I made it!

Took me all day, and I wrote about 9,000 words today, but I did it!  I finished NaNoWriMo.  The book is far from finished, and it’s a fricking disaster, but it’s 50,000 words long (and counting).

Here’s my pretty badge!

I haven’t checked in in a while; just got back from a trip to northern California to visit Rob’s sister for Thanksgiving.  His mom, stepdad, all his sibs and various relatives and spouses were there, so it was a fun time.  I saw four new birds (California quail, dark-eyed junco, golden crowned sparrow and brown towhee).  Rob’s sister has some pretty, fat chickens too.  I will post pictures if I get around to it.

This month is going to be crazy!  I have so much to catch up on, after tossing everything aside to work on NaNoWriMo.  So glad it’s OVER.

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NaNoWriMo Lives

Here it is Thanksgiving week, and I’m right on schedule with the word count.  Not sure how that’s gonig to work for the rest of the week, though; my stepson and his girlfriend are arriving from Australia tomorrow, along with Rob’s parents.  Then there’s Thanksgiving, traveling, packing, unpacking … should be interesting.

The good news is, when I need a break from family (and us introverts always need breaks from large, noisy groups of people) I have the greatest excuse.  “My novel calls; I haven’t met my word count yet today.”

36,692 words so far  

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New Cover

It seems like a long time since I’ve had a new cover.  Almost two years!  That’s what happens when you take a break, I guess.

Anyway, here is the cover for my first Super Romance, TAKEN TO THE EDGE, a February 2011 release.  This is Book I of PROJECT JUSTICE, of which there are at least three books scheduled (and more, I hope, depending on whether my editor likes what I just sent her!)

I think it’s a pretty cover, though the people look pretty young.  (He’s supposed to be a hardened ex-cop, very world-weary; she’s supposed to be 32.  But they’re pretty, and their first kiss did take place on the side of the road in the Louisiana countryside, which is exactly what it looks like.

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Bad Day for NaNoWriMo

I wrote a few hundred words.  But in my own defense, I’m proofreading galleys and that has to get done. I also spent 2.5 hours going to the foot doctor (I really, really should have brought my NEC with me so I could write while I was waiting on him.) But, I’m still ahead of schedule, so it’s okay. Foot doctor still won’t let me walk. But I talked him out of cortisone shots, at least. He did an ultrasound and decided the inflammation wasn’t that bad. So I continue with the stretching, the soaking, the nightly torture device and the drugs. I have very little faith that anything is going to work. I’ve been this route before. But I like Dr. Kim, so we’ll see.

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Finished my Harlequin Proposal … Finally!

I’ve been struggling through the planning of three more Project Justice books for Superromance–a full proposal for one book and two more complete synopses.  Finally, I think I’ve pulled it together!  I just sent it to Rob to get his impression.

Aside from that, I did more sanding on the bedroom floor.  And I noticed there was a perfect little cat paw impression in one of my wood patches.  I thought I had her locked out of that room but apparently she got in somehow.  I’m going to leave it–it’s so cute.  It kind of goes with the theme–I also have some handprints I am preserving of the little girls who used to attend the school that used to be in this house.

NaNoWriMo continues–I am still ahead of schedule, yay!

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A new day, a new widget

I just discovered NaNoWriMo website has all kinds of cute word-counter widgets.  Here’s mine for today:

 

So far I’ve been keeping pace. I’d like to get ahead, because you never know when you’re going to need a day off, like when your stepson and girlfriend visit from Australia and they’re only here for one day, then you have to fly to San Francisco for Thanksgiving and drive home. Something tells me my productivity on those days won’t be real high!

I am still stripping the bedroom floor but almost done (really!). We just got back from riding our bikes to the post office and hardware store to buy some wood dough to patch some rather large holes (filled with paint, so we didn’t know they were there ’til we started stripping).

And, oh, did I mention the earthquake? I tweeted about it yesterday but didn’t blog. It was a 3.8 magnitude, and the epicenter was about 2 miles from our house! It was quite a jolt, like a truck hit the side of our house, but thankfully it was overwith quickly. By the time I even thought, “Earthquake?” it was over. Very different from the Easter quake, which was a gentle rocking/rolling motion that went on for half a minute or so.

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NaNoWriMo Rides Again!

2634 / 50000 words. 5% done!

In 2008, I did it!  In 2009, I failed [hanging head].  But this year, a fresh start and I’m off to the races.  I’m talking about National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo for short, billed as “30 Days and Nights of Literary Abandon.”

This year, for the first time, I’m actually playing by the rules, starting a fresh new novel (rather than simply racking up 50,000 words of a work-in-progress).  I decided to write something completely out of the ordinary, something I swore I would never write:  A vampire romance novel.  I’ve sort of been waiting for the “vampire fad” to die down, but it shows no signs of doing so.  If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!

And so, THE UNNAMED VAMPIRE NOVEL has launched.  I started at the stroke of midnight last night, and I continued today.  The plan is to write at least 1667 words every day, and by the end of the month I’ll have the required words.  (The book won’t be finished, because a book of this type needs to be about 90-100K words.)

My original plan was to have my Superromance proposal ready to send before NaNoWriMo.  Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.  But I do have a rough draft of the chapters and synopsis for one book, plus synopses for two more books.  With a bit more polish, I can send those off.

I will try to at least update my word meter every day.  Keeping track of progress and watching the bar grow is what keeps me motivated.

Meanwhile, I’m teaching my “Synopsis Queen Tells All” class this month.  Still working on refinishing the bedroom floor.  And if you haven’t seen my Zombie Walk pix on Facebook, check ’em out:  http://www.facebook.com/kara.lennox#!/album.php?aid=2098094&id=1193222881

‘Til tomorrow,

Kara

 

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