Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! I know this year I have a lot to be thankful for. Last year things looked pretty bleak for the kids and me. Things are so much better now and I plan on this year's dinner being great and just enjoying each other's company. Also, my 'kind of' boyfriend will be having Thanksgiving dinner with us. Last year he lived out of town so we didn't celebrate the holiday together.

The kids usually help cook dinner... my son makes the mashed potatoes and my daughter makes the dessert. So we have a blast cooking and trashing the kitchen as we go! Our apartment is filled with laughs and lots of fun. By the time we are ready to eat, we are all wiped out. Dishes and the mess is cleaned up waaaaay later in the evening and that is okay.

How do you celebrate Thanksgiving? Do you have any special traditions?

Wendy Ely

If I had a Nickel

...for every story idea I have that I can't seem to write on at the moment, I'd be a very rich woman.

Have you ever had "the story from Hell?" The manuscript that just kept going and going...like the Energizer Bunny on crack? You only need to add a few more scenes, but getting them on paper is like pulling teeth on a chicken? Yep, that's me. And instead of writing the last few scenes of my stock car racing book, I'm playing with wordpress and blogging on blogger. Anything not to have to open that freaking book that doesn't seem to want to do what I want it to do. Which is not very encouraging since it's been a requested full for months now. Granted, I was very up front with the publisher at the time I pitched it and said it was not completed. I believe in full disclosure in all things. I'm nothing if not honest. No matter how far behind I might get.

I originally said I'd have it in by Sept. (This is in my own self-imposed deadline.) Then with the hurricanes and floods in my area, concentration wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. So, now...yes, I've pushed it back. Now if I have it in by Christmas I'll consider myself golden. But at what cost? What if the pub thinks it took me too long to finish the book? What if they decide to reject on pure slowness. It would be a blow, but I'd send it elsewhere. Why not? Most of my rejected books get sent on to another place. I'm not one to sit on my laurels or even let the moss grow. I need to know that my books are out there earning their keep.

I really need to finish some sequels too. Oh, yes. This is the time of year when I lament about how much time has flown and how little I've gotten done. All in all though, I've had just as many releases this year as I have in previous ones. Though in all honesty, it doesn't feel that way.

I need better organization. So, if any of you have any ideas, please send them my way.

-Kate

Wrimo Wednesday!

Actually, its Nanowrimo for the whole month! My mom called me last week. She asked if I watched some recent television show. "Nope," I said to her, "I really don't have a lot of time for tv." She then told me that she noticed (thanks to Facebook!) that I have more than enough time for Nanowrimo. I had to explain the reality of it to her. Just because I say I am doing Nanowrimo doesn't mean I am succeeding at it. What it really means is that when I have a few minutes I will jot some words down in my nanowrimo novel.

To prove my point:

Word count to date: 3,276.

According to the Nanowrimo website I will finish this nano-novel by May 31st, 2012. Do I need to remind you that this program only goes until the end of November of THIS YEAR?!?!

So my aunt (also an author) emailed me over the weekend. She said she was interested in this Nanowrimo thing but couldn't really find much information on it. I gave her the details of the program and explained that you didn't win anything. People call it a contest but its more like a program.

Her email to me: So what is the point of doing it then??

The point for me is what I wrote in the paragraph above. I do a lot of technical writing. I don't give my brain the creative pleasure it needs for balance. To me, nanowrimo is fun. It provides me with the motivation and push to get me writing again. Yes, I will admit, that I shouldn't need such a program to get me to write. I should make the time to do this because it is my passion, it is part of who I am. I need to relearn how to write every single day no matter what. Nanowrimo helps me do that... for the month of November anyway! Besides, I've met some really cool people who also do the program!

So... I will keep doing the program no matter if I complete the projects each year or not. No matter if I have the time or not. No matter if other people see the point of it... or not.

Write (and read!) on my friends!

Wendy Ely