You don't want to miss this!

I don't know about you, but I tend to look ahead; I mean waaay ahead. For example: before NaNo even began, I was thinking about what I wanted to do with this MS after these crazy 30 days of pumping out words were behind me. I researched Pubs, ePubs, and agents, stalked on twitter, blogs, and FB to see who was looking for what. The conclusion after all of this information digestion? Jury's still out :)

However, my Twitter stalking turned up something really exciting today. Have you heard of Pitchwars? I hadn't, but following a link from a tweet over to Brenda Drake's blog, I found some pretty juicy details on a pitch contest. If, unlike me, you have a near to completion MS, rush to the finish line, polish polish polish, and take a chance!

The things you most want to know:


·        November 26: The coaches (listed on the linky below) will post on their blogs what genre/category they want to coach. They'll be very specific genres. Aspiring writers will hop around and decide which coaches best fit their manuscripts.

·        December 5: Aspiring writers will submit 3 "applications" to their top choices for coaches to the contest email (brendadrakecontests@gmail.com) during the allotted times (8AM to 8PM EST). That means, participants will send three separate emails to the contest email addressing each with one of their three top choices for coach.

·        December 5 through December 10: Coaches will read the applications and pick teammates.The coaches don't have to pick from their applications. If a coach passes on an application, it is then up for grabs and another coach, if they haven't connected to their applicants, can snatch it after notifying the applicant and if the applicant chooses the coach.

·        December 12: Teams will be announced. On the announcement post there will be instructions on how the winners must send their work.

·        December 12 through January 16: Each coach will read their teammate's manuscript and give general notes on any issues they find. The coach will help their teammate get his or her pitches ready for the agent round.

There's so much more, but you should head over to Brenda's blog for the rest.

As for me, I'm going to try to whip my MS in shape by then. Wish me luck!

I'm ahead, yet behind

Ever have one of those weeks where you don't know where your time went? This was one of those for me. For starters, I cannot recall Monday or Tuesday. I know I woke up, worked, played with kids, wrote, went to bed...but I don't remember the details of any of it. NaNo is taking its toll on me though you wouldn't know it by my word count:

33,251 words!!!!

I thought that deserved some attention. :-) I was so out of it this week that I only noticed last night how far along I'd come. That's one-third of the way through my novel ya'all!

In case you're wondering: yes, I say ya'all in life, so I have every right to use it here

And to confirm: yes, I am brown - East Indian - but that won't stop me

:-)

Back to the above numbers: part of my motivation is keeping to my timetable. Many years ago an author shared a spreadsheet that helped her keep track of her progress. I don't recall who this was (it's been too long), but she showed basic organization that I tweaked to suit my needs. By tracking my daily words against my goal, I get the satisfaction of seeing my words-to-goal shrink. Want to see what I see? No? Too bad  :-P

My story is organized in four parts (I like it better than the 3 act structure), each with necessary story points. Each chapter is allotted an equal portion of my word goal (90K/32chapters = 2813 wds/ch). Do some chapter have  more words? Yes, others less, but this helps me see my progress and where I need to come back and revise.

I track my words by day in the "word count" column. There are formulas in the other cells that do the nifty job of generating percentages for me. Completely thoughtless math - just the way I like it.

Finally, the box I had failed to notice all along: Complete versus remaining. How cool is that?
I also counted other scenes I was compelled to write, but don't have a place for, here. What? They count!

I'm happy to share my crazy, over organized sheet with anyone who's interested. Let me know.

Happy NaNoing!

Fun Tool?

You know what I found today? A free trial of Scrivener for the month of November through Dec 7th. Best part is that if you "win" NaNo '12 you'll get the full version at half price. You must, however, be a registered NaNoWriMo participant. All the details are here. 

I've read a lot of good things about Scrivener, so I'm pretty excited about this. I might try to organize my NaNo novel into the software so all my notes and outlines are in one place. Doing so will also free up space in my Dropbox. I'm pretty sure I'm close to the limit of the free 2 gigs. 

Twitter is probably the reason for my poor word counts these last few nights. I'm addicted to it. I'm a woman who loves instant gratification, and I totally get that satisfaction by Twitter. When you Tweet me back that is. Tweeters, why do you leave me hanging? I miss you :(

I've done a poor job of informing you of my word count, so here's a quick rundown:

1-Nov	2633
2-Nov	2523
3-Nov	1681
4-Nov	2100
5-Nov	2166

Total: 11,103 words

You're probably thinking I'm crazy for saying "poor word counts" above. That's because I'd set a goal of 2500 wrds/day for NaNo and I'm slowly falling behind. Although I'm on track to meet over 50,000 words, I'm not sure I'll have a complete first draft.

Want to help me out? Tweet me BICHOK (butt in chair hands on keyboard). After making a face at enough of you, I might just do it.

:)

I'll do better

I disappeared again, I know. I have just discovered twitter and it will be my downfall. Who'd have thought I have so much to say? Not me. And, ok, it's a lot of nonsense, but I feel that tweeters will forgive my nonsense. Or ignore it. Either way, I'm probably safe ;)

Things you've missed:

• It's NaNo day 5! Though I won't be able to write until it's full dark and all the scaries come out to play, I've managed 8937 words in four days. I'm about 1100 words behind my goal, but I hope to make up the lost momentum over the next few days. Last night I might have clocked my my best time: 2100 words in less than 1.5 hours. It helped that I was writing a scene I had 1) already mapped out and 2) thought about for some time. It was the scene right after the inciting incident. My Heroine had to eat her words and they did not taste good. But the scene? Oh so yummy.
• Both of my babies are passing various bugs amongst themselves. 
• The 4yo had a stomach bug from two Fridays ago until this past Thursday. Though the bug is gone, the crankiness remains, which in turn makes me cranky. We're both hardheaded (I know you're thinking a stubborn 4yo? no way!) so this is not a good thing. 
• The 1yo has been snotty so it makes sleeping nearly impossible for him; this results in no sleep for me and again, a cranky momma.
• On a more pleasant note: he pooped in his bath Saturday morning and cried bloody murder when I tried to take him out. I doubt I'll ever understand boys. My girl wouldn't have tolerated that for a second. Yes, even as a 1yo. She gets that pickiness for cleanliness from me :) 
• The above means I'll prob be a zombie by the end of NaNo. A harsh but inevitable side effect that many of us NaNoers no doubt suffer. In fact, I might need to eat some brains after. Any voluntary victims out there?
• I've made the disastrous decision to start my workout plan two weeks early. Today, the torture will commence.
• Side effects include: posture like The Hunchback of Notre Dame, more crankiness, and wheezing as I write. Why the wheezing while I write you ask? Don't know , just sounded good.
• I refused to hold Thanksgiving at my house this year. I've unceremoniously foisted the hosting on my sister. I love them dearly, but there's no polite way to kick family out of the house. I'd rather have the option of kicking myself out of hers.

I'm sure there's more, but I can't think right now. Caffeine is rattling my brain. Good thing I'm not writing. 

Day 1

My NaNo hasn't really started yet. It's been a crazy day. Monkey's bug just will. not. leave. Seriously, a 4yo shouldn't have to suffer so much. Hopefully, this is the worst it'll get this cold season. Yay immunities!

I'm about to dedicate at least 2.5 hours between now and 11:59 to make my word count. Here's hoping WriteorDie will help me.

Edited to add: 2633 words. I made goal!