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Friday, October 5, 2012

Now I've gone and done it.....

Anyone notice the new badge over on the right hand side of my blog? Yup, it's official. I signed up for NaNoWriMo. Am I insane? I haven't even finished my Camp NaNoWriMo novel first draft. EEEK!

My initial plan had been to finish "Not a Whisper", my camp novel, by the end of Sept, edit it in Oct/Nov and publish in early December. Well, writing slowed down a LOT in September and October isn't doing much better. Too much life sticking its nose into my life.

So, rather than rebel and do an EditNaNo, which I considered doing, I'm going to take my short story, Lost and Found  and try a contemporary romance using that as the prequel. I have had quite a few folks asking me to do that so I figured NaNoWriMo is the time to tackle it. I may not win, I may end up with a novella instead of a novel but it's the journey that's important. Right?

For those that are interested, here is an excerpt from my short story Lost and Found [only .99 at Amazon]:
The tears increased and Nancy “What’s wrong, Sarah?” Nancy grabbed Sarah’s arms, “What is it?” 
“It’s Brian. He went to help Mr. Jacobs at the church and he should have been home over two hours ago. I tried calling 911 but there isn’t one.” She slumped down into the rocker. “I should never have moved back here.” The tears increased and Nancy grabbed a dish towel from the kitchen counter.
“Don’t say that. We’re all glad to have you back home.” 
“I thought we’d be safe here and I wouldn’t have to worry. Brian doesn’t know anything about the country. He doesn’t know how to protect himself out here. He could have been attacked by a grizzly. Or fallen into the pond and drowned.”
Putting her hands on her hips, Nancy tried to look angry. “Sarah, you’re overreacting. We don’t have grizzlies out here and that pond is only two feet deep. Calm down. We’ll find him.” 
“But he doesn’t know anyone here. He hasn’t made any friends yet. He says all the kids make fun of him because he’d rather sit at the computer than play sports." She absentmindedly wiped her nose with the towel. “Something bad has happened to him and it’s all my fault!” 
A deep voice cut through her sniffling. “Excuse me ma’am. I have to agree with Nancy. You are overreacting but that just shows you’re a good mother.” Sarah looked up slowly – up and up and up. The man standing beside Nancy was at least 6’ 6’’. When she reached the top she noticed he was wearing a hat, one like state policemen wear.
“I’m sorry, Sarah. I forgot to introduce you,” Nancy apologized. “Sarah, this is Carl Pierce our new sheriff. He’s only been in town for two months so I thought you two would have something in common.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth she knew it was the wrong thing to say. Sarah burst into tears again, accompanied by heaving sobs. 
Nancy reached over and hugged her. “Sarah, calm down. Let’s look at this objectively. There’s got to be an explanation. Tell us again what Brian said.”
Sniffling and snuffling, Sarah tried to remember. “He said he was going to help Mr. Jacobs at the church. He was so excited and I was busy so I really didn’t get any details. I just remember telling him to be careful crossing the highway and to be home by five for dinner.” She looked at the clock – seven-thirty.
When Carl put his hand on her shoulder, she looked up into the most beautiful green eyes, more striking than any she had ever seen on anyone – man or woman. They went perfectly with his sandy colored hair and deep tan. She scolded herself. Stop it, your son is missing and you’re thinking about how good looking Carl is? You’re acting like a city hussy. You left that life behind, remember? She squirmed in her chair and sat up a little straighter.
“We’ll find him, ma’am. Boys will be boys.”
“Not my Brian! You don’t understand-” 
Carl interrupted. “What I understand is your son is late coming home and we’re going to find him.” He turned and headed out the kitchen door leaving them both startled.
“Isn’t he the greatest?” whispered Nancy. “He’s not only gorgeous, he’s nice to everyone AND he’s single.” 
“Nancy!” Sarah blushed. “All I can think about is Brian. If something has happened to him, it’s my fault. He didn’t want to move here. He loved the city, riding the buses, visiting the museums and the library. Out here there aren't any buses. We don’t even have cable.”
The title for the new book is currently "Home Again" but if anyone comes up with a better suggestion, I'm wide open to ideas.

12 comments:

  1. Congrats on signing up for NaNo. I'm teetering, thanks to fear! I have a story that could use my focus, but 50,000 words in 30 days. Scary. But then you mentioned the journey. Would it really be so bad if I try and failure means a 20,000 word progress on my WIP. Or even 30K. You've left me with a lot to think about. Wishing you a wonderful journey!

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  2. Wow, two months for editing? That's amazingly fast for a novel, I would have thought! I'm signing up for NaNo this year too, can't wait! Good luck :)

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  3. Looking forward to seeing your progress, and for getting tips from someone who's had experience with it!

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  4. Congrats on signing up for NaNo. I haven't done it yet but I'm certainly planning on signing up. I've had a ball with it the first three years so I can't wait to do it again.

    Best of luck with your projects!

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  5. I love NaNo and have also signed up (again) this year. No idea what I'm going to write yet, but sometimes that's the case. I sit down on 11/1 and just start writing. A couple of times I've had ideas to start with, but mostly, it's whatever inspires me that day. LoveloveloveLove Nano!

    Happy writing!

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  6. Torch Ginger was a Nano novel. Of course, it needed the most editing of any of my books because I wrote it without an outline, "just for fun" as a Nano book, then tried to use it! So setting out with a plan is a much better idea! I think I threw away 50,000 of the words I wrote on that one!

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  7. I like the look of this year's NaNo badge. I guess I'm not going to do it this year. I never finished last year's attempt and I've got too much on my writing table right now.

    Good luck with your efforts!

    Lee
    Tossing It Out

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  8. Glad to hear of another wreckless person planning to do it. I didn't get to the june or August camps as wanted to edit previous nano novels. Didn't get as far as i'd hoped. Will try to do some planning this year!

    Good luck! xx

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  9. Great to hear, Donna! Thanks for adding me on the NaNo site! Added you back, and look forward to sharing the fun and hectiness of November with you!

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  10. So glad to see some friends jumping in...anyone wanting to buddy up, you can find me HERE/

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  11. OMG, I did it. I signed up! I also added you as a buddy. I'm excited, but scared and nervous. So much planning to do! Eek!

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  12. Yippee...It will be fun.... exhilarating, exciting and terrifying. LOL!

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