NaNoWriMo 2012 - Day 30

NaNoWriMo Day 30 - 

     Do you see that my peeps? Over there on the right? Yesssss!!!! The badge of honor. I did it! I really, really did it! It took me five years, but I won NaNoWriMo! I now have over 50,000 words under my belt in one month toward a completed novel. The story is not done and the editing will be a challenge, but with a 50,000 word start, I'm good to go! It's a sweet mess right now but it's my mess and it feels sooooo good!

I love writing.  I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.  

~James Michener

There are thousands of thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen and writes.  ~William Makepeace Thackeray

Novel writing is serious business!

NaNoWriMo 2012 - Day 26

NaNoWriMo Day 26 - 

     Twenty-Six!!! I cannot believe I have made it this far! I am at 40,767 words with 9233 words to go with five days to write them in. That's 1847 words per day to win this thing! Woot Woot!

     After five years of trying, I am beyond thrilled to be so close to the finish line. I see light at the end of the tunnel and it is be-yoo-tee-ful!

     Having tackled 4325 words today in order to catch up from Thanksgiving slacking, I am pretty much typed out. I saved enough words to share this bit of silly with you.

     Horse hide protection. Folks gotta do what folks gotta do to protect their furry friends from overzealous sharp shooters! Deer hunting in the midwest. Boo yah!

"The writer writes in order to teach himself, to understand himself, to satisfy himself; the publishing of his ideas, though it brings gratification, is a curious anticlimax." 

 ~Alfred Kazin, Think, February 1963

"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you."  ~Ray Bradbury

"Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia."  ~E.L. Doctorow

NaNoWriMo 2012 - Day 20

NaNoWriMo Day 20 - 

     Three days of rest, massage and chiropractic seem to be doing the trick. Fibromyalgia is a fickle disorder that I must learn to play nicely with. When I push it around, it always wins.

     Yesterday I jumped back into the game getting in slightly over 1300 words. Rather than fretting over a five day weekend with four kids at home, I see five days of kids sleeping in while I wake before dawn to gently caress the keyboard in hopes it responds in kind.

     I chose today's quote because it's fitting and feels good. Smile with me. ☺

"There are few things, apparently, more helpful to a writer than having once been a weird little kid." ~Katherine Paterson

Found in a friend's garden still hanging on.  -  November 2012

NaNoWriMo 2012 - Day 16

NaNoWriMo Day 16 - 

     Reality post. Did 2 much. Shoulder screaming. Can't use arm. No writing mass words 2day. No pic. Catch up l8tr. Fibro fuç&!ng SUCKS!!!!!!

A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.

~Thomas Mann, Essays of Three Decades, 1947

NaNoWriMo 2012 - Day 15

NaNoWriMo Day 15 - 

     Wow! I made it to the halfway point! I am halfway through this crazy writing challenge! This is also the first day I am actually slightly ahead of the curve punching in with 25,350 words! Not to toot my own horn, but... ah what the heck! Toot Toot!

     Actually, I can't take all the credit. I have a strong support group and I have believing mirrors. 

     This past week has been really hard. My body is retaliating and my mood hit the dumper but I persevered and here I am. Halfway.

     Today I visited my son's school. They have this great program called "Superstars". Every month there is a superstar theme. This month's theme was "making good decisions". My son was chosen by one of the teachers to receive recognition for his excellent decision making. The school holds a mini monthly awards show for the chosen superstars. The room fills with superstars and their parents (parents bring lunch for their child from their favorite restaurant) and while everyone eats, they call the student's names one at a time, have them stand at the front of the room while they read who chose them as a superstar and why. The student then receives an award and a small gift. They have their picture taken with their award. The pictures are then displayed for the rest of the month on a wall next to the office for all to see.

     It is such a cool program. It not only promotes student success, but it recognizes and rewards those students in a positive way. I was so proud of my son and all of this months superstars.

After returning home I sat back down to work on my novel. I couldn't help but correlate between the parents at school and those of you who have been cheering me on. It has been a hard few weeks and I still have a few more to go, but right now I just feel so proud and I want to thank all of you who are cheering me on. You make me feel like a superstar and I am grateful for that. With my word count as my reward, I...

Thank You!

"Show up. Get to work even when you don't feel like writing—especially when you don't feel like writing."  ~Daniel H. Pink

Ever feel stuck? Ask yourself "& then..." 

Representative of the spoonfuls of love, support and encouragement I have been receiving for which I am grateful.

NaNoWriMo 2012 - Day 12

NaNoWriMo Day 12 - I fell way behind on my writing this weekend and accepted this will be the trend. Full house = less words. Today was catch up day and I wrote like the wind! Word dumping is becoming rather addicting as I am finding myself waking with the urge to hit the page as if it calls me from my sleep. The blank page is no longer blank. Words are dancing, mingling, playing amongst themselves. Some of it may be drivel, but I assure you, with enough time and attention the words will come to order and work themselves into something grand.

I am posting two quotes today. The first in honor of the weekend struggle to the page, the second in honor of a record day of writing.

"Ink and paper are sometimes passionate lovers, oftentimes brother and sister, and occasionally mortal enemies."  ~Terri Guillemets

"Write. Start writing today. Start writing right now. Don’t write it right, just write it – and then make it right later. Give yourself the mental freedom to enjoy the process, because the process of writing is a long one. Be wary of ‘writing rules’ and advice. Do it your way." ~Tara Moss

playing with my word magnets

NaNoWriMo 2012 - Day 9

NaNoWriMo Day 9 - Yesterday was a doozy. Had trouble making it through, but I did. Oh yes, I did! The more pain I felt, the more I wanted to give up. The more the fibro fog wrapped itself around my brain, the worse my writing sounded resulting in a full on fight with my inner editor. No correcting, no deleting, no judging is allowed or I will never hit the word count goal of the day. NaNoWriMo is all about dumping. Getting words onto the page.
Today, something magical happened. I woke, I typed, I was reaching a point in the plot where I had to introduce an altering event and I wasn't sure how. Suddenly, the main character created the event all on her own! She guided me right through! Bravo Amelia! Thank you for showing me the way!

"Writing became such a process of discovery that I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning: I wanted to know what I was going to say."  ~ Sharon O'Brien

This...

is the "no-no" key!

NaNoWriMo 2012 - Day 7

NaNoWriMo Day 7 - Fibromyalgia is kicking my butt. I am in some serious pain. I also have a fire in my belly for this writing challenge that I have not experienced in the past. It is built big and burning strong. I wrote in spite of my condition. I pushed myself and hit my goal for the day in spite of my pain and brain fog. I hurt like hell right now but my mind is happy, my heart is soaring, my soul found freedom in the words in spite of my body trying to hold me back. In spite of. Pretty powerful words when you use them for good. Words I am in love with today. The writing life. At times it literally hurts so good. Off to a hot bath and even hotter tea (to wash down a much needed pain pill). Hey! I'm not Superwoman you know!

Now it's your turn. I challenge you to go do something wonderful in spite of that which holds you back. Let me know how it goes, won't you? I do love a good share.

"Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead."  ~ Gene Fowler

Letters I purchased after a tour at Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum

NaNoWriMo 2012 - Day 6

NaNoWriMo Day 6 - I voted, I wrote, I hurt, I ate chocolate. What more do you want?

"Write your first draft with your heart. Re-write with your head."  ~ From the movie Finding Forrester

* bonus quote from yours truly *

"I'm learning the only kind of chocolate that is guilt free is the kind you don't admit to yourself you ate." ~Lynn Retzlaff

NaNoWriMo 2012 - Day 5

NaNoWriMo Day 5 - What a fabulous and wonderful weekend! I was invited to spend an evening at a bed and breakfast in the western hills of Wisconsin with a couple of other ladies. I enjoyed beautiful scenery, lack of cell service (which meant no interruptions), wonderful conversation, sisterly love and great food. It was relaxing and recharging beyond belief. Upon arrival home I grabbed the family and headed off to visit a family friend who invited us over for dinner and a movie. It was a second late night of friends and fun. Yesterday was all about food and football. I managed to eek in writing all weekend but still fell behind my daily goal. This morning I logged onto my regional NaNoWriMo group on FB and found a gentleman looking for a word war! We set the clock for one hour and we were off! I won the word war and nearly caught up with my word count. I am feeling so happy today!

My past experiences with NaNoWriMo left me feeling down in the dumps as I quit on myself. This year, all the stars have aligned. I'm in a good place of personal growth for the challenge, my believing mirrors and cheerleaders are out in full swing, serendipity and inspiration are blowing under my wings and I am soaring!

Today I chose a giggle quote.  :)

"I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork."  ~ Peter De Vries

Thank you to all who are cheering me on and those joining me on this writing journey. I grabbed this image off an old sign hanging on a fence at the B&B this weekend. I couldn't help but think of  all of you. You are my net of support there to catch me if I fall. Thank you!

NaNoWriMo 2012 - Day 2

NaNoWriMo Day 2 - I made goal. Made the ticker on the right happy today. The words are flowing freely but the story is somewhat of a catastrophe compared to the perfect scenario I imagined. My inner critic is getting really pissed off that my inner child is running around messing up the place!

I must continue to remind myself that this is dumping grounds. First draft. Free style. No editing. No re-writes. No judgment.

"If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word."  ~ Margaret Atwood

I am l♡ving the new Kleenex box!!!! 

NaNoWriMo 2012 - Day 1

NaNoWriMo Day 1 - Fell asleep on the couch last night which ended up being convenient as the first thought that popped into my brain this morning was, "Shit! Day One!"

I set up shop in the living room hoping for inspiration from my awesome book coffee table. I'm planning on writing on my son's discarded laptop as it's pretty bare bones basic and shouldn't allow for too many distractions. It also allows me to become a mobile writer! Look out local libraries! Here I come!

Plenty of Joe and my Dove Dark and I was set! I started writing when... oh yeah. Have to get the kids off to school. Two hours later...

I was off!

It is shortly after noon and I have reached my first day's goal! Boo Yah! Baby!

First day excitement, plenty of coffee, the novel has been churning in my brain for a month, first day dump was no problem. Let's hope it keeps up!

I'm off to shower and vote!

xxx-Smooches!-xxx 

"There's an old folk saying that goes: whenever you delete a sentence from your NaNoWriMo novel, a NaNoWriMo angel loses its wings and plummets screaming to the ground. Where it will likely require medical attention."  ~ Chris Baty

Laptop - check                coffee - check               book table inspiration - check 

animal blankie & prowler outfit and I'm good to go

I always love me some Dove!