I think I mentioned a while ago that I was making a contribution to the Fandom For Preemies fundraiser. I have done this each time the group has sponsored a fundraiser, and I really do hope I make some impact by doing so.
At any rate, this time, I donated the prologue to Found, since it was easier to donate that than to try to edit one of my old stories into shape.
Unlike what I've done before, in posting the story after a month of exclusivity, I will not be posting the prologue here. You'll still get excerpts every now and then, but you will not get the prologue in its entirety, unless I publish someday.
So, I encourage you all to head over to Fandom For Preemies to find out how to donate. Basically, if you donate $5 to March of Dimes by 1/1/13 and forward your receipt to them, they will send you the compilation.
March of Dimes is a worthwhile organization that has been so effective in their crusade that they had to change their focus from eliminating Polio to reducing the incidence of birth defects and premature births. I encourage you to check them out and donate whatever you can to help their cause.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Friday, November 30, 2012
Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner! (NaNo Day 30)
That's right! Despite not writing a total of 7 days this month, I managed to squeak by and get 50K words down. AND, I managed to actually finish the plot of my novel. Now, I need to go back and do a lot of character building, because I was focusing so much on the plot that I kinda made some rather large jumps in the personalities of my characters.
But that's what December is for. Or something.
Some stats:
Days: 30 (minus 7, if you want to be technical)
Words: 51358 (by my word processor; 50659 by NaNo's validator)
Pages: 164
Characters: 7 involved in the action, one more that plays a key role in the story, and four others that are named.
Happy Ever Afters: 4, I think. But the readers only explicitly know of one.
Sequels: ???
Number of headaches: 1. Right now. I'm going to lie down now.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Teaser Tuesday (NaNo Day 27)
It's almost over. Almost. I can just about taste it.
All I have to say is that I'm really glad that I: 1) had Thanksgiving break this month, otherwise I would not have been able to survive, and 2) have been on Family Medicine and thus have had time (during lunch!) to actually do this. I have a little less than 6,000 words to write to finish this thing up, and it's going to be tough. I'm eating dinner at a friend's house every night this week (I'm a guest chef on Friday), plus I have choir practice tomorrow night. Thankfully, my Fridays are half days, so I should have a few hours to get caught up before making a mad dash to the finish by midnight.
I hope that my word count isn't too far off the NaNo validator's word count. I'm not sure how many extra words I'll be able to squeeze out before midnight Friday.
At any rate, here's a teaser for this week. This is one of the first intersections of the paths of the characters that did not previously know each other. The others come in a little later.
“Can I help you?” Dawn asked, putting on her business smile.
The woman turned and a look of surprise graced her face. “Sorry, I was admiring this beautiful wheel from outside and wanted to get a closer look.”
Dawn smiled. “It belongs to my grandmother. An old family heirloom that she's rather proud of.”
The woman smiled and gestured towards it. “May I?”
“Of course,” Dawn replied, taking a step towards the window. The woman stepped up to the display and ran her fingers over the wheel, turning it a bit back and forth. She followed the thread back to the spindle and glided her fingers over the tip of the spindle.
“You say this is an old family heirloom. How long has it been in your family?” the woman asked.
Dawn shrugged. “Generations. Nana hasn't told me all that much about it. She keeps telling me that one day she'll tell me the story behind it.”
“Are you not curious to know the history now?” the woman asked, raising her eyebrow.
“It's been a while since I've thought about it. The display just adds a nice touch to the shop.”
The bell jingled again, and Dawn turned to see Rowan stepping into the shop. He glanced at the woman suspiciously and gave her a wide breadth as he walked over to Dawn. “Who is she?” he asked softly in Dawn's ear.
She smacked his shoulder lightly. “Don't be rude. She's a customer. Or rather, she saw the wheel outside and wanted a closer look.”
He continued to watch the woman wearily. “Something's off about her,” he muttered.
Hope you enjoyed it. I'll post again on Friday or Saturday with a final teaser for you, as well as my final word count. Wish me luck!
All I have to say is that I'm really glad that I: 1) had Thanksgiving break this month, otherwise I would not have been able to survive, and 2) have been on Family Medicine and thus have had time (during lunch!) to actually do this. I have a little less than 6,000 words to write to finish this thing up, and it's going to be tough. I'm eating dinner at a friend's house every night this week (I'm a guest chef on Friday), plus I have choir practice tomorrow night. Thankfully, my Fridays are half days, so I should have a few hours to get caught up before making a mad dash to the finish by midnight.
I hope that my word count isn't too far off the NaNo validator's word count. I'm not sure how many extra words I'll be able to squeeze out before midnight Friday.
At any rate, here's a teaser for this week. This is one of the first intersections of the paths of the characters that did not previously know each other. The others come in a little later.
“Can I help you?” Dawn asked, putting on her business smile.
The woman turned and a look of surprise graced her face. “Sorry, I was admiring this beautiful wheel from outside and wanted to get a closer look.”
Dawn smiled. “It belongs to my grandmother. An old family heirloom that she's rather proud of.”
The woman smiled and gestured towards it. “May I?”
“Of course,” Dawn replied, taking a step towards the window. The woman stepped up to the display and ran her fingers over the wheel, turning it a bit back and forth. She followed the thread back to the spindle and glided her fingers over the tip of the spindle.
“You say this is an old family heirloom. How long has it been in your family?” the woman asked.
Dawn shrugged. “Generations. Nana hasn't told me all that much about it. She keeps telling me that one day she'll tell me the story behind it.”
“Are you not curious to know the history now?” the woman asked, raising her eyebrow.
“It's been a while since I've thought about it. The display just adds a nice touch to the shop.”
The bell jingled again, and Dawn turned to see Rowan stepping into the shop. He glanced at the woman suspiciously and gave her a wide breadth as he walked over to Dawn. “Who is she?” he asked softly in Dawn's ear.
She smacked his shoulder lightly. “Don't be rude. She's a customer. Or rather, she saw the wheel outside and wanted a closer look.”
He continued to watch the woman wearily. “Something's off about her,” he muttered.
Hope you enjoyed it. I'll post again on Friday or Saturday with a final teaser for you, as well as my final word count. Wish me luck!
Monday, November 26, 2012
Names (NaNo Day 26)
I'm horrible with names. I love picking first names for my characters, because I always give them a name that means something.
Blanche, for instance, is the descendant of Snow White. Blanche is french for White. Voila. Each of my main characters has a similar story behind their name.
But last names are my downfall. I picked one at random for Ms. Blanche, only to discover that the last name I picked was someone I went to high school with... who was named Blanche. Fail on my part. But rather than sit there and go through dozens of name possibilities, and making sure that the names meant something for the characters, I posted it to my friends. What should I name my characters?
So, I now introduce you to my main character cast:
Blanche Mitchell
Aileen Fisher
Jason Johnson
Rowan Maxwell
Dawn Stern
And my supplemental characters:
Madge Reynard (affectionately known as Nana)
Wilhelm Herrmann
Thomas Fisher (Aileen's brother)
Harold and Eleanor Johnson (Jason's mother and father)
Everyone else, at this time, who has a name does not have a first and last name. For instance, I have Susie, the receptionist at the office Jason works. I have David, a stablehand at the stables that Aileen frequents. They aren't important enough to the story to either get names that matter or get both first and last names. Poor things, I know. Of course, Jason's parents fall into that category, but since they're family, they get a last name too. They just got lucky that way.
In terms of the word count... I'm back to being a day behind, but I've finally gotten a rough layout of how I want the novel to finish up, so maybe I'll be able to get all caught up and finish the thing by Friday. I'm debating whether or not I want to enter the Virtuosos competition. I'd like to think that I wrote a pretty good novel, but I know it needs heavy editing, and I'm not sure I'll have the time to keep up with things come January, when I start Surgery.
Well, I suppose it's a moot point if I don't finish the novel by Friday midnight. So I guess I'll just wait until then to see where I go from there.
Blanche, for instance, is the descendant of Snow White. Blanche is french for White. Voila. Each of my main characters has a similar story behind their name.
But last names are my downfall. I picked one at random for Ms. Blanche, only to discover that the last name I picked was someone I went to high school with... who was named Blanche. Fail on my part. But rather than sit there and go through dozens of name possibilities, and making sure that the names meant something for the characters, I posted it to my friends. What should I name my characters?
So, I now introduce you to my main character cast:
Blanche Mitchell
Aileen Fisher
Jason Johnson
Rowan Maxwell
Dawn Stern
And my supplemental characters:
Madge Reynard (affectionately known as Nana)
Wilhelm Herrmann
Thomas Fisher (Aileen's brother)
Harold and Eleanor Johnson (Jason's mother and father)
Everyone else, at this time, who has a name does not have a first and last name. For instance, I have Susie, the receptionist at the office Jason works. I have David, a stablehand at the stables that Aileen frequents. They aren't important enough to the story to either get names that matter or get both first and last names. Poor things, I know. Of course, Jason's parents fall into that category, but since they're family, they get a last name too. They just got lucky that way.
In terms of the word count... I'm back to being a day behind, but I've finally gotten a rough layout of how I want the novel to finish up, so maybe I'll be able to get all caught up and finish the thing by Friday. I'm debating whether or not I want to enter the Virtuosos competition. I'd like to think that I wrote a pretty good novel, but I know it needs heavy editing, and I'm not sure I'll have the time to keep up with things come January, when I start Surgery.
Well, I suppose it's a moot point if I don't finish the novel by Friday midnight. So I guess I'll just wait until then to see where I go from there.
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