Showing posts with label NaNoWriMo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NaNoWriMo. Show all posts

Sunday, 1 November 2015

Write this picture #4

Every month I get together with my author friends and we write a short story or scene based on the same picture. The only rule - it has to be at least 250 words. But even that rule can get broken. ;)

It's November so we're starting to loose colour around us as the leaves fall from the trees and everything starts to hibernate in preparation for winter. I guess that's why this picture appealed to me so much.

I'm working on a special project for this spring and it was this picture that gave me a perfect"A-Ha!" moment. As it's NaNoWriMo time I need as many inspirational moments as I can get. I'm not sure if this scene will make it into the final story but I hope so.

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"Don't get me wrong, J. I'm not here to do a trash piece on you or your restaurant, but you have to admit that the sexual harassment suit against you and your partner aren't to be taken lightly."

J took a deep breath before answering, every time those charges were mentioned he felt his blood pressure spike. North Reddington was a small enough community that nasty rumours about the place he and K had put their heart and soul into could ruin them. The bitch who’d laid the charges had been their previous front of house manager and ex-lover, something he and K swore they’d never do again. 

K patted him on the shoulder, before answering the reporter’s question. "I appreciate your wanting to feature our restaurant in your article and I promise you that we are completely professional here. The charges are from a disgruntled ex-employee and we're confident that they will be dropped quickly."  

He opened the door and a cloud of colourful smoke billowed out at them.  Something smacked against his temple and chin, sending out more clouds of dust that made his eyes water.

 The reporter was far enough away to be spared but he and K were covered in what tasted like chalk. Six balls of colourful cheese cloth gently swung from the door way and a heartbeat later one of their employees burst into the back room.

“Oh shit.” She stopped in the open doorway, biting her lower lip. Dammit his cock jerked in his pants, one of these days he wanted to kiss the sting  away from that lip after she’d been biting it. It was a bad habit of hers he’d noticed over the last six months she’d worked there. H looked up at the evidence of her prank and then back to him and K, her lips twitched with what he suspected was her fighting a smile.

K looked furious, his hair covered it electric purple dust, yellow dusted his ears and there was a blue blotch on one of his cheekbones. J imagined he probably looked as ridiculous.

She was the one woman who could make him and K break their vow of knowing their employees intimately. There was no doubt in his head she was behind the prank and J was acutely aware of the camera man snapping pictures behind them.

“What’s going on here? Is this some sort of April Fools prank? Not exactly proof of the professional attitude you mentioned. ” The reporter looked them all up and down and then looked past them to the waitress just inside the door.

“We were celebrating Holi.” H gave the reporter a bright smile and acted as if they’d planned all this. “J and K will be taking part in the Colour Me Rad marathon next month. All money raised will be donated to the renovations at the children’s hospital.”

 As excuses went it was a pretty good one, except that he wasn’t in any shape to run a marathon and K was too much of a workaholic to take the time off.

“H’s done the majority of planning and encouraging J and my training. She’ll be joining in on the fun.”

Her smiled faltered for a moment and J thought she was about to launch a string of obscenities in K’s direction. “Oh yeah, can’t wait for it.”

The two of them bickered constantly, but J knew of K’s obsession with her. They’d both spoken in length about their desire to share the smart mouthed waitress. That was until that damn lawsuit had been smacked against them. Now, they were committed to running a marathon with the little minx. 


J would much prefer a marathon between the sheets.  

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Be sure to check back!! At the moment I'm the first up this month but I'll be sure to post links to my friend's creations as they are written.

Sunday, 12 July 2015

Biting off more than you can chew....or thinking you're superwoman.

Where's my cape! I really need a cape! No not to help me fly or look super-fly as a superhero, I was thinking more along the lines of hiding under one with a bottle of wine and a box of fudge.



We've all done it. Taken on projects and made decisions that sound great at the time...and they are great ideas but then suddenly you realize that the alligators are up to your ass and getting higher. Oooops...

 It just means I need to focus, *hah* for those who chat with me on FB - you know that I have magpie syndrome....Oh! Shiny.....





This month I'm juggling:

~ Camp NaNoWriMo. Yes, I'm attempting to write at least 50K this month. Actually my goal is 60K. I'd like to have a Black Hills Wolves, 1 Night Stand and my Beyond Fairy Tales books finished and ready for edits by the end of the month.
~ A Three week Blog hop with Regina Andrews, Ann Tracy Marr, and Susan Roebuck
~ Two social media classes that are part of the certificate I'm working on through Algonquin College.
~ A Mystery Knit Along based on "The Once and Future King". This is where I get a single "clue" or part of the pattern every week but I won't know what the finished project will look like until it's done. All I know is it's a lace scarf and I plan to wear it to Philly Author Fest in November.

So far I've managed to keep up...although I admit I'm about 7K behind my writing goals for the month but I'm determined to get to at least 50K and have two books finished.

The cool thing about my college courses is that I'll have to be more active with my blog and keep it up to date for my course, Hopefully I'll develop some good habits in keeping this up to date. *fingers crossed* ;)

I'll still pepper a bit of my day to day life in here but I'd like to start inviting other authors who I enjoy reading and are all around awesome people to guest post here time to time. Also, I used to do the Monthly Picture with Lori King where we'd write a short story based on a single photograph. That was always fun as well.

What would you like to see on here and keep you coming back for more? Bad jokes...I have a plethora of those ;) Blogging has changed so much over the years, what is it that you look for in a blog. Inquiring minds want to know and the comments are open below!








Friday, 28 November 2014

I did it!!!!





 I am so excited right now!!! I've made it to the end 50,536 words as of 10.58 on November 28th, 2014

My name has a pretty purple bar that says winner on it. And yes, I already ordered my "2014 Winner" t-shirt. It has a knight and a dragon on it. How could I resist! LOL

This has been a crazy month and if not for a number of other authors cheering me on I never would have made it. Roxy Mews and her daily check ins on facebook. (that she kept writing even when she passed the finish line herself!) Tracey Reid, Sarah Sexton, and Louisa Bacio all checked in every day and kept me focused on working and getting those words down even when I wanted to sit on my ass and knit.

As soon as I figure out how I can get the words from my brain on to paper without needing my hands I'll never stop knitting! :)

This isn't the end for this book though. I was a NaNo rebel this year. I started the month working on a short story for the Romancing the Capital convention in April. When I hit "The End" on that book, (at 16830 words) I switched gears and started working on a new full length novel.

I do have a goal of 70K on this new book and I want to have it finished by the end of December. I'm 33,526 words into it which means I need to write 36,474 words in the next 33 days.

Piece of cake :)



Friday, 7 November 2014

Day 7 of NaNoWriMo 2014

Today is the end of the first week of NaNo and I'm proud of myself. I have little green bars every day, meaning I've met the minimum required words to ensure I'll hit 50K by the 30th.

In fact, I'm ahead of the game. I could take today off no problem, I could take tomorrow off too and not feel any extra pressure, I bet I could take the next day off and still make it.... see where I'm going here. I'm my own worst enemy in November. It's not from a lack of ideas, or writer's block or any other excuse I can come up with.

Bottom line, I get lazy.

I know I do and I have this incredible ability to talk myself into not doing anything or procrastinating to the point where I have totally screwed myself and there isn't enough coffee in the world to aid me to the finish line.

But, not this year. I'm going to stay on target and get'er done. I know where I'm going and what I want to write. I read somewhere that if you do something every day for 21 days it will turn into a habit. So if I keep the course and write everyday no matter what and I get 21 green bars in a row, I wonder if it will get easier. Will the habit nudge out my inherent laziness?

Only one way to find out......




Wednesday, 5 November 2014

Happy November!

See the cute little word counter over to the right? ----->

Yup that's me hard at work on my newest project.
NaNo has a gorgeous steampunk feel to its graphics this year and I'm determined that I'm going to kick the 50K ass.
My goal is 60K!
Yes, you read that right. I'm pointing to the bleachers and giving the pitcher the stink eye. I'm going to knock this one out of the park this November. 2k a day is my goal and so far I'm keeping up to the pace. I'm not saying that I'll trip up at some point. That's a given. but hopefully I'll have a bit of extra stored up for those days that I just can't get to the computer.

Also there is my on going goal to keep up with blog posts and website updates. That's something I've always struggled with

I can't complain on how things have worked out so far. I have two publishing contracts with Decadent Publishing's 1NS line and am in the middle of edits for them. You can click on the pages above for more information about my books and projects.

It's a little bit strange starting over with a new name. Not many of you know that this is my second pen name, bonus points to anyone who knows my other alias ;)  But, it's exciting because I'm not governed by the same rules I was before. I can write what ever I want and what ever genre I want. Maybe that is why this month is so exciting to me? The last time I won NaNoWriMo was when I was working on my second or third book before (I've forgotten now, LOL 18 books will do that.)

While I like to think I'm a little older and a little wiser, I still feel like this is a freshly paved road and I've got on my favourite pair of runners....and my ass looks like the chick in the picture.

But, that's enough sports metaphors for one day. I've got to go feed my muse some chocolate. See you at the finish line.