NaNoWriMo Update Three: Complete

Today is the end of November and the deadline for the NaNoWriMo Challenge.

I am thrilled to say, I did it! 50,472 Words

It was an exciting, exhausting, exhilarating, and mind-boggling experience. And to show for it, I have 2/3 of a novel that is mostly crap.

Okay, I know – authors are always harsh on their own writing. But it really is crap. But since it’s my first, I’m okay with it. I intend to finish the work, edit it, and set it aside. And I’m going to write another, then another, because practice makes perfect. Perhaps someday I will have a novel that is worth sending out into the world.

But for now, I’m content with my creation. It wrote it to learn, and I succeeded.

I am also thankful to be able to read again. I only managed 2 books in November and felt the depravation acutely.

My “Currently Reading” Pile contains:

Of Blood and Honor
by Chris Metzen (World of Warcraft)

Creating a World without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism
by Muhammad Yunus

The Crusades: The Flame of Islam
by Harry Lamb

Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica
by Zora Neal Hurston

The Other Civil War: American Women in the Nineteenth Century
by Catherine Clinton

Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots
by J. C. Ryle

I must read all these, plus 2 more if I’m to reach my goal of 100 books read this year. So, enough chatting. I’m off to read!

If You Are Male, Please Read

We are asking for the Male Perspective.

Here is your Mission, should you Choose to Accept it:

Go to Kacie's Blog Here

Read Her Post and the Comments

Add your Two-Cents (or more, if you wish)

Thank you.

PS: Additional Female Perspectives Also Welcome

Thankful Thursday: A Special Tribute to Amanda

Amanda, (also known as Renaissance_Phoenix) started Thankful Thursday almost 2 years ago. Her act of gratitude inspired many of us to take note of our own blessings and even to blog about it.

So, in tribute and with gratitude, today we write about Amanda and how we are thankful for her.

1. She maintains a positive attitude no matter what. I am often inspired to lay aside my own negativity by her example

2. She loves books. I'm thankful I'm not the only one who has a booky-addiction.

3. She always brings it back to God.

4. She is a true example of faith in God, and the joy that comes from it.

5. Her honesty and positive outlook on her struggles moving from Texas to Virginia helped me deal with my out struggles moving from Florida to Virginia.

6. She always reminds me to take pleasure in the small things.

7. She has a smile that makes you smile back, no matter how you felt before.

8. She has great taste in reading material and I am thankful for so many of her recommendations

9. She is not afraid to be real, to show weakness and to be vulnerable, and that inspires me to open up more. I’m thankful for her trust.

10. She is an endless source of encouragement, always offering a word of wisdom or comfort regardless of what is happening in her own life.

I could go on. Instead, I would ask you to go to her site and leave a comment telling her how thankful you are for her. Go on, shoo, now!

NaNoWriMo Update Two: Halfway

I have almost 29,000 words; exactly where I should be.

I hit a snag last week. My characters went to a place I’ve never been, a small island in the Aegean Sea. It’s hard to write convincingly about a place you know nothing about. Thankfully, the internet came to the rescue and tied that snag up.

However, I have a few more snags that need wrangling. Ya'll are smart, so I’m asking you:

1. Character Consistency: Mine have a problem. Sometimes they don’t behave like themselves. How do you make them stay true to themselves?

2. Character Distinction: Sometimes, my characters all seem like the same person. How do you write them to be unique voices?

3. Villains: Mine is not scary; He’s…lame, so very cliche and....lame. How do you write a scary Villain?

4. Physical Intimacy: Should Christians have their characters slept together outside of marriage? Do you write the scene or just allude to it? There are sin-issues and literary-issues to consider, as well at target-audience (i.e. kids books should not have graphic sex scenes, but some allude to them.) Is that right or wrong? How do you decide?

What advice do you have for an amateur novelist?

NaNoWriMo Update One: The Black Hole

Per request, I planned to write small updates about how my participation in NaNoWriMo is going.

My first update was a stellar one too - all about my intro to the world of novel writing, how I find the process consuming, thrilling and challenging, how N has been my idea-bouncing-board and my untangler-of-plot-knots, how writing a story reminds me of pottery with words, the molding, kneeding, shaping, thinking...Oh,and how I got to almost 9,000 words by the end of today.

But it's not to be.

Somewhere around 2:47pm today, a virus invaded my computer, and ate my file and my entire novel disappeared into the vast reaches of netherspace.

Gone..the whole thing...just *poof* Gone.

So, yea...that sucks.

But, I'm not giving up. Thankfully most of the story is still fresh in my mind. I'm not certain I can make the deadline, but I intend to try. And thanks to a supportive hubby and loads of Mountain Dew, there is always hope.

I'm off to start again!

EDIT: HE SAVED IT! My Awesome Wonderful Brillant Amazing Husband Found It! He pulled it back from the brink of oblivion! He did something super smart and totally above my head and "restored the file"! I LOVE HIM SOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!