Nolfi book giveaway reminder & NaNoWriMo updates

Hi everyone! Just a quick post today —

Because I’m posting between my interview (<– click here to read it) with author Christine Nolfi and her book giveaway here on November 10, I’m tempting you with a reminder of what her book looks like. Be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of The Tree of Everlasting Knowledge.

I want to update you on my NaNoWriMo progress. On the right of this page you can see the percentage graph showing my total words written. To see the whole list of daily reports please check out my updates page here.

What you will find is that I got off to a rough start, but not as slow as last year’s. Even so, I am far behind what the suggested total of words is for day 7. They suggest 11,669 words by midnight tonight and at this moment in time (4:15 PM AST) I have the big total of 2330! Okay, so it’s not a big total, but it’s something. I have a LOT of writing to do. I’m trying to steal time out of my days for it.

What I found is that when I started with NOTHING for NaNo 2010, once I began writing it was easier to let the story happen than it was to later pick up where I’d left off and keep writing and adding to it. In 2011 I had such a slow start because it was hard to get back into the story. This month I read it all again right before beginning to add to it, and saw my struggle at the end of November last year. It was a mess. It lacks flow and uniformity. It is choppy, and obviously I was grasping for vision.

Now I am again adding to my novel, ignoring the confusion and hoping for a completion during this NaNo. I don’t know if it will take another 50,000 words, but it’s okay if it doesn’t. I have a feeling I will be writing the whole month anyway. And I don’t even want to think about revisions once I find the end of my first fiction novel. That is going to be even more of a challenge to plow through.

I hope you will join me by following my progress in this writing challenge. I won’t be posting updates this way daily, but I will be keeping track on my NaNoWriMo updates (2012) page. I invite you to please follow along. If you want to leave me a comment, please do – here or on my updates page.

Do you enter writing challenges or contests?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Why don’t you leave a comment?

I have one question: Why don’t you leave a comment?

I’m wondering if my readers who don’t leave comments are put off by having to sign in with their screen name and their email address? This is for my blog’s security, not for information gathering. I don’t sell your information, nor do I have any wicked plans for it. Please rest assured that when you fill in any information requested it is just WordPress’s way of making sure you are not a s p a m m e r. Together, WordPress and WordPress’s bloggers (I being one) work to keep it fun. Anyone with questionable intentions is rightfully blocked with an accuracy rate of 99.88%, but we (WordPress and WordPress bloggers) don’t have any evil intentions for our readers.

Just so you know. 🙂

I look forward to reading your legitimate comments!

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

PS: Watch for more fun content coming right up! Next is an author interview.

my NaNoWriMo updates

Just a quick note to you —

I DO intend to participate in NaNoWriMo this month. So far, in case you didn’t notice, here on my blog I have set up a new page called NaNoWriMo Updates (2012) where you can track my progress – which is, so far, not progressing. But I have not given up yet. Last year I didn’t get going until day 7, and that was a slow start with a low count of words. The result was not a NaNo win, but it was not a total disappointment to me because I did add to my novel. I’m hoping to do better this year.

Just so you know … in case you are interested.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

NaNoWriMo – am I crazy to try it again?

It’s National Novel Writing Month again! And the question is:

Am I crazy to try it again?

Let’s see …

reading reading reading, reviews, interviews, Caregiving, two homes to keep up, other family concerns, blog posts, emails, more writing …

sounds like a year ago this time! Only it’s more stressful as time goes on.

NaNoWriMo should either keep me going forward or push me over the edge of sound mind.

I do have this novel I want to finish. I started it in NaNo 2010, at 50265 words I put it away for a year; in 2011 I picked up where I left off, at 32150 words I put it away for another year. (You can see that info on my NaNo pages update here and here.) It would be exciting to write my way to a great ending this time. The characters haven’t revealed to me how that ending will transpire, but it was all starting to come together to the resolving of a few critical issues leading to it.

All year the story and characters have been playing on my mind – not enough to write more but enough to keep it alive in my memory. I think it is a story waiting to be told.

So, what do YOU think? Am I crazy to try it again? (I’m nodding YES!)

Should I do it anyway? (I’m nodding YES!)

Will I do it? (I’m nodding YES!)

Will you join me? OR will you support me? I am going to keep track here on my blog again, the same as I did the previous two times. Hopefully, I will have something good to report each day. I have installed two fun NaNoWriMo widgets on the right side of this page so you can watch my progress (of lack of) through this month.

Wish me well?

(Now I’m excited! even with 0 words for day one. 🙂 )

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Thanksgiving and being thankful

I’ve been absent. Did you notice?

My blog ideas have run low. Unfortunately, I have not kept up my writing of story drafts for 12×12 in 2012, either. My Muse is a little weary, I guess.

I’m behind in reading emails, sending responses to things, reading other writers’ blogs. But wait, there’s more …

Because of a fall that happened on Labour Day, and from which I’m still recovering, I’m going for laser treatments on my knee. It may be another month before the healing is complete, but now there is much less pain and I’m starting to sleep a little better – for which I’m thankful.

Can anyone out there relate to the following? …

When on my alternating weeks at home I have had such a very frustrating time with my internet service. We have Fibre Optics at Dad’s, but the phone company we deal with has not found a feasible way to even bring high-speed out my way, and the dial-up connection is painfully slow. How slow is it, did I hear you ask? So slow that I have nearly nodded off while waiting for pages (even here on my blog) to load.

True story! The longer I kept dial-up, the worse the service became. How long could you put up with that? I don’t know how I did it for as long as I did, but it had become such a point of stress for me that I finally said NO MORE!

We now have wireless internet – for which I’m thankful. It’s been all of one day, I’m already feeling better, and I LOVE IT! There was far too much stress the other way. My blogging, business stuff, emails, Skype calling, everything … had become such a chore, and with being a caregiver now, too, I was about to walk over the edge. I am bordering on the blues leading to depression, and something had to change. The Internet c0nnection I now have at home is much faster, which gives me breathing space. (If you know anything about stress, depression, anxiety .. you will understand about breathing space.)

What bothers me is I’m so far behind – according to my own expectations – and it seems my weeks at home are not long enough. I just settle in when it’s time to go again. But that is my life now, for as long as it takes, and we can still make this work – for which I’m thankful.

The air has an Autumn chill, the leaves are changing colour, the Fall harvest is being gathered, and here in Canada it is Thanksgiving weekend. Today is a truly beautiful day – for which I’m thankful.

To close, I’m including a few images captured this morning. I thought you might enjoy these wonderful signs of the season. Descriptions are below.

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1. Morning fog rising off the river – a view from my deck

2. A showing of colourful leaves above the river

3 & 4. Cortland apples (for pies) – given to us yesterday by a neighbour

5 & 6. Three varieties of squash from my parents-in-law’s and our garden

7. Only sunflower that grew for me this year; seed dropped by birds in planter! Bloom’s end.

8. Leaves changing colour on a tree in our yard.

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Let’s all be thankful for God has blessed us.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL CANADIANS!

For what are YOU thankful?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!

Book Review: Without a Hitch – by Andrew Price

Book: Without a Hitch

Author: Andrew Price

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Date: June 4, 2012

Genre: legal thriller

Pages: 408; paperback

Price: $12.99 paperback, also on Kindle for less

My rating: Riveting, suspenseful, tense, well worth the breathlessness

At first I wasn’t sure about reading a thriller, but I decided to take a chance on Without a Hitch. Once I got into this story there was no turning back. The author, Andrew Price, cleverly caught and held my attention from the first page onward.

This debut novel is about two lawyers who concoct a scheme to get rich, not exactly legally. Well, actually – not legally at all. That’s where the trouble starts, and it builds to such a heightened point of stress that I had to walk away a few times to breathe. Really.

Having said that, don’t get me wrong – I enjoyed this book almost completely. I say ‘almost’, because of some of the language. If you have been following my reviews, then you know I hate the “f’ word, and this story is riddled with it in certain scenes. What makes it work is that the characters, one in particular, would use that speech if he were a real person living the life created for him by the author. Because I couldn’t bear to not know what was going to happen, I stuck with it. In fact, because of the suspense and effectively building tension, it was with difficulty that I did not skip ahead to find out some things before reading through. I made myself wait so as not to spoil the read.

There are several necessary characters (even a mystery man) created by Andrew – not all playing leading roles in this story, but important – in different capacities – to its forward motion and edginess. They also add to the drama and suspense, enough to keep the reader wondering and reading. They are so real-to-life I could visualize them, hear them, and identify with them in some of their behaviour. The dialogue is accurate, amusing, annoying – and playful when in the flirtatious scenes. The reader may even think, “I know someone like that.”

Because Andrew Price has inside knowledge of the legal field, having worked in various capacities for nearly two decades, he was able to write a story that is believable and enjoyable to read. His characters stay with the reader, and the ending he came up with made me say, “Huh?” I had to go back and reread the last page a few times, studying it for clues. It’s an ending that leaves you guessing and thinking about quite awhile after you lay down the book as ‘finished.’

I believe there is a series developing. And I want to follow it through, it’s that good.

You can find Without a Hitch listed on my BUY THE BOOK! page.

Watch for an upcoming interview with Andrew Price, author of Without a Hitch. There will be a copy of Without a Hitch for one person who leaves a comment after the interview.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Baby elephant rescue!

I love elephants.

Elephants are magnificent, intelligent, amazing animals.

For a very long time I have thought I would love to have my own elephant, but alas! the darling creature would eat us into poverty, I’m afraid.

Yesterday I came across this YouTube video that I know will help you see more of how wonderful and intelligent they really are. Enjoy.

http://youtu.be/ITcTcpOv92I

After watching this I got thinking about the parallel of family and fellowships and writing. If we are fortunate, we can find ourselves surrounded by those who care about us, who love us and watch out for us, encouraging us when we need it. And if we are very fortunate, some of those will be of “like-mind”, enjoying and participating in the same things that interest us.

That, for me now, is writing. If you are a writer and have friends and acquaintances who also are writers, who understand your highs and lows in the process, who are willing to stand by you when you get mired in life stuff or writing woes of anxiety or the agony of writer’s block, then you are truly blessed. If you have someone who is stalwart in seeing you get out of that hard place, then you .. my friend .. have a rich and beautiful gift. Appreciate it.

What does this video speak to you? Does it parallel anything in your life?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂