meals and the delicious aromas that fill the house as our favorite foods are baking in the oven.
I love food, and I imagine God didn't have to invent it, or at the very least, He didn't have to invent such a rich variety of tastes and textures and smells and just general goodness.
But I'm grateful that He did. And what better time to be thankful for food is there than at our Thanksgiving Day feasts next week?
If you missed it, click here to read about the Twelve Days of Thanksgiving posts I'm going to be doing from now until Thanksgiving Day.
And I'm not talking about any foods in particular that I'm grateful for, although if I was, chocolate would be on the list. And ice cream. And twice-baked potatoes and tortellini and sweet and sour chicken and hot scones with honey butter melting on the top . . .
*ahem*
Like I said, though, that's not the point of this post.
What I'm really grateful for today is that we have food and we get to experience the joy of eating it and the variety of tastes it offers and the company of those we gather with for meals and the delicious aromas that fill the house as our favorite foods are baking in the oven.
I love food, and I imagine God didn't have to invent it, or at the very least, He didn't have to invent such a rich variety of tastes and textures and smells and just general goodness.
But I'm grateful that He did. And what better time to be thankful for food is there than at our Thanksgiving Day feasts next week?
If you missed it, click here to read about the Twelve Days of Thanksgiving posts I'm going to be doing from now until Thanksgiving Day.
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