NaBloPoMo (2)

What did I do on New Year's Day?  Let me see...I tried to get my sons and my husband up to go with me over to my grandfather's for my family's annual New Year's Day meal...I ended up going by myself.  This is a very southern tradition and the fare consists of hog jowl (very much like bacon, but thick and yummy), black-eyed peas, turnip greens, and cornbread.  The superstitious believe that if you don't eat this meal before noon on the day, you won't have good luck in the new year.  I didn't make it.  Oh well.  Some years I've eaten the meal in time and others I haven't so it hasn't ever seemed to make much difference.  I'm not quite sure how superstitious I am.  I guess if I really was, I would have made sure I got there in time.  Needless to say, the food was great and so was the company! I ended up staying over there for a few hours, having a nice talk with my cousins.

The rest of the day, I spent blogging and trying to catch up on some stuff.  Which is what I'm going to go do right now.  I really must choose which reading challenges I'll be doing this year.

See you tomorrow!

NaBloPoMo (1)

It's another new year so I guess I'll quickly talk about my goals for 2012...

• continue with my eating plan that helped me to lose 40 lbs in 2011
• add exercise, along with eating plan, to continue weight loss and to get in shape
• work on novel 5 pages a day, 5 days a week
• daily journaling
• read more books from my own shelves, including more non-fiction
• stop swearing

I'm doing Change Write Now, which is going to help me with getting healthy, the journaling, and the swearing. =O)

The ROW80 writing challenge will help me with the writing goals. 

Various reading challenges will help me with the reading goals.

 Accountability is the key!

Happy New Year!

ROW80 2012, Change Write Now, and NaBloPoMo

Oh yes, I'm in for another year of ROW80.  This is sign-up for round one, but I plan on being in on all the rounds and I'm hoping to impress my fellow ROW80 participants with my writing prowess in 2012.  LOL  Truly, I have met some wonderful people while participating in this writing challenge.  It has become more than a writing challenge.  It is a community of like minds and I like to say...friends.  Good luck to all my fellow ROW-ers.  One of my goals for 2012 (I like the word goals better than resolutions) is definitely to be better about visiting with you all during the challenge.  As I always say, we are all works in progress!

I'm also signing up for Change Write Now.  This is a challenge to help us be more healthy in the new year.  To develop some good habits and get rid of some bad ones.  Many may not know this, but I started on my healthy quest in May and I lost 40 lbs. between May and September.  I took a break for the two week holiday and then I'm back on track starting Monday.  I still have a long way to go and I've been doing pretty good with my eating, but I need some help in the exercise and drinking water department.  I also have a ton of bad habits I'd like to break.  I feel like this challenge was custom made for me. =O)  I'm late to the game because today is the last day to sign-up, but if you read this in time and want to join in, you can find out all the info at the Change Write Now site.



And last, but certainly not least, is NaBloPoMo.  Here are the details from the site:

It's that time again; time to commit to posting every day for a full month by joining in with NaBloPoMo. The point? Well, beyond the endurance factor -- of becoming a writing athlete -- there's the benefit from daily writing. I use it as a way to warm up before getting into book writing. And then there's the community aspect: joining NaBloPoMo is like joining a gym. You're writing in a group and feeding off that for motivation rather than writing alone. 

The theme for January is Beginnings...how fitting! They have writing prompts Monday - Friday and weekends are for free writing (HERE).  If you think you might like to join in, check out all the details and sign-up info HERE.

Wish me luck on my endeavors in the new year!

ROW80 Check-In 12/14/11--Wrap-Up for Round 4

I'm including my review of this awesome new writing book I recently read because one of it's tenants is going to be very much a part of my future ROW80 goals.  If you don't want to read the review, you will find my goals at the end of the post.So, without further ado....

Writing Your Way by Julie Smith

My thoughts:
I love books on writing.  I have read my share of them too.  I've read ones by Terry Brooks and Stephen King and others.  So you'd think by now that I would have at least one novel under my belt.  But I don't.  Julie clarifies this issue in a nutshell...you have to write your way.  Yes, you should pay attention to the advice and there are certain things the writer should not fudge on, like style and grammar.  She recommends The Elements of Style by Strunk and White and there I couldn't agree with her more.  I happen to have that book in my writing arsenal.  A writer should also keep a good book on grammar handy.  What she said that I really liked and agree with 100% is "write something that matters--if only to you."  Great advice.  Who wants to write something they don't care about?  If the writer doesn't care, the reader certainly isn't going to.  It doesn't have to be a big statement book, but the story should mean something, should touch the writer and, therefore, the reader.  Authenticity and truth come in too.  Don't skimp on the details.  Do the research.  The most important thing though...get it written.  Set deadlines for yourself and this is one I like.  Set a goal of five pages per day, five days a week.  This works for Julie because she's a rule breaker so if she doesn't write on Monday, she can write Saturday to make it up.  Or she can add pages on to other days.  I think I like this approach better than so many words per day or hours even.  Frankly, the word count thing makes me very nervous (I'm talking to you NaNoWriMo)!

Julie's core rules:

Start it--put one word after another.
Put your heart in it.
Part with it--get it written.


Simple and straight forward.  I like it.  In subsequent chapters, she discusses voice, plot, characters, and all the nuts and bolts when it comes to writing a novel, but she does it in a fresh way.  She doesn't bog it all down with pages and pages of explanations.  That's one beef I have with writing books.  They are way too long.  Hence why there are so many on my shelves that remain unread.  Julie's 121 page dynamo is the perfect book on writing.  This is a book that will stay in my eReader and I will be using it as I continue with the novel I started during NaNoWriMo and did not finish.  I will finish it.  Five pages a day, five days a week and I will write it my way.  Thank you, Julie.


About the book:
WRITING YOUR WAY is a no-nonsense, jam-packed book on writing fiction that came directly out of the author’s belief that most writing teachers need to cut their students a little slack. Edgar-winner Julie Smith’s approach is to help you find your own writing method, not bombard you with “unbreakable” rules. But make no mistake, she’s going to give you plenty of how-tos—on plot, character, setting, voice, point-of-view, dialogue, pacing and marketing. As well as plenty of practice exercises. And lots of motherly advice.
She also thinks most writing books are so absurdly padded they’re a waste of students’ time. Or they’re all about getting in touch with your inner writer so you can finally get started. WRITING YOUR WAY is for the pre-published novelist who is way past that. It gets right to the point. Offering nuts, bolts, and marketing methods, it’s a thick, dense concentrate of wisdom learned from years of actually… writing. Smith’s the author of dozens of novels and short stories and the founder of Writers’ Track, a method of teaching writing by conference call. She has also taught fiction both at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

*******

I am going on hiatus from ROW80 until after the first of the year.  I know we only have two more check-ins, but I want to get this out there now so I don't have to worry about the last two check-ins, as I'm so busy this time of year.  So, this will serve as my Round 4 wrap-up and a sneak peek at my goals for the new year.

I didn't get much accomplished this round.  I attempted NaNoWriMo and only wrote 600+ words (well, I started anyway).  I slacked off on my journaling...something I was very proud of. =O(  Looking forward, I'm taking a page from Julie's book (above, literally).  My new writing goal in the new year will be to work on my WIP (I can actually call it that....I have words on paper...woot!) by writing 5 pages per day, 5 days per week.  I also plan to return to the daily journaling, as I really think doing that made me be more inspired in my writing.  I wrote two short, short stories and entered them in the Writer's Digest contest.  Won't get word on that until February.  Fingers crossed.

I hope all of my fellow ROW80 participants have wonderful holidays, whichever one you happen to celebrate.  I look forward to 'seeing' you in the new year and on that note...Happy New Year!

ROW80 (late) Check-In 11/27/11--It is what it is....

I am not going to finish NaNoWriMo. There, I said it! And I am quite at peace with the realization. I thought that I just might try to bust my ass and finish, but I am just so ridiculously behind. On a positive note, I do have a great start to what I think might be a pretty good novel. So, I will continue to plug away during ROW80 (thank you, ROW80, for being here) and just finish at a slower pace. I think that will work better for me anyway. I tend to balk at strict deadlines and then kill myself trying to finish at the last minute. I just don't think it's possible at this point, but no regrets! Am I saying that I will never again jump into the madness that is NaNoWriMo? No. But I may just have to remember next time that I'm just not disciplined enough (at this point) to write almost 2000 words a day, every day. But I'm okay with that...and realizing that the holidays are a very busy time of year for me, my ROW80 goals are as follows:

• write 500-1000 words per week on WIP
• I'm doing a Christmas journaling project this month with some fellow bloggers/Christmas fanatics--daily Christmas journaling starting December 1st.

How are you doing on your journey?  What's your NaNoWriMo story?

ROW80 Check-In 11/16/11...Diminished self-doubt

So, last week I was in a bad place due to being so behind on my NaNoWriMo WIP.  Well, I'm still behind (extremely), but thanks to some very awesome people who stopped by with such encouraging words (thank you again), I'm not beating myself up about it.  I do have words down on the page and I have what I think is a great start to my novel so I'm happy about that! Even if I don't end up "winning" this month, I will have a great start to a WIP that I can continue to work on during the ROW80 challenge.

On another note, I submitted two of my stories to the Writers' Digest Short, Short Story competition.  The deadline was Tuesday and I got them in just in time.  Wish me luck!

Goals:
--try to get caught up on NaNo WIP
--get back to daily journaling

ROW80 Check-In 11/9/11...Anguish

Yes, that's right...anguish.  Why?  Because I am about 14,000 words behind on NaNoWriMo.  I am so upset, I just want to sit and cry.  I had planned on getting partially caught up today, but my sons were sick on Monday and Tuesday and my older son came home with a boat load of homework today.  Plus, he's having a lot of trouble in school and I'm having to deal constantly with those issues.  What I want to know?  Is there any hope of ever getting caught up?  I have my doubts, but then I think, "there's always hope, isn't there?"



Has anyone else ever been this behind during NaNoWriMo?

Goal....get caught up...that's about 18,000 words by the end of Friday...