NaNo Notes: Day 9

Teaser: And after she cried, she had this look on her face I can’t really describe, but it reminds me of this painting I seen once at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts when Miss Sandy went there with our class on that field trip, and there was a picture of Mary looking so sad-like after Jesus died, but she was beautiful, too. Not really pretty, ’cause there’s a difference, but she was beautiful, and I realized it was her sadness that made her that way.

Blooper of the Day: One of my character's names is Ji-Hoon, which my dictation program has transcribed as G Cohen, G Boone, G food, and G who.

Update: Well, I'm done with the official NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 words, but the novel isn't finished yet, so I'm still plugging away.

Family Life: We got snowed in today and spent the morning shoveling. We didn't do much else after that, so it was both a relaxing and productive day (even if I do feel a little guilty for not getting more done outside of writing).

Writing News: We watched the Muppets' Christmas Carol as a family, and I multi-tasked by using that time to finish up details for the launch of my next novel, Paralyzed.

   

NaNo Notes: Day 8

Teaser: "You might guess that what I did was spend nearly all my time looking for food, except there came a point when I stopped trying so hard on account of it taking too much energy and not getting nothing anyway."

Blooper of the Day: And he finished by saying I had the most important job of the mall (them all).

Progress: I'm really happy with how things are going. I figure I might be right around the halfway mark.

Update: I had a really restful Friday night and Saturday and woke up early Sunday to get a head start on the week.

NaNo Notes: Day 5

Quick Update: I've got a lot to be thankful for, especially since my writing day started with this:

Crying over spilled milk? Pointless. Crying over a lost #NaNo document that failed to save properly? Totally legit.

— Alana Terry (@AlanaTerryBooks) November 5, 2015

Thankfully I found the document in question, for which I doubt I'll ever stop praising God.

Physically: Everything's holding up. I've been doing more typing than dictating, so I'll eventually need to give my wrists a break, but so far so good.

Emotionally: Again I'm full of thankfulness today on the way everything's coming together.

Prayer Requests: I'm hoping to make a decent amount of tomorrow a work day and then get some time off this weekend. I'm also praying for my computer to last the rest of this project and I'm also praying for details to come together smoothly for the cover, which I just asked the designer to start working on.

Teaser (which today is also dubbing as my Christian Fiction Friday post): Most people, they think of street children, and they get kinda sad and mopey, like “Isn’t it too bad they don’t have anyone to take care of them?” And you wouldn’t expect it, but there were parts about being a flower swallow I actually liked. The part about having no school, for example, that’s the most obvious one.

Blooper of the Day: "I spent a good part of that hour with Mama gone wondering what sort of nice things must be coming her way. And you has-beens, maybe?" (A new husband, maybe?)

An InLinkz Link-up

NaNo Notes: Day 4

Teaser: "We’re called flower swallows on account of us always looking for food and never staying long in one place (like a swallow). And that part’s not too bad when you think about it, but it don’t explain the flower part, and that piece is sadder on account of it referring to the way we’d just kinda sprung up out of the dirt like a flower, but a little gust of wind or a little too much rain or someone running by who wasn’t careful where they was stepping, and we’d be nothing more than dust and a few pieces of torn leaves and maybe a petal or two."

Blooper of the Day: "When I woke up in the middle of the night, she was still a seat next to me" (asleep next to me)

Plot: I think this has to be the most enjoyable novel I've written, probably since the narrator is so spunky and young, and it's fun getting myself inside his head.

Physically: I'm tired but thankfully my eyes aren't hurting so much today.

Spiritually: I feel very blessed, like I've been completely healed and released whatever was bringing me down in my writing for the past half year or so.

 

NaNo Notes: Day 3

Teaser: "So the closest thing I could think of to pray to was the Great Leader, or maybe his son the Dear Leader, and I couldn’t decide if I should pray to the living one or the dead one, so I just sorta formed a prayer and shot it out to both of them to see what would happen."

Blooper of the Day: "It made my stomach do a kinda twist, like it wanted to get itself on audit up" (like it wanted to get itself all knotted up)

Physical: Today was the first day I did more typing than dictating. It's just a back-and-forth now to see whether my voice or my wrists are more tired.

Daily Life: I got out of the house today to go on a walk in the snow with a friend. It was quite refreshing.

Plot: I'm just about done with the second section in my main character's life, and things seem to be moving along nicely.

Prayer Requests: Protection and blessing are the two main themes of my prayers for this project.


  

NaNo Notes: Day 2

Teaser: "Pastor tells me there’s no such thing as ghosts. He says people don’t get possessed anymore, neither. But the next thing you know, he’s talking about the Holy Spirit coming to live inside of
believers, so I’m not really sure Pastor knows as much as he lets on."

Blooper of the Day: "Pastor wouldn’t use the word luck of course, he’d just talk about the Bible saying it rains on the good just like it rains on the weekend [wicked]."

Quick News: I woke up early (which means I'm exhausted now), and I ran into some computer issues, but all in all it was a great day.

Physical: I'm pooped, but excited to get to bed and start fresh tomorrow. Plot: I ran into an issue with the style of narration that I had to go back and rework for readability. I still have a little work left in that arena tomorrow, but at least from now on it should be pretty consistent.

Computer: I ran into an issue where Word wasn't saving things and shutting itself down. I lost about twenty minutes worth of work, but it was all edits that I can fix tomorrow after I give my eyes a break.



Want to watch me write a novel in a month? Get chapters as soon as they're written, give feedback, help shape the story, or just sit back and read the novel while it unfolds. Details at http://eepurl.com/bEw8Kj

NaNo Notes: Day 1

 

If you haven't heard of NaNoWriMo, it stands for National Novel Writing Month. It takes place in November, when hundreds of thousands of authors set a goal to write a complete novel in a month.

For this year's NaNo, I'm working on my next North Korea suspense novel, and I'll be checking in here every few days to let you know how it's going.

Physically: Eyes sore. Wrists holding up well from typing, voice holding up well from dictating.

Story Line: Great. I really like this character. He's very fun to write.

Spiritually: Yikes, I was not prepared for how intense one particular scene was going to be. Had to call in a few prayer warriors to get me covered, and now I'm feeling good and ready to attack tomorrow for day 2.

Family: Husband's already joking about being a NaNoWidower, but we actually had a good hour after he got home from youth group just to chat, so I guess it's going just fine.

Teaser: "I would have never guessed a bowl of cursed noodles could cause so much trouble, but the more I think about it, the more I figure none of this would have happened if I’d kept my hands to myself."

Blooper of the Day: "If you’d had a dream like that when you’re hungry and a little baby’s trying to steal your food and then it’s turning into a pig and biting your leg so hard, you’d be a holler into" (you'd be hollering, too)

---

Ready for more? Want to watch me write a novel in a month? Get chapters as soon as they're written, give feedback, help shape the story, or just sit back and read the story while it unfolds. Details at http://eepurl.com/bEw8Kj

WIPpet Wednesday: "Not Today"

Happy Wednesday, everyone! I'm still working on those fight scenes and getting ready to draft Ko's novel. The problem I'm running into is that the back story of her training is just as interesting as the present-day story of her mission. I'm trying to decide whether I'll do flashbacks, part one / part two, or if I'll release her training as its own prequel. I personally like the flashback idea, but it's not necessarily popular with readers. Please chime in if you have suggestions.

This scene comes from Ko's training. I've included 15 sentences since we're in 2015.

***

Bending down, she swung her leg in a low arc and got him behind the knee. She may have been the size of a toddler for all the harm it caused him. She grunted when his fist swiped the side of her face. She spit on the ground and gritted her teeth.

This fight was hers.

He made slow, deliberate strides as she circled him. No good. She had to get in to his space. Had to find his weakness.

Ko had to win.

She was panting for air, her lungs still exhausted from her run the day before. He stood calm and unnerved. Waiting. Waiting for Ko to lose. Only that wasn't going to happen. Not today.

***

Random Fact: I've never been in a real fist fight, but I spent several years of my life assuming every little sister got the wind knocked out of her on a daily basis.

Blog Love: Huge thanks to K L Schwengel for hosting the WIPpet Wednesday blog hop, where authors post snippets from the current Works In Progress. 


Cool News: I just heard that our fundraiser for North Korean refugees helped save a ten-year-old girl named Eun Bi who is now safely settled in South Korea! Thanks to everyone who helped bring her to safety and freedom.

WIPpet Wednesday: "Even More Nasty"

Happy Wednesday! It's a new month, and I've got some new projects to work on while  (Kennedy's story) is with betas. What I'm doing now is more like pre-writing. I'm gearing up to do my first real spy novel, so I'm practicing fight scenes.

Unplanned

In honor of the second month of the year, here are two paragraphs from Fight Scene 101. Meet Agent Ko. I hope you like her as much as I do.

***

The man yanked the knife out of his back pocket and crouched, eyes gleaming, sweat beads already glistening on his forehead. "I'm gonna say something really mean and nasty here," he snarled. She pounced forward, dodging the wide, clumsy arc of his blade. The second he shifted his weight, she grabbed his wrist and yanked his arm back. He staggered forward with a grunt, and she kneed him in the sternum. The knife clattered on the floor. She gave him two swift chops in the center of his back, right between his lungs. He fell gasping.

Placing her hands on her hips, Ko pressed her high heel on the base of his neck, just above the shoulder blades. "Well, I'll say something even more nasty." She walked away without looking back.

***

Random Fact: I usually skim fight scenes when I read. Until now, that is.

Blog Love: Huge thanks to K L Schwengel for hosting the WIPpet Wednesday blog hop, where authors post snippets from the current Works In Progress. 

WIPpet Wednesday: "To the Wolves"

Happy Wednesday!

First, an announcement: Starting next week, a friend and I are starting a branch off of the WIPpeters, the WIPpet Wednesday: Christian Fiction Edition. I'll be using my weebly blog for this anyway, and I'll keep using this blog to keep up with the original WIPpets. So nothing really is changing, but I just wanted to mention that I'm doing this with the full support of our fearless leader KL, and I'll still be around here too.

And as for today, I'm posting a few paragraphs from page 28 of my WIP in honor of January 28. (Where does the time go?)

***

“I don’t mind taking the phone for the weekend.” Kennedy saw the tight worry lines around Carl’s eyes fade, and she knew she had made the right decision.

He frowned for just a second as he zipped up his windbreaker. “If you’re sure you’re comfortable. You can bring it back to me at church on Sunday so you won’t have to carry it around during the week. Besides, that means you don’t have an excuse to miss services. Oh, I forgot to give you Sandy’s number in case you need a ride.”

He reached down for a pen from a #1 Grandpa mug on his desk before Kennedy held up her hand. “That’s all right. I can look up her number from caller ID.”

He froze for a moment, his eyes wide, then he shook his head and shrugged. “You can do that? All right, well, are you sure you’re comfortable with the phone then? I didn’t mean to spring it on you so fast and then just throw you to the wolves.”

Kennedy laughed as she followed him out his office. “It’s just for two days. What’s could be so hard about that?”

***

Random Fact: Over the course a nine-month long-distance relationship, my husband-to-be and I spent the equivalent of 33 consecutive 24-hour days on the phone.

Blog Love: Huge thanks to K L Schwengel for hosting the WIPpet Wednesday blog hop, where authors post snippets from the current Works In Progress.

WIPpet Wednesday: "What're You Reading?"

Hi guys, happy Wendesday! My WIP is coming along, my wrists are holding up, and the snow is
already melting. Weird, I know.

In honor of January 14, here are 14 sentences from page 14 of my work in progress. Kennedy is the main character, and this is the scene where we get to meet Reuben, her lab partner in college.

***

“Wichaeading?” Reuben mumbled through a mouthful of pizza. When Kennedy wrinkled her nose at him, he swallowed noisily and asked again, “What’re you reading?”

“Crime and Punishment,” she answered, showing him the cover. “It’s for my Russian lit class.” Reuben was already hacking at his Jell-O with a spork, and Kennedy guessed it would be her job to hold up the conversation for a little while. “It’s about a young man who decides to kill this old lady …”

“Pwnvoker,” he muttered.

Kennedy squinted for just a moment while she tried to translate, and then she nodded. “The pawnbroker. Right. So, you’ve read it?”

Reuben held up two fingers. Kennedy was impressed. Even when she found a book she really liked, she never had time to re-read anything.

***

One of these days, I'll write the based-on-real-life romance novel that explains how I wouldn't have met my husband if I hadn't ever read Crime and Punishment, but today is not that day. (I did blog about it at one point if I remember right.)

Blog Love: Huge thanks to K L Schwengel for hosting the WIPpet Wednesday blog hop, where authors post snippets from the current Works In Progress.

Random Fact: Crime and Punishment was the very first present my husband-to-be ever gave me. It was also the crux of our very first disagreement. Yes, we're nerdy. And yes, we're perfect for each other.

WIPpet Wednesday: "Nothing at All"

Happy 2015! New Year. New novels. New first draft. New characters. It's going to be fun.

I started new draft around 12:10 am on January 1st (thank you, neighbors, for the loud fireworks to keep me excited!!). But it is still brand-baby-new, and I'm like one of those paranoid moms scared of passing her newborn around, so I'm not going to give any more intro or back story. This is a lot different than my other novels to date, so I want to give it more shape and form (and length) before I talk a lot about my plans.

Here are seven sentences from page seven of my first WIP of 2015.

***

“So you’ll take it this weekend? You don’t have any plans, do you? No dates?”

Kennedy couldn’t be sure, but she thought she saw him wink.

“Nothing at all. Just lab reports.”

“Perfect!” Carl remarked, which wasn’t exactly the same reaction Kennedy had when she thought about her twelve-page write-up she’d be working on.

***

Hope are all doing wonderfully! May this be our best year yet!

Blog Love: Huge thanks to K L Schwengel for hosting the WIPpet Wednesday blog hop, where authors post snippets from the current Works In Progress.