Novel submitted!

Sorry I dropped off the blogosphere for a while. A nasty cold had my brain turned to mush so any writing time was devoted entirely to the novel.

If you don't know already, I did manage to get the 50,000 words in on time for the National Novel Writing Month event! See the pic! It was a hard slog that last day because I felt awful. Still, I did it. Then I put the book away and didn't look at it again until Thursday.

Today was the deadline to submit it to Avon so I spent my weekend editing, and today wrote the synopsis and query letter. The hardest part of the whole submission process was selecting the best scene (of a thousand words or less). Thanks to my friend Anne, hubby, and sister for helping narrow down the choices and helping me pick one.

Hitting submit submission was harder than I thought. All those doubts about if it's a good book, if Avon will want it, if... if.... if....

Finally, my husband brought the baby over and Rowan was the one who submitted mommy's novel. I took a picture which I'll post when I manage to pull it off the camera. '

So now I have an 8-12 week wait before I'll hear anything back. Lots of time to start brainstorming future books for the series that I pitched them based on this book. Not sure if I'll start writing anything until I hear back, but at least I'll start getting some ideas on paper just in case.

I also have to think about contingency plans if Avon rejects this. Things like, should I shop it around to other publishers or should I just go back to work on my regency and try and get that done. Now that I know I can finish if I put my mind to it, it seems a shame not to finish it.

Anyway, that's it. I celebrated with a lovely glass of 12 year old Macallan scotch. Because whether it gets published or not, I did something I didn't think possible. I wrote a novel in 11 days.

Phew....

10,000 word home stretch

Well, it's crunch time. Less than 48 hours till submission time. And while I once was the type of writer who could stay up into the wee hours of the morning writing, having a wee babe at home makes that impossible if I plan to be a functioning mom at all.

Rowan is enroute to his Nan's house - my mother-in-law - for the day and now the parental guilt is settling in. Since last Tuesday I've been pawning him off on anyone willing to take him for a few hours so I can get in some writing. Now I've shipped him out for the day. With just 10,000 words or so left, I should be in the jubilant almost there stage. Instead I'm worrying about my baby. If this project works and I'm lucky enough to get published, I'll need days to write much more often, and that makes me sad because I miss having him around, even in his fussy stages.

Time to suck it up. I'm doing this for him, really. So that we can see if Mommy can make it as a writer. If I manage to convince the folks at Avon that I'm the kind of writer that can appeal to their audiences, it would mean a world of difference for us. Not that I'll get rich doing it. That only happens to the mega-stars. I don't even know if my favourite romance authors are really rich. But if I could manage to at least make what I make as my salary now, I could stay at home, spending much more time with Rowan that I could if I had to go back to work full-time. So that's why I'm doing it. I might feel like a bad mommy this morning, but if it pays off, then in the end, won't I be a better mom?

Ahhhhhh. Life.

Anyway, the book is coming along fantastically. I'm basicially writing the lead up to the ending now. I'd love to get all 10 thousand written today, but I'll have to get into some kind of wild groove for that to happen. Instead, I'll aim for 7000 words. That will leave 3000 tomorrow, which I should be able to do with Rowan at home, and once daddy gets home from work.

I'm off to physio now, and then it's nose to the grind. I can't believe how close I'm getting to actually accomplishing this!

15,932 words to go by midnight friday

Just a quick update... and an apology for typos, etc sice I'm typing one handed. Theres a sleeping baby in my other arm.

As of 11:55 last night, when I wrote my last sentence for the day I'd surpassed 34,000 words!  Still a ways to go till Friday and Rowan has the sniffles and doesnt want to be out of my arms today. Its not likely I'll get much writing till daddy comes home at 5. Maybe I sshould nap with the baby...

Half way there!

It's amazing what you can accomplish when you finally get in the zone. The writing zone is a place that is sometimes hard to find. The littlest things can keep you from finding it. A sleepy baby. A headache from too much sugar and fun at a child's birthday party. A growing sense of doom when you realize it's 6:30 pm and you haven't written one single word for the day.

I started pecking at the key board, getting a sentence here, and a sentence there. But it wasn't flowing out of me the way it has for the past little while. One of the problems was that I had reached that point when I was going to have to write a love scene. Those are always the most difficult for me. So I decided to skip over it and return later. I rocked Rowan to sleep, handed him over to his dad, and got busy. By 11:55 I had crossed the 24,000 word mark. Grand total written for the day - 3424. Not my best writing day, but still respectable. I went to bed content.

This morning I packed Rowan up and brought him down to my mom's. When I left he was happily playing, with an attention nan and great-aunt ready to cater to his every need. 

Now to put that time to good use. In an hour or so I should cross the 25,000 word marker. Half way there, and five days to make it. Still feeling like this is quite possible. 

It's a good day to write!

20,000 Words on Day 5

Yesterday was an amazing day of writing for me. By 10:30 last night I had written 7000 words for the day. Most of the time I was averaging 1000 words an hour, although from time to time there would be slight setbacks.... lunch, supper, feeding Rowan.

Just look at that graph! What a jump!

Reg and the baby spent the better part of the day at the mall and didn't come home till almost 5:30. By then I think I'd reached 5000 words. It is harder to write when they are home, but I can't really expect my family to pack up and move out when I'm writing. I think yesterday I learned that with one or two fairly quiet days I can expect to get in 5-7 thousand words max.

Today I'm going to shoot to hit 25,000. Reg is making french toast, Rowan is hanging out in his mamaRoo, and I'm getting ready to write until Ethan's birthday party... or until my sister calls looking for help.

I'm really happy now with where the story is going. The characters are starting to take on personalities that are recognizable, and I've created a couple of secondary characters that I'm pretty fond of.

I tried to hit 21,000 last night. But only made it to 20,644. I wanted to push about her 350 words out of me but it was an important scene and I didn't want to write just for the sake of words. It needs to make sense, after all.

So there you have it. Today is Sunday. I have until Friday to complete it. At this moment I'm feeling like this is a realistic goal. Hurrah!

Day 4 tally - 13,046 words

Reg and Rowan are about to leave for the day, I have a strong cup of espresso brewing in the mocha pot, and I'm ready to rock the word count for today.

Yesterday was pretty good. See the stats. Almost got to 5000. Rowan was awesome. He snuggled next to me and napped for the greater part of the afternoon. Yesterday evening daddy and son went out for a couple of hours so i could keep writing. It was a great help and i ended up writing my favourite scene to date.

Today will be the only full day of writing uninterrupted I'll get. Tomorrow I have to pause for a very important birthday party - Batman turns 4! Or at least his alter-ego, Ethan, turns 4. :) On Thursday my mother-in-law is going to take Rowan for the day, so that will be the last push I need before the Friday at midnight deadline.


So enough blogging. Time to write.

Almost 10,00 words in 3 days

I have to say I'm impressed that I managed a decent word count at all yesterday. The experiment of trying to write with a baby in the house did not go that well. When Reg got home yesterday I had a grant total of 0 new words. Yet between 5 pm and 12:30 am I managed to get the count up to 9261. My goal had been to get to 10,000. But some words are better than none.

Right now the 4th bar shows my total day 3 progress.

I don't have an update image for yesterday because I updated the word count after midnight, not knowing that the webpage resets itself. Instead, today I'll show you a bar graph of where I should be had I started this project on Nov. 1, and where I am. As you can see, I'm lagging. But right now Rowan is sleeping, and should stay that way till around 10:30, in which case I have to go to physio anyway. Hoping to get some words down in the next hour. Tomorrow Reg is taking baby on some Daddy bonding excursions (i.e. Shopping and visiting, I'd imagine) and I'll get one full day in.

So far I haven't exceeded 5000 words a day and I really need to be if I'm going to get this done. I also realized that when I started I had 11 days, not 10. So I'm still pretty optimistic.

Anyway, enough blogging. Time to write! And eat a scone. I'm starved!

Day 2 complete

I'm happy to say that even with yesterday's limited hours I managed to surpass the previous day's word count. The grand total now stands at 6081.

Day 2 Status

Today I have no plans, so this will be the real test of how much writing it is possible to get done in the daylight hours with a three month old. Should be fun! One indicator is that I began this blog post at around 9:50 am. It's now 10:30. Rowan woke, and then I realized we both needed to eat, so there's the first slow down. But now he's lying happily on the floor and I'm ready to roll.

Other good news to report: I have characters that I now understand, and the plot is coming together. You'd think 18 pages in I'd know where this novel is heading, but I haven't a clue. I am truly flying by the seat of my pants on this one. The only thing we can all be sure of, since this is a romance novel, is that they end up together in the end. But I'd like my novel to have a bit more meat to it than that. Maybe today I'll figure that out.

Day 1 Update

Helpful website keeps me on track!

Well, the first day proved better than expected. I honestly didn't think I'd get any words down yesterday. After all, I don't really have a plot, or any idea where the story is going, but I still managed to write 2855 words. The contest has a neat little device that breaks down my progress into all sorts of facts. Like, if I continue to write at this pace I'll be finished on October 18, 2013. Eep!

On a good note, the folks over at Avon are aware of my endeavour and told me not to stress if I don't make the deadline. Still, I love a good challenge. So I'm not going to stress over this project. I'm just going to try my best to get it done.

Today is going to be a hard one to get much done in the daylight hours. I have physio at 11, have to take my Mom to an appointment at 1, and Rowan has a photoshoot with his cousins at 3. But after that, when daddy gets home, I'm hoping to make a good dent in the word count.

It's also noteworthy that I haven't felt this excited about writing since I found out Rowan was on the way. This is the kick in needed.

A Novel in 10 days

Ok. So I've either completely lost my mind, or I'm about to embark on some brilliant plan that I should have stumbled on a year and a half ago.

Here's the story in a nutshell. I'm lying on the bed at physio this morning, thinking where I'm going to go shopping this afternoon, while wasting time on twitter. Lo and behold, I see a tweet that catches my interest from Avon publishers (you know, the crowd I'm hoping will buy my regency when it's done.) The tweet says "NEWS: Avon Books Issuing a Call to New Writers - NaRoWriMo!" (National Romance Novel Writing Month)

Well, it turns out that theres a writing contest held every year that challenges people to write a novel of at least 50,000 words in the the month of November. It must be a new book, not one you've been working on. Anyhow, the fine folks at Avon's e-book publishing division figure this is a great way to find themselves some new writers, and will be accepting the output of this contest for consideration. A bit more research and I find out that they are really looking for some contemporary romance novels. Well, that's a far cry from the regency book I'm writing, but if it means a shot at having someone read my work and possibly publish it, then sign me up.

Of course, my darling Reg is all for it, and is already trying to find ways to keep Rowan occupied so mommy can write. I'm very lucky to have him.

So my friends. For the next 10 days (until November 30th) I am going to do my best to write a novel. From start to finish. 50,000 words. That' 5000 a day. And given that it's 2:26 pm here in Newfoundland, I doubt I'll get 5000 done today. But for anyone that knows me, I tend to do well with deadlines. Grad school, copy writing and journalism makes that a perfected skill of mine.

I'm going to update this blog daily so you'll know how I'm making out.

I'm not truly crazy....... I think.

I had a baby!

Remember that time I started a blog and said this is the year I'm going to finish a novel? Yea. That was a great year for me. Because what I wasn't blogging about was that my priorities in life followed in this order:

1) Have a baby

2) Write a novel

3) Everything else

I wasn't blogging about having a baby because I'd been trying for five years and it still hadn't happened and to be honest, it was getting downright depressing. But then guess what happened about a month after I wrote that last post? My doctor said I'd finally been a good girl and had lost all the weight I was supposed to and that we could finally try fertility treatment. So our fall became all about trying to get pregnant! 

I'm thrilled to say that after just two months of treatment I was able to pee on a stick and see that ever elusive plus sign. And in August our little boy came out all perfect and happy and life has been a whole new experience ever since. 

So I didn't finish my novel last year. And I don't feel guilty about it because I accomplished something much bigger. But that's not to say I've given up. I'm hoping that as I get used to motherhood I can find some time to write. In fact, a few weeks ago while baby slept and daddy slept, I did manage to get in a few new paragraphs. It may take a little longer now, but on the plus side, next to being the best mommy I can be, writing a novel now moves up the list. 

Oh, and just so you know, I did try writing while pregnant, however everytime I sat down in front of the keyboard I kept wanting to make all the characters pregnant. And I hate novels where the characters are either forced into marriage because they're pregnant, or have sex for the first time and get pregnant. That wasn't the book I wanted to write. 

So when I do manage to find a moment, and some inspiration and sit myself down and do some writing, I'll blog about it and let you know. Now back to the baby...