Hey Folks! I swore I would take a moth off of the blog to get a few things done and would you look at that! I kept my word! It’s already November 5th which means I’m five days over.
Past: October was full of much writing (WIP: The Perilous Journey of the Not-So Innocuous Girl) much running (a half marathon and training for a full), many sick kids and hurricane Sandy. Also, I worked full time on the launch of Quantum Fairy Tales, a speculative fiction eZine that you really, REALLY should read and contribute to. There are some fantastic writers and artists collected there. If you find something you love, be sure to comment on it and visit their websites! Share the love peoples. Oh! and don’t miss our drawing for fantastic prizes! Enter every day this week here.
Present: This week, I have more sick kids, more writing to do and my first full marathon (eek!). Of course it’s not a real marathon. Id’ die. But it’s close enough. I drew the 26.2 mile leg for my team in the Las Vegas Ragnar Relay. What does this mean? It means I’m officially crazy and will be running 26 miles of a 200 mile relay from Mt. Charleston to Lake Las Vegas. It’s split into three sections for me, 8.5, 10.something and 7.5 miles. In between those runs I get to eat, ride in a big van and hopefully sleep a bit.
Why am I talking about all of this on my writing blog? Because writing and running for me are inextricably linked. When I am out on the road early on a Saturday morning I’m listening to music and sweating to death, but I’m also plotting. I’m thinking about my characters, who they are, what they want and where I’m going to take them. Then when I actually get time to sit down and write I know exactly where I’m going. Same thing on a short weekday morning run. I plan my day and my writing for that day and how I would escape if someone tried to throw me in a van around the next corner.. all those very important things. Want picture proof?
Normally I run with my eyes open, but this was a really good race day… ahh.. chubby girl running bliss..
No, I’m not doing NANO this year. I’ve already “won” two times and my family is sick of me locking myself up for a month to hit a 50k word deadline with the results being mostly crap. I feel like NANO is like a big race, if you really want to get something out of it, you have to plan ahead and prepare for a few months before Nov 1 (IE outline your plot and characters). Otherwise it’s just a nice way to prove to yourself that you are capable of typing 50k words in 31 days. Some people probably need that. I already know I can do that, so I’m focused on quality this year. QUALITY PEOPLE! Writing books doesn’t mean anything if they are crappy books! It just means you are prolific at crap. Anyone who eats out regularly is going to meet or beat you at that goal.
Future: I plan on wrapping up my WIP this month – I’m so close! Then I’ll start edits and hopefully workshop around a bit before the end of the year. I am also trying to keep my pants on about a new idea my lovely husband gave me. Currently splitting my brain time half on that and half on the book I should really be finishing.
So that’s the news from Lake Woebegone… what’s happening in your neck of the woods? Are you Nanoing your little guts out? Did you plan for it or just pick up your laptop and start writing on Nov 1? I’d love to hear how it works for you. Are you a runner? Have you done a ragnar? Did you survive? How do you like Quantum Fairy Tales? Did you dig my poem? or hate its mess-meter? Let’s chat 
