Week Two Rewind- When Inspiration Hits

Whew, I barely made it through the week two slump of nanowrimo! I was bound and determined that I wasn't going to face that week two slump that everyone talks about on the nano forums.

Week two had such a beautiful start... On Monday I got the kids off to school without a hitch. A beautiful layer of snow dusted the ground. My favorite coffee was brewing and I had a brand new bottle of creamer.

It was looking to be the perfect day to curl up and write.

Then my front door opened and my husband walked in. He was hunting and shot a buck...and he wanted me to come help him find it.

He described the buck and pulled up trailcam pictures (on the computer I was just about to use) with the excitement of a little kid at Christmas, and I knew there was no choice. I was going to be there when he found that buck!

Camera ready and computer turned off, we headed out.

We spent that day, the next day, and the next day tracking the blood trail across the woods. Every little drop of blood we found was exciting, like going on a treasure hunt, and it was devastating when we finally realized that there wasn't enough blood and the deer was still alive. James looked at forums on shots and thinks he hit the deer in "no man's land", which is the space between the lungs and the spine. We spent another day out shooting and an evening together in a tree stand in hopes of bagging another (or the same) big buck!

On top of all that, there was a partial day subbing, the planning and organizing of American Education week at school, and celebrating my husband's birthday.

My perfect week to write? Gone.

Even though writing didn't go as well as planned, a new story idea hit. While I was tromping through the woods with James, he worded something in such a way that it got my mind rolling. Suddenly I had a title, then a paragraph, and then chapters for a whole new novel.

It's funny how a story can grow from nothing. The placement of a few spoken words that had nothing to do with writing, and my mind was going a million miles a minute. My husband noticed that I was suddenly very quiet, and wanted to know what was wrong. I grinned and told him I was working on a new story that I would have to dedicate to him!

I love to create new stories, but ideas don't just show up every morning at breakfast. Sometimes no amount of sitting and thinking can bring them in, sometimes is the right words at the right time. Sometimes it means taking time away from your notebook or computer, and tromping through the woods with someone you love.

(pictures to come! My camera broke, so I've been waiting to post this, but now that week 3 is over, I figured I better just go ahead and post about week 2!)

Turkey Trouble

There are some things in country life that you just can’t prepare for...

This is our turkey. Her name is Turkey. (We were convinced for the longest time that he was a she, but it turns out she is actually a he, but none of us can seem to remember that, so we call her, I mean him, a she. Confused? So are we.)

Moving on.

Turkey has a distinct personality and with that comes... issues. We haven’t decided where the problem lies- it’s either lack of self-confidence, or too much pride, or maybe a combination of both.

Lack of self-confidence- Not only is he the only turkey, but he gets picked on. Our little hens like to sneak up behind him and pluck the feathers from his bottom. We thought as they got older, they would grow out of it, but unfortunately they think it is too much fun. We have had to come to terms with the fact that they are never going to be friends.

Too much pride- Turkey LOVES attention. When we’re outside with her he follows us around like a little puppy and always has to be in the center of everything. He puffs out his feathers, spits and drums, and gobbles like none other. The more we tell him how beautiful he is, the more he does it…Maybe that’s where we went wrong…

Even at our Halloween party Turkey had to be the center of attention!

The worst part of Turkey’s need for attention is his infatuation with our dog, Tucker. For some reason Turkey believes that Tucker is a big black hen, and the more Tucker gets riled up, the more Turkey believes that the big black “hen” is truly in love with him.

This has resulted in Turkey no longer being able free-range, at least not unless she is under strict surveillance, because the moment she’s out, she preens, puffs up, and runs for Tucker.

(Not pictured- Turkey running at Tucker)

Tucker- Look at that big, fat, juicy turkey! I want to rip its head off!

Turkey- Look at the big black hen ready for some lovin!

The other night I went outside and spotted Turkey…drinking out of the dog’s water bowl. By some miracle Tucker hadn’t noticed her and was sitting and waiting patiently for me to greet him. I started walking very slowly. “Hey Tucker, hey boy. How are you doing?”

It was working until Turkey realized we weren’t paying attention to him and insisted on gobbling.

How dare I steal his hen’s attention!

Then, Armageddon ensued.

I dove for Tucker.

Tucker dove for Turkey.

And Turkey? Well, he fluffed his feathers and ran for Tucker.

I caught Tucker, but he was too strong for me to hold. My feet got tangled in his chain; I fell, and was dragged across the dirt as I did my best to pull him back. Tucker gnashed and pounced, while Turkey stepped to the side and would come forward again thinking that playing this hard to get was a lot of fun. Ah yes, love at its finest.

I finally got untangled and realized that pulling Tucker away was useless- Turkey wasn’t going to let him get away. I ran my lifetime PR of the 100 meter dash to the hose, and was able to use the water to momentarily separate them. More pulling, tripping, and rolling on the ground ensued, but the kids finally came to my rescue. They pushed Turkey back to the coop, leaving Tucker and I looking like we had just participated in one of those muddy greased pig contests. Other than being cold, wet, and muddy we left mostly unscathed, except for the few tail feathers in Tucker’s mouth and the stomach muscles I re-tore from an earlier accident.

Country life- oh the adventures!

Week 1 Rewind- The Up's and Downs of Nanowrimo and Writing

The first week of nanowrimo has come and gone. In October it seems to take forever to come, and then November seems to fly by!

My first nano week was surprisingly productive. I wrote just under 20,000 words, which is just under the halfway point. In all honesty I have to thank my turkey and dog for my word count! It's a long story that I'll probably blog about within the next couple days, but here's the short version- In October I tore my stomach muscles in a roller skating accident, and I ended up re-tearing them while wrestling my thanksgiving turkey from my dog's mouth. This left me bedridden for the first few days of nanowrimo- the only thing I could do was write!

The book I'm working on this time around is a detective series for kids. Everything I've ever written in the children's genre has always been set in made-up fantasy worlds or dystopian worlds, so writing a modern day story has been quite tricky.

I slogged through the first chapter. It felt like swimming through molasses. I really loved my idea, but it wasn't coming along well, and chapters two and three were even worse. My story was shaping up to win the prize for most boring children's book ever written. I started second guessing myself. I wasn't sure how I would face the next three weeks of nanowrimo. 

Torture- not the word you want to come to mind while writing a children's book.

I told myself if I kept going, I would find my voice.

Two more chapters. My voice? Flat. Boring. Awful. Torture. Ugh.

I decided to write just one more chapter because I had nothing else to do except hold ice packs to my stomach and stare at my ceiling. Suddenly it clicked. A quote came to me, and something as simple as a backpack finally linked my story together, gave it life, and defined my MC.

So, if you are feeling bummed about your story, keep going. It sounds simple, but sometimes it is hard to keep writing something that isn't working out like you thought it would. I have never had something come out so bad before and I was really thinking that the beginning of my writing career that I didn't have was over.

Once it came together it became really fun to watch my story unfold!

There is nothing more exciting then that breakthrough moment when everything finally comes together like it's supposed to (unless your wrestling a turkey and a dog- that could qualify for the more exciting part). The good thing about the downs, whether it be during the writing process, facing rejections, or going through other things in life, is that it makes those ups so much sweeter! 

Awesome Nanowrimo Facts

A list of awesome facts about Nanowrimo!

1. This year as of November 1, 2013, there are 218,274 people signed up to participate in nanowrimo.

2. If you write 50,000 words and validate them by 11:59PM on November the 28th, then you become a winner, earn a winner's badge for your blog, and win all kinds of neat goodies. Here is the list of goodies for 2013- http://nanowrimo.org/sponsor-offers

3. The people from the Office of Letter and Lights are the creators of nanowrimo. The name alone is awesome, it gives off an air of mystery like the order of the phoenix from Harry Potter! This group is creating their own type of magic by providing a network of awesome tools and community of fabulous writers to help people from every age across the globe get excited about writing. The best part is that they have a great sense of humor and do a phenomenal job making writing fun! If you would like basic info you can find it here- http://lettersandlight.org/index.php . I HIGHLY recommend reading their blog. It's inspiring, fun, and will make you want to join the nano clan! http://blog.nanowrimo.org/

4. This next fact is near and dear to my heart! They also have a young writer's program for kids to participate in nano. There isn't anything greater than watching kids create a story. I love to see kids write and feel that there is a great need to develop strong writers. Through donations, the Office of Letters and Lights is able to provide free classroom kits to schools across the world to help promote literacy and creativity in the classroom- so cool. Here is the link for the Young Writer's Program- http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/ There is already a great pep talk from author James Patterson on there! Here is a REALLY great post on the Young Writer's Program and why it's so important:
 http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/book_whisperer/2011/10/gearing_up_for_nanowrimo.html

5. If you've ever wished to be transported to another realm, then nano is the place for you! We lovingly call it Nanoland, and once you join the forums and discover the community of nanowrimo, you'll be sucked in. We have our own language and inside jokes, we swap postcards, packages, and tea. We like to have fun and be silly, but we're also there when the going gets tough.

6. Cover Contest- I think this is pretty cool! They host a 30 Days 30 Covers contest where you can submit info about your novel and thirty lucky winners are chosen to receive a free cover created by a team of graphic designers for their novel. Even if you don't win, it's still really neat to see what the designers come up with. Side note- Covers cannot be used for commercial purposes (like if you plan to self-publish your novel)- they are just for fun!

7. Packages and Pen Pals- I have done this three times now and LOVE it! Wrimos put together package swaps, postcard swaps, and tea swaps on the forums. I've done the package swaps where I get paired with another writer and we send each other writing care packages filled with goodies to encourage each other during nano. It's just like Christmas to put together a fun package and find one in your mail box to open!

8. Writing a teen romance? This year Swoon Reads is a nano sponsor and if you're writing a teen romance you can submit your novel to be considered for a $15,000 publishing contract! This also includes editing, design, marketing and sales. I'm almost ditched my entire outline that I've been putting together over the past year to jump in and try this, lol!

I'll probably add more information throughout November, but I hope this sheds light on the many wonderful aspects of nanowrimo and convinces you to join!

The nano coat of arms!