Wait, What Day Is It?

It's moving right along day. I gotta make this quick because I am at 22,764 of a 25,000 goal for this Camp NaNo and I would like to make it to bed before the sun comes up today.

Do you speed up or slow down when you are getting near your goal? Does the pressure of a challenge help or over stress you? Make sure you leave a comment to say hello. Don't forget to let me know where you are visiting from so I can follow you back and see what you're up to.

ROW80 July Goals Rundown

1. Write at least 800 words per day on my Camp NaNo novel The Most Magical Place.
I should have edited this goal because I fell behind and needed a minimum of 1,248 words to make it across that finish line. I am doing it! Not just the 800 I originally intended, but I am almost there. This is me not breaking into a happy dance yet because I have too much to do. So moving right along.

2. Post for every ROW80 check-in.
Yes, so far so good. I didn't even realize it was Wednesday until my husband asked me if I was planning to skip my post because I got a late start on writing tonight. I have been writing until late and crashing, but wanted to take a minute to say I am getting close and make sure someone has the champagne, cake and sparklers ready.

Today's Mascot Nosey Dog

3. Spend 1 Pom per day visiting ROW80 friends.
Oh crap guys. I totally flaked. I wanna know how you all are doing and I will get to see you before next check-in.

4. Tweet about my post on check-in days.
I know this is not exactly how Twitter works and I am still reading and favoriting people's tweets, but finding and checking out possible links to retweet just had to go. I guess if I am telling you again I must be feeling guilty, but can't worry about that now. But onward, upward, till the goal ye win.

PS: I am fairly sure Blogger is possessed and is trying to make sure I don't get to writing so pictures may or may not be screwed up and there is nothing I can do.

Photos by Pixabay.

Almost On Track and Important PSA

Today's Mascot: Grunting Running Guy!

I'm 110 words short of on track for Camp NaNo, but I'm tired and my brain hurts. I just wrote a scene that actually made my heart start to race. I have never experienced that before. Of course it could be because it is so late and I need to go to bed, but I am going to go with it was an exciting scene.

PSA: It's hard to breath hot chocolate. The oxygen content is just not sufficient and you will be hacking up a lung for a while. Which is not only very distracting while you are trying to write, but wakes up small children. Also, when it's piping hot the burning sensation lasts longer. You have been warned.

How do you know when you've really gotten into a current work in progress? What do you like to do to your characters to get your heart pounding? Make sure you leave a comment to say hello. Don't forget to let me know where you are visiting from so I can follow you back and see what you're up to.

ROW80 July Goals Rundown

1. Write at least 800 words per day on my Camp NaNo novel The Most Magical Place.
I am very proud of myself for making my goal of at least 800 words every day even though I really didn't want to do it any more and was mega frustrated on Wednesday evening. Some arguing with my husband to get him to take the little one to play outside was a huge help.

2. Post for every ROW80 check-in.
Still on target for this goal. So far I haven't missed one.

3. Spend 1 Pom per day visiting ROW80 friends.

I had been doing more than 1 pom of visiting, but I only made it to see 4 people. There were a few people I normally check in on that I missed. I hope you all had a very productive week.

4. Post to Twitter every day.
Refining this goal to be posting on Twitter when I blog. I will still check it out when I can, but I am not going to pressure myself to do this right now. I am not getting it done anyway and I need not to be stressing over stuff that isn't as important to me. So we are moving right along!


Photos by Pixabay.

Officially Behind and Panicky

I am officially behind. I now need at least 850 words to make it across the Camp NaNo finish line. At this moment I can tell you I truly have no idea what I am doing. I am kind of stuck. I could probably make it though or just move on, but every time I sit down to write something or someone interrupts me. Not things I can just ignore, but stuff that if you try to ignore it gets much louder and much more stressful. I can't go somewhere else and there is no where in the house that is safe. I am not getting enough sleep and my concentration is waning. I feel unbelievably overwhelmed and like there is no point in trying because it just doesn't seem like it's going to happen while my son is in the house or at least younger. I don't want to quit another thing, but there just doesn't seem to be space in my life for all the commitments I already have and of course I am the one whose dreams have to go on hold.

ROW80 July Goals Rundown

1. Write at least 800 words per day on my Camp NaNo novel The Most Magical Place.
I don't think I wrote anything since the last check in, but I had been up until 5 am trying to get some done and have to be up no later than 10 so the days have all begun to run together.

2. Post for every ROW80 check-in.
So far so good, but each check-in makes me feel more sad and panicky.

3. Spend 1 Pom per day visiting ROW80 friends.
I visited like 2 people. This is one thing I am sorry I didn't make it to. I really enjoy seeing what my ROW80 friends are doing. I kept clicking on a link and falling asleep, which often results in being smacked in the face by my phone...REPEATEDLY.

4. Post to Twitter every day.
Strangely enough for the past few days I have been doing this. I have no idea why because I didn't set the alarm I was going to. I guess just interesting stuff crossing my feed and I can retweet quickly.

Photos by Pixabay.

Baffled By Falling Behind Again

I set the goal lower than NaNoWriMo and still I am loosing steam. I went to the memorial service today for my Great Uncle Joe and realized that I didn't recognize half the people there, though I was related to them. It made me so sad because it seems that our extended family has stopped gathering except for funerals and weddings. They are kind and amazing people, but everyone is so busy with life and we always think there will be tomorrow. I tried to write tonight, but I am having trouble concentrating so I will leave this short check-in and go to bed.

PSA: Not sure I have said this recently so I will say it now. Back up your files! Go on, do it now. You don't want to loose what you have been working so hard on, do you?

ROW80 July Goals Rundown

1. Write at least 800 words per day on my Camp NaNo novel The Most Magical Place.
I think I wrote on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but all the days are running together. There is no

time where there is peace long enough to write while people are awake and the more I need some time alone the harder it seems to get people to go to bed. I am still ahead of my projected goal, but just barely. Hoping it holds out and I can make it across the finish line.

2. Post for every ROW80 check-in.
I am on target for this. So far so good.

3. Spend 1 Pom per day visiting ROW80 friends.
I did a lot of reading, but was having some trouble commenting on Wordpress blogs on my phone so didn't say hello to as many as I would have liked.

4. Post to Twitter every day.
So much no. I really want to and I think I will, but it seems to slip through my fingers every day. I am wondering if I should just change this one. Must think on it.

Photos by Pixabay.

100th Post Celebration

I can't believe this is my 100th post! I started this blog way back on Halloween of 2012. My first post read like I was all hopped up on candy, which I may very well have been, and overly excited. For anyone who is keeping score that is the day RIGHT before NaNoWriMo and I did participate that year. I lost a lot of steam in 2013 only posting 26 times even though I was participating in ROW80 and should have made like 90. Best, or rather worst to the point of being entertaining, post from that year. Then I fell off the face of the blogging world in 2014. Times were super hard and I completely stopped writing. However, in 2015 I found my way back to writing and ROW80 remembering what an amazing community of people hang out there. I wish I could run some awesome contest to celebrate, but I am truly strapped for cash to buy prizes and I didn't even realize it was coming up until a few days ago. So instead I will just say thank you very much for stopping by and reading. Enough about things a long time past, on to what's been going on the last few days.

I was calling a character by the wrong name. I did it 28 times. When I went to talk about the character who's name I had been using and I wrote "I'm sure you miss Evelyn very much," said Evelyn it hit me. Now the hero's mother is talking about her self in 3rd person. She's not Napoleon and I don't want her to have that big of an ego. I know you aren't supposed to edit until Camp NaNo is over, but this bugged me SO much I had to fix it. Of course with the find feature and control V it was done in no time, but REALLY.

Today's Mascot: Rampaging Dinosaur

A few people asked if I had any proof that I had to deal with a rampaging dinosaur. The truth is yes, yes I do! I edited the photo to remove the name of the school in an online photo editor, but the rest was done on NUKE 8 which is an awesome rendering program that is node based. Or at least that is what the instructor said several times. Who am I to argue or interpret? As for the odd expression on my face. She didn't tell us what the pictures we took on the green screen were for or that she was taking a second shot of me when everyone else just got one. This was the best one and that makes me sad. Also, apparently I just make faces all the time. Incidentally I was the only person who didn't look as much like they were in a line up and I made up a backstory. The rays of light around my head are divine powers (They are not a result of my failure to follow instructions and desire to push ALL the buttons.) that have been granted to me to help me defeat the rampaging dinosaur. The look is my and you think you're tough do you look. In the next frame I will shoot some sort of ray out of my palms to destroy it or at least give it an all mighty sun burn.

ROW80 July Goals Rundown

1. Write at least 800 words per day on my Camp NaNo novel The Most Magical Place.
I have hit this goal every day since last Saturday, but I am not sure if I will make it today. I wasn't able to focus on writing once the kids went to bed because I had to find some paperwork and for some reason I put on a book shelf instead of the dedicated file in the filing cabinet. Luckily I found it, but it took me about 5 hours. The moral of the story is always take the extra few minutes to put things back where they go. You will probably not remember to come back to them later and when you need them you won't be able to find them.

2. Post for every ROW80 check-in.
I'm here and so happy to share this 100th post with you all.

3. Spend 1 Pom per day visiting ROW80 friends.
I over did this a little, but you all had such interesting titles and I wanted to see what was gong on with you.

4. Post to Twitter every day.
Oh, darn. I was dong well at this, but just realized that I forgot to post Tuesday.

Photos by Pixabay.

Dinos, Witches and A Happy Dance

I am over 10,000 words and doing a happy dance. My pace has slowed and I did miss Saturday, but my average is still over what I need to meet my goal of 25,00 this month.

Yesterday was jam packed with awesome, but non-writing related activities. Very early in the morning and 2 hours away from the house I took my daughter to an exploratory class at a visual effects school. We were there for 6 hours using an interesting program and editing ourselves into a picture of a dinosaur rampaging in front of the school.  I was bored a few times, but the kiddo is now sure she wants to peruse video game design and rendering. Yay for reaffirming a career path. 

In the evening we were able to see 2 of her friends in Macbeth. It was set in post apocalyptic Scotland and it was an amazing production. The witches, my favorite characters, were so awesome and the kids we went to see did such a good job. Honestly, everyone did a great job. It was truly an enjoyable experience. I was mildly pulled out of the story for a moment during a few of the scenes where they are chasing each other. I was so amazed at Macbeth going up one set of stairs, down the back and through one of the sides only to repeat the process on the other side and then in reverse. Between the entrances and exits he had dialog and sword fights, but he did not seem winded at all. So interesting and impressive when I am just getting the strength back to be able to do the grocery shopping. 

All in all I am pleased with the way I spent my Saturday even if I wasn't able to sit down and write. Do you take breaks during a writing challenge or do you clear the calendar before jumping in? What is the best Shakespeare play you have seen? Leave me a comment and don't forget to let me know where you're from so I can follow you back and see what you are up to. 

ROW80 July Goals Rundown

1. Write at least 800 words per day on my Camp NaNo novel The Most Magical Place.
As stated above I am still ahead of the word count, but did forgo writing yesterday.

2. Post for every ROW80 check-in.
It's still early, but do far so good.

3. Spend 1 Pom per day visiting ROW80 friends.
I didn't get around much the past few days. When I had a few moments yesterday and tried to visit I had no reception. Thoroughly annoying.

4. Post to Twitter every day.
Uh, yeah that didn't happen. The alarm would go off and I would find myself too busy to stop. I am thinking I should pick another time during the day.

Photos by Pixabay.

Stuck At The Bottom Of A Martini

While people who are easy going and polite are a treasure to have in your company. They are boring to write about and I assume if they are boring me to write about they would be boring to read about. I mean stuff blew up and that was interesting and fun. The female main character was scared and angry yelling at the male main character while attempting to put as much distance between them as possible and that made for interesting writing, but I am in a lull between moving away from one event and moving to another. They are sitting awkwardly in a living room talking about the freaking weather. The weather?! I wanted him to say something quipy and slightly antagonistic to rial her back up, but I don't even know what about. I am stuck and she is all like, "My martini is gone and he has been looking down at his mostly empty glass for over 15 hours! Get a move on writer lady!" All that she says to me, but not what they should talk about or how to get to the next scene. I'm about to just stop trying to force this scene, leave a note and MOVE ON!

Please leave me a comment and let me know what do you do when you have a general idea of what kind of interaction you want to occur, but are lacking the specifics? Where do you turn for ideas? How do you feel about leaving a note and moving on? Make sure to let me know where you are visiting from so I can follow you back and see what you're up to.

So moving on...

Today's mascot is a typing duck!

ROW80 July Goals Rundown

1. Write at least 800 words per day on my Camp NaNo novel The Most Magical Place.
Was doing really well on this, but only wrote just over 200 so far today and I am not thinking I will make it because it is already after 9 and I am working on this.

2. Post for every ROW80 check-in.
Well, this is the first and I'm here. YAY!!! OK, so maybe it's not that exciting, but like I said I'm feeling bored and restless.

3. Spend 1 Pom per day visiting ROW80 friends.
I was able to do this and have visited lots of friends, but don't remember exactly how many. I also made sure to leave a comment.

4. Post to Twitter every day.
Yeah, I completely forgot to even post when I got my initial goals post out. So set an alarm on my phone to remind me. The worst part about posting on Twitter is I usually get stuck there for a while because there are so many good links to check out.

photo credit: ducktyping via photopin (license)
Other photos by Pixabay.

Turtles, Dogs, Plot Holes and Goals

Oh my!

Why do I put an "E" in the word slowly? It didn't just happen once, but every time I wrote it. I tell you, the red squiggly lines are my nemesis. Also, I think my characters are moving in slow motion for all the times I added slowly to my prose. Time to speed those people up.

Other than the fact that my story is populated by turtles who are obviously not of the ninja variety my Camp NaNo is going well. My average is about 1400 words per day so far and I'm excited because I was originally aiming for just over 800. I stumbled a bit over my hooking moment. I guess I'm going to have to work on my hooking tonight. Take that how ever you want.

Today there was a giant plot hole that opened up and was threatening to eat my entire story, but a long hot shower complete with a constant stream of muttering seems to have plugged it up. I got on my own nerves asking over and over again, "But why?" However, it did make me nostalgic for when my kids were smaller and full of the whys. I was also able to flesh out a scene that was feeling flat and outline 2 more.

Like a dog who has been home alone all day, I AM SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU! The times between ROW80 rounds are lonely around here. Luckily the always amazing Insecure Writers Support Group stopped by to say hello. They always talk me out of my writing neurosis.

My goals for the third round of ROW80

*July*
1. Write at least 800 words per day on my Camp NaNo novel The Most Magical Place.
2. Post for every ROW80 check-in.
3. Spend 1 Pom per day visiting ROW80 friends.
4. Post to Twitter every day.

*August - September*
1. Write 2 Poms every day.
2. Post for every ROW80 check-in.
3. Spend 1 Pom per day visiting ROW80 friends.
4. Post to Twitter every day.

I'm very pleased with how this Camp NaNo is going and excited to jump into ROW80 round 3. I hope you are all having productive weeks.

Do you ignore the squiggly red lines and other editing things while you create your first draft? What do you do when a giant plot hole opens up? Leave me a comment and don't forget to let me know where you're from so I can follow you back and see what you're up to.

Also, please stop by and visit some of my ROW80 friends.

Photos by Pixabay.

Camp NaNo Makes Me Insecure

It's the first Wednesday of the month and that means it's time for this month's edition of the Insecure Writer's Support Group. They are a great group of very supportive people who are working hard to make it in the writer world or who have and are sharing their success to inspire. It's a place writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. So glad to have you join me and feel free to hop over to their link and see what other's have going on.

The thing I am most insecure about today are my fears about Camp NaNo. That's not to say I don't have a lot of other things chasing it down, but it is firmly in the lead. I have been planing to write The Most Magical Place story for a while. Other things came between us and I even lost a huge amount of previous work from my first ever NaNoWriMo attempt back in January. (Same old PSA always remember to back up your writing often.) I thought about just moving on and tried to make that happen, but I kept thinking about those characters and wondering what they would be doing next. So here I am back with them. I was aiming for about 55 scenes total, but only have 34 planned in detail and it is almost go time. The other thing about Camp NaNo that is worrying me is that I have not yet made it across a NaNo finish line. I always have the best of intentions, but follow though is not my strong suit. There is a huge drawer and several closets stuffed full with half finished craft projects that will attest to this fact.

I am still working deciding what my ROW80 goals will be for the upcoming 3rd round. I should have put more effort into them by now, but I have been so distracted. Of course I always feel distracted. I saw a post today that said something like: I was trying to get my ducks in a row, but then I realized that I have too many ducks. This is me dead on. I need to decide what to cull from the flock and what to nurture, This means also deciding what is most important to me. Nuclear family and homeschooling are top on the list, but I want to put writing very closely after and have let things other people want push it further down the list. Now to figure out how to eliminate or at least reduce the guilt of telling people and things NO.

Well, I am off to start my Camp NaNo. Wish me luck.