Are you ready for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)? I am and I’ve got my first Vlog to prove it :). Email sub. if you can’t see the vid please come to my site. Forgive me dear ones for the scary night time face. I figured the Hogwarts hat would help ;). God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
NaNoWriMo time video~ 1st Vlog
PS: If you are a Wrimo this year please leave me a comment. How do you prepare? What keeps you going? Do you have a chocolate stash too?
Hello friends, well I’ve enjoyed my holiday and I hope you did yours. November is long gone and so is NaNoWriMo. Did I write 50,000 words in 30 days? No, I did not. I did however get near the end of my book, just a few chapters short of finishing. So though I am sad I didn’t do 50,000 words I am glad I accomplished my main goal. My book is over 50,000 words though because remember I started NaNoWriMo with 11 chapters already. Now, please pray for me as I finish it up and start the editing process. I’d like to get my book out in February but that may be idealistic thinking. We shall see.
I learned several things from National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).
The first two go together because the combination caused me to fail. I spent a good bit of my Thanksgiving holiday playing catch up. I wrote 4,000 words one day which mean’t I had to write breakfast, lunch, and supper. Honestly, catch up made me hate writing. My brain was mush and so now I am taking a big break.
3. I am still awkward socially around other people even if they are writers.
4. Not all writers are eccentric introverts like me and they will most likely NOT laugh at my chat room jokes.
5. My best writing DOES happen by the seat of my pants and definitely when I’m inspired. I wrote a lot but editing may take awhile. Yeah, I’ve got tons of shoddy dialogue to fix.
6. Too much time with my characters made me even crazier than I already am. I was ready to choke most of them by the end of this…….and they AREN’T real!
7. It is hard to write in public places but even harder with family around. If I ever do this again I need to raise the money to live in a hotel for a month………oh and I need a lazy boy…hint hint Chris ;)…………..yeah I doubt it. Seriously, if I was a billionaire I’d just fly to the jungle to write about the jungle….then hop over to the desert to write about the desert..magically become a mermaid so I can live underwater….and so on and so on. Good thing I’m not writing scifi….cause then it’d really be impossible. 😉
8. Never have the t.v. on while writing and never allow myself to have Pinterest, Facebook, or email etc… up while writing.
9. Get more fresh air so I don’t go stir crazy.
10. Hire someone secretly to really write my book….he he he……I didn’t mean it.
This was not my number 11 but my husband says I should add 11. Listen to my husband because he has good ideas.
Yes, I’ll admit he did help me several times. Thank you Honey ;P.
Well, that is all. I need to write my Sunday post…which at this rate may be a late Sunday post or what the rest of the world calls a Monday post. Thanks for all those who supported me and didn’t get mad when I locked myself in a room for hours. Hopefully, I will forgive my characters soon and we can all get chummy again. Some of them are doing time out in the desert. Sorry Emmanuel, Besem, & Timothy you’re too needy. I’ve got to spend some time in the real world….after all it’s Christmas time. *Cough*
Okie dokie……….well, God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
Hello dear ones! Wow, I am tired. Who’d think that sitting at a computer for hours each day would wear someone out? I’m at about 11,000 words. I am behind yes :(. I was busy with a sick kiddo (who is doing better today! Yaaa!) and I spent most of last night painting ornaments. I’ve got to have some presents ready by Thanksgiving, since we see family at different times.
I was getting worried today but praise God, I wrote over 2,000 words in record time. If I keep my word count this high then I can catch up. I actually wrote more today than Saturday at the all day write-in at the library. First off, I felt bad and got to the library late. Secondly, I spent a good bit of time in the library bathroom but I still wrote. The lady’s room is a great place to think lol. Thirdly, the library closed hours earlier than I thought it would and all of my local spots were busy. So I went home to write and I didn’t get much done after that point. It’s very hard to lock myself up away from everyone.
Tonight I did so and I am worn out.
I’m not a member of the undead. The sun is just shining directly on my face.
Look, I made my own NaNoWriMo pin. Seriously, I just wrote NaNoWriMo with marker.
Why am I tired? Well, let me tell you what I’ve been doing.
I have gotten sea sick several times while swabbing the deck. I just survived a major storm and I’m soaked to the bone. Not to mention that it’s almost Winter. Then I spent a good bit of time learning survival skills so I can travel through mountain and desert. Oh by the way, I’m about half way through the mountain tunnels tonight. The stalactites keep dripping on me and everything smells like bat dung. Also, I’m tired of deer jerky! I don’t even like deer!
Yes, this is what I’ve been doing with my characters who are completely ungrateful. They should give me better dialogue. Seriously! I have two journeys weaving together, so no…one character didn’t do all that by himself. I left one of them in the sea and the other two in the caves. I am SICK of the sea and that dank cave! My back hurts and I just want to get somewhere dry already! I really need some french fries…but McDonalds is closed :(.
So I can’t just pull this stuff out of my bottom and write. I have to research everything and make sure I can suspend your disbelief. So how exactly does a ship run? How do you light a torch in a cave? Tell me, what wood are a bow and arrows made of? How do guys talk? Now, that last one was hard. I want to slap myself for making my main character a boy. Thankfully I have my husband to assist me in my writing endeavor. He taught me what my torch needs to be made of tonight. I’m grateful that my forest has birch trees. The pitch lights quicker.
So I know I’m writing a rough draft but I have to have something decent. I wonder what genre others are writing in. How are they typing so much? Maybe they don’t have kids… Also, I met a fantasy writer in chat. She said she doesn’t do any research. Is everyone just smarter than me? Don’t answer that ;). So maybe when you read my book you will learn how to survive in any environment! Or maybe you will learn several useless facts and big words. Who knows…
They say this is the time writers get their second wind. It still seems impossible but I am trucking on. The fact that I’ve written so much makes me smile. I can’t settle though. I can’t relax or I’ll have to play catch up again. Meanwhile, it is weird living in two worlds. Pilgrim crafts, cooking, and grocery shopping don’t mix well with sea water and caves. Man, and I still have to go through a blizzard and cross a desert. I better get a blanket and some cider. Help! Save me! I’m a writer!
God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
Note: I’m still in a fog over my friend’s passing. I’m still trying to write though. I looked on Sheri’s blog and saw that she finished NaNoWriMo in 2010. I’m gonna try to finish for her. I’ve been having a hard time with motivation lately. I’ve felt crummy and having issues with low sodium making me go out of it. I found out that others deal with the same thing. Maybe I can get it checked. Then Sheri passing…..it’s just hard to think about fantasy characters. I’m going to try though. Saturday we have an all day write in. Maybe I can make up for it then.
Hello friends, I wanted to share with you this pep talk that was in my NaNoWriMo inbox last week. It’s from Kate DiCamillo, the author of The Tale of Despereaux. I really love that story. This letter was truly inspiring.
God bless & remember the High King lives!~Amber Dover
Dear Writer,
When I was 30 years old, I moved to Minneapolis and got a job in a book warehouse. My official job title was “Picker.” This meant that I went around the third floor of the warehouse holding a computerized print order in one hand and pulling books off the shelf with the other hand. I put all the books into a grocery cart and I took the grocery cart and wheeled it into an ancient, crabby freight elevator and went downstairs to deliver the order to the shipping department. Then I took the stairs back up to the third floor and started over again.
It wasn’t a challenging job. It didn’t pay much. I was on my feet all day long. My back hurt. My hands hurt. But I was happy. I was surrounded by books and by people who loved to read them. Also, for the first time in my life, I was writing.
I got up every morning before work (the alarm was set for 4:30) and wrote two pages before I went into the warehouse. And then, when I arrived at work at 7:00 to punch the time clock, I received my daily so-you-want-to-be-a-writer pep talk from a coworker.
Let’s call him Bob. (Even though his real name is Gary).
Bob wanted to be a writer, too. But he wasn’t writing. Every morning we had the same exchange.
Bob: “How did the writing go?”
Me: “Fine.”
Bob: “How many pages did you write?”
Me: “Two.”
Bob: “Do you think Dickens wrote two pages a day?”
Me: “I don’t know how many pages Dickens wrote a day.”
Bob: “Yeah, well let me tell you something, you’re no Dickens. So what’s Plan B, babe? What’s Plan B for when the writing doesn’t work out?”
For this question, I had no answer.
I turned my back on Bob, pulse pounding, fists clenched, and climbed the stairs to the third floor and started picking books.
When the alarm went off at 4:30 the next morning, I thought about Bob and that is part of the reason I got out of bed.
It is a truly excellent to have someone to believe in you and your ability to write.
But I think it is just as helpful to have people who don’t believe in you, people who mock you, people who doubt you, people who enrage you. Fortunately, there is never a shortage of this type of person in the world.
So as you enter this month of writing, write for yourself. Write for the story. And write, also, for all of the people who doubt you. Write for all of those people who are not brave enough to try to do this grand and wondrous thing themselves. Let them motivate you.
In other words, do it for Bob!
Your friend in writing,
Kate DiCamillo
Kate DiCamillo is the author of The Tale of Despereaux (Newbery Medal), Because of Winn-Dixie (Newbery Honor), and a The Tiger Rising (National Book Award finalist).
NaNoWriMo 2012
Hello friends, I just wanted to let you know not to worry. I may seem like a recluse this November but really I am ferociously writing (Lord willing). I have joined NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). My challenge is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. To give you an idea of the enormity of this task, I have written 11 chapters in my book since January 2012. I’m almost done with chapter twelve. That’s 25,473 words over ten months. It takes hours to write one chapter…..sometimes that long for half a chapter…depending on inspiration.
This book has been in the works for 2 years. I scrapped my rough rough draft back in 2011 and started over in 2012 yet still with the same characters and world just a different plot. “The Truth Seeker’s Chronicles: #1 The Curse” is the first in a trilogy. I have outlines and plans for all three books. NaNoWriMo brings writers together with write ins locally and online. I hope the peer pressure will help. So please feel free to ask me how much I’ve written each day and you have permission to give me a kick in the pants if I’ve procrastinated. Oh and if you want to take my child so I can write that’s appreciated as well ;). Junk food donations and shots of caffeine are also encouraged ;P.. Just kidding……well maybe not about the junk food.
God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
So has anyone tried NaNoWriMo before? It’s a contest where you write a novel in the month of November. It has to be 50,000 words to submit it. I’d like to try but the problem is that the rules say you have to start from scratch. I just want to finish the one I’ve started whether I win or not. I wonder if I could just sign up for the peer pressure to write and not worry about winning etc. Is that allowed? If you’ve tried NaNoWriMo please let me know how it went :). Thanks
By the way, yesterday I finally got to check out many of your pages. I didn’t get to everyone but still it was nice to read what I did get to. You are all so beautiful and talented. I don’t know if all of you read my posts still but it’s awesome to see such a diverse group of creative people. It shocked me to realize ya’ll are from all over the world. It’s amazing how blogging can reach so many outside of our little bubbles. God bless and please keep reading. Please keep sharing your dreams and interests with the world. It reminds us that there’s still light out there…..that there are still good people.
Love to you all & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
PS: for those of you who have been praying for me I am very thankful 🙂 ((hugs))
Welcome! My name is Amber Dover. I am a homeschooling mom, happy wife, and a devout follower of Jesus Christ. I am also a writer. I am currently working on "The Truth Seeker's Chronicles" (an inspirational fantasy/allegory). You will find everything from craft ideas to writing tips on my blog. So please pull up a chair and hang out :)
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