NaNoWriMo 2011 Day 6

Words Today: 173
Total Words: 10354
Last Sentence: “These lights, are they spots? Flashes? When do you see them?”

It was a late finish today, but I managed. I've got a few responses to yesterday's question about my novel's mock cover, but I'm going to wait a little longer before talking about them in case anyone else wants to guess. I suppose I'm going to have to finally share a description of the story, which scares me more than writing 50,000 words in a month!

NaNoWriMo 2011 Day 5 (With Title and Cover!)

I finally got an idea for my title last night - a play on the word "deadline." Of course the first thing I did was stick "deadline" in an Amazon book search. It came back with about seven different books, all titled "Deadline." I don't need that kind of competition, so I decided to go with "Catching the Dead Line" as my rough draft title. It's better than what I had been calling it, which was "Something With Death in the Title"!

My reward to myself today for reaching my word count was making a fake cover. I had hoped to upload it to the NaNo site, but apparently they haven't got the book cover feature working yet so here will have to do. I also made a tiny version to make sure everything was readable at Amazon thumbnail size:

So I have a question for anyone out there:

Based solely on the title and cover, what do you think my story is about?

I'm curious to see how effective the title and cover are in getting the story across. There's no wrong answer! Please post your thoughts in the comments. Thanks!

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Daily Word Count: 1686
Total Word Count: 8641
Last Sentence: As he passed a set of cranes, relics from the days when the docks where home to ships and warehouses instead of luxury flats and trendy restaurants, he caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye.

NaNoWriMo 2011 Day 4

Daily Word Count: 1667
Total Word Count: 6939
Last Sentence: “What have you done now?” she asked.

Today wasn't too bad. By that I mean that it still seemed like it took as long to get my words as yesterday, but they seemed to be coming easier. I'm nervous about the weekend because normally I don't write on Saturday and Sunday. I'm not far enough ahead right now to skip them though, so I'm going to have to buckle down!

NaNoWriMo 2011 Day 3

Daily Word Count: 1689

Total Word Count: 5272

Last Sentence: “We need to talk about Dennis, Headmaster.”

Today dragged. I kept finding things to do (like Googling London flats for my characters) instead of writing. Eventually I had to turn on Freedom on for an hour to get myself started. That results in 400 words. I used Write or Die for another hour to get 1000 words and then spent another hour and a half pecking out the last 189 words. Ugh.

It's one of those days when I think, if I'm having to force myself to write, does that mean I'm not cut out for it? Or does it just mean that I'll never be one of those people who can hammer out a dozen books a year?

NaNoWriMo 2011 Day 2

Today wasn't too rough, though thanks to some internet distractions it did take me most of the afternoon to get my 1667 words. On a whim I made a major change in how my two main characters meet. Hopefully I won't end up regretting it down the line!

Daily Words: 1874

Total Words: 3584

Last Sentence: He would do it right that time, and no one would ever know the difference.

NaNoWriMo 2011 Day 1

I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month again - this is my third year. Hopefully this time goes better than the Camp NaNoWriMo I attempted over the summer! I pretty much crashed and burned then.

Because I'm a little 'stitious right now and have been feeling like my stories "disappear" as soon as I start talking publically about them, I'm not going to post a synopsis (yet). All I'll say is that it's a paranormal "bromance" and that the word "Death" will probably be in the title.

I'm going to try to do a short post every day recapping how it goes (or doesn't go). At the very least I'll post my word count and last sentence. If I get ahead and am able to skip some days (I try to do that for the weekends) I won't post on those days.

If you're participating in NaNo, let me know and feel free to add me as a writing buddy on the site. My username there is Clockwise.

Daily Words: 1710

Total Words: 1710

Last Sentence: “I was just hoping I could get you to sign this.”

Who is Mary Sue?

Who’s the girl that in implausibility’s face flies,

Who can do the impossible the first time she tries?

The youngest ensign to join the fleet,

Who saves the ship from utter defeat.

The long-lost daughter of an elfin queen,

Who rescues the hobbits and steals the scene.

She’s cute and clumsy, with a past that’s tragic;

Beloved by all, she can also do magic.

Her heart is pure, her aim is true,

Do you know who? It’s Mary Sue!

 (poem by Cat Carlisle)

Part of the problem of living off in my own little world is that I start to assume that things that are obvious to me are also obvious to everyone else. Case in point: I wrote the above poem, posted it on Facebook without the last two words and asked my friends to fill in the blank. I thought it would be a fun, easy riddle and was extremely embarrassed when NOBODY knew what I was talking about. I only had two guesses: "Mr. Magoo" from my brother and "Ashley Judd" (Huh?) from my husband.