I can see I have been VERY slack in keeping up with this blog. I was intent on writing about my writing process, but in the thick of things, I barely had time to sleep!
I chose to sign up for National Novel Writing Month [NaNoWriMo], our city's chapter, and met a wonderful group of people while attempting to finish my first novel.
I pounded out 50,000 words in a little under a month and have a finished manuscript! Not quite complete since I will be editing/revising in an attempt to hand it in to my professor in 3 weeks [!!!] and then taking a break for the holidays...and then revising, revising, revising all semester. Then my plan is to search for an agent over the summer. We'll see where it goes from there.
I wanted to talk a little about the writing process before I tell you about the books I read during November to keep me inspired.
I have found that, if I force myself to write every day like I had to do for NaNo, that I look forward to it, and that I can write about 2,000 words a day. Pretty normal. Nice in a routine job where I have an hour or two with nothing to occupy me but the words in my mind.
I discovered "Word Wars" - 10 minutes of rapid typing, trying to beat your score from last time and the people around you. I'm not competitive but there is something about flying along through your story quickly and realizing you wrote over 500 words in ten minutes. That's pretty cool.
I think I would like to write for a living. I know it's highly improbable, and that I will most likely always have to work a part-time job, but you know what? That's ok. As long as I get time to go home and work for a few hours, that's cool with me. I'll build my dollhouses on the weekends. :)
I feel the urge to keep writing...and I realize that I've always had the urge to write. It comes of reading...you read what others have written and long to join the ranks of so many talented artists. Wordsmyths, magical beings that, with a swirl of a pen, take you to lands across the universe. I'm happy with this part of me. I like that I love to write. And read!
I read several books during November to keep me from getting too tired/bored, and here are the ones I can quickly remember:
Mister Monday by Garth Nix
East by Edith Pattou
The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander
