2008 #1 Goal Accomplished!

I cut a headline out of "O" magazine some time ago, and early in 2008 taped it to my laptop in the space beside the touchpad: THIS YEAR YOU WRITE YOUR NOVEL.

And I did! Yay. After so many ditched attempts over the years of novels that curled up and died half-way through, I finally conquered my plotting dilemmas and got all the way to "the end." And it turned out even better than I'd hoped.

As a reward for the monster crunch effort of churning out a complete draft by the end of November, I've given myself the month of December off. No novelling on my stuff, just relaxation and reading other people's books. This month off is supposed to provide sufficient distance/perspective to put Baking with Intent through another round of polishes before I head to the Left Coast Crime conference in early March.

I'm ready to dive in tomorrow (Jan.1 '09) and eager to discover how it reads now that I haven't looked at it in a month. Fingers crossed I'm still tickled pink with the fruit of this year's biggest creative effort.

Decompressing

Geeze, it was like being back in college again, when I'd put off a paper until the last moment and then have to pull an allnighter to get it done. (Not that I can pull off an allnighter anymore; just staying up post midnight feels about the same these days. Can't sleep past 7am, either, which surely impacts the too-old-for-allnighters equation in some way.)

Anyway, got my novel submission draft off to the post office last Saturday morning at about 9:40, less than three hours before mailing deadline. And then, after a week of 14-16 hour write/edit days, I decompressed. Spent most of Sat. afternoon sprawled on a lounge chair on the upstairs deck, staring into space and enjoying a leisurely brain melt.

Then, an overdue and very lowkey turkey dinner on Sunday for me and hubbie, for whose support and patience I am eternally grateful.

Now catch up on everything else has begun. I'm creeping toward getting all holiday packages in the mail, aim to do cards/calendars over the weekend, then make one more PO run on Monday. Have also made something that in the right light almost looks almost like a dent in the backlog of bookkeeping for our online businesses. Would like to be as caught up as possible on all that by 12/31.

Next week I'll look at the novel again: clean up my draft-in-progress files; start the next list of tweaks and edits to be done. I wish I'd had another week before sending it in, but such is the Slacker-Novelist way. At least three chapters are still too long, and I wanted to add in a few more details to set up, clarify, and/or wrap up various themes, character arcs, and plot threads. Next draft will have 'em.

Then I get to dig out NaNovels '05-'06, for which this recent effort started out as a pre-quel, and see what's in there that will work as the sequel to what is now Baking with Intent. Pulled that title out of a piece of dialogue near the end at the last minute, as I was still desperately in need of a title -- couldn't print out my submission draft without one. Not sure I love it, but it will do.

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.