linky-links

November 3, 2012 2 Comments

My guest post, Balancing Act: On Raising Both a Family and a Writing Career, is up on FableCroft Publishing’s blog. Come share your tips on fitting your writing into your family life!

Also, I’m working with Kellie of ReaWrite Reviews to get some more publicity for Rainbird. If you’re interested in receiving a review copy, please fill out this form.

I’m seeing a lot of recipes from my fellow WANA bloggers in my RSS feed. Like for instance, these salmon, lime and mint patties (gluten-free) and this yummy pecan-topped dessert (not gluten-free and probably not the most health-conscious *grin*).

I’m most of the way to my 1500-word goal for today. How are the rest of you NaNo and NaNo-lite peeps doing?

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Filed Under: guest post, linktopia, numbers, rainbird, reviews, self-promotion

NaNo-lite

November 1, 2012 10 Comments

It’s November 1st.

And we all know what that means, right? National Novel Writing Month!

Yep, it’s time for that annual madness when thousands of writers from all across the world attempt to write a 50,000-word novel (or part of a novel) in 30 days. If you listen carefully, you can hear the click-clack of thousands of fingers flying over thousands of keyboards.

It’s an exciting, heady time.

Once upon a time, before I homeschooled… or had children… or a big house to clean… or a job… I attempted and won NaNoWriMo (and I will forever love the book I got out of it: my first novel, The Changeling). Nowadays, though, NaNo just seems a recipe for burnout and exhaustion.

However, I am inspired to set and reach for some personal writing goals this month–just not as crazy as NaNo’s. Liv Rancourt calls this NaNo-lite. It sounds healthier, at least. :D

The goal: 25,000 words on my current WIP

The daily breakdown: David’s handy self-adjusting wordcount tool (WriteTrack) tells me that I only need 800 words a day, with 1500 words on Saturdays and Thanksgiving Day off (I rounded the numbers). I got 872 words today, which puts me a wee bit ahead.

The project: Rafe and Isabella are baaaack! Flare is the sequel to Quartz, picking up two years after the end of the first book. I’ve never written a sequel before (yes, True Confessions of a Fantasy Writer). I figured I could use the exercise–plus I need to know how these kids are going to save the world! (Okay, they’re not kids, but I’m the lofty writer, so I get to call them whatever I want… er, hi, Isabella *grins nervously*).

Who’s doing NaNo? Who’s doing NaNo-lite?

And who wants some Halloween candy? I have plenty left over. *eyes heaping basket warily*

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Filed Under: goals, numbers, quartz

sunday update

March 6, 2011 2 Comments

I haven’t done a Sunday update in a while. Last time I checked in here with my stats, Kai’s book stood at 69, 616 words. Now it’s at 76, 482 words. Progress!

How about you?

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Filed Under: kai, numbers

sunday update

February 13, 2011 4 Comments

Kai’s book (total): 69,616 words
Kai’s book (new): 1,494 words

I’m taking a break from writing Kai’s book to work on other things. I wrote a 1600-word short story, tweaked the synopsis of Quartz, and began writing an outline of Kai’s book as a road map for getting to THE END. We’re taking the upcoming week off from school (if the public schools are doing it, so will we!) and my writing plan is a healthy mix of submission-type things and for-fun things. More on this later.

Also, some folks over on the HtTS/HTRYN boards have started a Write a Book With Me blog, where you can post your daily wordcounts, and get support and accountability from other writers. They’re holding a contest with a fun prize to inaugurate the new blog, so check it out.

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Filed Under: kai, numbers, quartz

sunday update

February 6, 2011 Leave a Comment

Kai’s book (total): 68,122 words
Kai’s book (new): 4,250 words

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sunday update

January 30, 2011 7 Comments

We’ve been passing a cold around our family this past half-week. It’s my turn now, blech.

However, in spite of it all, I did get words!

Kai’s novel (total): 63,872 words
Kai’s novel (new): 4, 158 words

I also got 700+ words worth of notes on a story idea (not Secret Project, but another project—Secret Project 2?) when a character popped into my head and started talking. When Right Brain dictates, I transcribe. Simple as that.

I took yet another stab at writing a synopsis of Quartz. This time I went hunting for some how-to tips, and came upon this post by Diana Peterfreund which led me to these workshops by Kathy Carmichael, and the result is that I’m much happier with my current draft. It still needs a lot of work–which I was going to do tonight–but *sigh* I might just stay in bed and nurse my cold and save my energy for school tomorrow.

How’s your writing coming along?

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Filed Under: kai, numbers, quartz

sunday update

January 23, 2011 4 Comments

Has it really been two weeks since my last update? Yow. January’s gotten away from me, obviously.

Progress on the writing front has been decent. No spectacular wordcounts, but I’m exceeding my 550-word daily goal (except for on Saturdays) by at least a couple hundred words. The writing is very slow since I’m groping about in the dark, thinking only a scene at a time, working with two new characters and an explosion of information (some of it contradictory :P ) about the world’s magic, technology and creatures.

Kai (total): 59, 714 words
Kai (new): 8561 words

How’s your writing coming along?

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sunday update

January 9, 2011 Leave a Comment

Kai (total): 51, 153
Kai (new words): 6,320

This week I discovered I need to schedule a day off every week, just for my own sanity. I don’t always have to take one, of course, but it’s nice to have it set aside, especially since fatigue has dogged me all week.

I also added in an unexpected POV, which will be fun to work with. I’m almost halfway there, and I’m almost out of planned scenes. Major brainstorming penciled in for this week, along with coming up with a few more honorifics for my languages and some thought given to religious practices. Hard thinking work.

How about you? Any progress on the writing front?

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Filed Under: kai, numbers

sunday update

January 2, 2011 5 Comments

Kai (total words): 44,833
Kai (new words): 4,340

I took too many days off this week. Time to get serious! Nose, meet grindstone. You’ll be seeing a lot of each other this year.

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Filed Under: kai, numbers

WriteTrack

January 2, 2011 6 Comments

David’s NaNo wordcount tracker just got a new name and an update that allows you to set up your own writing challenges. I’m using it this time, with the intention of completing Kai’s book by the end of March. That’s almost 800 words a day! I’d better get busy.

Check out WriteTrack here.

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Filed Under: numbers
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