This month I am hosting the "Pastel Strokes" challenge in the Pastel Talk forum on http://www.wetcanvas.com -- went there at midnight and replied to the moderator with my challenge and chosen photos. She got back to me this morning, approved my photos and suggested adding a holiday theme one from the Reference Image Library, so I picked a really pretty fun one with lots of glass shiny ornaments and lace for the OMG realism-and-textures artists. Challenge is to Change the Light -- warm the light, cool the light, change the direction, pump up the color or mute it, look at the reference but imagine how it'd look in different light and paint that. I will of course be doing the challenge too, and post my art when I do it.

The first day of my Thousand Word Challenge (which includes edits) I got in Chapter 13 on Greenwood Home. I could not make it an Evil Chapter 13 - it just wouldn't work. That wasn't that point in the plot. Then I remembered the varying chapter sizes and that I'm splitting up chapters so it won't be chapter 13 in the edits anyway, no point to that. I just wrote the chapter that came there in the plot and it worked. War council and some twists.

Greenwood Home, December Finish:
Nanovel Five 2009 End Count 65,415


Many fewer widgets now, I'll just use that one till the book's done. It may run long though. :D

In other news, I slept a lot, really slept a lot and plan on going back to bed. I am wiped out from all the November intensity! Lazy one-chapter days for a while I think.

Yes, I am signing up for the 1,000 word a day challenge. As soon as I read her caveat that it's "six days a week" I realized that pretty much covers my sick days.

I'd like to keep the habit of writing every day. I got back into it over Nanowrimo and wow, that felt good. I also missed five sick days. Big deal. This is not some ironclad lose-points if I miss a day thing. It's a commitment to write a thousand words a day, and the sick days happen when they do. I'll keep trying. I'll at least think about doing it every day when I decide if this is a sick day or not.

I got a lot more done this November than I ever expected to. So I just put this in my footer -- now let's see if it appears.

Also with the definition of the challenge, days that I spend editing are days spent writing. Therefore if I find that I'm not capable of separating a day into "a writing session and then edit something else in second session" and it works better to edit in an immersive process, then rough draft in an immersive process -- it's all writing. A thousand words edited counts as my writing for the day for this challenge.

I smoke. I like to smoke. I'd like to be able to still have indoor smoking areas in restaurants and businesses, it's fine that there are nonsmoking areas but I never go out any more because I'm disabled and standing outdoors is too much for me. It should be up to the business or building, not legislated to where I can't even eat out.

Nanowrimo 2009: The Five Book Year:


Magic in the Streets, Nanovel One 2009


Greenwood Road, Nanovel Two 2009


Medicine Show, Nanovel Three 2009


Greenwood Gates, Nanovel Four 2009


Greenwood Home, Nanovel Five 2009


Okay, I'm not sure if this is a duplicate post or not. But I got chapter 12 done and it's looking good. Next up Evil Chapter 13 unless it isn't, just carries the story on. It'll be as long as it happens to be now. It won't reach 80k in the next two hours, and I'm tired and my eyes hurt from staring at the screen.

So I might hang it up and call this it for November, if I pop in any more words I'll post.

Okay, the last one was either that chapter 11 is done or that I got halfway through Chapter 12, the counts do not match. Seems from the numbers the title should have been Chapter 11 done.

Nanowrimo 2009: The Five Book Year:


Magic in the Streets, Nanovel One 2009


Greenwood Road, Nanovel Two 2009


Medicine Show, Nanovel Three 2009


Greenwood Gates, Nanovel Four 2009


Greenwood Home, Nanovel Five 2009


I slept. I'm not going to make it to 80k in what, six hours now? 20,000 words in six hours is beyond me. But I have the book and I'm really enjoying it as it builds to the climax. I'm really getting a kick out of this story and I don't care if it's a sloppy rough. It's good to do this. It's good to stretch again and do absolutely the most that I can without holding myself back or goofing off because folks get jealous or whatever. This year's harvest is enormous... and I can spare the time from December.

Kitten explained that her "send out five submissions" challenge meant she wanted to see Vaumuru sent out five times, it didn't all have to be different books or stories. Whew! So I'll buy Writers Market and go agent searching and see what I turn up. Purries. This will actually be fun, not stressful.

Nanowrimo 2009: The Five Book Year:


Magic in the Streets, Nanovel One 2009


Greenwood Road, Nanovel Two 2009


Medicine Show, Nanovel Three 2009


Greenwood Gates, Nanovel Four 2009


Greenwood Home, Nanovel Five 2009


Now pushing that to 80k on the last book and reaching The End in only 18 hours and managing not to sleep or slow down is the tough part. I'm in this right up to the finish line this year.

Nanowrimo 2009 Supergoal: Four Book Year:


Magic in the Streets, Nanovel One 2009


Greenwood Road, Nanovel Two 2009


Medicine Show, Nanovel Three 2009


Greenwood Gates, Nanovel Four 2009


Greenwood Home, Nanovel Five 2009


I just got a note that our Municipal Liaison is organizing a TGIO -- Thank God It's Over party and so I'm looking forward to that -- after I finish. Getting some steady count tonight, managed to go faster. Wish me luck on this crazy last stunt! Big chapters go faster than little ones.

Nanowrimo 2009 Supergoal: Four Book Year:


Magic in the Streets, Nanovel One 2009


Greenwood Road, Nanovel Two 2009


Medicine Show, Nanovel Three 2009


Greenwood Gates, Nanovel Four 2009


Greenwood Home, Nanovel Five 2009


With some wonderful aftermath and emotional reactions to the battle. Not gaming type material at all.

I want to pick up the pace today. I just got up. This is posting what I did right before I went to sleep at about 8 this morning. Now for a good long solid writing day and try to pick up the pace. No hesitation, no fishing for what's next, just get it down.

Nanowrimo 2009 Supergoal: Four Book Year:


Magic in the Streets, Nanovel One 2009


Greenwood Road, Nanovel Two 2009


Medicine Show, Nanovel Three 2009


Greenwood Gates, Nanovel Four 2009


Greenwood Home, Nanovel Five 2009


I've been slamming on the writing not posting every chapter -- was offline at one chapter end anyway but backed up when I was done. Greenwood Home is starting to roll and work out well. At last I get in a battle with some swords and magic going on in it. Good stuff. The party was uniquely well equipped to turn the tide of battle with the way they entered and what they pulled off, despite being unprepared for battle per se. The right people were up front with enough magic to keep everyone from getting killed while armoring up. It was fun to write. Unicorns can be very badass, up-front was literal.

There's still some time left... and I can't stop, don't want to. I have a bit over two days left and I'll just go as far as I can with this last one, finish in December at the white-hot pace of a three day novel, just write it and see what happens. Then buckle down to editing.

Nanowrimo 2009 Supergoal: Four Book Year:


Magic in the Streets, Nanovel One 2009


Greenwood Road, Nanovel Two 2009


Medicine Show, Nanovel Three 2009


Greenwood Gates, Nanovel Four 2009


Greenwood Home, Nanovel Five 2009


Chapters are smaller on this one.

Nanowrimo 2009 Supergoal: Four Book Year:


Magic in the Streets, Nanovel One 2009


Greenwood Road, Nanovel Two 2009


Medicine Show, Nanovel Three 2009


Greenwood Gates, Nanovel Four 2009


And it ran long. The end was full of surprises. I also managed to throw away a major advantage the party has since the really old elven lady in the party has just forgotten almost all her skills and possibly how to use a fork thanks to a ritual giving all that power to the realm they're leaving. Yay for setup that snaps in the last chapter! She's young again, but... she's not much more powerful than the kids, she just is one of them now with assorted patchy random bits of memory of things. But she remembered who her boyfriend and her cat are, so she's okay. Talk about recapturing your youth!

It varies with my budget and what I'm doing, how much of a big deal I'm doing for the holidays. Usually I order from Amazon sometime around this time of year if I didn't do it earlier. Varies. My list is very short anyway.

Didn't turn out as utterly nasty as I thought, but it did have a deep schism in the elven city. A hard chapter to write with a lot of the characters' emotions running high. Very much the kind of conflicts you can't resolve by poking a sword at them unless you want everyone dead on the floor like Hamlet.

Nanowrimo 2009 Supergoal: Four Book Year:


Magic in the Streets, Nanovel One 2009


Greenwood Road, Nanovel Two 2009


Medicine Show, Nanovel Three 2009


Greenwood Gates, Nanovel Four 2009

Elvish cultural imperialism and court intrigue! Tally pulls a nice subtle trick there too. Susan is now in charge of the Northern Wastrels. Oddly not too worried because she usually takes charge during packing, any feasts or mini-events they ever held, she's actually pretty good on leadership.

But next up is Evil Chapter Thirteen. Hehehehehe...

Nanowrimo 2009 Supergoal: Four Book Year:


Magic in the Streets, Nanovel One 2009


Greenwood Road, Nanovel Two 2009


Medicine Show, Nanovel Three 2009


Greenwood Gates, Nanovel Four 2009

Our guests got called away to do Thanksgiving with some of their relatives, so the feast was just us today. Kitten outdid herself beyond any expectations. She made favorites of mine like the special mashed potatoes with the skins in and managed to improve on them. Everything on the table was beautiful, she laid out a gorgeous table, then on top of that everything tasted better than it looked.

She also bragged on some amazing little stealth nutrition tricks she worked into all the good stuff. Everyone ate till we were stuffed and couldn't handle a bite. Turkey, yams, potatoes, brussels sprouts, whole-berry cranberry sauce, stuffing, cinnamon pull aparts, rolls, pecan pie and pumpkin pie. Completely traditional and everything so good it was the best feast ever. She didn't make the pies, right now she's working two jobs and her idea of homemade pies takes two days and involves incredible pastry. But they made the perfect finish to an incredible meal.

She said it was all easy but that's the "easy" of someone so skilled that if she was a painter, that feast was something done with the big squirrel round and a small palette, finished fast because she knew exactly what she was doing and how those exact pigments would combine -- and visually it was that beautiful too. There are tons of really good leftovers too.

I got in half a chapter while she was cooking, ate and hung out downstairs and spent some very happy family time talking about everything from nutrition to 17th century carpentry. Then the tryptophan got to me and I wobbled upstairs for a two hour nap. Then I finished the rather longish chapter.

The heck, it can break to two shorter ones or get trimmed in rewrite. This is Nanowrimo, not a time to go making everything try to be perfect. One of the themes of this book, Susan's Quest, is that Susan is a perfectionist who beats herself up too much. So I'll learn from the theme of what I'm writing and not expect my rough draft to be perfect! It's a story and I'm enjoying it a lot.

The series will be seven books after all, because there's no way I'm going to get them through somebody else's quest in only three more chapters. One quest per book. One character profiled in depth while the series plot moves on and established characters continue to grow and interact.

Nanowrimo 2009 Supergoal: Four Book Year:


Magic in the Streets, Nanovel One 2009


Greenwood Road, Nanovel Two 2009


Medicine Show, Nanovel Three 2009


Greenwood Gates, Nanovel Four 2009

Nanowrimo 2009 Supergoal: Four Book Year:


Magic in the Streets, Nanovel One 2009


Greenwood Road, Nanovel Two 2009


Medicine Show, Nanovel Three 2009


Greenwood Gates, Nanovel Four 2009


Four chapter day if you count from waking to sleeping as a day. Finished at a quarter to four. I couldn't sleep at midnight, so decided to shower and let my hair dry while I wrote. Either I would wake up early tomorrow by going to bed early and try to get in a little writing during the cooking, or stay up and get in one more chapter and really relax tomorrow. That and showering right after waking up was not a really good idea in itself, considering I might sleep late whether or not I went to bed early.

Tomorrow, good food and drink, might not even blog, probably won't have any writing time. Friday, I'm back to Greenwood Gates surging toward an interesting end -- one that really could spawn a seven book series. I seem to be able to put it down between volumes and change tracks, so if it wants to be that huge... fine. They have not yet come to another gate.

But, I'm now at nearly 60k and planning 80k, so I've got only 20,500 words to go or so. Four chapters would not be enough to sew up what I have going now in conflicts and intensity. Thus this book is Susan's Quest whether it's all from her point of view or not. It was her Gate and it seems to be focusing mostly on issues very relevant to her with some interesting echoes among the other characters.

Themes are running very deep in this one and it's so cool that way. There are bits I'll tighten or jazz up when I do the edits, but I'm liking it a lot.

It's been a while since I gave myself this much room for subplots. Duh. Cast. It's a big cast with plenty of main characters. Every one of them has a story and every one of them will be major in one of the books, not to mention the other characters coming in. I've even got the twist worked out for one of the endings.

This is fun. It's just a lot of fun and I can't stop at the end of November. Maybe instead I'll take a few days every month to do another of these and lightly outline volumes, just jot notes on "upcoming" to see what happens. Right now it's so character driven that plans unravel as fast as I make them.

A day of rumination will be cool too! I haven't been giving much time to that with the race to the finish but it'll help a lot.

If I finish with time left at the end, maybe I'll go stuff padding into Medicine Show to turn that red bar green though. It's done, but it'd be fun to see them all turn green.

Also Radio Rivendell is fantastic for staying on track, writing more, getting in the mood and staying in the mood. I recommend it for fantasy writers -- totally relaxing, better than a playlist with fewer repetitions, no need to stop and hunt down fantasy theme music. I finally found something for music that I can use without having to stop and sort music!

Nanowrimo 2009 Supergoal: Four Book Year:


Magic in the Streets, Nanovel One 2009


Greenwood Road, Nanovel Two 2009


Medicine Show, Nanovel Three 2009


Greenwood Gates, Nanovel Four 2009


This is building up nicely to some interesting themes.

I'm not the host, my daughter Kitten is. We will be having turkey, traditional menu, which is what I like best -- and guests, her boss & family, very big farrier school event. It'll be fun but I won't get any writing done!

Nanowrimo 2009 Supergoal: Four Book Year:


Magic in the Streets, Nanovel One 2009


Greenwood Road, Nanovel Two 2009


Medicine Show, Nanovel Three 2009


Greenwood Gates, Nanovel Four 2009


I busted the validator with too many words so I just pasted in Greenwood Gates with a couple of chapters of Magic to prove that yes, I went way, way, way over 50,000 words this year. Kateness is going to have to do the same thing, she was at over 700,000 last I looked and is shooting for a million words this year. In multiple books of course. I shudder at the size of a million word paperback.

In Chapter 8, Susan discovers she has a spendthrift cat especially when it comes to cheese and sausages.

Nanowrimo 2009 Supergoal: Four Book Year:


Magic in the Streets, Nanovel One 2009


Greenwood Road, Nanovel Two 2009


Medicine Show, Nanovel Three 2009


Greenwood Gates, Nanovel Four 2009


Villains are looking nasty!