Monthly Archives: November 2014

This is the view outside my front door just moments ago. It’s a good day to stay indoors, warm and cozy, and do some writing. And cooking.

My NaNoWriMo novel is on track. I’m at 46,449 words as of right now. I’m also working on a personal essay I’ll be sharing at an upcoming gathering of my women’s group. I’m not sure what I’ll do with the piece afterwards, but if I can find someplace to submit it, like maybe a magazine, I might do that. Or I’ll use it as a guest blog post, or something. The working title is “A Tale of Loss and Belonging.” I’m pleased with how it’s coming along so far.

I’m also making butternut squash and pumpkin pie in preparation for tomorrow’s festivities. Our extended family will be gathering next door at my Aunt’s house for a delicious meal. I’ll plan to do a longer update on Sunday, but this is where I’m at for now. Watching the snow fall outside, knowing I don’t have to go anywhere today, and enjoying my creative time with words and foods.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with those you love!

I’m cranking along on my NaNoWriMo novel, Patterns in the Void, which makes me a happy kitty. I’m now at 42,459 words. I’d been sort of pondering what to do about the novel post-November, as it definitely won’t be finished. I’m aiming for more like 100K words, which is average length for my genre (urban fantasy).

After talking with Quester about it, I decided to just keep working on my novel every day, even when we reach the busy month of December. Furthermore, I’ll continue to write for at least a couple hours every day, beyond my daily journaling and regular blog posting, on into the foreseeable future. It’s the obvious next step, truly.

These days I feel more than ever like a real writer, with a real career. Sure, I’m not selling enough books to make a living, not even close – yet. But I’m confident in my abilities, and that includes my capability to learn how to successfully publish, market, and sell what I write. Especially when I devote more time to it.

So, it’s time for this deeper commitment to myself, my passion for the writing life, and my Muses. I’m really thankful to ROW 80 and NaNoWriMo for helping me get to this point. It’s exciting, and a bit scary. But I’m ready.

I can do this.

I’m trucking right along with NaNoWriMo, and I’m on track to win, with 34,093 words written thus far. This week I’m working on Edmund the Magnificent’s back-story. I’m sure I’ll make the 50,000 words by the end of the month, but I’m trying not to worry about my actual target of 100,000 words. December is a busy month for me, but I don’t want to lose momentum on the novel. I guess I’ll just make a new plan when the time comes.

I don’t have much to say other than that. I’ve been getting in some drum practice, and mostly keeping up with blogging. There are quite a few things on my list that I haven’t gotten to, but NaNoWriMo is my big project right now.

And since that’s going well, I’m content.

I’m having a good writing week. I did some plotting on my NaNoWriMo novel on Sunday evening, and since then I’ve been fleshing out the scenes I planned. I guess I’m a “plottser” – I plan out the major plot points, but then kind of do the seat-of-the-pants thing as I fill in the other action. It’s fun.

My next guest blog post on SoulFire Om has been published.  I’m keeping up on most of my other projects, though my main focus has been on the novel. It’s November, so I expected that would be the case.

This evening BlackLion and I had some free time together, so we went and got dinner at Panera and had a Feline Dreamers summit. We went over our 2014 business plans to see what we’d accomplished so far, what we still want to do in the next couple months, and what our plans for 2015 might look like. It was a whole lot of fun! We shared ideas, consolidated some things, and did some blue-sky brainstorming. One of the strengths of our partnership is that we have lots of creative ideas, and we’re constantly learning more about how to manifest them.

I think 2015 will be amazing! Keep an eye out for Feline Dreamers; we’re going places!

The title above might be a little misleading – it’s really only today that I’ve been procrastinating. Otherwise, this week has been very productive in terms of writing. I’m at 15,554 words on my NaNo novel, and I hope to add more words this evening. I’ve been keeping up with my personal blogging. I submitted another guest post this weekend, which makes two weeks in a row for the SoulFire Om website. The new one’s not out yet, but if you’re curious about what I’ve been writing for them, here’s one about community.

I’ve been studying subjects that relate to my writing projects, sometimes only tangentially, but still. I’m all caught up on watching the Conquer Summit videos, and I printed out all the “actionables” (worksheets) so I can get caught up on those. There’s some really good stuff there that I think will help with my marketing. I’ve actually been journaling, too (sometimes when I’m writing on the laptop a lot, my journal gathers a little dust).

To harken back to a goal from last Round, my Cultivating Self-Love book is now available as a paperback through CreateSpace! I originally published it as an e-book, and now it can finally be purchased as an actual book, too. Yay!

As for the procrastination… I went to rehearsal this morning, which went really well. My intention had been to come home and work on my novel. However, it didn’t work out that way. A friend gave me some lovely clothes on Friday that she no longer wants, and I went through those with my daughter. Then I got on a de-cluttering kick and reorganized and sorted through most of my clothing! I have 3 big bags of things to donate, and all my new clothes are tidily integrated into my drawers and shelves.

It’s something I’d been meaning to do anyway, and even though I haven’t done my NaNo writing for the day (yet), I still think it was a productive afternoon. I also cleaned the kitchen, did some laundry, and made spaghetti sauce for dinner.

I have to count the week as a win.

It’s the second day of November, and I’ve put in 4,059 words on my NaNoWriMo novel (working title: Patterns in the Void). More importantly, I’m having a blast writing it.

I kind of get a kick out of how excited I am about this. I was looking forward to the first day of November much like a kid anticipating Christmas!

My other projects are bubbling along nicely, too. I’ve actually been doing my novel writing at my desk upstairs, on my newly-repaired laptop! The laptop is working great. The decluttering project is moving along in baby steps. I know progress is being made, because I have room to work there, now. Woo hoo!

Here are some photos of my progress thus far.

Here’s where I started, back in April. Plenty of clutter! Desk decluttering project, phase 1.

Desk decluttering project, phase 2. One week ago.

Desk decluttering project, phase 3. A usable space!

What else? Blogging is going well, on my own websites as well as guest posts for others. I’ve finished two zentangling pages in my art journal. I’m a bit behind on the Conquer Summit videos, but I hope to get caught up today. It’s snowing here in Maine. Yep, snow. So staying in with a cup of tea and my laptop has been just the thing.