The Friday Poem. If you enjoy it, check out my collection, A Sanctuary Built of Words: Poems of Peace, Grief, and Passion, available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other online book sellers.
Advertisements
Writing is my present to me
December 11, 2018 at 6:00 am (NaNoWriMo, Time Management, Writing Inspiration)
Christmas is coming and I’m in full present production mode! However, the writing must go on.
Now that the post-Thanksgiving cold has finally begun to abate, I’m back to adding to my NaNoWriMo novel, Unprepared. It’s a lot slower going than during NaNoWriMo, I only added 400 words at lunch today, but I’ll keep chipping away at it until it is done.
What is Unprepared about? When an agricultural engineering professor loses his wife and daughter to a bioengineered virus, he also loses his will to live but he may be one of the few people who can put his town back together again when it’s all over.
The book picks up when a quarantine goes into effect. The powers that be at first believed they were dealing with a particularly virulent flu pandemic, possibly bioengineered. However it is clear that it is even worse than that. They are losing people quickly and towns are soon isolated, dealing with their own disasters.
It’s amazing sometimes the ideas that come to light when I’m writing fast. This novel includes: chicken broth, a backhoe, biogas accelerating enzymes, Albuterol inhalers, and an inverter.
I’m looking forward to saying this draft is done.
Bit by Bit
December 4, 2018 at 6:00 am (NaNoWriMo, Writing Inspiration)
You know, I feel like I’m not getting much done . . . all . . . the . . . time. But that’s just a feeling.
The truth is that in the last ten years, I’ve self-published a book of poetry, written a good number of short stories, drafted three novels, with a soon to be fourth, and edited several of them to a point I feel is nearly ready for publication.
And, it seems to be getting a bit easier to envision and complete a novel length story arc.
I said to a friend the other day that when I started out, I struggled to write a short story that went longer than 2,000 words. They were complete, but very bare bones.
Now everything wants to turn into a novel!
So, I finished NaNoWriMo on my novel Unprepared with 50,000 words. Then I added in the 25,000 I wrote on it previously. 75,000 words . . . and it’s not even done!
I still have a bit more to write to finish the story arc and some fleshing out to do, but I will soon have a complete trilogy. It’s an exciting prospect.
And there’s so much more in my head to write. It’s a little frustrating and also invigorating. I love the writing life.
Tuesday Update – Book Signing and NaNoWriMo
November 27, 2018 at 6:08 am (NaNoWriMo)
Hi Folks – Here’s the Tuesday update.
NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is still under way but life has gotten IN the way. I’m at 41,278 words. I have every hope of hitting 50,000 by Friday night, but probably not the 60,000 I had been aiming for, which is okay. The truth is I have found some points where I need to do more research so there will be brackets. [Research wastewater treatment systems.]
The munchkin and I were also sick. I can write when I’m sick but totally sleep deprived from sitting up with a sick child? That makes it a LOT harder. Thankfully her coughing abated and she let me sleep quite a bit more last night so we are on the right path.
Finally, I will be out signing and selling books this weekend with several other local authors at Antique Revival in Big Flats, New York!
Poem: Winter Morning Painting
November 23, 2018 at 6:00 am (Poetry)
A Friday poem. I hope you enjoy.
NaNoWriMo: The Second Half
November 20, 2018 at 10:24 am (NaNoWriMo, Writing Inspiration)
So, we are over halfway through National Novel Writing Month and I am, well, behind but not behind.
My personal goal was 2,000 words a day but the NaNo stated goal works out to 1,667 words per day. I’m at 35,102, which is a bit behind the 38,000 I wanted at this point but ahead of the 31,673 the regular NaNo would put me at.
I started strong with my novel, Unprepared, about a professor of agricultural engineering who loses his wife and daughter during a pandemic, but I’ve lost a bit of momentum.
I think that is natural, to some degree, and life happens, but I suspect part of it was that I was reading a book in the beginning which helped inspire me – “Bubonic Panic: When Plague Invaded America.” I’ve finished the book and need some new inspiration.
So, last night I got a book I’ve started before but never finished, which also works with our book club theme this month of finishing something. It’s called “The World Without Us” by Alan Weisman and describes what would happen to all the man made things in the world, and the natural world, if humans suddenly disappeared.
Once more into the fray!
Poem: Rejected. Again.
November 16, 2018 at 6:00 am (Poetry)
Rejection is, unfortunately, a facet of life for a writer who wants to publish. The Friday poem.
NaNoWriMo: A Work in Progress
November 13, 2018 at 6:00 am (NaNoWriMo, Time Management)
November is National Novel Writing Month #NaNoWriMo and I am solidly embroiled in writing my novel, “Unprepared.”
“Unprepared” is about a professor of agricultural engineering. When he loses his wife and daughter during a pandemic, he loses his will to live but he may be one of the few people in his town capable of helping his community survive and thrive.
I’m at 22,398 words, as of the writing of this post. I’ve been shooting for 2,000 words a day though the goal of NaNoWriMo is only 50,000 words in one month, which amounts to about 1,667 words per day. (Plus, I’ve started this novel every year for the last two years so I have 85 pages in a separate file put aside.)
I get up every morning and try to get 20 minutes of writing in before I leave for work. I can get another 20 minutes in during my lunch time. Then, I get another 20 minutes after dinner. Now, if I’ve been researching and thinking about the story during my drive to and from work so that I’m ready to write, that’s enough to get about 2,000 words in.
So far it’s going really well. Some words are better than others but it’s important to have words so you can edit. The research on this has been more in depth than anything I’ve written so far – learning about town water systems, waste treatment, and Comprehensive Emergency Management Plans. Cornell University’s web site has been a HUGE help.
I can’t wait to be able to say this novel is drafted!
