National Novel Month... in January?!

[Jennifer]

The powers that be have spoken (and, in this case, I mean the distributor). MG3K needs an "adult fiction" book ready for launch to prove we have hard-hitting, diverse content. I have posted what the launch (2/16) releases will be but guess what?

See that novel, "Elijah: Nature of the Beast"? That isn't written yet. Guess who found herself assigned to this dark and foreboding novel (that has moments that are so darn funny they make me laugh out loud even in the dead of the night... threatening to wake the entire household)? Yep. You guess it.

I've decided to follow the 2000-words a day rule (which is very do-able for me) and my writing time will be from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. Monday through Saturday. As Abbie (and many of the rest of you as well!) will understand: My normal job(s) still continue; writing must be fit into the schedule, not the schedule altered for writing.

Unlike the national write a novel campaign that stresses that what you're writing is only the first draft, I'm pushing for a polished manuscript, refined and tweaked as I go (which is why I'm leaving my per-day word count low). This will be my 20th completed book (14th published) so I think pushing myself for any less would be foolish.

EJ wrote a two-hundred word idea for this book several years ago. Sadly, that plot was so riddled with scientific holes that I could keep very little of it. However, that seed (there's a pun there for those who know the book centers around a warp seed) of an idea was certainly an inspiration.

I charted out every emotional beat and each scene yesterday in an eight hour session that took me from 3 a.m. to 11 a.m.. This resulted in 3000 words of writing and a three-page, scene by scene outline.

Do I normally write like this? No. But what we need most with MG3K (what we need to get the distributor to pick up bundled sets of books) are books that tell *core* mythology and major turning points in the characters lives. We need mature, complicated plots with rich, believable visions of who these Immortals are and what drives the central players. This is very hard to just "write on inspiration." And so, I plan meticulously.

Then I run the plot by all the other writers whose characters will appear (even briefly in the novel). I did this today. Even if I use the character in only one scene, I run the plot by the author. This allows them to say: My character would never fall for that, or give me tips or insider info I can work in to build the cross-appeal. I end my day by running the plot by EJ and Cris.

Now... as the "deep night" approaches, I prepare to write. I even created a desktop countdown to display on my screen:



Anyone want to wish me luck? *little smile* Anyone want to join me in an exercise of a little professional commissioned writing? :}

Jennifer

[Di'Nay]

Luck!

[Luz]

My thoughts with you, Jennifer. I look forward to reading very much. Your story with Elijah, That Human Grrl, was so powerful.

[artzygrrl]

Oh wow, Jen. Um, we're rooting for you!! I KNOW how hard it is to push yourself...*sigh* My novel's going to be roughly 120,000 words by the time it's done and at less than 80k I'm faltering to get pages written. And I'm not on a timeline.

And, yeah, I TOTALLY understand about the schedule...phew! Hang in there grrl!

[Jennifer]

Oh, Abbie! Your 120K word count goal reminds me of when I was writing for just me (not commissioned work but personal stuff). Oh... freedom! LOL!

I think the hardest part is finding the time. Not the desire to write but the literal time. There are three grown ups here. And *everyone* is fast to help and see to chores, meals, childcare, errands. But all of us also have great big deadlines for the launch plus our paying jobs. It seems that *three* women would be able to easily juggle two kiddos, three cats, twenty rabbits, and a household... and work normal jobs... and write... um. Wait a second. Actually, that doesn't sound easy, now that I type it all out

Good news though: 6716 words so far. (Checking the image posted above.) So I'm right on track -- yay!

*whew* Now for some Coke, a hot mug of broth, and an Airborne to fight off this dang sore throat 8{ NO TIME FOR SICKNESS!!

[Jennifer]

Oh... did I mention four hours of school a day? Funny how the children's education won't just shuffle off on hold when I'm busy. I mean, how important is long division, any way?

*singsong* I'm dreaming of decent public schools... hum, hum, hum...

[artzygrrl]

LOL! Your life is crazy! I'll be back in the rat race starting next week.

Stay well! What someone once told me is that you should OVERload your body with Vitamin C - like, 25,000 mg a day - to ward off sick. Your body just dumps the excess it doesn't need into your waste and it doesn't hurt you at all. Just take 200 mg once an hour. Your body will get some help fighting that ickiness. Feel better!

[Jennifer]

Abbie, that's great advice. I will seriously do that. Thanks for the hint!

At 8524 words as of tonight.

But, Abbie? Hon... you may have jinxed me I thought I'd be out of chapter three by 8000 words. Still in chapter *one.* This baby may *want* to be 100K... but I only have 30 days! Eeek!

[artzygrrl]

I'd help you out but...I don't know Elijah at all. Not to mention I've got a few things on my own plate (like this darn website I'm making for my husband...the links don't work yet btw xD).

How about - less chapters? Or are you still on a particular part of the plot? *bites lip* Um...I dunno! It's hard to "push" out good writing. But you can DO it, Jen!!!! Keep it up! *pulls out pom-poms*

[artzygrrl]

OH! P.S. - All-natural herbal fruit and vegetable rinse. (My aunt is a naturopath, and she sells it from a Japanese company named Sunrider) It has to be the herbal stuff, no weird chemicals.

But that stuff is like natural antibiotic. Not just for your fruits and vegetables. Just 8-10 drops of it in a glass of water (it tastes like soap...and it definitely works) 3x a day when you're sick or getting sick, OR if you're feeling ok, just once a day to stave off fungus, infection, overall sickness. Seriously. It's the closest thing to a cure-all I have ever encountered.

I looked on her site (www.phr.net) but couldn't find the fruit and vegetable rinse. So, I googled it and This Blog talks about the WONDERS it does for food bought at the supermarket. The blog doesn't talk about taking it internally, but I can assure you that it is good for you and DOES work to prevent and stave off disease and infection.

So, all that to say, I hope you stay HEALTHY and don't forget rest of course. AND write, write, write!

[Di'Nay]

Go, Jennifer, go!!

You're right on track - keep up the good work!
*returning Abbie's pom poms*

Not that I know anything about writing books... but is there any way you could break the one book into several? If so, then you can finish the first part and get it printed, and then start working on the next one. Sometimes I find that smaller parts are more manageable and for me, seem less overwhelming. It's just a thought...

Short of that, maybe the licorice will help.

[Jennifer]

Oh wow... a couple of awesome things waiting for me here! Glad I snuck away while Maxwell is drawing seastars for science

Abbie, your website for Chris (am I remember his name correctly?) is really classy. I like the design a lot. You certainly do have a lot on your plate but you're handling it very nicely.

Yeah, it's a plot point issue. Like, I need to hit certain plot points and I'm being a bit wordy... I guess I really like the character and have a lot to say about her and how she sees the world. (Funny little aside: You know how everyone was like "Oh, Tyger is based on Jennifer... blah blah blah!" Well, Elijah doesn't get along with Tyger and it has been *so* incredibly fun to write that!)

I haven't written any personal novels broken into chapters since I was sixteen. I always just wrote without them. I think... maybe... that might be part of the problem. Like, I need to remove the idea of chapters and maybe put them back in upon completion? You, know, like some of the chapters I've planned are turning out really, really long and others will, I think, wind up too short. So maybe wipe out that whole idea and just... um... write? LOL!

Do you write with chapter breaks in mind, Abbie?

Rebecca, you have an interesting idea there. "Elijah: Nature of the Beast (Part One)" just in case the novel does go long. I mean, I wouldn't prefer to do it that way, but gracious, a good back up plan is so very important.

I did have a minor freak out at, like, 5 in the morning last night. I had just met my word count but I felt it had taken *way* too long. Brianne let me read the whole thing to her (sixteen single-spaced, dense pages!) and she loved it and caught some word-use errors (which is *very* helpful). But perhaps most importantly, *I* liked it.

Okay, okay. I actually loved it.

I just need to remember: Just write. Don't think. Just write.

Btw, does anyone else listen to music while writing? I never, ever did until I started working for MG3K. Then, while writing "Eris: Black & Gold" I listened to "Anna Begins" by the Counting Crows. Over and over and over again (seriously, on repeat) for the thirty-six hours of writing it took.

Then came "Under the Influence." I wrote the scripts for the three issues and listened to Two Lady Gaga songs the entire time.

Now, so far at least, I've been working on "Elijah" to Adam Lambert's "What Do You Want From Me?"

I wanted to post a picture of animated pom poms to say thank you to both of you for the cheering. But all I found were skimpy cheerleaders (um, no thank you) and this guy:

lh3.ggpht.com/_hVOW2U7K4-M/SRPqq70wOFI/AAAAAAAAkKM/0uifAcmOZJY/s640/456756utyjhkhjk.jpg

He's pretty cute though. Built in pom poms

[artzygrrl]

Haaa! He's adorable!

Jen, I'd say, if you have trouble restricting yourself to the structure of chapters ahead of time, just write. I've read many writers who start out with 10-page long chapters and end up with like, a page, if that, for the really intense part (they switched point of view with each chapter).

Right now, with Slave of Kyris, I'm writing 10 Microsoft Word pages for each chapter. But that's for the sake of pushing myself to fully flesh out the chapters. For some reason it seems to work well. I mean, sure, there's some overlap on POV (the book is from 2 different peoples' POVs, first person for each, and every chapter switches on and off), but that works out well. Usually I just sort of plan ahead of the chapter (in my head) where I'm going with it, and then I go there.

BUT that's my style of writing. Or, at least for the moment it is. I think, though, when I'm done writing I'm going to go back and take out the chapter breaks, and just have point-of-view breaks, because that will make things flow a little better. But, for myself, to push myself to think fully, and flesh out my own ideas, the 10-page idea works. When it gets to the really really intense parts, I'll start switching points of view every 600 words, LOL.

I say, Jen, just write. Write your heart out, flesh Elijah out, but remember : You can always tell another story later. Just write this one. Don't hold back if there's something you think belongs there, but don't put things in just because you feel inspired to write them. That gets me in trouble sometimes, and I get off-track. Eventually I often end up blending stories together because part of one really belongs in another story. Try to keep your focus clear. But, don't freak out if one part gets a bit long. There will probably be other parts that will be a bit short, too. So, no sweat.

And, yeah, I listen to music when I write! I have to. Lord of the Rings soundtrack, or any fantasy or Renaissance-era movie soundtrack (Ever After soundtrack = <3!), or Summer Watson's opera (Mmm...I love opera). Anything that inspires me to think creatively. I need music when I paint or draw, also.

Jen? You have my number since you have my Facebook. You can call my cell phone anytime during the day or evening if you need to talk it out. Or, to read something you just wrote (especially if no one else in the house is awake). If it's 5 there, it's 7 here, and I am probably awake. I'd love to hear you read your writing to me, and give you some feedback (or just squee).

Also! Have you thought about, Part One being a TOTAL cliffhanger? Like, since you haven't written Part Two, you could send in the REALLY AWESOME book and then have fans crying for the next one! Just a thought!

[Di'Nay]

eww, yuck!!! bugs?? (okay, insects???) either way - gross!!!!!

other than that, yeah, what Abbie said!

as for music? When I have a lot of stuff I have to do, I listen to music I know - for some reason it helps me concentrate. I tend to lean towards Indigo Girls and Jen Foster.

[Jennifer]

Abbie... *groan* *cough* *crawling to laptop* ...cold. Has. Won. Jennifer = Living Dead Zombie Writer Mama. *dragging French press across floor... pouring directly into mouth* Must write... Abbie said: JUST WRITE. No think. No breathe. Just write. I can do it.... Do my eyes have to be open to write? hfgkhfhslohfsbvsgvuiygsvsbvsgvsg Oh. Apparently they do. (Note to self: Take Maxwell's typing class myself very soon.) Good advice, grrl. Thank you! I will toss chapters and just do it. If you get a cellphone call from Washington that's just a kinda squeaky breathing, don't freak out. It's just me 8{

Tossed aside Adam Lambert for a while and switched too a playlist of Simon & Garfunkel (Cecilia, Scarbourough Faire, Mrs. Robinson, Sound of Silence), and Crosby Stills Nash & Young (Southern Cross).

Rebecca, a box of licorice arrived today from you. Thank you :} It was received with much appreciation. It... it gave me strength in bartering. I traded one whole bag to Cris in exchange for her driving into town for Airborne, EmergenC, chicken broth cubes, Equal, and two boxes of those tissues with aloe (my nose was sore from using budget TP, dang it!). This entire house runs on the barter system. It was perfect timing! *sigh*

*pulling myself upright... clicking blindly with the mouse to open the "Elijah" Word document*

Bye ladies! You both rock :}