Nano on!

I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this month for the first time!

Well, friends lets see how I'm doing.

• Super excited and so far on track!
• I've got my own personal cheerleader on board. OK it was probably her idea before it was mine. :)
• I've got a writers group who are all chomping at the bit to critique all this writing that's happening I'm sure!
• I've got so many projects on the back burner I can already feel the craziness of December!

Yup.

Feels like Nano to me!

nano word count: 8413

Is the first time really the best?

Just got back from my very first writers conference. It was the Ozark Creative Writers Convention, and it was awesome!

I'm gonna be honest though, I'm not really feeling more motivated to write. Ooo, I hope nobody's offended. Don't tell Tamara! Blast! She's gonna find out anyway. Dang internet. No worries Tamara, and all new authors looking for an opportunity to share the writing love, motivation comes in many forms! This just wasn't the way I expected it!

Tamara is my wonderful friend that I attended the conference with. Go check out her post it's full of fun info about the conference and the agent who was there. She's been helping me remember how much I love writing, but I really am just starting out in this crazy amazing world of writing, so, trying to take in all that information was a little overwhelming. I'd come out of each class with pages of notes and realize how much more there is to writing than a good idea.

That happened after every class I think :) It makes me giggle a little how exhausting sitting in class is and how awesome all of the speakers were.

Thank goodness they left a little break time each day that we happily filled with shopping and chocolate, along with a little of our own writing, to temper the information overload!

We've established that I'm a new author. As long as you aren't counting the little construction paper covered book I wrote about a haunted castle when I was in first grade. (don't smirk you've all got one!) I'm still working on the first draft, of my first novel, but who'd of thought jumping into a room full of people who share my interests could be so scary! Writing can be hard and these people have been beating there way through for years.

The conference itself was a very cool experience, and I plan to go to this one and others in the future. The classes were great, the people were awesome. In fact, I never got to have a one-on-one conversation with Dusty Richards, who heads the committee, but I feel like he's my friend. To bad he has no idea!

So I wouldn't say I came out of the conference super motivated to write. However, I am super motivated to learn and I'm sure I'll keep writing as I go! Also, I'm really looking forward to next year! Whew!

In any case, first whirlwind, fabulous convention finished. Check!

Where Do I Hide My Inspiration?

I'm sitting on the beaches of Kauai this week. Sand on my toes, and in my swimsuit :) waves washing over my feet and pulling the sand out from under me. Sunsets and sunrises I haven't taken the time to watch in years and all my friends (who know) certain I'll get inspired by the setting and write nonstop.

Hmm, frankly, writing still feels about the same as sitting on my couch at home.

Don't get me wrong it's gorgeous and I've written more here than I have in the last month at home. I just don't think inspiration works like that.

You can't go somewhere beautiful and ask it to inspire you. You may be inspired just as easily in a damp basement, as you would on a sunny beach.

My comfy bed at home has served my inspiration purposes quite well thus far, sitting cuddled in my blankets, laptop open, with a bowl of cauliflower at my side. It makes me smile and thinking about it sighs are almost involuntary.

So I was kind of worried when I told a friend that I was going to try and write while I was here and the first words you hear are "Ooo, I hope you'll be inspired!" Nice thoughts and good wishes, but not very realistic. (I really didn't tell that many people it's just that everyone said that or a variation thereof)

My story is not based in Hawaii, though I can't help imagining my little girls running around in the surf and hanging out in the local shops and towns, so, who knows maybe someday or some point there will be some tropical settings showing up in my books, but for now I'm sitting in front of palm trees towering above me at five times my height (I swear they're huge), ocean waves crashing against rocks that and unable to keep my husband off of them (yes, dear, I do think the waves will come up and sweep me off of them), and surrounded by flowers, and vegetation you can't find anywhere else, but when I turn on my computer I'm still writing about surviving dungeons, and trolls.

It's not any easier or harder than it is at home.

I still push through, but

here I have no responsibilities and no timelines.

So, it's been amazing but the real difference is no kids. Being a stay at home mom I never get a break from my work. It's not all hard back breaking labor, unless you count carrying a huge two year old around a Walmart Supercenter because he refuses to sit in the cart but if allowed to walk he will pull everything you pass off the shelves and into your cart. It's a long and never ending job. So, to find myself with this much time where I only have to enjoy myself, is a previously unrealized treasure!

Yes, I'm still excited to get home to my kids (I always know my vacation has been long enough when I actually start missing my kids), I haven't started on some newly island inspired book, but I'm trying to take advantage of every moment here to write and relax, and vowing to find ways to continue this process in my own home. That's got to be my new trick, finding un-disturbed writing time at home :) I'm just not sure how.

That causes only a little confusion, but with my newly vacation refreshed outlook on life I'm feeling up to the challenge!

Keep movin along :)

So I started this in March, and I have continued to write, slowly.

Flash forward!

6 mo later.

Hmm... sorry, but I'm not finished yet. Oops!

Hehe :)

However, I am further along than the first chapter.

The overflowing amount of advice that is available to anyone wanting to write. Boggles my mind and leaves me in awe of the many talented published and unpublished authors out there striving to tell their story!

Today, I'm feeling the need to just keep going.

The desire to tell my story is overwhelming, but, this first time through the first draft is kinda killing me :) I'm trying to figure out the details of things that I vaguely know and put into words the feelings that express themselves so freely in my minds eye. I think this is why not everyone can be a writer! I just have to make sure I get through it!

Goals for today (or this month) -

Find the time and push through the hard parts so that your story can be told. I'll figure out the fine tuning later but right now it just needs to be told!

The second draft is easier right?

First Chapter... Check!

Welcome to... no one! At this point, and someday maybe, to someone who wants to hear what I have to say!
Congratulations! You of all people have stumbled upon my blog, which is mainly about books and the process of writing one, but seeing as I have no real experience except the one that I am living, I claim only to write what I love and know! And share my successes and mistakes along the way!

Today... Success!

I finished the first chapter of my first draft of my book! Exciting! It's all outlined through to the end and scenes are broken down, but now I've actually finished the first chapter and it feels so good!

Of course a book is much more than it's first chapter (and I already have thoughts about revising it) so my goal is to write 500 words every day and get it done in 6 Months! Woo-Hoo! Here's to goals!