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50K in 21 Days!!!

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It’s just before midnight on the 21st day of NaNo and I am at 51,059 words. I’m simply too excited to sleep. This is a huge accomplishment for me. Even though I started out with some real confidence – that didn’t mean that I really believed I would meet the schedule that I was setting for myself. But here I am – I have met the NaNo Challenge of 50K in 30 days. Well, I actually kicked the crap out of the 30 days part of the program.

But for me it’s not over. I want to complete the novel and I would like to complete it this month, so I still have another 10-20 thousand words to write in the next 9 days. And I’m into the second hardest part of the novel to write. The opening is the toughest, but the ending is no easier for me.

Wrapping up a novel is tough. I have to find a way to resolve the primary conflicts and make sure that I don’t have any nagging loose ends. Nagging is a qualifier. I don’t have a problem at the end of the book if you wonder what happens next to the characters. I’ve done my job if after 70,000 words you still want to know more about the people you’ve been living with on the pages of my book. However, I don’t want to leave you wondering if someone lived or died. There’s nothing more annoying than a cliffhanger. I want an ending to the episode. Anything else is just a ripoff. I won’t do that to you, because I don’t like it when it’s done to me.

The other thing I have to do is make sure that there is a satisfactory explanation of events. It shouldn’t all be done in two paragraphs with a bunch of “and then” this happened. We’ve spent all this time together as participants in the novel – we don’t want to be told what happened after the fact. Often the revelations will come over the last two to four chapters. The bad guy and his motivations must be revealed. All the open questions about how something was accomplished must be answered, and we must know what happens to the protagonists.

Crap! I have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it in. So, let me begin by setting my goals for Week Four:
NaNo Goal – 50,000 words. Completed. Sorry – I just wanted to say it again.
Low End Goal – 62,500 which is the same 12.5 K I’ve been setting all along.
High Bar – 67,500. It could be tough to get there. I’m not sure of the number I need to write the final chapters and the book could end at 65K.

Cross your fingers for me – I’ll keep you posted.

Entering Week Three of NaNo Write

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As Inigo Montoya says in The Princess Bride, “Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.” Monday of this week was day fourteen—halfway through the four-week schedule that I’m working on. I was looking for at least 25,000 words by midnight Monday to stay on track with the NaNo website suggested pace. There was no problem with that. I kicked that goal in the butt two and a half days ahead of schedule!

My personal goal was 30,000 and my “setting the bar too high” goal was 35,000 words. The reason for those numbers is that my novel is planned for between 60,000 and 70,000 words and this would put me halfway through. I ended the second week with 34,463 words and I have no complaints. I only missed the high bar by 537 words! I’d written to the end of the chapter, was at a good stopping place, and it was after 11 p.m. My eyes were bleeding and my brain had fallen out through my ear and crawled off to bed an hour before.

I think the second week in some ways was harder than the first. The reality of the goal was settling in and I had a lot of things on my plate for last week, but the chapter outline that I reworked helped to keep me on track and focused. I did go back and add in the chapters for the “possible bad guy.” I’m going to leave it worded that way because I don’t want to ruin the story for you.

However, it was also an excellent week in many ways. My favorite college football team won and I managed to write through the distraction of chores, college football, and the second to the last race of the season for NASCAR.

What really got me through last week though was the tons of encouragement I received from my friends and family. When I mentioned that I was thinking about how to get my heroine out of the trunk she’d been confined in, many people chimed in with suggestions and comments. Some of those comments led me to make notes for a future book. My neighbor let me measure her trunk and even crawled inside to show me how a woman the size of my heroine would fit in the space.

I have some terrific friends!

I also rewarded myself with a chocolate malt for exceeding the NaNo goal.

The goals for 21 November, which will be the end of week three are:
NaNo Weekly goal: 37,500 – I passed that one on 15 November
My Minimum goal: 45,000 – I’m pretty close to that now
My High Bar goal: 52,500

Wish me luck – I’ll keep you posted.

Blood Link II – The Catalyst is now Available

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Staff Sergeant Becky Taylor’s frustration and tension level are building to the breaking point. She’s lost control of her temper and injured a teammate during training, and as a result, she’s unable to focus on her work. Thirty years ago, Colonel Court Andrews transitioned her team from human to vampire after a violent attack that left them bloody and dying. Becky felt a strong emotional and physical connection with Court during her transition and her attraction for him hasn’t lessened, although she tries not to let it show. Court has treated Becky with a cold, professional detachment while avoiding her as much as possible, always keeping her at arm’s length. In the process, he has made her feel as though she doesn’t exist.

But all of that is about to change. Samantha, the unit psychic, is having horrific premonitions that she and the team are struggling to understand as they sort through the evidence of a recent attack that injured Court and four others. He and his extraordinary team have been targeted by Katherine and Milo, two Old World and extremely violent vampires. Everything is thrown into chaos almost overnight when the team discovers the vicious Milo has set his evil sights on Becky. Court will be forced to face his true feelings about Becky when Milo threatens her life.

Edited by: Arwen Newman
Cover Design: Liquid Reality Studios

Available from Amazon through the link on the left side of the page.
Also available from Barnes and Noble for the Nook.

Veterans Day

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With the approach of Veterans Day on 11 November, I as usual have some thoughts – I hope they will give you pause for thought also.

I’m grateful for the “inclusiveness” that now symbolizes Veterans Day. I clearly recall a time when it simply wasn’t so. It always seemed to me that the veterans who served after World War II and before Desert Storm were largely disenfranchised during that time. World War II so impacted the nation that when it ended the entire nation celebrated and those veterans were welcomed home and hailed as heroes.

Sadly, there was no such celebration or welcome for the veterans of Korea, Vietnam, and all the operations after them, until the Gulf War. While the people who served during that time were honored by their families and other veterans, they were hardly the focus of the media and the general public. Veterans Day news coverage in the 1960s was focused on the World War I and II vets. All but ignored were the veterans of the Korean War. Their war certainly had none of the glamor of World War I or II and it ended in a truce rather than some grand victory that the nation could celebrate. Veterans of Korea were always around, but no one seemed to pay much attention to their sacrifices. In the 1970s and 80s, Vietnam veterans weren’t ignored, instead they often suffered cruelly from the mainstream media. They were rarely shown in a positive light, frequently being portrayed as “damaged and disturbed” by a war that also didn’t have a glorious ending.

But it was really those poorly portrayed men who made the biggest difference for all of us who came behind. They did this by drawing attention to the many issues faced by a wounded veteran who was forced to deal with an inadequate and antiquated health care system. Their physical and psychological wounds were really no different from those suffered by the veterans of Korea or the two world wars; however, those problems were now on display in front of the cameras for all to see.

And these veterans did not suffer in silence. They spoke out about their problems and changed the language we used to describe those issues. The psychological trauma suffered in war went from being called “battlefield fatigue” to being recognized as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. They brought the struggle of dealing with their traumas out of the shadows and into the stark light of the television cameras, helping the world understand that the emotional damage of war can’t always be left behind in some foxhole or jungle, no matter how much the nation might wish it so. It was these very visible and brave Vietnam veterans who forced the federal government to make the desperately needed changes to the dilapidated Veterans Administration, and to raise its level of care and treatment for those who had sacrificed so much.

Since Desert Storm, the veteran’s stature in society has taken a dramatic upswing. Young and old are welcome to participate in the day’s events and the average American has become much more aware of the cost of a veterans service. As we watch our World War II and Korea veterans reach an age where more care is required, we see our Vietnam veterans stepping into the breach as legislators, administrators, activists, and volunteers. The veterans of the Gulf Wars and Afghanistan are now bolstering the legislation and changes that began with the Vietnam Era veterans.

Where once the World War II veteran cried when he saw the damaged boys from Vietnam come home, now it’s the Vietnam vets who cry for the kids of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. The counseling and assistance are there for today’s vets thanks to the demands of the veterans who came before them.

I appreciate that the current feeling in our nation is that of gratitude – thanks for the discounts, thanks for the parade, and thanks for finally recognizing ALL the service members. Thanks for marking the graves and honoring our fallen. Most of all, thanks for showing some respect for the price every veteran has paid with his blood, sweat, and more tears than anyone who hasn’t walked in his shoes can imagine.

For those of us who served, Veterans Day is a sacred commitment. It is the day set aside to remind us to honor our love, our sacrifice, and our commitment to each other. It is a reminder that the tears we shed are not for ourselves, but for the love of our brothers and sisters. It is also a reminder of the sacrifice and commitment we must all stand ready to give to our brothers and sisters, so that those who come behind us have the care they deserve when their turn comes.

I send my greetings, my thanks, my hopes and my prayers to all my brothers and sisters in arms. May you return safely to those you love, may your memories weigh lightly upon your soul, and may you know that you are forever honored in my heart and my prayers. Thank you all for your service and your sacrifice.

Learning More!

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Today is day seven of NaNo and I’m way past my weekly goal of 12,500. I’m over 16,000 at this point. I should be writing, but instead I’m reading about “how to write” and “how to tell your story.” My writing buddy, author Heather Rae Scott, is a message board host for Harlequin. Now most of you know how I feel about romance, but some things hold true whether you are writing a romance, a suspense, or a paranormal – you have to have an idea, hook your reader, and follow through. When you are finished, there is always the question about how to publish.

This month, Harlequin is hosting “So You Think You Can Write.” There are many topics of discussion, conversations (blogs and chats) with editors and writers, as well as some contests, if that’s your sort of thing. I’ve been following Heather’s tweets and Facebook posts so that I know what’s going on and can pick and choose what I want to read. You can follow it on her Heather Rae Scott Facebook page.

So why would I spend time with this in the middle of NaNo Write? Because sometimes it’s good to step back and think about what you’re doing, and maybe Harlequin is not your target publisher, but you can learn something from this event.

The following topics appeared today.

What is essential in a query letter? Editorial Assistant Sarah McDaniel Dyer can tell you! http://bit.ly/vBrsCB

Blog post: Mainstream vs. Mainstream vs. Series Romance: A Primer, by Executive Editor Paula Eykelhof http://bit.ly/vbk3hg

Harlequin senior editor Birgit Davis-Todd answers 5 questions about romance publishing. HEA: http://cot.ag/vdPSF7

Blog post: Why Do You Have to Tell This Story? by Leslie Wainger http://bit.ly/tgVvkT

Your Romance Writing Checklist by Patience Bloom: http://bit.ly/scJmC3

The checklist above doesn’t just work for romance – it’s for all writers. Don’t dismiss the information just because it’s not your genre. I found a lot to interest me in Why do you have to write this Story? By Leslie Wainger. It forces me to think about what I’m doing and why – and trust me – this is not a bad thing.

The “What is essential in a query letter? is an interview with Sarah McDaniel Dyer and you have to get past the personal part of the interview to get to the meat of the matter – the dreaded query letter and synopsis.

I’m a little bummed that Harlequin is doing this in the middle of NaNo – it would have been much cooler if they had offered this last month so we could have used some of these ideas and hints this month. However, regardless of when the information comes out, the reality is that the more you know as a writer, the better prepared you are when it’s time to polish and then try to sell your novel. It doesn’t matter what the genre is – this series of blogs, chats, and interviews can help you focus your efforts and perhaps answer some of your questions about getting your novel in front of an editor.

I strongly urge all you writers and wannabe writers to utilize all the free hints and advice offered. Thanks for keeping me informed Heather. Good luck with your writing!

How’s it Going?

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I thought it might be fun to share some of the things that have happened already in this NaNo write for those who might be following along. It’s already been a learning experience for me and probably for a few other.

Day one – I started off with a bang and wrote for around six hours. Two chapters later, I felt like I had a solid start. I was sticking with my chapter outline.

Day two – I was slow to start. Distracted by everyone and everything – brain bounce is not a norm for me but it happens.

Then I got in trouble – I wrote a small bit about my heroine going to a local gym to fit in a workout. Not your usual LA Fitness kind of place. This is a place that doesn’t advertise. Janice was sent there by her teammate who happens to know the owner, a man named Oscar Islas. Oscar is an ex-SEAL and his gym is for the specialists – bodyguards, cage fighters, mercenaries, etc. Oscar is also someone that Janice finds herself so comfortable with that she tells him of her concerns about her future. I like Oscar – a lot.

This little meeting grew from what should have been a couple paragraphs of “color” to several pages and an interesting character who could seriously alter my plot. I’m not sure yet what Oscar means to the story arc. At the very least, Janice will be thinking about him at some point and possibly comparing him to Mac. Just how much of a conflict or what role he will play isn’t clear to me.

Now – if I was a man writing “manly” books. My hero would meet someone other than the woman that he’s supposed to be interested in and if he liked her, he’d simply have an “interlude” and then go on with his life. All the female readers would roll their eyes, while the male readers would beat their chests and nod enthusiastically. But if I let Janice enjoy an “interlude” with Oscar while she’s still interested in Mac – she’d be nothing more than the Whore of Babylon. Breaking that tradition might be honest, but it could also make Janice an unsympathetic character and hurt the book.

Day three – By eight p.m. I had not even opened my document. I realize that everyone thinks all I do is write, but I don’t get to do it 24-7. I have other things that require my attention such as appointments, cleaning, and grocery shopping, so no writing. That is until Heather Rae Scott fired off a Facebook post that she was going to do the 1K in 1 hour challenge, and wondered who would care to join her. That’s picking an hour out of the day and trying to get a thousand words down. I said what the heck and jumped on the bandwagon.

Chapter four began with a new character being laid off from his job. I don’t know if this is really my bad guy or if he’s related to my bad guy. I’m still not sure I can actually write from a psycho’s perspective. I’m not even sure if this chapter will stay in the story, but we’ll see – editing is for December. I didn’t make the thousand words in the hour – I came in at 850, but I kept working for another half hour to finish up the chapter and ended with over 1100 words.

Not bad for a day that I hadn’t planned on writing anything.

The one other thing that I wanted to share is that I’m not worrying about a daily word count. If you divide up the goal of 50,000 words for the month, it’s 1667 per day. That’s a doable goal, but what if you have a day like I had today? I have days where the words pour out and then I have days where I couldn’t choke out 500 if my life depended on it. I’ve decided to go with a weekly goal of 12,500 so I don’t worry about a day like today. We started on Tuesday, so I have until Monday to meet my goal. If I hit it before then, I’ll let you know. I’m confident that I will.

I hope you are all having some success with your writing – keep at it!!!