Done

Just typed "THE END."
Whoohoo!

Extraordinary Progress and a Major "Oh, no!" Moment

November has seen significant forward motion, mostly due to generous use of the delete key. My guesstimate that at least 20,000 words would vanish during editing is turning out to be accurate. Names have been decided upon, most plot holes filled or at least basted shut, only a few scenes not yet fully on the page, and everything else nicely tightened up. The end is (almost) in sight.

Which is good, because I dug out my entry form and read the fine print again and aaack! The mailing deadline is the end of November, not December! How did I get that wrong??? Possibly because I originally downloaded the rules/submission info for last year's competition (it was early in the year and the web page for the 2009 competition was not yet up). Or maybe I'm thinking of a deadline for a different competition. Or maybe I'm just an idiot.

Fortunately, I'm an idiot who listens to her intuition, which told me it was time to double-check contest details as I head into the home stretch. Imagine how I'd feel if I'd discovered this in mid-December! Although that might have been for the best. Would have given me another entire year to fine-tune the plot, edit out the rambling, and work on adding more visual descriptions of places and people.

As it is, though, I'm so close I may as well go for it. Too bad 11/30 is a Sunday, and the Post Office is only open until noon on Saturday. That effectively cuts 2 days from what's left in the month. I'll be taking my package to the Post Office a week from today.

Fortunately I'm self-employed, have no big Thanksgiving plans this year, and am blessed with a wonderful (supportive, patient) husband. A week is plenty of time to slog through my lengthy list of holes still to fill, details to add, corrections to make to essential plot points the story has morphed away from, and all the various other items in the "punchlist" file. And to write and at least minimally edit the "final showdown" and "epilogue" scenes that I haven't gotten onto the page yet. Right?

I'd better stop blogging and get to work.

Fun with Random Name Generator

Update: Sisters have come and gone, and final chapters are still incomplete. Churned out a lot of words last month, but finish line looks like a carrot on a stick from here. I've inched ahead, but needed breakthrough is elusive. Still missing a few key pieces of the backstory/why stuff, especially in terms of finetuning documentation/clues that surface near the end. Arghhhh. Eager for that "aha" moment where it all comes together!

Initial feedback from sisters is good. R chuckled a lot while reading, which eases my #1 fear: that I will be the only person who thinks what I've written is funny. A says plot needs more direction in opening chapters (no surprise there), but characters and dialogue are engaging enough to carry her along through the "is this going anywhere?" parts.

Today's challenge: I've been wrestling since day one on this novel with my main character's name, going around and around between several choices, and I've got to pick one and stick with it soon!

So this morning I decided I needed some new name ideas, and hopped on over to my most favorite pseudo-productive webpage (fun, and can be a time-sink, but I get to pretend that I'm doing important novel-related work).

Geeze, just a couple clicks on the random name generator and I've got enough secondary-character names to populate a dozen novels. Faves so far: Bridget Foy, Verna Blume, Leona Basile, Bertha Elliott, and Megan Atkins. And that's just girls.

But none are right for my MC. Name parameters for her are:

1) That she hate her given name ('cause I'm the author, and for some reason I like sticking her with a nasty one)

2) That she go by a reasonable nickname that's short, feminine, and not too ordinary (pet peeve: female characters with boy names/nicknames: "Sam" for Samantha, "Andy" for Andrea... gaah, hate 'em!)

3) That it be Italianate in some way (for backstory/sequel reasons that may or may not ever see print)

4) That it meet the series book cover test: "a [insert MC name here] mystery" (this implies that not only will I someday actually finish and sell this one, but that it will be a success and followed by others, a prospect that on some days seems iffy at best but is always irresistable)

Am pleased to report I've come up with an entirely new MC name option that may actually stick. But I'm not sharing yet, 'cause I've only been flipping over it for 10 minutes and changes of mind may follow.

Last week's focus was scene outlining: a horrible chore, I'm not enjoying it at all, so am also starting in on text editing, too (with heavy emphasis on the delete key). Hoping that plowing through one more time will help with final plot decisions.

Still two months left in the year. That feels longer than "8 weeks" which is about what I've got leaving a couple of days for printing/proofing/panicking/packaging/posting if I'm gonna make the mystery competition 12/31/08 dealine.

Close, but no cigar yet

Chapter 27; 122K words and counting.

That means I've met my original total wordcount goal for Draft 1 (figuring lots will be cut during editing), without getting to the end of Draft 1 yet.

Closer, but lots still to do. Have run out of "pre-written" old Nano scenes to include, gotta make it all up from scratch from here on out. New scene bubbled up yesterday that I hadn't had planned, brings some useful clues to light. Not that my characters know what the significance is yet, but they will by the end. Somehow.

Have been writing at more-than-Nano pace the past few days, hands and brain and shoulders/neck are all tense and tired. Would love a day off from writing, but sisters are arriving a week from today.

Aaack!

Onward...

Getting my ducks in a row

Moving a pivotal scene closer to the end has solved a lot of problems.

Last night I was feeling anxious about the prospects of finishing a readable draft in next 10 days (i.e., before my sisters get here), but got some ducks in a row this morning. Time is still SHORT.

Business admin tasks must get some attention today (Q3 payroll filings are still on to-do list, want to get that crossed off). I'm not complaining. Beats the hell out of having a day job. Some essential errands must be done as well. Wednesday is farmer's market day in Hilo, and our fridge is as empty as it gets; the only fresh produce in the house is one brown banana and some wilted carrots. Time to go stock up on papayas and organic lettuce and whatever else looks good.

Then, gotta sit down and once more go over the 60-page section I've been working on the past few days. I've sliced and diced and shuffled so much to fix sequencing and timing problems, finally got to the point this morning that everything (chapters, scenes, paragraphs, notes to self) is (I hope) in the new correct order.

Now I need to go back and turn all those "notes to self" into the necessary new sentences, paragraphs, and segues that will hold the shuffled mess together into one string. And make sure I got the resequencing right.

I've got one more scene from last year's NaNo that is "pre-written" and will be tacked on after I add a few more scenes of new stuff.

Then, one big challenge to go: I still don't know how the villain finds out "they're on to me" and what actions he/she takes that will lead to the FINAL SHOWDOWN. I do have some good ideas for the confrontation, but they're all still in my head.

From there, it's all wrap-up.

Gee, put like that, it almost sounds like I'm near the end.

114K words and counting.

For the draft my sisters read I may add a page at the end of chapters (where necessary) with notes of info to be added: e.g., "Missing from this chapter, a short scene introducing the character of ALAN, and Granimi decides to shop for a condo."

Onward.

Plot Tangles

Crap. I've run into a problem.

I've been breezing along, cheerfully accumulating word count, inching closer to "the end" and, ouch. Just ran into a wall.

Or, more accurately, a plot tangle. I'm at the stage where my MC (and posse) are close to gathering together (more like stumbling over, most of the time) the various bits and pieces of clues that will point them to who done it. But I'm having a little trouble with the timing and sequence of information that leads to the aha moment and (simultaneously, if I manage to be clever enough to pull it off) reveals an interesting and significant subplot twist.

There's one tidbit that MC really should have on Sunday evening (in novel time), but as of now isn't going to have until next Tuesday. And then there's the info she uncovers on Sunday that would work better (in terms of other characters, scenes, etc) if it were delayed for a day or two.

You'd think I could just switch the two incidents, but no. It's not that easy.

So, I'm taking a day off (or several, hope it won't drag on too long) from word count accumulation for some plot detangling.

Best case scenario, I emerge from this with something resembling a scene outline for at least the next few days of novel time, which ought to (fingers crossed) speed up the race to "the end."

Wish me luck.

September Mission Accomplished

I’ve done it: I’ve met (and exceeded by a little) my goal of adding 1200 words a day to the draft-in-progress for the month of September.

As I keep chugging along I am trying to stay focused on slogging forward one scene at a time, being strict about writing chronologically from here to the end.

I'm closer. A lot closer. But not close enough yet.

If I stop to think that I have to get to "The End" before my sisters arrive to visit on 10/18, I'll panic. That’s two weeks plus a couple of days for frantic cleanup and a rough draft print-out.

I’m thinking of this draft as more "lacey and tangled" than “rough” (some parts of it are quite polished). There are lots of nice plot threads in there, but they meander around and get lost and then emerge elsewhere as a dangling thread, and there are loops of mystery stuff poking out here and there and everywhere, and threads that dive into the fun halfway through with no connection to what came before, and holes still. Too many holes. Most of them much smaller than previously, but they’re there.

Biggest hole remaining is that I have figured out how the good guys figure out "who done it," but not how the villain realizes “the jig's up.” Need something to happen to trigger the big showdown scene at the end. Have ideas for that one, but not how I'm gonna sew up the big gaping gap that comes before it on what passes for an outline around here.

Nice thing about working chronologically is I don't have to solve that plot problem today. "Buildup to the showdown" is still at least 3 or 4 days away in novel time. At the rate I’m going I won’t get to that scene before the beginning of next week at the earliest. Plenty of time for new ideas to pop up.

In the meantime, gonna go pre-wash latest fabric indulgence: didn’t buy much (had to reorder a trim fabric that I'd goofed and gotten the wrong color-way of). Have decided to consider all September fabric purchases a b'day gift to myself. Now majorly want to sew up at least one new thing to wear before my birthday, preferably two. Parcel of dress patterns arrived yesterday, must resist temptation for a few more hours.

Because these days noveling comes first. Today's goal: if I add 1600 more words I can do some sewing.