Tuesday, September 25, 2007

30 Minutes

I am determined to get at least 500 words written in the next half hour. My characters have been hounding me for days. I can't seem to shut them up! In an ordinary world, I'd be locked up for saying that. In the world of writers, it's a good thing.

Saving draft of blog until I'm done with my half hour.... time, 2:36PM.

I'm back. It's 3:06PM and I reached 432 words. Not quite my goal, but it feels so good to be working on Falling Short again. I used to like these characters. Now I love them.

Off to take the kids to piano lessons, then it will be time to cook dinner. Maybe later tonight I'll get a chance to write a bit more.

I did! I was able to write at piano and then this evening and I ended up at over 1o00 words for the day. AND I finished chapter 1 which was all new material. I finally figured out where this story should start, which means I'll be revising much of the 73,000 words I already have, but that's okay. This is my third time through, I think. After this revision, I'll pass it by a trusted friend or two for feedback.

I started this novel in October of 2006. I outlined using Karen Wiesner's First Draft in 30 Days. It was my NaNo novel and it used to be titled Best Stressed Woman. Wow. It's come a long way in one short year.

5 comments:

elysabeth said...

It's hard to believe we have known each through this period of time and probably longer. I can remember us talking about the 24-hour contest in our B&N mystery class so it's been almost a year and a half we have known each other and look at what we have accomplished since then. You have even written some short stories in that time.

Now, if I could just get a murder mystery written and submitted by December 1 -who knows maybe I'll win - lol let's see who I can kill off this year - I'll have to think about it and see if I can do it - and what to kill them off with - that is the hardest part - writing a true mystery and really making it sizzle - be full of drama. I know you and ragal will be here to help me out too - so we will have to feed off each other by doing some word wars - you on Heidi and Dave and me on whatever pops into my head for the contest -

glad you are back to writing on your novel, can't wait to read it - E :)

Melanie said...

BOO YAH! Go Jane!

So, Jane, if you had to do it again, would you still do the outline in 30 days book thing? I was trying to decide what to do with my outlining. Like, if I should morph my virtual index cards with the 30 day method. It's hard to tell with my story that I did with that method if it worked well or not. It got the book written, but last year's nano was the hardest to win for me out of the four. Of course, anything compared to the first time I did it is going to be a disappointment! Two weeks, I have no idea how i did it. Actually, I do. I had a laptop, and Elijah took two naps a day, and slept late in the morning. LOL. Well, this year, I have a laptop again, so who knows....

Good luck!!

Janelle Dakota's blog said...

Good question, Mel. I like the idea of outlining, but when I write one I don't seem to follow the dang thing. I think I do better with just writing notes: whatever comes to me about the novel, I write down.

Melanie said...

Yeah, that's exactly how I feel to--sort of one reason why I like the computer index card/outline idea. It's not static at all, so I don't feel confined to this 4x6 card, and I also don't feel "wasteful" or guilty if I have to get rid of a card. It's also much easier to make a new card on the computer!

Hey, like the new fall decor!

Cidermaker said...

Well done Jane. I bet getting started again feels like a breath of fresh air after all the worries of the extension build. See you on NaNO if not before.