Archives November 2016

Today, with two days to spare, I completed the 50,000 word novel challenge set out by the NaNoWriMo organization.  Today alone I managed to write over 5,500 words before calling it quits at about 10:30pm.

This effort went into jump starting book four of the Silverwood Chronicle series, currently named, “Friends From Mountain Forge.”  At the onset of November 1st, I was both excited and nervous about the aspects of forcing myself to write so much in such a concentrated time, given everything that goes on in the month of November.

By day 15, I was beginning to get worried.  I had hit a dry spell. Two full days of nothing written and a day with less than the 1,667 words prescribed.  It all started when I pushed passed the limited outline that my creative consultant and I was able to churn out just days prior to the start of the event.  She continued to provide insight, but even with her schedule, keeping up with what I’d written was difficult and it made it a challenge to get new ideas.

With all that being said, I was able to complete nine full chapters and got started on three others.  As you can imagine, once I got away from the outline, I just began thinking about different aspects of the story and worked in the whatever areas felt reasonable at the time.

While I don’t plan on taking a break, I will be falling back on my pre-NaNoWriMo writing schedule which means I can expect to finish the first draft of book four sometime during the winter.

Book three however is currently in the editing phase and I’ll be spending some more time getting that ready for production.  I still have many volunteer editors I need to get copies to, so if you haven’t heard from me yet, please don’t give up on me.  I need your help to make book three the best yet.

One more thing.  All of my Indianapolis area friends, put this date down on your calendar:  Saturday, December 10.  There is an Indoor Christmas Festival at Life Church on the west side of Indianapolis.  https://www.facebook.com/events/1193424660703999/ .  I will be signing books there and $1 for every book sold will be donated to the ministry there.  I will also have some sample covers for Book Three that you can come and look at.  We also may have some character prints for sale from some of the creatures in the Silverwood Chronicles series, including characters from Book Three.

Until next time, Blessings to you, and Happy Reading!

This NaNoWriMo update brought to you by Carpal’s Tunnel.  Come and visit our world class facilities as your fingers are swept away in the agonizing . . . blah blah blah.

After being off track for the last five days, I have officially caught back up, and I am now on course to complete the challenge in just under 8 more days.  There is still 13K words that I need to pull out of the blue and given I’m working from a bare-bones outline, keeping inspired has been anything but easy.

For the first time in my writing career, I’ve found myself bouncing from section to section of the manuscript.  My normal pattern is to work linearly through the story, but not under these circumstances.  When I sit down to write, I have to just start going, somewhere.  Otherwise, I’ll sit and stare at the screen for 20 – 30 minutes and not write a single word.

So, its kind of odd having chapters 13 and 14 done, but not chapters 8 – 12.  Something I’ve known all along and this seems to underscore it is the first third of the story and the last third of the story are the easiest to write for me.  That center third can be me very tough.  I have to keep in mind that the goal is not to complete the book in 30 days, but to write 50K words of the 70-80K words that I know the book will end up being.  Once I get through this ramp up month, I’ll be able to take some time and structure things properly.

One of the drawbacks to “cramming” so much in so little time, is I’ve had very little time to update everyone on the plot development, characters and interesting tidbits.  From the very onset of this project almost three years ago now, I had a special death planned for Rift.  Well, I wrote that chapter this last week but when I got to the end, my creative consultant forbade me to let him die.  It was a great scene, but I couldn’t go through with it, so I spared him.  When you eventually get to read this book, I would love to hear back from some of you if you felt like it would have been appropriate at that time to let him die.

I am on vacation the next six of the last eight days.  Hopefully, cranking out those last 13K words will be easier than the last 13K.

Good Night.

2016 Christmas and Holiday Gift Fair at the Monroe County Fairgrounds

Today marks the halfway point of the NaNoWriMo competition.  At the close of my writing session, I have managed to hit 25,230 words which puts me back on target.  This after falling behind over this past weekend due to circumstances beyond my or anyone’s control.

I can’t express how much I’ve been blessed by all of the support I’ve received on social media and from my family and friends.  This challenge would not be possible without the sacrifices of many.

Going into the second half, I have some opportunities to make some big gains in the process since I am currently planning on taking ten days off around the Thanksgiving holiday.  Now before you get any brilliant ideas, I have lots of other things to accomplish besides just writing.  I have some special order Christmas presents that I must work on in my wood shop.  I want to spend some quality time with my family and maybe, just maybe, re. . . .lax.  I’m pretty sure that’s a French word.  I’ll have to look it up one of these days.  I hear its quite enjoyable.

I’ve also committed to one more Holiday event up at Life Church’s Indoor Christmas Festival.

This should be a great event.  The vendor fees and a portion of my book sales will go to help purchase a bus for the organization.  So, I hope you’ll come out and support this worthwhile cause.  If you have all of my books, that’s okay, I’m trying to work out a deal where I can have prints of some Silverwood Artwork made available and possibly a signed Chel & Riley cover art from my good friend Jingo.

Until next time, blessings!

I just wanted to take just a brief moment and give everyone an update.  Today marks day seven of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).  If you have been following me, you know that I have signed up for the challenge to write 50,000 words or more during the course of November.  I have chosen as my project to continue work on the Silverwood Chronicles of which I recently completed the second draft of book three this weekend.

Book Four, entitled “Friends from Mountain Forge” is well underway.  Two full chapters have been completed and a prologue of sorts.  I will begin chapter three tomorrow with a current word count of 12,505 words so far.

So far, this adventure in writing has been challenging as it has been fun.  Chapter three will be interesting as it is the last chapter that I currently have any kind of outline created for.  After that, we’ll have to see what happens.  I may continue to write using my unfettered imagination, or I may have to take a day and focus on building out more of a structure before continuing on.  At this point, I’m not sure.  I have about three or four days to decide before I’m forced into a decision.

Speaking of five days — see how I did that — don’t forget that Christmas at the Fair Grounds is this Saturday from 8am – 3pm.   Please share this with your reading friends.  I will be promoting both the Silverwood Chronicles and the children’s series, Chel & Riley Adventures while I’m there.  I will also be demoing the Chel & Riley Board game that you see advertised on my website.  Any of these items would make a great gift for someone in your circle of family and friends.

My Creative Consultant will be there and she will be showcasing some custom sketches that will most likely be included in book three.  We may also have some alternate covers for you to peruse and give us feedback on.

Please share this with your Facebook friends.  Encourage anyone in the Monroe County area to come out and say “Hi!”  I would love to catch up and see what new adventures have been happening in your life.

Until next time, Blessing to you, and happy reading!