As If I'm Not Busy Enough This Month I....

OK, so it's November aka National Novel Writing Month and I am way behind in word count. This is my fourth year doing it, and I'm always behind, so I'm not too worried. Ask me next week! Ha!

As if I'm not busy enough this fall, I began running 5Ks- first I did this one October 10th:

And on November 3rd I did this one:

And I have two more coming up. Now I must have figured that is just not enough to do in November, so I did something a bit crazy. Crazier maybe.

I joined Roller Derby.

I had my first practise last Tuesday, and I have to say there wasn't a kid in a candy store, or a kid on Christmas morning happier than I was at that moment. All of the FM Derby Girls are super cool. Beyond cool. They welcome you no matter who or what you are or what skating ability you have. And I hadn't been on skates since 4th grade. (I will not say how many years that was ago. Just a lot.) I am so excited to find something that fits, that feels 100% right - no question.

That was me when I got home from practise.
Seriously. I did that like 45 times.

And I'm not sure if it's a compliment or not, but so far everyone who has discovered me joining has said "Why does that not surprise me."

I have practise tonight! Yay! Oh - and how is this for cool - Nanowrimers?!!! One of the derby girls on the team goes by the name of NaNo Bite and her number is 1667! You rock, Amy! Thanks to her, she reminded me of the Derby Girls and inspired me to give it a shot once and for all.

Build It and They Will Come.

My 4 yo known as Buddys, is going to be Darth Vader for Halloween so that may be why I have James Earl Jones Stuck in my head ala Field of Dreams, but in a way, NaNoWriMo is just that - a field of dreams. It is up to us to plow through all of our ideas, and you know at first it might be a crazy crop circle, but at least we have something. Hopefully by the time we have gone through one revision it starts to look like a maze, with twists and turns - but no dead ends!

Just make sure you run over that pesky Inner Editor though, we do NOT need him!

I'm trying to build NaNoWriMo up for Fargo, it's not easy, especially when it seems like most haven't heard of National Novel Writing Month. But I'm confident it will get there. Until then, I'll let James continue to whisper in my ear, "Build it and they will come." But I wouldn't mind finding a few plot bunnies along the way!


A week from tomorrow NaNoWriMo officially kicks off on November 1st. Here are some tips for Nano-newbies.

Thanks to inkyelbows for pointing out this great blog post on 10 Ways to Write Everyday. And Mary Sue pretty much summed up the tips I was going to post here.

I would add:

• Back up your work every few writing sessions and post it online - email it to yourself, upload to google docs, or throw it on a jump drive or something. I have had computers crash on me before and it sucks!
• Outline before you start. It doesn't have to be an extremely detailed line by line account of each chapter, but at least nurture your little plot nugget a bit. Flesh out the main gist of your story, and your characters. This will help a lot.
• If you get stuck - skip. Yep, if you are totally stuck on a scene, skip it and go to one you can write. Just make a big mark in color marker or highlighter that you have a hole in your story and move on. Remember you need an average of 1667 words a day to win Nano. So try to get ahead when the words are flowing!
• Get some buddies. Writer buddies, whether in person or online are great for motivation. Have word wars, write furiously for 10 minutes and see who comes up with the most words. Maybe throw in a prize or bragging rights.
• Above all, don't obsess about your grammar, or well, really anything. It's about quantity vs. quality. Just get the story down, and you can revise after you proclaim NaNoWriMO domination!
  

NaNoWiMo join now!
History of NaNoWriMo
NaNoWriMo ND
NaNoWriMo Fargo ~ Facebook

NaNoWriMo is coming!

And you're looking at Fargo's new deputy-ML (municipal liaison). Woo Hoo! I'm very excited to participate as an ML this year. I'm trying not to thinking about how overwhelmed I will be in a few weeks! Not only will I strive to write a whole novel in a month, but will also be coordinating kick-off parties, meet-n-greets, write-ins, and of course the TGIO (Thank God It's Over!) party.

Dear Lord, I just hope some folks show up!

So - if you have ever tinkered with the idea of writing a novel check out NaNoWriMo. It is a lot of fun!

And to my family, I'll see you December 1st. :D

Something I Didn't Know I needed Until...

I read it on Molly Blaisdell's blog.

I love reading her blog because she has so many great writing tips and plus, she seems really nice.

Yesterday she posted a quote:

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. " Steve Jobs

Lately, I have been giving away my own power by worrying what other people think, or how they would react if I did this or that. Destructive thoughts like "I can't put that in my book." or "People will not like me if I -" ugh, it is so exhausting.

I really needed that, Molly, thank you!

Book update: trying to stay away from overwhelming urge to revise it. I'm not done with the first draft yet. I'm trying to do that part first.

It's a Monday! Yay! Why am I so excited??!

I'm so excited today because one of my dear friends Holly Cupala has unveiled her book cover for her upcoming debut novel Tell me A Secret. I've followed Holly and her writing this novel since I've met her and I am so incredibly proud of her and excited for her success. I have heard so many great things about her novel; I cannot wait until her book is out on the shelves so I can read it. She even got a blurb from Ellen Hopkins! Wow! Not too shabby, heh. You can see her awesome cover and why she is such a wonderful person on her blog at http://brimstonesoup.blogspot.com/

The other reason this Monday is a happy one is readergirlz has released information about their Teen Read Week "Read Beyond Reality" in October. A full week of book chats, giveaways and who knows what else starting October 19, 2009. Check out Readergirlz http://readergirlz.blogspot.com/ for the awesome trailer about Teen Read Week.

And this week I make my own debut as the new editor of SCBWI Dakota's newsletter. I'm a bit nervous, I hope I didn't put too many commas in the wrong spot (I have a comma problem, ya, know, ?, :), ) and I hope the members find it informational and pleasing. I have much to live up to, the former editor Patti Kurtz did such a fantastic job of it. I've never taken on such an endeavor before and I hope I have done a good job. I'll try to improve! :)

Once I get this newsletter out, I hope I can get some writing time back in. My pages are dusty, shame on me! Have a wonderful Monday.

On Vacation.

Hello dear friends,

My family and I will be embarking on a 10 day vacation road trip ala Chevy Chase beginning today.

I'll see you when I get back! Love, Cinde

Derailed.

I'm derailed a bit, but hope to get back on track with writing today. I'm not sure where I'm at word count-wise, since I write long hand first then I type into my netbook.



Life has been getting in the way, but really, when doesn't it? I'm trying to stop saying that phrase because I think it's kinda lame. Instead I'm going to say "Writing keeps getting in the way." Let's see if that works.



Hubby: "Did you take out the trash?"



Me: "Sorry, hunny, writing just keeps getting in the way."



This one I don't mind though:



Buddy Poo: "Mom, will you stop writing and play with me?"



Me: "Of course, Sweetie!"