Love & Laughter

Since I’m usually up until 3:30 or 4 a.m., I didn’t think it’d be tough to stay up an extra couple of hours — but it’s turning out to be more difficult than I planned. In the last 30 minutes, my eyelids have started to droop and I desperately want to turn off the light and burrow under the covers.

Still, I must stay awake for another 40 minutes so I have a chance to enter the “Speed Dating with Deidre” contest at the Knight Agency blog. She’s offering 125 spots … 125 lucky entrants will submit three pages of MS. Up to 25 will advance.

“Beauty and the Ballplayer” wants another at-bat. After last week’s contest final, it’s ready to knock another one out of the park.

Uh-oh. My sleepy brain can’t conjure up any more baseball metaphors. Good thing I have less than 25 minutes to go. 😉

Guess I’m an overachiever: I hit my NaNo goal tonight.

The story’s not quite finished, though. I probably have another 5K to write. For a few moments, however, I’m going to revel in the accomplishment.

That’s it for now. After writing a couple thousand words  today, I’m fresh out. I’ll leave you with this sight worth  celebrating:

It’s been more than 24 hours and I’m still not over the excitement of learning I’m a finalist in the First Coast Romance Writers Beacon Contest for unpublished writers. (You can see the proof here, in the list of finalists.)

This is especially exciting because it’s my first-ever contest final. Strangely enough, I almost didn’t enter the Beacon. I was already busy thinking about the Golden Heart. But when I saw the deadline had been extended and they were looking for entries in the category I had a manuscript ready in, I decided, “What the heck? Why not?” I had some extra money to pay the entry fee — and I’m glad I did.

The timing couldn’t have been much better: I got the call as I was walking out of the post office, right after shipping off my two GH entries (one of them being “Beauty and the Ballplayer.”)

When my phone started ringing, I almost didn’t answer it because I didn’t recognize the number. (Ah, the wonder of caller ID.) But, being certain it wasn’t a bill collector, I went ahead and picked up the call.

The first thing I did after getting off the phone — and squealing with excitement — was call our chapter president. Then I called another writer friend to share the good news … I also left the Boyfriend a voicemail and posted the news on Twitter and Facebook. I wanted to share it with the world — or at least my little piece of it.

Thanks to everyone who gave me their congratulations so quickly.

What’s next? The Beacon gives finalists a little time to revise before entries are sent to the final judges. I got my judges’ score sheets last night and have had a chance to start digesting the comments. Most were very complimentary … I guess that’s what happens when you’re a finalist! 🙂

I’m having a tough time switching out of NaNo mode to think about revising, though. I’m going to try to do a big push to finish NaNo in the next couple of days, giving me a few extra days to work before the revisions are due on Dec. 3.

I can do it — less than 10,000 words to go! (We’re not going to talk about the fact that I’ve had writer’s block today. That’s only a temporary problem. Heading to the Bux in the morning to get some heavy-duty writing done while the Boyfriend’s at work. I actually think better at Starbucks, I think.)

I’ve been a busy, busy writer today.

Not only did I log a few more than the NaNo-recommended 1,667 words today, I read through both of my Golden Heart entries. They’re as good to go as they’re going to get, meaning it’s time to print those puppies out and pop them in the mail.

Of course, reading them has made me realize that a lot of what I’m churning out this month for the NaNo is crap. Yes, I said it: Crap.

*Deep breath*

I just need to remind myself that the GH entries aren’t first-draft material. I’ve read, re-read and polished those things multiple times. Of course they’re going to be heads and shoulders above the first draft I’m writing now.

If they’re not, I’m in trouble. 😉

The gals over at the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood reminded me that time’s running out to get my Golden Heart entries mailed off.

Yes, the deadline is Dec. 2 … but in order to use snail mail instead of a more expensive method of delivery, I probably ought to visit the post office before Thanksgiving.

That means I need to take a day (or at least part of a day) off to re-read my entries one more time and then prep them for the mailbox.

Wow. I really should have done this before I started NaNo. Even though I’m still slightly ahead in my word count, I don’t want to take a lot of time off. I’d love to remain ahead … it’s a nice change from last year, when I was behind the entire month and didn’t even finish.

I’m only scheduled to work a half-day Sunday, so I’ll set aside part of the day to reading the entries and printing entries/synopses for the GH judges.

Now, to get money for postage before Friday (my next payday) …

Forget dreaded Week 2 — I need a cheerleader to drag me through Week 3 here.

As expected, I’m adding to my NaNo word count much more slowly now that I’ve run into the “sagging middle” of my story.

I’m not giving up, though … and I definitely plan to finish. It’s just not coming quite as easily now.

Remember the trouble I was having getting Kenny and Kristi to do the deed?

Well, I finally managed to get them into bed — yes, I was writing @ Starbucks at the time — and now I can’t seem to write them OUT.

A NaNoWriMo write-in begins in less than 20 minutes at Barnes & Noble, so I’ll do it … but it might not be pretty.

I added only a couple hundred words to my total on Friday. (Took the day off to run errands and do my usual payday shopping. Hit the new Super Walmart after work last night … at 1 a.m. it was super silent and empty. I got to browse to my heart’s content!)

Isn’t that a song title?

More importantly, it’s where my NaNo novel is as of tonight. Yes, I crossed the 25,000-word mark … important because 25,000 is half of 50,000. See, Ma? Even though I’m a writer, I can do math! 😉 That’s important because it means I’m halfway finished.

My stats, so far:

• Words Written Today — 2233
• Suggested Daily Word Count — 1667
• Cumulative Word Count — 25164
• Current Day — 11
• Suggested Cumulative Word Count — 18334
• Average Words per Day — 2288
• At This Rate You Will Finish On — Nov 22 (Oh, if only I could keep up this pace and finish before Thanksgiving!)
• Days Remaining — 19
• Total Words Remaining — 24836 (less than I’ve already written …) 😉
• Words per Day to Finish on Time — 1308

Pretty nice, eh?

I keep comparing this year’s experience to last year’s, though. In 2009, I signed up for the NaNo for the first time with the intention of writing 40,000 words to finish my 90,000-word manuscript. By the end of November, I’d only written about 25,000 words.

While that was 25,000 words I didn’t already have — and I finished that MS a couple of weeks later, before Christmas — I didn’t get as much done as I’d hoped.

Tonight, I sit here having already written as much as I did all month long last year. It’s a heady feeling, but a little worrisome all the same.

Is what I’m writing now any good? Or am I writing too quickly, meaning I’ll have to go back and throw three-quarters of it out when I start editing?

Maybe my speed has something to do with starting with a blank slate. Sure, Kenny and Kristi have been bouncing around in my head for years, but I only wrote one scene in which they made an appearance — and that was told from someone else’s POV (Kenny’s brother Brad, the hero in my first book).

Or maybe I’m just in better (writing) shape this year. I have been putting in a lot of practice since January. (More than 120,000 words written since Jan. 19 — and that’s without my NaNo count.)

On the plus side, Kenny & Kristi finally did the deed today. (And yes, I wrote the scene @ Starbucks. Oh, if anyone peeked over my shoulder at the screen, they would have been embarrassed … Or maybe I would have been embarrassed. Someone’s cheeks would have been cherry red, for sure.) 😉

Sometimes, the timing’s just not right.

After trying again — unsuccessfully — to get Kenny and Kristi to cooperate with my plan, I decided they just weren’t ready yet.

I moved past it, getting them off the couch. Now the story’s flowing right along. I already have 1,000+ words for the day. Hope to get another couple hundred before bed tonight.

I’ve come to that point in my story: You know, the one where my characters stop doing what they’re told.

That’s right. Although I  want them to, my hero and heroine stubbornly refuse to do the deed.

I had them right where I wanted them — alone on the couch at Kristi’s house. I even managed to initiate some hand-to-knee contact (his hand, her knee). But they refused to cooperate by going any further.

Sighing, Iput my computer to sleep for the night. When I woke up with a renewed desire to finish my scene, Kenny and Kristi still wouldn’t play ball.

I’ve already mentioned that I tend to write better sex scenes in a public place. I packed up my computer and headed off to the Barnes & Noble Cafe in hopes that they’d be more in the mood.

Even there, they refused to oblige my whim. Finally, I gave up and scrolled back a few pages to work on other scenes.

My theory is that they’re just not ready yet — even if I am. Perhaps if I add another few scenes between there (the moment they started getting hot for each other) and here (where they’re on the couch, being stubborn), they’ll actually start to behave the way I want them to.

A writer can dream, right? 😉