WINNER!!

Yes, I am a winner :D

It feels so good to be finished with NaNoWriMo a whole day early! I won three years in a row, 2007, 2008 and 2009, and then I lost 2010 and 2011. In 2010 me and Travis got engaged halfway through the month, so my novel writing plans kind of got thrown out the window... I did not mind AT ALL hahaha. Then in 2010 I didn't win, because being married, you don't exactly want to spend countless all-nighter's typing away in front of the computer. It's more fun to spend your time together, snuggling, laughing and what-not. 

Of course, we did plenty of that this year too, but I was determined to get to my goal of 50,000 words by the end of November 30th. I did it!!!!!!! Travis has been a big help throughout this whole month. He is encouraging and totally believes in me. He has helped me tremendously!!!

Also, my Mom is absolutely amazing. She let me come to work with her three different times. I was able to use her little office computer, because she has a separate area that she has to be at most of the time, so it worked really nice! I used to work with her, so it was like old times, except I got to do whatever I wanted... namely, write! During those days I wrote 2K (because I had to work on a job as well), 5407, and then 5182 words. My Mom bought me coffee on the way to work and treated me to lunch. It was a wonderful experience being able to spend the whole day with her again like that. She is one of the reasons why I was able to catch up so much on certain days!!! So happy :)

I planned my novel all though out October this year, and I had everything worked out perfectly. But, when I actually started writing, it all changed. The middle is kind of wacky, and I will have to cut and rewrite most of it, but the beginning and end parts are really good. My story has changed a lot, there are some really major changes, but I am liking where this novel is going. I have a lot to finish, so I am going to keep on writing until this first draft is DONE! 

Okay, now I'm gonna go eat the rest of my yummy, dark chocolate! Yummmmmmmm

Aww Man! NaNoWriMo's almost Over!

In the past three months, we moved into a nice little duplex, we got to have our cute little kitty George back, I got a manuscript proofreading job, we created a small hydroponics garden in our sun room, I am writing regularly for iwriter.com and still an elite writer. It has been a pretty busy three months, and nothing is slowing down. It always seems like, when you want peace and quiet the most, then that is when everything goes sideways. 

The other day, we were alerted to someone from all the way across the country using our debit card, they actually swiped it at the check out station in three different places. Thankfully we didn't have the massive amount of money in our account that they were trying to charge, but still it was terrifying. We cancelled that card and looked through to make sure that they had not succeeded in using our money. 

These sort of experiences just go to show how hectic and unknowable this world is. There is no way to know if something like this could happen to you. Just imagine, if we had been paid that day, all of our rent, bill and food money would be gone. We are so thankful that it did not happen that way. Still, even though that card has been shut down, I still worry that it could happen again. 

Well, let's move on to more exciting things! We have moved into a wonderful, cute little duplex. It is a two bedroom home, with a kitchen that has room for our neat little table. One of the best parts about this little home is that it is right next to the house that I grew up in with my Mom and my little sister. I lived next door for about ten years, and now I am living right next door with my lovely husband, and adorable kitty. Oh yeah, and guess what! My Mom is still living next door, so we get to text one another or show up at the front door to either of our houses and say, "Hey, wanna play dice?" 

Here is the scene of one of our games... 

It is one of the most fun experiences ever, to be able to just play a bit of Yahtzee and drink Dr. Pepper with your Mom, just whenever you feel like. We chat and laugh our heads off over silly things. It is so much fun! If I were feeling better (I've been sick with a cold, and now a stomach thing *grrrr*) I would definitely go over and demand that we play dice... but I would provide the snacks.

In other news, NaNoWriMo is almost over! Today is day 28, so that means that there are only 2 days left, not including today, since it's already passed 5pm... I am at 40,000 words. So, I have 10,000 words to write by midnight on Friday. I know that I can do it, but I am not feeling that great, so I'm kind of anxious. 

Oh you know, just George lounging against my bookcase...

I planned my novel this year, I usually just go for it on November 1st and fly by the seat of my pants. But, this year I decided that I was going to know exactly what my story was going to be like, from the beginning to the end. Well, I discovered that even if I plan, outline and write milestones it just doesn't work out all the time. 

By the time I hit 25,000 words I had created a dragon who had been shunned by her dragon clan, all of the clan's, a sparkling underground city, and I completely cut out one of my most important characters. I even decided, on day 26, to completely move around the place where my main character is taken to after she is rescued as a child... there isn't an alternate dimension at all! It is only on the other side of the world!!! So, as you can see, there will be a lot of editing in December. I am having so much fun with this project, and I have to say that writing this blog post has actually rejuvenated my want to finish this novel! Yay! I can do it!!!!

Originally I had planned to write a post every day during November, but, life got in the way... it's hard enough to write 50,000 words in 30 days hahaha... Oh, here is a picture of my messy writing space.