*Crickets*

Happy NaNoWriMo!  I figured this would be a fun day to confirm I have not died nor have I been put into an sort of institution.

I won't be participating in NaNoWriMo this year, first off.

Secondly, while I have completely disappeared and not even read a single one of the blogs I follow since..... oh geez, May probably, I do want to continue to write and finish my novel from last year.  Have I kept up any sort of writing habit?  Hell no.  Reading?  Nope.  What have I been doing you ask?

Baking.
As in breads and cookies and carrot cake and pumpkin rolls with buttercream frosting.
That's my big news and what's been going on.  I've started my own bakery business.

Back in April for the A to Z Challenge, I did a post for P, and it was about my kick-ass great-grandmother (who's still with us).  Her actual first name is Florence.  She used to bake a ton.  Breads, cookies, carrot cake, oh god it was all so good.  It took me a few years but she finally began to share with me all her recipes.  Because when she's gone, we're going to want some god damn carrot cake.

I cannot cook to save my life.  I cook better with my character in World of Warcraft than I can in real life.  So you can imagine how shocked Adam and I were after I made said carrot cake and it was the best carrot cake we've ever had,  I knocked all her recipes out of the park.

With a little brainstorming, math, and a big, terrifying jump, I began the journey of Flo's Bakery, baking out of my home to pay my bills.  I left my old job at that car dealership mid-August and haven't looked back.  That position began sucking the life out of me where I'd be coming home either in a fit of rage or a ball of tears, so there was no desire at all to write.  Since then I've been caught up in the business.

Also, Adam and I did tie the knot in September.  We leave for our honeymoon next week, which is another reason why I'm not doing NaNoWriMo.  Blizzcon, Disneyland, and we even get to see Metallica.  BLAM!  Best trip ever!

So that's what's going on here in Michigan.  Dara the Writer isn't writing a whole lot, but Dara the Baker showed up out of nowhere.  After our trip I do want to get into a routine again and start writing again, getting back into that mess of a supposed novel and complete it somehow.

Place your bets for when I'll post here again.

IWSG January 2014

The Insecure Writer's Support Group is the sexy creation of Alex J Cavanaugh.   Its glorious purpose is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!  Visit the website and/or join the Facebook Group.


I wouldn't say I'm suffering the post-NaNoWriMo blues.  I'm still riding high.  This conversation happens every other day in my home:
"Hey Adam."
"Hey Dara."
"Know what I did?"
"What'd you do?"
"I WROTE A FUCKING NOVEL IN A MONTH!"
"YOU SURE AS FUCK DID, LOVE OF MY LIFE!"
*high fives and sha-na-na-nas here*

December is often the recovery month, and if not then, January is the revision month.  So says the NaNoWriMo community.  Here's my dilemma.

My novel isn't done.
At all.
I'm barely halfway through the story.  My last update about how my MC is randomly in Spain and I left her there?  That happened.  She, her BFF/lover and random new Spanish guy trying to help her are sitting at a random diner in Spain (if such a thing exists) eating muffins (do they do muffins in Spain?) and the conversation stopped because their almighty, godlike creator Dara started running around the house once she hit 50,018 and hasn't looked back.  Literally.

So I see these posts and blogs and articles floating around now.  5 quick ways to start revising your novel!  Proofreading: Should you have a friend do it or a professional?  How to edit and revise in under a month!

I'm even already seeing How to decide between indie or traditional publishing and How to find and choose an agent.

Holy hell, my girl's in a foreign country and I don't know how to yet get her back home and I'm supposed to start thinking about publishing?  I'm supposed to print out these 90-something pages on our piece of shit HP printer and read it all over with a red pen?!  OH GOD, I STILL HAVE A CHARACTER NAMED "ASS-HAT BOARD MEMBER," I'M NOT READY!!!!

I'm torn between sitting back down and planning out the second half of the story, immediately picking up where I left off, and reading the massive influx of information on the stages post story completion.  There's that thing inside me that assumes all this awesome revision and publishing and other phase information is going to disappear into the voids of the interwebz forever and I'll never find them whenever I finish my novel.

The other part of me is torn to read all the articles!!!!  Then it's 11 o'clock at night and I got nothing else done and I still have another 17 dozen to read.  And crap, poor Maisie is still waiting for me to somehow make Spain work for her even though she doesn't know a word of Spanish.

And lastly, I still have that portion of me that wants to just flip over my laptop in a rage and go back to spending every second of my spare time on WoW since that's sometimes the only thing I can fully accomplish something in (SCORE!  I got the insanely-rare-vanity-pet-you-get-by-grinding-the-crap-by-fishing-in-the-sewers!  LIFE OBJECTIVE COMPLETE!)


So what about the rest of you?  Any of my fellow NaNos in the same predicament?  Or even my fellow new-to-writing homies, do you ever start to feel overwhelmed with all the info that's out there and feel like you're going to miss something?

*emerges from a cave*

This just in:


I HAVE WON NANOWRIMO!

I need not excuse myself from ZERO POSTS in almost a month.... but this is clearly why.  And it was COMPLETELY WORTH IT.

I do intend on getting back to a regular blogging schedule once we fully roll into December.  For the remaining days of this month, I shall be sleeping, Christmas decorating (usual for Thanksgiving weekend), and catching up on a few things I've neglected while working on MY GOD DAMNED NOVEL I WROTE LIKE A BOSS.

Other than that, I do wish all of my few followers here a wonderful Thanksgiving (all 45 minutes that are left).  I am extremely thankful for all the love and support I have received from friends and family.  More details of this crazy journey next week.

I can now finally pass out into a food coma.

November IWSG and Day 6 of NaNoWriMo

Ah, Insecure Writer's Support Group day during NaNoWirMo.

I have been waiting for this day since joining the group a few months ago.

First, my lack of blog activity is DEFINITELY due to my participation in NaNoWriMo.  And it's been done (or not done) on purpose.  Keeping up with my current pace, even with a day off and one writer's block filled evening, I WILL win/finish this year.  Damnit I will call in sick to work for a day or two if I have to in order to get this done.  The OWNER of the auto-dealership I work at donated to my cause, AND matched my donation, so I'm making him cookies when this is all over.  I HAVE TO WIN!!

Yes, if anyone matches my donation, you will get cookies from me.  I don't care who you are or where you're located, homemade cookies.  Do it all for the cookie.

Seriously though, I will blog here once a week during NaNo, I don't want to completely check out and I don't mean to.  Nag me if it's next Wednesday already and there's nothing here.


I'm feeling pretty good so far with NaNoWriMo.  I did hit a bit of a wall last night, as I mentioned, not reaching by personal daily goal, but I came very close to reaching the NaNo "suggested" goal of 1,667 words (my goal is 2k, I did 1,619 to give a point of reference).  I've been lucky enough to be able to get writing done on my lunch break by taking over the meeting room at work and going at it on my sexy ultra-book I love so much.  I've normally hit an average of 800 to 1k words then, but yesterday, man, only 600.  And I wasn't getting all ADHD and screwing around on Facebook and other things.  I stared at Word and my outline/prewriting and not a thing could come over.  I knew what I had to write about, I just couldn't spit the words out.  The same thing happened at home, only I spewed out 1k over a course of 3 hours.  THREE HOURS!  I have up when I saw it was 10PM and climbed in bed.

Bleh.

And today, tomorrow as well, I work the late shift at work, 11AM to 8PM, getting home at 8:30.  Yes, I could be using my two hours this morning to work on my word count.  Will I?  depends how much longer it takes me to write this blog post.  Plus I gotta shave my legs so I'll need more time to shower.

TMI.  Sorry.  But serious, I got Endor all over my calves and Adam's getting weirded out.  I know there's sacrifices to be made this month to achieve 50k and there's the whole No Shave November, but yeah, sorry, no, Robin Williams legs have no place here.  Moving on!

I woke up this morning and sat at my computer knowing I wasn't going to write in terms of my novel.  This morning, at least.  I really wanted to share this blog post as I'm positive there others in the IWSG also doing NaNo who may not be "pros" and more of a newbie like me.

Hey, read this.

50,000 words.  Fifty thousand words.  That's fucking frightening.

BUT.

It's a rough draft.  I've read so many things about firsts drafts of a novel, as I'm sure you have, and guess what.  They're a fucking mess.  I had to take time this morning to remind myself of that.  If you have to crank out 2,000 words that sound like a preschooler retelling their version of Little Red Riding Hood, so be it.  Because you are most likely going to go back in December or January or whenever and start to revise it.  THEN you can make it sound bad ass, in your voice, without plot holes, and with all the names of the characters.  I am still referring to a key player as Good Guy Board Member and another as Asshat Board Member.  I will use Ctrl+F in December to find all those and change them to Brad and Gavin or whatever I decide.

Focus your energy on QUANTITY right now.  I have to keep telling myself that.  QUALITY is for December, QUANTITY is what will give you bragging rights to run around the house in your pajamas on November 30th at 11:30PM when you reach that 50k.


I am awesome at being a sarcastic hardass if you want help getting nudged along, or want to help nudge me along.  Find me at any of these procrastination stations:

NaNoWriMo Forums: doregan8
Tumblr: Dara the Writer
Twitter: @DaratheWriter



Sidenote: HOLY SHIT THE BEARS BEAT THE PACKER AND WE BROKE AARON ROGERS!!  That is all.

One more sidenote: Chuck Wendig I find absolutely hilarious, truthful, and some of the best and my most favorite pieces of wisdom when it comes to writing.  I highly suggest following his blog, if you're not already, during this month for "conversations" he has with you during the NaNoWriMo Journey.

Countdown and last minute goals

Including today, I have 3 more planning days for NaNoWirMo.  I feel like I haven't even breached the main guts of my story in my pre-writing/planning.

You are wise to be thinking, "Well Dara, what the hell have you been doing?"

Not.  A.  Whole.  Lot.

I've seriously shut myself off from the world of writing, between avoiding my own blog, blogs I read, site and forums I visit, I just stopped.  I don't know why, it's not like I haven't had time.  And sure I've gone to my comfort zone of, "Let's play Age of Empires instead of writing."  But even worse, my head was having me clean the oven and reorganize the spare bedroom before sitting down with my notebook and writing.

Yes.  I cleaned the damn oven before writing.  No, it is not a fancy, self-cleaning oven.

You are wise to be thinking, ".... what the fuck, Dara!?"

After having a way-too-fun lunch with my close friend Angie, I got myself re-inspired.  My novel is kinda-sorta zombie-ish, as I've mentioned.  I shared with Angie the main story and other fun bits of what I have planned, and knowing the LOVES the undead/zombie genre, she nearly piddled in excitement.  After that,the last thing I wanted to do was go back to work for 4 hours.  I wanted to get back to pre-writing.

I need to be talking about my novel and the story ALL THE TIME.  That's what works for me.  The kinks that I need to plow through are the 8 hours at work where I can't really do that and an average of 7 to 8 hours of sleep.

So, 3 days left, two at this point.  A few things I have want to achieve...

1. Be story-planning at least an hour for the next couple days.  This at least covers my lunch break OR right after work.
2. Launch and share my NaNoWirMo Fundraising Page.  SHAMELESS PLUG!  If you would like, no, love to sponsor me, awesome!  And if you match my own donation of $50, you'll get a little batch of homemade, family recipe Christmas cookies!  For reals.  They rock.  They're my great-grandmother's cookies and I've mastered a few of them.  Moving on.
3. Get fully caught up on the NaNo Forums.  I've been drifting in and out.  I get overwhelmed with the amount of new posts to track (and I'm not too fond with the removal of the "subscription/watching" for specific boards).  I do want to have this as a quick resource/time-killer and I just need to get down and familiar with it.

Just keep breathing.... just keep breathing....

NaNoWirMo Spotlight and Liebster Award!

Will I ever not post during the week then promise myself to make it up Fridays or over the weekend?  Hell no.

My week got thrown for a loop when I came down with an out-of-nowhere fever that left as soon as it showed up.  It hit 102 degrees on Thursday.  My rule of thumb is go to work no matter what, unless I'm dead, have something super contagious, or have a fever (this is assuming I don't have sick days... which I don't yet).  I called in, everything was fine... until my boss made me feel bad about calling in as one of the other women in our group had the day off and another has strep... so she did kinda make me feel that a fever wasn't good enough.  So I went in.  And it was awful.  And I felt like this about it...

As of Friday evening, I was fully recovered, and celebrated with illicit beverages.... which is a typical Friday for me either way.



So yeah!  Chris Kelworth is doing a series of spotlights of people who will be participating in NaNoWirMo this year.  I said I was interested to be featured for, shits and giggles, and BLAM!  Check me out!  Thanks for the feature, Chris!

And check this out!  Jennifer Chow swings by my blog and lets me know that she's nominated me for a Liebster Award.  First, I was confused and thought it was Leapster and felt that this in no way is a chile-appropriate blog (see gif above).  Then, I got all giddy.  Apparently what I share here is interesting enough for people to find their way here one way or another and see who the hell this "Dara" is and why she claims to be a writer.  So that being said...

I want to credit Evelyne Holingue with the best description of the Liebster Award:

"Liebster comes from the German verb Lieben, which means to love. Liebster is the superlative form of the adjective lieb, which means kind, likeable, lovely. As a noun liebster also means sweetheart and boyfriend. Ah the complexities of the German language!  As I understand it, the Liebster Award is like a little gift from one blogger to another."

Mission for me this week, share the love.  Rules are as follows:

1. Write a post about the nomination and link back to the nominator’s site.
2. In that post, explain the meaning of the award and answer the questions given to you.
3. Create questions for your nominees.
4. Nominate 5 blogs with fewer than 1000 followers.
5. Contact nominees and let them know that you have nominated them.
6. Post the award button on your blog.

First, anyone who I nominated, please do use these same questions (add or subtract); I borrowed them from Jennifer as I liked them.  Second, I'll be searching for said nominees this week.

My nominees:
Samantha May, at Writing Through College
Julie Luek, at A Thought Grows
M.J. Fifield, at My Pet Blog
Shannon O'Regan, at Papillon D'Amour (p.s. that's my mama's blog!)
DB, at 204 and Losing it


Do you remember your first blog post?
In days of yore, I had a LiveJournal.  Remember that?  Apparently it still exists, and it looks just awful.  End tangent.  I've tried to start blogs many times since then, and at this point they're all a blur.  My first post on this one here was a bit of an intro post, who I was, what I'm trying to do, the usual.

Why are you blogging?
Partly at the recommendation of my friend (see that first post I mentioned), also as an excuse to write to fill my daily quota.  Mostly to share the experience of starting out.  I'd like to think I have a fun sense of humor, so the ride should be entertaining.

What do you like best and least about blogging?
Best: sharing and meeting new people and communities online.  It's fun, and for me, the best way to find support in writing.  Least: actually sitting down to blog.  Example, I've been trying to post this entry since Friday.  I suck.  I procrastinate like it's my job and I get all ADHD so I just never OH SHINEY RED BALL!

What blogs do you like to follow?
My current news feed is filled with writing blogs; I find if I surround myself in it, I'll get it done myself (most of the time).  Though there's a few other I follow.  Friends, family, sites like xkcd and Penny Arcade.

What would you like to share with your readers that they might not know about you?
I got my head caught in a revolving door when I was six-years-old.  Yes, I still avoid them at all costs.

If money, job and family weren’t an issue where would you live and why?
Ireland.  It's a hell of a lot more laid back and filled with less bullshit that here.

Have you learned more from your successes or failures?
I'm still learning.  And at a quick glance, from my failures.

What one key message do you want your readers to take away from your blog?
Oooooo.... never thought of having a message.  Right now, I just see it as sharing my experiences while I go through with this whole novel/writing thing.

Do you prefer the book to the movie or the movie to the book?
I go both ways.  (HA!)  Some books I would have never read if it weren't for the movie, and vice versa.  Some movies butcher the crap out of the book, some do well on their own.

The image says it all.

Damn straight.

I did at least want to get a quick post up.  Here's a few fun tidbits.

TIMELINE COMPLETE!  That's right!  I finished the timeline for my NaNo novel!  What's hilarious is that I didn't think I finished it.  I sat down with Adam again after he read it and he goes, "Okay so what's next?"  I have to finish the timeline.  "I read it.  It's done."  It is?  "Yup."  Oh.  Well that's just wonderful!

Next I'm working on my characters.  This I'm finding difficult.  I've looked at scores of character sheets, and sweet jesus, TMI (too much information)!  Superstitions?  Phobias?  Pet peeves?  Annoying gestures they do?  I can see this being awesome, but right now, as other than the timeline, I have written nothing about any of these people.  Other than figuring out last names, fuck, first names, I'm starting with basics; seriously, my timeline is littered with things such as Spanish Lawyer, Social Worker, Good Guy Board Member, Asshat Board Member, Woman Similar To Sylvanas Windrunner.

Last night the following phrase left my mouth: "Honey, I'm going to get in bed with my new toy while you finish up with that."

I'm priceless.

Really though, I got my sexy new ultrabook: Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga.  It's a laptop, it's a tablet, it's frickin' awesome!  The keyboard flips around to use as a tablet, but as it's not a tablet, I can still run Word and other such programs.  What's even better is that Adam spotted it for half the price online as a refurbished model.  I love it!  Now when November hits I don't have to be tied to my desktop.

Only there's not a whole lot of places in this area with WiFi, other than McDonald's.... and call me snobby, but I ain't sitting in McDonald's for 2 hours writing.

The planning commences!

So between football games yesterday, I asked Adam if he would help me get some goals/deadlines down for the month of October in regards to NaNoWirMo planning.  Of course he said yes because that's why he's the most awesome man in the universe.

We got totally off-track.  But good off track.  In explaining kinda-outline method I was going to use for planning, he says, "You know, if I were a book publisher or agent, and you brought me a story that is basically about dealing with vampires, I'd turn you away."

No, he wasn't being overly cockey since his Detroit Lions beat my Chicago Bears yesterday (don't get me started, it was a bad weekend for football in Dara-land).  I at first was like WTF honey, screw you too!  But from a point of view, he's right.  Vampire tales WERE all over the place, and it's petering out now.  Twilight books and movies are over, True Blood got cancelled, everyone and their mom is/has been doing vampirey stories and novels.

Know what's all trendy?  Zombies.  The whole living dead thing.  Yes, I suppose zombies will go the way of vampires as far as literature/TV/movie fodder and open the door to minotaurs or whatever after that.  But he threw me his thought knowing in my what was then current vampire story a massive plot hole that I was going to try and avoid at all costs, he solved it.  Just by dumping Dracula's spawn for Shaun of the Dead.

And it totally works.

I had a dream centered around it (kind of), could barely get to sleep last night, started thinking more about it in the shower this morning.  BLAM!




So being October 1st tomorrow (WHERE THE FUCK HAS 2013 GONE?!), we got back on track after I started wigging out how to re-tool all the scenes I already had in my head, and decided not to fully can the method I was going to do, but to at least get all my thoughts down (because NONE of them are), timeline it all out.  This will help as well because we also developed a huge pre-history of how my MC got to where she's at and how the current society is how it is.  Which I really hope will help me decide on an ending.

Because I have no idea what it will be now.

That, and will it be a series or just one book.  NO, no, nope!  Work on writing it all out THEN split it up if I need to.