Day 9: NaNoWriMo & PiBoIdMo

Another slow NaNo writing day. I got less than 400 words written before midnight today. At midnight the new report is logged into the site and anything written after 12:00 goes onto the next day’s total. Makes sense, right? But if I keep writing and add my totals in, it changes the numbers in my widgets here on my blog, and therefore they don’t line up with the numbers I’ve told you. Usually, I like to add my number of words per page as I go, but if “the Muse” is on a roll, I keep going and add ’em up later.

I’m not proud of my small efforts today but this is all part of it, so even if I should write nothing I will still report here. Hopefully, I will always write something through this challenge.

My widget said I have 24% done, but now it is at 25% because I wrote a little more after midnight. My stats report tells me that at this rate I will finish Dec 10. 🙂 I hope to improve my words per day to finish on time.

Soon after I woke this morning, an idea came to me for PiBoIdMo challenge. I wrote it down and this afternoon I had the idea ”fleshed out’ so that I have a story planned from it. So that’s 13 ideas so far, and also I have added a little here and there to some of the first 12.

It’s been nearly a week of rain, rain, rain, with some families in Nova Scotia having to be evacuated because of serious flooding. Wednesday the rain will stop and the sun will reappear. I’m so busy that I even forgot to get depressed due to lack of sunshine! 🙂

Have you had trouble with too much water, especially along the eastern seaboard?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Day 8: NaNoWriMo & PiBoIdMo

I am falling behind. Today (Monday) I didn’t get much written for NaNoWriMo so I’m not up to where I should be by this time. I did write over 1000 words tonight but that’s not enough yet. I have a lot of catching up to do with Tuesday’s goal in the challenge being a total of 15,000 words. But the fun thing is that my widget says I have completed 24% now.

What’s interesting is that what I wrote tonight is a departure from the main story. My characters are taking me on a detour, and yet it feels as if there is a connection to the heart of the story. It is all still vague in my mind right now but I think it’s going to come together okay somehow. I will just keep writing and see what happens.

The really good news is that this morning I had two ideas for PiBoIdMo. In fact, one of them is built onto the idea I had for Day 2. It seems that now I have a full story roughed out for a picture book. Cool, huh? Well, I think so.

I’m having fun with all this writing.

When you write, do you find that your characters lead you?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Day 7: NaNoWriMo & PiBoIdMo

I’m writing this post after midnight so it will show up as Monday, but it’s intended as Sunday’s.

It has not been a day of much creative writing, with other things I was involved in taking priority. Then, too, I had a nap this afternoon, which helped keep me going for the rest of the day, but now I am ready to crash for the night. The time change will mix me up a bit for a few days.

I had to think harder today to pull out an idea for PiBoIdMo, but I got one, bringing my total to 10 ideas by day 7. I’m pleased with that.

NaNoWriMo is a different ‘story’ – forgive the pun. 🙂 I only got slightly over 400 words written, a far cry from the 1667 suggested daily word count and pushing my completion to 22%. But, that’s okay. I just have to make up the deficit somewhere along the way. (Check my NaNoWriMo updates page for actual count.) The funny thing is that yesterday my word count was such that my NaNo stats report told me “At This Rate You Will Finish On November 30”, which is great! But tonight, after I had added my meagre total into the count, it now says “At This Rate You Will Finish On Dec 05.” 🙂 I’ll have to work on that.

As you may have noticed, I also got the PiBoIdMo badge loaded onto my home page.

I enjoy blogging! And I hope you enjoy reading what I have to offer.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Day 6: NaNoWriMo & PiBoIdMo & time change

Day 6 of National Novel Writing Month has come and gone and I just made it over the 10,000 words mark before midnight. The suggested goal by day 6 is 10002 words.

Did I mention in an earlier post that I’m finding my best writing seems to be happening in the evenings? I have written some of this 50,000 words challenge in the daytime but most of it has been nearer the end of the day and into the night. When we were talking about this, I commented to my husband that I’m a night owl and he said, “You always have been.” He on the other hand is the early bird and needs his sleep so that he can get up and get going in the mornings. Ever hear the Ziggy quote? or was it Charlie Brown? “I love mornings, they just start too early!” Yep! Me too. I do love early mornings and sunrises, and watching and listening to the world wake up, but all that is harder to see and fully enjoy when I have been up really late the night before – because that’s when my energy flows. 🙂 It’s not always that way, but more often true than not.

So, as I was saying, I couldn’t even squeeze many words out of my brain until late tonight. Then they just started happening so that I ended at midnight with my total being 10230 words. I am 21% of the way there, by what my widget shows.

I hope that some time tomorrow I can add the Picture Book Ideas Month badge to my blog’s side bar, maybe right under the NaNoWriMo ones.

Speaking of PiBoIdMo, this morning before I was even fully awake, I was listening to the wind and rain and an idea came to me for a picture book. Cool, huh? I love this! 🙂 The next challenge when this is all over, will be to actually DO something with my list of ideas.

Sunday will be very busy – fellowship (church), followed by dinner with my husband and grandson and anyone else who meets us for that meal, followed by Alpha, and then in the evening a private meeting. So, I don’t know how much NaNo writing I will get done, but I will be reporting either that night or on Monday night with day 7’s update.

Did you remember to set your clock back? Or did you get caught showing up at the wrong time? Any tales to tell? 🙂

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings. 🙂

Day 5: NaNoWriMo & PiBoIdMo

Wow! It’s the end of day 5 already in these challenges. Today I only got around 13oo words written for NaNoWriMo, less than the 1667 I was supposed to write, but I was ahead so didn’t really lose anything. As it adds up, I’m 300 words into the next day. The weekends are going to be much harder to find writing time, I think, and I’m not sure how to keep this story going so that it makes sense, but aside from that .. it’s all good! 🙂

When only two days into the NaNoWriMo challenge, I started to talk to my husband about something that evening, then stopped, thought a moment, and said, “Oh, never mind, that isn’t here, that’s in my story!” 🙂

Even though I am already thinking in terms of my story much of the time, I also am aware of the little things going on around me. There are picture book ideas everywhere. Today I captured three for PiBoIdMo. Of course, some of those will never go anywhere, but this is all part of the brainstorming that has to happen in writing. It’s fun.

This evening I took a pause from writing to do some reading. I am still working my way through the Bible, but I also read another little book today and added it to My “have read” book list page.

It has been a very windy and rainy day here in Nova Scotia, but we are having warm days and warm nights after a cold spell. Our beautiful leaves have finally reached the end of their colourful display, I’m afraid. The wind has been plucking most off their trees and is now blowing them helter- skelter. It makes the trees bare of colour but adds variety to lawns and fields.

Don’t forget to check my new page: NaNoWriMo Updates (2010).

What do you like about Autumn/Fall?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Day 4: NaNoWriMo, PiBoIdMo & a chickadee

Today was not a great writing day, although I did manage to squeak out 1275 words, putting my word count up to 7338 before midnight. I didn’t write a thing during the day but I did a lot of thinking, musing, about the possibilities of how my story could go. It seems that evenings may be more my writing time instead of daytime hours. But then this evening I was on the phone for an hour with a friend who is going through a very difficult time and needed to talk, so that took priority for me.

Another thing I have discovered with this story is that I seem to have two very chatty characters. They are doing a lot of talking so that I don’t have to. 🙂 Tonight, though, there was more scene narration which I found slowed me down. Even so, once I put in my word count my widget showed that I have written 15% of the of 50,000 words challenge. Yay!

I also wrote down one idea for PiBoIdMo but I don’t know how good of one it is. It counts, though, and I maybe can do something with it in a picture book.

Oh, while I was baking today (turned out a blueberry pie and a blueberry apple coffee cake) I heard a thunk against the window in our back door. I knew immediately what it was, and sure enough .. there was a helpless, little chickadee lying on the deck. I went out and gently scooped him up and checked him carefully. He didn’t appear to be injured – just very stunned by the head-on collision with our door, so then I loosely wrapped the little fella in an old t-shirt and set him on a chair on the deck. This has happened before and they just need time to get their wits about them again. It wasn’t until my husband arrived home from work, maybe a half hour later, that little chickadee perked up and flew away – just as my husband was coming up the steps. I don’t know yet how to transfer images from my phone to my computer or I would insert a picture here.

Do you ever have to rescue little birds?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings. 🙂

Day 3 of NaNoWriMo & PiBoIdMo

Okay, so I said I wouldn’t be blogging every day about NaNo, and I probably won’t, but tonight I just want to say .. I am actually having fun with this! Who’da thunk? 🙂

As of today’s writing, 13% of my projected goal has been completed, so says my widget. I must admit, I was a little exasperated with myself today, though, when after writing over 1000 words I realized that in so doing I had included a scene/time frame from yesterday’s writing. That isn’t so bad in itself, but I had written the same thing but in an entirely different way and didn’t even realize until one of my characters was about to explain something. Then I go … “huh? oh nooooo!” (haha) So, I just kept on going. In the editing when this is all said and done, one of those has to be cut. But for now the words all count because we are not allowed to go back and edit anything. When you can’t read over what you did earlier, except maybe the last line or two for your starting point the next time, it pays to have a good memory. 🙂 Double the challenge for me!

I know that I accidentally changed (misspelled) my main character’s name in a few places, but that’s okay and easily remedied … later. That’s no worse than calling a young girl by the wrong name on Sunday. Called her Veronica when her name is Victoria. She looked a little puzzled but was polite about it. 🙂

So, having said all that, aren’t you just so eager to read my story when it’s done? (having a good laugh at myself here!) 🙂

Now, another thing I want to share is that for today I made note of an idea for PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) from a personal experience. Then later I was watching tweets of persons I follow on Twitter (and making occasional comments) when someone said the funniest and cutest thing. I immediately told my husband and then said, there’s a story in that! So, there are two ideas for PiBoIdMo today. Gotta love that!

By the way: the website, should you be interested in checking out the PiBoIdMo challenge just to see what it’s all about, is: Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) — http://taralazar.wordpress.com/

Are you having fun these days?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂