Wednesday, December 03, 2008

My NaNo total etc..

As you can see from the badge in my sidebar, I finished with 15, 387 words. Not bad, considering I only managed to write on 8 of the 30 days. An average of 1923 words per day. I really wish I could have found more time for writing, but things were crazy over the last month. So I'm going to let go and just be happy I managed to achieve what I did :)

Life is super busy overall right now, between work, school prep, writing, Christmas prep (I'm knitting quite a few gifts) and just housekeeping, I don't have much spare time. Grey weather has affected me somewhat, but I'm taking my Vitamin D like a good girl and working through the blahs. It's hard to believe we're at Christmas yet again - our second in this house! Hopefully we'll find a good tree for the deck over the next couple of weekends.

I'm so looking forward to starting school. Working at the library has been a real eye-opener for me, making me realize just how right I am for this kind of job. Why didn't I figure this out earlier? Oh well, better late than never :)

Back to writing - Deborah Cooke/Claire Delacroix had a great blog post the other day about Boulders (the huge obstacles that tend to arise in the middle of most mss). What do you do when faced with those plotting obstacles? I try to play the What If game, as well as examining the story elements Deb talks about.

I always love to hear how other writers deal with the elements that plague us as we write our masterpieces.

Teresa

Currently Reading: Stately Pursuits by Katie Fforde
Also Currently Reading: The Write Type by
Link of the Day: Top Ten Plotting Problems by Alicia Rasley

8 comments:

Melissa Amateis said...

Hey, 15k is not bad with 8 days of writing! I'd say it's pretty darn good!

November is always such a busy month anyway. I was thinking of trying a NaNo in January of February when there is nothing but long, cold winter nights ahead. :)

Doubtful Muse said...

Congrats on all those words, Tess. Plotting is the hardest for me too.

Kelly Boyce said...

Great word count for 8 days!!

I hear you on the business. I'm beginning to feel the "I'm not going to be ready on time" panic begin to descend...

Tess said...

Melissa - Thanks :) Overall, I was pretty happy with my total. I might try with you in Feb - will have to see how school is going (I start classes on Jan 5).

DM - Thanks so much :) A shame you're not closer, or we could have a plotting party (with wine!)

Kelly - Thanks :) And yeah, that panic is starting to hit me too, especially as I'm still waiting for my local YS to get in the dpns I need to finish middle nephews hat!

Rene said...

Hello??? I could tell you were perfect for the library years ago. You love books!

15k is nothing to sneeze at. I wish NaNo was in another month like April or something. I hear you on the busy rush of the season. I still wish I could knit.

Tess said...

Rene - yeah, it does seem kinda a no-brainer. I'm pretty certain now that if Queen's had had an MLIS programme, I would have gone that way, but chose the MA as I figured I might go on to be a history prof. Didn't want to leave Queens, especially as the closest school with the MLIS was in Toronto, where I definitely did NOT want to live.

Cindy Procter-King said...

I hit a plotting block this week. I'm working through it one freaking sentence at a time...

Congratulations on your NaNo achievement, and that's great that you're enjoying your new job so much. That's what we like to hear.

Tess said...

Cindy - I have to carve out some time to really tackle my boulder. These are the times I really miss my face to face critique group. It just doesn't work over the internet.

Thanks for the congrats :) And yeah, it's cool to have a job I really love!