Yesterday was a slow day on the NaNoWriMo front, but I made up for it today. I slept in late today, despite the best efforts of telemarketers and campaigning officials. I’m sure that any moment I’m going to hit the limit of how many phone numbers I can block on my home phone system. I am so sick of the constant interruptions of automated phone calls from strangers for whom I am a demographic rather than a person. After this election is over, I’m going to start campaigning my state and federal representatives to introduce legislation to outlaw all telemarketing. This is insane. On the phone you can’t tell the criminals from the legit companies, and now all of them ignore the Do Not Call list. The only way to stop this is to make it illegal, close down all the telemarketers and force the phone companies to pull the numbers these assholes are using to intrude into the lives of honest citizens.
I’ll be honest. I would rather legalize prostitution and marijuana and fire all the people working at telemarketer call centers. I think a lot of people would agree with me, too. But this post isn’t supposed to be about politics, but about NaNoWriMo… [click to continue…]
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Not a lot of excitement in today’s NaNoWriMo writing. It was my turn to drive the car pool to work today, although that came as a surprise when I got to the commuter lock. I didn’t mind having to drive, I just wish I had been given more notice. Needless to say, that meant that I didn’t get a chance to write on the way into or coming back from work.
After work, I decided to go to the county early voting center and see about casting my vote early. The irony here is that the whole purpose of going to vote early is to avoid long lines at polling places next Tuesday for election day. What makes it ironic is the fact that I spent an hour standing in line before I got my chance to cast my vote.
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D’oh! I completely forgot to work on my NaNoWriMo diary entry last night. I’ve been planning to do the diary again this year, but last night after I got finished with my writing, I was so focused on what I need to write next, I completely forgot about doing the diary entry. So… I’m starting this year’s diary off a little late… but I had a good day of NaNo yesterday!
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I feel as if a weight has been lifted from my shoulders! The audio for Northern Mist is complete and has been turned over to Tee and Pip for Tales From the Archives. At least our part is done. We don’t have good access to music sources, so Tee is going to be doing the scoring for the story. And, of course, they’re going to put their own stamp on the beginning and end of the story. For now, Northern Mist will stay under the code name. Once I get word from Tee and Pip to reveal the name, or that the story has been released, I’ll let you know the real title. We’re hoping that you really enjoy the story.
So, with that done, priorities are shifting… [click to continue…]
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The time has come, dear friends, when NaNoWriMo lurks on the horizon. This means you can look forward to posts about my new NaNoWriMo project, and the flurry of posts tracking my progress through the month of November. But I need your help, first. National Novel Writing Month is a great program that is made free to its participants each year, but there are costs associated with the program, and the money has to come from somewhere. I know the economy is hard right now. My wife lost her job 3 1/2 years ago when the economy tanked and we’ve been struggling along since then. That is why I’m asking you to help. I’m trying to raise $250 to help support NaNoWriMo, and I’m asking for you to sponsor my novel by donating whatever you can to the fund. I’ve set up a fundraising page over at Stayclassy.org, so please visit it and donate if you can.
And if you’d like to find out a little more about the kind of book you’ll be supporting, keep reading. [click to continue…]
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Great merciful Elisabeth! It’s been three weeks since I’ve had a chance to drop a post over here. That’s way too long in my opinion. Then again, I’m not sure how much I really have to say about what is going on. Our main push is still getting the audio version of “Northern Mist” finished so that we can turn the audio over to Tee and Pip and they can finish it up and release it on Tales from the Archives, and we can stop using the code word “Northern Mist” and start using the real title. But progress has been slow due to health problems, insane schedules, and the Maryland Renaissance Festival. Perhaps I need to adjust my priorities… [click to continue…]
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Today, I finally completed my first draft of my first novel. This is a big milestone, but the work is far from over. The draft clocked in at 77,759 words, but I have to admit that there are a few notes stuck in there for things to be fleshed out, and a few sections I’m pretty sure that I’m going to cut. And given that I’m at least two editing passes from a submittable draft, the final version could be considerably longer or shorter.
Still, I think it is pretty respectable for my first time out of the blocks.
Of course, this is no time to sit backup upon my laurels. This is still a lot of work to be done, and I’m already planning out the next steps. [click to continue…]
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And, in what seems like a blink of an eye, another week is gone.
But it has been productive. Northern Mist went through editing in what seems like a blink of an eye. I must admit that the editing process was vaguely disappointing. I was expecting more feedback. For once I’m experiencing the desire to continue hammering at a story to polish it further. It has been a new experience. That nagging feeling that says, “I can do better.”
But production schedules will not wait for me. So I have to move forward. [click to continue…]
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For those of you, yes, both of you, who have wondered about the mysterious project code-named “Northern Mist” that I’ve been working on, I can now reveal a little more about it. I’ve kept quiet pending word from the author who invited me to write in his world that I can begin talking about the story. Well, I haven’t officially gotten that word, but my author has talked about things on his own site, and I don’t see any reason I can’t echo what he has said.
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