Down in F L A

Sorry I didn't get a post out on Friday. We stopped for the night at a totally skanky Motel 6 and I just didn't have the energy.

So I have strep, and got on meds just in time to miss going to my relatives' for Thanksgiving. However, I'm now on vacation with my parents and my sister's family here in sunny Florida.

I'd thought I would have lots of time to write while I was on vacation. Yeah, not so much. Not that I probably couldn't sneak off to a Starbucks or something... The last time I was here it was me and The Husband and the parents, and it was a pretty mellow time. This time I'm being social, and it's a bit of a time sink. Not that I don't like spending time with my family - I do, or I wouldn't be here in the first place. But mellow, restful, productive writing-wise...not so much.

And I'm already sunburned. Joy.

This Pain Ain't a Pleasure

Why is it that when I finally break down and make an appointment to see the doctor, I start feeling better within 24 hours? And, yet, I know if I cancel the appointment I'll start feeling crappy again. I think it's my body's way of rewarding me for crying uncle.

And yes, I'm sick. Have been for a few weeks, but it's that annoying kind of sick that's not quite bad enough for you to do anything about it beyond maybe taking some cold meds. The last time I got sick like this I had a low-grade sinus infection for a month and a half. This time it's a sore throat that's lasted a couple weeks.

Sometimes having a high pain threshold can sort of work against you. If I'm not in significant pain to the point of being debilitated, then I'm probably going to ignore it. Especially if I can put it down to something like a sinus infection, or one of my ever-present food sensitivities. And then I tell my doc that I've been sick for two weeks, or that I get headaches four or five times a week, and they give me such a look…

(By the way, if you get mild headaches very often and they can't find a neurological reason, check with your dentist. I got a bite plate for when I sleep and it fixed the headaches right away.)

So I'm off to the doctor's to see if they want to culture my throat or something. Fortunately I start a nice long vacation in a couple days, although The Husband and The Bulldog will be staying home while I visit with family. My parents are driving me. Maybe I can try taking Dramamine so I can type in the car without getting nauseous…on with the novel!

100 Words About: Stuff vs Experiences

We sold my Camaro last night.

It hadn't moved in two years due to some serious rust issues in the floor pan, but other than that it was in fairly good shape. We were very fond of the car but haven't had the funds to sink into it since my bout with unemployment in 2009.

We sold it to a high-schooler and his dad. They're going to restore it together, along with the younger brother. They promised to bring it by when it was all done.

Imagining father and son working together in their garage, remembering the excitement on their faces, the glee in the dad's eyes when he finally got the car running and drove it away—that makes me happy. It's Americana on a level you just don't see as much these days.

We sold it for a song. Worth every penny we didn't get.

Not Quite NaNo, Plus RT and SFWA!

It’s the day of acronyms!

So I'm totally behind as far as NaNoWriMo goes, and I've decided that's ok. While I can do 1667 words a day, it's a lot of stress and pressure one me, and with us only having had The Bulldog for about a month, there's lots of training to be done that's more important to me than chasing a word count goal.

My experience so far has been that when I sit down to write, I think of that number 1667, and it's so big that I get discouraged. Whereas when I sit down to write 500 words, that feels like a good reasonable goal. It's doable, so I'm more likely to do it. Therefore, I'm back to the daily 500-words-a-day word goal. I'm really happy I made the attempt though, as it got me started into my new novel; a feat which, as some of you have seen if you've been reading this for awhile, I've been trying to get going for over a year.

I also wrote a 2300-word short story this month and submitted it, so I feel good about that too. I want to keep doing the short fiction while I work on the novel.

Speaking of short fiction, check out my first-ever review in RT Book Reviews! Six of the twenty-one stories in the anthology were mentioned in the review, and mine was one of them! Sweet! The anthology as a whole got four stars.

Graeme's Fantasy Book Review gave a very in-depth look at the anthology, and had very nice things to say about "White Knight, Black Horse." Thanks Graeme! As a whole we got eight and a half out of ten.

And last but far from least, I'm now an associate member in SFWA! Yeay! One sale down, two to go. I've wanted to be a full active member pretty much since I found out about Science Fiction Writers of America. Why? Because it's hard. A girl's gotta have goals, you know?

Top Image: Paul / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

NaNoWriMo 2010: Day 12

I got a little writing done yesterday, but not much. I figured today I could do some catching up since I was taking the day off. Of course, I didn't start writing today until 2:30pm...

I've fled the house and am hanging out at my local library. While they do have the distraction that is WiFi, it's very nice being here as opposed to home. Here I cannot distract myself with laundry or dishes or walking the dog. I have to sit at this little table and look at my computer, and I told myself I can't leave until The Husband gets home around 5:30pm. So far it's been pretty good. I did a little research, then jumped back into the novel.

I still occasionally find myself stopping to think about descriptions, but I just keep reminding myself that I can add it in during revision. It's a hard habit to break. It's also hard to not go back and re-read from the beginning, but I'm not letting myself do that either. Rar! Keep writing, recruit!

Speaking of which...

NaNoWriMo 2010: Day 10

Didn't get any work on the novel done, but did power through a 2300-word short story. Whew! I feel better now. Back to the YA tomorrow.

NaNoWriMo 2010: Day 9

Well, I at least got some writing done tonight. Word wars are fun! 950 words in half an hour, and I came in third out of four people. Up to 7900 words and still chugging. Plus, I finally finished up a small side project that's been nagging at me, so at least that won't distract me anymore. Plus did some world-building over lunch. All in all, a productive day.

Oh yeah, and I got another short story rejection. Form rejection this time, sad.

NaNoWriMo 2010: Day 8

I am soooo far behind.

As you might guess from the lack of posts, I didn't get any writing done this weekend. In fact, I'll I've got today so far are a few sentences I managed to get down after work before my carpool showed up.

Today was The Bulldog's first obedience class. It's at 7:30pm, which means I have just enough time to walk him and eat dinner after getting home from work before getting on the road to doggie class. The Husband has had gout for the last couple weeks, so that means I get to do all the walks. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people who can plot while walking the dog. (At least, not until he learns some better leash manners. It's a process.)

But I'm not giving up! Tomorrow I'm head out to a 3 hour write-in and we'll see how far I get. I've still got this big unplotted section in the middle. It's not a plot hole, exactly, more like plot fog of war. Or maybe Phase 2.

NaNoWriMo 2010: Day 5

Ok! Just finished my word count for today. Man, I forgot how much of novel writing is like pulling teeth, but so far, so good! I've got more action, and more plot points are starting to fall into place. Wootness! Now just to figure out what the big external conflict is...

NaNoWriMo 2010: Day 4

Of course, the day where I think I'll have time to catch up ends up being the day where I'm struggling just to stay one day behind. At least I did finally get some laundry and dishes done, and I'm up to 5000 words.

NaNoWriMo 2010: Day 3

Woohoo, I'm on a roll! Of course, I haven't gotten to the hard part yet - ie, the parts where I have no idea what happens. But so far I'm having a lot of fun just writing out all the bad conversations and the extra descriptions and even a silly song. Edit later!!!

In other news, I got a short story rejection today, but it was a really good one. The editor called my story "terrific," thanked me for submitting it, and asked me to submit to her again. Personalized rejections are worth 2 points, you know! ;)

Now I just need to catch up on my word count from the first day of NaNo so I can treat myself to reading Batman: The Killing Joke.

NaNoWriMo 2010: Day 2

Woohoo, now I'm rocking! Got my 1667 words for today done, and feeling pretty good about it. It's not on any of the projects that I had on my radar, which I think is part of why it's working so well. The other reason is that I'm working with a setting that I already know really well, and any world-building decisions I still need to make are mostly the kind that will get figured out as I write anyway.

The project is a young adult (or possibly middle-grade) novel set using the same rules as my stories "A Wild Hunt" and "Cry Wolf." (Well, actually all of my paranormal stories are written using that world system, but those two actually deal with Faerie.) This is the perfect kind of story for me to use to get back to pantsing a novel, because there is very little research or setting decision-making to distract me; I've already done it all. And since I don't know what's going to be happening in my other stories any more than what's going going to happen in this one, well, why not?

And best of all, now I'm actually excited about it again. Sweet! Now I just need to catch up from all the false starts yesterday...

NaNoWriMo 2010: Day 1

Well, so far today I've started Project Geargirl twice, and written about a thousand words of utter crap. I mean, I know first drafts are allowed to suck, but this is more suck than I can take.

The problem is that I have no idea how to get into the story. And I've changed the setting so much that I really can't fit the original story idea into it anymore.

So then I tried to start in on the Encore expansion, but got completely derailed by The Bulldog. By the time I'd taken him out to pee and got him settled down again, I'd totally lost the mojo I'd started rebuilding.

It's all incredibly frustrating. I've probably written close to my word count for today, but I'm not keeping any of it. I think my experiment with quantity over quality is a dismal failure, at least so far.