I DID IT!!!

I finished my rough draft today! 50,154 words and the story ended. Well, I did have to add a prologue to help boost me past the finish line. But don't worry, that is one of the tips they give you to help you out.

So now I let it marinate for awhile without reading it so that when I edit I see it with a fresh eye.

But I feel sad. My creativity has been stifled. I don't get to spend the first hour after work writing my novel. I have all my scenes and my characters already. I need to just relax and chill and let the story set. It will still be there when I go back in a few weeks.

But I admit my inner editor is itching to get to work. I want to turn the spellcheck back on and get rid of all the red and green lines. But actually that is the last step in the editing process. Interesting. I never made it to the editing step before this year. I just sent on my little part of the story to my family. This time will be different I will edit and it will be an amazing story.

YAY ME!! I did it! Nothing feels better than accomplishing a goal.

Heading Down the Home Stretch

I am at 39,201 words out of 50,000. I am so excited! The story is amazing. It is so much fun to write about these characters who have become my friends. They are telling bits and pieces of many different stories from my own experience and those from people around me. It is awesome to share the story of romance when I get to go home to my romantic husband every night. He is my biggest supporter and inspiration. He speaks my love language. I am so blessed to have him in my life. I remember in the not so distant past that I thought I would never be found by my prince. But this past year has been amazing. In 13 days we will have the one year anniversary of our first date. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was smitten from the beginning to say the least. I've probably written about this already so I won't repeat myself right now. But if I discover I haven't written our first date story here in this blog, you will be seeing it in another post.

NaNoWriMo Update

So it is halfway through November and I have half my word count done. I am so excited. I discovered the secret for me was to do what the organizers of NaNoWriMo suggested and write a small amount of words per day. I did get ahead a day or two, especially on the weekends. So that was helpful on the few days I just couldn't get the words to flow. And having a community of fellow NaNoWriMos that are experiencing the same craziness and can relate make it so much easier to not quit when I really felt like giving up. I went to two write-ins. They were perfect for me. Just the right amount of people to actually accomplish a word count goal.

If you have ever had a dream and never tried to acheive it..you are missing out on so much. Just go do it. You will be so glad you did!

I see my book in print...I can see it. I can't wait to read it...lol.

Yay Me!!!

I just hit 8019 words. Last year I quit at 7668. So I've exceeded my last attempt. Hurray!!! I am so going to finish this time. Interesting concept of writing though that I find so exciting is when the characters come to life and make their own way on to the page. I just had two more people show up that I didn't even know were invited to the story.

It is an amazing feeling to be in control of your own little story. To tell the world what you want them to hear without being at the mercy of someone else writing all the rules and putting boundaries in place. I love letting my creative thoughts flow and watch them come to life on the paper.

Of course it is a very rough rough draft so I won't be posting anything. My husband is sad. Our friend is also doing NaNoWriMo for the first time ever and she has let him read some of hers. So he doesn't really understand why I won't share mine. I learned from previous times that I have to have my story perfect before I share it with anyone or I will discourage myself. It's not so much what they may or may not say about my story, it is just that I want the story to be set how I want it before I share. And this one is even a little more sensitive because I am drawing on some of the experiences we have had on our journey as a couple. Not a biography, but I have taken creative liberties with our reality.

My heart soars at the thought that  I can now write something I lived. I want to inspire others. I want to put a little more romance in the world with my own unique signature. I want to finish my story. Off I go...

I am now "Committed" to "Eat Pray Love" everyday

Elizabeth Gilbert came into this world only1 year before I did. Her first marriage failed as mine did. She took a spiritual journey to find healing after her divorce, like I did. And she found love again, just like me. She loves to write as I do.

But she is published and I am not yet. Her latest books, Eat Pray Love and Committed, have touched my heart and brought a soothing balm to my spirit that I desperately needed through the written word.

The latest book, Committed, which is subtitled "A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage", intrigued me from the first moment I read an excerpt. After getting a fortune from a fortune cookie that read "You will soon receive some good advice through the written word", I just KNEW I had to buy the second book.

Of course it helped immensely that my sweetheart was sick in bed all weekend and I had plenty of time to read.

She starts off with the notion that marriage is a society type of control and thus rebels against its very nature until circumstances force her and her beloved to "marry" or forever be separated. Through her diligent and sometimes all consuming research, she discovers that humans created "marriage" and society had to adapt to it. Therefore when the choice must be made, she chooses matrimony because now she is part of the history of marriage and sees it as a subversive ideal that she totally supports.

I came to the conclusion that the wedding ceremony is for the benefit of your friends and family. Committing to each other privately carries the same consequences as doing it openly. Though some argue it isn't real if it isn't witnessed, I believe it is just as real with or without the legal document. Should I fail this time, I will still have the same heart ache as I had last time when there was a piece of paper signed. I just know I was better able to make a more conscious informed decision than when I was 19. I didn't have a clue back then.

Someday I will get married again. This I know. When, that I don't know.

NaNoWriMo

Yay! My novel has begun. I am up to 4269 words in just 2 1/2 days. Yay me! But of course since I am writing this blog you can probably guess that I am stuck. No, not really stuck. I know what else needs to be in my story. I just have that "this isn't working out like I planned" problem. But then again that is the beauty of being a writer: you can change the character or the plot or the scenes as you write. You are in control of the words that flow. so you can choose the path your characters will take.

This time I think I will go ahead and write my scenes out of order then rearrange them when the book is complete. NaNoWriMo is all about quantity, not quality. The muse can only give creative thought right now. No more blocks. I will push through and I will finish!

See you at the end of November, or my next writer's block, whichever comes first...lol.