Writing with Mad Abandon

This will be a newsy post. No great thoughts. I will inundate you with photos and call it a night. Tonight I reached the 17,000 word mark in my novel. I have been aiming for 2000 words a day, but life has (as expected) gotten in the way.

To begin with, after a bold start out the gate (two days in a row with over 2000 words), Trevor awoke on November 3rd with a hideous rash around his left eye. He is prone to skin issues (ever since we moved here), but this was obviously something that the nurse would have sent him right back home for. Since he had only recently gotten over a bout of what our primary physician called a contact dermatitis, I decided to pull out the big guns and take him to a dermatologist.

The boy has a case of impetigo. Yee-haw! Suddenly, I was faced with two days of both little boys at home for the. entire. day. Yikes! That's hard on novel writing, let me tell you. These photos barely show the hideousness, but Trevor did want documentation. He has also been clamouring to start his own blog. I keep putting him off with, "maybe in December."




Bryce's drum instructor (a graduate student at Butler University) has been busy with end of semester concerts and such, so he has cancelled the past two Wednesday night lessons. Trevor was thrilled because it allowed him to attend Awana with a friend. The instructor made up the time with an hour long lesson this past Saturday, a day that just happened to coincide with the Monumental Marathon. The runners were expected to enter the Butler streets around 9 a.m., so we arrived 15 minutes before the 9 a.m. lesson and had no trouble parking.

The little boys and I went exploring. Exploring has been trumping reading almost every time because the campus is absolutely beautiful.






Their favorite thing to do is explore around the fountain and then climb the numerous steps up to a gigantic bell tower. This is a photo from a few weeks ago (hence the short sleeves) that shows the steps and bell tower:



This time, we actually encountered people on the high ropes course. It was fun to stand and watch them climb.




Leaving Butler wasn't quite as easy as arriving on Saturday. We were on campus and the race was proceeding on the road between campus and where we needed to go to return to the highway. For a while I drove right next to the runners. I hope I didn't slow any of them down (that would make for some unhappy runners). I know I feel discouraged when my writing gets slowed down by small boys.

Last night, I was up writing until a little past midnight. When I went to the Nanowrimo site to upload my word count (so that my widget there on the right stays current), I noticed a Nano blog. I have never investigated this before.

I skimmed through a few posts and then stumbled upon a post about a Young Adult Novel Discovery Contest. They indicated that the contest is open for entering between November 1st and 30th. To enter you must submit your title and the first 250 words of your novel. The first 100 entrants receive a copy of the judge's book on writing for young adults.

For some reason, as late as it was in the evening, I felt like if I sat on it, I might talk myself out of entering. So, I sent off my submission of novel title and first 250 words.

This morning, I was kicking myself. Instead of attempting to be among the first 100 (probably laughable, since it was already 8 days into the submission period), I should have honed my first 250 words more thoroughly. Still, I'm glad that I took a stab at it. It would be amazing to be among the top five entrants (these lucky few receive a one-on-one pitch session with an eminent agent and can have their novel reviewed by editors from major publishing houses).

I find it interesting that whenever I talk about my Nanowrimo experience, the first thing people ask is where my work is published. Then I have to explain that I'm not published yet. Humbling and motivating at the same time.

Still, just like last year, I'm feeling like my novel holds a great deal of promise. I am thoroughly enjoying the process (although some nights I begin with a desire to merely go to bed instead of forcing myself to write). The tone of this novel feels very different than last year's work. I'm guessing it is because I am plowing a lot more of myself into this manuscript. It is a very therapeutic venture!