Wow, here we are at the end of the month. Tonight some of us light pumpkins and/or fireworks. Some of us frantically add one last piece to the story puzzle that is our NaNoWriMo outline. Some of us prepare to embrace the crazy that is NaNoWriMo. And some of us realize that ... hey, wait! This is WIPmadness! We have the crazy down to an art!
So, how did this month go for everyone? How about this past week? Did you meet your goals? Exceed them, even? Or were you locked in heated battle with that unavoidable nemesis, Real Life?
Whatever you did or did not do, you did what you needed to. And whatever you did, it was enough.
I didn't meet all of my goals. Starting with the writing conference, I ceased to log what I was eating. I'd like to get back to that, but we'll see what happens in the weeks to come. Given that next month is NaNo and the month after that is Winter Festive Season, nothing is guaranteed about my waistline. Well, at least Don Rocko and I held off buying Halloween treats until just last night. And I did make it to sword class, but that's about the extent of my being healthy.
However, I did finish the edits to my WIP. I even sent it to an extra special, very awesome beta reader who was kind enough to get me feedback within a week and a half when I needed it. I had my pitch and my Blue Pencil ready for the SiWC, and I had an amazing time at the conference. I got asked to submit and submit I did. I made my tiger butter (and I swear I'll upload photos and a recipe soon, if not in November then by December for sure!) and shared it with many people. I participated in the VancoWriMo events as planned. And for the most part, I have a good idea of what I'll be writing during November.
So I'm fairly happy with how this month unfolded. How about you?
Thanks, gang, for letting me host this month!
P.S.: This month just happened to have five Mondays, but the Madness is far from over. Don't forget to stop by Lora Rivera's blog tomorrow to check in with goals for November. ^_^
I think it's funny. You're going to sleep as I'm waking up. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhat's more! I slept in. BECAUSE I FINISHED MY REVISIONS!
At leat this round. It's out with 2 beta readers now (for whole manuscript)
Good luck NANO'ers - I'll be a cheerleader for what sounds like a whole ball of stress to me. See you over at Lora's!
Congrats to both you and Jaye! You guys are really on fire this month!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't even remember what my goals were this month, so I had to go back and look them up. The good news is that I can definitely say I've made progress on my worldbuilding and character histories. As for the writing, well, that had to go on hold while I figured the rest of this out.
I've been researching like crazy. The more I read the more I realize I have yet to read and plan. I may be at it for a while, but I have a really good feeling. I must be doing it right. I can't believe I'm saying this, because I've always been such a pantser, but there's a lot to be said for planning things out!
Way to go on getting that wip off to your Beta readers! I did not quite make my goal.
ReplyDeleteAnd woohoo for the finish to you and JRo!
This weekend was a total writing bust, and it will be a crazy start to NaNoWriMo, but I've decided to stick with the wip and use that time to pound out the finish and maybe start a new one.
Thanks for hosting all month :-) I'll see you over at Lora's place tomorrow!
I didn't make my writing goal, but I'm excited about the editing progress I made over the weekend. I was fine with the first third of my WIP, but the rest...
ReplyDeleteI finally went back through all my beta notes and realized I basically had two stories (my CP said she could almost see a third).
So yesterday, I chopped the MS in half. It felt good. Right. And a lot of the "new" scenes were in my 2nd draft (this will be the 4th), so it's not a complete rewrite.
I'm excited to work on that next month.
And I'm echoing Jaye - good lucking Nano'ers!
L.S.-Thanks for hosting and yay for meeting those writing goals! Happy to hear about all your progress, mad women!
ReplyDeleteI did nothing but read all week. I'm waiting for feedback from my agent on the revision I did earlier this month and can't get my mind immersed in anything else knowing I'll be diving back into that project once her comments arrive, hopefully today.
Jaime's interview is up on the blog today, BTW. http://yascribe.blogspot.com/2011/10/partner-on-path-jaime-callahan.html
See you all tomorrow at Lora's!
Jaye - What can I say? Given a day off, I'll definitely trend toward staying up late. ;)
ReplyDeleteYay for finishing revisions! *high fives* And thanks for the encouragement. Here we go!
Jamie, as I'm pretty sure I've said before, progress is progress. And world-building and research are necessary, so I would definitely call that vital progress.
Thanks, Mary Ann. Have you considered the growing, mostly unspoken sentiment among seasoned NaNoers geared toward publication that 50K is 50K? If you need to, write 50K of fresh words of what you're already working on, even if that's multiple projects. As they say at the site, the only person you're really competing with is yourself.
Jennifer, good luck with your new set of revisions. I hope that the storyline you extracted can be the basis for another story of its own.
Angelina, that reading sounds so wonderful. As I think I said to you already, I'm seriously considering taking December off as a reading month, to tackle my massive TBR shelf. Sounds like you had a great opportunity to do so already. :)
What? You're supposed to outline for NaNoWriMo? Well, that part of my goal I definitely didn't achieve - preparing for NaNo and WIP revisions.
ReplyDeleteI did manage to finish the ghost story, like, 2 seconds ago, which is why is I'm checking in now. =)
Congrats, L.S. and Jaye for getting those revisions. Eek. Tough stuff.
And Jennifer, srsly, cutting your MS in half is a HUGE deal and shows a lot of strength as a writer.
Good luck with research, Jaime, and I'll be sweating alongside you at NaNo, Mary Ann.
Angelina - You must be a light-speed reader. Lol. Hope you enjoyed!
Thx for hosting, L.S.! Excited to be hosting next month - er, tomorrow :)
OMG, am I always the last one to check in?? Sorry! I'm still here, still chugging along, and actually had a 1K writing day today! (accepting stickers over on twitter) I didn't do as much drafting this month as I'd wanted because I ended up revising and re-revising my beginning chapters, but now I'm ready to run with them next month. In the meantime, congrats to all on the great progress and successful goal-meeting!
ReplyDeleteKip
Well, there's good news and there's bad news...
ReplyDeleteThe good news, I had a LOT of fun this weekend at the LARP extravaganza that my friend in Indiana set up. It was the reason for the week off from writing, and I must say, it was well worth it. The break also got me thinking about more writing. Which is the bad news.
A while ago, I saw that Avon had an anthology contest thing going on, and while we were driving to Indiana, my wife and I started planning based on a piece of real world news I saw recently and we came up with the sketch of a synopsis for a story that would have a deadline of January 1st. Which brings me to the last problem...
I can easily clear the 25k or less on this by January 1st and probably get revisions in too. However, it will mean putting a temporary halt on the WIP and not making my goal of finishing the duology before January. Then again, the possibility of sending something else off to a pub company and at least getting more exposure could be worth it. we also both love the idea.
Still, there's that tiny bit inside that says, "what if it turns into another Rogue 5?" You see, Rogue 5, the novel I have out for consideration to Samhain now, started out as something we were going to send to a novella anthology of 40k or less, but it just wouldn't stop growing until it was a full novel of 96k words. I do have a minor fear that this could do the same and if it does, I'll have to drop it halfway through so that I can get back on my current project.
Ergh...yeah...Time off, a double edged sword, I guess. ;)
Ack! Spent yesterday dress shopping with my bride-to-be best friend. The good news is, we both found the perfect dress!
ReplyDeleteLora, yay for finishing the ghost story. And having an outline for NaNo is optional. Some folks are plotters, some pantsers. You're only at a disadvantage if you believe yourself to be. And thanks again for hosting November!
Kip, you're not the last one to check in, and honestly? That's usually me most months. *blush* 1K days ... that's fantastic. I'll have to this month, but this is a different month than normal. As I said: you did what you needed to this month, and if that was revisions? Then that's what you needed to do.
Daniel, in Sepember I took a break from my WIP to enter two contests. At least one of them I did not win. But taking a break from my WIP was so very important. It gave me a chance to catch my breath, and filled me with enough new energy to go roaring to the finish line. If this contest is important to you (and it sure sounds like it), I say go for it. And post it to the beta group! I'll definitely read it!
Well, looks like that's all she wrote, folks. See you over at Lora's!
Cheers,
Laura