NaNoWrimo '12 Progress: Day Nine

 

Day: Nine

Where I should be: 15,000

Where I actually am: 16,058

Word count for today: 1757

Favourite line from today's writing: He starts strumming a winding melody, full of little intricacies that aren’t usually found in his rock style. For some reason the song makes me think of walking through a field on a summer’s day, and being surrounded by butterflies. It’s quite lovely, and very uplifting.

Experiences of the Day: Today is the first time this NaNo where I've written something, then looked back and thought is this any good. There are words, lovely words even, but do they do anything to progress the story. I fear they're all fluff and filler, and will have to be cut in revisions. Sometimes that's the trouble with NaNoWriMo, and have to write a certain amount of words in a day!

NaNoWrimo '12 Progress: Day Seven & Eight

 Day: Seven and Eight

Where I should be: 13328

Where I actually am: 14301

Word count for today: 1073 (D7) & 3180 (D8)

Favourite line from today's writing: With only my long t-shirt-come-nightdress and nickers, and his jogging bottoms separating us, things soon become heated, as I press Leto down into the couch, and straddle his lap.

Experiences of the Day: Yesterday was a struggle for me. I had some stuff going on at home, and didn't manage to write until the evening. No matter how hard I pushed myself, the words weren't coming. I finished the day tired, and behind the daily target for the first time this NaNoWriMo.

Today more than made up for it, and I wrote 3k, in large thanks to word wars with Kyra Lennon. Competing really brings out the best in me, and I stop myself from procrastinating. All in all, I'm happy with my progress, where the story is heading, and am looking forwards to the rest of NaNo.

I'd just like to say thanks for all the supportive comments on these entries, and on the 'I’m Thankful For My Readers Bloghop!' and today's earlier post. I am trying to reply to all of them, it's just taking me a little longer than usual. I do really appreciate your support though.

Avon Romance NaNoWriMo Opportunity & Bloghops

As you may have noticed, I didn't post my usual NaNoWriMo update yesterday. I had a really hectic day, with some stuff going on at home. Though I didn't meet my daily word count goal of 1,666, I did manage to write about a thousand words yesterday, but by the time I was done, I was too tired to update. I'll be back this evening with my regularly scheduled NaNoWriMo update.

The point of this post isn't to update about my NaNoWriMo progress though. It's to inform people of the Avon Romance NaNoWriMo Opportunity. I recently came this on the NaNoWriMo forums, and am planning on submitting myself, but thought I'd share it with you all too. 

Avon (an imprint of big six publisher Harper-Collins) editors will make themselves available to the author community via online forums at www.nanowrimo.org, and by sponsoring "NaRoWriMo," the publisher hopes to acquire original works of romantic fiction, to be released in 2013 by Avon Impulse.

"NaRoWriMo" romance fiction submissions should be submitted by December 10, 2012 to Avon
Romance’s online submission portal (www.avonimpulse.com), and tagged "NaRoWriMo." All novel and novella-length submissions (50,000 words and above) will be reviewed, and will be considered for publication through Avon Impulse, the publisher’s digital-first arm.

Read the full post at the NaNoWriMo forums.

For more information on how to submit a completed “NaRoWriMo” manuscript, visit www.AvonImpulse.com.

While I'm here, I want to talk about some awesome bloghops and tours that will be kicking off soon.

As you may have noticed, the supremely talented Kyra Lennon and Jaycee Delorenzo are releasing books towards the end of November, and both of them will be conducting blogtours and hosting bloghops to celebrate the releases. 

The celebrate the release of her new adult contemporary romance, Blindsided, the second book in the Game On series, Kyra is hosting a tour from November 26th - December 7th. My stop will be on November 27th, and feature photographs from female lead, Isabelle's portfolio. 

In addition, Kyra is also hosting the Blindsided Christmas Photo Contest. Kyra wants to see your Christmas dress-up photos! Whether you're dressed up as Rudolph, or simply wearing a tinsel scarf, she want to see YOU wearing something festive! The photo has to be either brand new, or from sometime over the last few years - childhood photos will not count! You can put in as much or as little effort as you wish - the only requirement is you have a bit of fun with it.

At the same time, Jaycee will be celebrating the release of her début novel, new adult contemporary romance, The Truths about Dating and Mating, with a blogtour of her own from November 14th - December 12th. My stop on the tour will be 26th November, and I'll be sharing a special vlog from Jaycee with you all.

In addition, Jaycee (along with fellow new adult authors Victoria H. Smith,
Jade Hart, Chelsea Cameron and Magan Vernon, who all have releases around the same time) is hosting The Mating Game Blog Hop. On December 3, 2012, each of the five judges will be posting on their blogs a small excerpt from one of their newly, or up and coming released new adult books. At the end of the excerpt, a question inspired by the excerpt will be posted in which your couples will have to answer interview style!  There will be a total five questions, one from each blog. Then on December 10th, 2012 (Blog Hop Day), your couples will answer all five questions.  Other blog hop participants, readers, and judges will "hop" around your blogs and comment on your fun couples!!!

So mark the dates on your calendars, peeps!  November 26th - December 7th for Kyra Lennon's blogtour and photo contest hop, and November 14th - December 12th for Jaycee Delorenzo's blogtour, and December 3-10 for The Mating Game Bloghop. And if you haven't signed up for both contests/ hops, do it now!!

As I said, I'll be back later with my regularly scheduled NaNoWrimo update, and remember to check my blog tomorrow for my review of Jessa Jusso's EVER.

NaNoWrimo '12 Progress: Day Five

Day: Five

Where I should be: 8330

Where I actually am: 10048

Word count for today: 2184

Favourite line from today's writing: In the back of my mind, late at night when my insecurities are worst, I still question our differences and wonder if he’d be better suited to someone he has more in common with.

Experiences of the Day: I had another crisis today. The first scene I wrote for NaNo hasn't actually happened yet chronologically, so when I was writing scenes in the 'present' characters were referencing something that hasn't actually happened to them yet, leaving me with an odd mix of present and future events going on. Thankfully, I managed to move around the scenes, meaning I've lost nothing. I don't think I'll be writing out of order again though; my head can't keep up!  

Thanks to everyone who has been reading my NaNo updates and commenting on them; they're greatly appreciated. I am trying to reply to all comments, but if I'm a little slow, please don't think it's because I'm ignoring you. 

NaNoWrimo '12 Progress: Day Four

 

Day: Four

Where I should be: 6664

Where I actually am: 7864

Word count for today: 1845

Favourite line from today's writing: My high is soon deflated when I take my break, and see a girl in her early twenties, with glossy blonde hair and perky breasts, being interviewed to take over my position come Friday. Great, I’m being replaced by friggin’ Barbie!

Experiences of the Day: Didn't get a chance to write until this evening today, but thankfully managed almost 2k in two hours. Nothing major has happened, but the story is ticking along nicely. Had fun trying to think of a pseudonym for my antagonist, Abraxas. Thought Sax Arab might be a little obvious! Finally settled on Byron Saxton – and yes, I know it's the name of a guy in WWE developmental, and I'll have to change it in edits. But damn, I love that name!

How is everyone else getting on?

NaNoWriMo '12 Progress: Day Three

Day: Three

Where I should be: 4998

Where I actually am: 6019

Word count for today: 2331

Favourite line from today's writing: Heightened by our mutual declarations of love, our usual frantic ‘rip each other’s clothes off and shag our brains out’ rhythm is replaced by a gentler one; full of butterfly light touches, languid caresses and deep kisses.

Experiences of the Day: I had a slow start today, and a mini crisis. I began NaNoWriMo part-way through Cupid, and decided not to write the rest of the story chronologically, but by scene that interests me. That worked well the first two days, as I was writing a Halloween masquerade ball scene I've been looking forwards to for months. But today, when I completed that scene and went to move onto something new, I had no clue what to do – I cannot write out of chronological order. So I made a scene list to give me direction, but could only think up thirteen scenes, which I wasn't sure would give me enough of a word count to make the “winning” 25k. Thankfully though, after a little time out, I boosted my scene list to 20, and that's not accounting for random, unplanned scenes that'll come from the creative flow of writing. With a bit more direction, I got my NaNo mojo back and was able to produce a word count I'm happy with. I wrote some good stuff today, especially another love scene, which has some important implications for my characters.

NaNoWriMo '12 Progress: Days One & Two

Day: One & Two

Where I should be: 3332

Where I actually am: 3688

Word count for today: 1777 (D1) & 1911 (D2)

Favourite line from today's writing: “Rules schmules. We also have rules where Cupids are taken from their parents at birth, and if they don’t meet their quota they become statues. Sometimes I think the whole Cupid logic is flawed.”

Experiences of the Day: It's been a bit of a weird start for me, especially if you consider at this point in August I'd done 12k already. Firstly, I'm starting 65k into a story, using NaNo as an effort to finish Cupid, not beginning a shiny new project I'm all excited about – that isn't to say I don't love Cupid, I still do. Also, I feel like I'm trying to keep up with a lot more regarding blogging, messaging and doing revisions on the first half of Cupid. I think I need to prioritize more, and have some days just for NaNoing or accept if I try to do everything, I'll only meet my daily target. I still haven't figured out which is best yet.

On the plus side, I had a major break through plot wise today regarding the over-all message of Cupid. During revisions my wonderful critique partner, and word wars partner Kyra Lennon, asked a question about the nature of Callie's Cupid abilities, and I tried to answer that in a scene I wrote today. It lead me to some unexplored, but fascinating areas, and Kyra and I had a deep conversation about love and destiny. I'm very excited by what I discovered, and its implications for the story. So, even though I only did 1911 words today, I feel like it was a huge success, as I have some important elements for end-game etc. sorted in my mind.

How is everyone else fairing?

NaNoWriMo 2012

 

I'm once again taking part in National Novel Writing Month this year. For those who don't know, the aim of NaNoWriMo is to write the first 50,000 words of a novel.

This year, I'm rebelling, by writing the last 50k. During the summer, I took part in CampNaNo and wrote the first 65k of my New Adult Paranormal Romance, Cupid. Since then, I've been reading through Cupid, tidying it up a bit and changing the tense from first person past to first person present. I couldn't let a NaNo come and go without participating - especially when two other members of my critique group are taking part too - so I thought it'd be a great opportunity to finish the story off.

As I did during the summer, I will update daily with my word count progress, experiences from the day and favourite line from the day. I'll be using the cute little graphic above that I spent all day Saturday making on Photoshop. *is a total dork *

If anyone else taking part wants to be buddies, you can see my profile here. Feel free to add me! ^_^

And if you don't know what Cupid is about already, here's a quick synopsis.


I'm a Cupid, it's my job to make other people fall in love with each other. Sounds awesome, right? Well you're wrong. I'm not even a fully trained Cupid, I've still got to fill my quota. In just six months I have to make fifty-four couples fall in love. You know what happens if I don't fill my quota? A demon called Abraxas gets my soul, and I become a stature in his collection for eternity. I'm on forty-six … should be simple, right? Now throw into the mix my journalism degree, and my role as a romance columnist for the Uni magazine, Cordelia - 'the tutor from hell', and my landlord threatening to evict me. Oh, and did I mention there's a boy … there's always a boy! His name is Leto, and he's a guitarist in a local bad. Sad thing is, he doesn't even know I exist. At least I have my best friends Rathi and Phoebus the cheer me up. They're awesome. And that's my life. I'm Callie Gibson, and I'm a Cupid. 



Don't forget to check back here Friday, when I'll have a review of Kyra Lennon's contemporary romance novella, If I Let You Go.  

Also, if anyone is interested, I updated my personal blog yesterday. You can find the post here.