Bit of a snag

It's been a rough week, and until this afternoon, I haven't written much at all. I'm way behind in my NaNoWriMo count, at 14,500 words.

I'm at the toughest part, which is advancing the plot. I have a pretty good handle on the characters; now I need them to act and for things to happen to them.

My advisory panel has been awesome this week, sharing with me what constitutes "drama" in the life of an 8th grade boy. They've also been willing to share details about what happens to the mother-son relationship as boys get closer to their teens.

So, I'll go back to the work, but before I do, I need to reset my daily word goals. With only 15 days remaining, I need to write 2,365 words a day and I can't skip.

That's gonna be tough.

10,950

I'm almost to 11,000 words! And I can't tell you how outstanding this feels.

They might be 10,950 words of crap, stream of consciousness, not really making any sense, but they are there. It's something.

Writing the dad is so much easier for me than writing the son.

And so far, it's been minorly (is that a word?) life changing. There's something about writing about the death of a young mother full of ambition that's hitting a little close to home... can't quite put my finger on it.

Tomorrow's a new day. I'm going to sleep now and opening my prayers with a thank you to God for getting me off my lazy butt and giving this a go. I'm feeling proud.

6,000 and Counting

As of this morning, I have more than 6,000 words of my "novel" written. It's a bunch of crap, but at least it's something.

I'm having the most difficult time writing my 12-year-old male protagonist. It's not a viewpoint I'm terribly familiar with...

The Power of Visualizing

In signing up at the NaNoWriMo site today, I noticed they had an option to upload details about the novel you are working on, including cover art.

Feeling sorry for myself that I wasn't that far along, I quickly checked my attitude and thought, "I can work one up in five minutes."

So I did... what do you think? (I especially dig the line at the bottom of the cover... you know what they say... if you can visualize it, you can make it happen... so why not shoot for the stars... of the Hollywood variety?)

NaNoWriMo: Giving it a Shot

So, after writing my big whiner post this morning at Balancing Business & Babies, I had a change of heart.

I can do this thing. I know it.

Well, maybe I can't write 50,000 words by the end of November, but I can certainly write something.

So, I went out to sign up. You can follow my progress here.