Life after NaNoWriMo 2009

What I did while the power was out Wed. night, originally uploaded by mysterywriter.

I now find myself at a loss for things to do, now that the contest is over. I met the 50K goal three days early this year, so I've been catching up on my reading (for pleasure), sewing and knitting. I was able to make this wreath (no sew) Wednesday night when my power went out for 5 hours. Luckily, I was able to hook a generator to the stove/oven (gas) to finish baking the homemade bread. After the power came back on, I finished making napkins for the next day.

So what next for my writing projects? My NTSB investigator is calling me again. I may work on that one. But I might also start something new. I also need to plan for Script Frenzy in April 2010 and not be caught off guard like I was this year.

This says it all!

A big thanks for my friends L, G and others who joined the crazy madness with me.!

The Contessa excerpt

“Damn it. I thought I was going to close this case.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry. It’s not like there are relatives waiting to find out what happened.” Leo closed the folder and dropped it back inside his desk drawer. “Damn it.”

“Leo, stop worrying. I can pop back and see what happened, if you like.”

“I thought you didn’t like to meddle in your own timeline?”

“I don’t want you angry over this. Plus, I want to find out what happened to Helen and how this could happen to her sister. I need to know. It seems I was too selfish to wait to make sure the two of them were safely on their way home before I ditched them. All I cared about was myself.” She wiped her hand over her eyes. “If there is anyone to blame, it’s me. I should have stayed there and stuck it out. Told my father and brother that I wasn’t going to be put in an institution, just because they were ashamed of me.”

“Don’t. It’s not your fault. Everyone has their own timeline to follow. Some end sooner than others. And some, like yours, are all over the place. If it was her time, there was nothing you could do to stop this.”

“Yes, I could have stopped it. I can do that.”

“Do what?” Leo looked puzzled. “I can manipulate time, change history, and with no bad aftereffects. I’m one of the few who can do that, which makes me kind of popular.”

“You mean people want to use you and your abilities to change history and alter timelines with no repercussions.”

“That’s about the gist of it.”

“Wow. I had no idea.” She could see the wheels turning in his head. She knew his wife had died a couple of years earlier. She was waiting for the inevitable. But no request came. “Don’t you want me to go back in time and keep your wife alive?”

“No.”

“Why not? I would do it for you.”

“I know you would. That’s why I’m not going to ask.”

“I’m confused.”

“I loved my wife. Make no mistake about that. After a rocky start, we got along really well, until the cancer took her away. But when I married her, I did so for one reason only.”

“What was it, if I may ask?”

“She looked like you.” He looked at her. “I inherited the painting, remember. And there, in life size glory, was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Since I believed, at that time, you were long dead, or should have been, I found myself comparing every girl I dated to that painting and none of them lived up to the person I had built up in my head. So I put the painting in storage and started looking again. I finally met Leslie on a blind date. I was originally drawn to her because she reminded me of the painting. But I eventually fell in love with the woman behind the face. I can’t go through losing her again. So, I think you for your offer, but I will leave her in peace and my heart in pieces.”

25,070 at last count

I didn't make it to Monday's word count (not yet, anyway), but I did meet and surpass what Sunday's was. I'm 65 words to the plus side. Now I have to keep it that way. That's a very pretty number to be at right now.

I wrote 1,551 words Friday evening (after a nap), 5,161 on Saturday, and 6,173 on Sunday.

nano playlist 2009

nano playlist 2009, originally uploaded by mysterywriter.

The playlist is a great tool to have when you need to churn out the words. I started with 12,016 words and have now reached 23,167 and counting. I've got 4 hours to make it to at least 25,005, tonight's word count quota, but I hope to be well over that.

Now I'm off to listen, one more time. to these songs. I can tell I'm going to be sick of them before the month is over. But as long as they pull the words out, I'll keep listening.

14,256

No, that's not my current word count. That is my writing goal this weekend.

I know, I know. We all lead busy lives and but mine has just sucked the energy and mojo out of me. I'm just glad I've made it to 12,016 for now.

My goal is to reach 26,672 by Sunday night, the total for Monday's word count to have by end of day. If I can get a day ahead and stay that way, maybe I can finish this thing this year. I want another win!

My very own therapist!

11-13-09_0917, originally uploaded by mysterywriter.

I have one of the best co-workers around!

She's cleaning out her work area because she's retiring at the end of the year, but she came across this gift she had bought for me and forgotten about.

I'll take another picture once it has gotten bigger.

This is just too funny!

Thank You VETERANS

A big shout out and THANK YOU to all the Veterans out there who have served or are still serving. I appreciate all that you. A special thanks to my dad, as well, who is a Korean War veteran.

The "ah hah" moment

I have never been very good at math, despite the fact that my dad is a retired high school math teacher. He taught chemistry, physics, and geometry to name a few. Anyway, I could do the math, but didn't understand it that well. Not like I should have.

So I was taking a trigonometry class at college. During the summer. One of those 5 week classes. I had been doing OK in it, probably had a C average, but we were working on the equation for the slope of a line. I could barely remember this from high school so why I ever thought I could do it in college is beyond me, but there I was, taking the class. I was at work (police dispatcher at the time) while I was working on the homework. Not much in the way of radio traffic. It was a college PD so nothing hardly ever happened. Anyway, I was working on one problem, trying to find the slope of the line I had been given. I swear the light bulb over my head literally came on when I finally understood what I was doing. It was a moment I will treasure because it will never happen again in relation to math. I ended up with a B overall in the class, which made me and my dad happy.

However, it was happening on Sunday as I pounded out 4,763 words to get caught up in NaNoWriMo. I'm still behind, but that's OK. I'm not as behind as I was at the start of the weekend.

I was working on a scene and the light bulbs just kept going off. None of what I wrote had been planned, but apparently the behind the scenes thinking was starting to pay off. I was able to come up with four or five more scenes to steer the story into a new direction (nowhere near where I had originally intended it to go) and a boost to my lagging word count.

The 'ah-hah' moments can happen apart from a math class for me, for which I'm very thankful. I love this ability to create people and new ideas. My total now stands at 10,763 and I have every intention of making it to 15,001 by midnight Monday.

Finally got my word count back on track, kinda sorta

I've met the quota so far (5,085 - goal was 5,001 after three days) I'm feeling pretty good about it, but my story had kind of taken on a life of it's own. I was having issues today with it, and right now I have no idea where it is headed - trying to salvage all the work I put into it planning out things to happen, but I believe in the end it will all work out. I wanted to write basically in order the story will follow, but that might not be an option now.

But since I did meet my quota, I allowed myself to play with some new maps. Purchased especially for NaNoWriMo for "research purposes" I laid them out so I could see where one of the real life people I'm using for my story lived and walked and disappeared from.

Now it's on to more planning. You can see a photo of my maps here, of New York City. If only I had been writing this story for last year's NaNo, I could have found a few of these places. But maybe since I visited the Big Apple last December, images from that trip inspired this story!

3,008 and counting

My word count is currently setting at 3,008. My goal is to hit 4,000 before I go to sleep. But here is a small part of a conversation I wrote this afternoon.

“I think so.” She smiled at him, putting an arm through his and leaning her head on his shoulder. “I never expected to see that painting again. Any of them.”

“How many are there?”

“Three, if you count the one my father originally commissioned.”

“The one in there has you partially clothed. What about the third one?”

“Naked.”

“Really?” He sounded quite interested in that particular bit of information.

“Get your mind out of the gutter. There is nothing wrong with a nude body. I was posed ‘artfully’ and I wasn’t completely naked. At least I don’t think I was. It’s been so long I don’t remember.”