Writing-related accomplishments: NaNoWriMo is here! Of course I threw out all my careful planning and decided to work on a novel that I’d started earlier this year. The cozy mystery I was planning on working on needs to cook in my brain a bit more. So I’m working on something that probably qualifies as space opera. With sex! (Prepare for some cringe-worthy scenes to appear in the universe…)

On the plus side, after seven years of trying I convinced one of my sisters and one of my brothers to join NaNo as well. They’re both a tiny bit behind if they are planning to make it to 50k by the end of the month, but I’m just so happy that they both decided to try in the first place. Even if they don’t hit the NaNoWriMo goal, it’s still great that they’re doing anything at all.

Anyhow, I am 4,574 / 50,000 or 30,791 / 80,000 depending on how you want to measure things. I think that deserves an angry pig-dog thing as a reward.

Writing-related accomplishments: I spent the evening reading and writing critiques for the YWC meeting tomorrow morning. Other than that I’ve been a bit of a slug lately, but it’s probably a good idea to take a vacation before NaNoWriMo starts.

Speaking of NaNoWriMo, I have reached the stage in preparations where I have most of a plot outlined and now there are all these other ideas which seem way more exciting and maybe I should switch what I’m doing and… Yep, that’s the normal way of it, which is at the same time sort of irritating and also a bit comforting because I know I’ll never run out of new ideas to write about.

And now have a picture of Guido to make your weekend go better:

Writing-related accomplishments: The barf draft of the dragon novel is complete at just under 70k words. To say it still needs a lot of work is a bit of an understatement, but at least I have something to work with. I’ll get back to it after November is over.

Speaking of November, this weekend I am going to work on the outline of the cozy mystery I’ll be writing during NaNoWriMo. I also have another chapter of ALL BASILISKS (C3) due to YWC, so I’ll be working on that.

In the meantime, have a picture of the big dog who was not really amused by all the picture-taking nonsense.

Writing-related accomplishments: The WIP is up to 67k and I’m about to kill off a character, so that’s kind of fun. I think it’s going to wrap up fairly quickly after that, so I suspect the first draft will end up around 70k. That gives me an extra 10-20k words to add during revisions, which is fine.

I also went to a NaNoWriMo story mapping playdate yesterday. I tend to read for characters and thus I tend to work on characters more than plot when I’m writing. But this time I’m going to try to have a coherent plot before the beginning of November.

The photo below is what act one (the first three chapters) looks like at the moment. I’m still hoping I can train my brain to do this thing…

Writing-related accomplishments: Added just a few hundred words on the dragon novel today, but I’m still on track to finish the first draft by the end of the month. I also wrote up critiques on a short story and a novella for a meeting tomorrow.

A little snippet from the WIP:

Angela looked around for something to use to break through the glass on the door. A pile of small river rocks in one of the planters caught her eye and she picked one up. “I guess now’s a good time to start my life of crime.” She threw it at the glass only to see it hit and drop to the ground. A small starburst chip in the glass was the only evidence that she’d done anything. She waited for Benson to make a joke about her throwing ability, but he stayed silent, which irritated her anyhow.

Reaching up to touch the chip in the glass, she fed just a little of her energy into it, hoping that would extend the cracks enough for her to elbow out enough to be able to reach through and unlock the door. A few wisps of free energy swirled around hers.

The entire pane liquefied and dropped to the ground in long streaks.

“Oops.”

And finally, because it is still Inktober, I give you this kitten with attitude:

Writing-related accomplishments: Added another 1,250 words to the dragon novel (which isn’t actually mainly about dragons — at some point I’m going to need to come up with a real title). Our magical probation officer is currently searching for an artifact that is destroying the city. The novel is currently at 60k and I am on track to finish the first draft by the end of the month.

How did I do in September? Let’s see…

• Get an ending done on the rough draft of the dragon novel.
• Come up with a list of comparable titles (aka “comps”) for ALL GREMLINS because some agents want them. (I’m counting this one as done because I just can’t face it any more and I did technically come up with some titles.)
• Keep a minimum of ten agents ignoring my query at all times (by which I mean when one rejects me I send the query to another one).
• Get the next chapter of ALL BASILISKS out to YWC.

I made progress on the dragon novel. It’s currently at 57,389 words and should probably end up at 80k in the first draft since I added another big bump in the road for our magical probation officer.

On to October goals:

• Get an ending for the rough draft of the dragon novel. I really, really need to get this done this month since NaNoWriMo starts in a month and I want to have this ready to park in a digital drawer by then. So I’m going to do my best.
• Get the next chapter of ALL BASILISKS out to YWC. (I may need to rewrite part of it first. We’ll see.)
• Keep ten queries active.
• Come up with an outline for the NaNoWriMo novel. I tend not to plan, but I really am more efficient when I have a decent outline. Again, I’m going to do my best on this.

Just for fun I’m also doing Inktober. Drawing is not one of my talents, but I do find it kind of fun. I’m also setting  a time limit so I don’t waste too long trying to make it look like I know what I’m doing. Here is day 1:

(It’s a squirrel with a typewriter, in case you were confused.)

Writing-related accomplishments: Added 1500+ words to the novel of the magical probation officer who is currently trying to remember why she wanted to be human in the first place. Things are heading toward a resolution. It’s a little over 57,000 now — at this rate it may be close to my original goal of 80k in the first draft.

Tomorrow my plan is to write up critiques for the YWC meeting on Sunday and add some more to the WIP. (I also need to do some yard work and go for a run in the morning to burn off some of the Thai food I had today…)

Crow the cat wishes you a lovely weekend.

Writing-related accomplishments: Sent off chapter six of ALL BASILISKS (C3) to YWC in preparation for our meeting next week. Also added a few hundred words to the novel not called “Dude, Where’s My Dragon?”. When I was thinking about it the other day I realized I needed another stakes-raising point at this spot or it’s going to feel like the back half of the book is just a downward slide. I’ve figured out how to address that (more or less) and I’m headed toward that moment. I really am going to try planning the November novel — it will cut down on the “hm, something really needs to happen here” moments.

Ripley is pretty sure that what needs to happen is a nap…

Writing-related accomplishments: Added another 773 words to the WIP this evening. Things are progressing. I think the first draft is going to come in around 65k. The optimistic way to look at that is that I’ll have room at add more during the revisions. I also sent out another query on ALL GREMLINS this week.

And now here’s a picture of Crow the cat to make your weekend better.