NaNoWriMo update

The little story I have been writing on is almost finished. I am working on the last three chapters, which are NOT big chapters. It's a small vampire romance story, I imagine around 13,000 words when all is said and done. I've tried hard not to do any revisions to the story, just write new words and fill in the gaps. Revisions are for December. I am going to submit the story before Christmas.

I also began a chapter on a new project, the steampunk novel I've been wanting to write but couldn't seem to wrap my mind around. So I watched a lot of Moonlight, the vampire detective TV show while working on a totally new character for me. He doesn't have a name yet, but I have given him a great history. I like him a lot.

Altogether, I've written over 20,000 words this November. I have the weekend to finish the short piece, and then next week I am off to Dixie Belle's house where we are going to plot books and eat turkey and maybe lots of chocolate. Not sure when I'll blog again.

For me, NaNoWriMo has been a total success even though I did not write 50,000 words. I could never do that in a month. I average about a 1000 words a day. But the good news is that you don't have to write 50,000 words in a month to be a writer and have a career. One or two pages a day is all that's necessary. Some days you can do more. The key is that one page a day, every day. And writing with thought.

Well, I've got to close. My little grand baby just got up from his nap. He turned 1 year old November 7th.

The Future of Publishing

I don't have time to write about it now, but there is a ruckus on the net about Harlequin's new vanity press. I am making this a sticky note to come back and write about later. After all, it's NaNo month and I'm WRITING.

The world is always changing. It's never quite what you expect. I've always thought of us as still Victorians, those wonderful people who invented fiction as art. Even though we are in the 21st century, we are still Victorian people who value good books and well written stories. One day that might change. After all, the power of the Internet has made us all authors of some kind of fiction. We can all be published. So be it. What will the Brave New World bring to authors and readers? No one can be certain of that. What we can be certain of, is that greed is a constant in a changing world.

Thoughts from agent Rachelle Gardner.

New Moon, NaNoWriMo, and Mother

If you are reading this right now (11 pm central) you are in the wrong place. Everyone has gone to see the continuing saga of Edward and Bella in the film New Moon. I have to admit, after reading book two, I am definitely in Edward's camp, which only means I like vamps over wolves! I'll be seeing it Sunday afternoon if tickets don't sell out. All tickets for the midnight shows in the Memphis sold quickly. If you didn't have a ticket by five pm today, you couldn't get one. The Edward/Bella cult is unbelievable. It's an amazing story of a writer who came along with the right story at the right time. I am grateful. The publishing industry is so dismal that it's good to have Stephanie Meyers around. Her Twilight series has created a whole market for authors.

NaNoWriMo is going well. I've written almost every single day and some of those days were like two or three days work for me. I am feeling the joy.....

My mother died at the end of August. It was terrible. This week I finally finished going through her things, the things my younger sister gave me. I cannot express the anxiety, pain, sadness, and misery I felt going through Mother's belongings. I read everything, looked at everything, divided it into stacks, and then decided what I would keep and what I would give away. I did not want to give away anything, but life has taught me that things are not really important. People are. Love is. Living each day is. I know I will never let go of Mother completely. But I have let go of many of her things. In her honor and as a memorial, I am adopting her maiden name as my legal surname. It's fitting. I've always been a Church through and through.

Writing Writing Writing

Mad World

This song is a favorite of mine. It was originally done by Tears for Fears and was sung by Adam Lambert on American Idol to a standing ovation. It's dedicated to my grandson Colin whom I love very much. I think the song fits November of 2009 perfectly.

NaNoWriMo Update

Living and writing can sometimes be at odds. Although I've added 5000 words to two projects this week, IT was truly a week of writing while sweating blood. Life didn't want me to write. I had to force myself. At some point the writing took over and made life easier. I still feel like a writer-wannabe, but I am getting there, to that place where I can see myself as a "working writer" again. I've been thinking about Muse and all that. It's silly, really. What the hell is Muse? I've written 15,000 words in sixteen days because I wanted to write, because I needed to tell a story. Hopefully I'll get back to working (that means a paycheck) as a writer. One last thing--writing all the time makes you a better writing if you are looking for ways to improve. Not typing. Not writing by the seat of your pants. TBut thinking while writing. Writing with thought.

Rick Bragg wrote recently, "I think the muse is not a fairy at all but a sharp, prodding thing, like worry or need."

I agree.

(Edited: Monday evening. 1466 words today.)

Maternal Grandmother circa 1916

This photo is of my maternal grandmother circa 1916, in Moorhead Mississippi. I am using this photo as a study for a painting of several women standing in a cemetery.

My grandmother was about 5 feet tall and weighed around 98 pounds. She had 7 children in 10 years, most of them boys who were over 6 feet tall. Her deliveries were all at home, some without a doctor. I don't know how she did it. When her husband died in 1939, most of her life was over. She never married again or even considered it.

One of memories I have of her is that she walked to the Post Office every day she lived in Moorhead during the 1960s. Along the way, she talked to everyone and it became a sort of ritual in the town. She never went to school but she loved writing letters and wrote quite a few of them.

Her entire history is quite a tale. Her father, from an Old Blood" family in Mississippi abandoned her family long before this photo was taken and lived another life in Central America. It left her destitute and emotionally scarred for life.

Look out! Where's that gun?

One of my projects is to order some of the photos that Fred and I have taken over the years. We are working on a system of organization and it's not been easy. Some photos overlap labels. This is one of them. This is a photo of the outside of a building off a Coldwater road going south. (I don't like to give detailed addresses.) I'll post more photos later because this one doesn't grasp the full beauty of the wall. What it does do is more revealing--Mississippi's fascination with guns. Guns are a right of passage in Mississippi. My brother is an avid hunter and his sons and grandsons spend most of their fall and winters hunting game. A couple of years ago, he took me to shoot guns. I ended up hitting dirt most of the time, but I did manage to shoot a pistol that my father brought back from WWII. I have a photo of that somewhere. Smiling. Maybe I can find it?

Tuesday Vid

This Vid always reminds me of what I should be doing. Laughing. Today, when I saw it again, I felt like crying. But it was a happy cry. This character is one of my best creations. The vid was made for me as an inspiration for a story about a man who lost his mind and soul at the Battle of Hattin.

Excerpt: Defiance By Joely Sue Burkhart

It's Monday afternoon and I'm taking a break to cook some supper. Going out later to look for a coumputer desk. Writing every day in some chair or sitting at table does not work for me. I need a stable spot and a good office chair.

NaNoWriMo is going. I'll probably make 25,000 words at most. But that's about what I was hoping for. You can write a novel or two a year if you maintain 25,000 words a month. That's the whole point of NaNoWriMo for me this year, to see if I can still do this amount of work. Otherwise, writing genre fiction is out for me.

Meanwhile, Joely Sue Burkhart has a new story out. Someone is finishing their stories!


Excerpt: Defiance

NaNoWriMo Update

Writing is frigging hard work. I mean hard work. Trisha sent me this link to James Frey on writing. It's so true. I've been sweating blood all week, and I've only 5000 words to show for it! Of course, it's better than the usual 0 words I do. One thing I have learned though (and it's not new to me) is that writing every single day of the week makes you a better writer.

Here are some other thoughts.

1. Think aspirin or general pain killer. Sitting everyday in front of a computer hurts. Laughing. But it does. I ache all over.

2. Because I ache, I have started walking again on the treadmill, yep, before the holidays and all that food. NaNoWriMo just might be good for my waistline.

3. I don't have time to play with Blogger. So the black and red is back. I try to add new links but blogging while writing sucks.

4. I miss meals. See #2

5. I stay in the story. In this case, stories. The characters are beginning to grow on me. Thoughts are forming. I see new ways to handle issues of storytelling.

6. Focused. When in a hurry, when writing down the bones, you don't wander.

7. Pre-writing and planning helps.

8. You don't have to wait till you are inspired.

9. Time management. In order to keep house, live a life, take care of baby, and WRITE, I have to manage my time better. It's working.

10. I feel better about myself. I'm a writer. I write. That's what I do. When I don't paint, which I have done already today, I want to be in a story.

So I guess sweating blood is good for me.

Hope you are all doing some writing.

Another Vid