Ta Da - NaNoWriMo

image courtesy of minegro

Is it the end or is it the beginning? I typed my 50,000th word on November 20th just hours before departing for Minneapolis. This is the quickest I've every completed a NaNoWriMo. However, I couldn't validate the results until today. So that said, I WON. Woo hoo, what a great feeling to have a third novel waiting in the wings.

That brings up the ...is it the end or is it the beginning. Even though I have the 50,000 words, the novel is far from over. Now I begin the laborious project of adding, cutting, editing and in general getting the masterpiece into well... masterpiece form. After 20 days of writing with my internal editor locked in a drawer, the resulting novel needs more work.

So, why try and write 50,000 words in the span of a month (or 20 days for me) if it is going to need to be edited and massaged into shape? Because, if I hadn't challenged myself to going all out, I would still be at the starting line thinking about writing the novel.

Where do I go from here? Good question. This novel (working title Dirty Deception) goes into mothballs for a year. Yep, I let her stew for about 12 months. She lingers around on my hard drive while I pull out the novel I wrote for NaNo last year and start the editing process. Dirty Deal (working title from last year) has been laying around relaxing and now it's time to drag her out and see what needs to be done.

Why do I let them lay around for a year? Absence makes the heart grow fonder they say. And with my NaNo projects nothing could be truer. If I were to start the editing process immediately I would probably just delete the sucker from my hard drive because after working on it non-stop for twenty days (for hours and hours each day) I am sick of it. So to prevent me from having a meltdown and to preserve my prose, it gets to rest for a year.

Now for a well-deserved Thanksgiving dinner for one and all. Remember to give thanks to all that is important to you and yours.

Day 14 NaNoWriMo

image courtesy of duncan


I'm reveling in my aheadedness (is that a word, I don't think so,) but I'm ahead of the curve and my writing buddies. Take that maryji and k9friend1 (I mean that in all sweetness. I'm not trying to be ugly, I swear.)

I pulled ahead of maryji yesterday, but she has a good excuse -- company and football. so I'm sure the minute her company leaves, she will kick my butt.

k9friend1-- don't know about her. I'll send her a little email and see what's up. Though, I imagine the minute she gets back to writing, she too, will kick my butt. That woman can write some words.

I've got company coming tomorrow, so I'm trying to get some extra words in today.

The weather here is excellent for November. Windows wide open today and no coats. Makes it hard to stay inside and write. Though it looks like rain all next week, so that will help the word count.

I have 1450 for today so far, with another three or four hours to write yet. I'm hoping to pull off 3000 - 4000 today.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Day 11, 12, 13 NaNoWriMo

image courtesy of sneeu

The last three days have gone by in a fog.

Day 11 - I spent with my friend Barb, who I am so thankful chooses to spend her Wednesdays with me. It's like having a free therapist and getting to each lunch all at once. Let's hear it for good friends who listen even when you rant and rave... :) Word count for Wednesday was 2002.

Day 12 - Critique day. Yep, after the gym and critique, I managed to squeeze out only 1586. But I noticed the word count widget is working. Yeah, NaNoWriMo gadget gurus. Thanks. don't ask me what the colors mean. I tried to figure it out thinking it was days I hit a target were one color and days I didn't were another color. And what's the thirds color. Anyway, that's not it. So if anyone can enlighten me, please do so. It's driving me crazy.

Day 13 - I am struggling mightily. I'm ready to kill off my main character and throw her love interest off a bridge. Sometime this week I totally abandoned my linear process and jumped write into writing out of sequence big time. I swore I wouldn't do that this year, but I did. I'll have to work on the linking scenes when my brain isn't so muddled. Word count today is 3003.

Day 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 NaNoWriMo

I've been busy, busy, busy.I noticed my little counter thing is still not working, so tomorrow if I get some time, I'll see if I can download another one.

Day 5 - Today was my critique group. No I didn't dare take in what I've been working on for NaNo. I do have some pride. I managed to crank out about 1500 words today.

Day 6 - Headed to the lake for a little peace and quiet. It's always easier writing in an atmosphere conducive to reflection. It doesn't hurt that it's in the middle of nowhere and there are no kids running up and down the roads on 4-wheelers. The only sounds are the rustling of the wind through the leaves. Oh wait, the leaves were all on the ground. The sound I heard was actually acorns falling on the metal roof --ALL NIGHT LONG. Due to travel, eating out with friends and the fact that my eyes were sagging by 8 p.m., I only managed a little over 100 words today.

Day 7 - Got an early start today. Had almost 1000 words before 8 a.m. Hubby went to coffee with the old codgers, so I hopped up and went to work. The afternoon lagged a little because my neighbor invited me to lunch. But I picked it up again in the late afternoon while hubby was raking leaves. YEAH for NaNo, it gets me out of raking leave. I did feel a tad guilty, but not for long. Grand total today 2300.

Day 8 - Neighbors went out of town, so we had no interruptions until hubby climbed in the attic and began tearing up the floorboard. His hammering and prying nearly drove me insane, so I read. Seriously, he should have been out raking leaves. When he realized I'd quit working on the novel, he went out to the barn to work. YEAH! I managed 4009 words today.

Day 9 - Neighbors still out of town. I fixed and awesome breakfast then gave hubby the rake and told him to get to work. I moved out onto the porch with my laptop and cranked out 4025 words. Hubby rewarded me with a bonfire and s'mores that evening. He must like me.

Day 10 - Travel day and bunko night, plus had a pukey puppy at home. Between all that and a visit to Crane's Country Store, where I swear I have never seen so many Carhartt items, I managed to get in 1615 words.


My grand total for 10 days is 23,765.

I did stall a couple of times and resorted to writing a few scenes out of sequence. I highly recommend this in the event your plot is stalling. If you know there are scenes you need, go ahead and write them, you can always go back and write the linking scenes when time permits. I managed 5 of these scenes this weekend, and it helped me to examine my plot and get a better understanding of where I was going with it.

Day 4 NaNoWriMo

photo courtesy of Hilarywho

Yes, Virginia there really was a Day 3. However, I barely made my word count. Needless to say I did not blog.

Day 3 was torture. My character is boring! It's hard to be funny in the face of murder, but she needs to lighten up.

Yesterday I worked for every word I put on the page. I struggled, but true to NaNo, I did not edit. Me thinks that is why I struggled. I know my character too well. As I would type a sentence, my internal editor screamed from inside the desk drawer, "she would not do that. Make her stop. She is not that stupid. Give her a funny line. Make the cop kiss her, you doofus."

I threw chocolate in the drawer, she shut up and I continued to type. I made it through Day 3.

Day 4, a tad better. I got to the point in the story where my character's personality is starting to shine through. (The only sounds that came from my desk drawer were moans of pleasure. I'm hoping it was the chocolate or it could have been the Chippendale calendar I threw in there. Whatever! At least she isn't screaming at me.)

My word count...are you ready (drumroll sounds) 10,140. k9friend1 and maryji are still beating me. But as my professor daughter pointed out, "They are probably writing crap. It's much easier to make your word count when you throw down a bunch of crap." Did I say how much I love my professor daughter. Little does she know how much crap dear old mom is writing.

Ah, but that is what NaNo is all about.......writing. Letting the words flow onto the computer screen. Foregoing contractions. Adding every adverb and adjective in the dictionary and never, ever hyphenating a word. I can clean all that up in December :)

I promised a little widget on the side so you could keep up with my word count. . . it's broken. Rest assured the brain trust at NaNoWriMo is working on it. So when you see it, you'll know it's fixed.

Oh, I need to give a shout out to my friend Barb, for taking me away from the computer today and listening to me carry on and complain. That's what friends are for!

So, how's your day going?

Day 2 NaNoWriMo

photo courtesy of Rootytootoot

TODAY IS: PLAN YOUR EPITAPH DAY (No I did not make this up.) What do you want on your tombstone?

Took a shower this morning. I'm not one of the NanoWriMoers who can go without the basic necessities like clean clothes, brushed teeth and clean hair. I'll give up word count for personal hygiene any day.

Apparently, I'll give up word count for a good shopping spree, too. My daughter's been gone a week, and today was her first day home. She asked me to go shopping today for goodies for her new house. Could I say no? No. So a shopping we did go. But I did use the time wisely. While we were driving to our destination, eating our lunch and agonizing over which curtains would look nice in her living room, I plotted.

I'm sure the lady who overhead our conversation at lunch was ready to whip out her cell phone and call 911. It went something like this.

Me: If I murdered someone at school, say in the maintenance shed out back, would the cops shut the school down?

Daughter: Depends. Is school in session?

Me: No, the principal canceled classes due to the flood.

Daughter: Did you leave any clues in the actual school building?

Me: No, the murder weapon is in the maintenance shed right next to the body. Easy to find, right out in the open.

Daughter: You should be good to go. They might close it down for 24 hours or so while they investigate, but you should be back in after 24 - 35 hours.

Me: Great, cause I still need to clean up after the flood.

Now to put that all into perspective. It's been raining here for about 40 days and 40 nights with all kinds of flash flood warnings.

Anyway, that's pretty much how my day went--mulling murder and mayhem while shopping for curtains, rugs and utensil containers. What can I say? Just an ordinary day in the life of a writer. Create a scene and buy some pots and pans.

So... I didn't get back to the computer until after six, and I've been slaving away over the keyboard ever since. Except for the side trip to the kitchen for a bowl of pretzels. Oh, and after I started eating the pretzels, cough, cough, cough. I needed a Diet Coke to wash it down.

Next year I am seriously considering buying one of those little refrigerators for next to my desk. I figure if I don't have to go downstairs for caffeine, I can add about 100 words to my word count. And diapers, if I drink all that caffeine...well you know what happens. It's not that the bathroom is that far away, but the time it takes could be more wisely spent adding word count.

Now for the word count you ask? How many did I get? Well, you all aren't cheering me on, so I only managed 2018 today--482 short of my goal. If I'd had that fridge and the diapers, I could have easily made it.

Keep your fingers crossed for tomorrow. NO SHOPPING, NO CAFFEINE, NO POTTY STOPS.

Oh and my writing buddies... K9friend1 topped 8300 today. I think she is so wearing a diaper. Maryji is at 4699. Not sure what's happened to Maryji today. She hasn't checked in that I know of. She's probably out buying diapers, so she can push the word count tomorrow.

Till then, keep rooting for me.

P.S. I don't know what's wrong with the little word count widget I added. I'll keep working on it. I need something to procrastinate on anyway.

Day 1 - NaNoWriMo

image courtesy of Duncan

Woohoo! I stayed up until midnight last night. Being the rule-abider that I am, I started my novel at 1 minute after zero hour. I didn't last long, and was in bed by 12:45. But I had a start.

After a leisurely breakfast, I read the newspaper and scoured the ads for sales. Nothing of interest, so I climbed the stairs and pounded out 2500 words finishing just before supper. Kind of slow for me, but I took several breaks and checked in with my writing buddies K9friend and Maryji. I am not happy to report that both ladies have exceeded my goal and are making me look bad. Though I am glad they are doing so well. I just hate that they're making me look like a slacker. But I did manage to meet the daily goal I had established and the night is still young. I'm hoping to end the day with about 3500 words. I'll be happy at that pace.

I have kept my promise to stay off Facebook. I might use that as a weekly reward, but only if I meet my weekly goal. It's just to tempting to click on it and check on everything. Oh, Facebook, I miss you.

Keep your fingers crossed. I need all the luck I can muster.

Off to the bat cave!

Tips and Tricks for a Successful NaNoWriMo

Courtesy of NaNoWriMo

Can you believe it is a little over 24 hours before NaNoWriMo starts. I am stoked this year. I have two wins under my belt and ready for another.

It's only 30 days, but it can be a frustrating 30 days as I have found. First of all November is a short month, and it has Thanksgiving and Black Friday--two days where I am totally worthless when it comes to writing.

Here are my tips and tricks for completing NaNoWriMo.

1. Start with an outline, idea or basic premise. Don't wait until zero hour on November 1st to start thinking about what you want to write. The only given with NaNo is that you cannot start writing the novel until November 1st, but you can outline and do character sketches to your heart's content.

2. Have a beginning, middle and end in mind. You may not make it to the end before you use up your 50,000 words, but at least know what the end is. How can you get there if you don't know where you're going?

3. Turn off your internal editor. This really goes without saying, but I'll say it again. Shove your internal editor in the drawer along with copious amounts of chocolate. Let yourself write crap. You can clean it up later when you aren't on deadline. So you miss a comma or split an infinitive. Who cares? Get the story down and worry about cleaning it up later. Focus on the big picture, not the little details.

4. Draw up a schedule. You have to write roughly 1666 words a day in order to reach 50,000 by November 30th. If you know you're going to be cooking the turkey on Thanksgiving and have 50 belligerent relatives coming over, chances are you aren't going to be writing 1666 words that day, so spread them out across other days. Plan for it and then spend turkey day with your family. I have an Excel spreadsheet. I know I'm obsessive-compulsive, get over it. I set a daily goal for the entire month and then track it each day. If I lag behind, then I smack myself around and catch up.

5. Front load your schedule. You're going to be fresher in the early days in NaNo than you are coming down the home stretch. If you can write 1800 or 200o words a day the first couple of days or the first week, you'll be ahead when you start to feel like your dragging. Or if you are employed (some of us aren't) then plan to write extra words on your days off. I always plan to take Thanksgiving and Black Friday off, so I divide those 3332 words up and write them in the beginning of the month.

6. Do not allow yourself to get behind. Some days it's hard enough to come up with 1666 words, but if you get behind, especially in the waning days of NaNoWriMo, it is almost impossible to keep up your momentum. That's where the schedule comes in handy.

7. Get a Writing Buddy. It helps to have someone encourage you through the event. Misery loves company, right? So get a writing buddy and track your progress with each other. Don't get bogged down in emails and drivel, just check in periodically and give each other a kind word of encouragement.

8. Log on to NaNoWriMo. Speaking of support, NaNoWriMo provides it. Whatever you want. They have forums of every sort, cool widgets to take your progress, buddy lists, encouraging pep talks, word count tracker, Municipal Liaisons who organize and support local write-ins. You name it they got it. So go check it out. And while you're there, consider making a donation to help keep the site up and running. (Thanks NaNoWriMo for all you do.)

9. Use a timer. Raid the kitchen junk drawer, and get out that timer you never use. Or download a timer from Harmony Hollow Software. Set the time for one hour and write non-stop. If you need to take a pit-stop or caffeine break, stop the timer, do you business, then come right back and start the timer. No fair sitting in the bathroom until the timer goes off. Once you finish your hour, set the timer for 10 minutes and take a break. Get up and leave your writing space. Grab a coke, stretch your legs, deep breath, put the laundry in the dryer--whatever. When your ten minutes is up, set the timer for another hour and continue. Repeat with 10 minutes breaks until you've written your daily goal.

10. Don't give up the fun stuff. Are you addicted to email, Facebook, Farmtown, or any one of a number of online distractions. Use them as rewards. When your hour timer goes off and you get your 10 minute break, use it to check your email or play a quick game. But when your break is over, go back to work. NO EXCEPTIONS!

11. Reward yourself. Once you've written your daily goal, do something fun. Kick back and relax, take a bath (you know you need one), go for a walk, call a friend, eat a healthy snack.

12. Backup your work frequently. You do not want to lose even one single word you've written during NaNoWriMo, so back your work up onto a flashdrive, an external drive or whatever means you have to backup your documents. Don't just back it up on the PC or laptop you're using. Make sure to have an external source. During NaNoWriMo, I back up my to 2 flash drives and if I leave the house, I take one of them with me. Paranoid, I know. but it saves having to re-create a file that you've slaved over.

13. Select writing music. I have several mixes I use to write with, depending on my mood and the type of scene I am writing. If you haven't tried writing with music, give it a try. If it's distracting you can always ditch it, or change up the tunes.

14. Don't be afraid to lock the door and turn off the phone. Most non-writers do not understand the the need we writers have to dive into such a project. Heck, some writers don't even understand it. Send an email prior to NaNoWriMo and tell your friends you love them, but you want them to leave you the hell alone until December 1. I would say do this to your immediately family, but you live with them and may have to depend on them to slide your meals under the door or toss in clean underwear periodically.

15. Emerge periodically from your office. You need sunshine so you don't get rickets or scurvy or whatever that horrible disease was that sailors use to get from lack of sunshine. At the very least eat an orange now and then.

16. Finally, and foremost, remember why you are doing this. Can't help you here. I have my own reasons and they probably differ from yours, so insert yours here________________________________________________________.


Go forth and have fun. See you at the finish line.

Tricia

P.S. Come back here often and cheer me on. I'll have a little counter shortly so you can see my progress.

Hello World

photo courtesy of viewmaker

Ready or not. I am back. It's been a few months since I've updated the blog. What can I say? Life has a way of getting in the way. Actually it was my novel. I'm on the downhill slide of editing. It's going out to a couple more readers (thanks Kim and Ashley) then that puppy is going to be making its rounds to various agents and editors. So if you have any suggestions, send them my way. It's women's fiction with a cozy bent. But not too cozy.

I'm ready to take on Novel #2 which was written during NaNoWriMo last year. It's the sequel to the one I just finished editing, and I am looking forward to digging into it and getting back in touch with the new characters I added. It was really hard to go back to editing Novel 1 after I had written Novel 2, because my character had grown, but I had to remember not to include the growth. hard to do. Plus I added some depth to previous characters and had to leave them shallow. Aargh! It was hard.

Actually working on the outline for Novel 3 which I will discuss a little next week.

So for now, keep writing and if you have agents/editors who are looking for women's fiction, feel free to name drop. All suggestions accepted.

Wanna Write a Script?

Here's your chance? November has NaNoWriMo and April has Script Frenzy. What better way to get your feet wet writing a script than do to it with a group of fellow writers and a website to cheer you on. Check it out Script Frenzy.

The challenge, if you're up to it, write 100 pages of script in 30 days. Script Frenzy starts April 1st and ends April 30th.

I can already hear the coffee pots gurgling and the chocolate bags rustling.

If you're up for the challenge, let me know!

Short Story and Poetry Contest and What's Next.

photo courtesy of jodimarr


Crazyhorse, a literary journal announces their Crazyhourse Fiction Prize and Lynda Hull Memorial Poetry Prize here .

Top Prize is $2000 and publication in Crazyhorse. Entry fee is $16 per manuscript for new entrants and $14 per manuscript if you've entered Crazyhorse prizes before.

Deadline is Dec. 15, 2008. Get cracking!

I've finally come down off my NaNoWriMo high and found I actually have some words left (my friends won't be surprised, because I usually never shut up.) I've taken this week off to recuperate (ie. sleep late), clean my office (I pretended to throw stuff away so my husband would shut up about the mess) and get ready to decorate the house for Christmas (okay, put up a fake tree with a couple of shiny ornaments and tinsel that I saved from last year. I had to throw the candy canes away because they got all gooey. Who knew?)

I have three more days, then I get back to work on the novel. Ya'll keep me on my toes, because I have a tendency to slack (play computer games.)

Tomorrow I'll post my list of favorite gifts to buy the writer in your life (or me, if you're so inclined.)

Word Count 30903

courtesy of evadedave

A quick word about palindromes. You know, words that spell the same thing forward and backward. Like Bob, Hannah, Anna, Mom, Dad. You get my drift. Take a look at my word count--30903 a numerical palindrome. Isn't it cute?

Thanks to all the geeks on NaNo who got me started looking for the palindromes.

So tell me more palindromes to get my mind off numerical ones. I seriously need a distraction.

Word Count 28718

Run turkey, run

Well, the month is half over and I'm more than halfway to my 50,000 word goal. Unless I have a major meltdown, looks like I'll actually get to eat turkey with my family.

We had snow flurries here today, so that and the wind made me want to stay inside and write. I have a hard time staying at my desk when the weather is nice. I put my garden to bed early this year, so I'd have time for NaNo and would not be tempted to go out and prune plants.

I have to give kudos to Chris Baty and all the behind the scenes folks that work countless hours to keep NaNoWriMo functional. You all give us the momentum we need to push through our procrastination, stubborn characters, stalled plots and everything else that keeps us from writing.

This is my second year participating in NaNoWriMo. I crossed the finish line last year and plan to do so again this year. But I know if I were doing it on my own, I wouldn't find the ooomph to push me to the end. Thanks for everything you all do.

If you are so inclined hop over here and give NaNoWriMo a small donation to help them defer the costs of this awesome program. I know they will be grateful. I am.

And if you don't know anything about NaNoWriMo, go check out their programs here.

Historic Moment

Balloons by Crystl

Not like the election or anything, but at 6:40pm, I crossed the halfway point. Yeppers, I have 25,003 words. I still have the whole night ahead of me and all day tomorrow before the month is half over.

More later... with a workshop announcement.

Word Count 18084

Short and sweet today.....

Thanks for stopping by.

Word Count 13465

I'm more than 25% of the way to the 50000 words. Big woohoo for me. And I know you guys are visiting, so where's the comments--Thanks Tricia G. for the support. How about the rest of you? Stick your head in and say HEY! (I have it set to MODERATE COMMENTS, so don't worry if you comment doesn't show up right away.)

Sticking to the outline is harder than I imagined. Last year I did NaNoWriMo by the seat of my pants. No outline, just the idea for a story and a few characters in my head. This year I spent some time preparing the outline. I know--already told you that. Not only did I add a twist at the end, now my story has zigged off. But it's a good thing. It's allowing me to add more depth to one of my favorite characters (think major love interest here.)

I'm swilling down the tea and working into the early hours of morning, but I'm having fun. I found a cool free gadget called Cool Timer from Harmony Hollow. I know I could use a kitchen time, but this one make cool noises. I set it for an hour and write. When the timers goes off, I set it for 10 minutes and give myself a little break. When it sounds again, back to work I go. It's really helping me stay on track and away from surfing the internet.

I'm listening to Taylor Swift, Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney and my hero Trace Adkins--especially Trace. I love his voice. I imagine my character Case Alder with Trace's voice, except Alder can't sing. But he's got the same deep voice.

-

Word Count at the end of Today - 11157

A Winter Wicked Witch courtesy of smcgee

In some respects this NaNoWriMo is easier than last year. I worked out a pretty good outline before the contest began, so I knew more where my story was headed. Last year, when I started NaNoWriMo, I didn't even have a clue whodunit. I just started writing and characters emerged, the storyline changed and by the end of NaNoWriMo I thought I knew whodunit. I didn't. In the editing process, I added a twist and another character was born.

So the fact that I know where this one is headed is easier, I thought. Today I changed the whodunit. But it made sense and it makes plotting the story easier. I was having trouble with the motive of my suspect, so this change makes so much sense. And it's too cool. I also have to credit my friend, Tricia G for the suggestion. Tricia G, you rock. Now finish that damn zombie book.

The hard part for this one is turning off my internal editor. I thought I'd left her on a cruise ship in Montreal, but the little snit has turned up. I didn't even leave chocolate crumbs, so how she found me, I'll never know. But she's screaming at me to slow down and add sensory details.

Maybe I better get some sleep.

Word Count 1008

typewriter courtesy of texas gurl


I have one of these old typewriters in the basement. Bought it when I fancied myself an antique collector--I'm not. But I'm sure glad I'm pounding away on a Dell and not this monster.

It's 11:00 am. I started about 8:30 and have 1008 words. Actually, I stayed up until midnight last night and entered the first sentence, so eight words were written in the early am. Then I went to bed and slept on the plot. I figured I'd be awak all night with plots lines running through my head, but I zonked.

Can't get on to the NaNoWriMo site right now, so I'm hoping to update my little calendar later today.

I've been through three cd's - Phil Vassar, Sugarland and Toby Keith, a bottle of Crystal Light and a small bowl of pretzels.

Log on and give me a shout of encouragement.

Housekeeping

Broom courtesy of irina souiki

I'vd added a few new widgets. Most noteably my word count for NaNoWriMo. I'm not a techie, so we'll see if it works--starting Saturday.

I've also added the RSS feeds widget, so please subscribe.

I'll be adding more as soon a November is over. Stay tuned.

By the way, how many of you are participating in NaNoWriMo?

Looking for a speaker for a writing conference??

Street in Quebec City



Hey, didn't mean to leave the lights off for so long.

October has been crazy. First part of the month, I went on a cruise to see the fall colors in New England and Canada. Instead of seeing colors, we out ran a hurricane (yeah in New England--who would have thunk?) Then our scenic cruising day on the St. Lawrence, it was so foggy we could barely see over the side of the ship. What gives with that?

But the gem of Quebec City was waiting for us. What a treat! If you've never been there, it is so worth the visit. It's not for the faint of heart. There are hills and winding streets, but around every corner, there's a neat little shop or cafe. I can't wait to go back.

The last part of the month I've was busy getting Saturday Writers annual fall workshop lined up. It was this past Saturday. We had a magnificent day. The weather was outstanding. Our speakers were awesome, and it's over. And the best part if next year someone else gets to plan it :)

If you're planning a workshop or conference I've got some names you might want to try. Krista Goering from The Krista Goering Literary Agency was our agent. She did a presentation in the morning and took pitches in the afternoon. She is a delightful woman, very friendly and outgoing. I would highly recommend her.

In the afternoon we had an editor panel that consisted of Anna Genoese, a freelance editor, Dr. Susan Swartwout from Southeast Missouri State University and Rebecca French Smith from Missouri Life magazine. All of these ladies did a great job and again and recommendation from me is in order.

My thanks to all our great speakers for taking the time from their schedule to spend the day with us and share their expertise.

On a side note, my writing friends have convinced me to set the current novel aside for the month while I take Sissy on another adventure. That's what I'm going to do. I've been at this one for almost a year now and it seems like I've read it a thousand times, probably because I have. Plus I need a break because I have this huge new plot line in my head and it keeps distracting me. Once I get it on paper, I think I will be better able to go back finalize my first one.

I'm gearing up for NaNoWriMo which starts November 1st. I'm not going to be as active on here, but will be trying to post my results daily and give the rest of you a little pep talk. You know, if I can write 50,008 words in a month so can you. So, freeze up a bunch of meals, buy scads of chocolate, wash up all the laundry and pull up a chair. The writing is about to begin. AND I can't wait.

Keep your fingers crossed.