Kate Hess’ Neighborhood

Whew! I caught up (13,407 words)! [hoorah! hoorah! - the crowd of one in my apartment goes wild!] And I just barely made it. Okay, I sort of cheated, but not really. I'd written a couple hundred words in Michigan on the first day, but decided I didn't like it as the beginning of my story.  I put it aside, and started again when I got home and could concentrate better. Today I got to exactly the spot where that bit could go in, so TaDa! So, "cheating" in that I copied and pasted, and only made a few quick changes to make it fit (now that there were more people in the scene than the way I'd first written it). But definitely NOT cheating because I did write it for this story and in the month of NaNo. I just did it so quick it felt like cheating (it was about 7 minutes to midnight when I realised I was precisely AT the setup for the scene), but I'd always intended to see if the snippet could go back in. I mean, if anything, I've actually been shortchanging myself on my word count all this time, 'cause no one ever said you had to write the thing in order.

In the story today: My MC caught the local shop owner gossiping about her and decided to listen in. And she also heard there's a new boy in town who apparently thinks my MC is pretty. Then he walked in and caught her eavesdropping!

I am 1/5th the way through! More than 20%! I passed today's NaNo catch-up goal (10,000 words) with over an hour to spare, and surpassed it (10,578) with half an hour to spare. I'll catch up tomorrow for sure! I'm only stopping now because my MC is going to bed, too, so it seemed like a good spot.

In the story today: Apparently my MC has a revered ancestor named Quinlin Hart and her mother was having a bit of a salamander problem - the magic kind that are made of fire. It lost its tail, but it'll grow back....

...Don't know when my main plot will kick in. Not that I know what that is yet. Maybe tomorrow it will reveal itself. She's gonna catch some unsettling gossip about herself. And there's someone new in town. Now if only I knew what that gossip was...

Didn't quite hit my double quota before midnight like I needed to catch up for nanowrimo, but I should get there before I go to bed tonight. Currently at 6,120. Need to get to 6,668 before I go to sleep. (Though I really should be at 10,002 if I were caught up.)

In the story today: a gnome named Hollaby, a gnomide (that's a female gnome), an injured rabbit who got some healing and is now being chased by a kunal trow flying about on a bulrush. But the rabbit's in good hands in my main character's saddlebag....

I wrote over 3300 words for NaNo today, but I'm still 5,000 behind due to my late start! But if I can write double the daily quota for the next three days I should catch up.

In the story so far: a shapeshifting woman, a very dark cavern, and a garden built by gnomes out of rock, moss, and non-native plants....

I spent the first few days of November at my mom's in Michigan, where there was only dial up internet, no cell phone signal, and adorable nephews to distract me. So I'm getting a late start on my writing. The daily quota (if you write every day) is 1,667 words. I'm about 7,000 behind.

Here I go!

I haven't been writing nearly enough over the past year or two, as my sparse blog can attest. I mean, I've been thinking about my writing a lot for months now, but mostly in terms of research for my big ole epic young adult fantasy series. But nothing that I've really been writing down.

So a couple months ago I decided that it was time I finally attempt NaNoWriMo. I've known about this crazy thing for years. Even bought the book way back when. But never really gave it a good shot. Too busy, to dried up of ideas, too much of a first draft perfectionist.

But this year is the year. With all the research I'd been doing I hit upon the perfect idea of what to write about. Okay, I still have no plot, just like my epic has no real plot. But while that is a hindrance for the epic, it is not a problem for NaNo (in fact the NaNo book was purchased for just that reason, what with its title of 'No Plot, No Problem'.

I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to come up with the back story for one of my minor, yet key, characters. I know where the story it has to end up, and I know a few things that need to be included. But other than that, not only is the storyline fair game, it is totally unnecessary to my larger ideas. So I don't need to worry about getting locked into something or messing things up. If I just come up with one tiny bit of a useful event or one clever description of something, it will have been worth it.

It may even help me to knock out some of that perfectionism I get when I write. I'm the type of writer that seems to have trouble concentrating during the revision process, so I tend to try to get it perfect the first time 'round. I often won't move on in my first draft until each sentence is perfect. How liberating to say: "It doesn't matter how crappy this is!" In fact, the crappier the better! Since the single goal of NaNo is word count and word count alone, I can write crappy lengthy wordy sentences - on purpose!

So last night, as I was posting a little update to my facebook status, it occurred to me that it might be nice to use NaNo as an excuse to make friends with my lonely vox once again. I'm going to try to put my NaNo updates here every day, though they may only be copied straight off my facebook... But since you probably can't see my facebook, I figured you wouldn't mind.

So, wish me luck!

(p.s. I'm going to go ahead and be a dork with my first couple updates and put them in seperate posts, since they were seperate days. And I'm going to lie about the dates, too since they were really posted to facebook earlier...because I can. I can and I feel like it. ...*thpppttt*)

Go forth and fill your libraries with media.

Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.

~daisy

I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.

I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.

Cheers,

daisy

In the past I've posted a mini collection of Chirstmas songs and a few Valentine's day songs. So I thought it was time I post a Halloween collection. Got a few classics here, you'll no doubt love to hear yet again - since they never get old, really. Then the nice, melancholic, beautiful, and haunting Samhain Night by Loreena McKennitt.

Samain Night

Loreena McKennitt

And finally, in juxtaposition to my Christmas upload of Louie Armstron reciting The Night Before Christmas to Pachelbel's Canon, for Halloween I've got The Raven, as spooklliy read by John Carradine to some creepy pipe organs. ^__^ Gotta love it!

The Raven

John Carradine

love-love. Lindsay