Good Bye My Love < /3

Well everyone, this was most definitely one of the most hectic, crazy, draining, November I've had in a while. It was full of laughs, crying, success, failure, amazing moments and moments of disappointment.
The bad news is, due the the mixture of computer viruses, lack of time and just craziness in general, my Nanowrimo ends at 28k words.
Poop.
The good news is that, even though I have let her down, my muse is still with me and we have it arrange to finish my book by New Years! I will never give up on an adventure I set out to do, but I may prolong it! Hahaha! I cant wait for next year, where hopefully, I will have more time to give to my characters.
You know something?
I count myself way more fortunate than those who finished their books already.
I get to spend another 30 days with my characters!!!
*Blows on Bugle* CHARGE!!!

Beautiful People Holiday Edition!!!

Hello Everyone!
Nanowrimo is definitely a battle of the fittest, a casino royal, a melee of doom, a epic battle of the ages, if you will.
This year is particularly difficult for me, seeing as I'm 6k words behind, and I'm feeling a bit discouraged.
So, in order to get my mind off of my wordcount troubles, I would like to do a post for the new Beautiful People! Here we go!
1. What kind of holidays do they celebrate, if any?
All the species in my book celebrate the Season Solstices.
However, each race has their own special traditions that they follow for different, unique days of celebration. For instance, the Gnome celebrate the day the Fairy Royals rose to the throne. The Goblins celebrate in the remembrance of epic battles in the past, good harvests and they celebrate their deliverance from plague by the Great Dragon Bane. I really dont know much about my fairies yet... a book that's currently on the drawling board is about my fairies, so we shall see what happens in that!
2. What are they most thankful for?
I would have to say for friendship, love and freedom to fight for their freedom.
I put them in lots of hardships, but they always make it though, stronger on the other side.
They be quite hardy little creatures!
3. Do they have any family traditions?
Most of the characters either have bad relationships with their parents, their parents are dead, or their society doesn't follow emotional parental dependency. It is quite sad, but in a future book, I will have my current MC's the parents of children, which the story will be about.
4. What is their most memorable holiday memory?
Right now in my book, it is the Winter Solsist and Iz, Luthin, Ella, Lythar, Taryn and Warg all just met up. Yay! Memories!
5. What is the most memorable gift they have ever received?
Warg was just given a gift from Lorilli, which helps him achieve his goal of securing the Scepter of Light.
6. Do they consider it important to be with family during celebrations?
No
7. Do they usually wait till the last minute to purchase gifts, or do they buy them ridiculously early?
Right now they are in a war, so things tend to happen very spontaneously.
8. Favorite Christmas song? For fantasy authors, is music a part of their celebration?
My characters have a great fondness of the Beatles. Especially my nomads.
9. Do they celebrate for religious reasons?
Not really, my book doesn't really touch on religion at all.
10. How do they celebrate the beginning of the new year?
In my book, each season is a year. Thus the celebrations of the season changes. They dont really associate January 1st as New Years.

Sorrow

My dearest blog, and followers,
I have an aching hole in my chest where my heart has been ripped out and fed to the wolves.
My story is going beautifully, but I do not have the time or energy to give it, its much needed attention.
I am 5k words behind, yet again, and I can hear my beloved characters crying as I lay in bed at night, too tired from the day to write. I hear them weep while I'm at work and I feel them shudder as I'm at college. They need their daddy back.
They need someone to gently guide the rest of their lives. Someone to be there to pick them up when they fall. To give them comfort when their alone. And someone to be there for them through thick and thin. But, Father Time just doesn't seem to have it in the cards this month.
I will try to keep on trucking to the end and wherever I end up when November 30th rolls around, I will be proud of what I've accomplished and in December I can return to my dear children if necessary.
I will never give up.
-Didy

Week 2 is Evil! Week 2 is evil!

3,000 words.
How did I get 3000 words behind?!
I was doing so well! I have my muse, I love my story, I know where everything is going. Writer's block hasn't got in my way, I haven't had to use my plot ninjas, plot bunnies or bizarre family twists.
My path has been guilt monkey free and the infamous Inner Editor has stayed clear!
So, why oh why am I 3000 words behind!?
Time.
I have none of it.
And the sad thing is, the only way I have to combat this is stay up till 4am writing. Like I did last night. Am I tired? Yes. Am I crazed? Yes. Will I survive the day? Yes. Why? Because I will probably be staying up till 4 again tonight! Gaaaaaah!!!
-Didy
PS. Congrats to my friend Logan, he just had his Eagle Scout Ceremony today. Whoop! Whoop!

Week 2!

Greetings and salutations my fellow novelists!

Welcome to the all powerful week 2! (Hahaha get it? Peace. Two fingers. Week 2?)

If you're beyond your daily recommended word count, behind it or right on track this week is still the pivotal moment for you and your novel. This is the week where the IE (Inner Editor, read more about him on my last post) likes to jump out of the little box you locked him in and say hello! And other things.... Here are some facts about Week 2 you should be aware of:

1)This is the IE's strongest week. (I've already warned you about it)

2)Most Writer/Novel divorces happen this week.

3)This is when your word counts tend to suffer greatly.

4)Writer's Block (Need I say more?)

Now dont be all depressed about all of these woeful statistics. There are several tools at you disposal for this week!

1)Dont get it right, just Write.

Even though most people make the mistake of divorcing their novels this week and starting anew, dont. You will never get those last 13k words you did last week back. Keep writing! Even if you just know for a fact that this monster you are giving birth too will one day grow up and attack Tokyo, just keep at it! These are just lies the IE is telling you. It is a grantee that your novel is 75% better than what you think it is. Trust me. Keep writing.

2)Beautification.

If you find yourself without your lovely muse to guide you through your daily wordcount, you can beautify your book a little bit. Basically what you do is read back through what you've already written and add adjectives, more sentences to explain things, fix grammar issues and things like that. This should give you at least 500 words if you do it right! Remember, 500 words are better than 0 words!

3)Wordpadding

Yes, yes, yes I know this is a low, underhanded, dirty trick. But it works! There are many things you can do to your novel that can help add words.

a)You introduce a character that stutters.

The sentence: "I think I will go for a walk."

Changes to:

"I I I Think k k I I wi wi will g g go for or a a wa wa walk."

You change 8 words into 21+ words, depending on how bad the stutter is.

b)Temporary deafness.

 "I think I will go for a walk".

"OK!"

 Changes to:

"I think I will go for a walk."

"Do what now?"

"I'm going for a walk!"

"Your going to eat a dock? How does that work?"

"A WALK!"

"You are eating a walk? As in the stick?"

"NO! I'm going on one!"

"Ah! Your going for a walk!"

"Yes!"

"Well why didn't you say so in the first place?"

"I did! Stupid!"

"What about a narwhals?"

See? More words!

3)Dreams and Hallucinations:

Theses can go on forever and ever in you book without messing up your plot. Use them!

4)Have your MC write a letter, book, speech, ect.

Write what they write! Volah! A book inside a book!

So, there you are. Here are your tools to help combat the battle of the wordcounts in Week 2! Happy Noveling everyone and I will see you at the 20K mark!

-Didy

Welcome Wrimos, To the Weekend!

Ahoy!
Well my fellow writers, welcome to the marvelous day known as Friday!
School is wrapping up for the weekend, responsibilities are low and on this glorious day, ladies and gentlemen, WE WRITE!
Yes indeed, if you are disappointed in your word count or if you would like to give you novel an energy drink and get more words; this is the weekend to do it!
Why? You may ask.
Because Week 1 is the week of excitement and of inspiration. Next week, however, will not be. That's why we need this weekend to prepare for the attacks out Inner Editors will unleash.
Some of the things you can do to counter his/her assaults on your novel are followed:
1)Boost your word count this weekend. Its quite difficult to gloat at your IE with a crappy word count.
2)Go out and buy yourself some rewards. Candy is usually a good thing.
3)Get some caffeine, now! One of the most deadly tricks the IE plays on you is sleep. If you can see yourself thinking, "Ah, well I'm almost up to par for the day, but boy I sure am sleepy. I'll write in the morning." Then you are in much need for caffeinated drinks, my friend.
4)If you have a writing buddy, start doing word wars.
5)Even if your muse decides to leave, keep writing. Write about a family of duckling if you have to, even if you book has absolutely nothing to do with ducks. She will come back, I promise.
6) Beware of books. These nasty little boogers are both a great source of inspiration and a tool for the IE to use against you. While your reading he can whisper in your eye things like, "You will never be this good." or "Leave writing to the professionals." Or he can be even trickier and get you totally enthralled in the book, leaving you with no time to write. Be aware!
Have a great weekend everybody!
Happy Writing!
-Didy
(8,075/50,000)
PS. This was my Halloween costume I wore to work.

Hades: Lord of the Underworld (Muahaha)

Day 1

Hello from Nanowrimo 2011!!!
Congratulations to all the amazing novelists who have started out their November novel!
Its 8:30 right now and I have reached 2006 words. My books coming along great, all the characters are behaving. I am terribly afraid. They are planning something.
Anywho!
If you got to this point alright and realized, "Hey this is not working out at all!"
Never fear! You still have 29 days left. DONT GIVE UP!!!
Now, I didn't just come here to gloat about my word count, I have also come with some tips on how to survive the week!
1) Ride the wave of adrenalin. This week is going to be the most carefree week we are going to have. You're all excited for the month ahead, you feel like you can conquer the world! Great! Now do it! Use all of your excitement and energy this week to get you through and beyond this week!
2)If you haven't gotten rid of you pesky Inner-Editor, do that now. Seriously.
3)Dont share your book with anyone. That's right, in order to truly make this book yours, wait until its finished before you start sending it off to friends, family and coworkers. I know, I know your excited, but you dont want any guilt monkeys this early in the game!
4)Set out the carrots for plot bunnies! Plot bunnies are going to get in sometime or another, better make it this week. It keeps things less complicated!
5)Dont use any Plot Ninjas. Wait till next week!
Well, there you are folks! I hope ya'll have a great week ahead and I will see you at the 12K marker!
-Didy